1. You did not need a new thread for this

2.  Size difference of mobo? Check newegg for dimensions. Probably not much. The difference between atx and m-atx is only 2 inches in one dimension.

1. Your probably right.

2. I was not talking about size, was talking about performance.

when it comes to the CPU, I'm doubling what I had, then some, does any one thing I'll see a speed difference in every thing I do on the system or?

I guess another question of mine is, what mainly increases the speed of your computer when upgrading, is it ram/memory or CPU?

Depends almost completely on application.

1. If you encode or photoshop then yes you will see a HUGE jump in performance.

2. Newer games will have higher FPS but all old games will be nearly identical.

3. Multitasking ability should go up. I frequently find myself using 3-4 gigs outa 6 of my ddr3 1600 and it is nice to be able to run crysis, 2 emails, firefox, IE, chrome, utorrent, and PS simultaneously but those times are few and far between.

The primary bottleneck for a modern day system is now frequently the hard drive. In order to upgrade everythings speed a good SSD would do nicely. Only one problem-$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Wow I broke the layout-WOOT WOOOT!!!!

woot 100% agreed and yes that is wot im saveing up for is an ssd this summer my 4 gb of ddr2 800mhs is fine aswell as my phenom 550 be @ 3.5ghz with my hd 4850 1gb plays most games at medium set @ 1920x1080 but my hard drive is slow so can not wait till i get an ssd and win 7 to go with it...

Can any one see any big difference between these two CPUs?

The one I'm getting,

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103809

The other one,

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103696

The only things I can see is the Multimedia Instruction bit and currently the CPU I'm going to get has a gift card it comes with but why I ask this is, because it seems like the cheaper one is better but if the other one actually is, why? because I can't see why.

No noticeable difference-it the same cpu.

The more expensive one comes with the "new" amd boxing and possibly a different model but you would not notice the difference.

Btw if you wanna save some $ but are willing to take a risk you could just buy an AMD x2 550 Callisto BE for $100 and unlock the cores which turns it into a 955 BE which is $155 and better than the 945 but be warned that it voids warranty (usualy not an issue).

Okay its getting closer and closer to the time I buy my new CPU and Mobo, I found another mobo that I wonder if is as good or better, it is cheaper with free shipping so if it is better then....

Current MotherBoard I am going for: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131618

They other motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130266

What one out of the two is better, any one care to give their opinion?

Or can any one do better in finding a motherboard for $80, one that takes the CPU listed in the above posts, take DDR2 ram, four slots and had at least two slots next to the video card slot.

Well, I've checked both the motherboards you listed but they only have 1 PCI-E 2.0 slot. I've found another great motherboard that has 2 PCI-E 2.0 slots which you can put 2 video cards in it. But, I don't know if its a CrossFireX or SLi motherboard. And, it is slightly over your  $80 budget.

This is it : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130265

Oh well what I meant buy two slots next to the video card slot is, well, my current video card takes up two slots and I have a sound card that I use so... The motherboard needs to have enough slots so that I can have both my video card and sound card with room between the two.

but thanks for the help non the less.

No problem mate. So, have you decided what to buy?

No not yet and I still need to get the last $15, to even have the limit of $223.00 for the CPU and Motherboard and that's counting shipping.

But out of the two I listed above, what one is better?

the 139$ cpu is the best out of both and this mobo that dreamer boy told you http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130265

Well the CPU is already for sure, its the Motherboard that I'm not sure about and the one that Dreamer-Boy linked, yes its only $11.00 more but the only added thing it gives is one more video card slot and one more fan plug and I don't plan to use more then one video card, unless I'm missing something that is better then the asus then... With how saving up is going, I can't do the added 11 bucks. Plus did you notice how close the CPU socket it to the Ram slots on the board?

Alright, if you are not planning to use 2 video cards then forget the motherboard I recommended.

Will do but thanks for helping non the less.

I have another question, The CPU I listed above, does any one know if it comes with thermal grease of any kind or will I need to buy some when I get the CPU & Motherboard?

it seem most reviews I see on CPUs and heatsinks I see lately they come with apre-applied thermal grease.

If it does not, it'll look like I'll have to slap $10 to my costs and in that case, any one have any recommendations?

Well, most CPU doesn't come with thermal grease. But, if you are really unsure about it, just buy the CPU without the thermal grease. If it is not pre-applied, just go to your local computer store and buy one. Not a big problem.

10/10 cpus I bought in last 2 months came with thermal grease so most actually do. If you are unlucky then you can get some tx-2 or AS5 for under $10.

Ah well that bites, I'll just buy some Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound, when I buy the rest of my stuff, I would get me Tuniq x4 but newegg does not sell x4 and x3 Rodney said was not the best in applying so... Plus x3 cost more, though it does have a mail in rebate but I always think your gambling when you depend on rebates.

Alright, the 21st is the day that I'm going to buy my parts, I already know what CPU I'm going to buy, the phenom II x4 945 cpu but I'm still not sure what motherboard I should get,

All these look good but out of all of the following, what one is the best?

MSI 785GT-E63  

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130266

GIGABYTE GA-MA785GM-US2H

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128394

ASUS M4A785-M

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131595

ASUS M4A77D

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131618

 The last one is the one I am leaning towards but that's only because of the number of PCI Slots because of my video card takes two slots and I also have a sound card that I don't want to be so close to my video card's fan, Also because it comes with the "Xtreme Design w/ Advanced Clock Calibration (ACC)"

Then again the sound card I have its not that great, its a 24bit sound card and it does cut out one in a blue moon or on serten sounds so... I wouldn't be heart broken if the board I got didn't have the room for it... So... What one, out of they above is the best... Or if you can find one better then any of they above for $80 and under, please, post a link.

As always Thanks ahead of time for all the help, I very much appreciate it.

Well of the 4 mobos i would pick the MSI one because the voltage regulators have a heat-sink over them.   

My brother had the gigabyte board and he over-clocked the cpu and i guess he raised the voltage a bit and one of the voltage regulators burst into flames. a mini fire in the computer. The lack of a heat-sink  over the voltage regulator  cause it to overheat to point of fire.  He overclocked it with AMD overdrive not in bios. 

That's a good point but doesn't the ASUS M4A77D  have a heat-sink over the voltage regulators as well?

I can't tell but if so, out of the two, the ASUS M4A77D and the MSI 785GT-E63, what one is better, the only dif that I can see is that the Asus can have DDR2 1200 and the MSI's max is 1066 but the MSI has those buttons on the actual board, the MSI does not...  the Asus has no onboard video card and the MSI does, though some would say, onboard video can be a bad thing when you don't ever plan to use it... So far that's the only thing I'm worrying about on the MSI board.

Ger, now I'm evenly leaning towards those two board...

The MSI 785GT -E63 is the better choice. the asus one doesn't have heat sink over the voltage regulator.  

onboard graphics can be disabled and doesn't impact performance. 

Then again its up to you? which ever brand u feel better with.  

The voltage regulator heat sink is located to the left, between the cpu socket and i/o panel on the msi board

Yeah, truth be told I have had a MSI motherboard before but never an Asus but I have heard great things about Asus and well actually haven't heard anything about MSI so...

But I guess the MSI is better when it comes to cooling but the Asus ran speed limit is better slightly, then again I don't plan to go above 800 1066 at max, though also, the Asus has more room between the CPU and the ram for big CPU heat-sinks, then again... I just plan to use the stock heat-sink the cpu I'm getting comes with so...

Other then the heat-sink on the voltage regulators, is there any thing else the MSI does/has better then the Asus?

Alright, done done and done, I just got done paying for the CPU and the MSI motherboard. A total cost of 232.98 with shipping.

Don't forget to post some photos ok?

well good for you for making the jump

in truth both were great boards

ASUS is a better brand than MSI. MSI is china and inherently breaks frequently-I have received 2 DOA MB's from them in the past month. ASUS meanwhile is just the opposite with amazing build quality and great support to boot.

You should not need heatsinks for voltage regulators. If you do then they are designed WRONG! Noir- never overclock cpu from desktop. Your bro either set incorrect values or your board was crap.

MSI boards tend to be cheaper with more features but you pay it back in customer service and build quality. In truth this makes it into a hit or miss brand. 9/10 the product is great and you won't have any problems. Other 10% though is a hassle incarnate. I am in a 20 hour process right now trying to sell a 1.5k computer and I can't finish it because the MSI board has numerous problems. Hopefully you will get one of the 9/10 good boards.

and to second above post-PICS PLZ!!!

I'll be sure to, shipping tracker says I should have the parts by the 25th, I'll try to have pictures up by the next day, that's if I don't forget in my excitement and just put the computer together first heh, though I'll try not to forget.

Oh and by the way, Asus is a china company too.

 TH Tung, Ted Hsu, Wayne Hsieh, and MT Liao founded Asus on 2 April 1990[1] in Taipei, Taiwan — all four founders worked as computer engineers for Acer. The company explains the name Asus as originating from Pegasus, the winged horse of Greek mythology. The new organization used only the last four letters of the word in order to give the resulting name a high position in alphabetical listings

 MSI, is one of Taiwan’s biggest mainboard and graphics card manufacturers established in 1986 by 5 founders – Joseph Hsu, Jeans Huang, Frank Lin, Kenny Yu and Henry Lu. MSI concentrated on developing and manufacturing computer mainboards and graphics cards in the beginning. MSI is one of the 3 largest mainboard and graphics card manufacturers in the world with over 150 million mainboards and 100 million graphics cards. Its 2009 fiscal year earnings exceeded US$334 million with capital standing at US$2.56 billion revenue.

Just some added info, that's all.

Oh and last, you know something odd about newegg's shipping, up until I added Arctic Silver 5 the shipping was only $2.99 and when I added the Arctic Silver 5... the shipping jumped almost to $9.00, 8 something, yet the shipping on the Arctic Silver 5, says free shipping so... Huh?

I just ended up splitting the orders, the mobo and cpu in one and the Arctic Silver 5 on the other heh but what's odd, there is only one shipping tracker, so they might have just put them all together after all heh.

But once I have every thing set up and running I'll post here how smoothly things went or how things didn't go so smoothly heh. Of course, hopefully I remember to take photos first heh.