getting about time to upgrade the old trusty x2...

[billygoat333]

as the title says, its getting about time to upgrade my system. My x2 4200+ is starting to show its age in video games (as is my 8600gts :P).

I am most likely gonna get a Phenom II x4 965 black edition... unless someone can talk me into an Intel of similar pricing that would be a better processor.

anyways, I am needing recommendations for motherboards. Not looking to spend oodles of money on this, and I prefer MSI motherboards' looks to most other boards but wouldn't be opposed to a different brand if someone has had excellent experience.


or, alternately, should I upgrade my GPU and HDD to a better GPU and SSD? what do you think would net me the best performance increase for my money?

discuss. :)

EDIT: I should add that I am a broke college student/single parent, so I will be probably piecing the new system together slowly, and will be eventually upgrading everything.

[Oneslowz28]

I love my 965. There is no better processor for the same price. As for a motherboard, I can not say enough good things about Gigabytes 890 series. I have the GA-890FXA-UD5 and with that board you will hit 4+ GHz on the 965 on air. With that CoolIT you might hit 4.5GHz.

[blueonblack]

Stick with AMD. Be strong, brother!

I use the MSI 785GTM-E45 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130237&Tpk=785gtm-e45) with a Phenom II 940 and love it. It will be hard to beat for $70.

[BuzzKillington]

With the price of hardware these days I can't wait to build my next rig... I just have tons of other priorities on my hands atm. :(

[slaveofconvention]

Have you checked out your current motherboards BIOS status? I just updated the BIOS on my media centre which is a little over 2 years old (Asus M3N/H-HDMI AM2+) - and it'll now take CPU's up to Phenom IIX6 1090T (6 core, 3.2Ghz) - I have no plans to upgrade as it is just a media centre but it might be worth you checking out before you lay out money on a new board

[billygoat333]

its a crappy Asus-made-for-HP mATX board. lol it does the job, but has ZERO overclocking abilities. Although I will check that out, would be nice to be able to buy the proc, then save up for a nicer board. :)

[slaveofconvention]

You could always go the other way - get the board and put your old processor in while you save for that - I appreciate you won't get the performance boost immediately (well you may well get some, depending on O/C and board performance) but it's one way of slowing down the purchase rate if it helps. The other thing is that boards tend not to go down in price so much - they get replaced too quickly by the next model at the same price - CPUs however are a totally different animal - waiting a month or two before buying a CPU will almost definitely either save you $$ or get you more Mhz for your $$

[BuzzKillington]

Unless you get a crazy deal on something I wouldn't recommend buying hardware too far apart. If it's going to take you a couple of months to save up for something else, just wait and buy it later on all together. It will likely be cheaper by then and you'll save money on combined shipping if applicable.

[billygoat333]

Just noticed that the gigabyte 890 you have CJ is on sale at newegg for 169 free shipping. might just snag that for now like slave said and upgrade to the phenom next month.

on the topic of SSDs, should I A: buy a smaller capacity one ~40gb for my OS, or save up for a bigger one to put games and such on it? if I save up for a bigger capacity I will most likely put it off until next year when tax returns come. I am getting pretty disgusted with the load time on my (really slow and almost full) 250gb xp drive.

I have a win 7 professional license I got through school and will be using that.

[x88x]

on the topic of SSDs, should I A: buy a smaller capacity one ~40gb for my OS, or save up for a bigger one to put games and such on it? if I save up for a bigger capacity I will most likely put it off until next year when tax returns come. I am getting pretty disgusted with the load time on my (really slow and almost full) 250gb xp drive.

Another possibility is to get a small one now, then get an identical one later when you have the money and set them up in a RAID-0. Not only do you get immediate benefits, but you also get an additional performance boost once you get the second (or third ;) ) one. Of course, you don't get TRIM support if you're running a RAID, so there are trade-offs, but imo it's worth it (obviously, since that's what I'm running :D ).

[billygoat333]

good idea. so here is a question thrown at ya. would you rather have a faster SSD than a good MOBO? ;)

[diluzio91]

hmm... elaborate, by faster ssd what do you mean, and what mobo were you thinking of swapping around

[billygoat333]

I should have said faster than my old HDD. A little drunk posting apparently last night haha.

as far as the motherboard, it is an HP branded Asus board. I dont remember exactly what the model is right now and am not at home to check.

[diluzio91]

hmm... the SSD would be faster for boot times and the like, but the Mobo would let you OC the processor and give you better control over your system...

[Oneslowz28]

Ok here is my experience with the small SSD.

I have the OCZ Agility 2 50Gb (48Gb usable) and OvRiDe can attest to how much I dislike the drive for an OS drive. Do not get me wrong, the drive is super fast when it comes to program loading time, and boot time, where it sucks is storage capacity. I have a few games and a few programs that will not install to anything but the C Drive. This is due to how 64bit windows handles 32bit emulation. So after the normal OS and required programs install I have a total of 12gb free. Install 1 game and that leaves me with 3gb, install one of those programs and I am down to less than 1gb free.

This week I will be switching back to a 500Gb 7200 RPM OS drive and keeping the SSD for reviews.

Get that motherboard and I bet you will not be happier. There is no better Overclocking board out there and if you never plan on adding 4 ATI cards in Crossfire X get the UD3 version of it. Trace has the Intel 1366 version of my board and he will vouch for the OC ability. There are more voltage adjustments than any other board on the market and Gigabytes UD3 manufacturing standard really makes for stable boards. As I type this, I have 4Gb of GEIL RAM running at 2000MHz with out any changes in voltages or timings. This board is SOLID!

Then save up and get a good black edition Phenom II and the sky is the limit. If you get the x4 965 BE it will most likely be the 125W version and will OC like a dream. You should be able to run 3.9GHz all day at under 60c on a decent air cooler. The processor only gets a 4 in cinebench but don't let that fool you, it is a very fast processor. Combine it with an 8800 GTS and you can run GTA IV on near max settings.

[billygoat333]

That is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks CJ... def. gonna get that board. C'mon Payday!!

[Twigsoffury]

if money is tight, the Phenom II 955 is 139.99$ i think right now (maybe even 129.99) and mines sitting pretty @ 3.7Ghz/1.385v, I've had it at 3.9GHz,1.45v before stable, but my cooler sucks and i didn't like the 55c+ temps

<<<MSi 770-C45 board.( about 75$)

man a 9800GTX+ is 100$ or less? might even be able to swoop up a GTS240/250?which is basically a 9800GTX as well, but with way less power consumption.

make sure your power supply has the right connections and can provide enough amperage/wattage for your new set up.

[Trace]

Yeah, the 1366 UD5 overclocks like a dream.

I couldn't wish for a better board. Not to mention, Gigabyte is Intel's reference board partner :P

[blaze15301]

i have a asus dark knight 4870 for sale for pretty cheap if your interested. just make me an offer.

[Oneslowz28]

Interested in trades Blaze?