AMD Phenom II X4 965 AM3 3.4Ghz 512KB 45NM 125W 4000MHZ

It's a Quad Core for under $100 what more could you want.For price to performance vs. the FX-4300 I went went with this Phenom II X4 965BE. Since I was on a tight budget. Maybe I'll upgrade to one of the newer FX 6 or 8 core processors in the future.Just be sure that if you are going to upgrade in the future, don't skimp too much on the motherboard now.For Video encoding: I can't see much of a difference from my Athlon II x2 220. converting DVD to MP4 H.264 It may save a few mins but I usually start my encodes before I head to bed so who knows.For Gaming: Combined with an HD 7850 I can play Bioshock Infinite on Ultra @1080P .. Although it's a little jittery at times it's perfectly playable. I usually just play on high or medium setting since I don't see much of a difference in Graphical quality. Maybe I'm too blind? Or maybe its my 32" Vizio HDTV?For Screen Recording: I recorded Bloons TD5 Deluxe (CPU intensive game)from round 83 to 88 just for this review actually. This beast only hit 62% load even while recording. I have not been able to get good quality records with Bioshock though. It plays smooth while recording but there are tears in the screen. And the finished video is choppy .. although that could be the fault of the recording program I'm using.(It doesn't seem to like windows aero effects and always wants to turn it off.)Just as a side note, I ran Prime95 for 1 hour. It hit 62 degrees Celsius (room temp was between 72 and 75 degree Fahrenheit the entire time)but the system didn't crash in that hour so that's good I suppose. It was my first time "stressing" a system for no apparent reason and can't say that I see the point in it. Just something I did for this review.Speaking of temps it seems to idle between 40-42 degrees Celsius with the stock heat sink and fan while doing things like surfing the web. I feel like it's running a little warm for there to be 0-10% load on it.Umm... I'm not sure what else someone would need or want to know about a CPU.Sorry got a little off track. Any who below you'll find mySYSTEM SPECS:MOBO: ASROCK 970 EXTREME 4 AM3+ (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0058HUQJ0/ref=cm_cr_ryp_prd_ttl_sol_2)Case: Silverstone Tek Redline Series RL04B Mid Tower Case (http://www.amazon.com/Silverstone-Tek-Micro-ATX-Computer-RL04B/dp/B00B3QYA06/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top)CPU: AMD PHENOM II X4 965 BE (I have not seen temps above 55 degrees celsius using stock heatsink and fan although as stated above it's loud)RAM: CRUCIAL BALLISTIX 8GB (2X4GB) CL7 @ 1333mhzPSU: ROSEWILL CAPSTONE SERIES 650M(http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00822BTLC/ref=dp_olp_0?ie=UTF8&condition=all)HDD: 2.5" something salvaged from a loptop while I wait for my 1TB WD Blue (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0088PUEPK/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) at the time of this review.Case Fans: 1 preinstalled 120mm Silverstone something with red LED. 4x Cooler Master 120mm Case Fan (R4-S2S-124K-GP)GPU: XFX Radeon HD 7850 2GB (http://www.amazon.com/XFX-HD7850-DisplayPort-Graphics-FX785ACNL4/dp/B009TS43FW/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1366225738&sr=1-3&keywords=xfx+radeon+hd+7850)

I took a gamble when I bought this Phenom II 965BE for my Biostar TA790GXE 6.1, because the CPU wasn't "officially" supported. ...But my Biostar did support the AMD 955 CPU, which I assumed was close enough to the 965 (and it is). The CPU works great so far, but the fan is pretty loud when under a heavy load.Pros:+ As of October 2012, this CPU has an almost unbeatable cost/performance ratio.+ Worked in my Biostar TA790GXE motherboard, despite not being officially supported.+ Although I'm not going to overclock it, I read reviews saying that they were able to overclock the 965 by 600MHz (and it was stable, though I don't recall if they used water or air to achieve that overclocking).+ Under load (playing a game) the CPU runs cool at a respectable ~53C thanks to the great heatsink/fan that comes with the CPU.Cons:- The fan makes lots of noise when under a heavy load; it might just be because my motherboard doesn't officially support the CPU... The fan is quite when just surfing the web, etc.If you're a gamer using a 720p monitor then this CPU will run all your games at max graphics and get you a really smooth frame rate. ...However, if you're using a 1080p monitor, don't expect to get much more than ~30fps when at high graphics. I recommend this CPU!

This processor is a great buy for the money, and I see huge differences from my previous AMD Athlon II x2 265 3.3 ghz processor. For the price you can't really find a better quad core processor. It might not be as fast as some of the Intel quads, but the price difference is fairly significant for some. Definitely a great buy for someone like me who was looking to do a bargain build and still grab some serious performance at a good price. You can definitely save some money here to put into other aspects of your build i.e. video card, etc. without having to worry about losing processing performance.For all the complaints about the Stock Cooler it's not bad. It's a CoolerMaster. They are a proven brand and rock solid. The Heat Sink is Aluminum with Copper Piping (I was surprised to see Copper on a Stock Cooler). The Fan moves plenty of air, but at the cost of being noisy.I've overclocked it to 3.8 ghz and it does get hot. When its stock the cooler is ok but if your going to overclock like me you better get an after market cooler.

Windows Experience Index, Phenom X4 965 Overclocked to 4Ghz, the rating is (7.5) vs FX 4100 Overclocked to 4Ghz somehow its (7.3), On the Experience Index. But the Phenom 45NM vs FX 32NM, still cant tell a difference in the performance. It also does everything almost in a blink of an eye. which is still fast for a older CPU that is easily overclockable. but i can understand if you want to be up to date which is OK. but I think its worth the buy. But if you plan to overclock a whole lot like me... get aftermarket cooling like i have. because you don't want to risk of being in a hot environment one day and frying your CPU which almost happened to me, 80C on a testing bench with the stock cooler in a kinda hot room with no AC on for a few minutes . ALL of them are that way on a testing bench with a stock cooler, in a room with no AC, unless its winter or if you have a fan blowing on the motherboard to take away that heat the CPU fan is blowing back on the CPU, that the CPU is creating :-). sorry if i type too much. I would recommend this to a friend, or a son, for a wife, even for a dad, and last & but not least, a mom.. :-)) My Specs are:MOBO: MSI 970A-G46CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 OC 4.80Ghz 100% stableGPU: NVidia GeForce GTX 650, Soon upgrading to two GTX 650 ti boost in SLI (EDIT: I now have a XFX AMD R7 260X for a cheap($139.99) temporary upgrade... and I like it a lot!)RAM: 12GB PNY DDR3 1333 OC to 1630MhzPSU: Corsair GS700Case: Thermaltake V3 Black AMD Edition Gaming Chassis (EDIT: I Now Have a CM Storm Scout)