my upgrade

[petercook7]

Asus M4A785TD-V EVO 785G Socket AM3
4 gig mem not sure which yet.
AMD Phenom X2 555 Black Edition 3.2GHZ 6MB but then i would need to unlock it and by a new fan which costs around £29, so iam looking at
£100 for chip and fan upgrade.

£20 pounds more i could buy AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition, or should i wait for the new Phenom II X4 Phenom II X4 960T ?

[Ulti]

I'd say wait for the new Phenoms as they *MAY* change the pricing around a bit. You could also try unlocking the new Phenoms to a 6 core if you're lucky too!

[petercook7]

I'd say wait for the new Phenoms as they *MAY* change the pricing around a bit. You could also try unlocking the new Phenoms to a 6 core if you're lucky too!

thats what i was thinking, but i have no idea when they are going to be released.

[Ulti]

What will you be using the pc for anyway though?

[petercook7]

What will you be using the pc for anyway though?

playing cod and BF:bad otherwise using it to surf.

[watercooled]

What do you have ATM? If you have a half-decent dual core your GPU is most likely the bottleneck in your PC for gaming and you'd see a greater improvement in spending the money on upgrading that instead.

[petercook7]

What do you have ATM? If you have a half-decent dual core your GPU is most likely the bottleneck in your PC for gaming and you'd see a greater improvement in spending the money on upgrading that instead.

amd venice 3000+ ddr1 PCI Express 1.0 x16 ati 4850
so really need pcie 2.0 then was thinking get usb 3 and sata3 as well so now looking at 80 ish plus for the board must have optical out and hdmi.
Asus M4A88TD-M EVO/USB3 AMD 880 something like that, was thinking of getting ph2 2 555.

[DanceswithUnix]

For gaming you are better off with the quad core than the 6 core,
My main machine has a 955BE, it comes with a nice fan and is the CPU you want without relying on an unlock.
My dual core CPU only unlocks to 3 cores. Thats fine, I only need 2 cores on that machine and wouldn't have been fussed if it didn't unlock at all.

For 20 quid and no risk? Get the 955BE.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

If you are overclocking look for a motherboard with one of the split 8 phase VRMs and/or some sort of VRM ccoling.

If you do not intend to overclock this is not so important though.

This motherboard does look very good for the price:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/219204

http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.as...80G%20Extreme3

It has the 880G chipset,USB 3.0,SATA 3.0,symmetrical Crossfire,a split 8+2 phase VRM with cooling and the HD4250 IGP with 128MB of dedicated DDR3 for under £90.

Here is a review of the motherboard:

http://en.ocworkbench.com/tech/exclu...n-cores/all/1/

Also make sure you get a decent PSU too.

[scaryjim]

If you've got a graphics card already and are going for an ATX board you might be able to save some money by going for a 770 chipset motherboard rather than a 785G / 880G (after all, you don't need the onboard graphics or sideport memory).

As CAT says, if you're not overclocking you probaly don't need the extra spec on the VRM, so something like this MSI would do the job for < £50...

[petercook7]

If you are overclocking look for a motherboard with one of the split 8 phase VRMs and/or some sort of VRM ccoling.

If you do not intend to overclock this is not so important though.

This motherboard does look very good for the price:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/219204

http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.as...80G%20Extreme3

It has the 880G chipset,USB 3.0,SATA 3.0,symmetrical Crossfire,a split 8+2 phase VRM with cooling and the HD4250 IGP with 128MB of dedicated DDR3 for under £90.

Here is a review of the motherboard:

http://en.ocworkbench.com/tech/exclu...n-cores/all/1/

Also make sure you get a decent PSU too.

was going to get a 2 core and try to unlock the 2cores, but then it would mean buy a cooler 29 which brings the price to 100 ish pounds and then taking the risk.
i was looking at asus as i can get the board for 80, already have a 550 psu so thatll be good.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I assume the PSU is a decent model.

TBH,the Asrock motherboard looks better than the Asus. If you are core unlocking and/or overclocking I would definitely go for the Asrock motherboard.

[petercook7]

I assume the PSU is a decent model.

TBH,the Asrock motherboard looks better than the Asus. If you are core unlocking and/or overclocking I would definitely go for the Asrock motherboard.

dont asrock use cheaper capacitors on their boards?

[petercook7]

If you've got a graphics card already and are going for an ATX board you might be able to save some money by going for a 770 chipset motherboard rather than a 785G / 880G (after all, you don't need the onboard graphics or sideport memory).

As CAT says, if you're not overclocking you probaly don't need the extra spec on the VRM, so something like this MSI would do the job for < £50...

i dont think those support usb 3 and sata 3

[Biscuit]

yeah i wouldn't get any motherboard that doesnt have USB3 and SATA6. Looking at your old system suggests you buy to last so making sure these things are there now would be high on the priority list.

[petercook7]

yeah i wouldn't get any motherboard that doesnt have USB3 and SATA6. Looking at your old system suggests you buy to last so making sure these things are there now would be high on the priority list.

try to build them to last, but i do change my graphics card more than my board or chip.