Best processor for an average machine

[Vertigo]

Contemplating upgrading the girlfriend's box and was wondering which processor would be the best bet. All we seem to get from the reviews is how the top of the range chips compare and very little on the lower-end models.

So, which of these processors would you say was the best bet? I'm sticking with dual-core rather than single as I think it's a lot more future-proof with the way things are going. Also, no "but you can overclock it" comments please, whatever processor is used will be run at stock speed.

1. Pentium 4 915 "Presler" 2.8Ghz - £106
2. Pentium 4 945 "Presler" 3.4Ghz - £129
3. Core 2 Duo E6300 "Conroe" 1.86Ghz - £135
4. Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (AM2) - £112
5. Athlon 64 X2 4200+ (AM2) - £141

With the frankly ridiculous amounts of hype surrounding Conroe you'd think that all of Intel's previous chips were now totally obsolete but how do the lower Conroe models perform? Can the E6300 really match or surpass the performance of the P4 945 which has nearly twice the clock speed? How do the X2s compare with the recent price drops?

 

[lee87]

What's the pc used for, just browsing the net, office etc?
If so just go for the cheapest (P4 915 presler 2.8ghz). You would hardly notice the difference between this and a high end cpu if it's used for basic tasks like this.

 

[Stelly]

I know I know.. but Conroe mate... if your starting new I would go with it... but I would also consider the 3800 x2

Stelly

 

[smids]

Presler 945 or Conroe E6300 tbh.

 

[Devious]

Conroe E6300. End of.

 

[Vertigo]

I know I know.. but Conroe mate... if your starting new I would go with it

Conroe E6300. End of.

Sorry guys but this is just the kind of "Conroe pwns all" fanboyism that I'm trying to get past here.

We're not talking about the high-end models here, we're talking the lowest processor with a measly 1.86Ghz clock speed and half the L2 cache of the higher models. If, despite these limitations, it can still put up a good showing against the 945 then fair enough but I'd like some hard facts before I assume it's the next coming.

 

[Devious]

Im not an intel fanboy, I just go for the best around at the time

Before I got my conroe I had a opteron duel core 165 running @ 3Ghz, before that an opteron 146 @ 2.9Ghz.

My new conroe spanks the pair of them.

Im not going to link any reviews, just google them yourself.

Yes the E6300 Allendale has half the cache of the Conroe but it still beats the others by a fair margin in everything but games ran at 1600x1200 and above as they are gfx card limited. For the smallish difference in price its a no brainer for me if you are making a new system from scratch. If you have a 939 mobo atm then the x2 3800 is a good buy. The 945 is old tech stretched to its limit. I wouldnt touch it, especially for £6 difference.

If your going to overlclock the E6300 then even better, get the Gigabyte DS3 and enjoy some kickass FSB speeds.

 

[easyrider]

1. Pentium 4 915 "Presler" 2.8Ghz - £106
2. Pentium 4 945 "Presler" 3.4Ghz - £129
3. Core 2 Duo E6300 "Conroe" 1.86Ghz - £135
4. Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (AM2) - £112
5. Athlon 64 X2 4200+ (AM2) - £141


The conroe simply as

simple answer is its faster than all the rest with a moderate overclock

say 400 mhz!

Sorry guys but this is just the kind of "Conroe pwns all" fanboyism that I'm trying to get past here.

We're not talking about the high-end models here, we're talking the lowest processor with a measly 1.86Ghz clock speed and half the L2 cache of the higher models. If, despite these limitations, it can still put up a good showing against the 945 then fair enough but I'd like some hard facts before I assume it's the next coming.

Not being funny mate but do a google the cache size and its low clock speed still make it a better cpu than all the otheres for the price.

why but old tech like the 900 seires cpu's?
why buy am2?

if already have a s939 mobo then the x3800 is the way forward but from scratch conroe all the way

mine spanks my opty 170 running at 2.8ghz (fx62 speeds) not by a little but by a massive margin they really are that good.

 

[UKTopGun]

Sorry guys but this is just the kind of "Conroe pwns all" fanboyism that I'm trying to get past here.

We're not talking about the high-end models here, we're talking the lowest processor with a measly 1.86Ghz clock speed and half the L2 cache of the higher models. If, despite these limitations, it can still put up a good showing against the 945 then fair enough but I'd like some hard facts before I assume it's the next coming.

It's not "fanboyism" - Google for some benches matey and you will see why we are all looking forward to it so much.

Just because something new is really good it doesn't mean everybody who wants it is a fanboy .

 

[Cyber-Mav]

what about the 805d surly thats a good cpu for its price?

 

[Cyber-Mav]

actually forgot to add the cheapest board that takes the 805d costs around 100 quid, so your probably better of getting a very cheapo x2 3800 and an asrock board which costs around 45 quid. super cheapo system.

 

[Raikiri]

actually forgot to add the cheapest board that takes the 805d costs around 100 quid, so your probably better of getting a very cheapo x2 3800 and an asrock board which costs around 45 quid. super cheapo system.

Asus P5VD1-X VIA PT880 Ultra (Socket LGA775) AGP & PCI-Express DDR Motherboard (MB-132-AS)

Price: £34.95 (£41.07 Including VAT at 17.5%)

Abit NI8 SLi-GR nForce4 SLi (Socket 775) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-082-AB)

Price: £57.95 (£68.09 Including VAT at 17.5%)

Asus P5VD2-MX Micro ATX (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-163-AS)

Price: £39.95 (£46.94 Including VAT at 17.5%)

They all support the 805.

 

[Devious]

actually forgot to add the cheapest board that takes the 805d costs around 100 quid, so your probably better of getting a very cheapo x2 3800 and an asrock board which costs around 45 quid. super cheapo system.

you can also get an asrock for the E6300 for around £45 too, not from here though

 

[Corasik]

The measly 1.83Ghz Conroe still seems to outperform the 3.73Ghz Pentium 965EE in a large number of tests. Sure its not a 100% win in favour of the Conroe, but its quite amazine none the less. Moving down to a 3.4Ghz P4, and the Conroe looks even stronger.

Not only that at 1.83Ghz the Conroe is insanely easy on power requirements, pulling in results that only the 35W ultra low power version of the AMD X2 3800 can beat, and once you consider power V performance the Conroe is still the best.

You said its for your girlfriend, well if I were you I wouldnt even bother to overclock it. It's gonna be a good performance regardless. Get decent ram, but dont go over the top. The Conroe is very 'easy' of its memory, so going for ultra expensive low latency DDR2 memory wont buy you a big performance boost. If you think you may overclock however its quite handy to get memory with a higher clock rate DDR800 or at least DDR667, as you'll want to keep the memory running in line with the processors FSB.

My Girlfriend's into gaming, but only has a 2.8Ghz P4, and Im pretty sure that a 1.83Ghz Conroe would be a decent upgrade for her

Here's a link with loads of tests showing the E6300 at stock, and clocked at 2.94Ghz, a Pentium D at stock, and at 4.2Ghz, and AMD X2 3800 at stock, and at 3Ghz.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core2duo-e6300_10.html

 

[Corasik]

you can also get an asrock for the E6300 for around £45 too, not from here though

Maybe not £45... but Seems to be a fairly full featured 'budget' board. Wouldnt buy it myself, probably I'll get a 975 board, they look nice. But for a system on a budget it should be ok.


http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Asrock.html

 

[Vertigo]

simple answer is its faster than all the rest with a moderate overclock

Argh! What did I say about overclocking?

Not being funny mate but do a google the cache size and its low clock speed still make it a better cpu than all the otheres for the price.

That may be the case, and if it is then great, I'd go for that over the P4. All I'm saying is that I'd like some hard figures to back it up rather than people just posting that the Conroe is better with no further info as you don't know whether these opinions are based on facts or "fanboyism" [/QUOTE]

why but old tech like the 900 seires cpu's?

Err, because it's faster maybe? If the P4 945 does turn out to be faster than the E6300 then it would make sense to buy the 945, especially paired with a board which could take a Conroe at a later date.

why buy am2?

Why not? If an AMD AM2 socket chip provides the best bang for buck then I'd go AM2, this is the whole point of this thread, to work out the best option!

mine spanks my opty 170 running at 2.8ghz (fx62 speeds) not by a little but by a massive margin they really are that good.

And what model is that? Not an E6300 I'll wager! Please read my original post again - I'm talking about the low end models here!

 

[Vertigo]

The measly 1.83Ghz Conroe still seems to outperform the 3.73Ghz Pentium 965EE in a large number of tests. Sure its not a 100% win in favour of the Conroe, but its quite amazine none the less. Moving down to a 3.4Ghz P4, and the Conroe looks even stronger.

Not only that at 1.83Ghz the Conroe is insanely easy on power requirements, pulling in results that only the 35W ultra low power version of the AMD X2 3800 can beat, and once you consider power V performance the Conroe is still the best.

You said its for your girlfriend, well if I were you I wouldnt even bother to overclock it. It's gonna be a good performance regardless. Get decent ram, but dont go over the top. The Conroe is very 'easy' of its memory, so going for ultra expensive low latency DDR2 memory wont buy you a big performance boost. If you think you may overclock however its quite handy to get memory with a higher clock rate DDR800 or at least DDR667, as you'll want to keep the memory running in line with the processors FSB.

My Girlfriend's into gaming, but only has a 2.8Ghz P4, and Im pretty sure that a 1.83Ghz Conroe would be a decent upgrade for her

Here's a link with loads of tests showing the E6300 at stock, and clocked at 2.94Ghz, a Pentium D at stock, and at 4.2Ghz, and AMD X2 3800 at stock, and at 3Ghz.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core2duo-e6300_10.html

Thanks for that, just the kind of informed post I was after.

The chip would definitely be run at stock and the lower power requirements of the Conroes is something I'd not considered until now. This could be very handy as a very quiet cooling system could be used.

The machine is mainly used for basic web and email type use but she does play games from time to time so something that can handle these "reasonably" is needed. At present she's got an old Athlon XP2400+ with my old 9800Pro which just about manages with most of the things she runs so an E6300 would almost be overkill.

A tempting alternative would be to get a single-core P4 3.2 for £65 with a cheapish motherboard that is Conroe compatible. This would still be a useful upgrade from the current chip but would allow a drop-in replacement to a faster Conroe at a later date.

Decisions decisions.

 

[man_from_uncle]

Vertigo, given the link that Corasik posted, you might want to think about the X2 4200+. The X2 3800 does lose out at stock on almost everything; but not by that much. Further, the overclocked 3800 beats the stock conroe at everything. Somewhere in between these comparisions the 4200 lies.

Having said that, I think the numbers do tell a story. The 6300 will still almost certainly beat the 4200 at 70% of applications or more. But just check that the few where the 4200 would probably beat a 6300 aren't the ones she might use.

 

[Devious]

Argh! What did I say about overclocking?

That may be the case, and if it is then great, I'd go for that over the P4. All I'm saying is that I'd like some hard figures to back it up rather than people just posting that the Conroe is better with no further info as you don't know whether these opinions are based on facts or "fanboyism"

Err, because it's faster maybe? If the P4 945 does turn out to be faster than the E6300 then it would make sense to buy the 945, especially paired with a board which could take a Conroe at a later date.

Why not? If an AMD AM2 socket chip provides the best bang for buck then I'd go AM2, this is the whole point of this thread, to work out the best option!

And what model is that? Not an E6300 I'll wager! Please read my original post again - I'm talking about the low end models here!

Sounds like you dont want to buy the best chip no matter what we say.

Weve told you the E6300 is the best and even given you some results to prove it http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cp...o-e6300_10.html

The E6300 beats them all.

Maybe not £45...

How about £37.47 Inc VAT then

 

[Vertigo]

Sounds like you dont want to buy the best chip no matter what we say.

Oh do stop spouting rubbish

Weve told you the E6300 is the best and even given you some results to prove it http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cp...o-e6300_10.html

Err no, your first post consisted of this:

Conroe E6300. End of.

Very constructive! As for providing "results to prove it", some others have posted links but this is the first time you've posted any.

If the E6300 really is the best chip then that's great, I'll go with that and don't have a problem with it. I'm just trying to ascertain whether it is in fact the best. Given what's been posted so far it does indeed appear to be the best option but there's far too much assumption going on with regards to Conroe, as amply demonstrated by a couple of easyrider's comments:

"why but old tech like the 900 seires cpu's?" - Err, because they might be faster? Just because something is "old tech" doesn't mean it's automatically worse.
"why buy am2?" - So AM2 is automatically crap compared to Conroe is it, regardless of the processors involved?

These are exactly the kind of Conroe-fanboy comments I've been on about all long, and what I'm trying to get past to discover if the E6300 really is the best option or whether it's a victim of hype and an AMD or P4 would be a better option at this price point.