bflemi3

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Dec 27, 2009
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Hi All,

I'm looking to build my first gaming computer with the AMD Phenom II x4 955 and I'd like to run Windows 7 64 bit with 8 gigs of ram. New egg has a combo deal for the 955 and the ECS IC780M-A AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard, so this is more than likely my base to start from. Besides what newegg is recommending I have no clue what the best set up would be. I have heard that there are problems running 4 2gb 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM 1600 Dual Channel memory sticks but don't know enough about building to understand why. My budget is around 1k. I would really appreciate any and all recommendations.

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: This month

BUDGET RANGE: Approx 1k

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming, watching movies, web development, surfing the internet

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: mouse, keyboard, monitor, speakers

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg.com but am open to suggestions

PARTS PREFERENCES: AMD

OVERCLOCKING: Never had before but I would like to learn.

MONITOR RESOLUTION: Not sure...sorry, not home right now to look. It's a Dell 19" lcd from 2007 so I'm not too worried.

PARTS SELECTED:
----Combo deal Motherboard/Processor - $207.99
- ECS IC780M-A AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard
- AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor

Thanks in advance,
B
 

BohleyK

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Please don't buy that combo deal. Its a waste of a quality CPU. That motherboard will not take full advantage of the 955. You would be much happier with Gigabyte's UD3P along with that 955 you are planning on getting. The UD3P is an excellent overclocker and is about $80. The only negative thing about the UD3P is no ability to Crossfire.

8GB DDR3 RAM will run fine but I don't know why you would need so much unless you do rendering or something like that. 4GB of RAM does the normal user fine with head room. Look for lower timings over higher bandwidth. That will save you money and increase performance of your memory.
 
Hi newcomer and welcome to the Tom's hardware forum.

1- Good processor (I have one)
2- The mobo that you want is DDR2, and personally i recomend to you a AM3 mobo with DDR3, or a better DDR2 mobo.

Now, What is your budget?, what GPU do you want? what is the purpose of the PC? games...surf the web, video edition...
 

bflemi3

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Wow, thank you all for the quick responses!

saint, do you have an AM3 mobo you would recommend that would work well the 955?

As far as gpu I'm not really sure I'm still researching. Anything you would recommend? This will primarily be a gaming computer.
 
Lets' see. Here are 4 really good mobo.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010200022%20107191003%201071933047%201070946178&bop=And&ActiveSearchResult=True&CompareItemList=N82E16813128415%2CN82E16813131392%2CN82E16813131363%2CN82E16813130223

Choose one acording with your budget, my votes goes in this orde.

1- ASUS Crosshair III
2- Gigabyte 790FXTA-UD5
3- MSI 790FX-GD70
4- ASUS M4A79T Deluxe

Here are 4 kits 4GB (2x2GB) RAM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010170147%201052129233%201052315794%201052528354&CompareItemList=N82E16820227297%2CN82E16820145268%2CN82E16820231276%2CN82E16820148327&page=2&bop=And&ActiveSearchResult=True

Choose the best for your budget, my votes goes in this order:

1- Crucial Ballistix Tracer (IMO the option price/performance)
2- G.Skill
3- OCZ
4- Corsair (price, to expensive for me)

Here are 5 GPU

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010380048%201069633099&bop=And&ActiveSearchResult=True&CompareItemList=N82E16814143167%2CN82E16814103084%2CN82E16814143194%2CN82E16814121346%2CN82E16814161302

Choose the best for your budget and preference, my votes goes in this order:

1- HIS HD5850
2- ASUS HD 5870
3- BFG Tech GTX285
4- DIAMOND HD5870
5- BFG Tech GTX295 (to expensive)

Or you also can try with the HD 5770 or GTX275
 
Solution

bflemi3

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This is great information. Thank you very much saint. This is a great starting point. I'm sure I will have more questions but I will post new threads when they come up.

Once again, thanks for your help.