Check my hardware before I buy..

[Tifosi]

Just remember that the AM2+ Roadmap finishes at the end of 2010, you'll still be able to put a decent quad in there though, and all other roadmaps (including event intel i7 I believe) end at the same time for new gear, so it is the best bang for buck.

Just make sure any motherboard you buy supports 140w quad cores and AM3 (AM2+ boards should support it) to cover all your bases for if he ever decided to dump a quad in it at the end of 2010 (although power usage is getting lower now).

Do you mean a Quad a la Phenom X4 9950 (HD995ZXAJ4BGH),2.6GHz,125W,rev.B3,SocketAM2+,Quad-Core ?

What would the Phenom X4 9950 140W offer over the Phenom X4 9950 125w??

And what's all this nonsense over solid capacitors? 2 or 3 years ago a capacitor was a capacitor..

P.S. what's the quick laymans difference between AM2+ and AM3?

[staffsMike]

There's no difference bettween those CPU's other than the power used (both now outdated and replaced by phenom II).

Solid capacitors just offer than extra bit of reliability generally required by overclockers or system's which will be on most of the time.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Do you mean a Quad a la Phenom X4 9950 (HD995ZXAJ4BGH),2.6GHz,125W,rev.B3,SocketAM2+,Quad-Core ?

What would the Phenom X4 9950 140W offer over the Phenom X4 9950 125w??

And what's all this nonsense over solid capacitors? 2 or 3 years ago a capacitor was a capacitor..

Its not nonsense as they do not leak like electrolyte capacitors do and are far more stable at higher temperatures! Also motherboards have been using solid capacitors for years. Look at the VFM areas of every motherboard above £35 made in the last 4 years- they use solid capacitors.

For the extra £10 the Gigabyte motherboard is simply better especially if the kid intends to put in a higher end processor down the line.It also has a dualBIOS function too. This is very useful if the BIOS has to be updated in the future during an upgrade - if it goes wrong the motherboard has a secondary BIOS which it can boot from.

P.S. what's the quick laymans difference between AM2+ and AM3?

AMD processors have the memory controller in the CPU. An AM2 processor has only an DDR2 memory controller whereas the an AM3 one has a DDR3 and DDR2 memory controller. An AM2+ motherboard uses DDR2 RAM and can take both AM2 and AM3 processors whereas an AM3 motherboard uses DDR RAM and can only take an AM3 processor.

[Pulseammo]

Do you mean a Quad a la Phenom X4 9950 (HD995ZXAJ4BGH),2.6GHz,125W,rev.B3,SocketAM2+,Quad-Core ?

What would the Phenom X4 9950 140W offer over the Phenom X4 9950 125w??

As has been mentioned those processors are old tech and all that is different is the power requirements. I'm simply pointing out that you may wish to choose a board carefully and not go for the cheapest option if you want to be *sure* of it supporting the final CPUs in the roadmap (you had mentioned wanting to just drop in a new cpu down the line).