Conroe is hype

[james.miller]

wether the OP intened to cause an argument posting that link, he really should have expected one. Threads of this kind always seem to brush over the important points and people will argue till blue in the face over points that really are irrelvant.

we all know now that graphics card are increasingly taking the load away from the cpu, and we are at the point now where we have more cpu power than we need for powering the latest 3d engines. What a lot of people dont realise, or ignore completely, is that we dont use our pc's just for gaming. come on now think a little before you write your replies people, its not that difficult.

Now, I'm getting by with a 3ghz single core opteron - gaming is far more than just 'adiquate' with a high end card, but the fact is it really feels the strain when encoding. a conroe will more than double my performance in this area, infact it'll nearly quadruple it, and compared to a 3ghz opteron (which isn't slow lets face it) that is simply awsome.

I dont buy the whole conroe thing either tbh. In fact dual core also I didnt bother upgrading. I played CS:S on a conroe system and then again on my opteron rig with same card... Absolutely **** all difference.

Thats because people in your position miss the point, or ignore it, as i said previously. Conroe isnt about games performance. It's about system performance as a whole which covers FAR more than games. Its narrow minded to think that cpu's are for gaming and not much else. we'd all be happy with durons and socket370 celerons if that were the case.


Stop thinking CONROE is about gaming.

 

[FatRakoon]

Yep the Intel 965 chipset does not support PATA. So motherboard manufacturers have added support for it using a seperate controller (a Jmicron controller usually, I think).

Eek, you learn summat noo every day dont you?

Cant say im surprised, but at the same time I was... Every new Mobo I have gone out and bought has 2 IDE ports and well, at least this one has 6 SATA anyway... Couple are Sata2 so that wil be fun having a play about with wont it?

I assume 2 are anyway, I still dont have it out the wrapper yet

The NB H/S is bigger than my Intel coolers ( Slight lie of course ) so its time to get a better one for sure.

Oh, while I am here, the P4 is hovering at 74c

Is it that ok?

I have added a 120mm at the side, plus swapped the one 80mm at the back for an Akasa and bodged another 80mm in the front to help, but its only gone down to 60c

I have a spare TT erm... Ah, soprano that I bought but have not used yet, its got a pair of 120mms in and I hope they will be as good as the armor, and that will be the case this Mobo and eventually the conroe ( when the new RAM comes ) will be in.

Looking forward to having an intel as my no1 actually... Spent enough on the damned thing. I should have just got myself an FX after all this! At least I have the Mobo & RAM for that... LOL

 

[tipsy]

Well here's the most ridiculous reason for upgrading to C2D, I've stopped smoking & want to treat myself to another pc despite upgrading to an x2 system in june.

My reasons were

I look at the nice shiney pc & go that was 8 months worth of ciggies that was & I smile & play games for hours without needing to go outside & freeze whilst cramming tabs in my mouth to go back & play games.

To be honest my main reason for c2d was to replace a prescot 3ghz system that was used for encoding & burning & other intensive things, but stopping smoking does have its advantages in other ways apart from money that I wont get into.

 

[BillytheImpaler]

snip

You make me want to take up smoking just so I can quit and save boatloads of money.

 

[FatRakoon]

stopping smoking does have its advantages in other ways apart from money that I wont get into.

Anyway, I need a smidge of advise here now...

My eyes are well and truly shut and I cant see sod all anymore, but the gap between the backplate and the PCB tabs of the CPU... They are what I would call close... I seriously doubt they are touching, but hell, what can happen should any of them actually be touching?

I am 50-50 on putting a couple of stips of insulting tape in there to be sure, but they were close on the other board too come to think of it.

Also, I didnt think of this, but I was about to swap over the FAN on the thing with one of my other ones, and I sort of realised that the fans on there are 4-pin, mine have always been 3.

So, I was sort of stuffed really. Not a true problem as such as I am only going to be running this stock anyway for a while and the cooler is the one that came with it, but still...

Also, the manual is a tad rubbish... Or rather the bit of paper at any rate... Does it take the sticks ( I am using the 2 sticks for a bit ) in a 1-miss-1-miss way, with one on each coloured slot, or shall I put them both on the left?

Just tryign to be 100% sure cos its cost me a lot so far and I dont want it to go pop in the first 10 seconds thats all.

( I should have stuck to AMD, I just know it - somethings not right here cos with the AMD kit I always just throw it all in and it either works, or it doesnt and nothign has ever blown, but for some strange reason, I am freaking out now ? )

Something else I wanted to ask too, but its slipped my mind right now?

Ah sod it... Time to just switch on and fingers crossed I recon.

 

[FatRakoon]

Oh sod the bloody thing.

I think the RAM is too slow for it perhaps?

Cant be a compatibility with the CPU surely cos the original Mobo the CPU was in, was running on DDR 400 not just DDR2 400, so this must be even better for it???

Sodding Bloody Intels.

Update as and when...

 

[FatRakoon]

My god... This intel is fast!

Its so fast, that its just burned itself out!!

Cool.

Nah, seriously I probably needed to just give it a second more perhaps?

I took the RAM out and gave it a risk as to why its not staying on, and it bleeped like hell so I put them back and just risked it and it booted up!

CPU staying at 3Ghz, but thats obviously for the RAM, cos the multi is at 15.

Ok, with the FSB staying at 200, I wonder if the multi will go to 18?

Hmm....

Anyway, it lives but it looks like I wont be doing anything with it for a few more days then... All that exitement for bugger all eh?

So, I cant give you my impression right now of this P4 or the conroe, but sod it... As soon as I get the ram I wont be bothering with this P4 anyway, I might just be doing a few comparisons of this board against the asus P5GD1 thats all..

Hang on a minute... Is this why the conroe is so slow on the other board then?

...

Oh FFS!
Ok, seeing how stupid I really am now. Im off.

 

[easyrider]

FatRakoon

It seems you are having a conversation with yourself!

 

[Explicit]

The world can be a lonely place!

 

[FatRakoon]

Yeah, I know.

I noticed a few days ago, but hey. No one is listening, so I dont care... I love to waffle.

Anyway, since you are. I have not got the P4 running. Few irritations, but its in. Got it at 18x200 ( 3.6Ghz of course ) I installed the chipset drivers and now the USBs are all messed up, so thats an annoyance, but I found the Driver CD and Manuals... They must have slipped out when I was opening it.

Will bench it later and get back on the results comparing it against the older Mobo and against the Newcastle @ 2.4 and the x2 4400 @ 2.7... Then once I get the other RAM, I will bench the conroe

And, much to everyones annoyance, I will post the results here, and bring myself back top what the original post was all about...

Hey, end of the day, I too think the Conroe is over-hyped... Fe up of readin that its so good, so I have gone about doing it for myself, and the weekend will finally show me how it fares for real.

 

[silversurfer]

Conroe might be overhyped but its more deserving of that hype then any other processor I can remember in the last ten years.

Personally I skipped socket 754 and 939 alltogether because they werent really worth the bother imo (especially at first), it would be hard say the same here when budget options are available from the start with premium performance

 

[FatRakoon]

Yes, the AMD64 was for me a tad overhyped in some wys too!

I went from a Barton3200 to a winchester 3200 and to be honest, there is very little immediate difference at all... You need to tweak and tune a little to start seeing a reason for spendign your money, although to be fair, at the time, I had been running 2x256 & 1x512 on the barton and that RAM was obviously not the best idea for the Winchester, and when I bought a matching pair, the difference was greater.

Another hting that has annoyed me with AMD is their Rating system... Ok, its close, but its no cigar.

For example I had 2 semprons a 3100 and a 3300 and the 3100 was by far a vastly superior chip.

I have been a little ipressed with the P4 last night and today... The Better Motherboard alone has made such a massive improvement and knowing the conroe is going to be that much better, is only adding to my exitement, however, I have also come to the conclusion, that I will be keeping my AMD as my main system. Its never failed me once, its never had any kind of issue at all, and given that it does everythign I need it to and it does it well, I see no need to go to intel just because it will probably do it faster cos to be honest, the long jobs I leave overnight anyway and go to the PC Room, so the only effect havign a faster CPU will give me, is that it will be doen and standing around doing nothign for longer!

Besides, it will also mean swappign the bits around etc, so AMD is my main PC and Intel is My No2 ( Unless the conroe gets clocked to ridiculous Mhz and then its only a matter of time )

 

[Philbill]

I am not a fanboy either way, I pay for what gives me the best bang for my buck. I do however smile a little at those people raving how the C2D has beaten AMD. If you are an Intel fanboy you should be a little embarassed that it has taken current generation technology from a giant such as INTEl to knock the previous generation technology from AMD of its number one spot, that I might add it has held for a considerable length of time.
Phil

 

[FatRakoon]

I am a fanboy. AMD All the way for me.

If Bang for buck is a player in the game, then AMD too! - Intels have been priced way too high.

However, with my recent play-about with these Intel I have now, I am VERY QUICKLY moving over to the dark side.

It seems that in the past, I have been too quick to judge the intels mainly because of the Celeron, but also the motherboards too and now that I have the DS3 I am unable to lay any blame on anything but myself... Perhaps the RAM Im using, but for the P4 its fine. not for the Conore though, although it does work on the conroe, its probably underclocking it a fair bit, so I am no longer going to risk anything and I am waiting for my new RAM to come before I play with it anymore.

My temps dropped down last night to 36c, so the case worked wonders, but after thrashign the hell out of it the mobo soon started doing that seriously annoying buzz when it kept hitting 70c... This also happens with the CPU FAN alarm which does not come on for about 6 seconds so I have switched it off...

Can anyone verify if this is ok for it?

I am 50-50 on just plonking on a direct-powered fan just to avoid this.