CPU/Mobo Budget AMD based CPU and Asus Mobo - confusion

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jijojose79

jijojose79

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Hi Friends,

My requirement is to work in Vista as a home pc and budget for cpu+mobo is 8K.
ie MS applications,photoshop,browsing.download,DVD encode/decode etc.
I already decided mobo is M4A785TD-V EVO(6.5k), AM3 for future.

Initially,i have selected AMD Athlon II X2 240 Regor 2.8GHz and not sure that the
performance with vista and confused with AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ or 5000+.
The later will increase my budget around 3k.

Can anyone suggest the better options from these two cpus.

regards
Jijo
 
I recommend Athlon II X3 425 @ 2.7GHz instead, for 4k. It will be more VFM and future proof. Also consider Athlon II X4 620 @ 2.6GHz for 5.3k. Both these may cost more, but you will not need to upgrade them very soon. You can wait all the way till AMD Bulldozer arrives if you go for the AIIX4 CPU.

For mobo consider something like Biostar 790GX AM3 which should be ~ 6.5K and supports crossfirex in 8x 8x configuration. Your chosen board is 16x 4x configuration which isn't that good since it'll effectively cripple one GPU.
 
MHG said:
I recommend Athlon II X3 425 @ 2.7GHz instead, for 4k. It will be more VFM and future proof. Also consider Athlon II X4 620 @ 2.6GHz for 5.3k. Both these may cost more, but you will not need to upgrade them very soon. You can wait all the way till AMD Bulldozer arrives if you go for the AIIX4 CPU.
For mobo consider something like Biostar 790GX AM3 which should be ~ 6.5K and supports crossfirex in 8x 8x configuration. Your chosen board is 16x 4x configuration which isn't that good since it'll effectively cripple one GPU.
Click to expand...

thanks for your suggessions, I will consider this too.

I read some forum posts that biostar's not as stable as compared to asus / gigabyte.

Anyone can suggest other options will be greatful.

regards
Jijo
 
WARNING: I'm gonna make you think too much.

jijojose79 said:
thanks for your suggestions, I will consider this too.

I read some forum posts that biostar's not as stable as compared to asus / gigabyte.

Anyone can suggest other options will be greatful.

regards
Jijo
Click to expand...

OK, consider another question:

WILL YOU REALLY NEED CROSSFIREX ?

You are going to be using onboard GPU for a long time from what info I gather from first post.

And in future maybe you will upgrade to AMD Bulldozer.

When you upgrade, normally you would only buy ONE GPU at a time. If you buy a GPU along with bulldozer CPU, and then continue with the rig for few more years till Bulldozer's 22nm shrink, the motherboard would have been superseded by AM4 DDR4 motherboards. No chance to buy and put new GPU in crossfire into existing motherboard then since you will want to migrate to next platform.

What I'm trying to say is that going for a CROSSFIREX motherboard @ 6.5K is a waste of money if you don't intend to buy a GPU in a short span of time.

CROSSFIREX and SLI are for those people who buy boards with one spanking new GPU, and then after few years when the price of the GPU hits all time low and when games get more demanding, add another of the same family GPU. Unlike older way of buying new GPU and selling off old GPU, you will not be hit by depreciation.

But if you choose NOT to buy new GPU now and decide to invest in new GPU only much later when titles demand it, you may as well go for a single gpu motherboard because in realistic terms budget/mainstream motherboards NEVER tend to see more than 1 GPU upgrade in their life.

The reason I'm telling you this is that you are spending 6.5K on a board which could be had for 4k if you choose to omit crossfirex support and the difference 2.5k is a lot of money which can be invested on getting a better CPU, like Athlon II X3 425 (1k more than 240) or Athlon II X4 625 (2.3k more than 240).
 
MHG said:
WARNING: I'm gonna make you think too much.

OK, consider another question:

WILL YOU REALLY NEED CROSSFIREX ?

You are going to be using onboard GPU for a long time from what info I gather from first post.

And in future maybe you will upgrade to AMD Bulldozer.

When you upgrade, normally you would only buy ONE GPU at a time. If you buy a GPU along with bulldozer CPU, and then continue with the rig for few more years till Bulldozer's 22nm shrink, the motherboard would have been superseded by AM4 DDR4 motherboards. No chance to buy and put new GPU in crossfire into existing motherboard then since you will want to migrate to next platform.

What I'm trying to say is that going for a CROSSFIREX motherboard @ 6.5K is a waste of money if you don't intend to buy a GPU in a short span of time.

CROSSFIREX and SLI are for those people who buy boards with one spanking new GPU, and then after few years when the price of the GPU hits all time low and when games get more demanding, add another of the same family GPU. Unlike older way of buying new GPU and selling off old GPU, you will not be hit by depreciation.

But if you choose NOT to buy new GPU now and decide to invest in new GPU only much later when titles demand it, you may as well go for a single gpu motherboard because in realistic terms budget/mainstream motherboards NEVER tend to see more than 1 GPU upgrade in their life.

The reason I'm telling you this is that you are spending 6.5K on a board which could be had for 4k if you choose to omit crossfirex support and the difference 2.5k is a lot of money which can be invested on getting a better CPU, like Athlon II X3 425 (1k more than 240) or Athlon II X4 625 (2.3k more than 240).
Click to expand...

Hi MHG,

Thanks for your reply.

As you mentioned, i am totally confused with hundreds of CPU's and mobos.:S

About mobo,

What you are saying is correct, as i am not a gamer and not going to add additional video card other than onboard, so crossfirex is waste for me this board.

But part from the crossfirex, I was looking for a stable mobo with good features including HDMI and to support AM3/DDR3 for future.

Anyway, if i avoid HDMI (but not DVI) and crossfire, I found M2A74-AM would be suit for me as i am an ASUS mobo fan. Which has all excluding DDR3. But i have to check forums and review to finalize.

Newegg.com - ASUS M2A74-AM AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 740G Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - AMD Motherboards

This i can fix up with a budget of 3K bucks.:D

About CPU,

As you suggested X3/X4 is also considered as a waste, if the applications which 'am using not required more powerful proc. More over i have read that core to core efficiency is very poor in AMD chips.

I was thinking of Phenom II X2 550 BE 3.1 GHz (5.5K), but i don't know the performance,power consumption, heat compare to AMD Athlon 64 C2 .

I am really worried about to go for high end AMD processors due to the over heating issue.

It would be helpful if you can suggest any more.:cool2:

Regards

Jijo
 
+1 for the 550 BE. Very good proccy. Been using it for 3-4 months now. no issues whatsoever. It is the standard run of the mill usage which mostly my parents do. I.e. no gaming, video encoding, photoshop etc.

yes, and i don't think you will need the 785 EVO :)
 
The phenom II 550 BE 3.1GHz is cheap now ~ 4.85k

The PhenomII 545BE 3.0GHz ~ 4.5k

But i would also suggest going for the AthlonII X3 435 (2.9GHz, 3 cores) - 4k

But you would have to shell out 10.5 for the asus board and this proccy. Even by going for a AthlonII X2 240 ~3k you would end up spending 9.5k.

www.deltapage.com
 
jijojose79 said:
Hi MHG,

Thanks for your reply.

As you mentioned, i am totally confused with hundreds of CPU's and mobos.:S
Click to expand...

Lol, happens to everybody trying to find the perfect combination :ohyeah:

About mobo,
Click to expand...
What you are saying is correct, as i am not a gamer and not going to add additional video card other than onboard, so crossfirex is waste for me this board.

But part from the crossfirex, I was looking for a stable mobo with good features including HDMI and to support AM3/DDR3 for future.

Anyway, if i avoid HDMI (but not DVI) and crossfire, I found M2A74-AM would be suit for me as i am an ASUS mobo fan. Which has all excluding DDR3. But i have to check forums and review to finalize.

Newegg.com - ASUS M2A74-AM AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 740G Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - AMD Motherboards

This i can fix up with a budget of 3K bucks.:D
Click to expand...

Avoid 740G board. Instead go for a basic Biostar 780G board for 3.2K. It supports full HD video playback. Or go for a 760G board for 3K if you are satisfied with maximum 4GB RAM support (considering the CPU, you SHOULD be). This board has SB710 southbridge which supports better overclocking features if you wish to overclock your CPU once you decide to get into play mood.

About CPU,

As you suggested X3/X4 is also considered as a waste, if the applications which 'am using not required more powerful proc. More over i have read that core to core efficiency is very poor in AMD chips.

I was thinking of Phenom II X2 550 BE 3.1 GHz (5.5K), but i don't know the performance,power consumption, heat compare to AMD Athlon 64 C2 .

I am really worried about to go for high end AMD processors due to the over heating issue.

It would be helpful if you can suggest any more.:cool2:

Regards

Jijo
Click to expand...

I never said you don't need lots of cores.

And AMD DOES scale well with cores. Core to core efficiency has improved a lot in K10.5 (Athlon II and Phenom II) architecture.

Actually you need a balenced setup which lasts for 4 years or whatever a normal rig's life is. Since you are a basic user, you need something which lasts even longer since basic rigs have longer upgrade cycles.

Look at the current CPUs in your budget:

Athlon II X2 240 -- Rs 2.8k = Rs 1400/core

Athlon II X3 425 -- Rs 4.0k = Rs 1333/core

Athlon II X4 620 -- Rs 5.3k = Rs 1300/core

Phenom II X2 550BE -- 5.5K = Gaming CPU not needed for you.

Given this I seriously recommend Athlon II X4 620 as an option. See, its a 2.6GHz Quad Core and has least cost per core. You can run 4 threads in it at the same time and for normal home use this seems more and more feasable.

If you buy a CPU like this it should last ATLEAST 4 years, till AMD Bulldozer arrives and becomes mainstream. And its resale value is pretty high given its overclockability and performance.

PIIX2 550BE is something I seriously recommend against for anyone but the dedicated gamer.

See the benchmarks here. It will give you an idea of what to expect from AMD's Athlon II X4 620 (though its review of another CPU, it contains benchmark data about all of AMD's popular CPUs).

AnandTech: AMD's Athlon II X3 435 & New Energy Efficient CPUs: Killing Intel Below $90

It shows you that Athlon II X4 620 is best buy for stuff like basic use with windows, photoshop, dvd ripping, encoding, movie watching, etc.
 
Actually, what MHG is saying makes perfect sense. I too seriously considered getting the X4 620, since it was primarily going to be used by my parents, for regular use - but at the time of my purchase the 550BE was cheaper - 5.1k as against 5.3k for X4 620. Hence went with it.
 
MHG said:
Lol, happens to everybody trying to find the perfect combination :ohyeah:



Avoid 740G board. Instead go for a basic Biostar 780G board for 3.2K. It supports full HD video playback. Or go for a 760G board for 3K if you are satisfied with maximum 4GB RAM support (considering the CPU, you SHOULD be). This board has SB710 southbridge which supports better overclocking features if you wish to overclock your CPU once you decide to get into play mood.
I never said you don't need lots of cores.

And AMD DOES scale well with cores. Core to core efficiency has improved a lot in K10.5 (Athlon II and Phenom II) architecture.

Actually you need a balenced setup which lasts for 4 years or whatever a normal rig's life is. Since you are a basic user, you need something which lasts even longer since basic rigs have longer upgrade cycles.

Look at the current CPUs in your budget:

Athlon II X2 240 -- Rs 2.8k = Rs 1400/core
Athlon II X3 425 -- Rs 4.0k = Rs 1333/core
Athlon II X4 620 -- Rs 5.3k = Rs 1300/core

Phenom II X2 550BE -- 5.5K = Gaming CPU not needed for you.

Given this I seriously recommend Athlon II X4 620 as an option. See, its a 2.6GHz Quad Core and has least cost per core. You can run 4 threads in it at the same time and for normal home use this seems more and more feasable.

If you buy a CPU like this it should last ATLEAST 4 years, till AMD Bulldozer arrives and becomes mainstream. And its resale value is pretty high given its overclockability and performance.

PIIX2 550BE is something I seriously recommend against for anyone but the dedicated gamer.

See the benchmarks here. It will give you an idea of what to expect from AMD's Athlon II X4 620 (though its review of another CPU, it contains benchmark data about all of AMD's popular CPUs).

AnandTech: AMD's Athlon II X3 435 & New Energy Efficient CPUs: Killing Intel Below $90

It shows you that Athlon II X4 620 is best buy for stuff like basic use with windows, photoshop, dvd ripping, encoding, movie watching, etc.
Click to expand...


Thanks you all for you valuable postings,...

Considering all the facts, I am finalizing my dream rig.. CPU and mobo :ashamed:

GIGABYTE MA78GM-US2H 4.2K
Athlon II X3 - 435 4K
Memory (brand ?? :huh:) 2GB ?K
PSU/SMPS (??Watts,brand ?:huh:) - ?K
UPS (??Watts,brand ?:huh:) - ?K
I have other peripherals in my hand .. :clap:

Really nice ... :ohyeah:

Any suggestions ?? I found the price tag in deltapage, really don't know whether these available in these price tag in Bangalore market.

Any other suggestions.. :cool2:

regards
Jijo
 
For prices, I suggest you take an evening's walk in SP Road, Bangalore. It takes around 4 hours to walk the place (and better bring a few tissues to wipe of some drool).

There ask for prices of ALL AM3 motherboards under 4.5k and ALL AM2+ motherboards under 3.2K.

Also ask prices of all CPUs.

Ensure that ALL prices are inclusive of taxes.

Reply back here.

Because when going AMD value for money is important.
 
MHG said:
For prices, I suggest you take an evening's walk in SP Road, Bangalore. It takes around 4 hours to walk the place (and better bring a few tissues to wipe of some drool).

There ask for prices of ALL AM3 motherboards under 4.5k and ALL AM2+ motherboards under 3.2K.

Also ask prices of all CPUs.

Ensure that ALL prices are inclusive of taxes.

Reply back here.

Because when going AMD value for money is important.
Click to expand...

Thanks MHG,

Anyone have beeen experiencing with MSI 785G-E51 ???

Regards
Jijo
 
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