Is the AMD 770 chipset a good choice?

[LW07]

Looking at this motherboard:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128376

Will the AMD 770 chipset have the same upgradability as the 790GX/FX chipsets so that i won't have to change mobos when the AM3 CPUs come out?

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

Originally posted by: LW07
Looking at this motherboard:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128376

Will the AMD 770 chipset have the same upgradability as the 790GX/FX chipsets so that i won't have to change mobos when the AM3 CPUs come out?

Nope, it's a relatively old chipset. Spend a few more $$ and get a 790-based mobo, or an Nvidia Geforce 8200-based one.

 

[LW07]

Are there any AM2+ Phenom II boards that support SLI(Not Crossfire)?

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

Originally posted by: LW07
Are there any AM2+ Phenom II boards that support SLI(Not Crossfire)?

Yup, motherboards based on the Nvidia 750/780a chipset. Within the next couple of months, Nvidia will also be coming out with the 980a.

 

[LW07]

Oh, and when a motherboard says "Max memory supported: x Gigs", that means it won't recognize any more than that, right? So would getting a mobo that only supports 4 gigs be stupid?

 

[Topweasel]

Pre-tested memory density. Way back in the day motherboards struggled to recognize the correct amount of memory on a stick as the density per chip increased. This is how much memory is currently supported not to say that new bios updates won't allow for more.

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

Originally posted by: LW07
Oh, and when a motherboard says "Max memory supported: x Gigs", that means it won't recognize any more than that, right? So would getting a mobo that only supports 4 gigs be stupid?

Yeah, I don't think that getting a motherboard which supports only 4 GB RAM is a good idea.

 

[tcsenter]

Originally posted by: LW07
Will the AMD 770 chipset have the same upgradability as the 790GX/FX chipsets so that i won't have to change mobos when the AM3 CPUs come out?

AMD 770 + SB700 won't determine AM3 support, the motherboard design would. That particular model is on Gigabyte's official AM3 support list, so there isn't a question there.

Most 790FX boards available still use the inferior SB600 Southbridge, so you should be careful about which 790FX board you are selecting. The SB700 and SB750 are much improved. Otherwise, there is no difference between 770, 780, or 790 as far as upgrade path potential.

 

[Kraeoss]

the question is do you really need 4+ gigs of memory ?

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

Originally posted by: tcsenter

Originally posted by: LW07
Will the AMD 770 chipset have the same upgradability as the 790GX/FX chipsets so that i won't have to change mobos when the AM3 CPUs come out?

AMD 770 + SB700 won't determine AM3 support, the motherboard design would. That particular model is on Gigabyte's official AM3 support list, so there isn't a question there.

Most 790FX boards available still use the inferior SB600 Southbridge, so you should be careful about which 790FX board you are selecting. The SB700 and SB750 are much improved. Otherwise, there is no difference between 770, 780, or 790 as far as upgrade path potential.

790 supports Crossfire, whereas 770/780 doesn't, if that's important to you.

SB750 performs better than SB700, from my experience.

Originally posted by: Kraeoss
the question is do you really need 4+ gigs of memory ?

If you multitask, or photo-edit (not even heavy photo-editing) then yes, 4+ gigs is a nice boost. Using a 64 bit OS, of course.

 

[tcsenter]

Originally posted by: Flipped Gazelle
790 supports Crossfire, whereas 770/780 doesn't, if that's important to you.

That's not really an upgradeability factor so much as a feature differentiation, and a self-determining one at that. If someone wants Crossfire, they are naturally going to exclude any candidates that would not have two PEG x16 slots or Crossfire support.

But on that note:

A770CrossFire

A770DE

A780GXE/128M

SB750 performs better than SB700, from my experience.

That may be, but its not an upgradeability issue. In addition, my point was to avoid SB600 because it not only has some performance issues but functional problems with 64-bit DMA support.