AMD Phenom II budget build. Yay or nay?

[_horse]

Hey yall!

Im on somewhat of a tight budget, and I wanted to get some feedback on my proposed system build.


Purchasing:
Mobo: ASUS M3A78-T AM2+/AM2 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131331

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 940 Deneb 3.0GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Black Edition Processor - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103471

Memory: G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231166


Already have:
Case: Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021

Video Card: XFX PVT98GYDLU GeForce 9800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150316

HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black WD5001AALS 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136320

Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer 7.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz PCI Interface Sound Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102006


Now given, I know that the 9800GT is a dying breed of card, but I'm frankly happy with it at the moment, so I figured it's not too vital for immidate replacement. Hell, Im getting 60fps at 1680x1050 on my current rig, which only has a 2.0Ghz AMD 64 x2 with 2gigs of memory.

I'm looking at the 1Gig Radeon 4870 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102801) for a few weeks from now.

Also, I dont think that I need to really explain this further, but by just now purchasing the Memory, MoBo, and CPU, I'm considering this a "budget" build. Therefore... with the parts laid out here for purchase, should I go with those, or should I look at something else?

-
_horse


Oh and its gonna run me about $430 with shipping for those three... So theres the budget.

EDIT: Oh and this is going to be a Vista x64 build.

 

[stoner133]

On an older board like that you better be prepared to use another AM2 processor to updated the BIOS to what ever version is required to run the 940.

 

[_horse]

On an older board like that you better be prepared to use another AM2 processor to updated the BIOS to what ever version is required to run the 940.

Well if that's a older board, what should I go with so that I dont have to go through all the extra trouble?

 

[buzznut]

Any AM3 ready mobo, I'm sure you can find that yourself.

Personally I would skip the soundblaster and go for the 1TB black hdd.

 

[stoner133]

Well for an Asus board your gonna need a M4A79 Deluxe in order to be sure you can just drop in the 940 and have it boot, it's the first Asus board to fully support the 940 out of the box. Even the M3A79T-Deluxe may require a BIOS flash depending on how long its been setting on the retailers shelf.

The M4A79 Deluxe will run you around $200

There is also a M4A79T-Deluxe but its a TRUE AM3 board so don't get the two confused.

 

[stoner133]

Don't get confused with the AM3 Ready listings on many boards, you see that with most AM2+ boards these days. But most are only AM3 ready once you update the BIOS to accept it. Plus you can't just by an AM3 board because if its a TRUE AM3 board the 940 isn't even going to work, it won't fit in the socket on a TRUE AM3 board. But when you see the AM3 ready listing the AM3 CPU's are backwards compatable with AM3 Ready boards as long as the BIOS accepts it.

Bet I have your head spinning now!

 

[_horse]

Any AM3 ready mobo, I'm sure you can find that yourself.

Personally I would skip the soundblaster and go for the 1TB black hdd.

I already have that in my current computer, so it will just be switched over to the new one.

 

[_horse]

Don't get confused with the AM3 Ready listings on many boards, you see that with most AM2+ boards these days. But most are only AM3 ready once you update the BIOS to accept it. Plus you can't just by an AM3 board because if its a TRUE AM3 board the 940 isn't even going to work, it won't fit in the socket on a TRUE AM3 board. But when you see the AM3 ready listing the AM3 CPU's are backwards compatable with AM3 Ready boards as long as the BIOS accepts it.

Bet I have your head spinning now!

Yeah, you got that right. Any flat out reccomendations? A few reccomendations?

 

[captaincharisma]

LOL i say end the confusion and go for an intel CPU and mobo combo

 

[_horse]

LOL i say end the confusion and go for an intel CPU and mobo combo

Dont want to spend/have the extra coin to spend on an Intel system.

Dont get me wrong, I've considered it, and greatly at that! It's just not cost effective enough for me right now.

 

[stoner133]

M4A79 Deluxe

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131361

 

[jitpublisher]

Budget? Dont' need Crossfire of SLI?
Picked up at Frys last week.
Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-US2H- Ultra Durable 3 AM3 ready board- $84
Phenom II 920 $180
2x2/4 gig Crucial 7-7-7-24 1066 memory kit guarenteed to run at 1200 $49

Simple board, nothing really fancy, booted right up and recognized the Processor and memory @1066. Running perfectly immediately after first boot.
Tossed out my X-Fi sound card, using the on-board which I think is actually better than the piece of **** Creative card I had. That was one of the worse hardware purchases I ever made. What a piece of junk.

Installed XP and Windows 7, dual booting. I have Vista, but I am not going to bother with it. Going to run the dual boot until the official release of 7.

Really happy with it for the money.
Overclocked to 3.2ghz by simply raising the buss, nothing else.
With a BFG 8800GTS 512 OC hits well over 15,000 in 3D Mark 06.

 

[slabbo]

Don't buy just yet. For $1 more on your motherboard you can get a true AM3 board if you don't plan to do X-fire.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128378


But if you make that choice, you'll have to get some DDR3 ram instead. So it'll increase your budget a little more, but it'll be more future proof.

edit:

looks like this one is is x-fire ready.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131366

oh sorry, you'll only have these choices on the processor if you go with an AM3 board. I guess newegg doesn't have many AM3 processors out ATM.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...=50001028 40000343 1051746439&name=Socket AM3

 

[_horse]

Well crap, Im did this whole thing ass backwards... I didn't notice that the Phenom II that I want is socket AM2+.

Are there really any similarities between the AM2+ CPUs and the AM3s?

 

[Outlander_04]

Bottomline is that AM3 isnt faster than AM2 . In another year or two if DDR3 latencies drop and clock speeds go higher that may reverse but today its a dead issue since DDR2 does the same job cheaper .

Theres a great article at anandtech

The Phenom II X4 810 & X3 720: AMD Gets DDR3 But Doesn't Need It
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3512


Look on Newegg for combo deals . There are a few for P ll940/ mb/RAM

 

[Outlander_04]

Well crap, Im did this whole thing ass backwards... I didn't notice that the Phenom II that I want is socket AM2+.

Are there really any similarities between the AM2+ CPUs and the AM3s?

AM2 and AM3 are identical except for the part of the cpu that interfaces with memory

 

[_horse]

Bottomline is that AM3 isnt faster than AM2 . In another year or two if DDR3 latencies drop and clock speeds go higher that may reverse but today its a dead issue since DDR2 does the same job cheaper .

Theres a great article at anandtech

The Phenom II X4 810 & X3 720: AMD Gets DDR3 But Doesn't Need It
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3512


Look on Newegg for combo deals . There are a few for P ll940/ mb/RAM

Ill take a few looks around for them. I'm just worried about buying a combo deal that sticks me with a really sub-par motherboard.

 

[Proximon]

From what I'm seeing, it's only this first round of AM3 CPUs that are slow. The next round of AM3 Slated for Q2 2009 has a higher wattage req so I'm guessing it will be as fast or faster than current PII X4s.

 

[EQPlayer]

A good future proof (or as future proof as one can get, anyways) would be to run an AM3 DDR3 board with, say, a Phenom II X3 720 BE (which apparently can be overclocked to near 4Ghz) which leaves you in a good position to upgrade to a high-end AM3 CPU when they come out.

 

[batuchka]

Hmm dunno if this helps but this was what i configured for a dude looking for a $7xx AMD rig with LCD in (OS reactivate)

 

[ajcroteau]

First of all, If I were you, and this is what i'm doing actually, I would wait until the true AM3 processors and motherboards hit scene.

I don't think they're gonna be at the outrageous prices that the i7 Cores are going for and the people who are spending those kinds of dollars either have way too much free money on their hands. IMHO

Secondly, your running a 9800GT, when you say a dieing breed, are you speaking about the 9800 series or nvidia cards all together because i'm running 2x 8800GTs(9800GTs) and they're very fast and i see no reason to upgrade anytime soon. I use to be an ATI guy but after crossing the fence over the nvidia, i see no reason to ever go back anytime soon. Besides, the last i knew, the ATI drivers were always very buggy.

Anyways, good luck, whatever decision you make will obviously be the decision you make but i would wait till true AM3 hits the market and keep an eye on the benchmarks.

AJ

 

[_horse]

First of all, If I were you, and this is what i'm doing actually, I would wait until the true AM3 processors and motherboards hit scene.

I don't think they're gonna be at the outrageous prices that the i7 Cores are going for and the people who are spending those kinds of dollars either have way too much free money on their hands. IMHO

Secondly, your running a 9800GT, when you say a dieing breed, are you speaking about the 9800 series or nvidia cards all together because i'm running 2x 8800GTs(9800GTs) and they're very fast and i see no reason to upgrade anytime soon. I use to be an ATI guy but after crossing the fence over the nvidia, i see no reason to ever go back anytime soon. Besides, the last i knew, the ATI drivers were always very buggy.

Anyways, good luck, whatever decision you make will obviously be the decision you make but i would wait till true AM3 hits the market and keep an eye on the benchmarks.

AJ

Well the inital reason for chosing the Phenom II now is because my current 2.0 64 x2 is on the edge of going out on me. Its been in for 2 years, and for some reason refuses to overclock any higher with an ASUS M2N4-SLI board. On top of that, these things are dirt cheap compared to a 3.0 Quad from Intel. Yeah now that Im able to ask questions, it does look better to wait, but I dont really think I have the time left, and Im frankly getting tired of the bottleneck.

With my current setup, I can get really decent frames on WoW at 1680*1050 on medium-high settings in windowed mode, and very playable frames in CoD4 on high at 1680*1050.

That setup is a 2.0 AMD Dual Core that wont overclock without refusing to boot to windows. 2Gigs of ram, about 1TB of storage space, the sound card in my opening post, and that XFX 9800GT.

The reason I say that the 9800GT is a dying breed of card is that I constantly see their models from different companies being taken off the shelves in place of the ATI 4xxx class and the nVidia 2xx class of cards. I mean, hell, Im already looking at the 1g Saphire ATI 4780 ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102801 ) to replace the 9800GT soon enough.


I guess my main issue is now, what motherboard (exactly) should I bother to get that will support the Phenom II, and possibly (not a total necessity) be able to handle the AM3 chips if I feel like switching later?

 

[jcknouse]

Well the inital reason for chosing the Phenom II now is because my current 2.0 64 x2 is on the edge of going out on me. Its been in for 2 years, and for some reason refuses to overclock any higher with an ASUS M2N4-SLI board. On top of that, these things are dirt cheap compared to a 3.0 Quad from Intel. Yeah now that Im able to ask questions, it does look better to wait, but I dont really think I have the time left, and Im frankly getting tired of the bottleneck.

With my current setup, I can get really decent frames on WoW at 1680*1050 on medium-high settings in windowed mode, and very playable frames in CoD4 on high at 1680*1050.

That setup is a 2.0 AMD Dual Core that wont overclock without refusing to boot to windows. 2Gigs of ram, about 1TB of storage space, the sound card in my opening post, and that XFX 9800GT.

The reason I say that the 9800GT is a dying breed of card is that I constantly see their models from different companies being taken off the shelves in place of the ATI 4xxx class and the nVidia 2xx class of cards. I mean, hell, Im already looking at the 1g Saphire ATI 4780 ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102801 ) to replace the 9800GT soon enough.


I guess my main issue is now, what motherboard (exactly) should I bother to get that will support the Phenom II, and possibly (not a total necessity) be able to handle the AM3 chips if I feel like switching later?

I know your pain. I upgraded from 5600+ 64 x2 to the Phenom x4 2.5. my 5600+ was nice, but just wasn't cutting the mustard.

If you are looking for an alternative, then compromise? for $79, get you this?
AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000 3.1GHz Socket AM2 89W Dual-Core Processor Model ADV6000DOBOX - Retail
That would get you by...upgrade your speed...and keep the system alive while you get the things together for the real upgrade.

Just an alternative. No matter what though, good luck with that. I hope that it goes well for you!

(P.S.- I'm waiting for AM3 too to build my next gaming rig )

 

[_horse]

I know your pain. I upgraded from 5600+ 64 x2 to the Phenom x4 2.5. my 5600+ was nice, but just wasn't cutting the mustard.

If you are looking for an alternative, then compromise? for $79, get you this?
AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000 3.1GHz Socket AM2 89W Dual-Core Processor Model ADV6000DOBOX - Retail
That would get you by...upgrade your speed...and keep the system alive while you get the things together for the real upgrade.

Just an alternative. No matter what though, good luck with that. I hope that it goes well for you!

(P.S.- I'm waiting for AM3 too to build my next gaming rig )

I hear that. Id like a new mobo too. Any recommendations?

Better yet. Are there any recommendations for boards that I can use now for a dual core that would be upgrade ready when the good AM3s come out?

 

[captaincharisma]

Dont want to spend/have the extra coin to spend on an Intel system.

Dont get me wrong, I've considered it, and greatly at that! It's just not cost effective enough for me right now.

yea was just joking around anyway. when i built my last system the quad cores were just coming out and had the same situation with bios updates too