I have had enough of my shitty processor so I want to upgrade! Also I just got my scholarship money, so why not spend it on something which will help me avoid studying.

I was thinking of a AMD Phenom II X4 940BE, since for £100 it seems like a pretty beefy upgrade from my Athlon X2 5000+BE.

1) Is this a stupid idea?
2) If not then what motherboard should I get? (I want to keep it as DDR2 so I have no extra costs, also my graphics card is a GTX260 if this makes any difference)

Advise me techies!

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a bird in a bird in a bird in a bird in a bird in a pig

Do it!

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SaintK: I'm completely lost

I don't know what motherboard to get! (My current motherboard is really awful, about time I got it replaced)

Does chipset matter?

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a bird in a bird in a bird in a bird in a bird in a pig

The chipset is one of the most important things on the motherboard.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/164047

I could get this and then get an AM3 motherboard? But then would I have to get DDR3 memory...

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a bird in a bird in a bird in a bird in a bird in a pig

Just get one of these buddy.



It'll save you cash and time.

You guys are useless

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a bird in a bird in a bird in a bird in a bird in a pig

I suppose I could get a core i5 750+mobo+ddr3, but I dont know if I want to spend ~£300+ :/

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a bird in a bird in a bird in a bird in a bird in a pig

Decent, but quite expensive AM3 boards:

MSI 790FX-GD70 - 140 €
Asus M4A78T-E - 110 €
Gigabyte MA790XT-UD4P - 110 € (good price/value)

A total upgrade of CPU (+ cooler), MB and RAM would be around 220 € to 290 € if you don't aim for upper or highend class.

Gamestar puts these together:
* Phenom II X4 (C3) 955 BE
* EKL Alpenföhn Groß Clockner (cooler)
* Asus M4A78 Pro
* Buffalo DIMM Kit 4GB
= 289 Euro

At the end it depends on how much you wanna spend. An AMD based system will probably give the better power per money ratio.

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SaintK: I'm completely lost

<3 Blackhawk

I am confused, on the sites it doesn't say whether the 955 is the C3 revision or still a C2 one.

Dammit, the C3's are hard to find

I might go for the 965 since I cant find the 955 with the C3 stepping anywhere :L

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a bird in a bird in a bird in a bird in a bird in a pig

Blackhawk has redeemed you moist

So the build I am looking at:

AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition (C3)
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/AMD-Phen ... 25W-Retail

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro v2
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Arctic-C ... 130-Watts!

Thermal Paste
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Thermalr ... rming-T-P)

Gigabyte GA-MA790XT-UD4P
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Gigabyte ... A-RAID-ATX

SuperTalent DDR3 PC3-10666 (1333MHz) 2GB (2x1GB)
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/2GB-%282 ... S-8-8-8-18

£295.50

...and a GTX260

I guess this will be a big upgrade from a Athlon X2 5000+, especially if I overclock (which my old motherboard wouldn't let me do due to stability)

Good build?

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a bird in a bird in a bird in a bird in a bird in a pig

Probably going to go for a Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD3P then I can save money on the RAM

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a bird in a bird in a bird in a bird in a bird in a pig

>the 955 is the C3 revision or still a C2 one.
Ye... that sucks a bit. The CPUs are labelled the same... so it's only an add. service when the shop lists the stepping.

>Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD3P then I can save money on the RAM
You also could step down to a cheaper X3 witch also has enough power for gaming if you wanna save some bucks somewhere. Simply because I'd aim for 4 GB of RAM. With 4 gig you don't have to care about RAM for a long while.

The GTX260 would fit fine into the system. Alternatives would be a cheaper ATI 5750 (25% less power, but DX11 and low power consumption) or a waiting for an ATI 58xx.

Oh and perhaps looking for another CPU cooler... only cause the AC is listed next to the CPU doesn't mean that it would be the best choice. The AC stuff is fine, but you can get some better stuff. Depends on your pocket and ear size.

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SaintK: I'm completely lost

You made me lol in the first hour of being awake.
You deserve a price

I think I have decided to go for an Intel system in the end, I can get a core i5 750 + mobo + RAM for the same price. Also I prefer that the i5 has a lower core speed and lower power consumption.

One thing I don't understand is why there is memory especially for i5 cpu's, will it actually make that much of a difference if I just get a normal DDR3 kit? (Since it will just be a normal duel channel DDR3 kit)

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a bird in a bird in a bird in a bird in a bird in a pig

The kits for the iX are most of the time just bundles matching the 6 GB pref for the CPU IIRC. Could also be related to max voltage. A lot of the earlier RAMs were over the official specs with the voltage. I'd have to check this before I could give you a definite answer.

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SaintK: I'm completely lost