The New AMD Building Thread

OT.. sorry Russ...

I know what happened to Morty... the KC Chiefs cheerleaders abducted him because they were wanting a real man since the team sux this year... hehehe. Good to see you at least make a "ghost" appearance Morty.
/OT

Russ your "thoughts" on the RAM is valid I think but if you're not a truly demanding user the DDR2 800 RAM will do. I do like the price of the DDR2 1066 stuff right now tho... it's dang cheap to say the least and if you have the 1066 RAM there's no need to worry about memory bottle necks to a point. $9.99 is hard to beat for "decent" RAM tho... DDR2 800 that is...

I shouldn't do this but I agree with Sophy about the AMD 9600 Quad. I'm not to worried about OC'in that little beauty and a Quad no less.... I'm actually excited about a new AMD build but I'm trying to save for a new "toy"... sooo computering is taking a back seat right now.

Looks like some good "insight" going on here... let's keep those minds open and the advice as good as ever.

....gm

 

GM,

My only concern with the cheap 9600 is the TLB error, because the fix chokes the hell out of things real bad. In essence, your cache memory is useless using it. According to that manufacturer, the processors that AMD have on sale have B2 stepping, which means it's not the new B3 stepping, which was one of the improvements put in when AMD fixed the TLB problem.
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=3260&p=3

Best Regards,
Russ

 

What about the Fan that comes with the AMD Phenom 9600 ? AMD offers a 3yr warranty their fan, so I'm guessing its OK. Mostly everybody bad mouths stock fans

 

Here's some more tests and info on the 780G and 790GX & GP chipsets

Tweaktown Reviews
http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/1537/gigabyte_ga_ma78gm_s2h_780g_motherboard/index.html
iXBIT Labs
http://ixbtlabs.com/articles3/mainboard/amd-780-740-chipsets-p1.html
Anandtech
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3279&p=2

I apologize to the Asus fans, but there don't seem to be any reviews available at this time that I can find other than what was in the above Anandtech review.

GigaByte
Those interested in a Gigabyte MB for higher power CPUs and a MB that is AM3 ready might want to consider this MB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128360

For the higher end folks! LOL!!
http://www.motherboards.org/reviews/motherboards/1813_5.html

Asus
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131324

For the higher end folks
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131331

While the Asus M3A78-EM was the least expensive, it's as feature rich as the Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H, but again I haven't found out anything useful as to the MBs performance yet. The highest priced MB is the ASUS M3A78-T 790GX at $139.99. It has the sideport 1333 memory for the graphics. Still, with prices ranging from $65.99 for the 780G to $139.99 for the 790GX, there isn't a huge difference in price depending on sales, free shipping and so on compared to current Intel MBs. That alone bodes well for the future! At least we are not looking at $300+ motherboards!

Russ

 

Rick,
I can't find any information on the stock cooler at all. Considering every test I've seen has used an aftermarket cooler, and they still ran hot at stock speed (idle 50C), my best guess is that it's not of much use. I know the ones for the 64x2s is an aluminum block 2 3/16" wide x 3 1/16 long x 1 7/16 high with a 70mm 9 bladed fan on the top. These work very well for the 45 and 65w CPUs. Are they worth the extra money to buy the Box processor with the 9600? Probably not until you consider the difference in warranty. The Box with the Cooler has a 3 year warranty, while the OEMs have no warranty from AMD at all, and only 30 days replacement from Newegg! Fortunately the Box is on sale at Newegg for $104.99. Be advised that the 9600 has the TLB error, and the fix cuts performance anywhere from 3.1% to a whopping 72% as it basically shuts down the on chip cache. That 72% is using Win RAR, so it's more like 10-15% average for the rest. Something to consider!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

I'll probably stick with my original Specs. As posted earlier

 

Rick,
Unless I can come up with some factual info on the 5050e, I'll stick with the 4850e myself! I already know that I can overclock it 500 to 600MHZ if I want. It all depends on the temps.

Happy Thanksgiving,
Russ

 

I'd be curious to see what the stock cooler is for the Phenoms, if I remember rightly they didn't use to come with them. Any cooler that can take that much heat is going to be relatively impressive, it would have to be of at least Freezer 64 standard or it would probably shut down on load!

 

Build a complete Quad Core system that's got game using all name brand parts and have it delivered for less than $500.

Motherboard
GIGABYTE GA-MA74GM-S2 AM2+/AM2 AMD 740G $54.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128342


Case: COOLER MASTER Elite 330 RC-330-KKN1-GP Black $34.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119115

Power Supply: Thermaltake Purepower W0100RU 500W ATX 12V 2.0 $49. 99 les $40.00 rebate $ 14.99.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153052

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive. Free shipping.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148288

Memory: CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 $34.95 minus $13.00 rebate us $21.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145590

DVD-RW:Sony NEC Optiarc Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL X2 at $19.99 each

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106085


Video Card: HIS Hightech H467QT512P Radeon HD 4670 IceQ Turbo 512MB $79.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161252

CPU: AMD Phenom 9600 Agena 2.3GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 2MB L3 Cache Black Edition with unlocked clock Multiplier. $105.

Price Total $443.91 Plus shipping $33.68

Total including rebates comes to $455.59


Link to image:

http://i430.photobucket.com/albums/qq30/hgaskins/AMD.jpg

 

Sophy the only thing that I would really consider is a change in your ODD's. I think you chose CD-RW's on accident.

I would look at 2 of these. link to Sony Optiarc NEC AD-7200A $39.98 for 2 of them.

...gm

 

Ooops! I did indeed get lost. Thanks Greeny I added them.

 

abuzar1.

I have an AMD Quad 9950 and 9550, both seem to run really nice. I have 2G of ram with 512mb Asus 8600gt cards and Gigabyte MA790GP-DS4H MB. The 9950 drives a little faster than the 9550.

 

Sophocles,
Nice build. The only things I would change would be the MB for a
Biostar A780G M2+ $59.99 w/$10 MIR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138105
and the PSU
Antec Earthwatts 430w $34.99 FS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371006

If I was putting it together for me, I would just rather have a 780G MB. This particular one is the little "MB that could" and handles the 95w 9600 with no problems. It's what I used for the recent x2 4400+. The 780G or 790Gx are the best AMD chipset MBs at the moment, and this one does everthing well! The Antec Earthwatts because it's 80% Certified. The cost difference wouldn't be that great and I think it would be a better all around computer. The cost difference would amount to about $20, roughly.

Best Regards,
Russ

 

As a rule I would agree if the intention was to use the onboard graphics since the 740G supports only DX9 where as the 780 supports DX10, and the 740 supports two sticks of memory vs the 780g's 4 sticks of memory, but beyond that there is no benefit to the chipset differences. Since Two gigabytes of memory is more than enough for a quality budget build I would personally prefer to stick with the Gigabyte board because of its known build quality, but others might see it differently.

As for the power supply differences either will do just fine. I'm now recommending this one Thermaltake Purepower W0100RU 500W ATX 12V 2.0 which $54.99 with a $40.00 rebate making it $14.99 which lowers the price of the system.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153052

 

Well I think I'm making a purchase, and the Gigabyte board with 780g chipset http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128335

I cant decide on a CPU though, any deals today to look at? I'm making a Black Friday purchase for someone else and thought I'd throw this in for me.

 

DR33 I'd really consider the AMD Phenon 9600 for $104.99 at the EGG. If not that then the AMD 4850e I think it is.

...gm

add: looks as tho the 9600 is out of stock for now, you might search around and see if it's available somewhere else.

 

I would agree to that choice. I didn't use it in my cheap build package because most people don't purchase more than 4 Gigabytes of RAM or use integrated Video, but there is no doubt that the 780G has better integrated video than the 740G.

 

Heres where I'm at, I have everything else for a build I only need a mobo + CPU combo. I've wanted to try the new AMD offerings for a while and for the price I just may. I couldnt find the 9600 in stock at my usual haunts and GM and TheoneJR mentioned 4850e and tiger direct has those while the egg doesnt. I also seen the 5600+ right next to it at $10 more and 2.9 vs 2.5 stock. If I remember right, the 4850"e" was for because its a little cooler and energy efficient? Thats not totally needed in this specific build and I would pay the extra for the speed increase.
Right now the AMD combo (5600+ and gigabyte board I linked)is coming in at about $180 before shipping
The Intel combo I was looking at (E8400 Wolfdale, Gigabyte EP43-DS3L) comes in at $240 before shipping and am totally ready to pay for that.

I'm trying to talk myself down from an Intel "OC friendly" machine to a really good AMD machine. I'd like opinions and arguments in either direction. If it helps, I'm either going to give it to my (step)son (in advanced IT training for U.S. Military ARMY National Guard) for Christmas or sell it after its built but I will be playing around with it for a month either way.
Only benefit of 1 over the other for me is that if I go AMD I can keep my 7600GT video card for something else down the road and stay with onboard video. I'm done rambling, thanks for putting up with it, have a nice weekend all.

 

Right now with the 9600 Quad for $105 is out of stock and I don't think AMD is still producing them anymore. With the 9600's replacement (non TLB error) the 9650 $50 more, I would go with one of these dual cores.

4850e
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103255

5400 Brisbane
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103235

Both OC well! The 4850e is a 45w chip while the 5400+ brisbane is 65w. At stock speeds, you can even use the stock cooler, and it will still run cool with both.

Best Regards,
Russ

 

This is what happens when people get caught up obsessing over something like the TLB error which they know little about. OOO scary stuff!! Like they're all into virtualization and fear for professional data loss. For gaming and encoding it would've amounted to nothing even without the patch. The truth is that I haven't read a single post where someone who purchased the 9600 experienced TLB errata and it makes sense, because how many of us actually use virtualization? The upside is that for those of us who are wise in the way of making the most from the least it became a great deal.

The 9600 was a better deal than the 9650 because of its unlocked multiplier and because 99.9% of the time it was no more likely to cause a data error for average users. That meant lower prices and better performance.


For some reason everyone kept overlooking the fact that the 9600 was also a black edition