Which AMD Motherboard and Processor Should I Buy??

Justin-07

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Feb 18, 2010
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I am going to build a new Desktop soon.But Budget is limited
So here is my build

AMD Phenom x3 720BE / AMD Athlon x4 630
HD 4830 512MB
Seagate 500GB HDD
2X2 GB DDR2 800mhz RAM

But I have not decided the motherboard yet
Please suggest me a motherboard only from Asus or Gigabyte [I am Not Big Overclocker]

Also Which processor should i buy
I will be playing GTA IV, but also other games
I know Quad will be better in GTA IV
But is x4 630 better than x3 720BE in other games.
I will be overclocking till it is safe on STOCK COOLER.

And One More Thing If I use x3 720BE with AM3 Socket Can I Use DDR2 RAM.
 

Truhls

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Dec 17, 2009
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Hmm, i think id personally go with the 720 BE and

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131402&cm_re=EVO-_-13-131-402-_-Product

Motherboard. This mobo has ACC to unlock the 4th core of a 720. Also you need an AM2+ Board to use DDR2 Ram with an AM3 processor. But i would try to avoid that if possible. DDR2 is slowly getting phased out. This board also support crossfire if you ever decide on that.

Also trying to OC on the stock cooler is a big no-no. Generally with any of the new CPU's the stock cooler just wont cut it. I know my 720 BE didnt want to even go above a 200 mhz increase on the stock cooler without the temps getting too high too fast for the small increase.
 

andy5174

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Mar 3, 2009
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MB:(You need an AM2+ one so that you can use DDR2 on it.)

Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4P


CPU:
According to the last 4 charts in the following link, the PII x3 720 is better in Fallout 3, Left 4 Dead, Far Cry 2 and Crysis warhead.

AMD Phenom II X3 720 - 2.8GHz - 1.5MB L2 - 6MB L3 vs. AMD Athlon II X4 630 - 2.8GHz - 2MB L2

PII x3 720 is better in Far Cry 2 according to: http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2009-desktop-cpu-charts-update-1/Far-Cry-2-1.0.1,Marque_fbrandx32,1401.html

PII x3 720 is better in Left 4 Dead according to: http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2009-desktop-cpu-charts-update-1/Left-4-Dead-1.0.0.5,Marque_fbrandx32,1403.html

PII x3 720 is better in most games thanks to its much larger cache, but Athlon II x4 630 is better in GTA IV which take full advantage of all 4 cores.

Since there will be more and more games and apps take advantage of quad core cpus, I would go for the Athlon II x4 630. BTW, you can always OC the 630 to get better performance for games that don't utilize the 4th core.



 

randomkid

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Both X3 720BE and X4 630 have the potential to be unlocked. The 720 with its 4th core and the 630 with L3. So whichever you choose you got the potential to get a deneb but even if you don't get to unlock, you can't go wrong with both.

I will personnaly go for the X3 720BE over the fact that its "black" and therefore more overclockable even if for a small price premium. But it has been out of stock in newegg ( don't know about other sites ) for some time so you may have to go for the X4 630 in any case.

 

N19h7M4r3

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Apr 24, 2008
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OK to start of i'll just say forget DDR2, DDR3 is pretty much the same price for GB now a days and a bit faster.
in the CPU field if your in a tight budget id say somewhere around the Athlon II X3 435 or the 620-630... id probably go for the quad core (you can easly squeeze more Hz out of a CPU but it gets harder to squeeze another core.) if you can go a bit up into the 955-965 area you might wanna think about intels 1156 CPU's it pains me to admit but they are more eficient lol
for the mother board id say asus and gigabyte have excelent products, but in the AMD field i think id still stick to Gigabyte (i got a GA-MA790FXT-UD5P for my 955) something like the GA-MA790XT-UD4P or the GA-790XTA-UD4 if you cant afford an FX board)