Need help with choosing mainboard and CPU

[watchm4n]

Hello every one, sorry for a noob kinda question.

I have been away from pc building for 3 years and a lot has changed since i last time build a system.

I have read a lot of different articles on the net but im still left confused, and this is not the world i left and i feel that im one million years behind the technology now.

I am going to be building a new Machine and I need your advise on helping me understand whats out there please

I have been looking at getting the Quad core CPU (what do people think are they future proof? as i understand that there is not many applications at the moment that utilize all 4 cores? correct me if im wrong

I will be doing a lot of video, and photo editing. Also this needs to be a very good gaming rig as well. What are good mainboard and CPU combos?

Sorry for the long post im just very lost right now

Also apologies if its in the wrong thread.

Thanks

 

[Msm2]

What sort of budget are you looking at? There is no such thing as future proof.

 

[watchm4n]

Haha yes i meant it in a way as are things actually going to start using quad core?

And my budget is probably around £300 for main board and CPU but id like to spend less , i dont know if i should put more into the CPU and get an alright main board or split it 50-50?

 

[Msm2]

Have a look thro the forum reviews and threads,they may help you choosing.

 

[djw746]

Haha yes i meant it in a way as are things actually going to start using quad core?

And my budget is probably around £300 for main board and CPU but id like to spend less , i dont know if i should put more into the CPU and get an alright main board or split it 50-50?

For this budget, I would strongly recommend looking at the Phenom II with a AM2+/3 FX/GX board. It performs (for games) as well as the current high performance core i7 920 from Intel for the right price. Goodluck choosing.

 

[watchm4n]

THe more i read into this the harder it is to choose.

All my previous PC builds used AMD and i was a true fan, now reading some articles and reviews of various AMD mainboards and CPU's on the market it seems they have dropped behind Intel.

Was just looking at these from Intel and AMD:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 for £138.77

AMD Phenom II X3 Tri Core 720 Black Edition 2.8GHz at £115.83

What do you think? is that £20 worth spending on Intel or should i stick with the AMD like i have done always

 

[Mul.]

I too would recommend a Phenom II X4 940 / AM2+ combo for about £260-280 but I wouldn't recommend it on the premise that it supposedly performs as well as the i7 920. Truth is, while it might be close to the 920 in games, the 920 is significantly faster with multimedia based tasks that can utilise all cores + the Hyperthreading. The Phenom II 940 at stock clocks will perform just under that of the Core 2 Quad Q9550 but faster than the Q9400/9450.

Phenom II 940 Black Edition £155

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/AMD-...-30GHz-8MB-Total-Cache-HT-2000MHz-125W-Retail

Biostar TA790GX 128M £72

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Bios...6)-DDR2-1066-SATA-3Gbps-SATA-RAID-OnBoard-VGA

Or if you want something with 16x/16x Crossfire, a better board layout etc.

Asus M3A79-T £135

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Asus...(x16)-DDR2-1066-667-800-SATA-II-SATA-RAID-ATX

Personally I would edge to a cheaper AMD 790GX based board as the whole idea of taking the AMD route is value for money.