AMD CPU + Motherboard recommendations ~£170

dan653 · 11 Dec 2011 at 21:34

Okay so I'm doing a budget gaming build (8gb RAM, HD6850 for a 1080p display) as a xmas present but am a little unfamiliar with AMDs current CPU+Chipset line up, from what I've read I should steer clear of Bulldozer and stick with the Phenom II stuff.

Seems to be toss up between a 1055t or a 960t? (and possibly attempt to unlock it???)

As for the the motherboard preferably ATX, AM3+ socket, SATA3 & USB3?

Budget ~£170 for the two.

Many thanks.

scrlk · 11 Dec 2011 at 22:05

Have you considered an Intel system - they are much faster than AMD for most tasks.

dan653 · 11 Dec 2011 at 22:16

Yeah, I've got an i5 2500k P67 setup myself but they're just too much money, when gaming on a budget the money is better spent elsewhere (gfx, ram, ssd)

I'm a fan of Sandybridge but they're the same price (if not slightly more now) than 9 months ago when I built my PC.

MOOGLEYS · 12 Dec 2011 at 09:14

Product Name Qty Price Line Total
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 960T Black Edition "95W Edition" 3.00GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 960T Black Edition "95W Edition" 3.00GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £95.99
(£79.99) £95.99
(£79.99)
MSI 870A-G54 AMD 870 (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard MSI 870A-G54 AMD 870 (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £65.98
(£54.98) £65.98
(£54.98)
Sub Total : £134.97
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.00
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £28.79
Total : £172.76

I use the above and the cpu runs as an x6 at 4ghz without issue. The board I got was also the FX model which is AM3+.

dan653 · 12 Dec 2011 at 09:53

that's good to know, is it just a switch in the BIOS to attempt an unlock or do you need to flash an alternative BIOS?

MOOGLEYS · 12 Dec 2011 at 10:07

dan653 said:
that's good to know, is it just a switch in the BIOS to attempt an unlock or do you need to flash an alternative BIOS?

Option in the Bios. You select unlock, the pc restarts and that's it all 6 cores unlocked. Just remember although it's a good chance it will not all 960t's will unlock. The three that I have used in builds have all unlocked fine.

Simon D · 12 Dec 2011 at 10:55

MOOGLEYS said:
I use the above and the cpu runs as an x6 at 4ghz without issue. The board I got was also the FX model which is AM3+.

What voltages did your MSI board set to get to 4Ghz?

Did it change any other settings in the bios?

I unlock all my cores OK on my 960T with my board OK

But on my board I had to do the old manual O/C way by changing the CPU multiplier and increase the CPU volts to 1.44 - 1.48v and kept the memory at 1333.

I am using CPUID HWMonitor and watching TMPIN1 (CPU temp) I am showing temperatures to 52DegC with all 6 cores under 100% load after 8 hours of stress testing the machine with four sticks of memory.