Hey all, I'm looking to upgrade my MOBO and RAM. I dont know what chipset I have but it isnt very good whatever it is. I have upgraded the processor to an AMD Phenom II x4 840 3.2GhZ. I am looking for something that is reasonably priced and will work well with my current processor. The ram I currently use is DDR2 and only 2GB. So almost anything is an upgrade, I just have no idea what is a good brand or a decent price range to get good performance. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Hi, The first thing you need to look for in a motherboard is the CPU socket type. You are going to want an AMD based system board that supports AM3 socket (which is they socket type for your Phenom II processor). If you are looking to upgrade your ram, you will want to look at DDR3 ram as you will have more options to choose from with motherboards. DDR2 boards are getting harder to find so it will limit your choices. As for RAM, the first thing you want to check is if you are running a 64 bit operating system or a 32 bit one. The reason is because if you are running 32bit windows xp, Vista, or Windows 7, it will not recognize more than 4 gigabytes of ram, so it would be a waste of money to buy more than that. If you are running 64bit versions of any of those, you can buy more ram and it will be used correctly to enhance your computer. When you look at a mother board check out the ram type it supports and the frequency (usually will say something like DDR3 1066/1333, oc(2000) which shows ram speeds it will support). Knowing this, you can then look at DDR3 ram which runs at one of those speeds (please note that oc means over clock speed, so if you do not intend to overclock you may want to avoid that speed). As for brands, there are lots of different ones out there. Ram I have had the best luck with is Corsair brand. Just be sure to read reviews of any motherboard or RAM that you look at before you buy to see experiences others have had. Another thing to look for when choosing your motherboard is if you will need onboard audio and video. If you do not currently have an audio card or video card, be sure to choose a system board that has both of those features or else you will have to buy those additional cards to make it work. For AMD motherboards, I have had good luck with Asus brand, ASRock, and ECS elitegroup ones. If you go to newegg and do a search on AMD motherboards with AM3 socket type, you can see the different choices for you that are available. Usually the cheaper boards have less features, they may not have onboard video or audio, but if you do not need those features, there shouldnt be a problem. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...3&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&Order=RATING&PageSize=20
