Opinions on which Phenom to use?

I have been debating for some 2 weeks now, and am curious what you all might suggest. The system will mainly be used for heavy gaming, and I may get back into OC'ing a it more now, depends. Can't decide which CPU to use. All 3 I listed are Black Editions, and I listed the 2 boards I am debating between. Just purchased some new DDR2 OCZ Blade series, so I may stick with DDR2 for now, though DDR3 is tempting. What do you all think?

CPU #1: PII 955 X4 BE 3.2 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103674 $245.00

CPU #2: PII 940 X4 BE 3.0 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103471 $189.99

CPU #3: PII 720 X3 BE 2.8 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103649 $139.00

Mobo's

#1: Asus M4N82 Deluxe 980a http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131383 $169.99

#2: Asus M4A79T Deluxe 790FX http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131363 $199.99

Also looked at: Gigabyte MA790FXT-UD5P http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128377 $179.99

Would it be really worth it right now to make the jump to DDR3 for a rig that is primarily used for gaming? Like I said, I may overclock it a bit, after all it will be a BE chip, so might as well play a bit Eventually I am looking to build a new Core i7 system, so just want something solid to hold me over till I get all the parts and prices come down a bit more.

Any input will be much appreciated. Thanks in advance guys!

OCZSJ

 

Pii 955 x4 be 3.2

 

Forgot to add if it matters much, it is being run with a single Evga GTX 275 1792MB GPU. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130476

 

Well, if it's mainly for gaming, then really a tricore will do it just fine. There's little reason to really go quad core unless you have the workload that would need four cores. Unless you have the budget of course.

Get the Phenom II 955 if you go quad core.

Also, I'd get that AM3 DDR3 Gigabyte board.

deltatux

 

Did you read the reviews on that Gigabyte board? ouch!

 

Asus M4N82 Deluxe 980a & CPU #3: PII 720 X3 BE 2.8

 

Point taken, I'd actually get the ASUS DDR3 board ... heck, I usually only take ASUS myself.

deltatux

 

955.

 

if u have the funds 955 BE

 

Asus M4N82 Deluxe 980a


PII 720 X3 BE 2.8


And a 4gb 1066 ram kit


ofcourse this advice is only because you said you are getting a core I7 system in due time. Aslo you can sli that video card in the immediate future if you'd want to.

Now if it was me, which I wouldn't buy I7, I'd get the Amd 955 with the Asus m4a79-t Deluxe with 4gb 1600mhz Mushkin ram. But thats just me.

 

If OP considers jumping to Core i7 in the near future it makes no economic sense to do a transition jump like this. It's either you go Core i7 now or don't. It just doesnt make any sense because his current build is very gameable.

He should consider overclocking his CPU to something like 2.8 GHz or more during these transition periods to a new build.

deltatux

 

p2 955 and the gigabyte mobo

 

what wrong with that motherboard anyway..just wanna know

 

i have the Phenom II X4 955BE and Gigabyte mobo and works great. rock solid stability even at 5.0GHz clock on the CPU.

 

Nothing wrong with Gigabyte boards. The UD5P, compared to the enthusiast Asus board is slower by a small margin. But it's rock solid and in my opinion the layout is better. (not mentioning the poorly placed cmos reset button hiding behind the graphics card )

 

Yeah I just read the review on the Gigabyte MA79XT-UD4P that Xbit-Labs did, and I have to say they were at a stretch to say any cons about it, the things they picked up on were very petty. I have the above mentioned AM3 board and I have to say, It's great board and the quality is exceptional. I have no hesitation in recomending the board to anyone who is thinking of a new build.

 

i myself have an asus mobo now, but only because i couldnt get a decent dfi/gigabyte where i bought the stuff, i so prefere gigabytes bios over asuses

 

The Gigabyte board is probably fine I hadn't read any official reviews on it just the day I clicked on the op's link there were 2 consecutive buyer reviews on the Newegg page reporting DoA's for that board hence my question.

 

Thanks for the input guys.

Pretty well set I think on using the M4N82 board, most likely with a 955BE. Though for what I do, the X3 720 BE is tempting, plus it would allow me to use cash on diff RAM if needed. Haven't had a chance yet to OC the OCZ Blade DDR2 800 RAM I just picked up, so still a bit undecided on sticking with DDR2, or going to DDR3. From what I have read in reviews, the diff between DDR2 and DDR3 on benchmarks is only about 2 - 3% increase. So I may just stick with DDR2 800 and just add another 2x2GB kit of the Blade series. If I decide to go to a DDR3 setup, it just means I will have to wait a couple weeks to get the new graphics card, so no biggy. Pretty sure my 650w PSU will hold up just fine too. If not, time to replace with a 1k PSU

I am a little bit undecided about going to DDR3, but if I do, I'll either use the Gigabyte board, or the MSI 790FX GD70. Doing a bit more research tonight, but from what I have seen, a lot of peeps are getting some really nice performance and OC's on the MSI board. So I may pair that board with the 955 BE instead. All depends what DDR3 RAM I can find. And in reply to what one of you said, I think I will hold off and scrap the idea of building an i7 setup. Just not an Intel fan. Was only thinking about it purely for overclocking, but I feel more comfortable working with AMD setups.

Upgrade, upgrades! Gotta love it.

Thanks though. Off to do some more research on things.

OCZSJ

 

That's why I am a bit hesitant about using the GB board. It seems they have had a really bad batch run with getting a lot of DOA boards lately. Never had any real issues with Asus, so I may just stick with them. Only got turned on really too GB boards, 'cuz I just built a couple systems for someone else using GB boards, and they seem to run pretty damn stable. Didn't OC them at all though. Only other MB I may consider is the MSI GD70.