Phenom II X6 or SandyBridge Pentium?

[Mightyena]

Hi,
I recently inherited an old Phenom II system from a friend after a clear-out, and was wondering if it would be a good idea to use it to replace the PC currently sitting in my room. My thinking is that although the phenom would be slower clock for clock, having 3x the core count might help a little, especially running something like T:ANE.

The specs of both systems are as follows:

Existing PC:
Intel Pentium G645 (Sandy Bridge) 2.9GHz
MSI B75MA-P45 motherboard
8GB (4x2GB) DDR3-1333MHz memory
XFX Radeon HD7950 (This appears to be dying though, so would be replaced by the card in the phenom system anyway)
NZXT Source 210 case
Corsair TX550W PSU

Phenom PC:
AMD Phenom II X6 1045T
ASUS M4A89GTD-PRO
4GB (2x2GB) DDR3-1066MHz memory (would be replaced with the memory in the Pentium)
MSI GTX 680
Coolermaster Elite 310 case

Both come with their respective stock coolers (although I believe the G645 is actually running with an i5 stock cooler with the copper slug, not that it really matters), so overclocking the 1045T would require a new cooler, and whichever gets used would inherit both the 8GB RAM and the GTX 680

My main focus would be running TS12 (49922) and possibly T:ANE if it ever gets itself sorted out.

So which of these options would be best? Mainly meaning which will give me the best performance for the least money:

Option 1:
Continue with the Pentium PC + 680
- total cost = £0

Option 2:
Use the Phenom system + 8GB RAM, and possibly OC the Phenom
- total cost = £0~30 (for cooler)

Option 3:
Try to find a used Sandy or Ivy Bridge i5 and replace the Pentium. Those tend to still be pretty expensive though, so this (whilst probably the best option) is my least favourite, since money is a little tight at the moment.
- total cost = £50-100

Thanks for any input!

[clam1952]

Comparison of both processors here http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Pentium-G ... I-X6-1045T

I used a Phenom X6 1090T for a long time still got it as my number 3 PC and it's got a GTX680 with it.

Personally I would say the Phenom having better multicore benchmarks would be an improvement for TS12 and maybe TANE which I have had running on it, not at present as it's full of old IDE drives and used for storage / backup.

[Mightyena]

Thanks for the advice, although it would seem my choice has been made easier, since upon inspection, the AM3 motherboard doesn't seem to have survived its time in storage. I just get a blinking cursor whenever I tried to boot from anything.

The system enters the BIOS fine, but once it has completed its POST it just seems to get stuck on a black screen with flashing cursor.

I've tried:
Trying to boot from 2 known good USB drives (they boot correctly on my laptop)
Trying to boot from an internal SATA drive containing Windows 7 and Linux (was expecting Linux to start up, and W7 to attempt to boot before BSODing)
Removing all bootable devices from the system (I would expect it to attempt to boot from LAN or complain that there are no devices)

All of the above were tried with various combinations of RAM in different slots, and the motherboard was not in a case and connected to a 450W Corsair PSU (should be enough for just the mobo and 1 SATA drive)

I also tried resetting the CMOS (both using jumper and removing the battery for 1 hour), and even flashing to a newer BIOS

In each case, all that happens is it will beep to signify it has passed POST, flash up the BIOS splash screen, then go to the aforementioned cursor.

Any other ideas to try to get it going or is it a lost cause?

[clam1952]

I assume the bios is detecting drives ok, Boot order correct etc?
Probably not but not trying to boot a disk setup in a UEFI system?
Try booting from a live Linux CD / DVD?
Not sure if that board will boot from an external USB drive maybe a USB stick, whatever I'd make sure Legacy USB is enabled in the bios.

That motherboard has Asus Express gate which is an embedded Linux set up with access to a basic browser, have you tried it? See manual which I presume you have got? If not it's here https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/M4A89 ... sk_Manual/

There are a couple of jumpers on the mother board that I would check are set to default.

Edit:

To add that board is fussy what memory is used, try the original one stick at a time.

[Mightyena]

Sorry for taking a while to get back, I've had exams this past couple of weeks...

1) Yes, drives (internal SATA and whichever USB drive I stick in it. Boot order is currently set to USB->SATA->(Disabled). Also does the same thing if you mash F8 and manually select a boot device.

2) Nope, this isn't a UEFI board, and I'm using a standard Windows 7 setup on a USB drive (also have an Xubuntu live USB) that works fine in other boards.

3) I've tried a live linux USB, for a CD I'll need to find a disc drive and some blank CDs.

4) It claims to, bootable USB drives show up in the BIOS and the F8 boot menu.

Not tried anything to do with the Express Gate, it was disabled in the BIOS and I never reactivated it. I'll have a look at that in a bit.

All jumpers/switches are set to their default values.
I tried putting the original memory back in, and it made no difference, completes POST, then straight to the flashing cursor.

[clam1952]

What happens if you fire up with no disks attached that includes any optical drives? In theory it should finish the post having found no disks and give you a boot menu?
Or have you tried booting with a Win7 or XP even install cd / dvd?
I assume you have probably tried with just one Drive and no optical?

[Mightyena]

With no disks, it does exactly the same thing - POSTs, then goes to the flashing cursor.

I haven't actually got an optical drive for it, I'll have to see if I can find one laying around that's still in working order, and buy some CDs.

I have tried:

1 HDD + 1 USB
just 1 HDD
just 1 USB
nothing connected