New hardware (Motherboard + Ram)

[T1Cybernetic]

I have decided to forward my current motherboard and ram to a friend who needs it more than me (That's what i told him) but now i have to pick another motherboard and ram pair for myself

I will be getting another graphics card soon for crossfire and i am wanting to jump over to DDR3 so i can get a little bit more speed really.


Anyway i currently have these:

#1 AMD Phenom II X2 Dual Core 550 3.10GHz Black Edition (Socket AM3) - Retail
#2 XFX ATI Radeon HD 4870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics CardF

But i can not decide which AM3 /DDR3 motherboard to choose I have decided to try and see if i can successfully unlock the other cores on this cpu (if possible) and so far this is what i have been thinking of getting.

#1 Asus M4A79T Deluxe AMD 790FX (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3
#2 Gigabyte GA-MA790FXT-UD5P (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard
#3 G.Skill Ripjaw 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL)

Memory compatibility shouldn't really be a problem as far as i can tell but i am such a baby when it comes to choosing the motherboard so i thought i would ask I am leaning more towards the Asus though, such a good looking board!

 

[ben90]

Give it another week and there's a whole lot of new products being released which could work in your favor.

Intel is releases the i5 and there's a new 5series of graphics cards coming within the week.

 

[BIGBC]

But he doesnt want a new CPU so the new i5's + Intel chipsets wont affect him. And neither will the price drops probably.
+ I doubt he will be able to crossfire a 5### with a 4### so that shouldnt matter either. Although it may be a good shout to get a 5 series card to replace his current depending on the budget.

This motherboard would do you well and is a fair bit cheaper which you could put towards a new/another GPU
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-355-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1481
It has a newer chipset and crossfire with 2x PCI_e x16's.
Theres nothing wrong with the other mobos though.
That RAM you spec'ed seems good.

 

[T1Cybernetic]

To be honest the main goals are to run crossfire @ 16x and try and unlock the extra cores on the cpu (If possible)

If the cores are crap or don't unlock then x16 crossfire is going to be my win/win situation

 

[beefybarn]

Both are great boards but personally i would go with the Gigabyte as the sata ports are on the board edge and it just makes cabling easier.