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Conroe...too soon to tell ?

ademcg

ademcg

ademcg

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Joined
29 Jul 2005
Posts
2,081
Location
Warrington
Well, I am starting to think that multi core is the path of my next upgrade.
I am playing with a X2 3800 at the moment, only coz it was a cheaper option than the whole new rebuild thing.

But looking a little ahead I can see myself building a Conroe rig.
However, a couple of things have really made me stop and think.

1.) Price of Motherboards.

Wow, they aren't cheap and which one to choose...DS3 and 4 seem troublesome, Asus seem good but would have to loan out the wife to fund one.

2.) Price of processors, although recently I have seen a slight softening in the E6300 price, maybe more to come ? Quad Core out now so might see lots of cheap E6600??

3.) Ram, this seems pricey too and lots of the boards seem ever so picky....I guess that is normal?
Perhaps this too is still in its "short pants" DDR2 not that long out.

So, to sum up my slightly confused state, is it really the right time to go Conroe?

My PC (see sig) is hardly mothball material, manage a 2.8GHz X2 OC and lots of life left in that.

But I do yern for some new Oc action.

Basically, I know what Power supply, Graphics card and monitor I will be using ....the rest is all too up in the air.....I guess that cleared it up ! :o
 
The current Quad cores will not get the Dual cores to drop much, if at all. Go with a E6300, it's a fantastic chip and great value for money. :)
 
t's not too expensive if your upgrading, as opposed to starting afresh, if you were willing to keep your current HDD, DVD drives, keyboard, mouse, monitor, PSU and GFX then an upgrade to C2D would cost sub £450(inc VAT and delivery) including 2GB DDR2 geil 800mhz, a good overclocking board, costing less than the DS3/4's, an amazing CPU, and a decent cooler:

Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - OEM £97.99
(£115.14)
Abit AB9 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
£71.99
(£84.59)
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC)
£169.99
(£199.74)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 775) £13.99
(£16.44)
Sub Total : £353.96
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £8.25
Vat : £63.39
Total : £425.60

and there you go, not an expensive upgrade.
 
DS3 is troublesome? First i've heard about it... :confused:

I own one and it's bulletproof and i'm sure many others will tell you the same. :)
 
bringerofdecay said:
t's not too expensive if your upgrading, as opposed to starting afresh, if you were willing to keep your current HDD, DVD drives, keyboard, mouse, monitor, PSU and GFX then an upgrade to C2D would cost sub £450(inc VAT and delivery) including 2GB DDR2 geil 800mhz, a good overclocking board, costing less than the DS3/4's, an amazing CPU, and a decent cooler:

<snipped spec>

and there you go, not an expensive upgrade.
Click to expand...

The AB9 isn't well suited to the lower multi chips. Boards max FSB is ~ 450 realistically unless you invest HEAVILY in extra NB cooling.
The P5B Vanilla could be a good option however, as long as you can live without the features of its bigger brother. Should hit over 500FSB easily.
 
OC_A64 said:
The AB9 isn't well suited to the lower multi chips. Boards max FSB is ~ 450 realistically unless you invest HEAVILY in extra NB cooling.
The P5B Vanilla could be a good option however, as long as you can live without the features of its bigger brother. Should hit over 500FSB easily.
Click to expand...


ask raikiri, he has his 6300 at 2.87, stable, using not to great RAM (compared to the stuff i spec'd) on this very motherboard
 
bringerofdecay said:
ask raikiri, he has his 6300 at 2.87, stable, using not to great RAM (compared to the stuff i spec'd) on this very motherboard
Click to expand...


Yes but that is only 410 FSB, I bought the board because it worked 100% with my RAM whereas others had issues with OCZ ram.

I still think it could do 480 though with a small fan on the NB, I will have to borrow your Geil when you get it :p
 
Raikiri said:
Yes but that is only 410 FSB, I bought the board because it worked 100% with my RAM whereas others had issues with OCZ ram.

I still think it could do 480 though with a small fan on the NB, I will have to borrow your Geil when you get it :p
Click to expand...

hehe, i don't think so :p
 
Richdog said:
DS3 is troublesome? First i've heard about it... :confused:

I own one and it's bulletproof and i'm sure many others will tell you the same. :)
Click to expand...

Well I am only going off what people are posting on the forum, bios problems, Ram problems, amongst other stuff, working fine for a week then oops something goes breasts up (medical term not a swear) ;)

There seems to be a bit of a scramble by motherboard suppliers to get a good over clocking board out, with no real obvious winner, unless you are prepared to spend £200 on the Asus Pro or EVGA. :eek:
DFI not on the scene yet ?

The Abit AB9 only has 1 X16 PCI-e slot, so limited for future upgrades, as is the DS3.

All this still makes me think that a real winning combination of Mobo, chip and memory is yet to emerge.....you have the lower end stuf DS3, E6300 and cheap Ram but has a fair few limitation, then the Top end stuff Asus Pro or EVGA and the QX6700.....the in between seems to be a bit of a mess and difficult to judge (for me anyway). I guess this is my main point, I can't find a middle road solution that offers what I think I will want.

Good base performance
Room for good Over clocking
future proof (to a point)
Rock solid stability
Reasonable price.

I am still at a loss :confused:

Although this seems promising for a low end upgrade:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-036-OK
 
bringerofdecay said:
ask raikiri, he has his 6300 at 2.87, stable, using not to great RAM (compared to the stuff i spec'd) on this very motherboard
Click to expand...

Yea, 410 FSB is nothing to compared to what other boards will do.
Also 2.87ghz isnt a huge overclock compared to some chips. I'd much rather have a mobo that probably won't max til my CPU did/does.
 
OC_A64 said:
Yea, 410 FSB is nothing to compared to what other boards will do.
Also 2.87ghz isnt a huge overclock compared to some chips. I'd much rather have a mobo that probably won't max til my CPU did/does.
Click to expand...


The board isn't maxed. Neither is the CPU.
 
Well i've just got a DS3 and a 6300 and this thing is solid as a rock. The DS3 is a fantastic board, and decidably more reliable than any DFI i've owned.

Not had a problem with it, currently sitting at 476FSB @ 3.33Ghz, with no extra volts through the FSB at all. I reckon I could get 500FSB solid if I could be bothered ;)
 
ademcg said:
Well I am only going off what people are posting on the forum, bios problems, Ram problems, amongst other stuff, working fine for a week then oops something goes breasts up (medical term not a swear) ;)
Click to expand...

There are no widespread reports of problems with this board. No board is problem-free, but this is a rock as far as boards go.

Good base performance
Room for good Over clocking
future proof (to a point)
Rock solid stability
Reasonable price.

I am still at a loss :confused:
Click to expand...

Yeah... that'll be the DS3 then. ;)
 
Raikiri said:
Buy me some DDR2 1000mhz and I'll happily test your theory :p
Click to expand...

Why bother mate, I've got an AB9 sat here. Know exactly where they max with various cooling :)
Also dealt closely with another chap running a AB9, had issues getting high FSB's from the board without vMods and additional chipset cooling.
 
Richdog said:
There are no widespread reports of problems with this board. No board is problem-free, but this is a rock as far as boards go.



Yeah... that'll be the DS3 then. ;)
Click to expand...

Apart from it only has X1 16X Pcie support.
CF is not an option later down the line with the DS3. :p

Perhaps the DS4 or what of the little heard of DQ6 ?
 
OC_A64 said:
Why bother mate, I've got an AB9 sat here. Know exactly where they max with various cooling :)
Also dealt closely with another chap running a AB9, had issues getting high FSB's from the board without vMods and additional chipset cooling.
Click to expand...


I know, I have seen one do 468 with stock NB etc. but then with the RAM I had it was either mess about and spend more getting better or just go with this board as I knew the RAM would reach it's max before the board or CPU.
 
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