Motherboard and CPU Upgrade Recommendations

[SuperBeatBoy]

Its been years since i've upgraded. My current pc has a mini atx motherboard in an atx case. Would love to upgrade to a full atx motherboard as i think the motherboard is so small and the components being so close together its not being as cool as it should be. The CPU i have is a Core Duo.

So looking to upgrade them both, something a bit beefier and i'm looking to just spend roughly ?200. Currently have 4x 1GB DDR PC2-5300 and i'm not looking to upgrade those just yet. Just wondering if i could get a motherboard supporting them too.

[SuperBeatBoy]

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/gaming-cpu-overclocking-processor-recommendation,review-32124-3.html

Thinking of going for the Phenom II X4 955. If i do go for this processor would i need to get a new power supply, i only just bought one last christmas which was this http://www.ebuyer.com/product/240998

[SuperBeatBoy]

Anyone?

[eastyy]

i have two computers

one is a phenom 2 x2 which luckily is unlocked to a x4 and that a 5770 graphics card two hardrives is running fine on a 500w power supply

performance wise between that and my intel 6600 quad core with a 460 graphics card there is not a huge difference between them

however i guess if you are lucky and it can be unlocked to a x6 would be a really good buy

[SuperBeatBoy]

I'm just wondering if my current PSU is more than up for it. It sounds like a great processor.

[abigsmurf]

Personally I'd look at spending another £20 or so and get a Sandy Bridge based core i5 system

[SuperBeatBoy]

Got any links mate and would my PSU be enough?

Got 2 Sata HDDs, Soundblaster X-FI XtremeGamer, 4x1GB DDR2 Ram, DVD-RW & 512mb 8800GT.

[abigsmurf]

PSU would be cutting it very fine but Sandy bridge CPUs eat up less juice than Phenom IIs

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/252537

[SuperBeatBoy]

Looking at motherboards now and was wondering where it says they support DDR3 ram can it also support DDR2? I don't want to invest in new ram just yet. Just want the motherboard and processor at the moment.

[abigsmurf]

nope, you're going to need new ram

[SuperBeatBoy]

Ok thats good. Might aswell, can sell my old ram to pay for the new. Seeing as you are the guy to know, you wouldn't happen to know where to get some decent 4gb (2x2gb or 1x4gb) reletively cheap.

[SuperBeatBoy]

Right spec i'm going for.....

Motherboard: M4N98TD EVO
PSU: Corsair CX500W
CPU: Phenom II X2 560 or Phenom II X4 960
4GB DDR3 RAM

Eastyy do you think i'll be able to unlock the cores with that motherboard, i definetly go for the 560 if i knew for certain.

Also that Corsair CX500W should be fine huh?

[eastyy]

Right spec i'm going for.....

Motherboard: M4N98TD EVO
PSU: Corsair CX500W
CPU: Phenom II X2 560 or Phenom II X4 960
4GB DDR3 RAM

Eastyy do you think i'll be able to unlock the cores with that motherboard, i definetly go for the 560 if i knew for certain.

Also that Corsair CX500W should be fine huh?

dunno its really pure luck .....i had a sempron 140 and unfortunetly would not unlock when i got the phenom II x2 it unlocked fine

i "think" if you look online it says something about a black edition being the version thats more likely to unlock but i am not sure

[SuperBeatBoy]

I'll go for the x4 then. Rather be safe than unsure.

God there is sooooooo many choices out there, its driving my brain insane. Don't know whether i want a crossfire board instead now just incase i decide to upgrade to an ati. Doesn't help the crossfire ones are signifinantly cheaper. >_<

[eastyy]

yeah its very very confusing

i just play games on pc and watch the odd movie and i dont run stuff at really high resolutions so really do not see a huge difference between upgrades

my phenom II x4 and a amd 5770 is probably a bit slower then my intel quad core duo 2 with a geforce 460 so i assume the graphics card compensates for the slower cpu

not sure about sli and crossfire as it needs a really good psu but by the time you do need a second card the single cards prices would have dropped