Taking Suggestions: AM3 Platform

lordbeanlordbean Ontario, Canada
edited September 2009 in Hardware
I'm going to be looking to put an AM3 system together since once again I have everything but the mobo / CPU to build yet another PC. Here are the requirements for these 2 parts:

The total must not exceed $300 Canadian (before tax).
The motherboard must support two or more ATI graphics cards in crossfireX configuration.
The motherboard must use DDR2 RAM. I'm not buying extra RAM for the system.
The CPU must have as many cores as will fit into this budget. I don't expect I can do any better than a tri core, but you never know.
Black edition CPU is ok, but if you suggest it, be prepared to suggest an inexpensive, yet fairly good performance HSF setup. If I'm buying black edition, I'm overclocking it.

Fire away!

Comments

  • BuddyJBuddyJ Dept. of Propaganda OKC Icrontian
    edited August 2009
    http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131381

    http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103649

    http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=41337
  • lordbeanlordbean Ontario, Canada
    edited August 2009
    I've placed an order with the local store I often use... the hardware I'll be using is the following:

    Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4P motherboard
    AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition
    Zalman CNPS9700 CPU cooler
    Arctic Silver 5 paste

    this will be built in the Cooler Master HAF 922 I won, with my old OCZ 700W power supply and my two Radeon HD4850s. Should be a fairly peppy system for the $400 spent. I'm expecting to get a decent overclock out of the CPU, too.
  • lordbeanlordbean Ontario, Canada
    edited August 2009
    And yes, I decided if I was building an AMD rig, I was doing it properly. Aside from being down a core, and assuming it achieves a decent overclock, this should end up being nearly as fast a rig as my main gaming PC.

    Hey Cliff, got any advice for a guy who hasn't touched an AMD CPU since the age of the first Athlon 64?
  • ardichokeardichoke Icrontian
    edited August 2009
    Prepare yourself to enter AWESOMETOWN!

    All joking aside, nice choice on motherboard, the ultra-durable series of gigabyte is awesome. You should be able to get a good overclock off of that, not to mention IIRC that board makes it easy to unlock the 4th core on your X3 if you so choose. Just make sure if you do that to do some extensive stability testing.
  • lordbeanlordbean Ontario, Canada
    edited September 2009
    I think I got a stable x4 :D

    It still requires extended testing, but it ran prime95 on small FFTs for half an hour without blowing up or even giving errors. My x3 is seeming fairly likely to actually be an x4.

    It's also peaking at 48 celsius running 8k FFTs. I smell lots of room to OC!

    :rockon:
  • lordbeanlordbean Ontario, Canada
    edited September 2009
    This is now definitely a success story. The CPU is testing fully stable running on 4 cores clocked to 3.23GHz @ stock+0.25 voltage. Essentially, got a Phenom 955 for half the price.

    Gonna start exploring folding in crossfire. We'll see if I can get that working... if not, it'll be two single-card GPU2 clients.
  • miragemirage
    edited September 2009
    lordbean wrote:
    This is now definitely a success story. The CPU is testing fully stable running on 4 cores clocked to 3.23GHz @ stock+0.25 voltage. Essentially, got a Phenom 955 for half the price.

    Gonna start exploring folding in crossfire. We'll see if I can get that working... if not, it'll be two single-card GPU2 clients.

    I know the feeling :) And I also want to play with a Phenom II. Anyway ... congrats and have fun with your awesome rig!
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