Help with first build

Queboo12

Queboo12

Queboo12

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Joined
20 Dec 2010
Posts
14
Hey guys, new to the forums and just wondering if you could help me with something quickly, thanks.

I've hit a dead point in my whole computer build list. I am getting a Micro ATX motherboard (for my InWin Dragon Slayer case) called ASUS - M4A78LT-M LE. Now on there website it states under the Specifications-Memory that - *AMD AM3 100 and 200 series CPU support up to DDR3 1066MHz. What does this mean? What is AMD AM3 100 and 200 series, I've never heard of it?

My computer is going to be running on:
CPU :AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Socket AM3 3.2 GHz
and
RAM: Corsair Dominator 4 GB : 2 x 2 GB Memory - DIMM 240-pin - 1600 MHz


Will this work?

Thanks so much for the help guys
Cheers
 
Yes it'll work. But only at what the board supports. So if it supports up to 1066MHz, it'll run at 1066MHz unless you clock it. Or so I'm told.
 
Wow! Thanks so much for the speedy response. Cant wait to get all the parts , now I know it will work! :D Thanks again guys, much appreciated and happy Christmas! :)
 
Do you guys mind if I post my whole proposed list of components that are going to be in my computer so you can evaluate it to see if it all goes together and works please :D
Thanks
 
Motherboard: ASUS - M4A78LT-M LE - AM3 SOCKET
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Socket AM3 3.2 GHz
RAM: Corsair Dominator 4 GB : 2 x 2 GB Memory - DIMM 240-pin - 1600 MHz
CASE: InWIN DRAGON SLAYER BLACK GAMING CASE
GPU: Sapphire-HD5770-Vapor-Graphics-Card
OCZ Freeze
Hard Drive: Samsung F3 HD103SJ 1TB
Cooling: Corsair Hydro Series H50
Dvd drive: Samsung SH-S223 22x DVD±RW DL & RAM SATA Optical Drive - OEM Black
Power supply: Corsair TX650W Power supply - 650 Watt

Just a reminder my case is a mATX one so it is quite small :rolleyes:
Any cheap improvements/opinions/better parts for the sameish price are welcome - around £600 budget I would say.
Thanks a lot guys :D
 
The RAM won't run at 1600 without being overclocked on that board. Other than that it looks grand, though I'm sure someone can do comparative builds with a 600 budget.

Edit: Also agree with going with the 460. Much better card for around the same price.
 
see that anandtech link for the performance difference.

Theres about a £10 difference between the two cards, I would say the GTX460 is a better bang for buck option.
 
Last edited:
Brian8bit said:
The RAM won't run at 1600 without being overclocked on that board. Other than that it looks grand, though I'm sure someone can do comparative builds with a 600 budget.

Edit: Also agree with going with the 460. Much better card for around the same price.
Click to expand...

What should I so with the RAM bit then. A. Buy a lower MHZ ram to suit my motherboard. B. Overclock my motherboard. or C. Just use that one anyway?

Will the difference in MHZ of ram have a significant effect on my gaming experiance? Will it cause my games to lag a lot more than if it were 1600mhz?

Also what does SATA 3gb/s mean? Is that generally bad or worse than 6gb/s for my gaming?

Thanks so much for the help lads, really helpful. Tbh supprised your not mods yet, doing a great job helping the likes of me (noobs :D ) with stuff like this, cheers :D
 
Sata 3gb/s is even overkill for any HDD. The only hard drives that need sata 6gb/s just now are the better solid state drives.

In short it would make no difference at all.
 
Queboo12 said:
What should I so with the RAM bit then. A. Buy a lower MHZ ram to suit my motherboard. B. Overclock my motherboard. or C. Just use that one anyway?

Will the difference in MHZ of ram have a significant effect on my gaming experiance? Will it cause my games to lag a lot more than if it were 1600mhz?

Also what does SATA 3gb/s mean? Is that generally bad or worse than 6gb/s for my gaming?

Thanks so much for the help lads, really helpful. Tbh supprised your not mods yet, doing a great job helping the likes of me (noobs :D ) with stuff like this, cheers :D
Click to expand...

1: Personally I'd just get some 1333MHz. It should work at full speed, no need to overclock it. Or you can stick the 1600MHz in it and it'll run at 1333MHz and you can overclock the RAM at a later date. It comes down to cost really.

2: No. There's barely a noticeable difference to the end user between DDR2 and DDR3 RAM, let alone different speeds of DDR3. Adding more RAM would make a difference as opposed to adding slightly faster RAM.

3: Faster SATA will read/write information off the drive faster so should make things snappier, but again, it's not something you'll find very noticeable except when transferring large files or amounts of data. As lethiX says, it's only really needed for SSDs with ridiculously fast read/write speeds.
 
Brian8bit said:
1: Personally I'd just get some 1333MHz. It should work at full speed, no need to overclock it. Or you can stick the 1600MHz in it and it'll run at 1333MHz and you can overclock the RAM at a later date. It comes down to cost really.

2: No. There's barely a noticeable difference to the end user between DDR2 and DDR3 RAM, let alone different speeds of DDR3. Adding more RAM would make a difference as opposed to adding slightly faster RAM.

3: Faster SATA will read/write information off the drive faster so should make things snappier, but again, it's not something you'll find very noticeable except when transferring large files or amounts of data. As lethiX says, it's only really needed for SSDs with ridiculously fast read/write speeds.
Click to expand...

Cool, thanks for the in depth reply. Understand it all now :D

Going back to the RAM, shall I just sod the expense and go for 8gb RAM or stick with 4gb and get 1333MHz.

Then that should be all and just hope it will play games well, like I want it too :D

Cheers :D
 
It depends on what you're doing. CPU and GPU are more important for gaming. If you're doing a lot of encoding/rendering/compiling, more RAM is always useful. Again, it's down to personal preference and cost ultimately.
 
if you go with GTX460 you will have no problems playing most games at pretty much full settings, will be some that need to toned down a bit but in general you'll be fine :)
 
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