Search
Sign in with
Sign up | Sign in
Solved

First build using a AMD Phenom II X2 Black need board

Last response: in Systems
Share

Hello, I have come to Tom's in the past and all the advice on here is always the best on the web. This will be my first attempt at a build. I have upgraded all of my other computers in the past and left the building to my brother in-law. I want my next machine to be all me. With all that out of the way. I have everything that I need (see below) but a motherboard. So what board should I get on a budget? I want to be able to overclock and if I get lucky and the 3rd and 4th core are good unlock those also. I have researched them and there is so many to choose from. I also would like any opinion on a cheap case that will fit it all. I am going to use this for moderate gaming, movie editing and Auto-CAD.

AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black (going to order)

4 sticks of Corsair XMS2 Xtreme 1 GB DDR2

1 WD Caviar Green 500 GB

1 WD Caviar Blue 640 GB

Coolmax CU-600B Power supply - 600 Watt

Rockfish universal CPU cooler

nVidia GeForce GT220 1 GB DDR2 (soon to be upgraded in about 3 months)

SAMSUNG DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S223L

PLEXTOR 22X CD/DVD Burner

More about : build amd phenom black board

Register or log in to remove

cmcghee358 said:
Have you purchased any of this yet? And whats your budget?



I have all these parts except the CPU. I am thinking about buying that one because it can be unlocked. My budget for the board is around $100
Related ressources
Ask the community

DDR2 with 4 slots, ACC, and allow upto 16GB's of RAM for your movie editing/CAD. Your going to be locked out of SLI for sure with motherboards less than $100. A good single PCIE motherboard is the ASUS M4A77D.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

If your willing to be locked into crossfire MSI 790XT-G45 and its a 8X-8X in crossfire.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Both of these motherboards can unlock the cores but know its possible you could get a CPU with damaged cores that will not unlock. Both of these motherboards have combo deals for windows 7 premium or pro 64bit for $10 off.


The only cheap case I will use is the GIGABYTE gz-ph1a3 Black.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

If your ideal of cheap is around $70 tho Antec has 2 good cases.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
The promo code get this case down to $69.95.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

I'd say wait until tuesday, some new CPUs are coming out, including a 3.1 GHz Athlon II X4 for around $100. It will be better than the 555, as it has 4 guaranteed cores, and runs at just about the same speed, for the same price. The L3 cache missing will make less difference than the extra cores

elbert said:
DDR2 with 4 slots, ACC, and allow upto 16GB's of RAM for your movie editing/CAD. Your going to be locked out of SLI for sure with motherboards less than $100. A good single PCIE motherboard is the ASUS M4A77D.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

If your willing to be locked into crossfire MSI 790XT-G45 and its a 8X-8X in crossfire.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Both of these motherboards can unlock the cores but know its possible you could get a CPU with damaged cores that will not unlock. Both of these motherboards have combo deals for windows 7 premium or pro 64bit for $10 off.


The only cheap case I will use is the GIGABYTE gz-ph1a3 Black.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

If your ideal of cheap is around $70 tho Antec has 2 good cases.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
The promo code get this case down to $69.95.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...


A $100 is about where I want to be with the board give or take $25. I don't think I will ever use a second video card. Those cases look pretty good also. Thanks.

ScrewySqrl said:
I'd say wait until tuesday, some new CPUs are coming out, including a 3.1 GHz Athlon II X4 for around $100. It will be better than the 555, as it has 4 guaranteed cores, and runs at just about the same speed, for the same price. The L3 cache missing will make less difference than the extra cores



How do I go about finding and checking out whats new on Tues? Is there much of a difference between the Phenom and the Atholon? I do a lot of multi-tasking, like converting and watching movies at the same time while doing editing. I also do some light gaming.

Best solution

her'd a short article on whats coming out tuesday:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/cpu/display/20100811101304...

the main difference between the Athlon II and Phenom II chips is that the Phenom II has a 3rd Cache level and the Athlon IIs don't. At the same clock speeds and number of cores, the L3 Cache makes a 0-3% difference in processing. Having more cores gives about 20% per core faster speed in things like encoding video.

so you lose out 3% by not having the cache, but gain 35-40% in encoding video with a Athlon II X4 vs Phenom II X2.

this cpmpares the Athlon II 635 to the Phenom II 550 (which is 100 MHz slower each than the 640 and 555, but the spread should be about the same)

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/122?vs=97

notice that the 4 core CRUSHES the 2 core in all the encoding and rendering benchmarchs. And that in games its generally right there
Register or log in to remove
 
Ask the community
Read discussions in other Systems categories
!