Planning new build - is quad core and DDR3 now the way to go?

Restorer

Restorer

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I'd appreciate your advice on a new PC I am planning which I want to be as future proof as possible. I have up to £500 for case, board, RAM, CPU and W7.

Just wanted to know if something like Phenomx4 with DDR3 is the way to go. Is it worth hanging fire for a few months for more choice in motherboards and/or more cores? Is there anything on the horizon I need to know about?
 
The Phenom2 955 is about on par with the current, hi-end Intel quad core cpus. Although, maybe still outperformed on some apps. Intel's Core i7 is well ahead in benchmarks but obviously, new tech = higher price.

The Phenom2's (Black Edition) have excellent overclocking potential and made easier with AMD's Overdrive and Fusion (software that runs in Windows).

There is a new AMD chipset on the horizon, so new products at some point.

To keep it future proof and if performance in games is important to you, then you'll need to budget in a quite capable graphics card as well.
 
This

Product Name Qty Price Line Total
CP-280-IN_60.jpg
Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping (SLBEJ) 2.66Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - Retail + World In Conflict PC Game £212.98
(£185.20) £212.98
(£185.20)
MB-332-AS_60.jpg
Asus P6T SE Intel X58 (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard £149.99
(£130.43) £149.99
(£130.43)
MY-151-OC_60.jpg
OCZ Gold 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 Low-Voltage Triple Channel (OCZ3G1333LV6GK) £62.99
(£54.77) £62.99
(£54.77)
CA-101-AN_60.jpg
Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black (No PSU) £44.99
(£39.12) £44.99
(£39.12) Sub Total : £409.52 Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.75 VAT is being charged at 15% VAT : £63.19 Total : £484.46
 
Have a try with the AM3 platform, sounds weird but its more fun, theres more apps that let you fiddle around and tweak and fusion aswell which is a cool little app.
 
Well thanks a lot for all the advice. I am leaning towards the AM3 only really because I have always had AMD. But I may well be swayed towards i7. Is there much to choose between them in terms of ease of fitting or cooling requirements??
 
Both are fairly straight-forward to fit & run much cooler than previous gen. Only concern with i7 is the discontinuation rumours after i5 (diff. socket) is released later this year.

Notice you have an AGP GFX in your sig, guess you'll need a new PCI-E one squeezed into that budget?
 
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Unless you plan on updating your system regularly I wouldn't be concerned about the discontinuation of i7. I mean realistically if you buy something high end now (i7) then it shouldn't need replacing for a couple of years at least, by which time any mobo willlikely be outdated anyway.

I've been building systems for over 10 years and I don't think I've ever had a situation where I wished I'd 'future proofed' in terms of socket selection (Slot 1, S370, S478, S939, S775). Ultimately you hit a point where you need to change socket to keep up and that's why I always buy mobos and cpus at the same time.
 
hp7909 said:
Notice you have an AGP GFX in your sig, guess you'll need a new PCI-E one squeezed into that budget?
Click to expand...

Hehe. Yeah sorry - ugraded that last year but forgot to change sig :D. Not ready for a new one just yet - more into HDTV than games these days :).

HangTime said:
Unless you plan on updating your system regularly I wouldn't be concerned about the discontinuation of i7. I mean realistically if you buy something high end now (i7) then it shouldn't need replacing for a couple of years at least, by which time any mobo willlikely be outdated anyway.

I've been building systems for over 10 years and I don't think I've ever had a situation where I wished I'd 'future proofed' in terms of socket selection (Slot 1, S370, S478, S939, S775). Ultimately you hit a point where you need to change socket to keep up and that's why I always buy mobos and cpus at the same time.
Click to expand...

Well I managed pretty well with the current board - which is why I'm asking really. Was able to take advantage of my (then) not-so-old AGP GPU for a while and upgrade last year to PCI-E and was just able to snaffle up a x2 4200 before they got expensive and in short supply.

The thing I did get caught out on was the sudden growth of DDR2 and rise in price of DDR which again is why I'm asking about DDR3.

Am I right that DDR3 seems to be a lot slower taking over than DDR2 was? There don't seem to be many boards supoorting it and likes of Dell etc are still not building systems.
 
I just checked on their website and Dell are definitely selling DDR3 systems.

DDr3 was slow to take off but that was because it was very expensive to start with, you were talking something like £100/gig+ compared to DDR2 priced at say £25/gig. Nowadays there's really no reason not to go down the DDR3 route as you can get 6GB of decent RAM for under £100.

Apart from anything else i7 is DDR3 only so it is very much the way forward. As someone running DDR memory, you are in the perfect position to switch to a DDR3 system as you won't be 'wasting' any DDR2 memory which might worry some people.
 
they won't stop i7 they are only going to withdrew the cheaper i7 cpus like the 920 the X58 and its socket will remain in service till 2010 when i9 is relesed at least.

if you have the money get i7than its there in case you need it but AMD will serve you well as well
 
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