Not sure which to go with

T

Trylen

New member
Hey-oh, Aside of my introduction post, this is my first, so please go easy on me.

I'm a Canadian that recently moved to the USA, this move I has dumb enough to trust my rig to a shipping company (UPS) and I'm getting reimbursed. My issue now is I'm pretty much down to 2 choices:
Option 01: Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 with a FX-4100 ($230USD after tax)
Option 02: Asus M5A97 R2.0 with a FX-6100 ($214.47USD after tax)

The ram I'm settling with is Vengeance Series 8GB DDR3-1600 (CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9) and happy with that choice. I've checked Micro-Center, Newegg, and NCIX, with micro-center being the cheapest on both of these. Now I've been an Asus fan for sometime now, but I have $270 to play with but don't wanna spend it all. I know the Gigabyte board has a better chipset and VRM design (8+2), but uses the older style BIOS. The Asus has a 4+2 phase VRM but is cheap enough to allow for a better cpu and possible a better cpu cooler.

If these were you're options, what would you chose? Thanks for your time.

P.S. If it helps, I'm a mild gamer that likes to tweak the specs here and there. Mostly game between SWOTOR and Skyrim.
 
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BIOS makes no difference unless you want to use windows 8 really and even then its not a deal breaker.

DO you have to buy new? Not thought about picking up a used 1090 or 1100T?
 
Is there an option to go towards an intel setup?
If I had to go an AMD cpu it would have to be Trinity with out a doubt paired with some fast ram - 2133 or 2400. Then oc the bejesus out of it. An overclocked trinity is pretty decent bang for buck. The onboard gpu is half decent as well especially with fast memory.
What are the other components of your rig - gpu etc?
 
Yeah, currently there is a deal where you get $40 off on a combo FX-series Processor and Mother board.
And unfortunately the cheapest Intel setup I found was more expensive with an i3.

Current Rig:
Proc: Q9650 at stock now,was at 4.0GHz but after shipping it'll crash on stock occasionally.
Board: P5Q-E seems to be where the real damage is.
Ram: Transcend Axeram 2x2GB DDR2-1066
Video: Geforce GTX550ti by PNY
HDD: Seagate 500GB Sata (boot)
WD Caviar blue 640GB (storage)
Optical: A very dusty Liteon Bluray/dvd-rw combo
PSU: Corsair GS600
Case: Original Coolermaster HAF932 (grey inside)

got a few misc pieces inside too, like Hauppauge HVR-1250.

Sadly I'd prefer to stay Intel, but I have that budget and a wife that'll know if I cheat on that budget.
 
I wouldnt be going AMD tbh. If you have to then a 1090T or 1100T will be the best bet, the CPU's you have chosen will be slower than the older Phenom II's
 
If I had more then $270 to buy the board, cpu and ram, Intel would be my choice. I do thank you for your time, of the reviewers I follow, you have more sway as you've shown yourself to be more honest of your reviews.
 
Yeah, don't think you can go Intel with that budget. Have you considered the A8 series CPUs from AMD? They're targeted towards the budget gamer market. Still blown away by Intel but might fit what you're trying to do a little better? Are you just replacing the CPU and board or the whole system?
 
As it's my board that's dying, I kinna have to replace the cpu, ram and board. My socket 775 C2Q Q9650 had a good run. I kinna overlooked the APU based. Always looked at those as supposed to be under the AM3/AM3+. After reading that I did take a look on both Micro-center (which I can drive to) and Newegg, those two still seem the better deal. Kinna hard to beat the $40 off on chip and board when you're on a budget.. I'm leaning more to the Asus right now. Been an Asus user since my last run with AMD (back in the 939 days)
 
Heh, in the end I ended up getting the Asus M5A97 R2.0 with a FX-6300. This is my first run with the uEFI and I'm impressed. Can't wait to get some extra cash together in the future to get a better cooler and play with the over clocking.
 
Too late I know but for the heck of it, the Phenom II X4's are the steal right now for budget builders. The 965 is routinely on Newegg for $80-100. Put a solid overclock on them and that's a lot of cpu power for the money right there.
 
IMHO i would wait and buy for now, a second hand socket 775 motherboard till you have saved some money for a very nice rig! The Q9650 for now ,it's very capable to handle every thing!
 
Well at 129.99 for the cpu, 44.99 for the board, and 39.99 for the ram, I feel I got a good deal. The board was 84.99 but they had a deal that if you got an FX chip with the board you got -40 on the board. that helped stay under my budget
 
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