budget $300 for cpu/mb/ram. What to buy ?

[tintino]

I already have case, power, hd and a ATI Radeon HD 4850 video card.

Need advice on what to spend my (around) $300 on to buy cpu+motherboard+ram

I read on another board i5 would be best (it o/c's easily). But no idea what mb and what ram and where to get it cheap.

 

[Decembermouse]

A Radeon 4850 huh? That's a nice card. What kind of PSU, HDD, and case did you get?

Sadly there is no way you're going to get an i5, a motherboard, and DDR3 for $300. A good idea when searching is to look at Newegg's Combo area, where if you buy two items together you get a discount. Check around the cheapest i5 processor's combo deals, see what you can get for $300:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...Size=10&page=1

As you can see you usually end up paying more than $300 for an i5 and motherboard, not even including RAM. You can get CPU+mobo for very slightly under $300 combined, but that means it's a low quality motherboard. A cheapo ECS and the like. And if you have an i5 and a Radeon 4850... you will not want to skimp on the motherboard lol. Not to mention RAM.

Instead... I'd go with this, for your price range it's the best hardware you can get. Others, if you find better deals please correct me.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...Size=10&Page=2 and it comes in a combo here:

• 352757BIOSTAR TA790GXB3 AM3 AMD 790GX ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
• 352757AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor Model HDZ955FBGMBOX - Retail
  

$214.99.

The Phenom II architecture is a bit less efficient per GHz and per core than the i5, but keep in mind there are 4 cores, as compared to the much more expensive i5 with two cores, plus two virtual cores thanks to hyperthreading. Those virtual cores are nice, but won't do as much in games and some other areas as real cores will. An overclocked Athlon II will usually beat an i5 in gaming benchmarks, and Athlon II's are just Phenom II's without L3 cache. Phenom II fares better than Athlon II basically. The virtual cores don't help the i5 as much for gaming as physical cores do, although they are great for media encoding, unzipping, and synthetic benchmarks, if you like to brag about your 3DMark score lol.

Use the leftover money to get yourself some nice ram, a la...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227483

We're a few dollars over $300. But if you try and squeeze in an i5, a motherboard for it, and RAM, first I mean you can't get those parts for that much money, and second even if you increase your budget to $350 or $375 (because you do need RAM), the motherboard will still be cheap crap...

 

[MisterDonut]

AMD 620 Propus + UD3P AM3 + 4GB G.Skill ECO DDR3-1333 = $300. And an i5-750 is a quad-core, unless I am sorely mistaken (There are much, much, much better options than the dual-core i5's. Just IMO). You'd need $400 for an i5-750 CPU + mobo + RAM.

 

[Decembermouse]

AMD 620 Propus + UD3P AM3 + 4GB G.Skill ECO DDR3-1333 = $300. And an i5-750 is a quad-core, unless I am sorely mistaken (There are much, much, much better options than the dual-core i5's. Just IMO). You'd need $400 for an i5-750 CPU + mobo + RAM.

Yeah, the 750 is a quad core. It is $200 though, and that's one of three items tintino needs... $40 to $50 on a motherboard to support a $200 processor?? Really? And this is supposed to be a gaming computer, judging by the Radeon 4850, I could be wrong but it's my guess. Even if he gets a $40 or $50 motherboard, that doesn't leave enough money to get good RAM, and maybe not even 4GB of it.

If tintino goes with Intel, go for the i5 750, not the dual cores. And he/she will also need to spend more than the $300 to get adequate parts to support the 750.

If tintino goes with AMD, I'd rather he or she get a Phenom II rather than an Athlon II, as they are definitely faster. These can be had for as low as $140 (for the 2.8GHz Phenom II x4 925) and overclock quite well. Plus, there will be enough money left for a quality motherboard, and good memory too...

 

[MisterDonut]

I can't say anything on the P2's lower than 955, which, by the way, is a piece of crap overclocker, mainly frustration (3.6 on stock volts, 3.9 under 1.5v, takes more than necessary to push to 4). There is absolutely nothing wrong with the UD3P, and Gigabyte makes some great stuff. Please show some shred of evidence showing why it being $50 makes it unable to support a more expensive processor. Granted, I did receive one which resulted in a blown capacitor, but that is likely coming from a bad batch, and not a bad design.

The last AMD I built was using the 955 BE, but it was priced @ $180 and not $160. If your budget can allow a little more than $300, go for the 955 + ECO + UD3P.

$50 + $160 + $104 = $314. Close enough, haha. Don't eat for two days!

 

[notposting]

Do you have a Microcenter near you? Check out their AMD/motherboard combos this week. Pretty cheap, leaves plenty of money for memory.

CPU choices:
AMD® Athlon II X4 630 Processor $99.99
AMD® Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition $99.99
AMD® Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition$99.99
AMD® Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition $179.99

Motherboard choices:
Gigabyte GA-MA78LM-S2H Socket AM3 760G mATX Motherboard $7.99
Price after instant savings, $10 mfr. mail-in rebate and additional $50 bundle savings
ASUS M4A785-M UATX AM3 Motherboard $29.99
Price after instant savings and additional $50 bundle savings
ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3 ATX Motherboard $54.99
Price after instant savings, $10 mfr. mail-in rebate and additional $50 bundle savings

Just an idea, hope it's a possibility!

edit: That Phenom II X2 555 BE also stands a chance of unlocking to 4 cores 😀

 

[tintino]

First i wanna thank everybody who answered. Still not decided what to buy


@notposting: Microcenter is 40 min drive, but after looking at the deals i think i might go.

1.
Not sure what to get though... seems like they do have a lot of good deals.
So what would you get at Microcenter with $300.

2.
Why are you guys saying to get the Gskill eco ?
How about this one?
$99.99 AR - OCZ Platinum Low Voltage 4GB DDR3-1600 (PC-12800) Dual Channel Memory Kit (Two 2GB Memory Modules) CL7


So how about this combo:
(prices after all rebates at Microcenter):

CPU:
$179.99 AMD® Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition

Motherboard:
$54.99 - ASUS M4A79XTD EVO Socket AM3 790X ATX Motherboard

Mem:
$89.99 - OCZ Technology 4GB DDR3-1600 (PC-12800) Gold Low Voltage CL8 Memory Kit (Two 2GB Memory Modules)

Total $324.97 .....plus tax, plus driving 1 hour and 20 min 🙂

 

[tintino]

edit: That Phenom II X2 555 BE also stands a chance of unlocking to 4 cores 😀

Heh i just noticeds that edit... just as i was about to get the Phenom 2 965 BE..

But can you explain how this works. Is "unlocking to 4 cores" something i can do ?
And would it justify saving $80 and go with the 555 BE ?

 

[Decembermouse]

Nah I wouldn't bet on that. From what I understand, the initial dual-cores and triple-cores from AMD (in this generation, with the 'II' designation) were quad-cores that weren't perfect, so AMD disabled one or two cores and sold them as duals or tri's. These days, the process is more perfected, and they are native, meaning there are no disabled cores you can unlock. I'm pretty sure the unlockable ones are not available any more.

I would go with the Athlon X4 630... but for $30 or $40 more, go for the Phenom II 925, with the 6MB of L3 cache. As long as you get a mobo with a 790 chipset.

I don't know about Microcenter's pricing, as their website when you click on CPU's/Processors doesn't seem to have any. If they charge more than $140 for that Phenom II X4, or charge too much for mobo/RAM, can you order from somewhere else? Don't want anyone to get ripped off now! And I honestly don't know much about Microcenter.

 

[MisterDonut]

Microcenter is in-store, and they have crazy good prices. Only way to guarantee a quad under $300 is the 620 propus.

 

[tintino]

Nah I wouldn't bet on that. From what I understand, the initial dual-cores and triple-cores from AMD (in this generation, with the 'II' designation) were quad-cores that weren't perfect, so AMD disabled one or two cores and sold them as duals or tri's. These days, the process is more perfected, and they are native, meaning there are no disabled cores you can unlock. I'm pretty sure the unlockable ones are not available any more.

I did some research and found some info on unlocking extra cores Phenoms II x2 or x3. Seems all u need is a mb with SB710 or SB750 South Bridge. And luck...

I would go with the Athlon X4 630... but for $30 or $40 more, go for the Phenom II 925, with the 6MB of L3 cache. As long as you get a mobo with a 790 chipset.

How about the combo i posted above?
Is my combo a bad choice for some reason?
Is this Phenom II 925 a better value?

I don't know about Microcenter's pricing, as their website when you click on CPU's/Processors doesn't seem to have any. If they charge more than $140 for that Phenom II X4, or charge too much for mobo/RAM, can you order from somewhere else? Don't want anyone to get ripped off now! And I honestly don't know much about Microcenter.

Here's a link to Microcenter's sale, in-store only deals, this week. You save $50 if you buy a AMD cpu and motherboard. Plus some boards have mail in rebates.
(They also have nice prices on Pentium i7 920 and 930 but that setup will bring me to around $600 for cpu/mb/mem...).

 

[Decembermouse]

No that's a great combo!

if they also have the Phenom II 925, you can overclock it to the same level as the 965 easily, and if you don't plan to go super high with overclocking (above the 3.4GHz that the 965 runs at, I mean) then you might as well get the cheaper chip and run it at 3.4GHz, as both the 925 and the 965 can run at 3.4GHz.

Of course, if you're getting a sweet combo deal, then go with the 965! Or if Microcenter doesn't have much else. $179.99 for a 965... never thought I'd see the day.

 

[tintino]

Went to Microcenter.
Bought:

CPU:
$99.99 [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]AMD® Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition[/FONT]

Motherboard:
$54.99 (after $50 combo instant savings and $10 MIR) - ASUS M4A79XTD EVO Socket AM3 790X ATX Motherboard

Mem:
$89.99 (after $30 MIR) - OCZ Technology 4GB DDR3-1600 (PC-12800) Gold Low Voltage CL8 Memory Kit (Two 2GB Memory Modules)

Total $244.97 (assuming i get my $40 mir) .....plus tax, plus driving 25 min each way (was closer than i thought) 🙂


Plugged it all in and set "Unleash" in bios... and voila... instant unlock to x4 (i guess today was my lucky day ..lol)

To make myself feel as if i bought the x4 965 BE, i tentatively o/c'ed this to 3.4... so now it IS a Phenom x4 965 BE... only $80 cheaper.

I'll definitely go higher tomorrow

I was afraid that i would have problems with the OCZ mem (because "designed specifically for Intel i5/i7")... but so far it's all good... truth is i haven't stress tested the system yet... but i asked at Microcenter and they said i can return it if i have problems - within 30 days and no restock fee.

I'm so happy with what i paid and what i got.
This system is smoking fast !

Thanks you all for input.

 

[Decembermouse]

Holy cow dude.
That is awesome.

Be sure to run Prime95 and some other stress tests, and monitor temps on that CPU! I really hope that it's entirely stable with 4 cores unlocked. That is wicked cool though! You should run Folding@Home on that bad boy rig 😀