Amd fm1 vs. Am3+ vs. Am3

[BOOTYMONSTER]

i'm pretty sure i killed my MSI mobo on my Q6600 . i wanna go to something with a longer processor update life and it looks like intel has priced their self out of consideration . im looking at AMD and it seems the FM1 and AM3+ are their newest offerings . ant idea on which will have the longer life span as far as potential new processors for it in the future . the graphics on the FM1 chips is interesting , and im not sure how it compares to my 4 yr old 8800GTS 512 , but i wont be updating my graphic card any time soon ..... i'm not as into games as i used to be although i still enjoy them .

if i gp AM3+ im thinking of getting the FX-4100 Zambezi 3.6GHz chip with the ASRock 970 EXTREME3 AM3+ AMD mobo and two 4 gig sticks of ram for a total of 8 gigs of ram .

if i go FM1 im looking at the A6-3650 Llano 2.6GHz chip with the ASRock A75 PRO4 FM1 AMD A75

it looks to me like the AM3+ setup is the way to go ........ or does the old AM3 format still have a few years left in it ? w

what are your thoughts and what do you recommend
?

thanks ..... and its great that anandtech is still around !!

 

[Dark Shroud]

FM1 is going to be replaced by FM2. Bulldozer's successor, Piledriver, will also use AM3+.

So you're best off going AM3+ with a Bulldozer CPU.

 

[ctk1981]

If you're stuck on AMD, go with the AM3+. For a board though I would switch over to the Gigabyte 970A-UD3 board as it has the 8+2 phase vs the 4+1 phase of the ASrock. Its on sale at newegg also. But I wouldnt get too hung up on that, if you prefer ASrock for some reason have at it, better choice than the MSI 970 board.

 

[BOOTYMONSTER]

thanks for the replies

so it seems that AM3 cpu's will work in the AM3+ boards so i think iv'e decided on the ASRock 970 EXTREME3 for a motherboard .
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157280
it also gives me a upgrade path to bulldozer and hopefully AMD gets their future BD chips up to a higher performance level . AM3+ components seems to have more future/upgrade potiental than the FM1 CPU/APU components .

ram is a lot cheaper these days so im thinking a pair of 4 gig 1600 sticks from corsair will do quite nicely ...... maybe get another pair in a few months since their so cheap .
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820233186

i was really hoping to keep at or under a $200 budget , but that is gonna limit me to a AMD Athlon II X2 260 Regor 3.2GHz for a CPU which in all likely hood will do what i need to do currently .
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103873
but the black box AMD Phenom II X4 960T Zosma 3.0GHz for $45 more is very very tempting !!!!!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103995
the AMD Athlon II X3 455 Rana 3.3GHz looks to me in between the two performance wise only $15 from the 260 Regor , but then im only $30 away from the black 960T ......
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103911
i'm of the impression the black 960T is noticeably much better .... am i correct in that or is ir a more trivial difference ????



i appreciate any thoughts or tips on my selections and appreciate y'alls input .

 

[sm625]

S775 mobos are very cheap. Anythign amd isnt going to outperform a q6600 enough to justify the price of a new cpu. Why not just get a $35 S775 mobo and run that for another year? I am still perfectly happy with my Q6600.

 

[ctk1981]

That is a valid option, since you have everything to run on a socket 775 board now anyways. Right now a member has an abit IP35-e for sale for 48 dollars.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2208201

But if you are set on upgrading, I would go with the 960T. There is always the chance it will unlock to 6 core (really hit or miss so dont count on it) or at the very least be a very good 4 core overclocker.

 

[LoneNinja]

Was your Q6600 overclocked? That Llano A6 3650 would match your Q6600 at stock speeds at best, possibly be slower. A stock FX 4100 is probably no faster than a Q6600 @ 3.0Ghz. Your cheapest option would be a new S775 board if your on a tight budget.

As to AMD, AM3 is dead, there will be no new processors for it, and AM3+ supports AM3 processors any way. Sandy Bridge and socket 1155 are also significantly faster than the FX processors on AM3+, Ivy Bridge will further that gap next year. Only thing AMD has planned for socket AM3+ is Piledriver, a modified version of the current FX processors that I doubt will even match Sandy Bridge performance. AMD has also stated they will no longer compete directly with Intel, and that consumer desktop oriented CPUs don't have enough profit. This tells me all future AMD designs like the current FX will be server oriented and migrated to desktop.

 

[BOOTYMONSTER]

thanks again folks . i wound up taking y'alls advice and sticking with my Q6600 and two 2 gigs strips of OCZ DDR2 800 ram . i got a simple and cheap MSI G31TM-P21 MOBO

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130234

and it is "working" but vista won't load because of a hardware difference .... even with the vista 64 disc in the drive . im gonna put Ubuntu on it ........but i gotta say ... DAMN MICROSOFT !!!!! for making their OS unusable with a single upgrades part !!!!!!!


thanks again folks

 

[NXIL]

Hey Booty, give microsoft a call. You are not firing up a new PC; you had to replace dead mobo. Not an upgrade. This is your same PC.

They are pretty reasonable about it, really, just talk to a human there. (Yes, there are humans at Microsoft.)

Suggest you dual boot with Ubuntu though--

Hey other posters here, awesome thread--you all saved him time, money, angst, saved the environment--some awesome out of the box thinking to arrive at a great solution.