Can a good AMD CPU be easily identified?

[ChosterF]

Question in the title:
Can a good AMD CPU be easily identified by the name and what's on the box?

I'm planning to buy a new CPU (AM3, not AM3+) and am going around several shops to look for some, but I would have to hate looking up the benchmarks for every new model i come across.

something like 'anything with B or e is not worth it', or 'multiply the cores by the frequency'.
a rule of thumb kind of thing

 

[Fat.Clown]

phenom is better than athlon
e is for energy efficent
be is black edition
higher core count is generally better. (X6 > X4 > X2)
higher model number is generally better. (phenom II x4 975 > phenom II x4 970)
that's pretty much it.

 

[ChosterF]

ah that helps a lot ,thanks

about the higher model number, at around what number would Athlon be the same speed as a Phenom?
And what's the difference between a standard and a black edition?

 

[Fat.Clown]

From what I understand; Athlons are generally 10 to 15% slower than phenoms at the same clock speed.
I could be wrong.

black editions have unlocked multiplier, easier to overclock. if you do not overclock this does not concern you.

 

[Trotter]

Athlons are very similar to Phenoms, but only have half the on-die cache as the Phenoms.

Black Edition CPUs are unlocked and are designed to be overclocked easier than standard edition CPUs whose multiplier is locked.