help me pick a cpu/mobo

[Godiwa]

I am trying to figure out what to get for my new PC. It is mostly watching movies, surfing and playing WoW and now and then some FPS games and such depending whats hot and such.

I want a ATI 4870 card and the mobo will be a microATX (to fit the SilverStone case I want)

So I need your help to decide which CPU/MOBO I should get (Would prefer a Gigabyte mobo) It would be nice with a CPU that is powerful but doesn't need a nuclearpowerplant watertower to cool it down (so kinda cool/quiet solution) Heatsink suggestions needed as well.

I plan on running WOW at 1680x1050 at max details AA etc. which the 4870 should be able to handle just fine, later on I will move to 1920x1200 so I can use the PC to view blurays and such, which again should be no problem with the 4870.

I will tag 2x2GB ram on it and possibly upgrade to 4x2GB later on (I do render stuff hence the need for a powerful CPU).

Let me hear your suggestions AMD/INTEL it is all good, not a fan of either, I just want what can give me a good solution for a decent price (so no EXTREME processors hehe)

 

[o1die]

I have 2 asrock boards, the g43 full hd and p45 rs-t. Both have overclocking jumpers and ddr2 and ddr3 slots. For the cpu, look at the e7200 or e8400; both offer decent performance. Be sure your power supply is 550-600 watts; I only use antec, pc power and cooling, enermax, corsair or seasonic (5 year warranty). Quality is just as important as the wattage ratings, which are frequently inflated by lesser brands.

 

[evongugg]

Intel: G31 + e7200
AMD: 780G, 790FX or 790GX + Phenom

Gigabyte has these chipset motherboards.

 

[Wisecracker]

At what Silverstone case are you looking ??

With you Radeon HD 4870 the Gigabyte 780g and a 65w X2 5600+ Brisbane 2.9GHz you might get 3.2GHz without extra volts if you are lucky. You will pull around 75w total playing HD but because of the 4870 you will triple that ...

Lookee at this ...

DFI LP JR 790GX-M2RS AM2+/AM2 AMD 790GX mATX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813136056

A little pricey but should clock up those 65w-95w Phenoms nicely without much extra voltage for your rendering/transcoding

 

[Godiwa]

I am looking at the TJ08 case from Silverstone and have looked a bit on the 780g mobo from gigabyte but without knowing much about the AMD CPU's it has been hard to chose which would be good for me, Brisbane is that one of the newer/better lines of CPUs they got? smaller nm/lower watt lines?

 

[Wisecracker]

I am looking at the TJ08 case from Silverstone and have looked a bit on the 780g mobo from gigabyte but without knowing much about the AMD CPU's it has been hard to chose which would be good for me, Brisbane is that one of the newer/better lines of CPUs they got? smaller nm/lower watt lines?

I'm not familiar with that case. I've used a few of these full ATX ...
http://www.silverstonetek.com/products/p_contents.php?pno=lc13&area=

$120 at The Egg
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163043

Makes a great full size HTPC box that really complements other components.

The 65w Brisbanes are 65nm - they have 45w X2s but IIRC the max speed at stock is 2.5GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103255

At 16x12 and up, for $65, holds up nicely against the big boys ...
http://www.guru3d.com/article/cpu-scaling-in-games-with-quad-core-processors/


edit: I forgot to add - your Radeon HD 4870 should wallop the GeForce 8800 Ultra in those tests.

 

[Godiwa]

TJo8 -> http://silverstonetek.com/products/p_contents.php?pno=tj08&area=usa

Yeah you are thinking of the 4850e 45w AMD's right? I don't think they are powerful enough for gaming, but they are excellent for a low power HTPC thats for sure. In those game they test they are more graphics heavy then CPU heavy, WoW uses a lot more CPU when lots of new stuff are to be handled in the scene, atleast thats what I see on different computers where low gfx with high cpu beats high gfx with low cpu in equal settings