Conroe Confusion

[spib]

Hi,

I'm looking to upgrade my existin system and I'm getting well and truly confused with all this

I currently have a P4 3.4c, cheap ASUS mobo and 2x512MB PC3200 Corsair VS RAM. I was looking at getting an E6600 with 2GB RAM and a decent Mobo because I need to see a significant increase in performance.

So my questions are:

1) Should I go for a E6300/E6400 instead? I'm not planning on overclocking much (unless I just tweak it with the standard cooler)

2) If I do go with the E6600 should I get a 975 chipset?

3) Do I need PC6400 RAM or would 5300 suffice? I don't want to pay more than about £180 for 2GB.

4) And finally which mobo? I've heard good things about the Asus P5B Deluxe

Any help would be great

 

[just Scott]

Hi,

I'm looking to upgrade my existin system and I'm getting well and truly confused with all this

I currently have a P4 3.4c, cheap ASUS mobo and 2x512MB PC3200 Corsair VS RAM. I was looking at getting an E6600 with 2GB RAM and a decent Mobo because I need to see a significant increase in performance.

So my questions are:

1) Should I go for a E6300/E6400 instead? I'm not planning on overclocking much (unless I just tweak it with the standard cooler)

2) If I do go with the E6600 should I get a 975 chipset?

3) Do I need PC6400 RAM or would 5300 suffice? I don't want to pay more than about £180 for 2GB.

4) And finally which mobo? I've heard good things about the Asus P5B Deluxe

Any help would be great

1. If you're not overclocking, get the 6600. The extra cache and stock speed will be of a lot more use to you with no overclocking.

2. Because you're not overclocking, any board with the features you want will suffice.

3. PC5300 will definietly be enough if you're not overclocking.

4.If I was choosing I'd go with the P5B. I've been looking at mobos more closely recenetly and I'm starting to like the look of this board. But any Conroe board will be alright for you because you're not overclocking; just make sure you choose one with the features you want.

 

[Tute]

1. It depends on your budget. If you can stretch to the E6600, go for it. If not, then the E6300 is a great CPU. There's no point in going for the E6400, as it's so close to the E6300, a tiny overclock closes the gap.

2. Some people report that the 975X overclocks better with the 4MB cache chips, and the 965 with the 2MB cache chips. I'd say, if your budget permits, to go for either a 680i chipset motherboard or the new DFI RD600 board. They're both awesome overclockers, with all Core2Duo chips.

3. £180? Then the GeIL PC6400 would probably be the best RAM for the budget, unless you plan a huge overclock, in which case i've heard good things about the Crucial 10th Anniversary RAM.

4. If you're on a budget, then the Gigabyte DS3/Asus P5B-D, if not such a budget, then either the EVGA 680i board or the DFI RD600.

Hope that helps.

[Edit] I have noticed that you say you don't plan to overclock much, but you're still going to get *some* overclock, even with the stock cooler. It's up to you if you want to or not!