Need help building first rig

[Klown_133]

Im looking to build my first gaming pc, i already ordered my CPU... the Amd Kuma 7550 dual core. Now i need help for a decent MOBO that won't break the bank... any help will be much appreciated

thanks..

 

[boomstik360]

Did you get it from newegg and used the promo code making it 42.99 with free shipping? I think you should buy my motherboard

 

[Darren]

What is this rig being built for browsing the internet, watching movies, word processing?

How long does this rig have to last and are you planning on any future upgrades?

Do you plan on overclocking?

The more information you tell us the more we can help you

Cancel the Kuma immediately and replace it with at least an Phenom II X2 550 at minimum.


Edit:

Originally posted on 07-07-2009, 10:49 AM

He from the UK too?

Is he a mate of yours or something, I hope he is cancelling

I've seen some Phenom II X3 710s going for 90 pounds on ebuyer, unfortunately the 720 BE has gone upto 120 pounds

 

[boomstik360]

I agree with Darren, Unless you are on a super tight budget. Even the Athlon II X2 would be MUCH MUCH faster than the Kuma.. I still think you should buy my motherboard though I have RAM too and a heatsink if need be

 

[LifeOnMars]

What is this rig being built for browsing the internet, watching movies, word processing?

How long does this rig have to last and are you planning on any future upgrades?

Do you plan on overclocking?

The more information you tell us the more we can help you

Cancel the Kuma immediately and replace it with at least an Phenom II X2 550 at minimum.

He wants it for gaming. I second the fact that you should at least start with an AM3 processor, even if its going to be put in an AM2+ motherboard. Plus they have alot more oomph for gaming purposes.

 

[boomstik360]

Yes, that Kuma really won't cut it for gaming. It will definitely be the main bottleneck of the computer, unless you got something like an ATI HD4350 but then it really wouldn't be a "gaming" computer.

 

[LifeOnMars]

I do not think that Klown_133 liked what he heard.

hehe lol

He's trying to cancel his order as we speak. I mean you can game very well with a kuma, but as a fresh buy for a new rig right now it's not the wisest purchase really.

 

[LifeOnMars]

Is he from the UK too?

Is he a mate of yours or something, I hope he is cancelling .

I've seen some Phenom II X3 710s going for 90 pounds on ebuyer, unfortunately the 720 BE has gone upto 120 pounds

Phenom 955 is at a remarkable price of £146!! Hoping it stays there or lower for when I buy all my parts, and no I don't know him but hopefully he can get that order changed

 

[boomstik360]

Yeah hopefully. I recommend any AM3 CPU, the best one he can afford

 

[Darren]

Phenom 955 is at a remarkable price of £146!! Hoping it stays there or lower for when I buy all my parts, and no I don't know him but hopefully he can get that order changed

I believe the price of the Phenom II X4 955 might be dropping to make room for their new 6 core desktop processor that is derived from the Opteron, I believe its coming out next month.

 

[LifeOnMars]

I believe the price of the Phenom II X4 955 might be dropping to make room for their new 6 core desktop processor that is derived from the Opteron, I believe its coming out next month.

Ah right, TBH that can only be a good thing and I will probably stick with just a quad. Havent had a rig for a while and have alot of old and present games to go through. Heck, even an X2 550 would probably suffice for me.

 

[boomstik360]

That is what I am thinking lol.

 

[Darren]

Ah right, TBH that can only be a good thing and I will probably stick with just an X2 550 to wade through all the games I'm yet to play.

Indeed,

I was initially contemplating the Phenom II X3 720 BE when it was priced at £105, I was secretly hoping that it would be reduced a bit, but since its gone up to £120 it seems like a pointless purchase considering that £10 more can get me a Phenom II X4 810 and allow one to benefit from the extra core, a mere £20 gets me AMDs high end Phenom II X4 955. For this reasons I'm staying clear of the 720 BE until the prices decrease.

Right now I'm thinking of the Phenom II X2 550, but I think £80 is a reasonable price considering that its equivalent E8400 is upto £130, however the Phenom II X3 705e and Phenom II X3 710 are priced around £90, only a mere £10-15 gets you the extra core and a processor which is conclusively faster than the E8400 (opposed to equivalency).

The Phenom II X2 550 needs to be priced at around £55-60 to make me select it over its X3 counterparts.

 

[hat]

Yes, that Kuma really won't cut it for gaming. It will definitely be the main bottleneck of the computer, unless you got something like an ATI HD4350 but then it really wouldn't be a "gaming" computer.

Oh come on... my single core brisbane clunks through games just fine. Hand me a GTX260 and I'll fly through Crysis like the rest of you

 

[LifeOnMars]

Indeed,

The Phenom II X2 550 needs to be priced at around £55-60 to make me select it over its X3 counterparts.

MMM, an X2 550 at £60 with the slight chance you may unlock all four cores which overclock......now that would be nice

 

[Darren]

Oh come on... my single core brisbane clunks through games just fine. Hand me a GTX260 and I'll fly through Crysis like the rest of you

I doubt that, my friends Pentium D 915 2.8 GHz dual core was bottlenecking him in COD:WAW (including other games), it didn't matter what resolution he played at or how many settings he put to medium or low he would get frame rates of around 15-30 FPS. We both have the same graphics card (4830), However my processor @ 2.78 GHz would attain 65-90 FPS with everything maxed out! He has just upgraded to a E5200 and at stock he is getting around the same FPS as me. I doubt a single core Brisbane would suffice on today's game, they may be playable but the level of frame rate would be border line e.g. 30 FPS


Edit:

I used to have an e8500 and 4870 1gb. Believe it or not it was the processor that was bottle necking in some games (and the e8500 is a pretty good processor). After switching to the PII 955 I can play Crysis maxed pretty much at 1920x1200.

Just out of curiosity, what made you go the AMD route opposed to sticking in a Q9550 with your previous socket 775 motherboard?

 

[jaredudu]

I used to have an e8500 and 4870 1gb. Believe it or not it was the processor that was bottle necking in some games (and the e8500 is a pretty good processor). After switching to the PII 955 I can play Crysis maxed pretty much at 1920x1200.

 

[jaredudu]

Well, I'm not sure really. I sort of just started selling my parts and decided I would give AMD another chance. Although the performance isn't much different (compared to DDR2) I decided I wanted to get DDR3 as well.

 

[boomstik360]

Well the Kuma core is not much better than the brisbane core. I went back to my athlon 64 x2 5200+ windsor core(better than brisbane) overclocked to 3.5ghz now as a backup and it is still a huge bottleneck even for my ati 4830...I mean it is crazy how much of a difference it made from my 720BE and X4 945....

 

[jaredudu]

I haven't been keeping up with AMD in the past. So is the Athlon II X2 a stripped down Athlon 64 X2 version?

 

[boomstik360]

I haven't been keeping up with AMD in the past. So is the Athlon X2 a stripped down Athlon 64 X2 version?

What are you talking about?

The Athlon II X2 is the new AM3 version, its like a deneb but with more L2 cache and no L3 cache. Nothing at all like the older ones.

 

[jaredudu]

Well they used to go by numbers, last time I checked it was 3800+ to 6000+ but apparently those arent really used anymore

 

[boomstik360]

Yeah those are the older AM2 ones like what I am using at the moment. Yes I highly doubt what hat said. No matter the GPU these CPU's are huge bottlenecks. Especially a single core.

 

[Darren]

Well they used to go by numbers, last time I checked it was 3800+ to 6000+ but apparently those arent really used anymore

Indeed, AMD have confused their customers slightly, they decided to start a new "Athlon II" brand so the numbering is slightly different, the Athlon II X2 250 came out about a month ago, its faster than the old Brisbane and Kuma because its based on the Phenom II Deneb architecture, however it lacks the L3 cache and but has a larger L2 cache of 1 MB oppose to 512KB to compensate. In essence I'm confused why AMD didn't call it the Phenom II X2 250. Ah well.

 

[BarbaricSoul]

Sorry guys, but I have to confirm what hat is saying. I have a friend with a 5 year old computer that plays crysis pretty smoothly. The computer consists of a AMD 2800 clawhammer single core OC'ed to 2.9, some old MSI motherboard(don't recall the chipset), 2 gigs PC2700 RAM, and a ATI X800 pro AGP 256 meg video card. The thing scores less than 1000 points on 3dmark06. It surprised me too. Load times are hell, but gameplay is smooth at the lowest settings at 800*600(my friend's preferred res for his 19 crt).