Need Some advice with Mobo / Cpu Upgrade

[RaZz0r]

Hi so i have been planing on upgrading my Mobo and CPU
i have been thinking of changing my current.

ASUSTeK Computer INC. M3N78-VM Mother board
and my current AMD Phenom II X4 955 cpu.

To a ASRock Z68 Extreme3 GEN 3 mobo with a i5 2500K CPU.
Or To a MSI 990FXA-GD65 990FX mobo with a AMD FX-4100 X4 CPU

and im not sure with witch one to go with and i dont care about the brand.
I just want the most performance out of my money if i pick the AMD build.

I will save like 120 euro ish witch means i can buy a decent ssd to use as my boot drive and like a few games.
I mainly play WoW TF2 Killing Floor and L4D2.

Im running W7 64bit with 560 Ti Factory OCd GFX card

[noteworthynerd]

You will get the best price/performance out of the 2500k+z68 Extreme3 Gen3 by far, it is worth the extra money, those chips are not even in the same league.

As this user from overclock.net puts it: it's like comparing a sports car to a Geo Metro, it's not even fair to compare them (they're not meant to be competitors, the 4100 is supposed to compete with chips like the Sandy Bridge Celerons and Pentiums and maybe the i3 series).

And here's a review on the 4100: http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1766/1/

Save up some more money or buy an SSD later, they're not mandatory, they're a luxury (albeit a very nice one).

[Cerunnir]

You will get the best price/performance out of the 2500k+z68 Extreme3 Gen3 by far, it is worth the extra money, those chips are not even in the same league.

Agree, right now the 2500k is the best performance/value you can get.. atleast in the gaming grade processor category.

[RaZz0r]

Then the 2500k it is i can prob afford a half decent SSD once i have sold of my older parts any way so thx for the help

[noteworthynerd]

Some SSDs to look for: 128GB Crucial M4*, 120GB OCZ Vertex 3, 128 Corsair Force series, 120GB Intel 510.

* Most of us recommend the Crucial M4, it is the most reliable/affordable SSD available (the Intel 510 is great, but pretty expensive).

[coldfiredragon]

The i5 2500k blows the FX-4100 into little bits of dust, I meen look at the i5 vs the FX-8150 http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/288?vs=434

Also I would get this motherboard over any others (I just love the reliability of the intel boards and the extreeme series allow O/C on the K series CPUs) http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/...rd-dz68zv.html

[noteworthynerd]

That motherboard has one PCI-E 2.0 x16 slot and the cheapest one I can find from a reliable vendor costs $199 on Amazon, the ASRock z68 Extreme3 Gen3 has everything that motherboard has + 2 PCI 3.0 x16 slots + a couple other things and costs $121 on NewEgg...

Intel boards are okay, but you pay for that name (and they're no more reliable than quality aftermarket brands).

[Kyocere]

Some SSDs to look for: 128GB Crucial M4*, 120GB OCZ Vertex 3, 128 Corsair Force series, 120GB Intel 510.

* Most of us recommend the Crucial M4, it is the most reliable/affordable SSD available (the Intel 510 is great, but pretty expensive).

The corsair force series are good but use asynchronous memory, if you are going for a Corsair get the Forge GT, it uses synchronous memory which runs much quicker with real world applications IE not just benchmarks.

The crucial m4, Intel 510/520 and Corsair Forge GT are all great and reliable choices. The Intel cost too much in my opinion as the Corsair and Crucial are just as reliable.

Also I would get this motherboard over any others (I just love the reliability of the intel boards and the extreeme series allow O/C on the K series CPUs) http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/...rd-dz68zv.html

I would have to agree with Noteworthy here. Having owned an Intel board they are not worth the extra premium for the name. Asus, ASRock, MSI are all great brands. The ASrock that was suggested is one of the best bang for your buck boards. It gives you almost any feature you would ever need for a great price.