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Is Conroe the Core 2 Duo?

What some people seem to be forgetting is that there is extra expense when it comes to a Core 2 Duo system. I recently build a system for a friend who had an absolute top end budget of £700. Nearly everything was going to be new. BUT, it made a hell of a lot more sense to get an AM2 X2 3800+ and a Radeon X1800XT than getting a Core 2 Duo system and a much poorer graphics card (it would have had to be around £100 graphics card if he got a Core 2 Duo).

Many of you seem to think that people can just pull more money from their arses to afford to Core 2 Duo. Bottom line is, if you're a gamer, you've better off with the better graphics card and AthlonX2 than sacrificing the graphics card for a processor that will actually add very little in the end. If you have a budget that can include Core 2 Duo without sacrificing power elsewhere, get it, if not, there's nowt wrong with AM2 platform.
 
Yea thats the reason I asked about AGP slots on Conroe systems because it would save me some money on the outset and the in he not too distant future I could upgradethe graphics. Maybe even wait a bit for SLI and go for the double.

For SLI do they just have to be same chipset eg both 7900gt or do they have to be the same manufacturer aswell?
 
Huugs said:
Yea thats the reason I asked about AGP slots on Conroe systems because it would save me some money on the outset and the in he not too distant future I could upgradethe graphics. Maybe even wait a bit for SLI and go for the double.

For SLI do they just have to be same chipset eg both 7900gt or do they have to be the same manufacturer aswell?
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Problem with this is you end up having to buy 2 motherboards, so you don't really save any money at all. It's a false economy. They just need to be the same GPU.
 
Huugs said:
If I were to get a Conroe rig (E6600) it looks like I would be spending a fair whack as I would need new memory, graphics card and mobo all together. I have an AGP 6800GT so are there any Conroe mobos with APG on them or would that just be stupid? Im guessing not which would mean Im looking at roughly 600 quid. That sound about right?
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Well you could probably sell your 6800GT on the bay for £100 possibly more. Don't know about your other parts though.
 
What some people seem to be forgetting [snip..]
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Truth is that this no longer applies to the extent it might have, people who recommend Core 2 Duo over AM2 aren't as ignorant of the cost as you imply. Motherboards for Core 2 Duo are available at the same prices as AM2 (e.g. £52.82 Asrock Conroe945G-DVI), DDR2 is cheaper than DDR (which together with mobo price was a motivator for choosing 939 over AM2/Core 2 Duo), there are motherboards which support both AGP/PCI-E and DDR (ok so, so far they are neutered, but reviews for the 775Dual-VSTA already show little to no performance penalty for a high end PCI-E graphics and DDR) and unlike certain other CPU launches the Core 2 Duo range starts with the retail E6300 at a reasonable £136.24 (which needless to say even at stock is a fair bit faster than an £105 X2 3800+ and just as overclockable).

Ok, assuming the cheapest motherboard available on this site it will be around £40 odd more expensive which can make a large difference if you apply it to the graphics, but there are other areas you can cut back and for that extra your getting more CPU power for that graphics upgrade later (though admittedly AM2 is looking likely to turn out more upgradable than LGA775).

Don't get me wrong here, not saying AM2 is automatically a bad buy and Core 2 Duo is always the best way, just that the impression you give of the extra cost and the attitude of people who recommend it, is a bit unfair in my eyes.
 
Personally I think in terms of "bang for the buck" the AMD A64 single cores, and the Core 2 Duo are probably the best at the moment. Realistically the Athlon single core is going to be quick enough for most and it is great value now. The X2 is unfortunately kind of in no mans land now, being priced very closely to Core 2 Duo but not able to match its performance.

Ultimately even if you aren't interested in a Conroe its arrival has dramatically increased competition and so there are more bargains about overall.
 
Truth is that this no longer applies to the extent it might have, people who recommend Core 2 Duo over AM2 aren't as ignorant of the cost as you imply. Motherboards for Core 2 Duo are available at the same prices as AM2 (e.g. £52.82 Asrock Conroe945G-DVI), DDR2 is cheaper than DDR (which together with mobo price was a motivator for choosing 939 over AM2/Core 2 Duo), there are motherboards which support both AGP/PCI-E and DDR (ok so, so far they are neutered, but reviews for the 775Dual-VSTA already show little to no performance penalty for a high end PCI-E graphics and DDR) and unlike certain other CPU launches the Core 2 Duo range starts with the retail E6300 at a reasonable £136.24 (which needless to say even at stock is a fair bit faster than an £105 X2 3800+ and just as overclockable).
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From this you seem to be suggesting that my friend got a Core 2 Duo board that supported AGP and PCI-E, and kept his current graphics card? Personally I think getting a C2D and keeping his 6600GT would be completely pointless. He'd then be getting literally no upgrade at all (and he was upgrading to improve his computers gaming power). Another way for him to have shoe-horned a C2D into his budget would have been to drop 1gb of RAM (from 2 to 1) but that would have been a bigger loss than any improvement C2D made.
 
Nah I'm not suggesting anything about that build, was just mentioning ways in which Core 2 Duo offers value/budget options for people either on an upgrade path or buying new. Was only the harsh wording you used in reference to those recommending Core 2 Duo for a value/budget build that I thought was unfair :p
Many of you seem to think that people can just pull more money from their arses to afford to Core 2 Duo.
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