looking for a new cpu_mobo.

[ck88]

as title, im looking for a something a bit newer than what I've got. At the moment I've got a e6750 ~3.5ghz in a p5n-e sli. Not the best but has served me well.

Looking for something a bit newer to liven things up a bit. Was looking at the p45 boards like the p5q pro turbo, and somethin like the q8400. I might just be able to stretch to the q9550.

I saw the e8400 is about the same price as the q8400 (on ocuk anyway) just wondering which one would be the best for my needs.i know the e8400 can be clocked quite high with sufficient cooling but unsure on the q8400.

This will ultimatley be purely a gaming machine, no video encoding, no rendering, just gaming and interwebs.

Now amd I know nothing about, never had an amd system so its a real grey area for me, im guessing id be looking at a phenom II, maybe the 955 black edition? any suggestions here are very welcome as id be interested in an amd system if it would be worth it over the equivalent intel spec.

now I know most people will just say save and get an i5/i7 but that build isnt an option just yet. it would probably be the wiser choice but im deffinatley not the cleverest.

For now it will have to be the cheaper option as one of those systems isnt a necessity for me. so where do i go? max budget is around 260 - 280. obviously the less the better

 

[Kennysevenfold]

This will ultimatley be purely a gaming machine, no video encoding, no rendering, just gaming and interwebs.

Getting a q8400 or even a q9550 will make no difference at all for gaming.
Would be a waste of money if you dont encode/render.

3.5Ghz core 2 will eat any game you through at it just about, why not invest that money in a better graphics card?

 

[ck88]

the e6750 and the p5n-e are going to be put in a 2nd pc so i need to buy no matter what.

Obviously i'd like to buy somethin better than what ive already got, i know it wont make much, if any, difference in gaming but obviously im not gonna buy somethin worse.

Iv'e got a 5770 atm so next on the list is xfire which means i need to buy a new motherboard that supports at least x8/x8, obvious choice would be p45, can't find any decent x48's.

noticed that the amd boards are ddr3 so i doubt ill be buyin that cause ive already got plenty ddr2.

 

[Kennysevenfold]

Product Name Qty Price Line Total

AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition 3.20GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £125.98
(£109.55) £125.98
(£109.55)

Gigabyte GA-MA770-UD3 AMD 770 (Socket AM3/AM2+) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £60.98
(£53.03) £60.98
(£53.03) Sub Total : £162.58 Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.50 VAT is being charged at 15.00% VAT : £25.81 Total : £197.89

 

[ck88]

simple me, didnt look at the other amd motherboards thinking that the am3 were for phenom II's only. any reason why you chose this motherboard over the other 2 priced higher?

I thought the higher the numbers the better the board. i.e 790 > 785 > 770.

What sort of intel cpus are these on par with? is it worth spending the extra £15 to get the 965?

 

[clv101]

How does the Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 3.20GHz for £125.98 compare with the i5 750 2.66Ghz for £158.35?

At stock and at realistic overclocks for both chips?

Edit: looks like even the Q9400 and Q9950 is faster than the 955 at stock speed, so the i5 will be a good bit faster. Assuming the Intel chips clock better is there any point in the Phenom II?