Buying AMD Phenom II X6 1090T - Need MOBO and RAM!!

indyadvant

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Hey guys, I'm going to grab myself the AMD Phenom II X6 1090T in my new build, but I'm having trouble picking a MOBO. I was thinking the GIGABYTE GA-890XA but the ram speed isn't very good:

"DDR3 1866(OC)*/1333/1066
* To reach DDR3 1866 MHz or above, you must install two memory modules and install them in the DDR3_3 and DDR3_4 memory sockets."

I'm thinking DDR3 2000 should be ideal..

I'm going for 12gb 4x3gig sticks. Lots of USB ports; just a good MOBO that won't steer me wrong. This is my first build and I want it to be a good one! I'm grabbing the GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit as well, although I'm seeing some of the 465's going for the same price as the 460 here:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007708%20600007323%20600007616&IsNodeId=1&name=GeForce%20GTX%20465%20%28Fermi%29

Here's what I'm going by:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/GPU/105

Let's get me a sick build!

Looking forward to hearing from you!
 

wielander

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You won't see much of an any improvement running ram at DDR3 2000 instead of DDR3 1600. With DDR3 latencies are as important or more important than frequencies. You can get a much better deal and generally equal or better performance out of DDR3 1600 CL6/7 than DDR3 2000 CL9.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/257075-31-guide-choosing-parts

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2792/13 (Tested on i7 but still relevant)

Why do you need all of that ram? Where are you finding 3GB DDR3 sticks?
 

wielander

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AMD builds use dual channel ram. You want memory kits that include 2 or 4 sticks, not three.

If you are just building a gaming rig, you shouldn't see any benefit from buying more than 4GB of ram.


As for motherboards, pretty much every AMD 8XX motherboard with SATA III supports the Phenom X6 processors:

No SLI/Crossfire with support for Phenom II X6:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130275
http://www.msi.com/index.php?func=prodcpu2&prod_no=2057&maincat_no=1

SLI/Crossfire:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157198

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135261
http://www.ecsusa.com/ECSWebSite/Product/Product_Detail.aspx?DetailID=1140&CategoryID=1&DetailName=Feature&MenuID=19&LanID=9

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157191

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157207
 

wielander

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:??: They're all going to work well with that Phenom II X6. I would go with:

ASRock 890GX EXTREME4 AM3 AMD 890GX HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
*Latest Release, top of the line chipset
*8x/8x PCI-E mode supporting Crossfire, extra 4x PCI-E slot for expansion
*Very high quality motherboard made for serious overclocking without the premium
$149.99 plus $12.24 shipping
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157207

or,

ASRock 870 EXTREME3 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
*"Phenom II X6 Six-Core CPU Ready"
*8x/8x PCI-E mode supporting Crossfire
*Very high quality motherboard made for serious overclocking without the premium
$119.99 plus $12.24 shipping
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157198
 

indyadvant

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These are the choices I narrowed down too:

MSI 790FX-GD70 AM3 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=13-130-223&SortField=0&SummaryType=0&Pagesize=10&PurchaseMark=&SelectedRating=-1&VideoOnlyMark=False&VendorMark=&IsFeedbackTab=true&Page=47#scrollFullInfo

ASUS M4A87TD/USB3 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=13-131-651&SortField=0&SummaryType=0&Pagesize=10&PurchaseMark=&SelectedRating=-1&VideoOnlyMark=False&VendorMark=&IsFeedbackTab=true&Page=3#scrollFullInfo

ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131402

After reading the reviews, I feel like these MOBOs have the least amounts of issues, among the things I need.

If anyone has any experience with any of the above boards could you give me some feedback as to which would be most ideal? I am kind of stuck. The ASRock MOBOs seem to have issues..

Hope this is my last post! I want to order this *** tonight! lol
 

wielander

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The MSI 790FX-GD70 & ASUS M4A79XTD EVO are both older motherboards on older chipsets. They don't have USB 3.0 or SATA III if that matters to you.
[strike]
The ASUS M4A87TD only has 1 PCI-E x16 slot so you wouldn't be able to add any x4 expansion cards.[/strike] I need to learn to look at the pictures first.
 

indyadvant

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I'm more of a RAM CPU guy so I feel like my 1gb 460 gpu should suffice. I am in canada so some of the mobo's you suggested to me aren't available.

The ASUS M4A87TD/USB3 doesn't have any info on the USB ports- kind of offputting.. :(

I'm still trying to find the right one. Any other suggestions? lol :S

Perhaps this:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128441 ?

But apparently the way the hardware is setup is not ideal- ram slots are squeezed together and too close to cpu apparently- I don't have a huge fan for my cpu, I think the x6 core will be fine right out of the box (my case is large and has 4 fans) do you feel otherwise? I am a little discouraged but the comments for this MOBO, but it seems like it may be the only one with USB 3, which will be ideal in the near future I'm sure. I'm pretty sure I don't need Sata III, what is that again? Also I am only rocking one video card so I don't need SLI or crossfire or w/e lol :S

These are the RAM products I have to choose from on newegg if I want 12 gigs split into 3 channels, which I think I do, I run a lot of stuffs (two sets of Opera windows, with 30-40 tabs open on each, among running 10 or so other programs, I do a lot of gaming as well, but my main focus is music production, loading up different sets of 30gig VST files for example:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007610%20600006078%20600006131&IsNodeId=1&name=DDR3%201333%20%28PC3%2010666%29

I'm kind of a n00b so take it easy on me lolol.
 
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131646

You can get a cheaper one since you don't run two video cards.

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128444

8G should be plenty for anything:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231400

You can always add another 2x2Gb same specifications:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231278

As wielander said, there's no big difference between 1333/1600/2000 so get1600 (it will work at 1333 anyway if you don't overclock the RAM).

The 4G sticks are very tricky, some don't work on some mobos. You never know because they don't test the mobos (check the mobo producer page for RAM compatibility to see what they tested) before releasing them but with a small number of different RAM sticks so it's hit and miss (but you can always RMA the RAM though and get something else).



 

indyadvant

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What are everyone's thoughts on the ASRock 890FX Deluxe4 AM3 AMD 890FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard?

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157208

Also, I'm thinking of changing my power supply, as I don't need crossfire or SLI, right? I jsut have one video card so I need the PCIEx16, correct? Sorry I'm a n00b lol :S

For example, I was thinking this might be ideal:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817152042

But my CPU is the 1090t, which will take more than other I think. Will 700w be enough power? It's the most I can get without going Crossfire SLI on a power supply. Waste of money if I don't need it imo.