Help with AMD Phenom II X3 720 budget specs

Captain Nemo · 27 Nov 2009 at 18:24

Hi everyone #, i am looking for some advice on a budget mobo/cpu/memory bundle i need to buy. Currently i have decided on the processor but need to know wether DDR3 memory is worth the extra. This is my choices so far.

AMD PHENOM II X3 720 (black edition) - £85

Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD3P - £70

4GB DDR memory - ????

The Mobo and CPU come to £155 and i was planning to get cheapo DDR2 ram for about £45. does expensive memory reaally make a great deal of difference? How about DDR3 memory??

This machine is used mostly for encoding video (6-pass CCE and also 2-pass Gordian Knot) I also have a XFX 4870 (1GB) but i barely play games at all on the PC as i have turned to the darkside (XBox 360 :rolleyes:

) so encoding is by far rthe most important.

Abviously my budget is small so i dont expect miracles but i am upgrading from an old X2 4200 so hoping for some improvment.

This mobo only supports DDR2 and i NEED at least 8 SATA connectors (10 would be nice) so the next cheapest with that many that supports DDR3 is at least £35 more, plus the extra that DDR3 costs, my question is, is it worth saving up longer and getting the GA-MA790XT-UD4P at £105, will i see any real difference in performance with DDR3.

Grimley · 27 Nov 2009 at 18:34

I could wrong on this - its been a while since I messed around with any form of video editing/encoding.

as far as this is concerned (& as far as I know) the speed of the memory is not important, the quantity is. so stick to DDR2. Also the extra core may help as well so id get this. (provided it compatible with your chosen motherboard & you are not planning on overclocking)

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-258-AM&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=

Quixote · 27 Nov 2009 at 20:04

For just video encoding, you might consider an Athlon X4 620 or 630 for similar price as the 720 X3 ?
You could go cheaper on the motherboard without having to compromise quality, there are good £50-£60 boards for these sorts of chips.
DDR2 vs DDR3 makes little difference performance wise, so you should see the price difference, if it's small, then may as well go DDR3.

A couple of examples :

DDR3 Mobo :
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-198-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1481

Ram :
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-183-OC&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1516

DDR2 Mobo :
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-180-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1482

Ram :
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-086-OC&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=

Captain Nemo · 27 Nov 2009 at 20:36

Thank you both for the replies, thats both of you suggest the 620/630 - will the extra core make more difference then the L3 cache? I was hoping that i could unlock the 4th core on the phenom although i don't really understand how to yet.

Regarding the motherboard, i need a minimum of 8 SATA sockets as i have 7X 1.5TB harddrives and a DVD Drive and the Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD3P was the cheapest one i could find with this many, if you or anyone knows of a cheaper board with 8 or 10 SATA sockets then i am happy to get the cheapest possible.

As the Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD3P only supports DDR2 then i will have to use DDR2 unless i can find a DDR3 motherboard (with at least 9 SATA Sockets) at this price point (£70)

Thanks again for the input, it is much appreciated as i hope to order the stuff tommorow (Saturday)

Quixote · 28 Nov 2009 at 02:35

If you need 8 sata, then I don't see much other choice. You've found probably the best value board that meets that criteria. As for DDR2, I wouldn't worry at all. Performance difference now vs DDR3 is so close to nothing as to be unnoticable. The idea is if you buy DDR3 you MAY be able to use it a few years down the line for another system. But who knows if that will ever come to pass ? For all intents & purposes DDR2 & DDR3 are the same performance & price right now.
As for the the Processor, it varies from one encoding benchmark to the next. Some will benefit from the L3 cache of the 720, some from the extra core of the 620/ 630. You'll have to look at a lot of benchmarks. But I think overall the extra core will be more useful. Don't base your choice on the possibility of unlocking the X3 to X4. It's a nice option to have but by no means at all gauranteed. Buy what will work best out of the box & consider any unlock a bonus IF it happens.
For what it's worth, I'd be going for the Athlon II X4 over the Phenom X3.