Advise to build a AMD system.

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I am considering building a AMD system for gaming. I do some OCing but nothing extreme. All of you AMD gurus key me in on the better boards and CPUs please.

I was looking at this AMD Phenom II X4 940 Deneb BE as the CPU. It looks to be a awesome chip for the $.

PS I am not a big fan of ASUS but if they have a steller board go ahead and throw me the exact model #.

 

[crtecha]

I hear DFI Lan Party pwns when it comes to OC'n

 

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I truly do like my current DFI board and the DFI P35 board I had before this one. I just started looking into getting back to a AMD system. I looked at getting a new processor for my current Intel board. But got to thinking I might want to try out one of the AMD setups. Back when I started playing with pcs I started with AMD and I never had a complaint.

 

[Brackish]

The DFI DK series for AMD are peaches I know I have one but from my previous AMD boards this is by far the most stable for overclocking.

Ok I only have the ddr2 one and after a minor annoyance with the orginal bios I got it running like a treat and have had this OC for a while with no blues or freezes!

Just put a fan on the pwm as they run hot

will you go DDR2 or DDR3 on the PII setup?

 

[crtecha]

DFI will definitely be my next.

 

[suraswami]

I am considering building a AMD system for gaming. I do some OCing but nothing extreme. All of you AMD gurus key me in on the better boards and CPUs please.

I was looking at this AMD Phenom II X4 940 Deneb BE as the CPU. It looks to be a awesome chip for the $.

PS I am not a big fan of ASUS but if they have a steller board go ahead and throw me the exact model #.

If you are going to build from scratch, who not go with AM3 with DDR3 mem. The mem prices are coming down to an decent level.

Just a FYI, 940 has only DDR2 mem controller, so if you want to upgrade to DDR3 you cannot. If you like you can buy a cheaper DDR2 based board and mem and buy a PII 720BE which is the hot cake right now and it has both DDR2 and DDR3 controllers, so you can move your cpu to the DDR3 world later if you wish.

my 2 cents.

 

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The DFI DK series for AMD are peaches I know I have one but from my previous AMD boards this is by far the most stable for overclocking.

Ok I only have the ddr2 one and after a minor annoyance with the orginal bios I got it running like a treat and have had this OC for a while with no blues or freezes!

Just put a fan on the pwm as they run hot

will you go DDR2 or DDR3 on the PII setup?

Really haven't decided on what memory. I was looking for some of this post to clue me in on what was the better way to go.

If you are going to build from scratch, who not go with AM3 with DDR3 mem. The mem prices are coming down to an decent level.

Just a FYI, 940 has only DDR2 mem controller, so if you want to upgrade to DDR3 you cannot. If you like you can buy a cheaper DDR2 based board and mem and buy a PII 720BE which is the hot cake right now and it has both DDR2 and DDR3 controllers, so you can move your cpu to the DDR3 world later if you wish.

my 2 cents.

Ahhh excellent! Some more relevant info to get me looking in certain directions. Well I wouldn't mind going DDR3. Why is it the faster 940 is limited to the DDR2 memory? I thought it was a newer chip and would be the other way around limited to the DDR3 like the X58 boards.
Anyway this brings other questions to mind. According to ATIs website info the 790FX, 790X, 770 Chipsets are for Ultimate Gamers and HD Enthusiasts. You also have the 580X chipset to chose from. Then to top it off I see the 790GX with the Hybrid Graphics. Really leaves a whole lot to explore. What chipset has proven to be the best for gaming and OCing? Also I have never been a fan of onboard vga but if it is basically a free bonus that has no drawbacks I would be interested.

 

[suraswami]

Ahhh excellent! Some more relevant info to get me looking in certain directions. Well I wouldn't mind going DDR3. Why is it the faster 940 is limited to the DDR2 memory? I thought it was a newer chip and would be the other way around limited to the DDR3 like the X58 boards.
Anyway this brings other questions to mind. According to ATIs website info the 790FX, 790X, 770 Chipsets are for Ultimate Gamers and HD Enthusiasts. You also have the 580X chipset to chose from. Then to top it off I see the 790GX with the Hybrid Graphics. Really leaves a whole lot to explore. What chipset has proven to be the best for gaming and OCing? Also I have never been a fan of onboard vga but if it is basically a free bonus that has no drawbacks I would be interested.

790GX chipsets are really good if you are into conserving energy because of hybrid graphics, but i think it has some limitations regarding which graphics you can pair for up for hybrid etc. I would say 790fx from ATI and 780A from NV are current best chipsets for AMDplatform. I think there are revised chipsets from both ATI and NV so check those out.

Yes 940 is indeed a monster cpu, but unfortunately the memory controller is only DDR2. That is the reason I recommended the 720BE. But if you are willing to wait I think the 925 will be soon coming which is the DDR3 version and whole load of new cpus too are going to be released. Check tpu news section for dates.

 

[SparkyJJO]

The 940 is going to be replaced by the 945 which is AM3 and has both DDR2 and DDR3 controllers. I heard there is a 955 also coming out as well. Not sure if both or only the 955 is going to be black edition. I think that these chips are due out this month sometime.

I'm looking into doing the same. I'm eying the MSI 790FX-GD70 board, though it is more expensive I want to see if it is worth the extra $$$.

What's recommended as far as DDR3 speeds, latencies, and voltages? I know there was a big concern about volts for i7 but not sure if the same applies to AM3 or not.

 

[eidairaman1]

You may want to look at Gigabyte and DFI for the AM3 Boards aswell, MSI i say is a solid choice but if your into overclocking i have no info on people doing so on MSI.

 

[ShadowFold]

Get an AM3 CPU or don't get any at all. Right now, the 940 and 920 are only for people who KNOW they wont upgrade at all. Get a 720BE or 955BE. Or buy a 945ES since the retail 945 wont be BE(don't quote me on that, just heard this as a rumor). I recommend going with DFI 790FX and some Crucial DDR3

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813136067
-> Amazing sticks, just look at those cas latencies http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148227

As for the CPU.. I recommend the 720BE, unless you want to wait for the 955 which is coming April 20th.

 

[SparkyJJO]

Get an AM3 CPU or don't get any at all. Right now, the 940 and 920 are only for people who KNOW they wont upgrade at all. Get a 720BE or 955BE. Or buy a 945ES since the retail 945 wont be BE(don't quote me on that, just heard this as a rumor). I recommend going with DFI 790FX and some Crucial DDR3

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813136067
-> Amazing sticks, just look at those cas latencies http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148227

As for the CPU.. I recommend the 720BE, unless you want to wait for the 955 which is coming April 20th.

That makes sense... The more I think about it the more I'm sure the 945 will be locked and the 955 will be the fun chip.

Oh yeah, I quoted you

 

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OK so far pretty much this is what I see.
Motherboard DFI probably DFI LP DK 790FXB-M3H5
AMD Chipset 790FX is the best? No Nvidia ones spoken for as of yet.
Memory DDR3 Crucial Ballistix BL2KIT25664BA1336 Good cas latencies
CPU AMD 945 or 955 which ever is BE edition. It will take me till they come out to get it all together.
VGA ASUS ATI HD4870 from my current rig for the time being.

Should be a pretty good toy to play with.
Any other tips or suggestions?

 

[ShadowFold]

Nvidia's DDR3 offerings aren't out yet.. I want a 980a when they come out but I wont have any money And yes the 790FX are the best overclockers.

 

[eidairaman1]

with the AMD board you will be able to Crossfire if you so please.