mobo and unlocking the cores and raid 0

[utkarsh009]

hi! at last i have finalized my config. and going to upgrade my pc after exams (mid. march). sadly, in ranchi availability of amd based motherboards is very poor. there was only one shop which told that they can provide 880g motherboards. 785 was available at many places. i wanted to know whether sata 3 ports really matter i have no plans to buy an ssd? so should i opt for 785 based mobo? secondly can i overclock hd 4200 to make it equivalent to hd 4250 or 4290? now i have seen at many sites that 880g based mobos of many companies claim to unlock the hidden cores easily. so is it better to go for a phenom2 x2 be than athlon2 x4? lastly, what is raid 0 setup?

 

[skeletor]

well, regarding unlocking of cores. It is purely based on luck. Many batches of Phenom II X2 555 BE used to unlock to X4.

I would personally suggest only going for a 'proper' quad core and stay away from this unlocking business.

Simply get an Athlon II X4 635 @ 3.8k. Phenom II X2 550 is @ 4k. The main difference between them is the 6MB L3 cache which Phenom II has. It will give you boost in playing games, but none the less both are fairly equal in games with Athlon II X4 being better in multi-threaded apps. I'd personally go for Athlon II X4 635 as it has more cores and will help in more applications.

Athlon II X4 635 (imo) is better if being compared to previous generation Intel Core i3-530 in most scenarios. Against, "Sandy Bridge" Core i3-2100, it has no chance.

Prefer 880G over 785G. Regarding SATA3 ports, it is completely your wish. We will soon start to see Hard Drives using SATA3 too.

RAID 0 is this: Standard RAID levels And it is not worth using your Hard Disks in RAID 0 because if 1 HDD fails, you're losing the data forever.

 

[utkarsh009]

ok i have one more question. is there any difference if i use a complete 4gb ram instead of using 2x2gb ram? will it make any difference?

 

[skeletor]

Get 2*2GB DDR3 RAM and run them in Dual Channel.

And most 880G motherboards have 4 RAM slots anyways. If your motherboard has only two slots, then the scenario changes and one would prefer going for a single 4GB RAM and keep room for a second RAM if he is too paranoid.

 

[utkarsh009]

Get 2*2GB DDR3 RAM and run them in Dual Channel.

ok thanks! do i have to install something or do something special to run them in dual channel? what exactly is dual channel? does it increase the speed? i am going to buy 1 tb hdd, so, will sata 3 ports help now? what about overclocking the gpu question that i asked?

Get 2*2GB DDR3 RAM and run them in Dual Channel.

ok thanks! do i have to install something or do something special to run them in dual channel? what exactly is dual channel? does it increase the speed? i am going to buy 1 tb hdd, so, will sata 3 ports help now? what about overclocking the gpu question that i asked? and yes my mobo has 4 ram slots.........

 

[skeletor]

ok thanks! do i have to install something or do something special to run them in dual channel? what exactly is dual channel? does it increase the speed?

Just get two RAMs of same clock speed and same size - plug them in your motherboard. Your motherboard will run them automatically in Dual Channel and it will give you a performance boost. You don't have to do anything.

i am going to buy 1 tb hdd, so, will sata 3 ports help now?

Depends whether the Hard Drive is SATA3 or not. Not much benefit at the moment, but will be in future.

And this is the motherboard which I'll suggest if you're going the AMD way. Gigabyte 880GMA-UD2H - has SATA3 6gbps and also USB 3.0. It should be around 4.7k.

what about overclocking the gpu question that i asked?

HD 4200 is more than excellent for an IGP but still very slow if you look it on a larger scale. Overclocking an IGP is not worth unless you desperately need some performance boost to run a heavy game. All of them - HD 4200, 4250 and 4290 perform more or less the same. But yea, they're way better than the IGP which you get with Core i3-530.

 

[utkarsh009]

yah! getting the same mobo you suggested. but not sure of availability. if i dont get any 880g based mobo then i will have to opt for 785g (exactly the same one sam.shab has). how do you rate it?

 

[skeletor]

He has a good motherboard. There is not much difference between 785G and 880G. 785G will actually be cheaper.

I'd rather suggest you to go for his complete config except WD Green Hard Disk. Real VFM config.

 

[utkarsh009]

what about usb3 support in them? does it really matter?

 

[skeletor]

what about usb3 support in them? does it really matter?

Matters for some and doesn't matter for some. Divided opinions really. I'll personally suggest you to spend a little more and go for it. Someone else might not. And then sometimes budget restrictions come into place.

Now best way to finalize everything is by filling the PC Buying Questionnaire in the PC Configurations section and starting a thread after mentioning your total budget in the title.

 

[utkarsh009]

^^ i already have a thread and it is over. they've suggested me all the components and i have finalized it. only difficulty is availavility. 785g mobo doesnt have usb3 but will have to opt for it in case i dont get 880g.

 

[skeletor]

Even most 880G motherboards don't have USB 3.0. The particular (and exact) model which I mentioned above has it.