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Core 2 Extreme DDR3

X

xboxhaxorz

n00b
Joined
Mar 16, 2011
Messages
14
I am in the market for a new machine. I am planning on spending around $300, i think i can get my AMD 940 BE, board and ram to give me around $300 to $400 on ebay. So i will use all that and maybe a bit more to build my machine.

I def want intel. I was looking at the q9550 and i think i can get that for around $200 on ebay.

That i can probably figure out, but i def need help choosing a board. I want a board that uses DDR3 since its not cheaper than DDR2 i can sell my 4gb ddr2 and get 8gb ddr3 for an even without spending anymore cash.

I also want a board that will allow me to get to 4 ghz. I dont need to go higher, i just want a 4 ghz machine. As far as cooling goes, i have the cooler master v8 i just bought.

I think the 2 boards that will allow me to overclock are the p5q and the striker but they are rare and i am not exactly sure if they do ddr3. I have found out that they do allow 4 ghz though.

Appreciate the info :)
 
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You may want to consider a E8400 over a x6800 if your going dual core. Most E8400's can do 4GHZ, its 45nm, a new faster core (penyrn), and uses less power stock. It will be better than a X6800 and is probably worth ~$100. The advantage of the x6800 is that is multiplier unlocked so any decent motherboard should be able to overclock it.

Most high quality motherboards based on the P45 or even P35 will be able overclock a CPU well as long as you know what your doing.

Personally I'd get a sub $100 cpu like a E8400 (OC 4GHZ) or Q6600 (OC 3.6GHZ), a P45 motherboard, and stick with DDR2.

If you can find them here are a couple P45/X48 DDR3 motherboards:
ASUS P5E3 PRO
Gigabyte EP45-UD3P
 
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Maybe I missed something obvious, but why? Your Phenom II X4 940 BE will run neck-and-neck with the q9550.
 
Hmm the more I think about if, if your going to get a Q9550, a P45 DDR3 motherboard, and DDR3 ram, your probably better off getting a low end Sandy Bridge/1155 setup.
 
xboxhavorz,

You'd be much, much better off buying a completely new platform such as the Sandy Bridge i5-2500K/i7-2600K-series CPUs with a compatible P67 motherboard. This is because the Intel LGA 775 platforms that the Core 2 CPUs use are now totally obsolete, and that the eBay price of the Q9550 is now higher than what that CPU is currently worth. So, by the time that you factor in the eBay price of a compatible motherboard, you would end up spending equally as much money as you would with Sandy Bridge - only that the older platform is going to be significantly slower in overall performance for such a high price.
 
I agree with E4g1e. If you have 300-400 to spend, upgrade to a SB system. I'm not sure if you have a Microcenter near you but you can get the i5 2500k for 180 then spend around 150 for a motherboard.
 
Actually, the OP will not be able to recoup anywhere near $300 to $400 by selling the PII x4 940BE, DDR2 RAM and mobo. That makes trading for an obsolete LGA 775 platform penny-and pound-foolish. At best the OP's combo would fetch only about $150 total on eBay.
 
E4g1e said:
xboxhavorz,

You'd be much, much better off buying a completely new platform such as the Sandy Bridge i5-2500K/i7-2600K-series CPUs with a compatible P67 motherboard. This is because the Intel LGA 775 platforms that the Core 2 CPUs use are now totally obsolete, and that the eBay price of the Q9550 is now higher than what that CPU is currently worth. So, by the time that you factor in the eBay price of a compatible motherboard, you would end up spending equally as much money as you would with Sandy Bridge - only that the older platform is going to be significantly slower in overall performance for such a high price.
Click to expand...

I did some searching with i7 vs core 2 extreme and it seems that the extreme processors are well extremely powerful and people say they are around the same speed as the i7 but for cheaper now.

My thinking is if im going for a new build i should go for a an i7 since that is the best now an i5 would be in the middle ground.
 
E4g1e said:
Actually, the OP will not be able to recoup anywhere near $300 to $400 by selling the PII x4 940BE, DDR2 RAM and mobo. That makes trading for an obsolete LGA 775 platform penny-and pound-foolish. At best the OP's combo would fetch only about $150 total on eBay.
Click to expand...

No, i checked, my 4gb ram will get me around $120ish, my cpu $150ish and my msi board around $105ish. So i would recoup around that much.
 
mikysee said:
I agree with E4g1e. If you have 300-400 to spend, upgrade to a SB system. I'm not sure if you have a Microcenter near you but you can get the i5 2500k for 180 then spend around 150 for a motherboard.
Click to expand...

Yep i go there all the time :D

Well when i calculated it was going to be around $200 for the q9550 and $120 for the board. If i go the i5 route its $180 for sb and $150 for board. Which is about the same but isnt the q9550 comparable to an i7?

I guess the sb route is sound better now that it was pointed out to me, i just figured the extremes were extremely over clockable and i wanted to reach 4ghz with something :)
 
The i5 2500k can easily reach 4ghz. I think most people can reach 4.4-4.5 without much trouble.
 
xboxhaxorz said:
Yep i go there all the time :D

Well when i calculated it was going to be around $200 for the q9550 and $120 for the board. If i go the i5 route its $180 for sb and $150 for board. Which is about the same but isnt the q9550 comparable to an i7?

I guess the sb route is sound better now that it was pointed out to me, i just figured the extremes were extremely over clockable and i wanted to reach 4ghz with something :)
Click to expand...

The i3, i5, and i7 have an on-die memory controller. Compared to the Q9550 you will have about 3x the memory bandwidth.
 
xboxhaxorz said:
I did some searching with i7 vs core 2 extreme and it seems that the extreme processors are well extremely powerful and people say they are around the same speed as the i7 but for cheaper now.

My thinking is if im going for a new build i should go for a an i7 since that is the best now an i5 would be in the middle ground.
Click to expand...

100% false.
The x6800 is just a Conroe processor with an unlocked multipler.
The x6800 is the same core as a E6700, but it has a slightly higher clock speed and the multipler is unlocked. If you "underclocked" the x6800 by lowering the multipler to 10 from 11, it would be the same frequency as an E6700 and perform exactly the same. There is no magic pixie dust that make the x6800 any faster. Its extreme because of the unlocked multiplier thats it. An E8400 is a much better processor as its cheaper, newer architecture, more cache, 45nm, and probably a better overclocker. An i7 is even better and Sandy Bridge i7 is even more so.

http://ark.intel.com/Compare.aspx?ids=33910,27251,27258,
 
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What JohnleMVP said. A Core 2 Quad Extreme can't even touch an i7, or even an i5; the only thing special about it is the unlocked multiplier. Your Phenom II 940 performs more or less on par with the Q9550 anyways.
 
alright i am glad i posted, otherwise i would have made an unwise decision. now i need to find a great oc board for the i5 sb. wish i had extra for an i7 :mad:
 
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