Mobo upgrade help needed.

[Lansing3600]

Id rather wait till the new AM3+ platform comes out, but if i don't do this now i don't know the next time ill have spare money for any upgrades.

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1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
everything. college homework and gaming machine.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
500-550$ shipping has to be accounted for.
3) Where do you live?
oregon, so no taxes, will be ordering off newegg anyways
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
This upgrade is for the Mobo, CPU, and RAM. will also get a new zalman heatsink and 500gig HDD.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
will be using current Thermaltake armor case. MSI 260GTX Twin FZR, 850wat Corsair PSU and current hard drives.
6) Will you be overclocking?
deffinatly
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
1 23' 1920x1080 LCD and 1 22' 1680x1050 lcd.
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
april 6th
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? etc.
Just Sata for hard drives. no firewire/RAID, or USB 3.0 needs. future upgradabilty for SLI or crossfire is a bonus.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Windows 7 PRO x64


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Currently looking at these parts.

MSI NF750-G55 AM3 NVIDIA nForce 750a SLI HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - $89.99

Mushkin Enhanced Silverline 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 - $81.99

AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition Thuban 3.2GHz - $199.99

ZALMAN CNPS9900MAX-B 135mm - $79.99

Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" - $39.99


current total with shipping ----- $493.88

My main issue is should i look into getting an AMD based chipset rather than an Nvidia one since i only have 1 GPU at the moment and will prolly need an upgrade at the end of the year for things like BF3 and Skyrim. I would also like to stick with Mushkin brand RAM (never had a DOA with them yet) and the Zalman Heatsink.

Motherboard is my main concern, brand doesn't matter much, only ever had issues with Asus, but that was back in the socket 939 days.

 

[E4g1e]

Two not-so-good choices:

1) The CPU. Although the X6 1090T is less expensive now than it was a few months ago, it still costs too much money for the performance that it delivers, especially since the Bulldozer-derived CPUs will be coming out a couple of months from now. As such, there is no point in spending more than about $150 for a current AMD CPU.

2) The motherboard that you selected is based on an Nvidia nForce chipset, which is a bit slower and less stable than an AMD chipset-based motherboard. Plus, Nvidia has pretty much ceased development of new desktop chipsets; in fact, the nForce 750a chipset is now about three years old. This means that the nForce chipsets are now much less likely to be updated or supported further with each new operating system update.

 

[m_isom]

If you want the option for SLI or Crossfire that is the board to go with, newer boards and AMD boards are all Crossfire only without a hack. Good news is AM3+ boards are going to be available with SLI certification again. Pick up a AM3+ chip and board later and reuse the rest. Only thing else is maybe squeezing a little more for the $60 Samsung F3 1TB on amazon instead of that $40 WD 500gb

I'd agree with getting a 4 core chip for now http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103921 $110 Tried to see wattage for the board, it should run this 95watt cpu fine, don't know how it does with a 125watt or 140 watt cpu.

 

[Lansing3600]

ok, ill back down to another quad core.

prolly a 955


can anyone recomend a good board to get then that can run a single 260GTX and the 955 fine and isn't anymore than 150$. AMD or nvidia, doesnt matter, not gonna worry about SLI or anything atm. can upgrade to match board later.

 

[tonytnnt]

Get an AMD motherboard from one of these lists: Gigabyte, Asus, or MSI.

Here's a rough build with an MSI BIOS upgradeable motherboard:
$100 - MSI 870A-G54 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX
$90 - AMD Phenom II X4 820 Deneb 2.8GHz - OEM
$40 - G.SKILL NS 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333
$36 (after promo code) - Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB 7200 RPM
$52 - ZALMAN CNPS9700 LED 110mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler

Total: $318

I didn't know which Zalman cooler you wanted so don't take that one as a recommendation (my knowledge of heatsinks is poor.)

The above board, while cheap, does support CrossfireX. It will run with a single 260GTX and the 955 just fine. It has a lot of bang for the buck there, especially since an upcoming BIOS upgrade will enable support for AM3+ CPUs.

Also, you could consider reusing your current processor until AM3+ CPUs come out.

 

[Lansing3600]

I didn't know which Zalman cooler you wanted so don't take that one as a recommendation (my knowledge of heatsinks is poor.)

The above board, while cheap, does support CrossfireX. It will run with a single 260GTX and the 955 just fine. It has a lot of bang for the buck there, especially since an upcoming BIOS upgrade will enable support for AM3+ CPUs.

Also, you could consider reusing your current processor until AM3+ CPUs come out.

thats fine. board help is what im after, ill take a look at that one. and i would use my current cpu, but wasnt sure if AM2 supports DDR3, i dont think it does but i could be wrong. also wanted more ram, but DDR2 is super spendy now.

 

[tonytnnt]

thats fine. board help is what im after, ill take a look at that one. and i would use my current cpu, but wasnt sure if AM2 supports DDR3, i dont think it does but i could be wrong. also wanted more ram, but DDR2 is super spendy now.

Whoops, my bad. Very good catch there. The 940 is not on the supported CPU list for that motherboard.

There are other motherboards in those links to consider as well, but not all are available yet.

 

[E4g1e]

Whoops, my bad. Very good catch there. The 940 is not on the supported CPU list for that motherboard.

There are other motherboards in those links to consider as well, but not all are available yet.

Actually, the 940 will not be on the compatibility lists of any of the new AM3+-"compatible" boards. This is because all of the new boards are or will be DDR3 only - but the 940 supports only DDR2 memory in its IMC. Plus, the 940 is not pin-compatible (electrically) with the new socket.

 

[Lansing3600]

Actually, the 940 will not be on the compatibility lists of any of the new AM3+-"compatible" boards. This is because all of the new boards are or will be DDR3 only - but the 940 supports only DDR2 memory in its IMC. Plus, the 940 is not pin-compatible (electrically) with the new socket.

ok so i was thinking right. AM2 doesnt support DDR3 plain and simple. will continue to browse through the AMD mobos till i find one that will work for me.

 

[tonytnnt]

Sorry my AMD chip info was incorrect!

If you're open to the idea, have to spend the money now, and can't wait until Bulldozer test results are in, I'd seriously consider an Intel system. Their prices have come down into reasonable territory, and they're the fastest gaming chips currently on the market. You can get a CPU, mobo, RAM, HDD, and heatsink for under $500.

$327 - Intel Core i5-2500k with an MSI P67A-G43
$40 - G.SKILL NS 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333
$60 - Samsung F3 1 TB
$52 - ZALMAN CNPS9700 LED 110mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler

Total: $479 (including shipping and taxes.)

 

[tiraides]

Swap out the Zalman CNPS9700 LED for the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus. The latter performs just as well as the former yet it costs less.