Hmm...AM2 or Conroe...?

Le_Petit_Lapin · 24 Jul 2006 at 16:55

Lets start with where I am now:

Currently have a lovely little Opty 248 happily running at 2.8Ghz, but alas, its on a Socket 939 board (DFI NF3 Ultra-D as far as I remember....havent tweaked it in months) and as such is running AGP (with a rather nice 7800GS, but I dont see a future in upgrading AGP). Its got a set of nice G.Skill FC Series RAM in there too.....but again, its DDR, and as such more or less a dead dodo. All this in a watercooled YY Server Cube case, with a yellow and black warning stripe spray job all over. Somewhat worse the wear now as I basically used it as a coffee table and its chipped and stained. Incidently, did you know that the DFI Ultra-D can endure having a cup of water spilt all over it while switched on? Windows went AWOL and BSOD'ed and the hard drive went a bit funny and needed formatted, but the MoBo was fine once it dried out. Loved building up this PC and modding the case to fit the watercooling and all that, but, its got no future.

So...I smell a new project in the pipeline. a new server cube is in order (love these things, so much room), and a new set of watercooling kit, new mobo, CPU, RAM, drives.....well...new PC in fact

However having been out of the PC loop for about 8 months now I'm at a bit of a loss. I didnt realise AMD had switched to AM2 already, and was using DDR2.

....and even more suprising...Intel was once again a viable contender! I nearly choked on my tea. Been using AMD's for years now due to their good price/preformance and overclockability, but this Conroe thing does seem to be getting good press, so I'd consider it even if it does technically mean selling my soul to the devil.

Right. Now I guess you're asking what on earth I'm rambling so much for, and wanting em to get to the point. Here you are:

Based on either a Conroe platform or an AM2 platform, can someone knock me together a rough idea at what CPU, RAM and MoBo combo works well together?

In the case of the CPU is it must be considered to be Mid Range. I like to buy the cheaper CPU's and thrash the **** out of them.

RAM, I've no idea on, never used DDR-2 before and don't know if the old "good" companies are applicable anymore.

MoBo, has to have more overclocking options than you can shake a stick at. I've been spoilt with DFI, and I like it.

GPU, don't bother speccing me one, I'll try and slot a 7950 or x1900 into my budget after I work out the core components. Trying to get a rough idea as to what this wee project will be costing me before seriously considering it. Case, drives, case mods, watercooling, et al, can be worked out at another point.

/Rambling madness.

BoomAM · 24 Jul 2006 at 18:04

You'll now find that EVERYONE will be recomending Conroes now.

DanF · 24 Jul 2006 at 18:12

Yup,

If your starting from scratch again then go Conroe. Might want to wait for a few weeks for prices to settle etc.

Otherwise wait until Xmas and see what the K8L is gonna be like (but will need AM2 anyway)

Le_Petit_Lapin · 24 Jul 2006 at 18:16

Oh theres no real rush. Probably I'll be buying a server cube first, and sanding that down, then work on spray painting that while I see how things change. Might go for a pearlesent coat finish to the case this time, still undecided.

All I was after was a rough idea on what kind of thing I'll be wanting to put in it for decent overclocking fun. As I say, have been out of the loop for a while, so I'm not sure as to whats hot and whats not.

Hxc · 24 Jul 2006 at 18:53

AM2, in my view will be more future proof, as AMDs 65nm cpu is apparently going to be on it, along with the Socket AM3, which runs DDR3, from what I have read.

Conroe is definitely the winner out of the current CPUs, but I am personally waiting to see if AMD can pull something out of the hat before christmas for my new build.

EDIT: just read up a little more, AMDs K8L, based on a 65nm manufacture is due out H1 2007... and AM2 socket will be backwards compatible with ALL AM3 (due 2008) processors, as they will have both a DDR2 and DDR3 Memory controller in.

DanF · 24 Jul 2006 at 19:47

Yep win win for everyone, buy now and you get the excellent conroe, wait for 6 months and build up a vista ready pc with K8L or conroe depending on how they do. Either way is very good.

Le_Petit_Lapin · 24 Jul 2006 at 20:26

So at the minute we looking at something like:

for Intel:

Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe"
DFI Infinity 975X
2Gb G.Skill DDR2 PC2-6400 ZX Series 4-4-4-12 Dual Channel kit

And AMD:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4600+ 2.40GHz
Abit Fatal1ty AN9 32X or Abit KN9 SLi nForce 570 SLi
2Gb G.Skill DDR2 PC2-6400 ZX Series 4-4-4-12 Dual Channel kit (Can get it cheap....is it bad RAM? G.Skill used to be good.)

Something along those lines? Is that RAM any good?

FreeStream · 24 Jul 2006 at 21:09

Forget the AMD, Conroe E6600!!!

At stock it beats the AMD, overclocked it thrashes it (thats if it overclocks - but as its Intel is more that likely that it will kick ass!)

BoomAM · 24 Jul 2006 at 21:31

Funny how things change. Not 2 months ago everyone would were brown nosing AMD. lol. How things change.

-|ScottFree|- · 24 Jul 2006 at 22:05

BoomAM said:
Funny how things change. Not 2 months ago everyone would were brown nosing AMD. lol. How things change.

Thats just it mate, no one has any loyalty to brands (apart from people who own a Sony playstation)

If Matrox released a next gen GPU upon the release of the G80 & R600, and was faster, you would guarantee that sales of ATI and Nvidia would plummet. People want the best, and whatever company provides us with the best gets our money!!!

northsider · 24 Jul 2006 at 22:38

Ok
On OcUK you can get:

Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe"
DFI Infinity 975X
2Gb G.Skill DDR2 PC2-6400 ZX Series 4-4-4-12 Dual Channel kit

DVD RW will only be a few quid.

for about £800 €1200

Do you need a case as well? If not, you can spend a nice few quid on a graphics card.

Gashman · 24 Jul 2006 at 22:42

im gonna recommend the waiting game, AMD have always offered the best deal for me personally, reliability, performance and good pricing. see what this AMD/ATI merger produces at beginning of next year, plus AMD releasing there 65nM processors into the market surely with higher overclocking abilities and perhaps some small improvements/revisions, ATI releasing there R600 at supposidly a similar timeframe. so im planning on waiting and see what they have instore for us next year

and if intel is still performance king then intel it shall be for my upgrade

lucifersam · 24 Jul 2006 at 22:48

conroe i think, S775 is gonna be around for a while, k8L is not due out now until mid way through 2007 although im expecting it to be impressive when its released

Beenom · 24 Jul 2006 at 22:48

northsider said:
Ok
On OcUK you can get:

Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe"
DFI Infinity 975X
2Gb G.Skill DDR2 PC2-6400 ZX Series 4-4-4-12 Dual Channel kit

DVD RW will only be a few quid.

for about £800 €1200

Do you need a case as well? If not, you can spend a nice few quid on a graphics card.

CP-128-IN Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail (CP-128-IN)
£214.95 £214.95
MB-020-DF DFI Infinity 975X (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-020-DF)
£129.95 £129.95
MY-013-GS G.Skill 2GB DDR2 HZ PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit (F2-6400PHU2-2GBHZ) (MY-013-GS)
£147.95 £147.95
CD-078-SA Samsung SH-S182D 18x18 DVD±RW ReWriter (Black) (CD-078-SA)
£20.95 £20.95
Subtotal £513.80
VAT £89.92
Total £603.72

£200 less than your guesstimate

An X1900XT is ~£250

The G.Skill HZ is meant to overclock better than the ZX (Check the picture under the HZ's description)

BoomAM · 24 Jul 2006 at 22:50

lucifersam said:
conroe i think, S775 is gonna be around for a while, k8L is not due out now until mid way through 2007 although im expecting it to be impressive when its released

It should be.
At the most 'basic' level, almost everything that gave the Conroe its performance increases over the older Pentiums, have been implemented into the K8L. So, touch wood, we should see a similar performance benefit from the K8Ls.
Although a 4x4 K8L is drool worthy.

lucifersam · 24 Jul 2006 at 22:52

ive heard this 4x4 thing before not really sure what it is though, i do know that K8L will be native quad core but Kentsfield will beat AMD to that prize

BoomAM · 24 Jul 2006 at 22:57

lucifersam said:
ive heard this 4x4 thing before not really sure what it is though, i do know that K8L will be native quad core but Kentsfield will beat AMD to that prize

4x4 is a dual socket AM2 mobo that will be targeted/available to consumers. (us basically.

)
2x sockets + 2x dual core cpu = 4x cores = AMD 4x4.
The initial 4x4 afaik will just be the current AM2 processors, so apart from multitasking, compared to the likes of Conroe, wont be amazing performers for games, but i'd imagine the K8L varient of the 4x4 will be awesome.

cobxx · 24 Jul 2006 at 23:16

BoomAM said:
4x4 is a dual socket AM2 mobo that will be targeted/available to consumers. (us basically. )
2x sockets + 2x dual core cpu = 4x cores = AMD 4x4.
The initial 4x4 afaik will just be the current AM2 processors, so apart from multitasking, compared to the likes of Conroe, wont be amazing performers for games, but i'd imagine the K8L varient of the 4x4 will be awesome.

It's mainly for the brag factor

AM2 definatly seems the better option for long term buyers, but most people here seem to upgrade every year or so

so it's not a huge deal. When it comes down to it, people upgrading from 2 year old systems or something won't do bad with am2 or conroe...its just for the hardcore folks who will really gain (ie find and enjoy every 0.5% performance increase!). Don't get me wrong though, the power of conroe is amazing, especially in oc'ing, I'm just trying to give 2 sides to it!

Le_Petit_Lapin · 24 Jul 2006 at 23:34

Where did this DVD-RW come into things from?

Anyway, aside from that, I've been rummaging through a few boxes of bits I have at the house over the last hour and have found a pair of 200GB SATA drives I never got around to installing in this PC. That'll do for storage, providing of course that they are working ok. I did buy them on Ebay for cheap afterall.

A DVD-RW I can *ahem* borrow from work, and will do for boot media. Havent used a floppy drive in 4 years and dont intend to start again now.
Watercooling kit I'll get off that auction site and the members market over the next couple of months, (I'm in no hurry) just buying the bits as they become available. Waterblocks I'll buy new, once I've finallised kit.
PSU...well, I think I've a spare Hiper Type-R 580W Modular PSU somewhere. Bought two ages ago now, in case the one I'm using went pop, but thankfully it didnt.
Graphics Card....hmm...it'll have to be either a x1900 or a 7950. I dont overclock them as every time in the past, bar none, when I've overclocked a GPU its went and fried on me. Either that....or its got a stable overclock, but needs the cooling replaced, and when I go to change the cooler I either break the GPU core, or accidently knock a few resistors off the PCB. Over time (and 11 Graphics cards) I've learned just to buy a good one and leave it be.

So really it only leaves the base unit (MoBo, CPU, RAM) and case to be sorted. Questions:

Will a case with ATX mounting holes hold a Socket 755 motherboard?
Is the DFI Infinity 975X any good at overclocking, or is it a piece of cack? Is there a better Socket 755 MoBo for overclocking?
What are good steppings on the E6600's?
Waterblocks...what ones fit a Soc. 755 board, and are also good? Will probably be using a standard 1/2" ID setup and either a Dual or Tripple 120.2 radiator (depends on what case I get...which one fits.

)

Case will probably be a YY-Server Cube. I'm currently using a YY-0420, and its a big sturdy old bugger. Its just a shame the metal they used for it is 1.2mm Kobe steel. Its a ******* to cut holes in.

Is there anything similiar, but uses aluminium? Please....no suggestions of using a shoebox. (Shuttle et al)

Kamakazie! · 25 Jul 2006 at 00:05

lucifersam said:
ive heard this 4x4 thing before not really sure what it is though, i do know that K8L will be native quad core but Kentsfield will beat AMD to that prize

Well Kentsfield will beat K8L to quadcore but not "native" quadcore as Kentsfield is just 2 conroe's stuck together.
The K8L quadcore (Deerhound or something) is native quadcore... and should be showcased in Q4 this year.