help me build my gaming rig

[lmisbah1234]

Originally Posted by Tofurkeymeister

Get the 940, it is AM2, not AM3.

In addition, AM3 processors do work in AM2 motherboards (Backwards compatibility FTW! :P). However, AM2 CPU's do NOT work in AM3 motherboards.

AM2(+)
-Phenom II 940
-Phenom II 920

AM3
-Phenom II 955
-Phenom II 945
-Phenom II 720

P.S. Go with the 940 IMO, it seems to be cheaper, and it is slightly faster and better for overclocking (I own one).

P.P.S. Everything else seems fine to me .

thank you very much for your help i really appreciate it, i never knew that am3 sockets will fit in am2 mobos guess i will be going for the phenom II 940 then, just to clarify am3 sockets cpu do fit inside am2 mobos? when i looked on the website it should the phenom 940 as socket am3 type that is why i asked but if your saying that am3 socket cpu 's fitt inside am2 mobos i have nothing to worry about right'? and ps should i go for the 940 retail or black edition, i mean i would like to oc but just by a little bit, thanks again for helping.

[lmisbah1234]

ok i went to the asus website to see if the bios updates were available for the mobo i wanted etc i then came across a psu calculator so i thought let me check, so i added all the details of my planned build and the calculator said the minimum recommended psu supply i should get is 900? wth 900 are they being seerious? what are your views on this guys? im already having a hard enough time finding a psu which fits into my budget and now reccommended 900 watt cpu? now im even more confused, whoever thought finding something as simple as psu would be so stressfull, help guys help lol only 4 days till i order my items and want to at least plan what exactly im going to get and not have to rush buy please help, ps the twin gpu's were the main culprate for the hike in wattage usage when i only put 1 260gtx in the list reccomendation went down to 700?

*update* i have found a decent psu by ocz over my bidget but i cant do anything about that will have to let go of my gpu and just purchase that next month

tell me what you think

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BRAND-NEW-OCZ-...3%3A1|294%3A50

my total is now 533.02 inc vat and delivery for everything and i still have the gpu's to get, the gpu i had previously chosen the nvidia 260gtx found out today only has like 192 stream processors were as the revised one im looking to get has 216 its a gainward 260gtx and only £10 more so what you think?

if i opt for the gainward version my GRAND TOTAL will be £670.44 and if i opt for the nvidia 192 version my total will be £660.21 so for another £10 i can get a 216 version? what would use do in this situation? my first estimate budget was no more than £500-£550 but seems to have gone past that by 100 im confused, either way it has to be done if it means i will build the pc but without the gpu first and wait till nex pay day and get the gpu then along with little things? HELP!!

[Tofurkeymeister]

700W is WAY MORE THAN ENOUGH! PSU calculators are generally bad. In truth, you could get by with a 600W PSU.

What is more important than wattage is the quality of the PSU and the amperage of the RAILS. For example, I have 18A on each of my four 12V rails (72A in all). However, most PSU's with high wattage have sufficient amperage.

The powercool PSU you picked out should be fine, do NOT get a 900W PSU unless you want dual GPU's. A 900W PSU is overkill, and unnecessary.

P.S. Don't buy used, IMO.

[lmisbah1234]

Originally Posted by Tofurkeymeister

700W is WAY MORE THAN ENOUGH! PSU calculators are generally bad. In truth, you could get by with a 600W PSU.

What is more important than wattage is the quality of the PSU and the amperage of the RAILS. For example, I have 18A on each of my four 12V rails (72A in all). However, most PSU's with high wattage have sufficient amperage.

The powercool PSU you picked out should be fine, do NOT get a 900W PSU unless you want dual GPU's. A 900W PSU is overkill, and unnecessary.

P.S. Don't buy used, IMO.

thanks for replying can you have a look at the powercool one for me please and tell me what you think exactly, and ps i do intend to get dual gpus but a little while after and also what is your opinion on the nvidia or gainward card? nvidia 192 stream processors gainward 216 stream processors but costs £10 more?

*update* ive found some reviews and forums about powercool psu and they dont seem good even read 2 people have had thier psu fry causing the cpu gpu to fry as well so looks like i might as well get a trusted brand like ocz, in the begining he had a budget and now what budget lol

[lmisbah1234]

hi everyone as you know today is friday so i ordered my products so here is the final list:-

amd phenom II 940 BE

asus mobo same as previously stated

kingston 4GB hyperX ram

WD HDD cavier sata II 160GB

Cooler Master 690 sli approved case

gamextreme ocz 700w psu with 4 seperate 12v rails.

this is all i could afford to buy this month the total for this is around £437.90 that is including vat and delivery charges.

next paycheck i will be finished completely, hopefully anyway
what i yet have to order are:-

19"monitor widescreen

2x gainward 260 gtx's and new keyboard and mouse.

the reason i chose purchase the gpu's and monitor later rather than now and sacrafice something else is because at least with what i have bough now i can preper the system, ie install os, update bios drivers etc before i finally finish the build, thanks to everyone who helped me especially tofurkeymeister and monkeysoilder