Advice on CPU/RAM/MOBO

Tiamat

Tiamat

Tiamat

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Joined
9 Feb 2009
Posts
33
My current motherboard is dying on me, and i've needed an excuse to upgrade the three basic components for a while anyway. Unfortunately ive been out of the research loop for about three years since I built my current rig;

A64 x2 4400 @ 2.6ghz
Asus A8N32 SLI-Deluxe
2x1Gb Corsair PC4000 DDR
8800GT 512Mb

It is still actually holding up quite well, running most of the latest games pretty much maxxed at 1680x1050 but is definitely beginning to falter. I basically need advice on an upgrade for the cpu/mobo/ram. My budget is £500 (kinda flexible but I'd rather stay under).

I am adamant on Quad core, because it will come in useful on my Uni course and a decently overclocked quad will handle any game I throw at it.
Which brings me to the quads I was looking at; the Phenom II x4 940 BE, the Intel Core 2 Quads from Q6600 up until the Q9550. Either way from what I have now any of these will give me a significant performance increase.

I am not interested in an i7...I just don;t need that kind of power at the moment, and a good DDR2 system would suit me fine for a year or two. I would like a good overclocker (this CPU will be accompanied by a TRUE or something similar).

How are the latest batches of C2 Quads? Do they overclock well still after all this time? What about the stepping/revisions?

Also, how are the Phenom II systems you guys have been building faring? I have heard mixed reviews all over the net and don't really know what to think. I would in theory like to stay under 400-450 for the CPU/Mobo/Ram so I have an excuse to go a bit over and stick a 4870 1Gb in there as well.

My main interests are in value for money and high overclockability, so any help you can give to a guy who has been out of the loop for too long would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

EDIT*: Oh yeah, I have an OCZ GameXstream 700W at the moment...which Im sure will still be enough wattage-wise but I dont know much about the amp rating this thing provides or how much will be required by the upgrade I settle with.
 
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Easily doable, here you go

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 LGA775 'Yorkfield' 2.83GHz 12MB-cache (1333FSB) Processor - Retail £241.49 (£209.99)
Gigabyte GA-EP43-DS3L Intel P43 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £80.49 (£69.99)
OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 PC2-8500 Gold Edition 4GB Dual Channel (OCZ2G10664GK) £44.84 (£38.99)
Sub Total : £318.97
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DHL @ Home Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £8.49
VAT is being charged at 15% VAT : £49.12
Total : £376.58

Re mobo: that board is great value for money, your other option would be to spend a bit more and get a decent P45 chipset (bout £30) which would allow you to use 2 cards in crossfire, if you're not planning on crossfiring then the P43 will be fine for you
Re cpu: if you want to you can get the slower Q6600, but considiring your budget this is a better option due to the faster stock speed, higher FSB and larger cache
Re RAM: with a gigabyte board, OCZ is fine, there are some compatability issues with OCZ and asus (I have both and have no issues but they are reported), if you went for an asus board Id recomend Corsair RAM but at over twice the price its not worth it
Budget: You can throw in a 4870 and only be just over your initial 500 :)
 
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how about this mate.? :p

Product Name Qty Price Line Total
GX-120-XF_60.jpg
XFX ATI Radeon HD 4870 1024MB GDDR5 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) + Company of Heroes Bundle - Retail £183.99
(£159.99) £183.99
(£159.99)
CP-235-AM_60.jpg
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 920 2.8GHz (Socket AM2+) - Retail £160.99
(£139.99) £160.99
(£139.99)
MB-311-AS_60.jpg
Asus M3A78-T AMD 790GX (Socket AM2+) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £114.99
(£99.99) £114.99
(£99.99)
MY-136-CS_60.jpg
Corsair 4GB DDR2 XMS2 PC2-6400C5 TwinX (2x2GB) £45.99
(£39.99) £45.99
(£39.99) Sub Total : £439.96 Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DHL @ Home Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £8.99 VAT is being charged at 15% VAT : £67.34 Total : £516.29
 
about the two CPU's you guys mentioned;

Q9550 @ 2.83 Ghz
Phenom II x4 920 @ 2.8 Ghz

These both have locked multipliers...so what does that translate into in terms of overclocking capability? I know it comes down to latest batches and steppings so have you any idea how these latest offerings at OCUK perform in that respect? It is on a chip-to-chip basis as well so the batches/revisions/steppings only mean so much.
 
What's a resepctable price to drop to for a decent motherboard? I was thinkin no more than £100 but if i can get a beasty one for less I'd rather do that. Have no need for SLI/Crossfire really. Although I could always stick my 8800GT in there as a PhysX processor lol.
 
Quixote said:
I think the AMD spec should have the PII 940 with a cheaper motherboard, the faster stock and unlocked multi is well worth it and £115 is too much for a motherboard.

This :

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-108-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=808

or even this :

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-111-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=805

should do.
Click to expand...

I thought the Phenom II's only worked in AM2+ boards? That first one is AM2 only I think.
 
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