• Welcome to Overclockers Forums! Join us to reply in threads, receive reduced ads, and to customize your site experience!

Help me get back to AMD!

Overclockers is supported by our readers. When you click a link to make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn More.

McTimson

Member
Joined
Dec 31, 2002
Location
Folding@Home in New York
When I built my first computer back in 2001, I was hardcore AMD, and stuck with my Athlon XP's until around 2007, when I switched over to an Intel Core2 Duo system. So, I've been out of the AMD game for a while, but would like to upgrade my system, and want to get back to AMD.

So, here's what I need: Motherboard, CPU, RAM. I have an HD4870, which is enough for me. And since I need to buy RAM anyway (I'm giving most of my current system to my fiancee), I'd like to go with DDR3, since there doesn't look to be too much of a price difference between DDR3 and DDR2 right now.

I will definitely be overclocking, I have a watercooling setup right now and don't plan on running stock speeds for too long.

Looking to spend less than $300 for everything. I'll eventually need a waterblock for the CPU too, but can stick with the stock cooler for a while until I either find a mounting bracket, or get one later. But $300 for CPU, mobo, RAM.

Newegg has 10% off motherboards today, and I found this one - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128444 - that looks to be pretty good, but I don't really know the difference between all the chipsets and their features.

Thanks!
-Tim
 
If your going to be overclocking I'd point you towards the 890fx or 790x chipsets. Not that the others wont overclock, but the 890fx has proven itself. While the AMDs are cheap, $300 is cutting it close budget wise.

I'd rather see the GIGABYTE GA-890GPA-UD3H, I think it will do better than the one you have for a few dollars more. $134

The Phenom II 555 BE is a fun little processor if you get the right mobo. They overclock like mad, and most of them unlock to a tri core, if not a quad core...hard to beat for $88. Just make sure the mobo you get has unlocking features. There are lots of others...the 555 just happens to be one I own. I unlocked all 4 cores, set the base clock to 240 and walked away. x4 CPU at 3.84ghz for $88.

Find some $90 DDr3 1600 and you are all set!
 
Things get a lot better with AMD when you can spend $400-500 on CPU/mobo/Ram. $300 is slim pickens.
 
I wouldn't say the $315 I spent on a 890GX board, 3.7GHz PII X4 and 4GB of DDR3-1600 @ C8 is "slim pickins"...

:p
 
My RAM choice would be Kingston HyperX ($85) or OCZ Plats ($77; $67 w/MIR). Both good, cheap RAM. And 1333CL7 is better than 1600CL9, IMO, especially for AMD's.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104227
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227478


CPU at that price-point (unless you can find a good combo with a Phenom II X4 - probably a 955BE) has got to be the 740BE ($89 but no heatsink).
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103699


Motherboard depends a lot on how close to the edge you want to/can get. Each of these is a little better but the price goes up as well:
GIGABYTE GA-890XA-UD3 (790X) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128438
ASUS M4A89GTD PRO (890GX) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131633
BIOSTAR TA890FXE (890FX) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138193


But keep looking for the Killer Combo - and good luck ...! ;)
 
Last edited:
Thanks for all the input!

I was about to go with the combo that Caviman2201 posted, but the combo deal ended today. But I looked through the open box deals, and found the ASUS M4A89GTD for $95, so I went with that, the 740BE, and the G.Skill 2x2GB DDR3 1600 set. Total for those was around $265, so it was well within my budget.

I also dug up the AM2 bracket for my waterblock, so I don't need to worry about the CPU not having a heatsink.

Again, thanks for all the advice. It really helped me weed out all the stuff that wouldn't really be worth it, especially with the motherboards, there are just so many of them out there right now. Hopefully I can get a good OC out of this system!
 
555 BE is a sweet little CPU to mess around with indeed! mine functions as a tri-core and runs stable at 3.8. for the price i couldn't ask for more.
 
Thanks for all the input!

I was about to go with the combo that Caviman2201 posted, but the combo deal ended today. But I looked through the open box deals, and found the ASUS M4A89GTD for $95, so I went with that, the 740BE, and the G.Skill 2x2GB DDR3 1600 set. Total for those was around $265, so it was well within my budget.

I also dug up the AM2 bracket for my waterblock, so I don't need to worry about the CPU not having a heatsink.

Again, thanks for all the advice. It really helped me weed out all the stuff that wouldn't really be worth it, especially with the motherboards, there are just so many of them out there right now. Hopefully I can get a good OC out of this system!
When you get it all together and have some time to play post back with results. Don't think I've seen a WC 740BE before ... ;)
 
Back