State of play? (for the lazy man)

[FoxEye]

Heya, just thought I'd pop in and ask what the current state of play is in the CPU market.

Are you all waiting for the new AMD chips to come out? Or is Intel still the future?

At some point, you see, I'm going to replace my Opty 146, and do the whole multi-core thang. Just not sure when, or who to go with

It does seem that the general consensus is - for games - that multi-core is still not 100% useful.

 

[z0mbi3]

It does seem that the general consensus is - for games - that multi-core is still not 100% useful.

More like some where between 80-100% useful.

It's pretty much the norm now.

 

[FoxEye]

What's the best buy for the price/performance conscious buyer? Bearing in mind I'm on s939 and will need a new mobo.

And what about the second hand market? Any bargains to be had there? I'd like to see a significant upgrade to my Opty 146 when I make the jump But without spending the earth. £100 probably isn't realistic, but I don't want to shell out much more than that

And finally, there is always something better coming soon (tm), but sometimes it's really better to wait. Rarely, but it happens

 

[MoD_Callidus]

X2 3800+ won't cost anywhere near £100 lolz

 

[mattyj1085]

get a e2140 and a evga 650i motherbaord with 2 gig of ram will only cost you around £150

 

[FoxEye]

Any reason to get the e2140 instead of the 2160/ 2180?

Do the 2140 reach 3gig without increasing voltages? I don't think I want to do that - as someone who hasn't overclocked much, the though of pumping more juice into it sorta scares me

 

[Defcon5]

Do the 2140 reach 3gig without increasing voltages? I don't think I want to do that - as someone who hasn't overclocked much, the though of pumping more juice into it sorta scares me

Yet you bought an Opty? they were made to be abused!

 

[str]

Any reason to get the e2140 instead of the 2160/ 2180?

Do the 2140 reach 3gig without increasing voltages? I don't think I want to do that - as someone who hasn't overclocked much, the though of pumping more juice into it sorta scares me

The E2140/E2160 can be L2 or M0 stepping. The recent L2s haven't overclocked that well and likely will have 1.325v default vcore. The E2180 is M0 stepping only and most are doing very well overclocking although for 3GHz a voltage increase might be necessary but considering the M0's have default vcore of ~1.2v that isn't surprising.

 

[FoxEye]

Yet you bought an Opty? they were made to be abused!

I overclocked it, but not didn't over-volt It went quite happily to 2.8 Ghz without extra volts, which was great.

Someone in the thread earlier said I could get a new mobo, ram and cpu for £150. Well I'd do it tomorrow if that's the case.

So I'm thinking, do I build with an eye on the new 45nm chips to come? Those things have FSB 1600 right? So I should probably buy DDR2-800 (bear with me). If I'm going for DDR2-800, I can get a decent o/c out of the 2140, assuming the mobo will support a FSB of 400Mhz.

This is where it all gets pretty confusing. Good mobo, average mobo? High bandwidth ram, lower bandwidth ram? 2140, 2180? I don't really know how it will all come together, and what's a good combo and what isn't.

Been building computers for years, but I'm a complete newb with today's tech...

 

[waso_dude]

best thing is mate work out a budget and post in GD and get people to spec ya up......