Is it possible to get a decent gaming rig for under $450? Please help.

[tvtuner]

Hi there, I've just read the CPU Buyer's Guide by smithereen and a few other posts related to building gaming rigs and how to choose the right components.I must say that it was really an enlightening experience as it was really informative,especially for someone like me who has no clue about hardware and it's technicalities.Thus, I would like your suggestions for a new PC config as my current config. is pretty old(6 years old). I will only be using this PC for web browsing, e-mail, word processing, watching movies and playing games such as Counter-Strike and Warcraft III:FrozenThrone - DOTA (these 2 are the games I play most often), as well as a few others. Won't be getting too many new games right now primarily because of lack of $$,a not so up-to-date system and also because I haven't been exposed to many game titles except the 2 above mentioned ones which I used to play alot of in LAN gaming shops and also online. Since I have no clue about overclocking but am aware of the risks such as frying parts etc. I wont try to do it as I just can't afford in my current situation.

Current PC Config:

Intel P4 2.4 GHz,
1Gb RAM
40Gb Hard disk
128Mb ATI Radeon graphics card
TDK CD-RW drive
Viewsonic 19" LCD monitor (model: VA1912w) - 1440x900 is the native resolution
Windows XP SP2 OS

These are the specs I know of. I'm sorry for the lack of detail such as clock speeds, model no. for the graphics card etc. I didn't even know what all those figures meant till I read some of the posts here. This kind of customized and detailed building is totally new to me and I must admit most of it just goes over my head. Hence, I'm here asking for your help.

I am looking at a budget of around 17-19000 Indian Rupees/ US$400 but I could stretch it a bit more if your idea of a suitable config requires more money. I will have to save the money anyway, so if more is needed I'll just try to come up with a solution to reach the figure.I am not a hardcore gamer(except for the above mentioned games) nor an aspiring professional gamer, thus I just want to re-emphasise the point that a build capable of handling the above mentioned games effortlessly and also good for " general use" as mentioned above is all I need. Also, let me know what you think about my current monitor and whether it needs changing.

I'm also curious about how you guys know so much about all these technicalities and compatibility criteria. Are you guys hardware engineers or just people with a keen interest in these things?

Looking forward to your replies,

Thank you.

 

[Newf]

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/271071-28-best-bang-buck
There are lots of posts here with suggestions.
I would guess that you currently have a socket 478 motherboard with AGP graphics.
This will require a major upgrade in order to get a good gaming machine.
Your old rig will likely do everything else you need to do as is.
The mix of posters on this site varies widely.

 

[tvtuner]

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/271071-28-best-bang-buck
There are lots of posts here with suggestions.
I would guess that you currently have a socket 478 motherboard with AGP graphics.
This will require a major upgrade in order to get a good gaming machine.
Your old rig will likely do everything else you need to do as is.
The mix of posters on this site varies widely.

Thank you for your reply. I read that thread just a while before posting this question. While some posts there were helpful,including yours, in giving me an idea of what processor to aim for, I couldn't really figure out anything else as there was alot of technical stuff thrown around that just went right over my head. I realize $400-$450 isn't a really great budget for a gaming config, but I would like to emphasize that I don't need a very fancy rig, just one that is good enough to handle Counter-Strike and Warcraft III - Dota and general usage effortlessly. I can't figure out the model of my motherboard and graphics card as I accidentally left behind the boxes(along with the contents) for both when I shifted house and at the time of purchase I didn't realize the need to keep track of the model numbers as I was totally new to computers and gaming.

My CPU was lying idle for about 2 years and a rodent decided to make itself comfortable in there. It nicely pissed and crapped all over the CPU,particularly on the graphics card and as a result the card can't take any seriously strenuous activity. Regarding options for re-using parts, I think the PSU and RAM(although I'm not sure if it will be compatible with current parts) maybe the only thing I can carry over along with the case. My hard disk is also not functioning too well. Basically, I have no choice but to get a new config.

From what I saw in the thread you provided the link for, I gathered that AMD Athlon II X4 620, Athlon II 620, Athlon II x3s, Phenom II x3s and x4s and the Intel i5 750 are all very good in a gaming system. I think I read somewhere that the Intel E5200 series will also do alright, although I'm not so sure if I remembering right. From the one's listed here and taking into consideration what I will be using the PC for, I think quad cores and the i5 shouldn't even be touched as it would not be well utilized. Anyway, I hope you can use this as a base and come up with a good config with a tricore being the max for a cpu choice.

Looking forward to what you will come up with and I apologize for not being able to send the reply in sooner.

Thanks.

 

[jj463rd]

Your best bet on a small budget might be an Athlon II X3 like these for the CPU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010340343%201050750076&name=Athlon%20II%20X3
and a AMD 785 G AM2+ based motherboard ($70 to $100) that uses cheaper DDR2 -800 or DDR2 1066 RAM
(4 gigabytes (2 sticks) about $50 or 2 gigabytes (1 stick)around $30).

Consider the CPU+ RAM + Motherboard budget of around $225 or possibly less.
You could pick up a Western Digital SATA 2 Hard Drive for around $60.
You will most likely need a new power supply around $50 with EPS CPU connectors.

That would be around $335
Any more you can use on the choice of your discrete graphics card.
You can reuse your old case,DVD Burner

Here is a article about the Athlon II X3's and as you can see they perform well.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/athlon-ii-x3,2452.html

Also indeed the Intel E5200 would also make a nice budget CPU system.

Here is an article Best Gaming CPUs For The Money: November '09

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-gaming-cpu,2466.html

Here is another article
Seven AMD 785G-Based Motherboards Rounded Up

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-785g-motherboard,2441.html

Basically you want to avoid the AM3 DDR3 only motherboards because DDR3 type RAM is quite a bit more expensive than DDR2 for your budget.The 785G motherboard also has great integrated graphics just to get it up and running.
I am sure though that you will want a better discrete graphics card.

 

[loneninja]

Get an Athlon II X2, or the X3/X4 if you can afford it and pair it up with a 785G motherboard and a radeon 4670, it'll easily handle the games you've mentioned and can still play a number of newer games max settings with a respectable framerate.

 

[saint19]

If you can, don't buy the Athlon II, buy the Phenom II X2 550 or X3 720

 

[saint19]

I disagree. Athlon II X4 is the better choice, 720 BE is a close second, the 550 is not in the same league.

--------------------

Ok, the Athlon II X4 620 have 4 cores at 2.8GHz with LOCK multiplier, that means that the posibility to OC the processor is limited. The price: $99

The Phenom II X3 720 have 3 cores at 2.8GHz with the posibility to unlock the 4 core. Is a BE, that means that if you want to OC the processor, only rise the multiplier you can get 3.2GHz...the same speed that my X4 955 at stock. The price: $119

For only $20 more that the 620 you can get the 720 BE, same speed both BUT with the diference that in the 720 BE you can unlock the 4 core and rise the multiplier to get 3.2GHz...only for $119, is a better price/performance combination.

 

[saint19]

Ah, but you pay $20 more for the 720 BE and the extra core might be locked! Even if the core is unlocked it may be unstable! With the Athlon II X4 you are guaranteed a fourth core (maybe even L3 cache if its a Deneb version).

3.2 GHz is a tiny overclock, Athlon II X4 can reach like 3.3/3.4 GHz on stock voltage, usually maxes out at around 3.6 GHz though with 1.5v. - The 720 BE usually maxes out at around 3.6 - 3.8 GHz.

Performance wise presuming that the Phenom II X3 720 core is locked and the Athlons IIs X4 L3 is locked, all the 720 has in its favour is a negligible performance in games due to it being clocked 200MHz higher and having L3 cache. In the majority of non gaming applications the Athlon II X4 will be faster in by a landslide. It should only take a year or two for games to be truly multi threaded and the gaming domain will shift towards the Athlon II X4 as well, you'll have slight future proof ability thrown in for $20 less.

----------------------

If you unlock the 4 core in the corret way, the system must be stable for life. An easy, with 1.44V and x19 in the multiplier the 720 can hit the 3.6GHz or 3.8GHz

 

[saint19]

Remember a Athlon II X4 @ 3.6GHz > Phenom II X3 720 @ 3.8 GHz in a landslide of applications apart from current games, the threadstarter isnt just playing games. Like I said before its an investment so in a years or so games will favour the Athlon II X4 as well.

@bddazza: 3.6GHz with an Athlon WITH LOCK multiplier?, this will be too much instability the system that the X3 with the 4 core unlock.

BTW, why do you run "6GB DDR2 800MHz Crucial Ballistix Tracert"AMD rigs do not run tri channel memory!

Were I said that are in tri-channel?

 

[jennyh]

I'd take the quad over the x2, and that's as a gamer.

I know the 550 BE is a really nice chip, but imo it's overpriced. Now if unlocking the other 2 cores were guaranteed, I'd say it was worth it.

The Athlon X4 is just too good to ignore. And yes while you will see benchmarks of clean systems with fresh windows installations proving that the 550 BE is faster in gaming...on a normal system I'm 100% sure the X4 will claw a lot of that back as it deals with windows garbage.

You can also get the current best of both worlds by choosing an X3. There is nothing wrong with an X3 - in fact it might well be the best choice, but people seem to think there is something missing because of the X3 moniker.

Dual cores are definitely breathing their last now.

 

[tvtuner]

Ok guys, thank you for your replies. I liked the passion with which bddazza and saint19 were debating the processors and also the inputs of jennyh, loneninja and jj463rd but I have to say that most of it was not really helpful in me coming to a firm choice, as most of what you guys said was too technical for me to understand and you guys didn't come to a consensus as well I don't need anything that requires overclocking as I am a novice and if I tried all that my PC would probably get fried instantly. I just need some simple choices for a config. Here's where I am right now after reading your replies and the links that "jj463rd" provided.


PC Config:

Processor - Athlon II X2,X3 435( or 425?), X4 620. Please feel free to substitute with any suitable Intel processor and the corrsponsing mobo for it in the lower tab.

Mobo - AMD 770 or AMD 785G

RAM - 2-4GB DDR2/DDR3 ( If you could specify a few models it would be great, as I don't have an idea on how to choose these things based on the specs. Also, someone had said that DDR3 requires AM3 which is costlier,so DDR2 is better or something like that. I don't have a clue, so I leave that to you as well )

GPU - HD4670 (is my RADEON 9600 SE not suitable for this config? Not that I mind the new card, just my curiosity)

Hard Disk -

DVD writer -

PSU - is my Codegen 350W(6yrs. old, like everything else in my PC) fine for this config or do I need something else?

Monitor - Is my 19" Viewsonic fine for this?

Case - I feel a new one would be best as I don't want any remnants of the rodents mess to ruin the new parts.

If I've missed anything, please include them in the config with specific models of the respective parts you are suggesting. Guys, please no overclocking stuff this time unless it is easy to do and you guys can teach me. Otherwise, I would just prefer a ready to use config without any tinkering capable of handling Counter-Strike and Warcraft III - DOTA along with general use(web browsing, e-mail, word processing, watching movies).

Thanks guys. Looking forward to your replies. The above mentioned config is open to changes so please feel free to do so.

 

[tvtuner]

The reason I left out the X3 720 was because it costs around Rs. 7500 which takes a huge chunk out of the budget, but if you guys can justify it's addition I wouldn't mind.

 

[jj463rd]

The 785G based motherboards have one of the best integrated graphics out there ( HD 4200 ) except for a 790GX based motherboard.
I wouldn't recommend it either for newer games though but worthwhile for older games.
Having a 785G board has the advantage that one can see a system up and running until obtaining a discrete graphics card.A 770 based motherboard would also be O.K.
The reason that I especially liked the Athlon II X3's was because of how close on par they came to the 720 BE in benchmarks and especially the vastly lower cost which would be ideal for a builder short on funds yet desire good performance on an upgrade.In terms of bang per buck the Athlon II X3's are real winners as the Toms Hardware's Article that I linked showed .

For the cost per performance the much less expnsive 2.7 Ghz Athlon II X3 425
( $77 newegg) is only .2Ghz slower than the 435 yet at newegg the 435 is about $13 more at $90.The Athlon II X4's are also a good budget choice but at a slightly higher cost (not bad though and quite worthwhile if your budget allows).

I think a good economical choice on a discrete graphics card would be a Radeon HD 4770 since it has nearly the performance of the Radeon HD 4850 (not quite) yet uses much much less power so one wouldn't have to have an especially beefy power supply.Both cards (4770 and 4850) easily outperform a HD 4670 card.
Just look at benchmarks.
Here is one (HD 4770) for $100 at newegg

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102853

Once could also choose a Radeon HD 4850 card too but these are costlier and use more power.As I can see some brands have disappeared.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010380048%20106792627%201067940677&name=Radeon%20HD%204850

The Radeon 5750 cards are a great choice but I doubt the O.P. could go that high
(around $145).
I think the O.P would be better off with that $100 HD 4770 which would be within a good low budget limit


The O.P can't spend a lot of money and is quite budget contrained.
I don't think the individual can afford a graphics card over $125 and $100 is more like it.

 

[tvtuner]

Sorry, haven't been able to reply sooner, way too work much off late.

Getting to the point, it is not feasible for me to spend more than $100-120 for a graphics card.Sadly, the $100(Rs.4650) HD4770 showed by jj463rd costs much higher in India, roughly Rs.7000($150).I have no idea why there is such a huge price difference but another surprising thing I noticed was that the 4850 was also around the same cost.So, should I go for either of the 2(4770/4850) or just go with the HD 4670, as I only need a card that can handle Counter-strike and Warcraft III-DOTA along with general usage.

Furthermore, I need suggestions for the other blank categories in my config. such as DVD writer(don't have one currently), Hard Drive( Is Seagate better than WD and in which models? The reason I ask is that Seagate drives are cheaper than WD at larger sizes in India), PSU(please suggest a few specific models so I can cross-check the prices at the Indian retailers website- www.techshop.in. If possible, I would appreciate it if you guys could pick out the parts from this site, as I'm not sure if Newegg/ Amazon deliver products to India and if they do, I don't know if the charges will be feasible) and RAM(please suggest a few models - either DDR2/DDR3). Should my choice of graphics card depend on whether I buy DDR2/DDR3 RAM or is there no relation between the two?

Just want to remind you guys that parts picked from the Indian retailers site would be better and I think it will make it easier for you guys to build the config as the prices are in Indian currency.

After reading a few articles and the inputs you guys gave, I am down to the Athlon II X3 435 and the X4 620. Now, if could pick a good 770/785G mobo from the site, it would be great.

Thanks for your inputs and looking forward to more.

 

[jj463rd]

Looking at various benchmarks the HD 4670 would be likely adequate with the older games that you play.It has somewhare around 50% more performance than the HD 4650 which is good for gaming in resolutions of around 1280 by 1024.The HD 4670 is good in gaming in slightly higher resolutions at 1680 by 1050.
With your prices in your country the 4850 would be a better choice than the 4770 however since these are above your budget I think that you would be best served by the less expensive HD4670 which is probably within your specified budget.The choice of system RAM has no relation to graphics cards.

Ideally I prefer better tier motherboards with better support (on their websites)
for CPU BIOS updates,fixes etc.
ASUS,Gigabyte and MSI seem to have the better and longer support than other brands however if cost is an issue it could be adequate to choose lesser tier brands for a motherboard.
Also when choosing a motherboard go to their support site first before choosing and buying to see if they have updates,how well their support is etc.Also check reviews and features of a motherboard on the Internet and in addition I like to read what others said on neweggs reviews even though newegg doesn't sell in your country.Some individual reviews may be by those inexperienced at building a system and they may have made a mistake but generally the reviews are by an average of individuals both experienced and inexperienced.
Be sure that the desired CPU is supported by the motherboard too.


It's always best to take your time and research before buying.
DDR2 memory is cheaper than DDR3 RAM.I don't know the reason why but it seems that DDR3 seems to be going up in price.Using DDR3 memory will only increase the performance by a few percent not much really.If I were to try to save money and on a tight budget I would chose an AM2+ 770 or 785G motherboard that uses DDR 2 RAM over a AM3 version one that uses DDR3 RAM

Lately it seems the prices have been creeping up badly in price on PC components especially with graphics cards and memory.

 

[tvtuner]

Alright, if I get the 4850, what PSU should I get? Can you also recommend some models for the other categories, such as Hard Disk(320-640GB), DVD writer, RAM, mobo etc. after reading my previous post and preferably after looking at the site provided in there as well.

Thanks

 

[jj463rd]

If you decide to get the HD 4850 graphics card look at this post
The HD 4850 would be a great card (more than adequate).

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/252005-33-4850-power-requirements

I or somebody else will respond later to your post.I'm going to sleep.

 

[tvtuner]

Ah, thanks for addressing those queries jj. Looks like I will be going for an AM2+ 770/785G mobo along with DDR2 RAM. Now, will the Athlon II X3 435 or X4 620 be more suited to this mobo and my needs? I would like to address my above post to you as well.

Looking forward to your reply.

 

[tvtuner]

Lol, you keep sending in your replies just before mine Twice today Anyways, nice to know that your taking the time. Truly appreciate it. Sleep well.

Thanks.

 

[Randeep]

Lol, you keep sending in your replies just before mine Twice today Anyways, nice to know that your taking the time. Truly appreciate it. Sleep well.

Thanks.

Hi tvtuner,

Which city are you trying to purchase the parts for your computer? Since you mentioned your budget in Rupees, I assume you are purchasing them in India.

I am also currently in process of building a computer at a budget price. My suggestion for you would be to go visit a place like Nehru Place in Delhi or any similar Computer Market in your city (Every major city has one where you get real good bargains).

From your existing setup, I guess you can reuse the Viewsonic Monitor and probably the Hard Drive (as a back up for your OS partition).

You can easily get a system built under Rs. 17K that way. Here's an indicative budget:

Intel Core2Duo E7500 (2.93GHz) ~ Rs. 4650 (Box Set - 3 year warranty) or ~Rs. 3590 (OEM set - 1 year warranty)
Intel G31 based motherboard ~~~ Rs. 1900 to 2600 depending on brand (Local/Gigabyte/ASUS/Intel)
2GB DDR2 RAM ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rs. 1650-1900 (Simmtronics/Kingston/Transcend)
500GB Sata HDD ~~~~~~~~~~~ Rs. 2290 (Western Digital)
or 320GB Sata HDD ~~~~~~~~~ Rs. 1800 (Western Digital)
DVD writer ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rs. 1050 (LG)
Keyboard/Mouse ~~~~~~~~~~~ Rs. 590 (Logitech KB+ Mouse Set) or, you can reuse yours
Cabinet ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rs. 900 to Rs. 6000 (Local brands or ones like CoolerMaster)
Speakers ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rs. 300+

Graphics Card ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I haven't looked into those, but I think you can get a decent one around Rs 2500

You can check some prices here - http://www.npithub.com/

Hope this has been helpful.

Cheers,
Randeep

 

[tvtuner]

Hi tvtuner,

Which city are you trying to purchase the parts for your computer? Since you mentioned your budget in Rupees, I assume you are purchasing them in India.

I am also currently in process of building a computer at a budget price. My suggestion for you would be to go visit a place like Nehru Place in Delhi or any similar Computer Market in your city (Every major city has one where you get real good bargains).

From your existing setup, I guess you can reuse the Viewsonic Monitor and probably the Hard Drive (as a back up for your OS partition).

You can easily get a system built under Rs. 17K that way. Here's an indicative budget:

Intel Core2Duo E7500 (2.93GHz) ~ Rs. 4650 (Box Set - 3 year warranty) or ~Rs. 3590 (OEM set - 1 year warranty)
Intel G31 based motherboard ~~~ Rs. 1900 to 2600 depending on brand (Local/Gigabyte/ASUS/Intel)
2GB DDR2 RAM ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rs. 1650-1900 (Simmtronics/Kingston/Transcend)
500GB Sata HDD ~~~~~~~~~~~ Rs. 2290 (Western Digital)
or 320GB Sata HDD ~~~~~~~~~ Rs. 1800 (Western Digital)
DVD writer ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rs. 1050 (LG)
Keyboard/Mouse ~~~~~~~~~~~ Rs. 590 (Logitech KB+ Mouse Set) or, you can reuse yours
Cabinet ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rs. 900 to Rs. 6000 (Local brands or ones like CoolerMaster)
Speakers ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rs. 300+

Graphics Card ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I haven't looked into those, but I think you can get a decent one around Rs 2500

You can check some prices here - http://www.npithub.com/

Hope this has been helpful.

Cheers,
Randeep

Thanks for your response Randeep. I am currently residing in Hyderabad. I am not so comfortable going to local retailers, particularly here, because they are not many that are reliable and trustworthy. People who don't really have much of a clue about what they are buying(like me) will be handed some ancient model matching the same specs. That's how I got stuck with my Viewsonic monitor and it works fine so far but when I checked out the model on the net recently, I found that it one that was no longer in production. I'm sure there are good retailers as well but I need to find them and I don't get much time to do that due to my job which takes up alot of my time. Hence, I thought of purchasing the stuff online because I assumed it would be cheaper but that doesn't seem to be the case, atleast in India

The only things I need are a Processor, Motherboard, RAM, DVD-writer, Hard drive and Graphics card.

I was planning to go for DDR2 RAM but then the processors(Athlon II X4 620 and Phenom II X3 435) I was eyeing, use AM3 sockets, so I'll either have to get DDR3 RAM or look for an AM2/AM2+ processor.

I also wanted to know if the prices you mentioned were from local or online retailers. Thanks.

 

[jj463rd]

The only things I need are a Processor, Motherboard, RAM, DVD-writer, Hard drive and Graphics Card.

I was planning to go for DDR2 RAM but then the processors(Athlon II X4 620 and Phenom II X3 435) I was eyeing, use AM3 sockets, so I'll either have to get DDR3 RAM or look for an AM2/AM2+ processor.

Those AM3 processors are backwards compatible with AM2+ Motherboards and DDR2 RAM as long as there is a BIOS (supported CPU) update for them (One may need to flash the BIOS with a floppy disk or usb Flash Memory Drive).If the motherboard is newer it's quite possible that flashing may not be necessary.

I've already flashed an old AM2+ motherboard myself in preparation for a AM3 CPU upgrade (Phenom II X4 955) and flashed an AM3 motherboard for an updated BIOS fix.I flashed using the old fashioned method using a 3 and half inch 1.44 megabyte microdisk (which loosely are called floppy disks but are actually microdisks).

The only real difference is that DDR2 memory is cheaper (although it seems to have gone up in price like DDR3).
DDR3 Memory is now pretty expensive in the U.S.A. the advantage of a AM3 based motherboard would be perhaps longer support but
since 785G motherboards are fairly newer that point would most likely be moot.
Let's put it this way with a AM2+ motherboard you will save some money at a slight loss of performance using DDR2 memory.
The loss won't be significant just a few percent.Using a AM3 motherboard will be costlier with using DDR3 memory.

 

[Randeep]

Thanks for your response Randeep. I am currently residing in Hyderabad. I am not so comfortable going to local retailers, particularly here, because they are not many that are reliable and trustworthy. People who don't really have much of a clue about what they are buying(like me) will be handed some ancient model matching the same specs. That's how I got stuck with my Viewsonic monitor and it works fine so far but when I checked out the model on the net recently, I found that it one that was no longer in production. I'm sure there are good retailers as well but I need to find them and I don't get much time to do that due to my job which takes up alot of my time. Hence, I thought of purchasing the stuff online because I assumed it would be cheaper but that doesn't seem to be the case, atleast in India

The only things I need are a Processor, Motherboard, RAM, DVD-writer, Hard drive and Graphics card.

I was planning to go for DDR2 RAM but then the processors(Athlon II X4 620 and Phenom II X3 435) I was eyeing, use AM3 sockets, so I'll either have to get DDR3 RAM or look for an AM2/AM2+ processor.

I also wanted to know if the prices you mentioned were from local or online retailers. Thanks.

The prices I mentioned are from local retailers in Nehru Place, Delhi. I just built a new PC for Rs. 19,725 (which included a 20" LCD for Rs. 6,200).

In Hyderabad, you can try SD Road I think. Not sure. No harm in visiting and enquiring on prices.

And jj463rd is correct. You can put DDR2 RAM on AM3 Boards. The new Boards already come with recent Bios I think.

Cheers,
Randeep

 

[jj463rd]

To clarify you can't use DDR2 on a AM3 motherboard.

AM3 Motherboard uses DDR3 Memory
AM2+ Motherboard uses DDR2 Memory.

You can use any AM3 type CPU on either a AM3 Motherboard or a AM2+ Motherboard that has an updated BIOS available supporting the newer AM3 CPU's.

 

[saint19]

To clarify you can't use DDR2 on a AM3 motherboard.

AM3 Motherboard uses DDR3 Memory
AM2+ Motherboard uses DDR2 Memory.

You can use any AM3 type CPU on either a AM3 Motherboard or a AM2+ Motherboard that has an updated BIOS available supporting the newer AM3 CPU's.

-----------------------

NOT ALL AM3 MOBO uses DDR3 memory, some AM3 mobos, can use DDR2.