That's a good option worth considering, I'll have a look for a decent dongle that can run 802.11n 300Mb/s on Linux cheers.
AM3+ or FM2+ ?
- Thread starter Indigo340
- Start date
That's a good option worth considering, I'll have a look for a decent dongle that can run 802.11n 300Mb/s on Linux cheers.
Regarding your initial question
Indigo340;26871497 So my question is this; Is it worth going down the FM2 route in order to get the best from SATA3 with an SSD (and accept the performance hit of the 760K) or stick with the AM3+ and maybe go for the FX4300 or FX6300 and put up with a 6GB/s SSD running at half it's potential speed ? Suggestions/links most welcome :)[/QUOTE said:I had an Fx6300 paired with a Gigabyte 78LMT-USB3,which is one of the very few mATX boards in the am3+ range.It does however only have Sata2 rather than sata3.I used an SSD on it(Samsung 840 pro) and obviously due to only having sata2 instead of sata3 i didnt get the full maximization of the Drives speed.It was still lightning fast tho.Im now running the same drive on a mobo with Sata3,and honestly i cannot tell the difference.It is obviously faster,but in noway does it feel faster than before.The main benefit of SSD's is the fast seek times and read/writes,for these it doesnt matter its still so fast you cant percieve the difference.
The motherboard itself is extremely cheap,aswell as being reliable and having heatsinked VRM's which would aid you greatly should you chose to overclock a CPU with it at a later date
Personally i would reccomend a cheap Intel mAtx mobo paired with the Pentium anniversary addition for you.
But as you have said your not really into gaming and wont be doing any rendering ect,and you would rather stick with AMD an fx6300 should be more than adequate for your needs,you would be able to get that CPU and the motherboard i mentioned above together for £100(or maybe a little less)
Its in its own right a nice CPU(pity about the IPC tho)
tbh, just get an ssd.
plug it into your current rig and see if you like the speeds. if you don't, then upgrade the rig.
the only thing you're missing out is the large file transfer speeds (3gbps vs 6gbps)
for all other things (eg random reads/writes) the difference is negligible
plug it into your current rig and see if you like the speeds. if you don't, then upgrade the rig.
the only thing you're missing out is the large file transfer speeds (3gbps vs 6gbps)
for all other things (eg random reads/writes) the difference is negligible
Thanks for that guys, it really helps.
As I said in the beginning, I'll probably do an incremental 'upgrade', one piece at a time over a couple of months and there is no harm starting with an SSD. Using compatible AM3+ components also means that I don't need to buy the CPU and mobo at the same time too. I have not been dissatistfied with the M5A-78L but it just lacks the 6GB/s SATA bus which started me off exploring the possibilities of the FM2+ boards but it doesen't look like that is the right choice right now, they do have newer chipsets and use newer tech and there is plenty of choice which is the main attraction. AM3+ M-ATX boards have been steadily disappearing from sale over the past couple of months, OCUK used to have a pretty big selection but now they only have 3 ! This is either because there is something new on the horizon for the popular AM3+ or because it's the end of the line for it but that is hard to believe.
I have also been reminded of USB dongles for WiFi which would give me more options, I looked into them once and found out that there can be issues with some of them on Linux so stuck with the PCIe WiFi adapter. I should do some more research.
As I said in the beginning, I'll probably do an incremental 'upgrade', one piece at a time over a couple of months and there is no harm starting with an SSD. Using compatible AM3+ components also means that I don't need to buy the CPU and mobo at the same time too. I have not been dissatistfied with the M5A-78L but it just lacks the 6GB/s SATA bus which started me off exploring the possibilities of the FM2+ boards but it doesen't look like that is the right choice right now, they do have newer chipsets and use newer tech and there is plenty of choice which is the main attraction. AM3+ M-ATX boards have been steadily disappearing from sale over the past couple of months, OCUK used to have a pretty big selection but now they only have 3 ! This is either because there is something new on the horizon for the popular AM3+ or because it's the end of the line for it but that is hard to believe.
I have also been reminded of USB dongles for WiFi which would give me more options, I looked into them once and found out that there can be issues with some of them on Linux so stuck with the PCIe WiFi adapter. I should do some more research.
I thought I would update this thread as I have been doing a bit of research and maybe I'm ready to change my mind thanks to some of the contributions here..
I started by looking into USB WiFi Dongles (in order to be able to be able to upgrade the mobo while sticking with the m-ATX form factor) but not found one that is completely reliable. Every one that I have looked at seems to suffer from either intermittent poor reception, drop-outs or speed issues, this is just unacceptable. I realise there are many factors that can affect signal strength and throughput but I don't want to be faced with having to deal with those kinds of issues and then finding out later that the cause is from outside influences and beyond my control, so in order to keep the reliability and speed of my WiFi PCI adapter I think it might be best for me to change from m-ATX to ATX. (I looked into Powerline Ethernet transmitters too but I think even these might have issues where I live). I also want to continue to use my excellent Sound Card and use a Graphics Card, there is a very limited choice of AM3+ m-ATX mobo's that would suit my purpose and there have been no newly released AM3+ mobo's for quite some time which is also a negative.
This lead me to look into ATX mobo's, there are a few to choose from using the AM3+ socket, I could easily choose one that would be sufficient but it's fairly old tech and it still means I would have to make some compromises. Also I kept running into the same things over and over, in every review and report, Haswell i5 always gets higher praise than AM3+ FX, you just can't ignore that when looking at building or upgrading a system. This lead me to investigate further and I started looking at the i5 range which, as pointed out, does not use Hyprthreading which I wouldn't be utilizing anyway.
It wasn't untill I looked at the 1150 (H) mobo's that I began to see any real advantages over AM3+ systems and realised that If I went down this route I would have many more options such as M.2, good overclocking potential, no 7.1 sound that I won't need and even little things like 4 pin PWM connectors for case fans, this was a real eye opener for me ! I can actually choose a mobo with all of the features that I need/want with none of the things that I don't need/want at a reasonable price ! It does mean that I will have to build an entirely new system (case, mobo, CPU, PSU plus SSD) rather than upgrading an old one so I will have to start saving instead of doing it piece by piece but in the long term this is always a better option. Then again If I want to, I can even find a suitable 1150 (H) m-ATX mobo and keep the costs down a bit by using my original case, it's great to have so many options ! Overall it is going to be more expensive than I originally planned but it should last me a couple of years at least before I think about upgrading again, if I stick with the AM3+ platform, I'm sure to want to change it sooner.
I haven't really had any issues with the AM3+ system, it's been rock solid and stable for a couple of years but there comes a time when you need to start thinking about upgrading or re-building a system to be sure it's not going to let you down.
A couple of years ago, I returned to the UK (I had been living in the Far East for about 10 years) with no PC so I just needed to get something quickly that was cheap. I found a mobo/CPU and RAM bundle on Amazon for about £80. I quickly realised the Sempron was not up to speed and upgraded to an FX4100, later I upgraded the RAM, then I needed a new PSU, then a GPU and I bought a nice case for it all etc. etc. Not the best plan but it worked out ok for the time being, the plan was always to build something more suitable after I had caught up with the newer developments, it had been quite some time since I last built a PC, SATA was not in widespread use back then and an Athlon dual core was very quick !
I'm quite excited at the prospect now and the possibilities have given me a lot of food for thought.
Thanks for your input guys, it's been a very interesting and enightening experience !
I started by looking into USB WiFi Dongles (in order to be able to be able to upgrade the mobo while sticking with the m-ATX form factor) but not found one that is completely reliable. Every one that I have looked at seems to suffer from either intermittent poor reception, drop-outs or speed issues, this is just unacceptable. I realise there are many factors that can affect signal strength and throughput but I don't want to be faced with having to deal with those kinds of issues and then finding out later that the cause is from outside influences and beyond my control, so in order to keep the reliability and speed of my WiFi PCI adapter I think it might be best for me to change from m-ATX to ATX. (I looked into Powerline Ethernet transmitters too but I think even these might have issues where I live). I also want to continue to use my excellent Sound Card and use a Graphics Card, there is a very limited choice of AM3+ m-ATX mobo's that would suit my purpose and there have been no newly released AM3+ mobo's for quite some time which is also a negative.
This lead me to look into ATX mobo's, there are a few to choose from using the AM3+ socket, I could easily choose one that would be sufficient but it's fairly old tech and it still means I would have to make some compromises. Also I kept running into the same things over and over, in every review and report, Haswell i5 always gets higher praise than AM3+ FX, you just can't ignore that when looking at building or upgrading a system. This lead me to investigate further and I started looking at the i5 range which, as pointed out, does not use Hyprthreading which I wouldn't be utilizing anyway.
It wasn't untill I looked at the 1150 (H) mobo's that I began to see any real advantages over AM3+ systems and realised that If I went down this route I would have many more options such as M.2, good overclocking potential, no 7.1 sound that I won't need and even little things like 4 pin PWM connectors for case fans, this was a real eye opener for me ! I can actually choose a mobo with all of the features that I need/want with none of the things that I don't need/want at a reasonable price ! It does mean that I will have to build an entirely new system (case, mobo, CPU, PSU plus SSD) rather than upgrading an old one so I will have to start saving instead of doing it piece by piece but in the long term this is always a better option. Then again If I want to, I can even find a suitable 1150 (H) m-ATX mobo and keep the costs down a bit by using my original case, it's great to have so many options ! Overall it is going to be more expensive than I originally planned but it should last me a couple of years at least before I think about upgrading again, if I stick with the AM3+ platform, I'm sure to want to change it sooner.
I haven't really had any issues with the AM3+ system, it's been rock solid and stable for a couple of years but there comes a time when you need to start thinking about upgrading or re-building a system to be sure it's not going to let you down.
A couple of years ago, I returned to the UK (I had been living in the Far East for about 10 years) with no PC so I just needed to get something quickly that was cheap. I found a mobo/CPU and RAM bundle on Amazon for about £80. I quickly realised the Sempron was not up to speed and upgraded to an FX4100, later I upgraded the RAM, then I needed a new PSU, then a GPU and I bought a nice case for it all etc. etc. Not the best plan but it worked out ok for the time being, the plan was always to build something more suitable after I had caught up with the newer developments, it had been quite some time since I last built a PC, SATA was not in widespread use back then and an Athlon dual core was very quick !
I'm quite excited at the prospect now and the possibilities have given me a lot of food for thought.
Thanks for your input guys, it's been a very interesting and enightening experience !
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