Best mobo for Phenom 940 with 4850x2 gpu

wait for the HD-5000 series in Q3.

^ +1

Sure, although it's overkill for two 4850s.

How about you save 40 pounds and get this Asus,
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/160931
then spend the money somewhere else, like a good after market CPU cooler? You'll never notice the difference in the boards with two 4850s.

How about this one...

http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cI [...] ageID=6441

it uses ddr3 ram... surely that would spped things up a little??

Sorry not sure I was looking at then!!! was looking at the p2 945 and got mixed up for a second!!!

My understanding is that the phenom II 940 does not support ddr3 ram, so I'm not sure what happens if you go with ddr3, I would guess the system won't work. I'm not sure what the performance jump would be for going to ddr3 over ddr2 (looking at that for my system right now) but if you want ddr3 ram you need a am3 chipset. If you don't already have the processor and really want ddr3 I think either of these chips will work for you.

AMD Phenom II X4 810 2.6GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 4MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 95W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819103650

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819103674

the 940 lacks the ddr3 memory controller, while the 955 has both ddr3 and ddr2. When putting a 955 with both ddr2 and ddr3, the system with ddr3 was a bit faster, but in real life, you won't notice it. So, if you match the 940 you planned to get with a ddr3 board, you'll get a nice useless computer..

You need to figure out what you are doing and come up with a cohesive plan.

Either you are going to buy an X4 940 and a DDR2 board, or you are going to get an X4 945 or 955, at which point you can get either DDR2 or DDR3.

Why are you willing to spend so much on a motherboard for tiny performance gains but not getting a better processor for larger gains?

Proximon.


As a newbie to all this I guess what I am (failing) trying to do is get some general feeling from the experts like you.

It will be my first build and I guess yes I may seem ill informed, stupid, haven't a clue ... or whatever you like .. but the bottom line is I am new to all this stuff.

I made a MISTAKE and misread the ddr3 thing and the 940 chip. (I now know that the 955 is ddr3 945 is ddr3 and the 940 ddr2) it was just a typo mate.

I know what build I am going to buy. As my post says.. I just wanted some heads up on the gpu and mobo.

As regards to spending a little more on the processor.. well I have looked at the i7 but I won't be doing much more than gaming and have added up the costs (inc x58 mobo) and its just too much.

If I go the 940 way I think I will be able to achieve better 'bang for buck' (as you guys say!!) for a decent gaming machine.

Cheers for everyones help so far.

PJ

I say

GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-UD4P $109.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128387

Thanks guys, thats really helpful.

So just to clarify I can run 2x4870's on the 790gx board...

hey just while I am on the subject of gpu's... I saw on Scan computers (Iam uk based no new egg for me!!) that I can pick up a 4870x2for 240 (pounds) which I thought was cheap.. but its the xfx one..

Another newbie question - (sorry) the 4850x2 runs at 1600 each (I think) and the xfx runs 4870x2 at 800.... I am missing something or is it just the reason they are so cheap as they are not the 'high spec' ones that Saphire and the rest produce...

As regards to the rest of my build, the reason I have not mentioned it as I had already done my homework (that makes a first eh ;-) and I already decided on..

Antec 900
Corsair 750w
and 4x2 ddr 2 1066 (BTW which brand would be the best - ram seems so cheap so I don't mind paying a little extra for a better brand)

Thank you so much guys.

PJ

No, there is no way it runs each core at 1600mHz, I assume that's a misinterpretation by the web designer. (800mHz + 800mHz = 1600mHz?) XFX is one of the best ATi manufacturers. You can run 2 4870s on a 790X, 790GX, p45, any board that supports Crossfire and PCI-E 1.1 or 2.0.

on the gfx, look at the asus 4870 X2 on OCUK, £240 and it has a far superior cooling system, and therefore overclocks better.

Just one other thing guys (can't you tell I am on holiday and have waaay too much time on my hands!)

I was just reading the feedback on new egg fop the mobo mentioned above and it looks awesome for the price however 1 comment makes me feel a little uneasy...

''Everything about his board is awesome except the PCI-E graphics slots. That is such a bummer because if they had done that right this board would be legendary. Honestly, that holds it back so bad it's just sad. My 780i with a 3.0 ghz quad and the same video card, PSU and RAM runs games better than this board does. And it's 600mhz slower on all 4 cores and supposedly 800mhz slower on the FSB, I don't trust AMDs bus speeds. The FSB reference clock is at 240mhz at 2400mhz and the Intel board is 400mhz at 1600mhz. What's the deal with that? That's why this board gets only 3 eggs. If you're not gaming it will rule, if you are, buy a board that hits the true bandwidth of the PCI-E 2.0 which is 5000mhz. I am running a HD4850x2 with dual GPUs, maybe if you're running a single GPU card it won't make such a big difference. Says right in the BIOS: "Not guaranteed to operate properly past 100mhz" and it won't go past 107 on mine. Sad.''


Does anyone know if this is true or maybe he just had a bad board???

Cheers PJ

Right... don't listen to the idiot. The board's fine.