Thinking of going AM3 Mobo/CPU....any suggestions?

[RyanGreener]

Hi everyone, I'm thinking of upgrading to an AM3 Mobo/CPU and was wondering which CPU I should go for? I recently bought a Spire Eclipse II Cooler/Fan in an attempt to OC what I had right now, but decided to go upgrade my whole setup if I am able to sell my current one. I am wondering, what CPU overclocks nicely on good air cooling? I'm only looking for a dual core one, and not a quad/triple core. Motherboard suggestions would be nice, as I'm not too familar with which ones are good for overclocking.

EDIT: I am upgrading from 2 GB DDR2 RAM, and an old AMD X2 5600+ Windsor CPU.

The purpose is Starcraft 2, basically...haha. It seems to be dual core optimized, and I plan on overclocking as much as possible. My budget? Whatever I need to get the best overclockable AMD CPU meant for gaming.

For the motherboard, if anyone is willing to make suggestions, just needs to have decent OCing options (nothing extreme) and it needs to be "durable"...but the general budget is no more than 200.

 

[veri745]

What is your budget, and what are you upgrading from? Also, what is your expected usage for this new computer (e.g. games, browsing, photo editing, video editing, DC, etc)

That would help us provide suggestions.

I would honestly say that even for a low end system, an Athlon II X3/X4 is the minimum I would upgrade to, even if your current system is fairly old. You can get an X3 for like $75, so it's really not a big expense.

 

[DooKey]

I love the Athlon II X4 for building WHS, general purpose PCs and even mid-range gaming systems. The bang for the buck is awesome.

 

[RyanGreener]

I am upgrading from 2 GB DDR2 RAM, and an old AMD X2 5600+ Windsor CPU.

The purpose is Starcraft 2, basically...haha. It seems to be dual core optimized, and I plan on overclocking as much as possible. My budget? Whatever I need to get the best overclockable AMD CPU meant for gaming.

For the motherboard, if anyone is willing to make suggestions, just needs to have decent OCing options (nothing extreme) and it needs to be "durable"

 

[Markfw]

Budget....

An X6 would be sweet, but then you need more cooling and a good motherboard. I burned out a $70 motherboard with my X6. The $110 one I have is holding out, but doesn;t OC as well as what I would like.

 

[RyanGreener]

Haha, guys, I'm only looking into dual core because SC2 is dual core optimized from what it seems..should I go Athlon II X2 or Phenom II X2?

 

[busydude]

Haha, guys, I'm only looking into dual core because SC2 is dual core optimized from what it seems..should I go Athlon II X2 or Phenom II X2?

Phenom II X2 555 for overclockability.

 

[RyanGreener]

Phenom II X2 555 for overclockability.

Wow you hit 4.0 ghz on yours? That's crazy! If you don't mind sharing what type of settings you had, then well....could you share?

 

[busydude]

Its a Black edition processor so, you just need to raise the multiplier to overclock it. Can you just tell us how much you are willing to spend?

 

[RyanGreener]

Its a Black edition processor so, you just need to raise the multiplier to overclock it. Can you just tell us how much you are willing to spend?

For CPU+Mobo, no more than 200 total.

 

[busydude]

For $200, the cheapest combo I can find is http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.480292.

A Phenom II X4 955 + MSI 870-G45. The CPU can over clock to 4 Ghz if you have a good aftermarket cooler.

EDIT: Crap, detonator screwed up my link.

 

[Arkaign]

For $200, the cheapest combo I can find is this.

A Phenom II X4 955 + MSI 870-G45. The CPU can over clock to 4 Ghz if you have a good aftermarket cooler.

That is a fantastic combo. OP this is the way to go. Fast as you need now for SC2, and four good cores and L3 cache for when things get more demanding.

 

[Sahakiel]

To note, as far as I'm aware, the only difference between the 7XX chipsets and the 8XX chipsets is the southbridge. If you don't care about SATA3 and USB3 or can live with adding those with expansion cards now or later, the last generation 7XX chipset boards are good budget options.

 

[heyheybooboo]

To be safe you should probably go 890GX if you can, or at a minimum, 880/870 chipsets.

The are no guarantees of a BIOS update for BD Zambezi but the 8xx chipsets would stand a better chance than the 7xx chipsets (not to say that some 7xx chipsets won't get updates but those will most likely be of the FX/GX variety).

Consider the AMD Athlon II X3 440 Rana / Asus M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 combo for $211




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[extra]

Do it...and meh....go for the 890fx. There's no real reason not too imho.

biostar ta890fxe . . . quality on a budget. Damn good looking board. I know, I had one, it rocked (friend wanted it so bad I sold it to him lol).