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Compatibility Question for CPUs and Motherboards

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Hello,

I am new to these forums and I had a few questions. I am very new to computer gaming but have been around computers all my life, I have a basic desktop computer which has an ASUS M4A77TD Pro and my Processor is an AMD Phenom ll X2 550. I have 4 GB RAM with an ATI Radeon HD 4300/4500 Series Graphics Card and a Seagate 1TB HDD. My computer is a piece of crap I know lol but I just want to know in any of the gamers with tech knowledge If my motherboard is actually worth adding on a new processor and GPU/RAM and all that jazz or and I better off junking it and buying a newer motherboard with all added bells and whistles. I will be mainly using this computer for gaming but also will be using it as a home computer aswell when I am not gaming Ex: I will be surfing the web, watching movies etc. all when I am not playing any games on it. In your experience with gaming computers what would be the best possible option in my case. Also, I am not made of money, I will be building my gaming pc little by little. I want to know what is the best bang I can get for my buck. Even If I do have to throw out my motherboard, what are your suggestions as to any possible deals on computer parts. I live in a fairly remote area in Canada so while I can get things shipped I would have to travel 45 minutes to go pick it up, I would rather prefer to get it mailed to my P.O Box so I dont have to travel for each individual thing. Just something to keep in mind if you are going to give me some links to certain websites so I can buy online. In advance I would like to thank anyone who helps me, I really do appreciate it!

Thanks again,

Larry T.

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CPUs Master
Motherboard Expert

Your motherboard is very old, however, you can still add upgrade a few components to give your rig the last 'kick' it needs to make it a modest gaming machine :) 

I would upgrade your CPU to a Phenom II X4 965; a very budget-friendly Quad-Core CPU that will be able to play any game on the market today.

As for a GPU, I would add in a GTX660. It's around the $200 dollar mark and will play any game today on VERY respectable settings @ 1080p. This GPU is also a very efficient card so you will not need a very beefy PSU. (Something like 450w will run this card fine).

If you would like a RAM upgrade, then I would recommend upgrading to an 8GB kit (or adding in two more 4GB modules if you have 2x4GB).

However, before I end this post, I have a few questions.

What is your budget for the components? What PSU do you currently have?

My current power supply is a Powerlink 450W, the current case I have isnt anything special, I do want to upgrade my RAM, Perhaps to 12GB, My max RAM amount is 16GB... Frankly I think 16GB is overkill... Seeeing as RAM is now down in price I Am shooting for a 12GB RAM kit, perhaps G SKILL RAM. As far as GPU's go I was thinking of getting something from the red camp (AMD) but I just took a llok at the MSI GTX660 and you have totally changed my mind dude, the GPU's Core Clock is overclocked straight out of the box at over 1000 Mhz and in a heating test's is scored the best using FurMark and the max temp was 59 C while all the rest were a minimum of 68 C and at a max of 73 C... My budget is within the range of $500-$700, The case I had in mind was the Corsair Carbide Series 300R Black Gaming Case and I also want to get around 128GB of SSD memory (Perhaps OCZ or Corsair for my OS (Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit - Already bought the installation disc) and I will be putting a few of the main games I play on the SSD aswell and for my personal files and a few less important games I will be reformatting the 1TB Seagate HDD that I already own. I may have to buy a new PSU tho, perhaps a Corsair Enthusiast Series TX650 V2 650W. I look forward to reading your reply, I am totally psyched to get my build started, I just dont know if I should use Newegg or Amazon to order, I think I want to use Newegg considering they specialize in pc hardware/software.. Anyways thanks for helping me bro, I really appreciate it..
CPUs Master
Motherboard Expert

I would highly suggest picking up an 8GB kit of RAM considering those 12GB kits consists of three RAM modules instead of two. This will ultimately leave your rig running in Single Channel instead of Dual Channel which may make you suffer a bit of a performance hit.

Secondly, I would highly recommend the Corsair Carbide 300R. It's one heck of a case for the price point and there's plenty of airflow options!

As for SSD's, I would advise picking up a Samsung 830 series or OCZ Vertex 4. Nowadays, you will want to avoid any SandForce based drives due to a few issues that people have discovered.

If you're purchasing the GTX660 (great choice, by the way) I would recommend a 550w PSU. The XFX Core 550w is a GREAT choice considering the amount of money it costs. The 550w PSU would be enough wattage to run TWO GTX660's in SLI if you choose to do so in the future :) 

On a side note, Amazon and Newegg are both great with purchases. I've purchased from both and depending on the vendor, Amazon has a great replacement policy. They will (most of the time) send you a replacement the day you send in a ticket without any charge. All you have to do is send your defective product back within 30 days. Again, this may depend on the item/vendor but it's still an option you have ;) 

Awesome, I was just checking out some hardware and I was considering getting the AMD FX-8350. If my board isnt compatible with the CPU your going to have to forgive me, I am good with everything but the cpu motherboard compatibility.. All the single socket AM3 and all that lol... I was just looking at AMD CPU's and seen the FX-8350 and wanted your opinion on it... Also for the AMD Phenom II X4 965, were you referring to the standard model or the black edition CPU.. I would rather get the Black Edition since it comes unlocked so i can do a little overclocking, I dont want to max it out but I do want to add some extra speed after I do some benchmarking tests and feel that I do need to overclock. I will eventually get a 2nd Graphics Card to run in SLI, I will be buying all this hardware over a certain amount of time, I dont want to buy it all at once.. I will most likely buy the power supply or RAM first then CPU then the case w/ some extra fans for better airflow then the GPU and SSD lastly.. Also considering that 12 GB will leave my systems RAM running in Single Channel.. I know I said 16GB is overkill, since RAM has went down alot in price these past few months I can afford to buy a 16GB kit... theyre like $100-$130 for a 16GB kit.. thats the max amount that my Motherboard supports and after I do buy the RAM I wont have to worry about RAM again for a long while lol... What are your thoughts on my opinion.. Also I wanted your opion on XFX Graphics Cards... The reason why I asked this is because Im pretty sure they are the only manufacturer that gives you a lifetime warranty on purchase and even allows the warranty to continue when you overclock... Anyways, I really want to thank you with helping me with this.. It all depends on my current budget, I might be able to buy a good amount of items at once, but I as for now I will be buying them 1 or 2 items at a time..

mocchan said:
I would highly suggest picking up an 8GB kit of RAM considering those 12GB kits consists of three RAM modules instead of two. This will ultimately leave your rig running in Single Channel instead of Dual Channel which may make you suffer a bit of a performance hit.

Secondly, I would highly recommend the Corsair Carbide 300R. It's one heck of a case for the price point and there's plenty of airflow options!

As for SSD's, I would advise picking up a Samsung 830 series or OCZ Vertex 4. Nowadays, you will want to avoid any SandForce based drives due to a few issues that people have discovered.

If you're purchasing the GTX660 (great choice, by the way) I would recommend a 550w PSU. The XFX Core 550w is a GREAT choice considering the amount of money it costs. The 550w PSU would be enough wattage to run TWO GTX660's in SLI if you choose to do so in the future :) 

On a side note, Amazon and Newegg are both great with purchases. I've purchased from both and depending on the vendor, Amazon has a great replacement policy. They will (most of the time) send you a replacement the day you send in a ticket without any charge. All you have to do is send your defective product back within 30 days. Again, this may depend on the item/vendor but it's still an option you have ;) 


As of today, there is hardly any difference between any of the controllers. Samsung, marvel and sandforce are equally good. And just for info, sandforce issues occured about a year back and it was fixed with firmware update 5.0.3 & 5.0.4 , its ancient history now
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