Phenom II 940 Performance Build

[tomstar]

I am finally done reading reviews and benchmarks and I decided to go with the Phenom II 940 over the Q9550 due to the fact that the Q9550 is an "old" processor with shared cache memory and they both perform close to equal but in general the Phenom II gets the upper hand.

Since I am not in the mood for a fan boy flame war I would like to add the following: I already made my choice.

My new build is based on the Phenom II 940 processor and the 790GX chipset with the 750 SB. It will be used for video-editing, gaming and watching high resolution movies. When I am not doing anything of the above my computer will either be turned off or downloading freeware. Therefore I think the PII 940 is a good choice because it automaticly clocks down which is a nice thing for my electricity bills.

I made this thread because it is the very first time I will build a computer. So I am not realy sure about a few things shuch as the motherboard and the memory.

The build I've been talking about:

Mainboard: Gigabyte GA-MA790GP-DS4H (AM2+)
Processor: Phenom II 940 BE
Graphics Card: ATi Radeon HD4850 (512)
Power Suply: ModXStream Pro 500 Watts (85% efficiency) (OCZ)
Hard drive: Samsung Spinpoint F1 640 GB
Case: NZXT HS-001B
Memory: 4GB DDR2-800 kit (2x2gb) (OCZ)

Prices are as following:

139 euro's
229 euro's
139 euro's
72 euro's
59 euro's
89 euro's
45 euro's

Total cost including a DVD-rewriter comes down to 791 euro's.

I think this is a fairly good build, not to say a budget build, because I think this build performs almost equal to a 1200 euro C2Q build. Benchmark based. In other words, it wouldn't be wise to spend more on certain parts looking at the performance boost you'd get.

Some issues I have:

The motherboard: I have the choice between the

Gigabyte GA-MA790GP-DS4H

and the

Asus M3A78-T

I chose the Gigabyte model because I prefer Gigabyte in looks and performance. I also trust Gigabyte more then I trust ASUS when it comes to BIOS support for newer processors.

Anyway I wasn't all to sure because the price difference between the 2 boards is about 25 euro's which aint nothing (cinema with my girlfriend or whatever)

Another thing I am not too sure about is the RAM. I don't whether it is compatible with the motherboard I've chosen. I have checked both OCZ's site and Gigabyte's site but I haven't got much wiser. Also: 800 or 1066 Mhz?

As far as I'm concerned, I think all the other components are compatible with eachother and a 500 Watt PSU seems more then enough for a single card configuration and even has some room left for X-fire. Most likely won't be using X-fire but I like the failing "being able to..." therefore... 2x PCI-e


That's it. Do you have any comments about this build or do you think my ram wont be working with the mobo? Let me know.

Thanks in advance,

Tom

 

[dirtmountain]

Good build, good reasoning behind getting it. Go with DDR2 1066 RAM for the P2 940 and the 790GX. I also like Gigabyte more then Asus, but it's really a toss up. I'm not a big fan of the Samsung hard drives, i prefer Western Digital, but again, it's a personal choice.

 

[tomstar]

Dang, now it does work, 2 threads about the same thing for nothing.

Anyway, I was going to switch the hard drive for a WD one because I can't find any reviews on the current hard drive + WD is cheaper, 4 euro's... 2 beers.

 

[dirtmountain]

2 beers is worth the upgrade!

 

[rescawen]

the asus motherboard is better i have a m3a32 which is great and a 4870 would be much better than a 4850. get a 650 w power supply

 

[tomstar]

The ASUS is not better because you have an ASUS board, and neither is the 4870 a better choice even though I play on very high resolutions, I just don't think the 5% performance increase is worth the extra 80 euro's. And a 500 Watt power supply is overkill for my system. Going for 650 Watt would just be number hooking.

Only benchmark based or review based opinions are of any value here. Personal reviews are also OK, but if you have a p5q which is good, that still doesn't mean the p6q will be even better...

Anyway, thank for the replies

 

[Outlander_04]

Quality wise asus and gigabyte are neck and neck . I would buy the cheaper one if the features are identical .


Tests I have seen give the samsung F1's a slight speed advantage in some situations over the WD . Either is a fine , but the samsung will be quieter . I have WD 640 black and it does make a mild ticking sound when seeking .

 

[tomstar]

Hmm, I guess better colors isn't a good excuse to spend 20 euro's more on a board, how about the BIOS? Alot of people seem t ofavor the Gigabyte BIOS?

 

[toby-tobias]

Yeah, actually I have almost that exact setup now. Same Gigabyte board, the phenom II 940, an HD4850 and 4 gb of OCZ (1066). Everything works great together. I am really happy with that Gigabyte board. It will all fire up for you, but gigabyte offers a bios flash (F4 version, i believe) update that you can download and flash to your bios to support that 940 processor. You may want to look at a GOOD power supply. I had a cheaper one and it's gone, so I will be getting a GOOD one now (550 watts probably, but mostly concerned with quality and 80+ efficiency rating). I am using mine for high res gaming, music and audio recording and production projects.