Amd upgrade

[Mumbly]

_dangtx_: Thank you tons for the links again. I have some reading to do. Not sure why I am having such a hard time deciding.


Soultribunal: Thanks for the link on the Asus board. I searched on pricebat and might be able to get it Pm'd for $119.75 assuming it is valid. I had looked at $130 boards only as a future proofing measure. I wasn't sure if it was a good idea to spend a little more to get crossfire x8. Looking at the Asus board though I noticed it was 4x in crossfire.


JD: Sadly I don't upgrade vid cards often which is why I am looking at the warranty. I typically only upgrade when I have to so it could be years until I eventually upgrade.

I had looked at going with the I5-750 or I5-760 but I had a terrible time deciding on a board. I soon found myself liking the $160+ boards and that was a bit out of my price range. Is the board in the combo you linked a decent board or should I try pm'ing some other alternative boards? For example...when I was doing my search last week I came across this Msi P55-GD85 board for $162.15 - $30mir = $132.51

MSI P55-GD85 ATX LGA1156 P55 DDR3 2PCI-E16 CrossFire SLI 2PCI-E1 2PCI eSATA SATA6 USB3.0 Motherboard - DirectCanada


Killswitch: Thank you for responding. I didn't notice that the 940 needed DDR2. I appreciate you pointing that out. So as far as the X4's it's the 945, 955, 965 and 970 that are the AM3 DDR3's?


I really appreciate all your responses. Please keep them coming.

[Soultribunal]

Originally Posted by Mumbly

_dangtx_: Thank you tons for the links again. I have some reading to do. Not sure why I am having such a hard time deciding.


Soultribunal: Thanks for the link on the Asus board. I searched on pricebat and might be able to get it Pm'd for $119.75 assuming it is valid. I had looked at $130 boards only as a future proofing measure. I wasn't sure if it was a good idea to spend a little more to get crossfire x8. Looking at the Asus board though I noticed it was 4x in crossfire.


JD: Sadly I don't upgrade vid cards often which is why I am looking at the warranty. I typically only upgrade when I have to so it could be years until I eventually upgrade.

I had looked at going with the I5-750 or I5-760 but I had a terrible time deciding on a board. I soon found myself liking the $160+ boards and that was a bit out of my price range. Is the board in the combo you linked a decent board or should I try pm'ing some other alternative boards? For example...when I was doing my search last week I came across this Msi P55-GD85 board for $162.15 - $30mir = $132.51

MSI P55-GD85 ATX LGA1156 P55 DDR3 2PCI-E16 CrossFire SLI 2PCI-E1 2PCI eSATA SATA6 USB3.0 Motherboard - DirectCanada


Killswitch: Thank you for responding. I didn't notice that the 940 needed DDR2. I appreciate you pointing that out. So as far as the X4's it's the 945, 955, 965 and 970 that are the AM3 DDR3's?


I really appreciate all your responses. Please keep them coming.

Anything AM3 socket is DDR3 , though AM3 chips can work in DDR2 AM2+ boards with a proper BIOS.
Although I do admit that 16x/4x is an odd configuration for X-fire I noticed no real diminishing returns on a X-Fired 6850 with my friends 785TD-V EVO Board, and that has an older chipset.

NCIX.com - Buy ASUS M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 AM3 DDR3 AMD 890GX ATX 2PCI-E16 PCI-E1 PCI-E4 2PCI VGA DVI Motherboard - M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 In Canada.

See if you can pricematch that board cheaper. Its 8X/8X if you are worried about starving your cards for bandwidth. Again its a solid board using 8+2 phase power distribution which is a marked improvment over the inital GB boards Dan posted (I've never been a fan of 4+1 on higher end CPU's) Not to say its bad, but I always like more for peace of mind.

Decisions are always hard to make for these things, again do your research and see what works best for your budget and build plan. We are here to give advice but at the end of the day it is what you want.

ST

[JD]

Originally Posted by Mumbly

JD: Sadly I don't upgrade vid cards often which is why I am looking at the warranty. I typically only upgrade when I have to so it could be years until I eventually upgrade.

I had looked at going with the I5-750 or I5-760 but I had a terrible time deciding on a board. I soon found myself liking the $160+ boards and that was a bit out of my price range. Is the board in the combo you linked a decent board or should I try pm'ing some other alternative boards? For example...when I was doing my search last week I came across this Msi P55-GD85 board for $162.15 - $30mir = $132.51

MSI P55-GD85 ATX LGA1156 P55 DDR3 2PCI-E16 CrossFire SLI 2PCI-E1 2PCI eSATA SATA6 USB3.0 Motherboard - DirectCanada

That's a decent looking board. The Gigabyte one which was part of the combo is a value-class board basically. Nothing wrong with it, but it probably won't obtain as high clocks as more feature rich boards. My main goal when making that list was price.

As for the video card, should it break after 3 years, I'd strongly recommend buying the current generation of cards at that time. It's likely that even a $100 card would out perform it. Choice is yours really though, nothing wrong with XFX either. It'll just cost you slightly more. Alternatively, I'd also recommend an EVGA GTX460 (either 768MB or 1GB). They have amazing support (better than XFX I'd say), and the GTX460 compares pretty well to the HD6850.

[_dangtx_]

Socket AM3 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"
Compatibility

Socket AM3 breaks compatibility with AM2/AM2+ processors due to a subtle change in key placement. The AM3 socket has 941 pin contacts[1] while current AM3 processors have only 938 pins. Tom's Hardware removed the two obstructing key pins from an AM2+ Phenom processor in order to fit it into an AM3 socket. The processor did not work in the AM3 socket, but still worked in an AM2+ socket, suggesting that compatibility issues run deeper than merely the key pins.[3] It is likely due to the fact that the built-in memory controller in AM2/AM2+ processors only supports DDR2 (unlike AM3 processors, which supports both DDR2 & DDR3 memory).[4]
As AM3 processors also support DDR2, they are backwards-compatible with Socket AM2/AM2+, contingent upon a BIOS update for the motherboard. Manufacturers including Asus,[5] Gigabyte,[6] and others have labeled existing AM2/AM2+ boards as being "AM3 Ready" or similar, indicating that BIOS support is provided for the specified boards. This allows existing AM2/AM2+ systems to upgrade the CPU without having to upgrade any other components.

"

right on. having loads of ddr2 laying around i sometimes forget :)

[Mumbly]

Soultribunal: Seems I can pm that board for $134.99 which seems decent enough. I think my biggest issue is that I don't really know what I want. That is to say that I don't have a preference over intel vs amd at this time and so I am trying to get the best items that I can for my budget and have it last for a while. Seems like it can be about a $50-$70 savings to go with amd but I don't know if that is a small enough amount to not go with Intel.


JD: Sound advice on the video cards and I like your thinking. In regards to the board, I had seen that bundle but I wasn't sure on the board as I don't know much about the intel based stuff. I was trying to figure out if there were other options available. I had hoped that there was a clear winner when it came to a board that screamed "this is the one to have!!". That doesn't seem to be the case so it makes it tougher for me not knowing enough about what I want and having no personal preference.

Just too many choices for me.

[_dangtx_]

if you are truly undecided, than wait a bit more till prices go down further, and then make the choice. if you can wait without your mains up and going that is.

i should put this in my sig one of these days : intel+budget=i3+h/p 55. for amd its easy with the above quads(and board that takes them,of course)

you get better power figures with the i3 build vs the amd quad, which will win over the i3 where 4 real cores are needed vs the afformentioned2+2. +- same price. ive built both, and unless you need the extra juice usually not worth it go fo 750/760 or a faster quad/hexa for amd.

[Mumbly]

_dangtx_: I wish I could wait but with this back-up board I am unable to all 2gb of ram to work for some reason so I am down to 1gb which doesn't run so well in World of Warcraft. I was content with my x2 3800+ 939 with 2gb but the DFI Ultra-d died on me so I am now down to an Asus A8R-MVP. The ram worked fine in my DFI Ultra-d.

I had planned to just buy a 6850 and hold off on the build as we first discussed last month but things have changed for the worse and I am unable to play well with 1gb of ram. In the meantime I guess I could try to find a solution to getting my other two sticks of ram to work but it doesn't look good.

If you think you can help with that I would love to hear it!!


JD: Just an update....the I5-750 combo you had linked is sold out now...lol. Back to the drawing board.

Sorry for all the questions guys. I am starting to panic now and so my question might get repetitive and silly.


Mumbly

[_dangtx_]

well, ok. try timings,relax them, maybe add more voltage, see dual channel vs single channel.


although...seriously man just get yourself a cheap 785 mobo(the egg has a 55 dollar one) and the 99 dollar quad again at the egg or the i3 ud2/3 combo and call it a day. either or will be fine, are more or less in the same price bracket and based on your usage mentioned before youll be cool :p

[JD]

Originally Posted by Mumbly

JD: Sound advice on the video cards and I like your thinking. In regards to the board, I had seen that bundle but I wasn't sure on the board as I don't know much about the intel based stuff. I was trying to figure out if there were other options available. I had hoped that there was a clear winner when it came to a board that screamed "this is the one to have!!". That doesn't seem to be the case so it makes it tougher for me not knowing enough about what I want and having no personal preference.

Just too many choices for me.

Totally agree with you here. There simply are far too many P55 motherboards. It's insane how they can have that many really. Anything around the $150 price-point should be solid enough though. I currently have 4 ASUS boards running and 2 Gigabyte boards (one is a 890GPA actually). All have worked perfectly.

Originally Posted by Mumbly

JD: Just an update....the I5-750 combo you had linked is sold out now...lol. Back to the drawing board.

That sucks, though more deals will be like it. This week should be Black Friday/Cyber Monday.

If you want quick and cheap, go with a i3 + H55 or a Phenom II X4 + 880G/890GX. Both still leave you some room to grow in the future.

[Soultribunal]

Originally Posted by Mumbly

Soultribunal: Seems I can pm that board for $134.99 which seems decent enough. I think my biggest issue is that I don't really know what I want. That is to say that I don't have a preference over intel vs amd at this time and so I am trying to get the best items that I can for my budget and have it last for a while. Seems like it can be about a $50-$70 savings to go with amd but I don't know if that is a small enough amount to not go with Intel.


JD: Sound advice on the video cards and I like your thinking. In regards to the board, I had seen that bundle but I wasn't sure on the board as I don't know much about the intel based stuff. I was trying to figure out if there were other options available. I had hoped that there was a clear winner when it came to a board that screamed "this is the one to have!!". That doesn't seem to be the case so it makes it tougher for me not knowing enough about what I want and having no personal preference.

Just too many choices for me.

The board should be solid. At the end of the day its your budget and what you want in the end. I've found AMD to be a bit longer lived and the boards to have all the features I need. The biggest selling point for me is support, because things can and will go wrong.
On the AMD side GB and ASUS have never done bad, but MSI has. For Intel EVGA has always been a solid choice.

I honestly think that a nice AMD system coupled with a pair of 6850's would be sufficent. But again, that is just my opinion.

ST