First of all, Hello.
I recently had the thought of upgrading my computer and I’ve started to make a bit of headway in getting an idea of what I want/need and so on. My budget started off at around £700 but has since grown into a considerably bigger figure.
I started off wanting the P4 3.6Ghz 800Mhz FSB (775) and as something of a novice back then – I thought that clock speed was the be all and end all of performance – thanks to some guidance and several articles on AMD, I’ve just about come round to the idea, that it isn’t the case.
After another recommendation – I had a look at the Pentium D 805 – and the possible idea of over-clocking of it, up to and around 3.8Ghz/4.00Ghz. I have never over-clocked before and although it’s something I would like to learn a bit more about – I opted out of it.
I didn’t want to be worry about temperatures and cooling so much so that it would become an annoyance for me. I figured that if I’m going to over-clock, and particularly as a first time – I would do it on a processor that I could juice up a tiny bit – but not a 2.66Ghz to 4.0Ghz leap. I don’t believe in water cooling (I know it gets results, but I don’t like it) so I wasn’t going to hit 4.0 GHz, anyway.
After rejecting the idea of that – I then had a quick glance over at AMD. It was the first real time I had considered AMD, but the lack of cache and low clock speeds always puts an element of doubt into my mind – despite it being dual core and having read hundreds of good reviews about AMD Dual Core pros.
So I sort of considered AMD and sort of didn’t – when you compare that to the Intel experiences.
I then heard of the Conroe processor and thought if I was going to give dual core a chance – it may as well be with Intel. I had picked out everything I believed I needed to fit the Conroe (2.67GHz, I believe) system – but later found that out that the board manufacturers (Asus) didn’t specify on their website whether it will be supporting Conroe or not – some of the other motherboards on their website had specifications saying they did. I’m already on £150 for the motherboard that I picked out, which I believed to be pretty expensive. If I had to go beyond £150 to get a Conroe-supported motherboard, then it would really be breaking the neck of my budget – as it’s sitting around the £900 mark, everything barring casing and cooling considered.
I understand that AMD plan a big cut of pricing when the Conroe is released and whilst part of me wants a Conroe – I don’t want to have to wait longer than is necessary, to get it bought and paid for. The AMD price cut also gives me something else to think about and whilst it’s a good thing – It’s something that has been wrecking my head for the last week or so.
Depending on where you go, either Intel or AMD are the leading processor and in reality – it’s hard to form a decent opinion of your own. Backhand payments and generally bias toward one manufacturer, from the creators of these articles, being the problem.
The specs of my inital ‘proposed’ new system were as follows:
Motherboard: Asus P5WD2-E Premium 975 x LGA 775 2 X PCI-E 16x
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 660 3.6Ghz Socket 775 800Mhz 2mb Retail Boxed
Memory: Corsair Memory TWIN2X2048-6400 2x1GB 240-Pin DIMM XMS2-6400 CL5
Graphics Card: XFX 7900GT 256MB DDR3 DUAL DVI PCI-E
Storage: 2x Maxtor 6V160E0 160GB SATA300 7200rpm 8MB Cache - OEM
CD Drive: Sony CRX230E 52x32x52 CD-RW Internal IDE (Black) - OEM
DVD Drive: Sony DWG120AB2 16XDVD/RW/RAM Internal Black - OEM
*I’m pretty sure all of these are compatiable, but not 100%
The only things that would be changing would be the processor and motherboard – possibly the memory too as I believe DDR2 isn’t supported on AMD as of yet.
As the graphics card would suggest – I’m pretty much interested in gaming. I understand that people like to play games and rip DVD’s/Mp3’s whilst they play – but I’m not so much interested in that and usually let my game take up as much of the resources as possible.
The multitasking element can involve Photoshop (which I’ve heard AMD doesn’t like playing with?), Firefox, MSN Messenger, virus/firewall protection and Windows Media Player all running at the same time – which I understand Dual Core enjoys taking on as a challenge.
To be honest, I slightly favour Intel as a company. With all respect to AMD, I’ve used Intel on every computer I’ve ever had and very rarely have I had genuine performance problems. Whilst my shyness to leave Intel could be a bad thing for those who believe strongly in AMD – I have a track record with them and AMD is seen as the "something unknown".
The problem doesn’t really boil down to whether Conroe works on the motherboard I have selected – it’s about much more than that.
Anyway, what was very long-winded – but if you’re still with me. I’d just like to hear your suggestions, comments, opinions and views – as I’m sure it will help me sort out what is the best thing to do.
Thanks for any help - It's appreciated.
I recently had the thought of upgrading my computer and I’ve started to make a bit of headway in getting an idea of what I want/need and so on. My budget started off at around £700 but has since grown into a considerably bigger figure.
I started off wanting the P4 3.6Ghz 800Mhz FSB (775) and as something of a novice back then – I thought that clock speed was the be all and end all of performance – thanks to some guidance and several articles on AMD, I’ve just about come round to the idea, that it isn’t the case.
After another recommendation – I had a look at the Pentium D 805 – and the possible idea of over-clocking of it, up to and around 3.8Ghz/4.00Ghz. I have never over-clocked before and although it’s something I would like to learn a bit more about – I opted out of it.
I didn’t want to be worry about temperatures and cooling so much so that it would become an annoyance for me. I figured that if I’m going to over-clock, and particularly as a first time – I would do it on a processor that I could juice up a tiny bit – but not a 2.66Ghz to 4.0Ghz leap. I don’t believe in water cooling (I know it gets results, but I don’t like it) so I wasn’t going to hit 4.0 GHz, anyway.
After rejecting the idea of that – I then had a quick glance over at AMD. It was the first real time I had considered AMD, but the lack of cache and low clock speeds always puts an element of doubt into my mind – despite it being dual core and having read hundreds of good reviews about AMD Dual Core pros.
So I sort of considered AMD and sort of didn’t – when you compare that to the Intel experiences.
I then heard of the Conroe processor and thought if I was going to give dual core a chance – it may as well be with Intel. I had picked out everything I believed I needed to fit the Conroe (2.67GHz, I believe) system – but later found that out that the board manufacturers (Asus) didn’t specify on their website whether it will be supporting Conroe or not – some of the other motherboards on their website had specifications saying they did. I’m already on £150 for the motherboard that I picked out, which I believed to be pretty expensive. If I had to go beyond £150 to get a Conroe-supported motherboard, then it would really be breaking the neck of my budget – as it’s sitting around the £900 mark, everything barring casing and cooling considered.
I understand that AMD plan a big cut of pricing when the Conroe is released and whilst part of me wants a Conroe – I don’t want to have to wait longer than is necessary, to get it bought and paid for. The AMD price cut also gives me something else to think about and whilst it’s a good thing – It’s something that has been wrecking my head for the last week or so.
Depending on where you go, either Intel or AMD are the leading processor and in reality – it’s hard to form a decent opinion of your own. Backhand payments and generally bias toward one manufacturer, from the creators of these articles, being the problem.
The specs of my inital ‘proposed’ new system were as follows:
Motherboard: Asus P5WD2-E Premium 975 x LGA 775 2 X PCI-E 16x
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 660 3.6Ghz Socket 775 800Mhz 2mb Retail Boxed
Memory: Corsair Memory TWIN2X2048-6400 2x1GB 240-Pin DIMM XMS2-6400 CL5
Graphics Card: XFX 7900GT 256MB DDR3 DUAL DVI PCI-E
Storage: 2x Maxtor 6V160E0 160GB SATA300 7200rpm 8MB Cache - OEM
CD Drive: Sony CRX230E 52x32x52 CD-RW Internal IDE (Black) - OEM
DVD Drive: Sony DWG120AB2 16XDVD/RW/RAM Internal Black - OEM
*I’m pretty sure all of these are compatiable, but not 100%
The only things that would be changing would be the processor and motherboard – possibly the memory too as I believe DDR2 isn’t supported on AMD as of yet.
As the graphics card would suggest – I’m pretty much interested in gaming. I understand that people like to play games and rip DVD’s/Mp3’s whilst they play – but I’m not so much interested in that and usually let my game take up as much of the resources as possible.
The multitasking element can involve Photoshop (which I’ve heard AMD doesn’t like playing with?), Firefox, MSN Messenger, virus/firewall protection and Windows Media Player all running at the same time – which I understand Dual Core enjoys taking on as a challenge.
To be honest, I slightly favour Intel as a company. With all respect to AMD, I’ve used Intel on every computer I’ve ever had and very rarely have I had genuine performance problems. Whilst my shyness to leave Intel could be a bad thing for those who believe strongly in AMD – I have a track record with them and AMD is seen as the "something unknown".
The problem doesn’t really boil down to whether Conroe works on the motherboard I have selected – it’s about much more than that.
Anyway, what was very long-winded – but if you’re still with me. I’d just like to hear your suggestions, comments, opinions and views – as I’m sure it will help me sort out what is the best thing to do.
Thanks for any help - It's appreciated.
