New build - advice needed please
Andy
I'm undertaking a new build - it statred as an upgrade but has sort of
got out of hand!
A few years ago I used to build boxes regularly, but I've been out of
the loop for some time now so I'm a bit out of touch.
I'm thinking of getting the following mobo/processor/memory combo from
Ebuyer
Corsair 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz XMS3 Memory CL9(9-9-9-24) for i7
motherboards
AMD Phenom X4 965 Black Edition 3.4GHz Socket AM3 8MB L3 Cache 125W
Retail Box Processor
Gigabyte GA-MA790XT-UD4P 790X Socket AM3 DDR3 8 Channel Audio ATX
Motherboard
Is this a good selection and am I going to have any compatibility
issues with it? The memory says for i7 boards, but I'm assuming that
it will also be compatible with the AMD board I've chosen?
I'm going to have to use my existing graphics card for now, a Nvidia
GeForce 7900 GS, unless I can find a reasonably priced card to add to
my new kit. Any suggestions here?
Any advice much appreciated before I commit myself to the credit card!
TIA
Andy
Chris French
<nospam@all.?.invalid> writes
>Hi
>
>I'm undertaking a new build - it statred as an upgrade but has sort of
>got out of hand!
>
>A few years ago I used to build boxes regularly, but I've been out of
>the loop for some time now so I'm a bit out of touch.
>
>I'm thinking of getting the following mobo/processor/memory combo from
>Ebuyer
>
>Gigabyte GA-MA790XT-UD4P 790X Socket AM3 DDR3 8 Channel Audio ATX
>Motherboard
>
>
>I'm going to have to use my existing graphics card for now, a Nvidia
>GeForce 7900 GS, unless I can find a reasonably priced card to add to
>my new kit. Any suggestions here?
What are you going to use the machine for? You might not need to bother
with video card at all.
Modern onboard graphics are now good enough for general use,
casual/moderate gaming at least and HD video/Blu-ray playback. For AMD
something based on the 785/790G chipsets
Maybe a board like GA-MA790GPT-UD3H
<http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Overview.aspx?P
roductID=3143>
--
Chris French
Andy
<new...@familyfrench.co.uk> wrote:
>In message <bknui5h88qe402k3l...@4ax.com>, Andy
><nospam@all.?.invalid> writes
>>Hi
>>
>>I'm undertaking a new build - it statred as an upgrade but has sort of
>>got out of hand!
>>
>>A few years ago I used to build boxes regularly, but I've been out of
>>the loop for some time now so I'm a bit out of touch.
>>
>>I'm thinking of getting the following mobo/processor/memory combo from
>>Ebuyer
>>
><snip>
>>Gigabyte GA-MA790XT-UD4P 790X Socket AM3 DDR3 8 Channel Audio ATX
>>Motherboard
>>
>>
><snip>
>>I'm going to have to use my existing graphics card for now, a Nvidia
>>GeForce 7900 GS, unless I can find a reasonably priced card to add to
>>my new kit. Any suggestions here?
>
>What are you going to use the machine for? You might not need to bother
>with video card at all.
>
>Modern onboard graphics are now good enough for general use,
>casual/moderate gaming at least and HD video/Blu-ray playback. For AMD
>something based on the 785/790G chipsets
I'm going to use it as a general use machine, but wanted to be able to
play FPS games like Call of Duty 4 at decent frame rates and
resolution. Also to be fair I wanted to build a well spec'd machine,
just for the fun of it. (A bit sad I know!)
>
>Maybe a board like GA-MA790GPT-UD3H
>
><http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Overview.aspx?P
>roductID=3143>
THanks I'll look at this too. Also judging from what Chronos has said
6 gig of RAM won't work, so I'll either need to go for 4Gb or 8. If I
go for 4 then it'll from up a bit of cash for now
Andy
>Andy wrote:
>
>> Corsair 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz XMS3 Memory CL9(9-9-9-24) for i7
>> motherboards
>
>This will be no use to you as the Phenom 965 only has two memory channels
>and usually two or four DIMM slots. Core i<n> have three, which is why the
>kit is a set of 3 DIMMs.
>
>One, two or four modules for Phenoms and watch out for the channel
>limitations at certain speeds. For example, the original Agena Phenoms could
>only take 2 DDR2 1066MHz modules (one per physical channel) even when four
>slots were present. Installing four made it fall back to 800MHz. I'm not
>sure if this is still true with DDR3, but worth checking first.
Ah thanks, I didn't realise this. I'll probably either throttle this
back to 4 GB RAM, or look at an Intel i7 processor and board. I want
the machine to last me for a while, so do you think I'd be better in
the long run going for the i7 over the AMD processor?
Andy
John Jordan
> Andy wrote:
>
>> Corsair 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz XMS3 Memory CL9(9-9-9-24) for i7
>> motherboards
>
> and usually two or four DIMM slots. Core i<n> have three, which is why the
> kit is a set of 3 DIMMs.
Only the socket-1366 Core i7s have three memory channels. Socket-1156
Core i5s and i7s have two memory channels.
> One, two or four modules for Phenoms and watch out for the channel
> limitations at certain speeds. For example, the original Agena Phenoms could
> only take 2 DDR2 1066MHz modules (one per physical channel) even when four
> slots were present. Installing four made it fall back to 800MHz. I'm not
> sure if this is still true with DDR3, but worth checking first.
DDR3 has a similar tailoff but at higher speeds. This is true for Intel
systems as well as AMD, so the general rule is that if you want the top
frequency you need to stick to one DIMM per channel.
--
John Jordan