Phenom II x4 970 Black Edition.

Game Testing:

Dirt 2:

Battle Field Bad company 2:

Alien vs Predator:

Modern Warfare 2:

Comprehensive Analysis:

You can see that there is a noticeable difference between the performance of the two processors. While it may not warrant an upgrade if you already have the 965BE it is certainly worth it to spend the extra cash and get the 970.

Conclusion:

It can get incredibly expensive to build your gaming rig. Some times you feel like you are faced with the choice between, performance or value. AMD has set the standard for processor value.  Intel does not have a processor that can deliver the performance level of the Phenom II 970BE, in the same price range. AMD has made it possible to take the substantial money you can save on the processor, and migrate it to your video card, where you will see a direct and imperative performance boost. The important thing to take from this is that while AMD is targeting users who desire to save money, they are in no way skimping on the performance. The numbers don’t lie. For the sub $200 market this processor has amazing capability, it allows you to utilize the latest and greatest motherboards with USB 3.0, and SATA 6Gbps, or you can swap an aging AM2+ processor in your older rig for an enormous performance increase that won’t bottleneck your growth potential. AMD has made considerable effort to increase the continuing scalability of their line-up by avoiding major pin changes. Because of the remarkable value and the great performance of this highly capable processor I am awarding it the Awesome Hardware Award.