PhenomIIX2 550 Black Edition Potential?

leonmurrayaust

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Hi Guys I am looking to build a lowcost system to do some Gaming -Supreme Commander, Fear, (and some newer). It will be my first attempt and I would like to overclock. I am looking to match a motherboard with the Phenom II X 2 550 BE and a mid range GPU. Any ideas on a cheap board to start me on my way. I have included some specs on my build below. Any suggestions to lower costs would be really appreciated. I am going for balanced performance at a low budget.( Will I need the Larger PSU or will the 400 be enough for some overclocking?) Thanks in advance.


CPU/Processor PHENOM II X2 550 3.1GHZ BLACK € 72.57 incl. BTW MOBO/Motherboard ??
RAM/Memory 3GB 2X1GB + 2X512MB
GPU/Graphics Card HD4650 1GB 600M AGP € 64.26 incl. BTW
HDD/Hard DriveWD 500GB 16MB 7200rpm 3.5inch SATA3.0 Caviar SE € 41.00 incl. BTW
ODD/Optical Disk DriveDVD RW SAMSUNG 22x Black Bulk SATA € 18.25 incl. BTW
HSF/Heatsink and Fan Zalman CNPS9500AM2 € 37.04 incl. BTW
PSU Aopen QF50G - Case MidiTower w. USB/Audio 400W Silent PSU black/grey € 51.25 incl. BTW

Alternate PSU/Power Supply
PSU OCZ 550W Fatal1ty € 53.53 incl. BTW
Case Antec Three Hundred/Ultimate Gamer Case no PSU € 47.01 incl. BTW


 
Solution
I recommend you look at the 790gx boards. They are affordable, overclockable and stable. Otherwise, take a look at the 790x w/o the onboard video. If they are too pricey for you, lastly take a look at some 780G mobos.

I'm not sure why you have that AGP card listed, you'll want a pci-e card. The 400 Watt will be plenty for the HD4670, but you will be limited on upgrades. As suggested above, you may wish to consider a bit beefier PSU.

leonmurrayaust

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Hi, thanks for your suggestions but I simply cant afford to set up an AM3 sysytem now. I can not afford another 100Pound for the RAM. I should have said I have DDR2 Ram so I will be building a AM2+ system. I only have a bout 40 pound for a MoBo and the better graphics card will have to wait- its not much good without a Motherboard to put it on. but thanks for your time
 
I recommend you look at the 790gx boards. They are affordable, overclockable and stable. Otherwise, take a look at the 790x w/o the onboard video. If they are too pricey for you, lastly take a look at some 780G mobos.

I'm not sure why you have that AGP card listed, you'll want a pci-e card. The 400 Watt will be plenty for the HD4670, but you will be limited on upgrades. As suggested above, you may wish to consider a bit beefier PSU.
 
Solution

LePhuronn

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What's your budget?

I've literally just purchased components for a Phenom II X2 550 system and I came out on the nose £500

FYI:

Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition
Asus M4A785TD-M Evo AM3 motherboard
4GB (2 x 2GB) Patriot Sector 5 Viper II DDR3-1333MHz CAS 6
Sapphire Radeon HD5770 1GB
Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB
Sony Optiarc 7240S SATA DVD-RW
Corsair CX 400 PSU
Antec Mini P180 Gun Metal

Now this is designed to play WoW at 1920x1080 on a 50" plasma and fit into a tight space, hence the choice of case - getting an Antec 300 would've saved me £20
 

LePhuronn

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I will try to unlock purely to see if I can, but as I'm running stock cooler for now I won't be pushing beyond 2 cores and stock speeds - in a month or so when I get some money owed to me I'll go for a more capable HSF, re-unlock the cores if they were stable enough and OC the bitch to 3.8GHz.
 

LePhuronn

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As an aside, 400W would be close call for a budget PSU, but the Corsair CX 400 is a sturdy piece of kit. The system I just listed at 100% TDP, 100% load and 3.8GHz OC at 1.5V is estimated at 307W on http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculator.jsp
 

leonmurrayaust

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Thanks guys I have changed a few things to keep the build cost down while still allowing me to play most games at between 55 and 110 FPS at 1680 x 1050. I have decided on the following build components. The PSU should be ok with mild(20%) overclocking but feel free to offer your feedback. Cheers

CPU/Processor Athlon II X 3 435 2900 AM3 € 53.45
MOBO/Motherboard M4A785-M € 63.20
RAM/Memory 3GB 2X1GB + 2X512MB
GPU/Graphics Card Radeon ASUS EAH 4670/DI/512MD3 € 61.26
HDD/Hard Drive - WD 500GB 16MB 7200rpm 3.5inch SATA3.0 € 41.00
ODD/Optical Disk Drive - DVD RW SAMSUNG 22x SATA € 18.25
PSU / Case MidiTower w. USB/Audio 400W € 51.25

Total €288.41