Upgrade Mobo and Processor for ~€200

CastorTroy

Hi,
I upgraded the GPU and PSU last year. (Thread here http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056570742)

In the process I think I may have damaged my motherboard as ever since there have been occasional issues starting up, sometimes not even making it past the bios/blue screen.

So decided to finally replace it and figured may as well upgrade the processor while I'm at it.

1. What is your budget? [€250 max but preferably around the €200 mark]

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? General use, watching videos, playing games

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? [No]

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? [Hard drive/DVD Drive/Graphics Card/PSU/RAM]

5. Do you need a monitor? [No]

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? [1920x1080 Samsung 42" HDTV] [No]

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? Maybe wireless card if can't use my current one

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? [I'll say no until I'm more comfortable]

8. How can you pay? [Credit Card/Laser]

9. When are you purchasing? [Maybe this month or next]

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Recurve360

Id suggest both of these:
FX6300 €100
AS Rock 970DE3 €53

And you have space in your budget if you need Ram and Wireless card also.
If not you could upgrade to the 8350 instead which has 2 more cores.

Youd be hard pressed to get a top intel processor and board for sub 200

CastorTroy

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll extend the budget to between €250 and €300 if that helps? (reviewed my bank account )

BloodBath

It would be handy to know what processor and board you currently have.

CastorTroy

Current motherboard: M2N68-LA (Narra6)
Current Processor: AMD Athlon II X4 635

It's This with the insides transferred to a new case and the GPU upgraded to a Radeon 6870 and PSU upgraded to Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 450W

CastorTroy

Thinking of taking advantage of the 8350 price on Amazon. Would that AS Rock 970DE3 motherboard mentioned above still be okay with it? Don't plan on upgrading anything else for at least another year.

marco_polo

CastorTroy wrote: »

Thinking of taking advantage of the 8350 price on Amazon. Would that AS Rock 970DE3 motherboard mentioned above still be okay with it? Don't plan on upgrading anything else for at least another year.

125W piledriver CPUs are not supported by that board, if you plan on overclocking in the future I'd get this Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3 and the FX 8320. Its a good price for a board which has 8+2 phase VRMs, and the CPU can be overclocked to pretty well the same levels as the FX8320.

The Pro3 would be fine for a FX8320/8350 if you are not overclocking but definately get the something better otherwise (EDIT: On the Pro 3 I might consider bumping the FX8320 up to FX8350 speeds, if the chip could get there with very little/no voltage increases, but that about it).

CastorTroy

Thanks. So if not overclocking(as I probably wouldn't) should I just pay the extra £25 for the 8350 or is there much difference?
That Gigabyte board doesn't seem to have great reviws there?

marco_polo

CastorTroy wrote: »

Thanks. So if not overclocking(as I probably wouldn't) should I just pay the extra £25 for the 8350 or is there much difference?
That Gigabyte board doesn't seem to have great reviws there?

If you want, you could probably make an FX8320 into one pretty easily but its up to yourself, it probably worth paying £25 more if you are definitely not going down that route.

Ah the UD3 is pretty good, there only 7 reviews and most of the one stars look to be the usual mix of DOAs and PEBKAC which can happen with any board.

Much larger (and more accurate) sample size at newegg.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128519

EDIT: Not trying to bully you into overclocking :P but this 212 Evo is an alternative way to spend £25 and would comfortable get the FX8320 to ~4.3-4.5Ghz range.

CastorTroy

I'm thinking since I'm replacing/upgrading in the first place because of doing something that harmed something in my PC that I'll pass on overclocking for now to be sure I don't mess anything else up.

Thanks again for the help. Think I'll just go for the 8350 in this case and that board

CastorTroy

marco_polo wrote: »

If you want, you could probably make an FX8320 into one pretty easily but its up to yourself, it probably worth paying £25 more if you are definitely not going down that route.

Ah the UD3 is pretty good, there only 7 reviews and most of the one stars look to be the usual mix of DOAs and PEBKAC which can happen with any board.

Much larger (and more accurate) sample size at newegg.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128519

EDIT: Not trying to bully you into overclocking :P but this 212 Evo is an alternative way to spend £25 and would comfortable get the FX8320 to ~4.3-4.5Ghz range.

Just saw the last bit and since you're bullying in a reverse psycholgy type way... I must ask what are the advantages of overclocking the 8320 over getting the 8350? And could the 8350 be overclocked then?

BloodBath

The advantage is you get a better quieter after market cooler for the same price or less than the 8350 with a stock cooler.

The chips are virtually the same anyway only for the 500mhz stock speed difference. It will easily over clock to 8350 levels. You could go higher if you wanted. Around 4.5 with a 212 evo should be possible.

CastorTroy

Okay. You convinced me. Even if I don't overclock, at least I'll have the option and it's unlikely I'll need to anytime soon.

Thanks again for all your help.

So final basket is
AMD FX8320
212 Evo
Gigabyte UD3 Motherboard

marco_polo

Yeah it should perform just fine out of the box for a few years anyway, definitely nice to have the option of giving it a 20%+ performance boost down the road.

Enjoy.