Bang for the buck

[dabiggoober]

I still have the system in my sig and I am thinking of going to dual core.

My question (no flaming about amd and intel please) is this.

I can get Intel® Core 2 Duo E6600 for about 300 bucks but have to build a computer around it (MB, RAM)

Or I can get FX-60 toledo dual core (and very overclockable) for about 400 bucks. Will the FX-60 in my current system outperform the Intel® Core 2 Duo E6600? If overclocked?

Thanks. Any links to testing of this sort would be appreciated.

 

[ASUDevil83]

i personally wouldnt invest that much money in old architecture.

i'd honestly spend $120 on an X2 3800, overclock it to 2.6Ghz, and let that tide you over for a while until you are ready to do a complete overhaul.

you arent really going to be able to overlock that FX-60 much...maybe 200-300 Mhz max, and an overclocked E6600 will eat if for breakfast.

 

[dabiggoober]

i personally wouldnt invest that much money in old architecture.

i'd honestly spend $120 on an X2 3800, overclock it to 2.6Ghz, and let that tide you over for a while until you are ready to do a complete overhaul.

you arent really going to be able to overlock that FX-60 much...maybe 200-300 Mhz max, and an overclocked E6600 will eat if for breakfast.

Ok, just to make sure. You are saying a dual core FX60 overclocked to 2.8Ghz or so will fall way short of the E6600?

The x2 3800 is not much of an option to me because I like my two gigs of 2,3,2,5 low latency ram. And I've not had much luck overclocking it past 215mhz or so unless I bump the timings way up. Whereas on the FX, I can just change the multiplier.

 

[killingfield1975]

i'd just ride it out wiht what you got for a few more weeks. then when prices have drop on the intel chips and amd sell all your sstuff and buy the new stuff.

if i could i definately would go for an e6600.

 

[Smoove910]

Hell, I have an x2 3800 along with 2GB's of ram and I don't have a problem. In fact, I would say I can overclock better with the x2 than I could with my Opty 148. I can also push this x2 to 2.8ghz, but the temps are too high for my tastes, so it resides at 2.65ghz at 1.42v.

I think you need to mess with your ram dividers if you are having trouble overclocking past 215mhz FSB.
If I were you, I'd go with an Opty 165 or Opty 170 and overclock the snot out of it. Why spend $400 on the FX when you can spend under $200 and get the same performance?

 

[ASUDevil83]

Ok, just to make sure. You are saying a dual core FX60 overclocked to 2.8Ghz or so will fall way short of the E6600?

The x2 3800 is not much of an option to me because I like my two gigs of 2,3,2,5 low latency ram. And I've not had much luck overclocking it past 215mhz or so unless I bump the timings way up. Whereas on the FX, I can just change the multiplier.

a STOCK E6600 is at least on part (most of the time faster) with an overclocked FX60.

overclocking the E6600 to 3.4Ghz (which it should have no problem doing), just puts it on another level when comparing it to the FX60.

 

[dabiggoober]

Thanks for the input. I'm going to look into the opty option to stay with my current architecture for another year or so.

 

[dabiggoober]

Hell, I have an x2 3800 along with 2GB's of ram and I don't have a problem. In fact, I would say I can overclock better with the x2 than I could with my Opty 148. I can also push this x2 to 2.8ghz, but the temps are too high for my tastes, so it resides at 2.65ghz at 1.42v.

I think you need to mess with your ram dividers if you are having trouble overclocking past 215mhz FSB.
If I were you, I'd go with an Opty 165 or Opty 170 and overclock the snot out of it. Why spend $400 on the FX when you can spend under $200 and get the same performance?

I stopped being a serious enthusiast a couple of years ago, but I was under the impression that AMD's like to have 1t timings and memory at 1:1 and low latency. So I never really played with Ram dividers. Please let me know if I am totally off base.

Thanks

 

[DrFreeze]

putting the ram on the 333 divider on a x2 3800 will let you get to 2.58 without the ram crossing 215, which would be pretty damn good i think

alternatively, ive been seeing some cheap x2 4200/4600 bulk cpus as well, you could pick up one of those if you want the multi a bit higher

 

[SpoogeMonkey]

I stopped being a serious enthusiast a couple of years ago, but I was under the impression that AMD's like to have 1t timings and memory at 1:1 and low latency. So I never really played with Ram dividers. Please let me know if I am totally off base.

Thanks

1T timings help, but there's no reason that you HAVE to run the ram 1:1. The dividers are great and the intel guys are finally getting to experience them as well.

Like everyone else said with the price wars starting, look around and see what's available for ~$130...you'll be surprised!! Enjoy what you buy for 6 months and see how things have changed.