I finally retired my trusty Opty 165 last year with the intention of upgrading to a P45/Wolfdale/lotsa RAM in the new year. I was always going to build a Media machine and a gaming machine, but with savings in mind I opted for a media machine I could game on until I could afford a dedicated gaming rig. So I went for:
Asus M3A78-EM AM2+ (780g)
AMD Phenom 7750 BE (it's the 'preview' chip for the PHII's)
4Gb of decent RAM
nVidia 280GTX (the gaming bit
)
The idea was always to take the 280GTX out, and leave the rest as the media machine with a nice low power psu, and then build a monster around the 280GTX.
But then I saw the 2 new Zotac offerings
9300-ITX Wifi
630i-ITX
Add a cheap E2200 and 4Gb of now dirt cheap DDR2 and I could build a perfectly adequate media machine for £150
Which got me thinking - would I be better building a media machine based on one of the ITX boards above, and then replacing the 7750BE on my board with a Phenom 2 720BE. If it will clock to around 3.5Ghz (will it on this board?) then I will have created a media machine and a games machine for only £270 +bits from the 'tech pile'
Seems sensible? Will the Asus clock the 720BE to 3.5Ghz - I can't see a need for any more processing power with that GFX card considering I only game at 1680x1050?
Thoughts?
Asus M3A78-EM AM2+ (780g)
AMD Phenom 7750 BE (it's the 'preview' chip for the PHII's)
4Gb of decent RAM
nVidia 280GTX (the gaming bit
)The idea was always to take the 280GTX out, and leave the rest as the media machine with a nice low power psu, and then build a monster around the 280GTX.
But then I saw the 2 new Zotac offerings
9300-ITX Wifi
630i-ITX
Add a cheap E2200 and 4Gb of now dirt cheap DDR2 and I could build a perfectly adequate media machine for £150
Which got me thinking - would I be better building a media machine based on one of the ITX boards above, and then replacing the 7750BE on my board with a Phenom 2 720BE. If it will clock to around 3.5Ghz (will it on this board?) then I will have created a media machine and a games machine for only £270 +bits from the 'tech pile'
Seems sensible? Will the Asus clock the 720BE to 3.5Ghz - I can't see a need for any more processing power with that GFX card considering I only game at 1680x1050?
Thoughts?
While you can never be 100% certain with over clocking, with many 720s reaching 3.4/3.5 @ stock, I'd think the Asus would be up to the task.