GA-MA770-UD3 and an Athlon II x4 760 cpu

[Michelle568]

Hello,

My son is a gamer, and until ordering Watch Dogs my pc was brilliant. It's now 'old'

I ran a caniplaythis scan and need to upgrade the CPU as he's on a dual core (AMD athlon II x2 250 processor)

We're going to start saving up for new build pc (I built this one about four years ago and it's done us well), but I'm looking for a temporary upgrade so he can play this CPU hungry Watch Dogs in the meantime.

So I was thinking of upgrading to the Athlon II x4 cpu, and wondered if it would work with the GA-MA770-UD3 motherboard. I've spent all morning looking and found the product to buy, but I'm still not 100% sure I'm buying the right cpu.

Thank you in advance.

 

[jaraldo]

Well your board is an am2+/am2 and the athlon is a fm2, so they won't fit together. (unless i missed something)

To be honest, I would just wait for a new build than spend parts on an old rig for a cheap fix. I doubt the athlon would be able to run watchdogs well at all.

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1959114/run-watch-dogs.html

What's your GPU?

Edit: I see it's compatible with am3 though
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/19763-gigabyte-ga-ma770-ud3-am2-am3-motherboard-review.html

 

[jaraldo]

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/267418-30-ma770-compatible-phenom-processors
It's going to still be hard to find an am3 from 2 years ago, doubt many will have it in stock. You'd also need to flash bios which can sometimes be a pain depending on the cpu/board.

This is the only one I found on newegg. http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007671%20600005863&IsNodeId=1&name=Socket%20AM3 But it's pretty weak... :/

What might be a better option, is listing your full build out so we can try to save some parts for your next build to make it cheaper.

 

[Calvin7]

Check eBay for these compatible AM3 CPUs.

Phenom II X6 1100T
Phenom II X6 1090T
Phenom II X6 1075T
Phenom II X6 1065T
Phenom II X6 1055T
Phenom II X6 1055T
Phenom II X6 1045T
Phenom II X6 1035T
Phenom II X4 975
Phenom II X4 970
Phenom II X4 965
Phenom II X4 960

 

[jaraldo]

^ That's true.

Still, hard to say if it's worth spending $50-60 on a used CPU when you could just keep that $ for a new build.

 

[Michelle568]

Thank you everyone, I actually went ahead and ordered the wrong cpu as I spent hours on the internet and foolishly read on the gigabyte website (or more than likely it was my interpretation of it) and thought it would fit. I'll sell the cpu on as I got it for a cheapish price. I'll see if the seller will take it back as it's un-used but I'm guessing he has no legal obligation to do so.

When I built this pc, somebody very kindly advised me on what components to buy, and from memory, I think it cost me around £200-250 excluding hard drives/ram to build so it''s done well.

I confident at building a pc but have no idea what goes with what (as this post has proved). Is that something anyone could help me with on this forum?

Game requirements for this new game are:
FX-9370 (best) / Phenom II X4 940
Radeon R9 290 (best) / Radeon HD 5770 1024MB
8gb Ram/Windows 7 64 (which we have already as I bought a retail copy)

I'll obviously need a motherboard to go with these, and think this time I'll buy a better cpu (as in I went for the cheapest option on the first build, had I got the quad core back then, I wouldn't be in this predicament). The pc won't go to waste though as my other son needs a decent machine.

Thank you in advance if you can help me.

 

[jaraldo]

hey, sorry to hear you bought the wrong cpu

What is your budget?

The FX series are all AM3+ sockets, so you will need an AM3+ motherboard (mobo) to match it. Watch dogs is a really intensive game on both CPU and GPU.

https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0AgN1D79Joo7tdE9xMUFlMEVWeFhuckJEVF9aMmtpUFE&gid=3
To keep it simple, for how many cores your CPU has, try to have that many VRM/Phase count on your mobo.

Here is how well GPUs will play watchdogs.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/watch-dogs-pc-performance,3833-6.html

Also, I really don't think you need a FX-9370. That is probably to max out it's settings. An FX-6300 or FX-8320 will be good depending on your budget. Unless you have the money, I think it's a bit silly to build a $800-900 computer just to play one game at max settings :/

 

[Michelle568]

Had a long chat with my son, as ultra settings are way too expensive. As I have this cpu now, I'll order in a FM2 motherboard etc that will work with it and he can play on the low-medium settings then. Thanks once again for all your help.

 

[Michelle568]

Found this board, which is an FM2 and has four memory slots, most of them seem to have two. This would be ok wouldn't it?

Asus F2A85-V PRO Motherboard

Dual Intelligent Processors 3 with New DIGI+ Power Control- Complete APU, Memory and SMART Digital Power Solution for AMD Platform
Direct Key - A Dedicated Button to Access the BIOS Directly
USB BIOS Flashback - Easy, worry-free USB BIOS Flashback with Hardware-based Design
Fan Xpert 2 - Optimizes the Speed of All Fans for the Ultimate Cool and Quiet!
USB Charger+ - 3X Faster Charging for All USB Portable Devices
USB 3.0 Boost - Faster USB 3.0 Transmission with UASP
Network iControl - Real-time Network Bandwidth Controls
Windows 8 Ready - Assured Compatibility

 

[jaraldo]

Well it will work, but just to clarify, are you buying a motherboard for the "wrong" cpu you bought? ( a model of the cpu would be helpful )

The motherboard you have chosen is really expensive and not really going to give you any benefit.
What CPU did you buy?
You can get motherboards that are fm2 and fm2+ compatible. Here is an example of one.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130753
List of fm2/fm2+ boards
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007625%20600474773&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=20

From what I see, those boards with both compatibility seem to have less defects aswell.

One thing to consider is that fm2 is end of the line. This means that AMD won't be coming out with any new CPUs for the fm2 socket. Your only upgrade path would be buying an athlon 760k. This would perform acceptably on low/medium settings in games now like watchdogs, but if your son wants to play even newer games later on, the performance would be worse.
http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/101543-best-fm2-socket-cpu/

Just so you know, a new $650-700 computer can be "future proof" for 2-3 years if you are trying to play brand new games at ultra settings; maybe 5 years if you want them at medium.

Lastly, things that you can reuse in a new computer: Hard Drive/Solid State Drive, Memory, Case (most times) , CD/DVD drive and sometimes the PSU. This will help cut down the cost by $150-250 at least.

I know it's a long reply, but it gives you more information so you can make better decisions when purchasing your next computer/parts.

Edit: fm2+ might have some upgrade path, but I think it's more aimed at APUs (it's gpu+cpu in one), rather than just CPUs. Hard to tell this early on.
http://mygaming.co.za/news/hardware/59978-amd-socket-fm2-will-unify-processor-families.html

 

[Michelle568]

I bought the Athlon II x4 760 and was thinking that for now I could build a pc around that, with a view to building a better spec in the future. I already have the minimum spec graphic card - Radeon HD 5770
Thank you very much for the links and explanations, I'm slowly getting my head around all this (I think).

 

[jaraldo]

hehe no worries, took me a solid month of learning to get used to all the confusing terms and compatibility on my first computer build

Well, since you have the best CPU for the fm2 possible, I'd suggest getting a fm2/fm2+ motherboard since the fm2+ socket will be supported for the foreseeable future.

Now, you may not even need to do a new cpu/gpu upgrade later on. It will depend on how good the APUs are that come out. The better ones will be around $150-170 and might be able to play some newer games at medium/high settings.

Also, AMD is mostly used for budget builds and a new socket could be out sometime next year or so and a new build could be $600 for something "future proof" and able to play newer games on high/ultra settings.

Other upgrades you could do to the current build are: Give it 8gb of Memory (2x 4gb) or install a Solid State Drive (SSD) . The SSD will make boot times and load times for applications faster. They are cheap now and in a few months I can see them being $50/60 for 120GB.

Those are the only options you really have in this situation that I can see. If you have any other questions feel free to ask

 

[Michelle568]

Right. Have decided on this motherboard: MSI A78M-E45 FM2+ AMD A78 DDR3 mATX, a micro atx case, a 750w psu, 8gb ram (over 4 dimms) and a hard drive.

I already have the Radeon HD 5770 1024MB graphic card (and of course theAthlon II x4 760k cpu)

This should all work together shouldn't it? Again, thank you in advance for any help.

 

[jaraldo]

Hey again

So your build will look something like this

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 760K 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor ($0.00)
Motherboard: MSI A78M-E45 Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($59.99 @ Micro Center)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($72.00 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($51.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Asus Radeon HD 7750 1GB Video Card ($0.00)
Case: Silverstone PS08B (Black) MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($36.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($45.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $281.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

If you want to change the case, choose from any of these.
http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/case/#t=5,7&u=1&p=0&sort=a8

Feel free to take the DVD drive out of that build if you can reuse your old one in the computer you currently have.

You won't ever need a 750w PSU unless you plan to have 2 graphics cards.

Other than this, everything looks alright. Another thing is that I'm not sure how much longer the 5770 will stay relevant in gaming terms, you may need to get a new graphics card in a few months or a year's time. It'd be about $130-150 for a mid ranged card that could even play watchdogs at high/ultra settings. (there will be newer games out by then though)

 

[Michelle568]

Thank you so much for all your help, and yes, I'll upgrade the graphic card a little further along (should be able to manage that without messing up). I'll order everything tomorrow. Thank you once again.

 

[jaraldo]

I want to edit one thing, hope you will see this before ordering.

I would get this motherboard for $12 more
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-motherboard-gaf2a88xmd3h

It's a newer chipset, this means it'll be more futureproof if you decide to upgrade the CPU in a year or 2.

When you get a better GPU, it is possible that the CPU could be a bottleneck (slowing perfromance). Just something to look into later.

Hope the build goes well

 

[Michelle568]

Thank you very much Jaraldo. I ordered everything except the hard drive and cd drive as have spares of them here. Went for the $12 more board.

Ordered two game cases as I want to move the contents of the old one into a new case due to the switch breaking and being impossible to find the spare part for. One of them came with an Alpine 550w psu, but as it's a budget range psu I figured that wouldn't be too advisable to use in either pc, so shall sell that part on.

It came in at £210 (but £30 of that was for the second case) so I'm really pleased as I think it'll be a cracking little computer for him, at least for a while, plus younger son is happy to get the old one, and my friend is happy to get the pc my youngest has been using. (I do believe in recycling pc's).

Fingers crossed this goes together as well as my first build. Going to have one happy son on his birthday (although maybe not so much as I'm wrapping all the parts up individually and getting him to help build it. I figure it's a good thing to teach him).

Thank you once again for your help. It's greatly appreciated. (And I'll let you know how it goes)