One of my computers uses this item from AMD. I do not know much about computers but I can share my experience with this product. My experience has been very positive and even though this does not have four cores, I can tell you that a lot of things can be done with all four cores. So I do the typical things on my desktop computer; on the Internet playing online poker watching some movies and playing games once in a while on a big title comes out. With some games I will lag a bit but as long as I have the graphics options at a reasonable settings, this processor seems to do pretty well. So far, I have no need to upgrade as it does things well the vast majority of times. Portals people interested, this item from what I've read online is good for tweaking. If you are interested in that type of game, I'm sure it is a positive attribute that can be appreciated if you know how to do it.

woonrandy

Arcadia, CA

The phenom 555 is a really good processor. It is one of the cheapest processors that deliver incredible performance. As such it is one of the best bang for buck processors you can currently buy. Many enthusiasts are unlocking cores on the phenom 555, making the deal incredibly slick. But the fact is that even with just dual cores, the phenom 555 is able to compete with some quad cores like the AMD Athlon series. Corp. for core, the phenom 555 is really hard to contend with. This processor can be used for simple tasks and it can also be used for very resource intensive things like some of the new computer games are out right now. AMD is coming out with new processors and I think this may cause the phenom 555 to go lower in price which is a very good thing.

nattyoung

La Jolla, CA

This is not as fast as Intel's i series like the i5 or i7. That's not necessarily a bad thing since you are paying a lot less for it. If you're okay with that, then the 555 cpu is not a bad processor to build with. It is easily overclockable since AMD did not lock the multiplier on this one. Actually AMD does this with all their black box processors so this is not just exclusive to the 555. My 555 idles less than thirty degrees celcius and at load will be arounf forty degrees. These are very cold temperatures and nothing alarming at all. Modern processors are actually able to go as high as 60 degrees consistently, although 70 and 80 are reasons for concern. I use my processor to play games and to do some homework, some online poker and the like. I'm not disappointed at the performance and feel that I really got my money's worth. What I like is that AMD has announced that the AM3 processors will be able to fit into the upcoming AM3+ boards so I will just recycle this processor.

nkiearly

La Jolla, CA

A bit disappointed that my phenom II 555 black edition did not unlock. This is not an indcation of malfunction of poor quality however since I paid for a dual core and a dual core is what I got. If you are trying to get a quadcore to unlock out of this 555 then I advise you to just simply purchase a quadcore directly. The 555s originally had a chance to unlock to a quad or a triple core pretty easily but it appears that the newer ones have significanly lower chances of unlocking cores. But, the phenom II 555 black edition is very good even with just two cores enabled. I can play games, listen to music, and do the everyday tasks with just two cores no problem. The unlocking is really icing on the cake and if you do happen to unlock your 555 into a quadcore then you are in for a real treat as you paid for a dual core but got roughly double the performance. The 555 black edition comes in a simple box with a fan. There is also a small AMD sticker that you can post up on your rig.

steytrayskye

La Crescenta, CA

Pretty impressed with this Phenom II X2 so far. I really thought two cores was going to be a drag but it's actually not even noticeable. I purchased this online in hopes of unlocking the two cores to make it a x4. Went into the bios and tried to unlock, and unfortunately it will go into Windows, limping, and then blue screen on me and become unstable. The cores on my Phenom II X2 are unstable and I cannot unlock them. So, I am one of the unlucky ones who cannot unlock at all. This was a bit disappointing of course given that people all around me are unlocking this, but that's chance for you. Sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you don't. So I am stuck with this dual core 555 and I have been using it ever since, saving up my money to buy a quadcore when I have the money. But during the time that I've had it and used it, I have realized that a X2 does remarkably well. I have not expereinced any overall slowness or felt that my processor was bottlenecking my entire system.

gentroma

San Marino, CA

The Phenom II processor are great processors for work and office work. My mom wanted to build a little office in one of the empty rooms in our home and she put me to the task of building her two computers after the room renovation was finished. I decided to choose the Phenom II 555. So far it's working out really good and there has been no problems. These processors are actually quadcore processors but come out of the box with two that work. You can unlock a core, or if you are lucky you can unlock both. One of the processors unlocked a core and is now a triple core, while the other 555 processor did not unlock any cores. That's a bummer but it's acceptable. Any extra cores are cores you didn't pay for so it's more of a cherry on top type of thing than a disadvantage. The processors run really cold, even with the stock heatsink that comes with them. For office use these dual core processors don't put out a lot of heat and are good enough for everyday use.

zoleinoto

Montebello, CA

AMD's 555 processor is a very good chip for the money. Almost every place these days sells it for 89.99 and it can only go lower from there. At that price it's really good for people who are looking into building a computer without spending a lot of money. I recommend this processor for those builders who are building computer systems for their family members or for friends who do not play any games. It will do alright in games, although there are better alternatives for gaming computers so the 555 probably is not the best candidate for gaming, although it can play most games with great frames per second. The 555 phenom II is as reliable as any other processor and I have never had a processor fail on me. The 555 phenom II does not seem like it will break that tradition as I have no indication that it will stop working. It is only a dual core so it doesn't have huge power needs. It will work on almost any board that accepts the Phenom II socket (AM3) since its power reqs are so low.

rimshp

San Marcos, CA

The C3 stepping of the 555 handle overclocking pretty decently. If you pick up a C3 version of the 555 chances are you can hit 3.9 and maybe over 4.0 with this processor. You can tell what stepping you have by looking at the label on your processor; it's printed on the phenom II 555. This processor is not the fastest out there but it is the fastest dual core from AMD. During the time that I have owned it the 555 phenom II seems very capable of performing most computer applications. The processor is a 45nm processor and its TDP I believe is 95w. In any case, the 555 phenom II is very lean and does not require a lot of power to operate. This is good since it will fit into most AM3 processor motherboards with its small TDP requirement. This means you do not need a 140w TDP motherboard. Because it has an unlocked multiplier, the 555 phenom II is easier to overclock than one without the unlocked multiplier. The phenom II 555 is pretty nice, nothing too fancy but nothing to laugh at either.

glacialspi

San Marcos, CA

I recently moved and left my old desktop in storage, so I wanted to build another desktop to use for the time being. Knowing AMD is great at the price and performance ratio game, I decided to pick up one of these chips. While it's true that you can unlock them to quad cores, I had no such luck with mine. But I certainly didn't pay the price for a quad core, and I was unable to unlock the processor into a tri core. With a tiny voltage bump, I was able to overclock the processor to 3.6GHz. Electricity costs are high in my area, so I decided to keep it at a humble 3.6GHz for now -- though I have no doubts I can reach 3.8 to 4.0 GHz. I use a Hyper 212+ Cooler Master CPU Heatsink with the default thermal paste and my processor idles around 25C and runs at load below 40C. In fact, the heatsink fan never has to spin up any higher than 700 RPM because the chip just runs so cool. All in all, it is a fantastic value for the price.

Seion

Milpitas, CA

The AMD Phenom X2 555 BE is a good little chip. When I was building my computer I had a toss up between this and the Intel i3 540. This was about 2/3 the price and had the potential to unlock to 3 or 4 cores. So I got this and so far its been a great little chip, I was only able to unlock it to a tri core, but it is running at 4Ghz. It is plenty fast for gaming and general use, although for crunching numbers, video editing, etc.. the Intel i3 chip would have been faster. In gaming applications this chip is nearly identical in performance to the i3 counterpart. I have done side by side comparisons and it is shot for shot similar in frames per second. The only difference is in heavy CPU usage programs, the intel chips will be slightly faster. Overall if I was making another budget computer build, I would not hesitate using another AMD processor, they are plenty quick, low power usage, low heat output, and reliable.

therapychick717

South Windsor, CT