Customer Reviews

Amd Phenom II X3 720 Black Ed

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This has to be the best known secret from AMD, it is an awesome cpu. You can look at it from two points of view:

First: If you are only interested in running it at stock clock speed then you have a really great price/performance ratio and this cpu will be good enough for most of modern duties.

Two: But if you are as me and are interested in pushing the envelope, then this cpu is a dream came true. As it is a Black Edition it is overclockable as hell, reported reviews show speeds up to 3.7 Ghz on air cooling (with after market cpu coolers of course) and some claim that it can be pushed a little bit farther. And the beauty is that this cpu runs very cool.

And if you are lucky enough and have the proper motherboard, you might get to unlock a fully functional fourth core. Yep, that is right you get a Phenom II 920 performance for a lot less money. And you can still overclock as hell!

I was lucky enough because I bough two of this cpus to upgrade my two computers, one of the 720 did not unlock the fourth core but the other one did! By the way I pair it with a Biostar TA790GX 128M motherboard, which is from what I have researched, one of the best matches to unlock the fourth core, just take into account that you must use the 2009-01-13 bios and not the newer ones because it is been said that they are patching new bios to avoid unlocking the fourth core in the 720's.

I was wanting to upgrade from my X2 6400 to something a little more up to date as it was starting to show it's age in recent games such as GTA4, NBA 2K9, Call of Duty 4, etc. So I did a little searching and found this chip and after reading up on it a bit I decided to give it a shot.

... WOW! This thing is blazing fast and incredibly easy to overclock. I oc'ed it to 3.3ghz right out of the box by simply raising the multiplier. One hour prime95 stress test and it's 100 stable. I'll try to take it higher later on, but for now it's fine as is and anything more would just be for bragging rights.

Games have seen a massive improvement as well. Call of Duty 4 and World at War both running at 1920x1200 are both locked at 60FPS. Crysis Warhead gets 30FPS with gamer/high settings at 720p. GTA4 runs a consistent 40FPS at 1920x1200 and NBA 2K9 is totally maxed out with ultra high player models at a locked 60FPS. The difference is incredible. In some of these games I've gained 10-15 FPS just from upgrading to this CPU without changing anything else.

My specs:
BFG 8800GT
Phenom X3 720 BE @ 3.3ghz
4gb Corsair XMS ram
750w Corsair PS
Gigabyte GA-MA790X-DS4 Motherboard

This is the best processor for the money right now. Blows away the duals and keeps up with the quads. Buy it and be blown away at the performance.

There is not much difference between X3 and X4 except of the extra processor on X4 and couple of milliseconds difference. If you are a hardcore gamer or just want to shell out extra money than X4 is your choice.

But if you are like me, that wants to save money yet have a powerful fast processor to use Photoshop CS4, be moderate gamer or do some 3D modeling than this processor is the choice. If you also want to do some overclocking than this process just rocks. I am comfortably running the core speed at 3.2GHz with a aftermarket heat sink/cooling fan. You can push it even further than 3.8Ghz (that's what I heard from lot of folks)

An interesting fact is that triple-core offers more bang for the bucks that quad-core processors do - and since only AMD has triple-core units for sale, Intel is shut out of the game. There are very few games I know that uses the multi-thread capabilities of the multi-core processes, one been by Crysis and the other by Valve.

Pros: fast, powerful and lots of reasons
Con: None

Fact: Some games from XBOX 360 were based on triple core architecture.

Make sure you buy a motherboard that supports DDR3 and you will be set with the speed of the processor along with the memory speed for all your multitasking capabilities on your computer.

If you are lucky with the right motherboard than you should be able to unlock the 4th core on the processor. As you may know, X3 is same processor as the X4 except 4th core is turned off due to several reasons - defective, not working, etc. But if it works for you than you have got yourself a deal of having X3 for the price of X4.

Great chip amd does it agian,bought a TA790GX XE mobo and able to unlock 4th core WOOT!Running 3.5 oc great chip get it!

All I can say is great buy for what you get. This cpu has a ridiculous amount of bang for the buck. Got mine and can't complain, I upgraded from a limp AMD athon X2 4400 to this monster. You won't regret it as it is a beast at it's stock 2.8Ghz clock. I haven't seen any slowdowns with this running Vista 64bit with 4gb of DDR3 ram.

This CPU makes you want to delve into overclocking with it having an unlocked multiplier. I'm really glad I chose this one, it does what it's supposed to do at an affordable price.

Two thumbs up!!!

Put this chip on a Asus motherboard, unlocked the fourth core and am rumming at 3.2 ghz with no problems!

What can I say? When I picked up this chip at a local Microcenter, it was at a great price. However, it wasn't until I researched even further that I finally realized the potential of this little CPU.

First off, being a Black Edition, AMD has unlocked the multiplier to allow you to overclock it. And this CPU is VERY overclockable without question and it's stable too.

However, hidden on various motherboards is an option to unlock a 4th core! Not all CPUs will unlock successfully. There is a reason it was locked. Most have failed the testing at AMD. But, like me, many have been able to unlock the CPU without any issues. Others might have to raise their vcore a bit to stabilize the CPU. But, even as an X3, this CPU rocks.

I have mine OC'd from 2.8ghz to 3.6ghz as well as running with 4 cores all on air cooling. It's stable and it definitely plays the latest games without problems. GTA IV? No problem. Dragon Age? No problem.

Oh, and I also air cool this chip using the Cooler Master Hyper 212+ heat sink and fan.

Cooler Master RR-B10-212P-G1 Hyper 212 Plus 775/1156/1366/AMD/AM2/AM3 Universal Direct Contact Heat-Pipe 120mm Fan CPU Cooler


Overall, this chip is worth it if you can find it for the price. Unfortunately, this CPU has been discontinued and is getting harder and harder to find. If you can find it, it's worth it for those who are budget minded. However, with it being discontinued, the price might go up which might no be worth it, especially with the hexa-cores already out. But, if you're a budget minded person and you want the best bang for your buck and if you can get this chip for $140 or cheaper, don't wait!

best bang for the buck cpu. easy to overclock since the multiplier is unlocked, also when its overclocked the temps are still very low. this is the black edition, made for overclocking! very good buy and alot faster then my old p4 3.0ghz.

Amazing value. I got mine to be a standin before "Bulldozer" arrives. Was able to convert it into a x4 955 i.e. 4 core unlock + overclock to 3450 @ 1.44v. Coupled with a decent mobo and DDR3 module this baby can fly at a budget. Grab before it runs out (AMD are no longer manufacturing this baby) or wait for "Bulldozer".