Buying New Motherboard, Help Me Shop

Flankercom

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May 1, 2010
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I'm looking to upgrade my system again because the motherboard I have doesn't support USB 3.0 or the new sata. I've got a socket AM3+ CPU heres the link for it: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727&cm_re=965_Black_Edition-_-19-103-727-_-Product

I would like suggestions pulled from Newegg or Tiger

Heres the rest of my specs:

CPU:Black edition Phenom II 965 Quadcore w/Corsair H50 liquid cooler
MB:MSI K9N2 Diamond
GPU:Nvidia geforce fermi 480 sc
Ram:Crucial x4 2gb sticks 1066MHZ (8 gigs)
Case:Coolermaster HAF 932 fullsize
Powersupply:Kingwin 800watt modular
OS:Windows 7 64bit home basic (soon to be pro)
 

Flankercom

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May 1, 2010
75
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Well see, I'm not getting an L3(or was it 2) Cache or something because my Processor is AM3 and my motherboard is only AM2+. From what i've read L3 catch is better but performancewise I dont know how much, all i see when I read about it are number representations such as 6mb. I was wandering, would I also not get a performance boost from going from a sata2 to a sata3? I know i'm gonna need to buy new hhd or sdd drives for this? Could you or maybe someone else elaborate on this?
 
Nope, that AM3 CPU works the same in AM3 or AM2+ mobos. DDR3 isn't better than DDR2. As jaquith said, you don't need SATA3 unless you have a SSD, any regular HDD will work the same on SATA2 and SATA3. Even if you buy a SSD that won't help you in gaming, only in booting time.
 
The least expensive way to improve your performance is to OC both your CPU and GPU. GPU OC, use MSI Afterburner - http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner/

I did look at AM3 MOBO alternatives, but I don't see any that would make any sense other than wasting your money.

If you want to be on a spending spree first upgrade to Windows 7 Pro/Home x64 so you can use the 8GB RAM vs the 4 GB now, and either add an SSD or another GTX 480.

If you purchase an SSD then get at least 120-128+ GB. Example Corsair Nova Series CSSD-V128GB2-BRKT 128GB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233107

Between the free OC and upgrading of both the OS and SSD you won't recognize you rig, and I guarantee you'll be wiser with you money.

Good Luck!