Question regarding the AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE

[jsmith2002]

Hello,

I'm basically looking to buy a CPU for a modest budget-PC. The CPU in question is the Phenom II X4 965 BE 3.4Ghz, 140W (only version that's in stock at my local stores, strangely enough). My old CPU was the Athlon II X3 435 2.9 Ghz.

Anyway, I'm not especially PC savvy so I'm not entirely sure if my current components will all be compatible. I did my research but I'm still not 100% sure. The final build is supposed to look like this, more or less:

AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE 3.4Ghz (AM3, 140W)
EVGA Geforce GTX650 (not a Ti)
Kingston 4GB DDR2 800Mhz (2x2)

Mobo is GA-MA770-UD3 rev. 2.0 (apparently AM2+/AM3)

The PSU is 750W.

The case is an Antec 900, and I might get a Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo due to all the overheating issues I've read regarding the X4 965 (but do let me know if this is unnecessary). Not planning to OC at this point, but if the temps are low enough I'll consider it. I honestly just want the temps to be safe for now, OC or not.

So basically, would this build work? As in, is everything compatible with everything? I've read a whole bunch of stuff about AM2+/AM3 and DDR2 vs DDR3 but I couldn't make heads or tails of it. Like I said I'm not really an expert on those things.

Any help or advice would be appreciated.

 

[Z1NONLY]

All of that is compatible, yes.

PSU power is much higher than that system needs though. (What model is it?)

I have always thought the higher-wattage units were binned that way because they required more voltage to hit the same clock speeds as the lower wattage units.

If that assumption is correct, you may not have a lot of overclocking headroom. Also, your motherboard has 140W CPU's on the compatibility list, but it's not exactly a "beast" of a motherboard. 140w may be near it's upper power limit for the socket and further reduce your overclocking headroom.

Getting a 212 is a good move either way.

 

[iceclock]

looks good.

 

[jsmith2002]

That's good to hear, thanks. I suppose I'm not too bothered by the lack of an OC, as long as it runs without problems at acceptable temperatures under load.

And the PSU is a Corsair TX 750W.

 

[iceclock]

ur set to fly my friend

 

[Z1NONLY]

That's a nice PSU. (That's what I'm running now)

 

[clutchc]

May I ask how much you are going to have to pay for that 140W 965BE? Newegg has the 125W for $95 and you'll be getting a new warranted CPU.

 

[iceclock]

hmm interesting comment, clutch.

 

[jsmith2002]

The 965 will cost me around $110, apparently. I'm in Europe, though, so I only converted it from my country's currency to USD. And Newegg doesn't ship outside the US as far as I know.

 

[bigj1985]

965 is a nice processor indeed my friend. Maybe sometime in the future you should look into getting a descent AM3+ board and some DD3 to replace the aging DDR2.

A few yeard ago DDR2 was all fine and dandy. it is today to bt games are increasingly eating up Bandwidth and run much better on DDR3

 

[iceclock]

not bad.

i think ur set to go smith

 

[jsmith2002]

965 is a nice processor indeed my friend. Maybe sometime in the future you should look into getting a descent AM3+ board and some DD3 to replace the aging DDR2.

A few yeard ago DDR2 was all fine and dandy. it is today to bt games are increasingly eating up Bandwidth and run much better on DDR3

Yeah, getting DDR3 eventually is on the to-do list, and I'm not entirely happy with the GTX650 either (not waiting for the 650 Ti was a bad move, to say the least), but this build is just something temporary until I upgrade to something more high-end. I think it should be okay for gaming as long as I don't crank everything up to the highest settings.

In any case, thanks for all the help and comments, went ahead and ordered my 965 and 212 Evo earlier today.

 

[bjvanwash]

I upgraded from the Athlon II x3 435 to the Phenom II x4 965 and so far, I'm very pleased. I believe the CPU is backwards compatible so it should work for the mobo you selected. And it's cheaper than Intel. However, I do recommend getting a motherboard that supports DDR3 and getting DDR3 RAM at some point. So much faster! And when you are ready to learn to overclock, the 965 overclocks easily and nicely

 

[iceclock]

yes its quite nice. and a different performance compared to a x3 processor.

 

[chrisafp07]

I loved my Phenom 965 BE, what a great cpu.

 

[clutchc]

I'm still assembling builds with the 965BE. With a good gfx card, it can run any game @ 1080p with fast frame rates. I just wish there were as many 980BE's available yet as 965's.

 

[iceclock]

eh what u gonna do. dunno if they still sell em. only a few megahertz more anyways.

 

[clutchc]

eh what u gonna do. dunno if they still sell em. only a few megahertz more anyways.

I know. But the 980BE had a bit higher O/C capacity due to it being the top of the food chain in the Denebs. Oh well...

 

[iceclock]

yea, well im still hoping steamrollers gonna be a success or else amds gonna go way down town. i like intel but like having amd as an option

 

[bjvanwash]

I'm still assembling builds with the 965BE. With a good gfx card, it can run any game @ 1080p with fast frame rates. I just wish there were as many 980BE's available yet as 965's.

Yeah I hope to get a better video card soon. Unfortunately I wasn't paying attention to all of the specs and I replaced my old graphics card with a card that was 128-bit. I plan on getting a GTX 560 soon though. We'll see. The Asus HD 6670 1GB isn't too bad though for a cheap card.

 

[clutchc]

Yeah I hope to get a better video card soon. Unfortunately I wasn't paying attention to all of the specs and I replaced my old graphics card with a card that was 128-bit. I plan on getting a GTX 560 soon though. We'll see. The Asus HD 6670 1GB isn't too bad though for a cheap card.

The HD 6670 will get you by at med settings in most games if you don't take the resolution too high. But for the best bang for the buck in the $150-$175 dollar range, it will be hard to beat the HD 7850 when you are ready to upgrade. I just put a build together for my grandson with that card and an IB i5. I couldn't find a single game we tried that we couldn't do max settings at 1080p. BF3 was close though.

 

[sarinaide]

The 965BE is old faithful, still plays everything maxed and eats it for breakfast. Not keen on the GTX 650 though, the HD7850 1GB card will handsomely offer better features and performance across at a lower price point. for $25 more you get the HD7850OC 2GB card which is just immense.

 

[ItzCrooK2UxD]

I just recently purchased the 965 BE (125w), along with an ASUS M5A97 R2.0, and as far as performance on a budget the 965 is tough to beat and it will transition nicely when you are ready to run DDR3 memory. With DDR4 being around the corner, I can't say I would buy a DDR3 board, especially if you are happy with the speeds you get from DDR2.