Views/opinions on upgrade

[floppybootstomp]

I’ve been considering an upgrade for my 5.5 year old AMD machine for some time now but over the last 6 months it’s definitely gotten flaky. Couple of symptoms include failure to boot with an optical drive from SATA port 5 only and both USB headers only provide one working port each, suggesting one half of that USB motherboard connection has died.

Plus Ethernet connection has been a bit hit and miss and no less than 4 Linux distros have failed to install. There are other anomalies too but those are the most prominent. The motherboard is an Asus M2N-sli Deluxe with a Black Edition AMD AM2 Dualie 3.2Ghz.

Graphics supplied by Nvidia 9800GTX 512Mb; PSU Corsair 650W non-modular.

So, I’m going to keep or transfer the CPU and bin the motherboard, 2Gb DDR2 Corsair RAM will go into spares box.

I want to build an AMD machine, main rig is Intel. This machine is used mostly for video and audio editing/recording and has some games, none of which are graphic intensive, the 9800 handles all the ones I play on this machine. Steam client installed.

Now, I’m totally out of the loop when it comes to AMD machines, haven’t put one together for 5.5 years and when I looked at all the processors available it confused the hell outta me. Not looking for top notch machine, just medium spec. If anybody could comment on my choices I’d appreciate it. Budget of around £200 but would rather spend less as this kinda unexpected outlay will cancel some other project/object of desire but I just can’t suffer this motherboard any longer.

This what I have tentatively chosen:

Asus M5A99X EVO 990X Socket AM3+ 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard - £100

AMD FX-4 4100 Black Edition 4 Core 3.6Ghz Socket AM3+ 8MB L3 Cache Retail Boxed Processor - £75

Corsair 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600MHz XMS3 Memory Kit CL9 1.65V - £35

Total with postage: £218.

Links:

http://www.ebuyer.com/270698-asus-m...m3-8-channel-audio-atx-motherboard-m5a99x-evo

http://www.ebuyer.com/287683-amd-fx...4-core-3-6ghz-socket-am3-8mb-l3-fd4100wmgusbx

http://www.ebuyer.com/247677-corsair-8gb-ddr3-1600mhz-xms3-memory-cmx8gx3m2a1600c9

I’m hoping the huge Noctua cooler I’m using in current AMD machine will fit new setup but not sure. Will an AM2/AM2+ cooler fit a socket AM3+ CPU?

I’m going to wait until new setup arrives and if Noctua cooler doesn’t fit then I’ll use stock cooler temporarily before getting another non-stock cooler.

All comments, opinions, suggestions, laughter and general mocking welcome

 

[TriplexDread]

I have the 6 core PIB and it cools it perfectly fine
The supplied fan is perfectly adequate imo

I went for the Asus 990FX board which is fantastic too with 16gig (it was cheap so doubled up lol)

Super quiet PC, although its not overclocked. I don't really do that
My case does have noise dampening inside though so that makes a different when fans increase speed while gaming

 

[Anon_F]

Looks a good upgrade FBS, but we will expect pictures of the build!
I'm thinking of upgrading from 4 cores to 8 but will probably buy a complete PC.
As i just dont have the time these days with work & studying to build one!

 

[floppybootstomp]

Parts as detailed above arrived this morning, build started around 18:00, completed 21:30, worked first time, first OS installed, things are looking sweet. Also ordered and fitted cheapo OEM Asus 5.1 Xonar sound card as this model worked extremely well in my media machine.

Thread with pix and details to follow, just gimme a while.