$300? Best CPU/MB/RAM for the money?

Quoting MaarekStele,

For $300, I would stay away from Intel and go AMD like MadDeez mentioned. You'll get the same preformance as the Intel processor iCore processors at a better price.

You don't get anywhere near the same level of performance from AMD, you just get a much better value and the performance is good enough (instead of ridiculous like a 975 Extreme)

A core i3-540 is $139.99 at amazon (Dual core chip with 4 threads, 3.06 ghz and a great overclocker on stock cooling)

An h55 motherboard is about $90 depending on the one you want.

that's $250 and for $56 you can throw in 2 gigs of DDR3 1333 Crucial RAM (which are excellent overclockers btw) and later you could put in 2 more gigs.

Voila!: $306 gaming and home theater PC

This is an option if you don't want to go with AMD.

Oh and check pricewatch.com for good prices on a lot of things, you can sometimes find lower, but it's a good starting point.

Good luck mate!

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unless anyone knows any other good sites?

http://www.zipzoomfly.com

http://www.amazon.com

http://www.frys.com

http://www.tigerdirect.com (careful when checking out here)

and http://computers.shop.ebay.com/

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Quoting CaptainAanderson,

reply 26

Quoting MaarekStele, reply 25For $300, I would stay away from Intel and go AMD like MadDeez mentioned. You'll get the same preformance as the Intel processor iCore processors at a better price.

You don't get anywhere near the same level of performance from AMD, you just get a much better value and the performance is good enough (instead of ridiculous like a 975 Extreme)

A core i3-540 is $139.99 at amazon (Dual core chip with 4 threads, 3.06 ghz and a great overclocker on stock cooling)

An h55 motherboard is about $90 depending on the one you want.

that's $250 and for $56 you can throw in 2 gigs of DDR3 1333 Crucial RAM (which are excellent overclockers btw) and later you could put in 2 more gigs.

Voila!: $306 gaming and home theater PC

This is an option if you don't want to go with AMD.

Oh and check pricewatch.com for good prices on a lot of things, you can sometimes find lower, but it's a good starting point.

Good luck mate!

Isn't 1156 a dead socket?

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dead socket? uhhhhhh, no. don't tell that to my i7-860 based rig. i'll match it against anyone's non-ssd i7-920 rig anytime. i'm very happy with my rig.

+1

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Quoting MadDeez,

reply 29

dead socket? uhhhhhh, no. don't tell that to my i7-860 based rig. i'll match it against anyone's non-ssd i7-920 rig anytime. i'm very happy with my rig.

Dead socket as in "in the process of being phased out to be replaced in the relative near term." AM2 = dead socket as an example.

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ZombiesRus5

Join Date 02/2009

+340

The 1156 is not a dead socket. This would mean they are no longer building CPU's for the socket which is obviously not the case. The difference between the 1156 and the 1366 is that the latter will run the new i9 CPU's. In reality the 1156 boards perform really well compared to the i7 920 especially cost wise.

1156 = i3, i5, i7 (800 series), DDR3 dual channel, x8 SLI or crossfire

1366 = i7 (900 series), i9, DDR3 triple channel, x16 SLI or crossfire

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ZombiesRus5

Join Date 02/2009

+340

Dead socket as in "in the process of being phased out to be replaced in the relative near term." AM2 = dead socket as an example.

For your definition I would still say no, it is not a dead socket. The 1156 is geared more towards the low to mid range systems while the 1366 is geared more towards high end or server based systems.

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Quoting ZombiesRus5,

reply 31

The 1156 is not a dead socket. This would mean they are no longer building CPU's for the socket which is obviously not the case. The difference between the 1156 and the 1366 is that the latter will run the new i9 CPU's. In reality the 1156 boards perform really well compared to the i7 920 especially cost wise.

1156 = i3, i5, i7 (800 series), DDR3 dual channel, x8 SLI or crossfire

1366 = i7 (900 series), i9, DDR3 triple channel, x16 SLI or crossfire

Ah clearly I am confused. Thought I read on guru something about intel consolidating chips in q2 or 3 to the 1366. Must be the ten hour sins game getting to me.

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kona0197

Join Date 02/2003

+84

Every now and then geeks.com has good deals.

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I would suggest going to Tigerdirect.com and shop around in there i got a asus M4A78T-e motherboard with an amd phenom II x4 prosseor for 289.00 it is 3.2 GHZ it uses ddr3 ram open bios. also i would suggest a good cpu cooler i use the ultra chilltec Thermal Eletric cpu cooler if u are going to over clock. in your info u did not tell what mother board u have u may be limited on what u can get. if u just want the prosssor the phenom II x4 3.2GHZ is 119.00 by it's self but your mother board needs to have an A3 socket. by the way if u hurting for cash they have a pay later program. i got a lot of high end products for my rig including a 1000 watt power suppiy and a Thermal lake comp case that came with 2 12 in. fans and 1 6in. with digatal controles for the fans. with all the thing i got too much to list it ran me 1564.31 usa but i pay only 35 dollars a month so shop around there are a lot of good deals out there do not limit your self to a compromize due to not shoping around oh by the way they have prossors as low as 59 dollars there. well good luck!!!

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Quoting lloyd365,

reply 35

I would suggest going to Tigerdirect.com and shop around in there i got a asus M4A78T-e motherboard with an amd phenom II x4 prosseor for 289.00 it is 3.2 GHZ it uses ddr3 ram open bios. also i would suggest a good cpu cooler i use the ultra chilltec Thermal Eletric cpu cooler if u are going to over clock. in your info u did not tell what mother board u have u may be limited on what u can get. if u just want the prosssor the phenom II x4 3.2GHZ is 119.00 by it's self but your mother board needs to have an A3 socket. by the way if u hurting for cash they have a pay later program. i got a lot of high end products for my rig including a 1000 watt power suppiy and a Thermal lake comp case that came with 2 12 in. fans and 1 6in. with digatal controles for the fans. with all the thing i got too much to list it ran me 1564.31 usa but i pay only 35 dollars a month so shop around there are a lot of good deals out there do not limit your self to a compromize due to not shoping around oh by the way they have prossors as low as 59 dollars there. well good luck!!!

Where did you find a PIIx4 (I'm assuming 955) for 119.00$? I'd buy 25.

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I got every thing at Tigerdirect.com

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Quoting lloyd365,

reply 37

I got every thing at Tigerdirect.com

Must have been clearing C2 stock, best price I've seen was 132.44 for 16.

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every 4 days they put prosseors on sale i got my brother a sempron II 250 3.1 GHZ last friday for 63.00 usa keep looking there for the deals.

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Again, my budget is $300 for CPU, MB, and RAM. I have an AMD 64 3200 socket 939 MB right now. So basically its an old POS that is worthy if the junk heap. That is why I am trying to upgrade and get the best longevity for the money. Again thanks to all who have helped so far! Still open to any more suggestions!

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http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=27475&sku=B69-0190&SRCCODE=WEM2214BY&cm_mmc=Email-_-Main-_-WEM2214-_-components

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The suggestions MadDeez gave you are excellent.

I would not hesitate to make these purchases either because the prices are not set in stone, and from the tech news I have been reading lately... the prices on the ram are soon to go up close to 30%.

Newegg.com has an excellent customer service record.

PS: Starting a thread like this, you will get a lot of Crazy opinions, because there are many fanboys out there who like to brag and believe that the rig they run is the best ever. While I usually go with Intel, I have no grudge against AMD... for AMD has excellent products too.

PIC = Crazed Fanboys

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Here are my suggestions for under $300...

RAM LINK

Motherboard Link

CPU LINK

I do believe that MadDeez had virtually the same suggestions, but I think that our RAM choices are different, and some of the websites are different.

And... Nothing says upgrade like a new monitor (of course, because the monitor is the informational interface, and virtually the most important part of any computer)

If you can swing a few extra bucks... ($159.97 for 24" of HD screenage) I found the most awesome price/deal out there right now.(currently out of stock... but they will have more in a couple days) Monitor LINK.

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Quoting narbytrout,

reply 42

The suggestions MadDeez gave you are excellent.

I would not hesitate to make these purchases either because the prices are not set in stone, and from the tech news I have been reading lately... the prices on the ram are soon to go up close to 30%.

Newegg.com has an excellent customer service record.

PS: Starting a thread like this, you will get a lot of Crazy opinions, because there are many fanboys out there who like to brag and believe that the rig they run is the best ever. While I usually go with Intel, I have no grudge against AMD... for AMD has excellent products too.

PIC = Crazed Fanboys

I love newegg and their free shipping. I just bought a new case for myself and and three shipping options. Free UPS three day (Free), FedEx Three day (129.00) and FedEx two day (179.00). Played the UPS lottery and not only did it show up two days later but UPS didn't drag it behind the truck all the way from New Jersey like they usually do. Also, I think this has been the most rational non-fanboyized "What do I buy" thread I've seen in years.

Not recommending for the OP but this case is A+++++. www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16811139001

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i was thinking of getting that case but went with another lian-li instead. i missed having a lian-li. all is well now.

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Quoting MadDeez,

reply 45

i was thinking of getting that case but went with another lian-li instead. i missed having a lian-li. all is well now.

Are you at all curious, (as I am), what the case makers know that we don't, that's causing them to make these absolutely enormous cases now? I've had the same Thermaltake full tower for the last 5 years and the dimensions on the new full towers(last 6-8 months) are 30-40 percent larger.

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Im gonna second what captainanderson said. Those core iX are great for gaming. Benchmarks show them doing good vs the Phenoms X2's. The only down side is that you will only have 2gb of memory as oppose to 4gb which is not that big of a loss when it comes to gaming. Though i would go with the core i3 530. The core i3 540 doesnt give you that much of a performance leap over the i3 530.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115222

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128420

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148304

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The i3 cpus, with a little overclocking, can perform as well as (or even much better than, depending on the overclock) an i7.

They are 32nm, the newest manufacturing process, and many stories show the chips being able to consistently hit 4.5GHZ on Air cooling.

AMD's lineup is value oriented and has some great choices, but the chips are aging and AMD is going to release new chips and motherboards soon that will make an AMD setup pretty much un-upgradeable. (Thuban, 890 chipset, the newer cpus i forgot the codename)

An h55 or h57 motherboard will be enough to house an i3 and GF100 card when they are released, which will be all you need for gaming. You could even drop in an i5 or i7 8xx later if you have the cash. Even if the 1156 socket is dead (which, believe me, intel has plans for it) then you can still get an i7 and by the time that chip is slow we'll be discussing this on mars.

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Well, i've had my current cpu for four years and I am expecting to have to live with what i get for around the same time. So, Im sure whatever chipset/mobo setup i get, four years down the road it will be a dead socket. Unless, there are some specific socket types that you all think will still be going strong in four years or at least still have chips available for them.

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Quoting CaptainAanderson,

reply 48

The i3 cpus, with a little overclocking, can perform as well as (or even much better than, depending on the overclock) an i7.

They are 32nm, the newest manufacturing process, and many stories show the chips being able to consistently hit 4.5GHZ on Air cooling.

AMD's lineup is value oriented and has some great choices, but the chips are aging and AMD is going to release new chips and motherboards soon that will make an AMD setup pretty much un-upgradeable. (Thuban, 890 chipset, the newer cpus i forgot the codename)

An h55 or h57 motherboard will be enough to house an i3 and GF100 card when they are released, which will be all you need for gaming. You could even drop in an i5 or i7 8xx later if you have the cash. Even if the 1156 socket is dead (which, believe me, intel has plans for it) then you can still get an i7 and by the time that chip is slow we'll be discussing this on mars.

Thuban's will be AM3 unless something has changed and the 890 chipset I don't really think is worth the cash for a casual gamer. USB3 and 6gb sata are nuts. As for that GF100 comment, you seen real info on release product started creeping out this morning?

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