TrevaUk

Today I preordered Windows 7, and I would like to add a few upgrades to my rig before installing it.

I'll be looking to replace my aging motherboard and CPU, and if necessary the RAM. As this is intended as a gaming computer I would like to use high-spec components.

If I post my current Rig here then you guys can suggest what motherboard/CPU Bundle to get, and/or recommend any other components worth upgrading.

Antec900 Case
Thermaltake W0106 700w Watt PSU
Asus M2N-E Motherboard
AMD X2 6000+ (3.11GHz)
4GB 2 x 2GB PC6400 C5 RAM DDR2 PC Memory Geil Dragon
BFG GeForce 8800 GTX OC2 768 MB
Creative Audigy 2 SZ Sound Card
4 x Hard Drives SATA (250GB+250GB+400GB+750GB)
"I may remove 1 or 2 hard drives, and use External Enclosures"
CDRW DVDRW Optical Drive

linderman

my choice fro your board would be Phenom X4 9450 or 9550 >>>>be careful you dont buy a phenom II those are not supported by your board

http://support.asus.com/cpusupport/c...roduct=1&os=24

your video card is plenty capable but if you want even more; then by all means look at the 260GTX or 275GTX

linderman

if you dont mind spending the extra for the mobo too then by all means

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...GA-MA790X-UD4P

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103471


re-use your existing ram sticks and video card




you should be able to sell your existing board and cpu on ebay for $80.00 to $100.00

TrevaUk

These are the nearest matches I could find on eBuyer, I think they are the same.
Gigabyte GA-MA790XT-UD4P 790X Socket AM3 DDR3 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard
AMD Phenom II X4 940 3GHz Socket AM2+ 6MB L3 Cache Retail Boxed Processor

I'm not sure I fully understand QuadCore, "Is it just 4 CPU Cores rated at 3GHz Each"

TrevaUk

Would this Motherboard work with the AMD Phenom II X4 940
Asus M3N-HT Deluxe

Dacads

Yes it would.
http://usa.asus.com/Product.aspx?P_ID=RgHWsXGQyHAG1n7Z

Vrait

No, it would be 3ghz divided by four for each core.
So If the quad core was at 4ghz, each core of it would be clocked at 1ghz.
And for a dual core at 4ghz each core would be at 2ghz.

Phædrus2401

^ No. Each core is running at the stated clock speed. So if you have a 2.6GHz quad core, you have four cores running at 2.6GHz. A 2.6GHz dual core is two cores running at 2.6GHz each.

A quad core theoretically has more performance than a dual core, and will perform better when running certain types of program, like server, CAD, virtualization, video editing, and 3D modeling software. However, most games are optimized for dual core processors and thus will only run on two of a quad core's four cores. The few games that are "optimized" for quad cores usually only run the extra two at ~5-20% of capacity. Thus we usually recommend dual cores for gaming rigs because they have a better price:performance ratio. A 3.0GHz E8400 costs $168, while a 3.0GHz Q9650 costs $320, and the E8400 will perform just as well as the Q9650 in 95% of the games out there. For the few games that are quad core optimized, an E8500 ($190) or E8600 ($270) will still be comparable in performance.

Vrait

I stand corrected. Thanks for the info!
So a quad core 3.0ghz would run a duel core optimized game just as good as a 3.0ghz dual core?

Phædrus2401

Yes. There may be a slight performance improvement, actually, due to Windows being able to run on the two unused cores. But if you watch your CPU usage while on the desktop you'll see that Windows usually isn't using the CPU at all, and at most you'll see an occasional spike to 10-30% for a few seconds. So it's the opinion of most of us that it isn't really worth it.

Anyway, glad to help out.

TrevaUk

The Dual Core option would be something like AMD Phenom II X2 545 3GHz, but is that really any better than what I already have which is a AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ (3.0GHz)

Perhaps I get the Motherboard and keep my current CPU - Maybe sink the extra money towards a better Video Card.

TrevaUk

Yesterday, I bought and installed this motherboard Asus M3N-HT Deluxe, all works well, except for a small SATA problem.

This motherboard has 6 SATA Ports (4 of them are red and 2 are black). I connected my 4 hard drives to the red SATA ports and my CD/DVD Drive to one of the black SATA ports, But the motherboard won't Recognize my SATA CD/DVD Drive.

Not sure whether I need to enable a setting in the BIOS or whether the black SATA ports are not for CD Drives.

simpswr

The balck ones are probably for RAID . . you should be able to disable that in the BIOS

TrevaUk

In the motherboard manual it says "SATA 5-6 Connectors support AHCI mode and RAID mode only. Make sure to install the AHCI or RAID driver in the bundled support DVD before connecting devices to SATA 5-6 connectors. Otherwise, the devices will not work."

So, I need to install a driver from the CD, before the CD Drive will work?

simpswr

You should not need to do anything other than set it to AHCI . . Windows 7 has the drivers

linderman

you could also use a sata to IDE adapter and run your Rom drive off the IDE controller