CPU exchange question.

[Kaiser]

Okay so I will be replacing a CPU on this AM2/AM2+/AM3 mobo (ASUS M4A78) in upcoming months and I do have a 450W PSU. I have a question which I can't answer myself yet.

Is it better to get high clocked Phenom II X2 or low clocked Phenom II X4 because my PSU would'nt handle a 125W at full load (read: of all components. FOR EXAMPLE when rendering a huge landscape, load would be 100% for all CPU, GPU and HDD that's when the PSU would break). 95W Phenom II X4s is the max I can handle. I won't change the PSU because it would be too costy. I would do that when exchanging that goddamn OC'd HD 4770.

My specs:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ 3,1 Ghz Brisbane (89W)
4GB of DDR2-800
Ati HD 4770 PowerColor OC'd ( I think it's 256MB )
80+80 IDE Hdds
250GB SATA
250GB USB drive (connected most of time)
500GB Firewire drive (VERY rarely connected)
Obviously KB + USB Mouse + PS2/USB Converter

[Ed Oscuro]

If you are rendering landscapes in say a graphics program (not a game, but this also applies to games), if the program is newer that should be a video card task.

Here's a neat tool you can use to get an idea about how much power will be needed to run your system:

http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

Just plug in the various components and you're good to go.

Incidentally I see that motherboard is a 2009 model, according to Amazon...not sure which exact revision you have. It's newer than my Core i7 motherboard though!

[ED-057]

I just looked on Newegg, and there is a Phenom II X4 945 which is 95W and it runs at 3GHz. There are also cheaper Athlon X4 and X3 chips that are 95W and run at 3GHz.