Building my mom an AMD rig! Need advice!

[wickedout]

First of all I'm building my mom a rig. I'm looking at getting her a new mobo, memory and PSU.

I have a spare CPU I can give her. It's the PII X4 920. What do you guys recommend? An onboard graphics is recommended for her. All she does is surf and play a few games. Thanks in advance.

 

[QuietIce]

Personally, I'd get one of the Biostar boards with a 790GX chipset. It should be able to handle a fair overclock and give her good graphics (for it being on-board). If you won't be overclocking then almost any board will do, just pick the company you like, though I suggest you stick with 128M sideport memory if she plays anything more than Minesweeper or Solitaire ...

 

[wickedout]

Thanks QuietIce. I was thinking of going with the 790GX chipset as well. Will my PII X4 920 work with those mobos?

Which Biostar mobo is it that you think is a decent for that CPU? Thanks!

 

[QuietIce]

How much do you want to spend and are you going to overclock it?


Any board will work as long as it's AM2/AM2+. The AM3 boards require only DDR3 RAM but the 920 and 940BE can only use DDR2. All other Phenom IIs can run DDR2 or DDR3 ...

 

[wickedout]

I was thinking around $125-$150. I'm looking for a mobo, DDR2 and PSU. I may need to get her a new hard drive as well.

I might do some mild overclocking but nothing to major. Just gonna run at stock. That should be more then fast enough at stock.

 

[QuietIce]

This is about the best one Biostar sells and it's rated for a 140W CPU, just in case, so there's plenty of power left over for OC'ing if you want. I must warn you that the stock AMD heatsink isn't what it used to be. If the case has room enough for an upright cooler you might want to include this with your order ...

TA790GXE 128M
Sunbeam 120

 

[wickedout]

That board is really nice. I'm not sure I'll need the cooler. I'm sure I won't be overclocking it! This is for my mom.

 

[QuietIce]

I understood that - but I bet your Mom isn't older than me and I overclock!

Well, if you don't OC it you can turn on CoolNQuiet and (I can never remember the name) the BIOS CPU fan controller to keep noise and power consumption to a minimum ...

 

[wickedout]

Thanks for you help Quiet. Oh my mom is in her mid 70's. If your older then her then I'll buy you a beer. Cheers!

 

[QuietIce]

Nope - she's got me beat. LOL! But I'll still be OC'ing when I'm that old, assuming I survive to see it.


PS
Given her age you must be pushing the Gray Line - or crossed it already ...

 

[coonmanx]

You might want to check out the TA790GXB3 board if you are interested in DDR3. I got a great deal on 4G of Corsair 1600 ram at $95. Just depends which ram you want to use. Both use the same onboard graphics (HD3300). The board works great and the only thing I had to do was bump my CPU-NB voltage up a touch and set my ram timings. Solid board.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_slc.asp?Recs=10&Nav=|c:4296|m:1366|&Sort=4

Or the TA890GXE has an even better onboard graphics for a few bucks more.

 

[wickedout]

I hope I survive to see 45. I'm on the under. Lol!

BioStar makes some pretty decent mobos. I've never used BioStar. Thanks for all your help.

 

[ScottinIndy]

I used Biostar on my wife's and my best friends builds, I like them and they have been rock solid.