AMD steambox help needed

[Xenomorphical]

Allrighty then peeps,

The story:
I had a new bought pentium 4 mobo laying around with new ram and a intel pentium CPU that i wanted to see how it would perform as a steambox.
As expected it didn't do to great even running youtube in full HD, so i need new parts.

What i have:
- GPU: Gigabyte GTX 650 OC edition
- PSU: Cooler master G450M, 450 watts modular
- Case: Aerocool QS-200 lite micro ATX case
- HDD: Seagate 500 Gb sata
- CPU cooler: Zalman CNPS950A LED, AM2 socket compattible

What i need:
- AMD mobo: MATX since its a MATX case / if possible black (possible window mod)
- AMD CPU
- CPU cooler since the one i have is compattible till AM2 cpu's.
I could use a Zalman CNPS10X Optima (AM2(+)/AM3/FM1) i have laying around mayebe?

RAM-wise i know i'll be able to find something myself, but i have 0% experience with AMD components.
So that's where the question lies, what would you guys to recommend for a low-midrange solution.
Personally i was looking at a AMD FX-4300, 3.80GHz, 4MB, AM3+ € 95,00 for the CPU.
For the mobo a MSI 760GM-P23 (FX) AM3+ 760G € 39,00 looks sweet but like i said i'm a intel guy,
so if you guys know a better performance / price product im open for suggestions.

What the rig looks like so far:

Thanks and happy holidays peeps! ^_^

 

[Feronix]

I think the Phenom II X4 750K or 760k might be perfect for this build. Or bump it up to the FX-6300 if you can. IMHO the FX-4000 series are a waste of money.

 

[WYP]

I think the Phenom II X4 750K or 760k might be perfect for this build. Or bump it up to the FX-6300 if you can. IMHO the FX-4000 series are a waste of money.

i agree, either go amd hex-core with an AM3+ motherboard or go for the 740 or 750k quad core cpu for an FM2 socket.

 

[Xenomorphical]

I think the Phenom II X4 750K or 760k might be perfect for this build. Or bump it up to the FX-6300 if you can. IMHO the FX-4000 series are a waste of money.

Super fast response as usual, thats what i like about this forum and people on it
As usual ill wait and see what more people think what would be perfect.
Would this be the first topic everybody will aggree with the first reply to a topic? let's see and find out ^_^

Cheers for the info so far guys!

EDIT: So far i got my eye one this:

CPU: AMD FX-6300, 3.50GHz, 8MB, AM3+
MOBO: MSI 760GM-P23 (FX) AM3+ 760G

Keeping in mind sata, power and 4-pin connectors compared to the case layout.

 

[NeverBackDown]

If you can stretch to an 8320 you will see quite a performance boost, only problem is you will need a higher end mobo to handle the 8320.. Would be worth the extra money imho.
Maybe go for a MSI 990FX mobo? Decent price and solid performer.

 

[barnsley]

Don't get any non standard atx AM3+ 'board for the 6xxx onwards. Power draw from those cpus can cause issues with the motherboard, especially if you want to OC/go for the 8320. the 750k is a good bet and from what I've heard actually has better single core performance than some of the FX series cpus.

 

[Xenomorphical]

The parts have been ordered:

MOBO: MSI 760GM-P23 (FX) AM3+ 760G 2xDDR3 mATX (it NEEDS to be matx)
CPU: AMD FX-6300, 3.50GHz, 8MB, AM3+

The system won't be overclocked at all but only undervolted to reduce temps.
OC-ing isn't an option anyways since it will be air cooled in a tiny matx case.
I did get some Corsair AF120 fans to get some airflow going on in the case tho since the stock fans as usual are shit.
Should have the parts after xmass so more pics to follow.

And again, happy holidays people. ^_^

 

[barnsley]

The parts have been ordered:

MOBO: MSI 760GM-P23 (FX) AM3+ 760G 2xDDR3 mATX (it NEEDS to be matx)
CPU: AMD FX-6300, 3.50GHz, 8MB, AM3+

The system won't be overclocked at all but only undervolted to reduce temps.

And again, happy holidays people. ^_^

Yeah I'd undervolt it The supported cpu list for that motherboard does say the 6300 (and other 8 core cpus I'd never heard of :s) so you should be fine but I'd undervolt it and make sure turbo clock is disabled.

 

[Wraith]

IMHO the FX-4000 series are a waste of money.

Not bad CPUs though my FX-4100 astounded me with it's performance & future clocking potential, but I have to agree with you on the waste of money. My 4100 was £60 last year but you can't get them now for less than £85 may as well go for the hexa.

 

[Xenomorphical]

Right, i made a small AMD n00b mistake i'm afraid lol.
I ordered 1600 Mhz memory since i assumed this would be supported by the MSI 760GM-P23 (FX) AM3+ 760G 2xDDR3.
Tuns out it only supports DDR3 Memory DDR3 800/1066/1333Mhz.
So the question is, will 1600 ram work on a 1333 ram mobo, and will the memory just downscale or should i just get 1333 ram instead?

On a side note, this is what msi says that imo goes against eachother:
MSI mobo website description:

"• OC Genie: Easy Overclocking Technology
• Unlock CPU Core: Unlock hidden CPU core and potential"

And right underneath that it says:

"

"

AKA: "go overclock it! v/s don't use OCCT to find the OC sweet spot".
Wierd :huh:

 

[NeverBackDown]

If you already have the ram then just manually set it to 1333 but lower the timings on it.

 

[Xenomorphical]

If you already have the ram then just manually set it to 1333 but lower the timings on it.

I havent got the parts yet so i can still change the ram type.
I just wondered if it would make a difference.

 

[NeverBackDown]

Well i would get 1600mhz ram just because it is not more expensive and in the future you know you could just change a few settings instead of having to buy a new kit because your 1333mhz one can't do it without overclocking.

 

[Xenomorphical]

Well i would get 1600mhz ram just because it is not more expensive and in the future you know you could just change a few settings instead of having to buy a new kit because your 1333mhz one can't do it without overclocking.

Another problem on the RAM i picked tho, the mobo says 1,5V and the one i picked is 1,65V
I assume that's fixable in the bios by upping the RAM voltage tho.
Not sure how many options the mobo will give on that on the other hand since its just a tiny thing lol

 

[NeverBackDown]

It should give you the voltage option somewhere in the bios.

 

[Xenomorphical]

It should give you the voltage option somewhere in the bios.

I got 1,5V / 1600 Mhz ram instead and it was really easy to change the ram speed up in the bios so thats solved.
I'm installing windows 7 64 on it now and will upload some pic's soon.
I can tell you tho, the CPU cooler has 4mm spacing between the PSU and the heatsink.
Also the fan on the heatsink has 1mm spacing between itself and the low profile ram i got.
Alltogether it has become a funny little thing i must say ^_^

 

[Xenomorphical]

Right time for a update then now the x-mass madness and all is over.

I did some shopping:

- AMD AM3+ mobo
- AMD FX 6300 CPU @ 3,5 Ghz
- 2x4Gig of Corsair Vengeance Low Profile RAM
- Corsair AF120 case fans
- MX-4 thermal paste

Unboxed version.

I allways thought the Intel stock CPU coolers ware shit, but AMD has a even smaller and worse version appearantly lol.
As you can see i retrieved the cooler i bought for my brother back to use in the Steambox.

The Zalman CNPS 10x Optima is a bit bigger and advanced you could say

Thats why i went with the low profile memory

Mayebe a to serious cooler for this small case, but at least the fan can run really slow and silent now.
Also, the heatsink is only 4mm away from the PSU lol.

Looking good

This was the temp for the CPU when it ran at full speed in a 22C room.
Pretty impressive i must say.

And there you have it fitting nicely flush with the tv table.

Might need a wireless controller tho hehe

All together this was a small but fun little project that turned out fully as i wanted it to.
I have been playing some sidescrollers like "Trine 2" on it and the rig handles it fine on highest settings even ^_^

All components score a 7.4 and even a 7.7 in the windows 7 experience score.
Only the oldder HDD i had laying around has a score of 5,6 so that will be a future upgrade i think.

 

[Feronix]

AMD CPU temps don't read properly. Your CPU temperature can't be below ambient either

Nice build though, got some benchies?

 

[Xenomorphical]

AMD CPU temps don't read properly. Your CPU temperature can't be below ambient either

Nice build though, got some benchies?

Hmm something AMD might want to fix then?
How can you run benches then if it doesn't read the temps right lol.
I'm not surprised tho since Speedfan didn't pick up any CPU readings either, just the harddrive temp sensor and that's it.
I did install another prog for the CPU temps tho but its kinda unlogic with a big "device manager"-like tree with all konds of volts readings and stuff i don't want to see (yet)
At least afterburner works for the GPU lol

So yeah, no benchy's yet since i want to figure out the temps first as you can imagine.
So far i just set the memory to 1600 instead of 1333mhz so i'll have to get into all the numbers and things in the next few days.
It will happen tho ^_^

 

[barnsley]

The best temperature monitor for AMD cpu is their own program, AMD Overdrive. Bare in mind it is only really accurate for cpus under load.