Phenom II 955 or Phenom II 965

[jcknouse]

Any mobo that has an SB750 will unlock a 550 or a 720....

This is an excellent board that unlocks very well :

GIGABYTE GA-MA790XT-UD4P AM3 DDR3 AMD 790X
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128378&Tpk=790XT

Waiting on my next paycheck as well to buy this and some DDR3......

Roger on that. Yeah, I got a Biostar T-series board right now with a 720BE. It unlocked it like a charm.

I just wasn't sure if anyone knew what mobos had or had not been BIOS updated to prevent unlocking, as there was a rumor mobo makers were gonna do that. Kinda scared to get a 550BE now and not be able to get a mobo to unlock it, or back-rev the BIOS to a stable older one to allow it.

BTW, I'd been looking at the UD5P to have full 2-channel 16x PCIe, as well as the ASUS M4A9T (i think?) and the MSI GD70 model 790 mobo.

I'm kinda ready for all the new chipsetted mobos to come out too. Maybe it will do a little price drop on the current top-end AM3 boards.

Savin pennies is important...can mean another HD, better video, or better memory.

 

[OvrClkr]

Normally when you buy a mobo, specially an SB750 the first thing you do is update the Bios (flash).... Then you try to unlock....

Yes, save as many pennies as you can!!!!

 

[jcknouse]

Normally when you buy a mobo, specially an SB750 the first thing you do is update the Bios (flash).... Then you try to unlock....

Yes, save as many pennies as you can!!!!

I dunno. I'd be scared to BIOS update unless there was an issue, cause I read somewhere that BIOS/mobo makers were gonna microcode to stop unlocking the chips.

Of course, you would think AMD would balk at that since even tho x3 and x2 BEs can become x4s if the cores are good...they are still selling out of 955BEs on NewEgg. There's no lack of sales. But if the BIOS stops unlocking a x2, then who wants to get it if you really need quad core or can do with x3? I would think x2 sales would plummet if BIOS/mobo makers did that at AMDs request.

So, I think when the time comes I'll get that Asus M4A79-T or MSI 790FX-GD70. Both have 4 PCIe slots so x4 Xfire is possible if I go with 4890s

And, oh yeah. I am savin. Extra check in Sept/Oct, plus my raise (that was due in April!) will give me a few months back pay.

I might be able to sink up to $2k into a new system *rubs hands together like a mad scientist* :lol:

 

[OvrClkr]

With 2k you can build a killer i7 rig....

Don't get the MSI 790FX unless you really need all those PCIe slots.... The Crosshair III will destroy the that board and it comes with a nice sound card for only 30.00 dollars more.... Not saying that the MSI is a bad board, but the Crosshair III is second to none ATM....

 

[jcknouse]

With 2k you can build a killer i7 rig....

Don't get the MSI 790FX unless you really need all those PCIe slots.... The Crosshair III will destroy the that board and it comes with a nice sound card for only 30.00 dollars more.... Not saying that the MSI is a bad board, but the Crosshair III is second to none ATM....

Sweet...yeah, I saw the Crosshair III mobo...and I had the M2N32-SLi deluxe wireless for my 9850 and it rocked...so, I might go that way.

As for the i7, I dunno about the cost difference between a i7 920 and a PII 550BE unlocked and OCed.

I can get another 4890 card for that, or almost a 2nd 4870x2. Plus, I was looking at doing either a 4 or 6 drive Raid 0 array for speed with either Hitachi Deskstar 320GBs or Seagate 7200.12 500GBs, and put a 64GB SSD in for boot/apps drive with it backed up on part of my array to make sure I didn't lose it if the SSD failed.

I got 2-3 months tho, and I want to build a killer system. I'd just rather make it more powerful with the memory, drives, video, mobo, etc...rather than sinking an extra $200 or more into just the CPU. Just depending on pricing and availability and what not, I'll get something that blows away my current rig.

Maybe I'll actually play a current game with it too :lol:

 

[OvrClkr]

If you have 2-3 months before the build, I would suggest you wait till the i5's come out... I am saving up for them as well...... [:jaydeejohn:5]

 

[jcknouse]

If you have 2-3 months before the build, I would suggest you wait till the i5's come out... I am saving up for them as well...... [:jaydeejohn:5]

I might do that. Plus, I'll wait til the CPUs get reviewed by a few sites. Make sure they are as good or better than i7s performance-wise with a much better price.

Gotta love tech

 

[OvrClkr]

yea, im kinda waiting on the i5's and the new nvidia 300 series..... I just want to see the price to performance....

 

[jcknouse]

Me too. Also heard about some 5xxx series ATI cards too possibly coming out sometime. If they come out, I wanna see what they do against the nVidia 3xx series.

I have used nVidia for years, but with AMD/ATI doing all the Dragon and other integration stuff, it only seemed more and more likely that they'd have the best collaborating setup with their own components and architecture.

But, i'll watch all the reviews I can find. I wanna get the best. I have always built (all or part of) a system with 2nd tier pieces and now I want to get something that lets me go to EB or somewhere, plop down $60 for a game, and have no fear of stuttering, pixelation, etc.

Of course, my current box would run 10 instances of the old Shadowbane game along with Vent and AGC script tool.

Of course when I went into mass combat...oops...stutter hell :lol:

 

[cjl]

Exactly 3.6Ghz.....

I never said they didn't overclock.... They are "poor" overclockers compared to the BE's that cost pennies more....

I'm just comparing price to performance..... [:jaydeejohn:5]


Btw, soon the 955 should break the world record at over 7GHZ(Quad) on Nitro & Helium.... [:lectrocrew:5]

Poor overclockers? You realize that 3.6 was a conservative estimate, right? The PhII 940 can routinely hit over 4GHz (which I note is higher than your BE is overclocked to). As for pennies more? Right now there is a $20 difference on newegg, which is 10% of the price of the processor. That can be significant to some. Actually, for quite a while, the 940 beat the 955 in price/performance IMHO, and only because the 955 has recently dropped in price has it become competitive again.

 

[OvrClkr]

Poor overclockers? You realize that 3.6 was a conservative estimate, right? The PhII 940 can routinely hit over 4GHz (which I note is higher than your BE is overclocked to). As for pennies more? Right now there is a $20 difference on newegg, which is 10% of the price of the processor. That can be significant to some. Actually, for quite a while, the 940 beat the 955 in price/performance IMHO, and only because the 955 has recently dropped in price has it become competitive again.

If you read above it clearly states that we are comparing AM3(Non BE) to AM3(BE's)....


The 940 is a BE and I never stated that it was a poor overclocker..

If you prefer to spend 180.00$ on an AM3 945 vs 20.00$ more go for an AM3 955BE that is 200Mhz faster then I guess you are entitled to your own opinion... As for as me and the way things are going ATM, economy and getting your dollars worth.. In my book it would be absurd not to go with the 955BE... The numbers talk for them selves....

You can clearly see what is selling the most on many different websites.... The 945 IMO is a waste of money....... Id rather spend 169.99 on the 940BE AM2+ chip.....

I guess you didn't understand my point of view... When I said EXACTLY 3.6Ghz I did not mean that was the limit of the 940BE, I stated EXACTLY 3.6Ghz due to the fact that the 945 normally does not go beyond 3.6 - 3.7Ghz (STABLE).... I hope I cleared things up for you...

 

[Malcolmk]

I think they all overclock very well and it just depends how far you want to go. I picked up a cheap P2 920 a few days ago and it's good for 3.5 with stock voltage and the power consumption only went up 8w. I was rather impressed with that and I think it's time for a second HD 4850. Both the 955 and 965 are going to be great cpu's so it really doesn't matter which one you go for.