need advice for a VERY inexpensive quad core

[hfxmike]

I have everything except mobo, cpu and ram.

Will be used for video transcoding and the usual multi-tasking.
(I have a decent case, 8800 GT OC, 2x500gb hds + 1TB hd, 550W PSU)

$400 max. Was thinking of going with the AMD 620/630 quad cpu.

Not sure about the mobo, but here are the requirements for me:
- ATX
- 4 ram slots
- 5 SATA II ports
- 1 PCI-e slot
- 3 PCI slots
- onboard vid
- IDE controller

ram - DDR2 800 probably. 4 gigs

I'll be running 2 monitors initially. Want the onboard so I can add a third with no hassle.

I can get a prebuilt, new quad on ebay for $400 total, BUT
- I hate mATX
- need more PCI slots
- need more SATA ports.
- want 4 ram slots

No preference wrt Intel/AMD, but pretty sure that I want an Asus mobo.

all advice welcome
thanks
mike

[_dangtx_]

x4 620/630 and giga 785g for 200 +-

[sswilson]

Will you be overclocking?

[hfxmike]

Originally Posted by sswilson

Will you be overclocking?

possibly, but only by a slight amount.

is there a cpu/mobo in my price range that would give me a stable overclock?

[hfxmike]

Originally Posted by _dangtx_

x4 620/630 and giga 785g for 200 +-

just checked newegg.ca and the 620 and 630 are the same price!

not sure about the giga 785g Newegg.ca - GIGABYTE GA-MA785GM-US2H AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
i took a look at it and thought that my video card would block 1 or 2 sata ports, then read the customer reviews.

[_dangtx_]

or go for the top of the line(at reasonable price of course) 790 ud4P

[LacrosseTown]

Originally Posted by hfxmike

possibly, but only by a slight amount.

is there a cpu/mobo in my price range that would give me a stable overclock?

maybe this mobo:GIGABYTE 890GPA-UD3H 890GX (140$can)
with this cpu:AMD Athlon II X4 640 (110$can)
and this cpu cooler with that extra cash: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212(30$can)
for small oc'ing this setup will do very well!
and should still give you enough cash to spend on good ram!

if it where me i would go for a gig mobo for middle price!

you get all those slots you wanted and a few more extra and on board vid!

[jonnyrockets]

CPU - AMD X3 720. 6mb cache.
Performance on Games and benches only a little below an x4 940 and 920, actually beats them on fear and crysis low res . . . The jump from 2 to 3 cores is noticable . . . 3 to 4 - negligable unless you're using pograms such as CAD / 3d etc.

Also - if you're lucky - you can unlock the 4th core on the 720. Either way - it's an awesome overclocker. Some are pushing 3.5ghz out of it.

price - under 100 canadian. it's an OEM from newegg - so buy a cooler and you're rockin.

MOBO - me personally - I don't like multi card setups - so one PCI-E x16 slot is good enough - gigabyte something or other. Everyone has their preferences. Asus, gigabyte . . . good boards - me - asus's have bitten me in the ass. Giabytes haven't - but I have friends the other way around.

Newegg.ca - GIGABYTE GA-770TA-UD3 AM3 AMD 770 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
Newegg.ca - AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition Heka 2.8GHz 3 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops
Newegg.ca - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL

300 bucks - Rock and roll my friend.

sell the 8800 for 40 bucks - buy a 5770 for 140 - and you've got your budget there - plus the 5770 will kick the shit outta the 8800.

[jonnyrockets]

Crap - noticed your uses for the machine - and yeah quad core - anyway - you're at around 200 with mobo and rammage - so 200 for cpu brings you into the nice black edition quads from AMD.

[hfxmike]

thanks for all the advice - i didn't get notification of the replies.
i decided to go with this:

Asus M4A79XTD-EVO AM3 Motherboard - $138.00
AMD 635 Quad 2.9Ghz - $118.00
Kingston 2x2GB DDR3-1333Mhz - $66 x 2 = $132
Subtotal = $388
Tax = $50.44
Total = $438.44

decided to buy from a shop down the street from me in case there are any issues. worth the extra bucks.
www.greenlyph.com