New compu

[Zilberfrid]

I am assembling a new box, and am leering towards the AM3 sets.

So far I have bought a 24" Iiyama screen, an Antec Truepower, and an asus nvidia GT9600 top. I was thinking of adding a phenom II X3 720, a Gigabyte GA-MA790XT-UD4P, 8 gig's of 1300 Kingston cheap ddr3 ram (CL9) in a Sharkoon rebel 9 box.

Am I being stupid for going to the AMD systems? I'd have a newer proc and faster than the Intel variants, and the fourth core should be able to be unlocked as well.

I am aware that the graphics card does not really work ideally with the crossfire based mobo, but it'll do fine the next few years, and can reeuse this card in the spare box that now is my main computer and will run as a server/low-resource media center with an old PCI card or something that is around the house, or just maybe a Club 3D CGAX-3452 as a low-cost acceptable graphic card.

 

[janlulhannes]

Can you explain why you would take the tri-core instead of lets say a Q6600/8200 or so?

And the 9600 is not a strong card. a 8800GT is more powerfull. ( 8800GT is the same as 9800GT and GTS240 btw).

 

[Zilberfrid]

An 8800 is also a lot more expensive, and when I bought this card I did not have more money. It'll probably be replaced in some year or two.

 

[captain lust]

I would have gone with a better card tbh.

it's actually not teh best time to be building a PC. Parts are so expensive right now.

As for processors, intel all the way.

 

[Zilberfrid]

Well, a month ago I would have agreed instantly, but the Phenom II has nice figures, and will probably do better with the newer socket (no reviews seen yet) I won't fork out a truckload of money to get an I7 (not enough gain, as well as not enough money, I want the total of this box to be under 1000 euro's, of which some 450 have already been spent), and phenom II and slightly higher priced quad cores have quite similar specs.

Also, the mobo which comes with that socket has two 32x pci-e slots, 6 sata and 16g ddr3 capability, when looking at a socket 775 that comes near has 2 pci-e 16 and ddr2 support up to 1066 (a config that will cost exactly the same but is nearing the end of the specs and is slower already)

Intel® Core 2 Quad Q8200
GigaByte EP45-DS3
Kingston HyperX DIMM 4 GB DDR2-1066 Kit x2
WD6400AACS (640 GB)

vs

GA-MA790XT-UD4P
AMD Phenom II X3 720
Kingston ValueRAM 4 GB DDR3-1333 Kit x2
WD6400AACS (640 GB)

 

[Archonsod]

Well, a month ago I would have agreed instantly, but the Phenom II has nice figures, and will probably do better with the newer socket (no reviews seen yet) I won't fork out a truckload of money to get an I7

It won't. You'd be better off with a Q6600 (they're little marvels to overclock to boot), particularly running with a Nvidia card.

Also, 4Gb is a waste. If you're going x64 grab as much Ram as you can. If you're sticking to the 32 bit kernel stay with 2 Gb for now.

 

[Zilberfrid]

I was adding 2  4gb pacs for a total of 8gb, the 4gb single slots are a bit too expensive now.

I am going to let the issue simmer for a while, I first need good tests before I decide. I am reluctant to buy a box that already is nearing its limits, but have been wary for AMD material for a while, and this has been confirmed.

 

[janlulhannes]

I bought a Q6600 a while ago for around 160 euros or so.. OC'ed it to 3GHz without even needing to raise my V-Core.. just make sure you got the G0 stepping.

EDIT:  and yea.. get a 64bits OS and grab 8GB of RAM.. ram is cheap as hell anyway nowadays.

 

[Mage246]

What in gods name would you need 8 gigs of RAM for??

 

[killkhergit]

What in gods name would you need 8 gigs of RAM for??

The only thing I can think of would be some seriously epic 3d-modeling.

Edit:

Here's a review from PCM magazine of the Phenom II:

Plus sides: quick, good OC capabilities, fits on any AM2 socket
Minus: power requirement.

Here's a result: AMD Phenom II 940 = C2Q9400, sometimes levels up with the C2Q9550. OC'ed 940 = C2Q9770

OC'ing: a 3ghz edition goes up 800mhz with reasonable voltages.

Cinebench R10: 10000, oc 12000; 3dmark: (Gigabyte 790, Ati 4870x2, 2gb 1066 mhz OCZ) 17000, oc 20000.

Good choice. The comaparable stock C2Q9770 for example is MUCH more expensive.

For 219 euro's it's yours: http://www.alternate.nl/html/product/CPUs_Socket_AM2+/AMD/Phenom_en_trade_II_X4_940_Black_Edition/-1075005/?tn=HARDWARE&l1=Processoren&l2=Desktop

C2Q's: (lga775) http://www.alternate.nl/html/categoryListing.html?cat1=3&cat1=3&cat1=3&cat1=3&cat1=3&cat2=28&cat2=235&cat2=426&cat2=329&cat2=374&cat3=0&cat3=999&cat3=0&cat3=0&cat3=0&tn=HARDWARE&l1=Processoren&l2=Desktop&l3=AMD+Phenom%26trade%3B+II+X4+940+Black+Edition&criteriasCount=6&bfbox=1

 

[Gamemako]

Phenom II is actually a decent piece of hardware. For a current system, it's really a toss-up as to which you get for performance unless you want to spend absurd amounts of cash on top-of-the-line Intel gear (I think it was Ars who froze their core and tuned it way up to see how it would compare, and it did pretty well even then how about a link). Q6600 is old but it's still a beautiful piece of hardware, though, and if you keep 120cfm fan on your proc like I do, it will go far. Well, then again, my box is old as death now, but anyway. But yeah, there's nothing at all wrong with going with the Phenom II (unlike its predecessor).

 

[sharp256]

the AMD Phenom II 940 is the better one to go with yes fits on any AM2 board
but best with AM3 now that AM3 supports DDR3 1066mhz thats a good thing

If your looking for a low level video card get a ATI3850 thats the one i have it runs great

cheers

 

[jasonxfri13th]

With 1000 euros in the US you could build a pretty powerful system, one that could play Crysis on max... but you aren't in the US. And with circuit city going out of bussiness they are around 50% off everything.

Poopy graphics card.

I have 8 gigs of RAM for my PC with 64. Even when I am not doing **** it uses up about 1-1.5 gigs. In games I think it only goes up to 4... but I am not sure.

I'm gonna be getting this processor pretty soon: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103471
AMD Phenom II X4 940 Deneb 3.0GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Black Edition Processor -
Should finally allow me to play crysis on max with no lag with my 4870
But it is $220
There are some 9800's at $119. http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010380048%201305520548%204017%20106792522%201067942536&bop=And&Order=PRICE

 

[Zilberfrid]

Graphics card will be changed next year again, It'll do for now, M&B really is the heaviest load on it, since my modeling takes up more ram. I start out with 8gb, since too little ram will be very bad for your comp's performance.

 

[janlulhannes]

Note:  Phenom 2 cannot handle more then 2 modules of ddr3 1333mhz 

 

[Zilberfrid]

That is a problem with my current setup. I am off reviewing alternatives

 

[janlulhannes]

Phenom II CPU's have 2 memory controllers, and they get really unstable if you place more then 1 RAM module per memorycontroller.
Seeing that most motherboards have at least 4 RAM-slots, that will give problems.
It can be "fixed" ( depends on what you call a fix    ) by clocking the memory back to 1066MHz.

They are most likely gonna fix this problem with their next CPU stepping, so make sure you DONT get one of their first CPU's.

 

[Zilberfrid]

Then I'll wait for a while, prices can be expected to drop slightly, and my athlon 64 isn't that bad to hold out on for a while.

 

[Gamemako]

Then I'll wait for a while, prices can be expected to drop slightly, and my athlon 64 isn't that bad to hold out on for a while.

Same boat here; I've got my old [email protected] trying to squeeze every bit of life out of the cash I put into this thing. Really is getting time to upgrade, though.

 

[Zilberfrid]

Well, I run a 2800+ (at 2,8 ghz, clocked it to fit its number better)