...the price was killing me so I went back to the very competent AMD...
All I can say is, fuck INTEL's overpriced shit.
AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition (3.2GHz Dual core - Socket AM3) I bought this CPU because it's actually a quad-core with 2 cores switched off, and rumour had it there was a good chance you could unlock those extra cores if you had the right mobo.
Well...that and the unlocked multiplier.
Had to bump the voltage up a bit to get it there, and put an aftermarket cooler on it to keep temp's down, but I ran it at
3.96GHz for a couple of months and it didn't miss a beat.
(I did turn it up as far as 4.027GHz, and it would boot up ok, but it'd reset itself every time I tried to stress test it...
)
Then I successfully unlocked both cores, but I haven't really tried to find it's limit as a quad. I just turned it up a bit (to 3.5GHz) and left it at that until I get some half-decent RAM:
Not bad for a hundred dollar CPU...
...you will need a 890fx chipset for that phenom sixcore sixcore
U bin drinkin' bloke?
Check Gigabyte's site...most, if not all, AMD chipsets support six-core CPU's.
To answer your question DF, I'd suggest Gigabyte's
GA-880GA-UD3H, it's about $125 down here so should be about the same over there...
Unless you plan on going for a Crossfire/SLI setup in the future, in which case I'd go for a
GA-890FXA-UD5 (about $205)
-
http://www.gigabyte.com.au/products/comparison/list.aspx?ck=2&pids=3628,3519You also might want to look into getting an SSD. It may not have the capacity your after for the money, but you can always add more hard drives later.