Help me pair a mobo for my phenom II 550

S

seancky2

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 28, 2004
Messages
302
So, I have been on a bit of a hiatus following the desktop component technologies. It is like an alien world compared to 5 years ago lol. Anyways I am ready to go back to the desktop and it seems like the best bang for the buck and a good overclocker is the Phenom II 550. Is this correct, or are there any better options for a similar price of ~$100?

Assuming I stay with the 550, can someone please direct me to the best motherboard (preferably from newegg) . I would like it to have that new crossfireX technology...but for now I will be using an old Radeon 9800 Pro..then later in a few months add a Radeon 5850. It should be something that is stable and has the ability to overclock. I would say my max price is around ~$150.

Finally, can you please help me pair it with good RAM, 4GB? Like I said, I am soooo out of the loop with todays technology and don't know the best brands/timings and really would rather just take your guys word for it rather than research for days on end.

I should mention I plan on gaming and playing 1080p HDx264 content on this machine.
So any suggestions would be much appreciated! If you would like to go the extra mile help me out with a PSU as well! :D

Rep to anyone who helps :D
 
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I can spend in the ballpark of $400 on CPU RAM MoBo and PSU.

I think I will get the phenom 550 (is this a good cpu?) for $100, so that leaves $300 for the RAM, MoBo, Case, and PSU. A question I have though, is it necessary to get a mobo with crossfirex if I don't see myself putting 2 cards in anytime soon?
 
Thanks, but can you also tell me if it is really worth getting a crossfirex compatible mobo if i dont plan on using 2 cards anytime soon...and if i ever do ill just buy a new mobo. So perhaps I can get a higher end motherboard that does not support it for a little less money?
 
The 785g would be good if your using the on board graphics AND you already have 4gb of DDR2, but other than that, your money is better spent on the 770TA-UD3 and the DDR3
 
The Phenom II x2 555BE has a newer C3 stepping, which reduces power consumption and temperatures by a bit, and by all accounts it also increases the chances of unlocking to a quad core, and tends to have a higher max overclock, all for about 10 dollars more than the 550BE on Newegg. Of you're probably pigeonholed into buying it from Newegg too if you want it since no other vendors seem to have it at the moment...

As for CrossfireX, It ramps up the price of a board significantly ($30ish or more) for a feature you say you don't plan on using any time soon, so I wouldn't even bother, especially if the price difference can get you that HD5850 sooner. Be warned right now that your 9800 Pro will NOT work in any modern board you purchase because AGP slots don't exist anymore, so this is more important than you think.

That being said, I'd recommend a 785G board so you can still enjoy your 1080p content with the onboard video until you can pick up that HD5850 for gaming. My personal suggestions:

If you like full ATX form factor:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131398

If you prefer or don't mind micro ATX, these are slightly cheaper and basically just as good IMO:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131406
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128397

The $200 leftover for RAM + case + PSU is pretty tight though...if you can bum a case off of an old computer for a while then it's just a matter of getting the G.Skill Ripjaws + Antec PSU combo gwarren presented and you'd be fine. Otherwise I'm not quite sure what to tell you just yet in regards to fitting everything in your budget without dropping the CPU (bad idea for gaming).
 
thanks thrombke...i think you understand what i am going for. But as for the point raised earlier, is there much difference between ddr2 and ddr3? Anything ill notice really? Come to think of it I do have an old case that i used for my old rigs. its a mid tower and i think it should be ok.

and is this the 555 you are talking about http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103846
 
I went through a similar "upgrade" just about a week ago (picked up an X4 925 though), and for budget reasons I stuck with DDR2, but that's only because I already have lots of it lying around. If you don't already have at least 4GB of it on you right now that you don't need to buy, I would just move on and get DDR3 with the rest of the parts because the price difference between them is pretty miniscule. If you already have DDR2, you can just get that Gigabyte mATX board you were looking at and use it, saving yourself about 100 bucks for minimal (if any, even, in real world programs) performance loss.
 
I would get the X2 555 over the 550 anyday. I would also get a dual pci-e board over a single. Keep your options open if you can afford it.

X2 555 + GIGABYTE GA-MA790XT-UD4P paired with the Ripjaws and Antec PSU combo is what I'd do. Then add whatever case suits your aesthetic. Yer gonna want a 700w+ range PSU if you go with a 5850 ish vid card later btw.
 
thesmokingman said:
Nahhhh. That board has a neutered second pci-e slot. The ram, why buy that when you can get the ripjaws for the same price?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277
Click to expand...

bc i didnt know better about the ripjaws :D
As for the mobo, if you ignore the fact the pci-e is "neutered" (do you mean it gets covered) is it still good. it seems to have gotten many awards, supports crossfire, and has an onboard gfx card so i can get by without the 5850 for a while.

EDIT: @Gwarren you don't agree about the ripjaws? which one? WITH THE ASUS BOARD?

the newegg thing recommends these http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231193
 
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He means the second PCI-E x16 slot if you plan to run Crossfire on it only runs at x4 speeds. I would honestly say that you probably shouldn't even be thinking about Crossfire (or future proofing in general) given your budget at the moment.
 
Since there's no crossfire future then I'd buy what gwarren007 suggested then with a X2 555.

Btw, why do you keep linking diff ram everytime?
 
You'll be fine with either that set or the Ripjaws. The latter are newer with better heat spreaders (I think...) so they might OC a bit better. The Asus board will work fine, as will the Gigabyte 785G with DDR3.
 
Ok, I think I finally did it: Here it is. Going to order after I get a reccomendation from you guys on a PSU. It needs to be as cheap as possible but also able to support a 5850 eventually. BTW i chose this mobo thanks to the suggestion from above because you can apparently use the onboard GFX in conjunction with a 5850??


You'll also have access to the most powerful and fastest video processing around when you install a discrete ATI video card that will work in conjunction with the onboard GPU for a unique Hybrid CrossFireX configuration.
Click to expand...
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Im back lol....

I just came across this combo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.328310 For $100 in savings. Basicly for an extra 130 I am getting a new case, 1TB HD, and a better CPU that can be overclocked very high.

What do you guys think compared to what i had originally, this has a case and a HD tho. I was reading and the 720BE is apparently a great overclocker.

- The only other thing I will need is a Heatsink/Fan. Can you guys help me pick out a good one that is QUIET yet will allow me to overclock pretty well. I'd say I can afford up to $120 on heatsink/fan.

- What about watercoolilng? Will it even work on this case?

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X2 555 BE will clock better due to its C3 stepping...hell it'll probably still clock better even after unlocking (if it's capable of doing so). The 720 BE actually isn't that great of an OCer on the whole IMO because they stopped releasing those after a short time, and the majority of the stocks were chips that couldn't perform to x4 specifications. That was good when they first came out like a year ago for their price, but today I'm almost willing to say it's a sucker's bet to hope it'll OC all that well compared to the 555 BE. Guaranteed to get one more core though if nothing else. Note that you can actually get the 720 BE on its own for like the same price as the 550 BE though, minus the stock cooler.

Most people aren't fans of NVidia chipset boards (blame 680i I guess...), and the 785G is actually a bit more gaming capable if you decide to give those a shot with onboard. Do you really want SLI?

Rosewill PSUs...never heard anything good about them. I wouldn't risk it.

Sure it's "only" $130 more, but...do you really need it? In exchange you get a crummier PSU, an unpopular motherboard, a solid 1TB HDD, and a case, on top of needing to buy a cooler.
 
You're right. I just was reading TomsHardware and they basicly were praising the 720 and started looking into it. I guess ill go with my original plan.

Thanks again.
 
Rosewill PSU's are hit and miss. I've read that some are average and some are just plain bad. Personally, I've never had one fail on me, but I've only used a couple.

If you want a simple WC setup, why don't you look at one of those Corsaid H50's? About the same as a good air cooler.

Also you could buy that combo, sell the X3 and buy the X2 you want anyway. I'm sure you can get most of your money back on a new, unopened X3 on ebay or in the forums.
 
I was under the impression that Nvidia based chipsets did not include ACC (no ACC, no unlocking a x2). This appears to be a much higher end chipset than the usual, you it might be different. I'd be wary.
 
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