Which motherboard should I go with?

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
K

KlugeMeHappy

Honorable
Nov 10, 2013
25
0
10,540
I'm making a gaming machine for over-clocking etc. and I'm building a second, near-silent, machine for more general stuff like web surfing, youtube, watching movies and listening to music etc. (basically everything but gaming).

I already have two older/budget/oem boards here with me to choose between for the general-use machine but I'm not sure which to go with.

The first one is a Foxconn A7VMX-K and the second is an ECS GeForce6100PM-M2.

The Foxconn (which I'm using at the moment) supports a maximum of 4GB of RAM and the Phenom 9950 Black Edition quad core that I've fitted and over-clocked to 3GHz (I've added performance heatsinks to both the Northbridge and the Southbridge and I keep it well cooled).

The ECS only supports a regular Quad Core Phenom 9750 (not the black edition with the unlocked multiplier for easy overclocking) at a maximum speed of 2.4GHz but it supports up to 16GB of RAM.

Should I build a machine with the Foxconn for the faster processor, or would it make more sense to build it with the ECS and upgrade the RAM as much as I can afford?
 
Solution
patrick47018
faster cpu and less memory, you only need more memory if you do ALOT of multitasking, and you said you are fine with your current memory amount so you'll be fine with 4GB of RAM, and if you've been using your current board for a while then it has proved itself to be reliable right?
Sort by date Sort by votes
K

KlugeMeHappy

Honorable
Nov 10, 2013
25
0
10,540
At the moment no. I had a RAM stick fail and I'm down to 2GB on one DIMM and it's been more or less okay but I'm thinking about the future and whether I should invest in buying lots of RAM for the ECS to extend its lifespan.

I don't know whether in two or three years I'll still be able to get by with a 3GHz quad core but only 4GB of RAM or if it's going to be better to have a machine with a 2.4GHz quad core but 8 or 16 GB of memory.

The thing is, the larger RAM modules for the ECS aren't too easy to find at a good price so I'm not sure if it's going to be worth investing in expensive RAM for it in order to try and prolong its usefulness etc. or if that would even work.

 
Upvote 0 Downvote
K

KlugeMeHappy

Honorable
Nov 10, 2013
25
0
10,540
I know, but really I need a cheaper backup P.C. for when my main one fails, so I'm trying to figure out which board will last longer, the one with the faster processor and less memory or the one with the slower processor but with two to four times the memory.

The one that's now my gaming P.C. was originally going to be my main PC but I've built the cooling for the lower spec machine to run near-silent, so while it's still sufficient for general web-surfing etc. I'll be using it instead of the more powerful rig.

I guess the main question is this: which is better, a slower CPU (very roughly %20 slower) but with twice to four times the memory, or the faster CPU with half to a quarter of the memory (where the CPUs are 4 x 2500GHz and 4 x 3000GHz respectively and the RAM for the board with the faster CPU is 4GB (vs 8GB or 16GB on the board with the slower processor).
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
patrick47018

patrick47018

Splendid
Jan 14, 2013
3,637
5
23,965
faster cpu and less memory, you only need more memory if you do ALOT of multitasking, and you said you are fine with your current memory amount so you'll be fine with 4GB of RAM, and if you've been using your current board for a while then it has proved itself to be reliable right?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
K

KlugeMeHappy

Honorable
Nov 10, 2013
25
0
10,540
True. This motherboard (Foxconn A7VMX-K) has been great, I just wish it was more upgradeable. Also, and I don't know why, when I first looked at the CPU usage in Task Manager (as per your advice) the processor usage was stable at about 50% but now it's up in the high nineties and has been, more or less consistently, which leads me to believe that the processor is more important to upgrade than the RAM.

Thanks :thumbsup: :0)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
K

KlugeMeHappy

Honorable
Nov 10, 2013
25
0
10,540
Thanks, I'll take a look at those. I'm generally interested in balancing cost to performance for best value. When I game I retro-game also, so I don't really need bleeding edge.

Also, I found what's causing the CPU usage-- I'd downloaded folding@home to run some stress and thermal tests and forgot I'd installed it. It's a relief, since I thought I was out of overhead just surfing.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom