AMD Chipsets Quesions

I'm looking at building a friend a new PC (just RAM, Mobo, CPU/GPU) for around £200/250, and am looking at getting an AMD CPU (Athalon Quads) as they're considerably cheaper than i3 and for what he needs will be suitable, but I'm a bit stuck on the motherboard front. I looked on scan but am confused by which does what and the differences between them?

All AM3, there's:
740/760/770
785G
790
870/880/890
Nvidia

Are some smaller or something? I assume Nvidia means SLI support? Which would be my best bet for casual gaming/general use?

I'm looking at 4GB DDR3 and a GT250 area, but need to look into ATI cards more. I'm not sure what his PSU is but as I built his original it's likely to be a Corsair TX series :p

There's also the southbridge to consider as that plays a bigger roll in amd systems

Although that was more of an issue on the older ones.

If usb3 or sata6 is a major issue for you then you want the 8xx chipset.

The nvidia is mainly the 8200, 9300 and the older ones
personally I'd not bother with it for your use.

770 and 785 are basically the same although the 770 doesn't have an igp

the 770 with 710southbridge is what I'd look at personally.

Depends on how "casual" the gaming is...

740 / 760 = budget IGP chipset, office / web browsing only, wouldn't bother personally.

780 / 785 / 880 = mainstream IGP chipset. Good for older (say, pre-2005) gaming at modest settings, but nothing modern.

790GX / 890GX = premium IGP. Official crossfire support (at 8x/8x AFAIK), usually decent overclocking / enthusiast option. But the IGP is *still* an IGP, nothing special ;)

770 = Budget non-IGP chipset. No official crossfire, although some boards support x16/x4. As Pob says, for casual gaming that needs discrete graphics power, this is probably the best option when coupled with the SB710.

790 / 890 except GX = enthusiast chipsets. Crossfire support, usually better overclocking options, better voltage regulation etc. The choice if you're looking for mid to high end gaming rigs.


As far as southbridges go iirc you don't get many AM3 boards with the SB700, and if you do avoid them. SB710 is basically the same but with ACC, which supports core unlocking and better overclocking. SB750 brings in RAID5 support to the mix. SB8x0 brings SATA 6Gbps. For day to day use, anything above SB710 is unnecessary really. So, as Pob said, 770 + SB710 is probably the best option for casual gaming & general use, but if the casual gaming is *very* casual or entirely on older titles, it may be worth going for the 785G / 880G and using the integrated graphics.

Oh, the other main thing to watch out for is that if you need an mATX motherboard you're more likely to find 785G and 880G boards in that size - 770 tend to be full ATX.

Its all on wiki; which has a great roundup. There is meant to be a SLI hack so don't worry so much about getting a SLi board. There have been alot of success's posted so you can check if it works on your board before buying.

You want HT 3.0 iirc.

Gaming would mainly be TF2/Company of Heroes so the 770 looks like the best route. He uses an Xbox for most of the gaming needs and he won't be overclocking or anything technical :p Thanks.