Q9400,G31 or X2 940,780G???

[asbshyam]

Which of these will do good for medium gaming, heavy multimedia and multi-tasking. If alternatives are gonna be suggested note that processor budget is $260 & mobo upto $90. I prefer AMD for PCIe 2.0 and 3Ghz clock speed. So whats best?

 

[Mondoman]

Either CPU should be fine; the chipsets are decent, but designed for low-end systems. Pay attention to the specific company/motherboard model and realize that features may be reduced on such boards (e.g. memory sockets, BIOS overclocking, etc).

 

[ravenware]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.165049

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.173016

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.165047

Above are links to combo deals with better motherobards that seem to fall into your budget.

Are you able to use an online retailer like newegg.com?

 

[asbshyam]

Either CPU should be fine; the chipsets are decent, but designed for low-end systems. Pay attention to the specific company/motherboard model and realize that features may be reduced on such boards (e.g. memory sockets, BIOS overclocking, etc).

When u mean low end, you mean low end for my purpose(occasional gaming, heavy multimedia) or low end for everything??

 

[shiftstealth]

He means low end because its not an i7.

 

[Mondoman]

I mean low end for everything (as in users who don't game and have never even heard of overclocking). For example, I'd expect to see it in those rows of computers in high school computer labs -- built for price, not performance/features.

 

[asbshyam]

I can up the processor budget to support a i7 but x58 based boards are too costly(i need to sacrifice graphics!! ). Will there be any new chipsets for i7???

 

[Dekasav]

No. Go with the Phenom II and the 780G, it's an excellent cpu with a vastly superior chipset/video than the G31.

 

[sid_nag17]

if u can get the 790x chipset and +1 for the phenom II

 

[asbshyam]

I'm planning on adding a HD4850 or GTS 250(occasional gaming). Is it still necessary to go for a 790x board from 780G??? Will there be any change in the HT freq or anything else???

 

[Wisecracker]

I'm planning on adding a HD4850 or GTS 250(occasional gaming). Is it still necessary to go for a 790x board from 780G??? Will there be any change in the HT freq or anything else???

Raven has listed some good combos. Add this to the mix:

PhII 940 / Biostar 790gx: $281
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.165048

An HD 4830 would be fine for occasional gaming - the Sapphire is $75AR and pulls less watts at idle than the Powercolor.


The 780g has the sb700 and a single PCIe x16 slot - the 790gx has sb750 (improved performance) and a second PCIe x16 slot which may be used in a Crossfire gaming config OR for a second GPU for parallel processing in multimedia apps (as the tech improves). There are no real combo deals with the PhII 940/780g that make them superior to the 790gx combos (if you are purchasing in the USA).

Your RAMs are important in multitasking - look at a 64-bit OS if possible.

The HT should not impact your decision unless you consider an AM3 microprocessor like the PhII 720BE. The stock HT on AM3 CPUs is higher than the stock HT on AM2+ CPUs. And yes, improvement is seen in memory intensive apps with a higher HT.

The 'BE' microprocessors may be simply overclocked at stock volts by raising the cpu multi - anywhere from 400-600MHz.