JDMfanatic

Phenom II will be way faster than the Athlon II...
Gigabyte and Asus are both great boards so you could go either way...

M3T4LM4N222

The ASUS has a 4 pin CPU power connector rather than an 8 pin, so I really wouldn't suggest going with it, because thats usually a sign of a bad overclocker or a sign of supporting a lower wattage than most motherboards (For example, it may only support 125W MAX vs 140W or worse, 95W only.) So I'd say go with the Gigabyte and either the Athlon II X4 or a Phenom II X3, either way you won't notice much a difference, you may not notice on at all.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128384

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hermitmaster

Here's a great deal:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.273374
Pair that up with the case of your choosing and 4gb of DDR3 1600 and you'll be good to go.
Never mind, I'm stupid and didn't notice it was mATX.

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Craiga35

I have an ASUS but I recommend the Gigabyte. My board is good at overclocking but not so much for a beginner.

Go with a Phenom II x3 720 its a happy medium. Its better at gaming than both and you still get more multitasking than the dual core. its in the same price range as well.
LINK

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JDMfanatic

Seconded.
Definitely your BEST choice here.

Tig.

Alright, now we gotta add another CPU to the list that is gonna be debated about.

I decided to the the Phenom II x2 550 over the Phenom II x3 720 because all I thought I was gonna need is a dual core to run my everyday stuff at a good speed. My brother has a E7200 with an EVGA 9600GT, and his computer is pretty fast compared to mine. He has same memory also.
So, I'm guessing I just need a dual core to do my everyday stuff because he does almost the exact things I do.

But now, we have some fierce competition between three CPU's... What is the difference between the Phenom II x3 720 and the Athlon II x4 620? The obvious ones are the cores, but is there any performance difference between them? I mean, I just play Source games and get on the web, I think the Phenom II 720 might be an overkill.
If I do get a Phenom II x3 720, is this motherboard good? It's like $20 cheaper with the combo price.
Phenom II 720BE w/ Gigabyte Motherboard


Right now, I plan to get
COOLER MASTER Storm Scout
Western Digital Hard Drive 320GB
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB
Scythe MUGEN-2
GIGABYTE GA-MA790GPT-UD3H w/ AMD Athlon II X4 620
Total Cost Including Shipping: $472.05

Edit: Do I really need that pair of RAM? Can I get these: G.SKILL 4GB?
What will be the difference? It has free shipping. I'm trying to save as much money as possible. lol

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Craiga35

The reason I like to get "overkill" is because I'm set for the future. I don't like to say oh well this is good for now, I worry about what I'll need in the future.

For this build I would suggest the Phenom II x3 720, it beats the Athlon II in everything across the board. Plus its a black edition which means easy overclocking. Yes that motherboard's fine, I just realized you're using an Nvidia card anyway so I don't know why I was only looking for crossfire motherboards, that motherboard is fine. Whatever CPU you go with your rig will be faster than your brothers.

You gotta think you're not going to be playing source games forever, you will eventually move onto newer things that require more powerful hardware so why skimp today when you have the money?

EDIT: Well that memory's timings are looser so they will be a tiny bit slower but you really won't notice it at all. They will be fine for you because you aren't a hardcore overclocker...yet...

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Tator Tot

Definitely don't get the second kit of RAM you linked.

For an AMD system, you want
DDR3 1333mhz Cas 6
DDR3 1600mhz Cas 7
DDR3 1866mhz Cas 8
DDR3 2000mhz+ Cas 9

Generally because sticks with those settings usually have good IC"s that downclock, and overclock well.

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Tig.

I actually laughed at me going to move onto different games. I've played Source games for a long time. I don't know when to move on.
Also, I guess your right. Thinking ahead of the game.. Alright, I'll get the Phenom II x3 720 because I remember looking at it in summer this year and I kept wanting to get that or get the Phenom II x2 550.
The motherboard I'm getting with it, is it any good compared to the motherboard I have now?


I don't really know anything about RAM, but I read some stuff about it and is there any big differences between DDR2 and DDR3? ( I read something about DDR2 like a long time ago. )

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Craiga35

DDR3 1333 at Cas 6 is not at newegg. I think hes fine with those G skills, hes not an extreme overclocker yet so it won't really matter for the time being.

Tig. that new motherboard will kill your current motherboard 3 times over. It allows you to overclock extremely well and use DDR3, as well as support the newest CPUs.

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