Gigabyte or Asus?

[Hicountryrider]

New to forum, AMD and overclocking! Fully qualified as a newbie!

I've inherited an older HP Pavillion a1712t box that evidently had enough problems that the owner decided to upgrade. It has an AMD motherboard (listed as a PASUS A8M2N-LA) and the processor is an Athlon 64 3800 +. It has CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400), a WD 320 GB SATA HDD, a PNY GeForce 5200 video card, multi card reader and is running Windows Vista 32 bit.

My thought is to upgrade the MB, CPU, power supply (maybe), add 2 GB of RAM and throw in Windows 7 HP 64 bit. I would like to then play around with some modest overclocking. System will be used just for testing, light graphics and internet. No gaming or video editing.

Currently I'm looking at the AMD Athlon II X2 250 Regor 3.0GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Processor. Motherboard choices are between the GIGABYTE GA-MA785GM-US2H AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX and the ASUS M4A785TD-M EVO AM3 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX. These boards are identical in price (Newegg) and almost identical in configuration and features. I've built a couple of Intel systems with Gigabyte boards and they've been great. Never used ASUS boards.

Looking for recommendations on the boards as to reliability and overclocking capabilities/ease of use. Any other suggestions welcome. Looks like I can put this together for about $300.

TIA for responses.

 

[QuietIce]

to OCF!


Personally, though I own a LOT of ASUS boards, I'd go for the Gigabyte. ASUS mid-range and lower boards have had some problems recently so I just don't trust them.

I would take a hard look at your PSU. OEM suppliers are notorious for using PSU that barely meet the system requirements. I would research as much as possible about the PSU you have before going too far into your build and would definitely make sure of what you have before attempting an overclock ...

 

[Hicountryrider]

to OCF!


Personally, though I own a LOT of ASUS boards, I'd go for the Gigabyte. ASUS mid-range and lower boards have had some problems recently so I just don't trust them.

I would take a hard look at your PSU. OEM suppliers are notorious for using PSU that barely meet the system requirements. I would research as much as possible about the PSU you have before going too far into your build and would definitely make sure of what you have before attempting an overclock ...

Thanks for the reply. The existing PSU is a WT520Q from the Wiston Group. Shows as having 520 W total but it looks like a single rail and the +12V rating is only 17 amps so I will probably add a Antec EarthWatts EA-500D Green 500W ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC to the budget. That should be more than sufficient for my purposes. Does it sound adequate for OCing?

 

[QuietIce]

I honestly don't know about that particular Antec model - some are great, some are not so great. You might want to check out the Corsair VX550 - it managed to put up excellent numbers from Johnny Guru and I don't know anyone who's better at PSU testing ...

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=589708
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story4&reid=62

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139004

 

[Woomack]

Personally, though I own a LOT of ASUS boards, I'd go for the Gigabyte. ASUS mid-range and lower boards have had some problems recently so I just don't trust them.

I don't know how about amd boards but I have the same feeling about cheaper asus boards on intel chipset. Most have problems with bios or it's working after 15+ update. I really like low end gigabyte boards that are usually good to oc too.

 

[Hicountryrider]

I honestly don't know about that particular Antec model - some are great, some are not so great. You might want to check out the Corsair VX550 - it managed to put up excellent numbers from Johnny Guru and I don't know anyone who's better at PSU testing ...

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=589708
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story4&reid=62

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139004

Thanks for the tip on the Corsair PSU. It was on sale at Newegg for $60 with free shipping, which was less than the Antec. Had to get it even if I don't do this build! It will find a home.

 

[badboyeee]

New to forum, AMD and overclocking! Fully qualified as a newbie!


Currently I'm looking at the AMD Athlon II X2 250 Regor 3.0GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Processor. Motherboard choices are between the GIGABYTE GA-MA785GM-US2H AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX and the ASUS M4A785TD-M EVO AM3 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX. These boards are identical in price (Newegg) and almost identical in configuration and features. I've built a couple of Intel systems with Gigabyte boards and they've been great. Never used ASUS boards.

Looking for recommendations on the boards as to reliability and overclocking capabilities/ease of use. Any other suggestions welcome. Looks like I can put this together for about $300.

TIA for responses.

Hey there

I was doing a search on the M4A785TD-M and came across your thread. Just wondering if you had made a decision between that or the Gigabyte. I just started shopping for a mATX board as well..

EDIT: I found the big difference between the two motherboards. The RAM! The Gigabyte board takes DDR2 and the ASUS takes DDR3.. You should get the Gigabyte so you can use your current DDR2 RAM. 2gb of RAM will be enough for "testing, light graphics and internet. No gaming or video editing."