Motherboard AM3 but which ddr2 or ddr3?

Ryable

Ryable

Ryable

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24 Jul 2009
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ok so i have a budget of £300 i can push to £350 if absolutely necessary.

my current system specification

AMD Athlon64 X2 4800+

ATi Radeon HD4890 <<-- recently purchased in preparation for upgrade

2GB DDR2 RAM

what i want to upgrade to

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition
£146.89

Motherboard with a minimum of 2 PCI-E x16 slots, 4 RAM slots capable of taking 16gb RAM
a budget of £100-120

minimum of 2gb RAM preferably 4gb <<-- if DDR3 option is taken if not i will still invest in some more RAM


any recommendations on motherboards? pro's and cons of going with ddr3?
 
If you want them both at x16 you have to spend a little more, the asus crosshair formula III is very good but about 140, the cheaper boards are still very good but generally do 2nd lane at x8
 
just a thought -


I would go with the ddr3 personally, even if it means sacrificing a little elsewhere. This should see you through this upgrade as well as the next one a few years down the line.
 
well crossfiring is a future possibility when the graphics card gets a bit old and wont meet requirements of latest game.

i just want a motherboard as future proof as possible.
models i've looked at since posting are;

Biostar TA790GX-A3

ASRock M3A790GXH/128M

^^Difference between them are minor, the ASRock has 2 more USB Headers where as the Biostar has an extra PCI-E

also some clarification on some practical differences between 780 and 790 chipsets would b nice.

i do not want to overclock as i will be relying on air as cooling, 1 80mm Fan as intake, 2x 120mm fans as exhaust

Is DDR3 worth the extra money?
 
YOU IN THE SAME BOAT AS ME M8 MOST MOTHERBOARDS THAT HAVE DDR3 ARE NOT BEATING DDR2 BOARDS HAVE ALOOK AT THESE BOARDS THEY BOTH KEEP UP crosshair formula III CHECK OUT MSI 790FX-GD70 REVIEWS ON NET AND Asus M4A79T Deluxe THESE ARE BOTH DDR3 BUT THE ASUS M4A79T DELUXE HAS A DDR 2 VERSION ITS PRETTY MUCH THE SAME AS DDR3 VERSION THATS WOT IM LOOKING AT IS IT REALLY WORTH GETTIN DDR3 NO DIFFERENCE NOW BUT WILL BE NEXT FEW YEAR...I THINK THE DIFF BETWEEN 780 AND 790 CHIPS IS THE 2ND PCI-E x16 slot RUNS AT X8 WHILE IN 790 CHIPS RUNS AT X16
 
Hi

I have been using the asus M4A79 deluxe for a couple of months.And it's a nice board as you said if you xfire on 790gx it's only x8 but on M4A79 it's x16 (2 cards) or x8 ( 4 cards !!!).I went for the ddr2 version because of the price.And you can still run am3 on the board.
Hope this helps
 
ok well i have my ati hd4890 which is overkill at the minute as i only have a dual core cpu

so my proposed build is

Corsair 4gb (2x2gb) DDR3 1600Mhz Twin3x £69.99
AMD Phenom II x4 955 Black Edition (Quad 3.2ghz)

Asus Crosshair III Formula AMD 790FX £142.99
or
MSI 790fx-gd70 £129.98

Asus build total = £355.56
MSI build total = £342.55

I am open to Intel but the above CPU can be clocked quite comfortably to 3.6ghz with no additional cooling needed. The nearest Intel equivlant is the I7 (Quad 2.6ghz) i hear the i7 has multi threading which compensates for the lower factory clock speed (<that is the extent to what my knowledge goes could any1 elaborate on this please)
that and baring in mind that Intel generally run cooler. Is it worth over a £50 price difference between the CPUs.

So my budget is £350ish but i could push it to £400

both of the motherboards are highly recommended, the MSI has 4 PCI-e x16 (2 @ x16, 2 @ x8) what does the pci-e speeds mean in terms of real performance? the 4 pci slots means the MSI board is more future proof than the ASUS?

having never overclocked before could i overclock the 955 to 3.6ghz on air alone, or would you consider this a risky project being it my first time on a £150 cpu?

i hear the bios needs updating on some motherboards to recognise the 955 is this still the case?

thank you for future responses, i realise i have rambled sorry.
 
the cpu wont be the only price difference if you go for i7, the motherboards are also more expensive, and you'll want a triple channel ddr3 kit, all of which will be stretching your budget. the i7 does perform better in general, but it comes at a price.

also the gigabyte ud5p board looks like a good option to me, its one of the boards that i'm considering along with the crosshair III.

if the motherboard has been sat on a shelf in a store room for a long period, then bios may need flashing, but this is unlikely as the 955 has been around for a while now.
 
didnt realise the mobo's and RAM cost more for i7 so AMD it is.

So coming to the conclusion that the asus is over priced and seeing no real advantage over the MSI or Gigabyte.

So now it's down to MSI 790fx-gd70

or the above gigabyte

the MSI having 4 x pci-e x16 (2@x16, 2@x8) makes it more future proof but what hardware actually uses these slots? obviously the 2 x16 are for crossfire.

i just found out u can use x16 slots as pci-e x1 slots should i need extra can someone confirm this?
if this is the case the £3-5 price difference makes the MSI all worth it.

what slot will usb 3.0 use?

and i realise i am going off topic but will i pick up a case with adequate airflow for under £100 at the minute i have the outdated X-Blade
xblade.jpg
 
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My mate has the giga UD5P am3 board and its a really nice well featured board, great layout (bar the cmos reset button!!!) and like the guy abouve said, there is the uk rma if anything should go wrong. Personally, as I may well do when I build my system in a months time, I'd go with the MSI, its recieved nothing but fanatasic reviews and always pips the giga board in terms of performance and overclocking abailities.
 
PS: USB 3 is a little while off yet and will use a slot the same as 2.0 afaik with it being the controller that dictates the compatibility, 1.1, 2.0, 3.0. If you buy a board now, im sure you'll be able to pick up a usb 3.0 controller card. Case wise, the antec 300 is a great case at only £45.
 
pretty much settled for;

MSI 790fx-gd70
AMD Phenom II x4 955 (black edition)
Corsair XMS3 DHX 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600C9DHX Twin3X http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-154-CS

now just deciding on a case max budget £60 :)

Antec 300 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-101-AN
CiT 1001 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-048-CT
CiT 1003 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-049-CT

just out of curiousity can i take a dremel to plexiglass? or will it crack?

a few more cases

a5rsEzVG.jpeg


SVe7c2kY.jpeg

fav but Cant find a UK retailer for the dragon cases :(

iE6qE1HX.jpeg

^ my 2nd fav i think or CiT 1001
 
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The antec 300 is a very popular case. Its got great airflow and is has a really good build quality. Would be my recommendation!
 
popjam said:
SHOUTING
Click to expand...

Turn caps lock off or leave.

You can fit any pci-e card in a x16 slot, x8, x4 or x1 will work fine. This is part of why the 7 pci-e x16 asus ws board is excellent. Similarly you can put a x16 card in a x4 slot as long as its the open backed version, and it'll run as quickly as it can.

About the only use for pci-e x4 and above I know of is raid cards, but there are probably other things.

I suggest DDR3. Its going to get cheaper as time goes on whereas ddr2 is likely to get more expensive.

Can dremel plexi, but you want a slow cutting speed and considerable patience. Not only can you fracture it you can melt it onto the cutter. Plastics are nasty. We have exactly the opposite taste in cases :)
 
just trying to find reviews on the CiT1001(this 2nd) or RaidMAX X-Force (i really ike this 1)
or even the CiT 1003 (that big fan is ugly tho but that would be good air flow right? would it be setup as intake at factory ?

the antec is just too plain i would have to sand the paint off and give it a respray maybe put a window in it.

i like my flashy lights what can i say.

...no i dont drive a vauxhall nova b4 u ask :D
 
you sir have the worst case taste in human history!

There going to be cheap & nasty + you may end up sliting your wrists on the sharp edges

btw do you also like fat chicks? & Pimped up corsa's?
 
PwnDirect said:
you sir have the worst case taste in human history!

There going to be cheap & nasty + you may end up sliting your wrists on the sharp edges

btw do you also like fat chicks? & Pimped up corsa's?
Click to expand...


Hahahaha!!! Quote of the month! I much pefer elegant/simple cases that dont shout "look at me"!
 
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