Because I'm a nerd.
#23
I've been looking at building a similar set-up to this. When I first looked at this I wondered why you spent so much on a motherboard but it sounds pretty cool with the auto unlock and auto overclock buttons. I've read a bit about the phenom II 550 and what I gather is that some of the cores are actually defective and won't work properly when unlocked but usually at least 3 of them are good. It seems there's about a 50/50 chance that all four cores are fine and AMD is just selling them as dual cores because the $$ make sense.
I'm tempted to try it though, a quad core easily oc'd cpu for $90? Seems like a no brainer. If I were to try it I would probably go with a cheaper MB and only one GPU to keep the cost down closer to $700.
I'm tempted to try it though, a quad core easily oc'd cpu for $90? Seems like a no brainer. If I were to try it I would probably go with a cheaper MB and only one GPU to keep the cost down closer to $700.
#26
I've been looking at building a similar set-up to this. When I first looked at this I wondered why you spent so much on a motherboard but it sounds pretty cool with the auto unlock and auto overclock buttons. I've read a bit about the phenom II 550 and what I gather is that some of the cores are actually defective and won't work properly when unlocked but usually at least 3 of them are good. It seems there's about a 50/50 chance that all four cores are fine and AMD is just selling them as dual cores because the $$ make sense.
I'm tempted to try it though, a quad core easily oc'd cpu for $90? Seems like a no brainer. If I were to try it I would probably go with a cheaper MB and only one GPU to keep the cost down closer to $700.
I'm tempted to try it though, a quad core easily oc'd cpu for $90? Seems like a no brainer. If I were to try it I would probably go with a cheaper MB and only one GPU to keep the cost down closer to $700.
#27
Here's the build I would be following.
http://www.hardware-revolution.com/600-gaming-build/
Rediculous performance for 600 bones. I don't really need a new build RIGHT now though and I wonder what kind of performance I can get for the same price if I wait till December. I am a litte tired of my 6 year old Dell though...
I don't know how future proof the MB in the link is, I would probably want to upgrade to one of the other MBs he recommends, one that I can crossfire in the future when I find some more $ to waste on computers.
http://www.hardware-revolution.com/600-gaming-build/
Rediculous performance for 600 bones. I don't really need a new build RIGHT now though and I wonder what kind of performance I can get for the same price if I wait till December. I am a litte tired of my 6 year old Dell though...
I don't know how future proof the MB in the link is, I would probably want to upgrade to one of the other MBs he recommends, one that I can crossfire in the future when I find some more $ to waste on computers.
#28
Boost Pope
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Location: Chicago. (The less-murder part.)
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Interesting question, and this is for everyone:
Apart from popping in some extra RAM, do people actually "upgrade" PCs anymore, without wholesale replacement of the MoBo?
I mean, I can remember back in the 286/386/486 era, it was not at all uncommon to go through 2 or 3 different CPUs over the life of a motherboard, especially when the fancy Cyrix and TI upgrade processors, which allowed you to install, for instance, clock-doubled 486-class processors into 386-class boards.
Of course, that was when the motherboard cost 5x as much as the video card, and not the other way around.
Seems like nowadays however, motherboards are so damn cheap that they're just not a major factor in the price of the machine anymore. Honestly, I can't remember having kept a motherboard through an upgrade since my first Pentium-class machine.
Apart from popping in some extra RAM, do people actually "upgrade" PCs anymore, without wholesale replacement of the MoBo?
I mean, I can remember back in the 286/386/486 era, it was not at all uncommon to go through 2 or 3 different CPUs over the life of a motherboard, especially when the fancy Cyrix and TI upgrade processors, which allowed you to install, for instance, clock-doubled 486-class processors into 386-class boards.
Of course, that was when the motherboard cost 5x as much as the video card, and not the other way around.
Seems like nowadays however, motherboards are so damn cheap that they're just not a major factor in the price of the machine anymore. Honestly, I can't remember having kept a motherboard through an upgrade since my first Pentium-class machine.
#29
Interesting question, and this is for everyone:
Apart from popping in some extra RAM, do people actually "upgrade" PCs anymore, without wholesale replacement of the MoBo?
I mean, I can remember back in the 286/386/486 era, it was not at all uncommon to go through 2 or 3 different CPUs over the life of a motherboard, especially when the fancy Cyrix and TI upgrade processors, which allowed you to install, for instance, clock-doubled 486-class processors into 386-class boards.
Of course, that was when the motherboard cost 5x as much as the video card, and not the other way around.
Seems like nowadays however, motherboards are so damn cheap that they're just not a major factor in the price of the machine anymore. Honestly, I can't remember having kept a motherboard through an upgrade since my first Pentium-class machine.
Apart from popping in some extra RAM, do people actually "upgrade" PCs anymore, without wholesale replacement of the MoBo?
I mean, I can remember back in the 286/386/486 era, it was not at all uncommon to go through 2 or 3 different CPUs over the life of a motherboard, especially when the fancy Cyrix and TI upgrade processors, which allowed you to install, for instance, clock-doubled 486-class processors into 386-class boards.
Of course, that was when the motherboard cost 5x as much as the video card, and not the other way around.
Seems like nowadays however, motherboards are so damn cheap that they're just not a major factor in the price of the machine anymore. Honestly, I can't remember having kept a motherboard through an upgrade since my first Pentium-class machine.
I hear that both Intel and AMD will be coming out with a new generation of chips in early '11 so maybe I will wait to do a build until then... amn computer technology half-life...
#30
Elite Member
iTrader: (24)
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Woodland Hills, CA
Posts: 4,667
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Interesting question, and this is for everyone:
Apart from popping in some extra RAM, do people actually "upgrade" PCs anymore, without wholesale replacement of the MoBo?
I mean, I can remember back in the 286/386/486 era, it was not at all uncommon to go through 2 or 3 different CPUs over the life of a motherboard, especially when the fancy Cyrix and TI upgrade processors, which allowed you to install, for instance, clock-doubled 486-class processors into 386-class boards.
Of course, that was when the motherboard cost 5x as much as the video card, and not the other way around.
Seems like nowadays however, motherboards are so damn cheap that they're just not a major factor in the price of the machine anymore. Honestly, I can't remember having kept a motherboard through an upgrade since my first Pentium-class machine.
Apart from popping in some extra RAM, do people actually "upgrade" PCs anymore, without wholesale replacement of the MoBo?
I mean, I can remember back in the 286/386/486 era, it was not at all uncommon to go through 2 or 3 different CPUs over the life of a motherboard, especially when the fancy Cyrix and TI upgrade processors, which allowed you to install, for instance, clock-doubled 486-class processors into 386-class boards.
Of course, that was when the motherboard cost 5x as much as the video card, and not the other way around.
Seems like nowadays however, motherboards are so damn cheap that they're just not a major factor in the price of the machine anymore. Honestly, I can't remember having kept a motherboard through an upgrade since my first Pentium-class machine.
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