which 785 motherboard combo

[splatee]

Hello,

I am looking at these 3 motherboards and was wondering which setup to go with since there are some good deals going on at a local store.

#1 Biostar A785G3 Socket AM3 mATX
AMD Athalon x4 635 or Phenom x2 555 Black Edition
OCZ Gold Series XTC DDR3 1333 2 x2gb memory

#2 MSI 785GGM-P45 AM3 mATX
AMD Athalon x4 635 or Phenom x2 555 Black Edition
OCZ Gold Series XTC DDR3 1333 2 x 2gig memory

Newegg shell shocker MB and Ram combo
#3 ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO AM3 AMD 785G ATX
AMD Athalon x3 440
G.SKILL 4GB 2 x 2GB DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333

What would be a better setup? Mainly going to be used for a media server to my PS3 and some gaming. Not really into overclocking but may like to later. Also may add a ATI video card later. I am ready to pull the trigger on one of these setups.

Thank you

 

[trents]

One thing I would suggest is going to the manufacturers' websites and downloading the owner's manual for each board. Check to see which has the best options in bios, especially if you plan to overclock. Also, go to NewEgg and read the customer reviews for each board and see what others are saying about the strengths and weaknesses of each. As you do that, however, keep in mind some of the reviewers obviously don't know what they're talking about and their technical skill level is low.

All other things being equal about the mother boards, I would go with #1 or #2 and the Athlon II X4 635. I have the Athlon II X4 630 and it runs very cool and is very overclockable.

 

[EarthDog]

GOod points ^^ !

What is your total budget for CPU/mobo? If you can, you should get the 890FX chipset as I beleive that can get you into a CPU drop in upgrade in the future to hex core...

 

[trents]

GOod points ^^ !

What is your total budget for CPU/mobo? If you can, you should get the 890FX chipset as I beleive that can get you into a CPU drop in upgrade in the future to hex core...

I think most of the 785 chipset boards will take the hex cores, at least with a bios upgrade. Mine will.

 

[Trap05]

I'd take the Biostar or the Asus...I use an Asus 780G board in my HTPC and it's been solid

 

[splatee]

Thanks for the replies....

I went with the following

#1 Biostar A785G3 Socket AM3 mATX
AMD Phenom x2 555 Black Edition
OCZ Gold Series XTC DDR3 1333 2 x 2gb memory

I have it set up with two original raptors in a raid 0 from my previouse setup. I have xp installed and it is showing the Phenom as a Quad core. Im in the process of getting everything installed.

Thank you

 

[trents]

So, you were able to unlock that P2 X2 550 huh? Be sure to test it for stability and safe temps with HWMonitor while stressing with Prime95 for at least 1 hr.

 

[splatee]

Ok ran into problems. I went into the bios to check my ram settings and noticed that it was set for 800 and not 1333 so i changed it to manual. I saved and exited and on the reboot it didnt post. So i cleared the cmos and now i lost the 2 other cores. Whenever i set it to what i had it at "Auto" it now refuses to post. If anyone has this board could you please help me on setting the cores. It was running perfectly the whole time i was insalling windows and updating.

Thank you

 

[trents]

Core unlocking is accomplished by a bios feature called (usually) ACC (Advanced Clock Calibration). It needs to be enabled.

 

[splatee]

Ok i went ahead and updated the bios to the latest. I enabled core unlocking on the boot up screen and i have all four cores unlocked. When i run cup-z it says core speed 800mhz. So is this 800mhz per core? I also have the "cool n quiet" enabled. Is this throttling down the cpu? Or is the settings right?

Thank you

 

[splatee]

Just looked again and i just saw the cpu speed increase to 2.0ghz. So i take it that is the CNQ working?

 

[Trap05]

Yes that's correct

 

[trents]

It is Cool and Quite at work. Disable it and C1E as well.

 

[splatee]

Ok just found a post about changing the "power" schemes in window. I checked it and it was set to portable/laptop. Changed it to "always" on and now it is good to go.

 

[trents]

Now you need to stress test it with Prime95 to ascertain stability.