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After noticing my once impressive processor is now virtually the cheapest processor OCUK sells, I've decided to upgrade.
My main priorities are: quad core, 6GB RAM, with no overclocking.
I only need CPU, mobo, and RAM. I think I7 is overpriced so I've opted for a Phenom II system:
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition 3.2GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail - £149.98*
MSI 790FX-GD70 AMD 790FX (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard - £129.98*
Corsair XMS3 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Triple Channel (TR3X6G1333C9) - £77.99
* This week only price
Maximum budget is £450 and the above comes in well below at £357.96.
I welcome any general thoughts, but my main concern is the RAM:
I went for AM3 so i could get triple channel DDR3 RAM, but most of the AM3 motherboards seem to only support DDR2. The CPU only supports RAM operating at 1333MHz, the lowest frequency DDR3 available. I assume the higher frequencies are just for the I7 systems? As the higher frequency DDR3 is roughly similar in price, should I buy that instead? If so, which would you suggest? and would i need to manually underclock it for it to work?
The MSI motherboard; is it worth the premium over the the Gigabyte DDR3 motherboards? It seems to have a lot of overclocking features which I'm not going to use. I read a review and was enticed by the pretty blue LEDs all over the place (which, thinking about it, I'm never going to see).
My main priorities are: quad core, 6GB RAM, with no overclocking.
I only need CPU, mobo, and RAM. I think I7 is overpriced so I've opted for a Phenom II system:
AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 955 Black Edition 3.2GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail - £149.98*
MSI 790FX-GD70 AMD 790FX (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard - £129.98*
Corsair XMS3 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Triple Channel (TR3X6G1333C9) - £77.99
* This week only price
Maximum budget is £450 and the above comes in well below at £357.96.
I welcome any general thoughts, but my main concern is the RAM:
I went for AM3 so i could get triple channel DDR3 RAM, but most of the AM3 motherboards seem to only support DDR2. The CPU only supports RAM operating at 1333MHz, the lowest frequency DDR3 available. I assume the higher frequencies are just for the I7 systems? As the higher frequency DDR3 is roughly similar in price, should I buy that instead? If so, which would you suggest? and would i need to manually underclock it for it to work?
The MSI motherboard; is it worth the premium over the the Gigabyte DDR3 motherboards? It seems to have a lot of overclocking features which I'm not going to use. I read a review and was enticed by the pretty blue LEDs all over the place (which, thinking about it, I'm never going to see).