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Limited budget - better mobo or cpu?

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  • 14-02-2011 8:21pm
    #1
    KAGY
    Registered Users Posts: 1,091 ✭✭✭


    Hi all, I've limited myself to €160 for a m-atx mobo + cpu. I'm sticking with AMD & I have a ATI HD3450 to stick into it. Is it better to spend more on the motherboard or processor?
    For example:

    Asus M4A88TD-M EVO/USB3, AMD 880G,(€90) + AMD Athlon II X2 265 3.2GHz 2MB 65W AM3(€65)
    or
    Asus AM3 AMD 760G DDR3 ( M4A78LT-M) (€54) + AMD Phenom II X4 840 MHz 8MB (€100)

    It'll be a HTPC and NAS, no gaming, no overclocking but probably a fair bit of software decoding of video. Might conceivably try to set it up as a server to a thin client (old laptop).

    Interest to hear what you think.
    Karl
    PS prices are from dabs, but I'm not necessarily going with them, once I settled on a spec I'll shop around.


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    #2
    marco_polo
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 10,079 Mod ✭✭✭✭marco_polo


    Once the board is decent and has all the basic features you need, the CPU is where you should put the majority of your cash. A budget motherboard will do the basic bread and butter tasks just as well as a higher end one, what you usually end up paying more for as you go up the scale are extras like USB3/SATA3 support, better overclocking features, Crossfire / SLI support etc.

    I would go with this Gigabyte below as it has Realtek onboard audio which tends to be superior to Via onboard audio which that Asus has on it.
    For the CPU I'd say stick with what you have.

    http://www.dabs.ie/products/gigabyte-ga-ma78lmt-us2h-am3-amd-760g-matx-73MZ.html


  • Options
    #3
    KAGY
    Registered Users Posts: 1,091 ✭✭✭KAGY


    marco_polo wrote: »
    Once the board is decent and has all the basic features you need, the CPU is where you should put the majority of your cash. A budget motherboard will do the basic bread and butter tasks just as well as a higher end one, what you usually end up paying more for as you go up the scale are extras like USB3/SATA3 support, better overclocking features, Crossfire / SLI support etc.

    I would go with this Gigabyte below as it has Realtek onboard audio which tends to be superior to Via onboard audio which that Asus has on it.
    For the CPU I'd say stick with what you have.

    http://www.dabs.ie/products/gigabyte-ga-ma78lmt-us2h-am3-amd-760g-matx-73MZ.html

    Thanks for that, so this is what I'm going for now. After a bit more research I was leaning towards Gigabyte, and I'm going with the Athlon as it is only 45W so hopefully quieter for a HTPC

    Gigabyte GA-MA78LMT-US2H AM3 AMD 760G mATX €59.27
    AMD Athlon II X4 600e 2.2GHz Energy Efficient Socket AM3 L2 2MB 45W PIB
    €97.19
    Kingston HyperX 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 DIMM 240-Pin 1600Mhz CL9 48


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