[ztdesigninc]

Looking for a good value processor but now really struggling to choose one

Please vote for which one you think is best

1) AMD Athlon II X2 Dual Core 250 3.00GHz (Socket AM3) Processor

2) AMD A4-3400 2.70GHz Accelerated Processor Unit (Socket FM1)

3) AMD A6-3500 2.40GHz Accelerated Processor Unit (Socket FM1)

Im only looking to play some classic games on it but it might need to do some heavy processes now and again.

Also i will be adding 8gb of ram and a dedicated graphics card - I think number 2 is the best but please let me know your thoughts

[nursingZombie]

I would go with #1... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-pla-_-NA-_-NA

Plus the am3 architecture will lend itself to longevity depending if u get a decent mobo, thus saving some coin in the future.

[ztdesigninc]

Thanks nursingZombie, So what mobo would you choose for this?

[nursingZombie]

Well depends on ur budget... Im thinking u want to keep CPU $52, and mobo $? Under $150....or less?

[Frakk]

The Athlon 250 is a fine CPU for its money but you should keep in mind its an OEM unit, so it does not come with a cooler, unless you already have one that will fit it you will have to get one, or find a Box Retail CPU.

[ztdesigninc]

Yes somewhere in that budget if i can get the Mobo for less than an $120 i'd be happy

[Frakk]

Originally Posted by ztdesigninc

Yes somewhere in that budget if i can get the Mobo for less than an $120 i'd be happy

If you don't mind us asking...

What is the total budget for the whole build and what components do you already have?

[nursingZombie]

Bam! Future proof for years... U can make the leap to bulldozer wen bull costs under $100 bucks in 2-3years. Plenty of bios to oc ur CPU if u take ur savings from 120 bucks and buy a decent aftermarket cooler.

Plus it's on sale

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157280

[ztdesigninc]

I don't mind at all - well i'm starting a fresh, so i'm gonna be looking to buy all the parts and i'm looking to spend somewhere around £300 or $480. so im just looking to build a cheap but half decent pc - push come to shove i have a hardrive, graphics card, sound card, PSU and case - so will need ram, processor, mobo and anything else

[Frakk]

That MOBO is a nice catch nursingZombie.

@ ztdesigninc, can you tell us about the parts you already have? can you be specific?

[nursingZombie]

If u try that mobo...u gotta pm me and tell me how asrock works? Never owned one as of yet.

Memory... Isn't my strong suit, I got wats in my sig. I don't especially like the ram I have, but I don't hate it either...it's meh. It took me about 4 days to really lock in the volt settings and get it to 1600 MHz on my board.. However i wanted to max my board out, and my 16 gigs was cheap about a year ago wen I got it vs other ram. Putting the 2t to 1t made it definitely worth the cash saved vs spending 20 more for something auto set to 1T.

But then again I'm noober w ram, and as long as its 1600 MHz and runs my crap, then 99927 vs 98924 vs 88824, ur picking at nano secs of bandwidth. It's really up to the enthusiast in the end, ztdest

[nursingZombie]

Ya... Too bad I'm already rocking an asus ch4 frakk... I'd buy that 1 for that price and be happy wen bulldozer drops in cost

[Frakk]

Originally Posted by nursingZombie

If u try that mobo...u gotta pm me and tell me how asrock works? Never owned one as of yet.

Memory... Isn't my strong suit, I got wats in my sig. I don't especially like the ram I have, but I don't hate it either...it's meh. It took me about 4 days to really lock in the volt settings and get it to 1600 MHz on my board.. However i wanted to max my board out, and my 16 gigs was cheap about a year ago wen I got it vs other ram. Putting the 2t to 1t made it definitely worth the cash saved vs spending 20 more for something auto set to 1T.

But then again I'm noober w ram, and as long as its 1600 MHz and runs my crap, then 99927 vs 98924 vs 88824, ur picking at nano secs of bandwidth. It's really up to the enthusiast in the end, ztdest

I have my eye on 2x 4GB red modules of Vengeance RAM as 4GB just isn't enough.

Are you able to get the timings down to 8-8-8-20-T1 on those @ 1600Mhz?

My system just feels that bit more snappy @ CL8 vs CL9.

[nursingZombie]

Originally Posted by Frakk

I have my eye on 2x 4GB red modules of Vengeance RAM as 4GB just isn't enough.

Are you able to get the timings down to 8-8-8-20-T1 on those @ 1600Mhz?

My system just feels that bit more snappy @ CL8 vs CL9.

HELL NO! ... I could only get maybe 10 9 10 27/30 at 1833... Or 89927 with 8 gb ram... But I can't get the timings there w the full 16gb.

Ur saying its worth the extra to hit cl8 or just the system response is better? A lot of articles I've been browsing state the big gains are really only noticeable if u move from 1333 to 1600, and I did notice better bench scores across the board,gpu,CPU

[nursingZombie]

Hey flakk... Can u also tell me how to post ur benchmarks in ur sig like u did? That's nifty

[Frakk]

Originally Posted by nursingZombie

HELL NO! ... I could only get maybe 10 9 10 27/30 at 1833... Or 89927 with 8 gb ram... But I can't get the timings there w the full 16gb.

Ur saying its worth the extra to hit cl8 or just the system response is better? A lot of articles I've been browsing state the big gains are really only noticeable if u move from 1333 to 1600, and I did notice better bench scores across the board,gpu,CPU

yeah, unfortunately i have pretty standard Corsair modules, they only run @ 1600Mhz with volts @ 1.65 or more, my system doesn't like those volts.

Right now i have them set to 8-8-8-20-ti / 1470Mhz @ 1.55v
That's the very best they can handle, even with the timings set to CL9 i can't get the speed up past that without volts my system complains over.

So i was hoping to get them to the same timings at 1600Mhz given they can run at that speed with just 1.5v

[edit] sure, just write out what you want the link to say and then highlight it, use the little globe link in the WYSIWYG editor to add the link to the page you want it to link to.

[nursingZombie]

Ya... Wait until u get ur second set of dimms, ur not going to get that great 88820. My mobo and ram hated lower stock voltage also, have mine at 1.72 so it would run at listed "stock" MHz by corsair.... I mean I might have gotten some really loose banks, but I've read other peeps w vengeance at 16 gb have similar problems.

[Frakk]

How the hell did you manage to get 1.72v?

I can not get mine to run over 1.6v for love nor beating it into submission... it just Bluescreens at any timings / speed and stock CPU.

Infact i think i damaged something the last time i tried it, since then every now and then my system will hang / freeze during boot up even with everything @ stock.

its always fine once it gets everything loaded up, its just during that where it sometimes craps out.

[nursingZombie]

IDK... its the setting that my mobo will run my ram @ 1600. I just kept + on the voltage and seeing if it would boot, run 3dmark11, and then prime-- maybe I did get some loose, ****ty ram -- .. but your only running 4gb, Im at full 16gb this board is maxed out. Beats me, I thought it was high too... but then again, back in windows 98 days-- ram used to run @1.85v standard... so its just that I probably got some wonky crap (or Im wonky)