1st ever build. Need CPU + MOBO advise

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M

mountie

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Hi Fellas - Thanks for any assistance ahead of time...

I am almost at my wit's end trying to find a decent CPU and MOBO for my new system. I have bought all my components except for a CPU MOBO and PSU.

The parts have been sitting at home for about a month now waiting for me to make up my mind on the most important parts of my build.

Can anyone comment on this PSU? "Corsair 650TX"
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005

My budget for the CPU + MOBO is $200 - $300 (USD)

What CPU's I have considered:
AMD x 3 720 - $150
Dual core E8400 - $165
Quadcore q6600 - $200

Obviously the more expensive is better, but I can't seem to justify it yet. Any adivce on whether or not to go quad to blow my budget?

MOBOs I have considered:
Intel: P45 UD3p - $115 after MIR (Please suggest better for cheaper!)
AMD: No idea!
Current Combo Deals with x3 720 (as of 3-29-09)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductCombos.aspx?Item=N82E16819103649&SubCategory=343&SortField=0&PageSize=100&Page=1

Realisitically... I only need one PCI 2.0 x 16 slot for my 4870 and only 2 slots of RAM for 2x2gb 800 RAM. So I think that every single MOBO out there is overkill for my needs.

Although I feel slightly consticted becuase my GPU is apparently HUGE can anyone tell me if this will constrict anything important on a Mirco ATX board?
GPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102810

 
M

mountie

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Thanks for the feedback! Realistically, I have no idea what I will be doing with this new build... In short... Everything I possibly can. I'm pretty big on strategy games (I MUST be able to play Starcraft 2 when it arrives), I want to start encoding and decoding video, I don't have much interest in photoshop but hey, if possible I might start creating web pages I just don't know! I'm pretty excited to run 2 maybe 3 OS's on the build and just play around with whatever I can.

In short I don't want something that is not overkill, but will get the job done with at least a little bit of patience if I get to save $100

Is not having 4 cores going to severely hold me back?

I plan on upgrading in 2-3 years to i7 when more progs are written and the price isn't ridiculous...

Will any mentioned MOBO or CPU severely resist access to something cool that I will regret later? (i.e. I will def OC when the time is right)
 
M

mountie

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wow... sorry for the HUGE typo in the title... ***ADVICE*** not advise... Thanks to the 43 people who have looked at this thread and not made fun of me yet...
 
O

Outlander_04

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The q6600 was a fantastic cpu ... about 2 years ago . Today its two years old things have moved on .

The e8400 and the Pll 720 benchmark about the same in games but you are probably better off everywhere else thanks to the extra core of the Phenom .

Newegg has amazing cpu + mb combos . Asus and Gigabyte are preferred brands . But there has been a biostar gx790 combo with a 720 for $209 recently .
Which ever motherboard you chose should have a 780 or preferrably 790 series northbridge [ nb ] chipset and a 750 series southbridge [sb] chipset .

I would stick with an AM2+ mb at the moment because it uses DDR2 memory which is cheaper than the DDR3 memory used by AM3 motherboards . Its not like DDR 3 is faster .

As recently as last week anything made by foxconn was rubbish , but who knows they might have got it right in the last 6 days
 
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p00p00head

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From my understanding, Foxconn and Biostar use the same manufacturer for their boards but this might be just for certain models? Whatever the case, from my own personal experience, my $40 Foxconn 780g motherboard has been superb.

Anyways, for general purpose computing in that price range, I'd go for the 720 or if you can spare the dough, the PII 940. With the combo deals newegg has for these two chips right now, you can get them with a relatively nice mobo for around 220 or 290. Can't really beat that kind of power at that price range.

Like Outlander said, stay away from the q6600. It was great when it came out but now it's just okay.
 
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Outlander_04

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I have read a really good review of an X58 Foxconn motherboard so perhaps they are getting it right more often than not these days . Its certainly good to have feedback that your experience with their hardware has been superb
 
apache_lives

apache_lives

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Nothing less then a quad - Intel Q8xxx, Q9xxx or AMD P2 9xx

Motherboards - its worth the extra to get a decent motherboard from ASUS or Gigabyte - foxconn is good and solid yes, but there more amature, OEM and budget etc - less workable for custom machines etc.

Q6600 is old but @ 3ghz still blows the Q8xxx series and gives the Phenom II and Q9xxx series a good run for the money but still yes - showing age.
 
M

mountie

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Thank you all for keeping the Intel vs. AMD discussions friendly.

For suggested motherboards, can anyone give me reasons why I should pay more for the board? What benefit do I get with spending more on a board?

It looks like I need the simple features of a MICRO ATX board but I need extra room for my apparently huge GPU Radeon 4870. Some newegg reviews claim to have problems, but I don't trust some of the comments on there... thanks again...
 
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p00p00head

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Generally, if you want to do some overclocking or if you plan on doing Sli/Crossfire, you want to pick out a good motherboard that has good overclocking abilities and well spaced out pcie slots.

If that one Radeon 4870's all you'll be using ever, then a cheap mobo will easily suit your needs (given you don't do some crazy overclock).

Plan out whether you're going to replace your whole system in a couple years or if you're going to steadily upgrade your parts for the next 2-4 years. If you plan on steady upgrades, a nice mobo now will save you a lot of heartache later.

I'm not an AMD fanboy by any means but I really do recommend the newegg combo deals they have right now for either the 720 or 940, as these deals come with pretty decent mobo's that you can use for future upgrades and overclocking.
 
M

mountie

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Help! Is it worth spending the extra $$?? Which MOBO is best for me? FOX BIOSTAR ASUS GIGA? Ideally, once again I would want the 940, but is it worth it? I'll look around for benchies...

x4 940 combos

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductCombos.aspx?Item=N82E16819103471&SubCategory=343&SortField=0&PageSize=10&page=1

x4 920 combos

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductCombos.aspx?Item=N82E16819103472&SubCategory=343&SortField=0&PageSize=100&Page=1

x3 720

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductCombos.aspx?Item=N82E16819103649&SubCategory=343&SortField=0&PageSize=10&page=1

 
M

mountie

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I think I'm going to go 940 with the Giga combo for $305. Thanks for the help.

Will I need a cpu fan for the 940 if I plan on OCing? (*don't want to increase voltage*)
 
bmuell

bmuell

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Well you could have easily meant, "advise" as in "please advise" :)
 
M

mountie

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Can someone look at my final build and tell me if I need anything else important?? Or if they have any money saving reccomendations?? thanks!

I am mostly worried if my memory is compatible and if my PSU is enough. All comments are welcome!

CPU - $145 PII x3 720
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103649&Tpk=x3%20720

MOBO - $45 (after combo and MIR) BIOSTAR 790GX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138130

MEMORY -$45 G.SKILL PI Black 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231209

PSU - $70 (after MIR) Corsair 650TX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005&Tpk=650tx

GPU - $180 Sapphire 4870 512mb
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102810

CASE - $100 Antec 900
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021
tt

HDD: $80 WD 640GB 32MB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319

DVD-DRIVE: $25 LG DVD r/RW+
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136152
 
M

mountie

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Thanks! I saw that as well... After shipping charges the A300 turned out to be $70+ and at that time the 900 was on sales a $99 with free ship, couldn't turn that down. (Best part about this build I got every component with free shipping so my final bill was only $690)

I've seen a lot of people use 1066 memory with AMD processors, is there something I am missing?
 
shortstuff_mt

shortstuff_mt

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Maskim19

Maskim19

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runs faster... pretty sure, I am a moderate computer person.

Also if your going to oc I believe you want 1066 ram ( I could be misinformed though)
 
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