AMD 760G MicroATX

[BigBadBarl]

Hey y'all,
I'm looking at building a new budget, low end gaming rig. I'm trying to keep it small and simple, so I opted for a mATX build. Right now, I'm pondering Mobos. The one I'm pretty set on is the ASUS M5A78L-M (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131795) which uses the 760G chipset, but I don't know much about North Bridge/South Bridge bottlenecking or that kind of stuff. I could pretty easily splurge on the next step up, the ASUS M5A88-M (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131758), which uses 880G NB chipset with added USB 3.0 and 6.0 Gb/s Sata goodness, but it's also $40-$50 more expensive. My question is, given the rest of my build, is it worth the extra money for the fancier board? I'll note that USB 3.0, faster SATA and more RAM slots aren't deal-makers for me. I'm just as happy with as without.

Rest o' the Build:
Anthlon II X3 450
2x4GB GSkill GDDR3 1333
Radeon HD 6670
Rosewill Stallion 500w

A note: I'm not looking to operate at super high resolutions either. I'm probably looking at 1680x1050 max.

 

[lordofdeath242]

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130652
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820103008
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127687
a few more bucks on a cpu and gpu would go along way, 1866 ram or better might be a benifit if bulldozers replacment pans out

 

[BigBadBarl]

Thanks for the suggestions, but like I said, I'm on a budget. I'd love to bump up the processor, but if I get lucky with the X3 450 it'll unlock into a quad anyway, and for half the price. If I don't get lucky, meh, three'll be enough for now. The mobo you linked looks nice, but it doesn't support any RAM above 1333, looks like. From what I've read, the higher RAM clock speeds don't really matter beyond 1333 anyway. I'm also not all that familiar with MSI products. As for the GPU, it's nice, but again, trying to keep the budget low. A HD 7770 would be wonderful, and it beats the hell outta the 6670, but again for double the price.

 

[lordofdeath242]

here in can the cpu is ten bucks more and the gpu 35 maybe? if your budget is tight a fm1 socket mobo, a8 apu and crossfire 6670 is probably cheaper than your setup(exact same processor with igp)ignore the mobo I suggested, can't find the 1 I meant to link

 

[BigBadBarl]

Ah! The links to newegg.ca were dead for me, so I had to find the US versions of the pages. I never saw the prices for your area =( Thanks for the suggestion though.