Does This Spec Look Ok?

[hamd01]

Thinking about the purchase of the following this weekend;

CPU: AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition, Sok AM3, 2.8GHz, 7.5MB Total Cache, 95W, Retail £119

MOTHERBOARD: Gigabyte GA-MA790XT-UD4P, AMD 790X, AM3, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), DDR3 1666(OC), SATA 3Gb/s, SATA RAID, ATX £112

MEMORY: 4GB (2x2GB) CorsairTwinX DDR3 PC3-10666 (1333) 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24 £67

HDD: 750 GB Samsung HD753LJ Spinpoint F1, SATA 3Gb/s, 7200 rpm, 32MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ £62

GPU: 512MB Sapphire HD 4870, PCI-E 2.0, 3600MHz GDDR5, GPU 750MHz, 800 Cores, 2x DL DVI-I/ HDTV, HDCP £143

PSU: Coolermaster Real Power M620 620W Modular PSU Power Supply (Already purchased) £70

CASE: Thermaltake Tsunami VA3000BWA Black Window PC Case (Already purchased) £80

In particular I want to be certain that the mobo/memory/cpu are all ok together. Sadly I'm maxed out on cost so cant go any higher.

Many thanks for any suggestions.

[staffsMike]

I think I'd be tempted to buy a cheaper 780G board. You can get an awesome one for about £65 (Asus 780G -EM) although that will be uATX most likely.

Black edition has the unlocked multi so overclocking is no problem.

I'd probably go for a slightly faster 640GB drive.

[DeludedGuy]

Aye, staffsMike is correct.

Get the cheaper 780G Board, Gigabyte have a good one too.

I myself have the 640GB Spinpoint F1 which is superb.

[hamd01]

Perhaps I should go for this board;

Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H, AMD 780G, S AM2+, PCI-E 2.0, DDR2 1066MHz, SATA II, SATA RAID, HDMI1.3, µATX £62.09

along with;

4GB (2x2GB) Corsair Value Select, DDR2 SO-DIMM PC2-6400 (800MHz), 200 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 5 £34.49

A saving of £83 over my original spec.

Are there any disadvantages with uATX?

[Sputnik]

Don't know if anyone noticed his going for AM3 Mobo and DDR3 ?

But they are right, Unless you have a really good reason for wanting DDR3. I would go with what the others said. The Asus 780G -EM for around £65 or if you want the better 790GX chipset the J&W 790GX Extreme for £90.

You can get some decent 4Gb DDR2 800 for £35 - £40.

And you will be left with enough to buy a decent CPU cooler.

[staffsMike]

lol didn't notice that, it's got cheap hasn't it

Stick to something like Crucial Ballistix, corsair XMS2 etc.. Value select is fine but you should be able to get the good stuff for the same price.

AM2+ and DDR2 should be fine, even with DDR3 at it's far better looking price.

[CK_1985]

Stick to something like Crucial Ballistix, corsair XMS2 etc.. Value select is fine but you should be able to get the good stuff for the same price.

Agreed, DDR2 is so cheap these days it would be silly not to get some decent stuff, especially if you're thinking of overclocking (which I presume you are, given that you've gone for a B.E. processor). Something CAS 4 with heatspreaders - they may not actually do anything, but they look better. Fact

[hamd01]

Don't know if anyone noticed his going for AM3 Mobo and DDR3 ?

But they are right, Unless you have a really good reason for wanting DDR3. I would go with what the others said. The Asus 780G -EM for around £65 or if you want the better 790GX chipset the J&W 790GX Extreme for £90.

You can get some decent 4Gb DDR2 800 for £35 - £40.

And you will be left with enough to buy a decent CPU cooler.

I was looking at AM3 and DDR3, but from what I'm reading the extra cost isnt going to be worth it. I think I'll stick with an AM2 mobo and DDR2 memory.

Im struggling to find the ASUS in stock locally. Any issues with the Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H, AMD 780G?

[Time Bandit]

If you like the Gigabyte ATX UD boards but are not fussed about DDR3 maybe try:

Gigabyte GA-MA790GP-UD4H (790GX + SB750 Chipset, Socket AM2+, AM3 CPU compatible) (£97.74 + £9.00 del) which also works with your P2 720 and should overclock it with ease.

4GB (2x2GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2 CAS 4, DHX (£50.19 or £39.84 if the CAS 5 will do)

Samsung Spinpoint F1 640 GB is about the best bfb atm (£49.98) - about 7.8p/GB (although 1TB F1 can be had for ~ £75 or 7.5p/GB on Today Only at Scan)

With the money saved (£34-£44) consider the (faster?), quieter, cooler, more efficient Sapphire ATI Radeon HD4870 Toxic 512MB (the one with vapor-x) - £172.49

[staffsMike]

Not sure about locally but here it is on ebuyer
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/150278

I would get this one as it will make an amazingly versitile HTPC later on with it's many a/v inputs and outputs.

The gigabyte will be fine though I'm sure. Only disadvantage for uATX imo is the loss of a few PCI slots, if you aren't planning on using them which we rarely seem to these days, then it's fine.

[Time Bandit]

I suppose we should really ask what you will be use it for mostly (general/ gaming/ media I assume?) and how long before you expect to have to open your wallet/purse again.

[hamd01]

I suppose we should really ask what you will be use it for mostly (general/ gaming/ media I assume?) and how long before you expect to have to open your wallet/purse again.

It will be for a little of the following;

General office use
a little photoshop work
some gaming.... empire total war, fifa etc so fairly intensive stuff but on a 19" screen
web design
I never expect it to be more than 2 years before having to upgrade I'll probably up the memory inside 6 months or so.

[staffsMike]

If that 19" screen is staying drop the graphics down a notch or two. An HD4830 would do nicely with that tbh.

[Sputnik]

If you like the Gigabyte ATX UD boards but are not fussed about DDR3 maybe try:

Gigabyte GA-MA790GP-UD4H (790GX + SB750 Chipset, Socket AM2+, AM3 CPU compatible) (£97.74 + £9.00 del) which also works with your P2 720 and should overclock it with ease.

4GB (2x2GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2 CAS 4, DHX (£50.19 or £39.84 if the CAS 5 will do)

Samsung Spinpoint F1 640 GB is about the best bfb atm (£49.98) - about 7.8p/GB (although 1TB F1 can be had for ~ £75 or 7.5p/GB on Today Only at Scan)

With the money saved (£34-£44) consider the (faster?), quieter, cooler, more efficient Sapphire ATI Radeon HD4870 Toxic 512MB (the one with vapor-x) - £172.49

Why would he buy that board when he could get the J&W 790GX Extreme from Scan for £90 with free P&P ?

[hamd01]

Why would he buy that board when he could get the J&W 790GX Extreme from Scan for £90 with free P&P ?

The J&W 790GX Extreme is AM2/AM2+, but the CPU I was looking at is AM3.... could you just confirm those two will work together?

[Sputnik]

The J&W 790GX Extreme is AM2/AM2+, but the CPU I was looking at is AM3.... could you just confirm those two will work together?

I'm using this board with a Phenom 2 720 right now

The Phenom 2 720 is backward compatible with AM2+ boards with AM3 supporting BIOS's.