The Flying Shoe

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I'm building a rig on a 'Price/Performance' ratio and I'm going with a Phenom II. So I was thinking about getting a:

Asus: 790GX Mobo (AM3 w/ DDR3)

Now I have a question about this, since I want this rig to be fairly future proofed should I go with the AM3/DDR3 version or just stick to AM2+/DDR2? Buying the DDR3 will not cost me any extra because I got 4Gigs Corsair Dominator Ram (DDR2) from Newegg as a Christmas present which I can trade in for 4gigs of G.Skill/Mushkin DDR3 RAM.

I already have a Corsair 650 watt PSU and was going to get a Phenom II 920 and a 4870 (512mb).
 

peanutpc

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AM3 motherboard will not work with PII 920/940. It will only work with AM3 processor, the new 720,810 and so on...

I would wait and get the new AM3 X4 to come out.
 
peanutpc - You're right The Phenom II x4 920 and 940 are quad core cpu's designed for use with AM2+ motherboards and DDR2 memory. They will not work in and AM3 motherboard.

The Phenom II x3 triple core cpu's were designed for use with AM3 motherboards and DDR3 memory. The triple core cpu's are backward compatible and can also be used in AM2+ motherboards with DDR2 memory.

As of this morning brand new Phenom x4 quad core cpu's designed for AM3 motherboards and DDR3 memory went on sale in the United States. newegg.com is offering the first version. There will be more.
 
Your price/performance get less bang for buck if you for AM3/DDR3 because there is little gain going DDR3 and the only way an AM2+ mobo is dead is if AMD stopped backwards compatibility with DDR2 for AM3 socket Phenom 2 hehe So here is an example of a P2X4 AM2+ with DDR2 (remove w/e hardware u have on hand)
FoxyCFDeneb.jpg


 

The Flying Shoe

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Thanks for the input guys, when I say Price/Performance I know it sounds odd but I do not mean a budget I just want the best for my money. I already have an Antec 300 and a Corsair 650 watt PSU and the reason I was considering DDR3 was, I have Corsair Dominator (got it $50 off on Newegg.com as a present) so I could trade it In for DDR3. Thank you for the noting I can not use the 920 with an AM3.

 

The Flying Shoe

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I've had a change of heart and I think I will spend a little lower and get the 720 BE, what do you guys think? This came about because I play mostly source games and don't require a quad core. Though I play other games such as a little STALKER, UT3, COD 4+5 and Far Cry, I don't think I will need Quad. I also do intend to overclock.
 

xthekidx

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Are you set on an AMD based build? Core 2 is a little better for gaming. It would help if you gave a budget for what you want to spend on this rig.

Look at something like this:
http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=14507967
$45 MIR
CPU and Motherboard can be combo'd for $15 off
$27 approximately for shipping
750W PSU allows for 2 HD 4870's in crossfire later on.
Xigmatek S1283 cooler allows for good overclocking of E8400.
Q6600 can be swapped in for the E8400 for $30 more, and can be included in the Motherboard/CPU combo.
 


Results like the ones benchmarked in this
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/socket-am3-phenom,2148-9.html
article suggests Core 2 is not better in gaming
Even the Ci7 is behind the Pll 940 and 810 with a single gfx card .
 

xthekidx

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I'm not sure what you were looking at, but if you look at the results for the core 2 processor they used, the E8500, it was consistently better than the other processors they used. Core 2's will overclock higher than the PIIx3 processors and you will get higher performance going with a Core 2. The E8400 I used in that build will overclock similarly to the E8500. Many of the results they got were also GPU limited, which is why there wasn't a big difference in many of the benchmarks they showed. Had they used a more powerful GPU I think you would have seen more noticable differences. The E8400 is also cheaper than the PII's.
 

The Flying Shoe

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I want the Phenom II for there great over clocking and they are cheaper,they are also more future proof, the 775 will become outdated long before the AM3. I know that the E8400 overclocks very High as well but I would prefer to have that extra Core for when I'm working in Photoshop and Illustrator. Also I have a case (Antec 300) Power Supply (Corsair 650 Watt) and Graphics Card (4870) already. And you just said the E8400 is cheaper then the Phenom II's but the 720 BE is about on par with the E8400 and is $20 cheaper. So from what I know I'll probably stick to the Phenom II.
 

xthekidx

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The extra cores will be very helpful for photoediting over the core 2 duo. Photoshop is written to use all of your systems processor cores. You are comparing apples to oranges though. If you wanted a fair comparison you would need to compare a quad to a quad, and in that comparison the Core 2 quads would be better, however they are quite costly compared to the PII's.
 


more cores , more chance it will be "future proof"

and while its true the toms results are limited by a single gfx card its the BEST single GPU available . The OP's 4870 is not as powerful as the GTX 280 toms used .
T
 

xthekidx

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I agree more cores will be more future proof. My suggestion was based on the here and now, as well as assuming this was a gaming rig. They could have used a GTX 285 as well which might have shown different results. I don't think that the OP said he was only going to be using 1 GPU either...if he were to upgrade to another 4870 then you would see even more varied results, and again the core 2 duo would increase the margin. His PSU should be able to handle 2 4870's in xfire. But seeing as how he will be using photoshop as well as other productivity software, I agree going with a PII is better.