Cant decide on AM3 upgrade

[rob77]

Hi

First time poster but have been reading on here for a while. I'd just like some advice on an upgrade if anyone could help

Current specs are:
4200+
a8n-sli
2gb ram
hd4830
500w coolermaster extreme power psu
Vista ultime x64

Ive decided its time for an upgrade on the motherboard/cpu/ram front and have been looking at the phenom2 720be which I like the sound of from various reviews ive read. I'm just not sure on what motherboard to do this on. I was going to go for an am3 motherboard but after reading various posts on here im not too sure now. I thought an am3 motherboard would be a little more future proof than a am2+ and would allow me in the future to just pop in a faster phenom 2. I'll probably want to keep this system for the next 2-3 years just upgrading graphic card, cpu and memory if needed. A little confused that is all and any advice would be most appreciated

Thanks

Rob

 

[ro55o]

Hi and welcome.

The 720 BE does seem to perform really well and the great thing with it being backwards compatible aswell. The AM3 mobo and DDR3 ram will cost you more than the equivalent AM2+ and DDR2, but like you said may last you longer. Although any newer, faster AM3 CPU to come out should still work back with the AM2+ boards. It just depends on your budget. Performance will be roughly the same for both setups.

 

[ro55o]

It really depends on what motherboard you pick. You can get slightly cheaper AM3 baords and also more expensive AM2+ boards.

 

[rob77]

Thanks for the reply ro55o

So basically the performance from the faster ddr3 memory won't make much of a difference at all? Also the am2+ motherboard you recommended, will am3 CPU drop straight in or will it require a bios update first?

Cheers

 

[dagwoood]

Also the am2+ motherboard you recommended, will am3 CPU drop straight in or will it require a bios update first?

That board booted with my AM3 CPU; it didn't know what processor it was, but it set the speeds/settings correctly and allowed me to get into the BIOS and flash to the latest version.

 

[feeddagoat]

+1 for AM2+
Im personally holding off until some decent AM3 boards are released and fully tested before upgrading but also AM2+ is cheaper probally for the same performance

 

[rob77]

Thanks for that dagwood, how do you find the biostar?

I really just dont know what to do for the best now, hold off for other am3 boards or go am2+. Is the gigabyte am3 board any good?

 

[dagwoood]

Thanks for that dagwood, how do you find the biostar?

It was nice to come across a motherboard that detected all my component settings correctly from the get go (ie, correct VID for the processor, ran my RAM at the correct speed/timings and detected all my drives correctly), and that was before the BIOS flash. So it seems pretty user friendly in that regard.

There are also lots of options to tweak/overclock just about everything, in fact, there're that many options it's going to take me a while to work out what everything does

 

[Gunnar]

Hi,
Going through the same thoughts as the original poster.
Just wondering what the coolers are like on the retail Processors these days ?
Or which cooler you'd recommend ?

Cheers,
Pete.