AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Desktop Processor HDZ980FBK4DGM - OEM

Pros: Easy overclocking with asus bios. Overclocked at 4.2ghz cooled with h60 40c -45c extreme graphics and voltage.

Cons: Doesnt have an intergrated gpu. no native support for ddr3 1600.

Other Thoughts: If the price is right this is still the top amd quad core.

Pros: Overclocks great with h60 water cooler to 4.2ghz.

Cons: supported rams speeds (1333) are ok for laptops not for cutting edge gaming. Luckily my asus sabertooth 990fx allows for 1600 with my ballistix ram with cas of 8.

Other Thoughts: For the price i paid (140$) im not mad at it. For the same price today, I would go for the vishera 6 core at 95wtts. for budget gaming this is a great starter.

Pros: This thing flies. Took my WEI from 6.5 with an Athlon II X2 250 3.0 Ghz, to 7.4 at stock speeds.

Unlocked multiplier with great OC headroom.
Proven beastly CPU, king of the Phenoms.

Price is now awesomely low for the performance.

Cons: The only con is that I'm pretty sure I got the last one! I was auto-alerted when this came back in stock and as soon as I ordered it, Newegg went from previously saying "out of stock" to "discontinued." Shame to see Phenoms on their way out.

Other Thoughts: Bought this cuz I previously had great experience with the Phenom 965 BE in a 2010 build which I sold. Finding myself with an AM3 socket again upgrading a pre-built, there was no question I should go with a Phenom over chancing a bulldozer for gaming (this is the benefit of letting something get a little "old" while the next generations roll out). Guaranteed compatibility versus hit-and-miss with AM3+ in an AM3 socket was also a factor.

While it is by no means a high-end or ultra future-proof CPU by today's standards, I'm very happy to have a proven product which is the best my motherboard can support.

Pros: Fastest 4 core OEM chip AMD offered in 125w (yes you can get the lower modles to 3.7 ghtz too, but the TPD goes up).
Better single thread performance then newer bulldozer design.
Improved my WEI scores on the CPU, RAM, Aero 2D, and gaming 3D scores. ....slow harddrive score didn't change.

Cons: Not in production anymore. A smaller form and 8 of these on a on single die should have been the way go instead of bulldozer.

Other Thoughts: Does not come with an OEM CPU cooler... Doesn't bother me since I use an after market cooler. Its more of a plus to bring the cost down.

Pros: Ran this Chip in an AM2+ board with DDR2. My max OC on that board was around 4.2 GHz, as reported all over the internet. Recently upgraded to an AM3+ board (GA990FXA-UD3) and broke 4.3 Ghz last weekend, with an Antec H20 620 cooler. Before, I was using a Thermaltake Frio, although the Frio did a great job keeping the CPU under 60C. So! 6000 CPUMarks @ 4.3 GHz! That basically beats the i7 950! Since switching boards (and RAM... 1333 now), I've seen a 30% increase in all my benchmarks (even 2D graphics), when comparing stock settings before, to current OC. Quite happy with the performance of this chip, proving that Deneb is one of AMD's best designs in 2 years.

Cons: It gets pretty hot. Also, Overclocking manages to draw LOTS of extra power. I'm also a bit upset the price went down so much in the 9 months since I bought it. $40 is quite a lot.

Other Thoughts: Definitely worth the upgrade from my X3 720! I would even go so far as to recommend this over a stock Thuban, since 6000 CPU marks is approaching 1100T territory, at 70% of the price.

Pros: Great processor, runs cool, great performance, great speed, and great quality for little money.

Cons: none

Other Thoughts: This may not be the fastest CPU out there, but it's perfect for budget gamers out there. you really don't need the FX series unless you are enviro conscious.

Pros: Fast. Easy overclocking! I usually stay between 34-41C with a Zalman 100% cooper cooler.

Cons: i5 2500 runs much cooler (31-35C).

Other Thoughts: Gigabyte 790GTX MB
8GB G-Skill ripjaws
Sapphire 6870
300GB Raptor
Rosewill Blackhawk case

Pros: faster better and cooler than my old phenom 9950

Cons: oem but nonetheless great!
no cons so far, everything rocks and is working,

Pros: Handles everything I throw at it and that's a lot considering when I game I don't close anything. Unfortunately, it hasn't been able to show me everything it's capable of since it's being bottlenecked by my memory.

Scores 7.4 on WEI
No issues whatsoever
Stays a cool 45-50C even under heavy gaming, which is amazing

Cons: Nada

Pros: If I could make love with this processor I would.... Ok who am I kidding, I did make beautiful love with it. When running MW3 during lots of action, only one core will sometimes max out, it usually sits at 80%(just one core). Never have been able to even hit 100% with 2 cores no matter how many programs I throw at it.

Cons: Only con I can think of is the fact there is no law allowing me to marry this sexy beast.... Hmm there is no law saying I cant either, guess its time to plan the wedding.

Other Thoughts: My build: phenom ii x 4 3.7ghz, asrock 970 extreme3 mobo, 8gb ram(2x4), radeon hd 5550 1gb ddr3 500mhz, corsair h60 liquid cooling, coolmaster case full tower(forgot exact model of case, believe it had 932 in title, has 4 fans built in it and red LED and cost about $140 if I recall correctly), 320gb blue HDD. Nothing overclocked, two monitors.