Q: which is better? FX-74 or X2 6400+? money not an object. power-wise. performance-wise. not about value or bang for the buck. only pure speed and performance. money not an object.
A: FX-74 in DUAL processor mode has slightly better framerates in games below: http://www.techreport.com/articles.x/13633/6 And also excels in media encoding, 3D rendering and SiSoft Sandra Mandelbrot: http://www.techreport.com/articles.x/13633/10 http://www.techreport.com/articles.x/13633/12 http://www.techreport.com/articles.x/13633/14 But gets beaten by X2 6400+ or by X2 6000+ in TF2 or in Oblivion http://www.techreport.com/articles.x/13633/5 http://www.techreport.com/articles.x/12210/3 And falls a bit behind in audio encoding: http://www.techreport.com/articles.x/13633/11 On a SINGLE processor basis, FX-74 will not even match the X2-6000+ or perhaps even an overclocked X2-5000+ BE. One advantage of X2 6400+ in AM2 platform is wider choice of motherboards including those that support PCIe 2.0.