Conroe...too soon to tell ?

[ademcg]

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 !

 

[ademcg]

DS3 is troublesome? First i've heard about it...

I own one and it's bulletproof and i'm sure many others will tell you the same.

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.
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

Although this seems promising for a low end upgrade:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-036-OK

 

[ademcg]

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.

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

Perhaps the DS4 or what of the little heard of DQ6 ?

 

[ademcg]

yeah the DS3 is proberbly best non-680 board out there for OC, and i would go for E6400 to be honest, for higher multiplier and its only about 15 pounds more than E6300 retail, put the CPU and NB under water and watch it take off into hyperspace

I was leaning towards the E6400...seen a few go for reasobale money recently too.

LOL, Re water.....I am still quite green on Air,..I think I would make a horrible mess with water
I will be a total noob again as all I have learned thus far is AMD64 related, lots of reading ahead me thinks.

Oh and I need a better case but thats a whole different topic and thread