I'm Back Again :)
Jammin1911
Icrontian
Hi everyone,
Once every 1-2 years I come back to visit my old home here at Icrontic to say hi and to pick the brains of my favorite guru's so here I am.
So first of all, hi
Whenever I'm ready to build a new system I come here and ask this same question and I've always had a lot of great advice from you all.
At almost any point in time there is always one or two motherboards and processors that really seem to stick out as great value for your dollar and because I no longer follow tech trends I come to you all and I've had great luck with this method in the past.
I remember my first recommendation from a thread like this was a K7S5A - I know you all remember that one too. Cheap and.. at the time, packed the latest features, supported the latest memory, etc. That's what I'm looking for.
As far as my needs goes, I just want something that will last me a couple of years of [not really playing many games] good reliable windows 7 use. I have the storage and I have a pci-e (16x?) video card already. (radeon hd 4650, its kinda crap but it fufills my needs for now)
Mostly just looking for a memory and cpu upgrade. Not picky about # of cores, whatever is most cost effective. I've never been an AMD guy but I'd be willing to try if the price is right.
Thanks in advance. Love and miss you all!!
Once every 1-2 years I come back to visit my old home here at Icrontic to say hi and to pick the brains of my favorite guru's so here I am.
So first of all, hi
Whenever I'm ready to build a new system I come here and ask this same question and I've always had a lot of great advice from you all.
At almost any point in time there is always one or two motherboards and processors that really seem to stick out as great value for your dollar and because I no longer follow tech trends I come to you all and I've had great luck with this method in the past.
I remember my first recommendation from a thread like this was a K7S5A - I know you all remember that one too. Cheap and.. at the time, packed the latest features, supported the latest memory, etc. That's what I'm looking for.
As far as my needs goes, I just want something that will last me a couple of years of [not really playing many games] good reliable windows 7 use. I have the storage and I have a pci-e (16x?) video card already. (radeon hd 4650, its kinda crap but it fufills my needs for now)
Mostly just looking for a memory and cpu upgrade. Not picky about # of cores, whatever is most cost effective. I've never been an AMD guy but I'd be willing to try if the price is right.
Thanks in advance. Love and miss you all!!
0
Comments
You'll get many conflicting answers for this generation; the simple fact is that for most purposes (especially yours), both platforms are basically the same. You'll get slightly higher math performance with Intel, but you'll get slightly better efficiency and economy with AMD.
Right now, it's really hard to beat the value that AMD provides; their Phenom II line is pretty much brilliant.
Good to see you back
BTW, I have an "old" Core 2 Quad with DDR2 memory that I just built this spring. It's PLENTY fast for almost all the games out there. This is an awesome time to buy stuff if you like options.
Thanks for the ultra fast responses.
I'm going to do some looking around now to see what I can find.
Where the hell is Thrax?!
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103471&cm_re=phenom_II-_-19-103-471-_-Product
Assuming this is a decent choice I think that I need some help on the MB selection. The Gigabyte UltraDurable mentioned above seems good but I don't see them for sale. Am I to assume the models ending in UD3 and UD4 are the UltraDurables?
Any recommendations? I'm not too familiar with the memory situation on the market right now but I assume DDR3 is the way to go or is it silly expensive?
DDR3 is the way to go for performance. Looks like you can pick up a good 4G kit for about $140. DDR2 isn't anything to sneeze at though. My main rig at home still runs a low latency 4G DDR2 kit and performs quite well with my Phenom II X4. It really comes down to how much you want to spend. Just make sure you get an AM2+/AM3 board if you decide to go DDR2 or a pure AM3 board if you decide on DDR3.
I think I'm almost there.
This is what I've chosen so far:
GIGABYTE GA-790XTA-UD4 AM3 AMD 790X SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
Item #: N82E16813128416
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128416
AMD Phenom II X4 945 Deneb 3.0GHz Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Model HDX945WFGMBOX
Item #: N82E16819103809
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103809
Assuming those seem OK, I'm not sure what speed DDR3 I should be purchasing?
The cheapest 4GB pair is this one:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231207
If the cheapest way to go is not ideal (I have no idea what benefits I get from more expensive memory).. here is the list of all 4GB DDR3 pairs:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010170147%201052315794&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=20&RandomID=76721761014625020100612220116
The only other thing I think I'll need is a case and PSU.
Do AMD processors come packaged with decent cooling fans?
Is there a case recommendation? Can I just get something like this for a PSU and Case?
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811162042
Minus that ridiculous huge fan it seems ok
Thanks again
John
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227478
Fast, almost the lowest CAS latency you can get at that speed too. Overall it should be a great performer for the price. If you want to go cheaper this is the cheapest 4G DDR3 1333 kit they have
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231253
If you ask me though, it's really worth it to spend the 10 extra dollars to get the OCZ RAM with the lower CAS latency.