AMD processor suggestions.

[Alpha_Geek]

Alright I am in the market to build a new computer and I want to start at the heart of the rig. Before anyone questions the title, I have been a fan of AMD since the beginning of my computer building life. LOL. I am just a die hard AMD fan and I am going to continue my computer building life with an AMD at the heart of my new rig. So lets move on to my question, I am looking for a new processor. I want something with the possibility of overclocking, quad-core atleast, price wise I am looking at spending no more than $200. I plan to start my system build overclocking on air cooling and moving into water cooling as time goes by. Please feel free to give me any and all advise on a new processor and a motherboard for my build. I would greatly appreciate them all. Thank you in advance for all help you can give me.

 

[Bill Brasky]

The fact that your set on buying amd at your price range makes baby jesus cry.

 

[badb0y]

Come back in 2 months.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

The fact that your set on buying amd at your price range makes baby jesus cry.

I think he means hes hoping to build the whole thing for 200.

I want amd to do well also but even their new line of stuff is underclocked three year old techonology. On top of that every time I try to check out their stuff at bb the demo machines are locked up/crashed. I have yet to find a working demo with an e350 anywhere, not a good sign

 

[OBLAMA2009]

Come back in 2 months.

...and with $150 more.

 

[Gikaseixas]

Agree with badb0y. AMD is close (hopefuly) to launch a new generation of cpus sometime between August and October.

 

[Rifter]

spending $200 on a AMD CPU today is a stupid idea. However if you are really going to throw the cash away the 1100T is the best choice.

Edit to add, here is what $200 will get you on both sides right now

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/203?vs=288

 

[OBLAMA2009]

isnt the 965 around $120?

 

[BLaber]

Wait till September 19th , who know there could be more cpu options available from AMD

 

[wuliheron]

I want something with the possibility of overclocking, quad-core atleast, price wise I am looking at spending no more than $200. I plan to start my system build overclocking on air cooling and moving into water cooling as time goes by. Please feel free to give me any and all advise on a new processor and a motherboard for my build. I would greatly appreciate them all. Thank you in advance for all help you can give me.

Right now the best bang for your buck for cheap gaming is the phenom II 955 (~$120.oo). It can be overclocked to about 3.7ghz on air which is plenty fast enough for any game. You can also buy an AM3+ mobo for as little as $60.oo that can eventually take a bulldozer cpu, but I'd recommend buying one of the newer ones with a 900 chipset with some more modern features and more likely to take future upgrades to bulldozer. Those run maybe $100.oo.

 

[F1shF4t]

Amd 1090T was a nice alternative to i7 930 at the time of release, especially if you did a lot of multitasking. I actually got one at the time cause the platform upgrade was much cheaper.

If you are building a performance comp now, it would be kinda silly to go with amd unless you have a specific case where its faster or where 6 cores is an advantage. The way I see it, 2500k for performance or a cheap amd quad core (Athlon II 645 or something) for basic pc. Waiting for new amd cpu might be an option, but who knows if its gets delayed again or not.

However, if I had no choice but amd now I would get the 1100T.

 

[JimKiler]

Right now the best bang for your buck for cheap gaming is the phenom II 955 (~$120.oo). It can be overclocked to about 3.7ghz on air which is plenty fast enough for any game. You can also buy an AM3+ mobo for as little as $60.oo that can eventually take a bulldozer cpu, but I'd recommend buying one of the newer ones with a 900 chipset with some more modern features and more likely to take future upgrades to bulldozer. Those run maybe $100.oo.

And if he does not want to rebuy RAM get DDR3 1866 speed memory to support bulldozer. Although it could be cheaper to get slower memory today for Phenom II and buy all new 1866 when bulldozer comes outs in Q4.

 

[jaydee]

You have told us nothing with regards to what you plan on doing with your computer. You're not clear on whether or not your budget includes a motherboard and we don't know what other components you have that you want to reuse. You also haven't said when you want to buy/build this system.

If you want good advice, you need to address these things.

 

[wuliheron]

And if he does not want to rebuy RAM get DDR3 1866 speed memory to support bulldozer. Although it could be cheaper to get slower memory today for Phenom II and buy all new 1866 when bulldozer comes outs in Q4.

That overclocked 955 should last at least two years before it starts to produce unacceptable frame rates in any game. Yeah, it won't be buttery smooth and you won't get 300+ fps in half life 2, but the whole point is to save money for other things. I'm still using a phenom II 940 and ddr2 ram myself, but I've taken the money I've saved and invested in other things like 2 radeon 5850s. Like a lot of AMD fans I'd rather almost double my frames per second and increase the eyecandy then invest a lot in a few extra frames per second on the cpu and ram.

 

[gevorg]

Mandatory MicroCenter link if you must buy AMD today:

http://www.microcenter.com/specials/...ndlePROMO.html

 

[bryanW1995]

Those deals are ridiculous, but an AMD fan with a $200 cpu budget is probably better off checking out BD in september before buying a ph2 x6.

 

[guskline]

Alpha Geek: I have been an AMD fan since I replaced the Intel 386DX33 with the improved AMD 386DX40 (that's loyal) BUT check out my new rig 1 below. So long AMD.

 

[bryanW1995]

I can't believe you would turn your back on AMD after only 5 years of pwnage plus significant delays/disappointments with each new arch? You should hang on like I have, just look at my sig!

 

[deimos3428]

I wouldn't buy any CPU in the next few months if you could put it off. If you must buy an AMD processor today, PhII 955 is probably your best bet.

 

[wuliheron]

Those deals are ridiculous, but an AMD fan with a $200 cpu budget is probably better off checking out BD in september before buying a ph2 x6.

That's true. An overclocked 955 is almost as fast as a hex core anyway and he spend the difference on aftermarket cooler that will work with a bulldozer later.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

Right now the best bang for your buck for cheap gaming is the phenom II 955 (~$120.oo). It can be overclocked to about 3.7ghz on air which is plenty fast enough for any game. You can also buy an AM3+ mobo for as little as $60.oo that can eventually take a bulldozer cpu, but I'd recommend buying one of the newer ones with a 900 chipset with some more modern features and more likely to take future upgrades to bulldozer. Those run maybe $100.oo.

Most C3 955s reach 4-4.2GHz.

OP:

They're good bang-for-buck if you don't know how to OC without a locked multiplier, but I'd look at the Phenom II X4 945 instead since it OCs the same and is $10 cheaper. The Phenom II X4 925 OCs a bit less on average (3.8-4GHz), but if you're looking to save money and either already have or are looking to buy a custom heatsink, it's a great deal at only $90. Don't waste money on the 965 and higher.

As for a future-proof motherboard, the Gigabyte GA-990XA-UD3 AM3+ seems like the best bang-for-buck at $140. 990FX is only worth it if you need those additional PCI-E lanes. If you don't need CrossFire support, the ASUS M5A97 AM3+ seems like your best bet at only $100.

 

[Blue Shift]

Most C3 955s reach 4-4.2GHz.

OP:

They're good bang-for-buck if you don't know how to OC without a locked multiplier, but I'd look at the Phenom II X4 945 instead since it OCs the same and is $10 cheaper. The Phenom II X4 925 OCs a bit less on average (3.8-4GHz), but if you're looking to save money and either already have or are looking to buy a custom heatsink, it's a great deal at only $90. Don't waste money on the 965 and higher.

As for a future-proof motherboard, the Gigabyte GA-990XA-UD3 AM3+ seems like the best bang-for-buck at $140. 990FX is only worth it if you need those additional PCI-E lanes. If you don't need CrossFire support, the ASUS M5A97 AM3+ seems like your best bet at only $100.

:thumbsup:

That just about sums it up. Today's Phenom II X4s are fine for gaming right now if you have a 60Hz monitor, and an AM3+ board would give you a good upgrade path.

 

[wuliheron]

That gigabyte mobo would be my recommendation too. They're built to last forever and with the longevity of AMD sockets its one computer that could easily last for ten years with the right parts.

 

[Bill Brasky]

You have told us nothing with regards to what you plan on doing with your computer. You're not clear on whether or not your budget includes a motherboard and we don't know what other components you have that you want to reuse. You also haven't said when you want to buy/build this system.

If you want good advice, you need to address these things.

This we need him to confirm whether $200 is for the build or just the processor. Since he said quad is a minimum, I assumed it was just for the cpu, but who knows!

 

[drizek]

AMD quads are sub $100.