Mobo/CPU upgrade hard decisions...

AstroCat

AstroCat

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 9, 2006
Messages
151
I am looking to upgrade after a long wait. I know Nehalem is coming but I don't think that it will be ready for real prime time till this time next year. And, I really don't want to have to wait another year to upgrade. I have my eyes on Age of Conan, among others... Currently I have this system, and it can not run games how I want any more and for sure the CPU is the major bottleneck.

AMD 4000+
2 gig RAM
Asus A8N-SLI Premium
Nvidia 8800GTX
CL X-fi

I admit this upgrade is mostly a gaming PC upgrade so I have to be honest and that is the first priority. There are so many options right now it's hard to make a good decision.

1. (cheapest) Go P35/DDR2 and E8400, maybe upgrade again in a year if Nehalem is way better.
2. x38/x48/790i DDR3 e8400/9450, upgrade now for a longer stay, maybe for 2-3 years. Even so, that is a lot of motherboard chipset options in and of itself.

I am not too worried about the cost if it makes the most sense. I don't want to waste money to be sure, but I can spend some bucks if it is the right way to do things.

Any insights are totally appreciated ? Thanks. :)
 
Go P35 or P45(if you can wait), DDR2, not a e8400 because its way overpriced. look into the Q6600 or Q9450 or wait until the e8400 goes down to $200 like in few months :p

Motherboard options (Choose the one the fits your needs):
Abit IP35-E Intel P35 Motherboard - $90
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L Intel P35 Motherboard - $90
MSI P35 Neo2-FR Intel P35 Motherboard - $112
DFI BloodIron P35-T2RL Intel P35 Motherboard - $120
Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3R Intel P35 Motherboard - $122
DFI LanParty DK P35-T2RS Intel P35 Motherboard - $140
Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3P Intel P35 Motherboard - $151
Abit IP35 Pro Intel P35 Motherboard - $170
Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS4 Intel P35 Motherboard - $180
 
P45 might be nice, I wonder how much of a real world difference the P45's PCI express 2.0 and ICH10R will make over the P35?

As for P35's I keep hearing good reports on the Abit IP35-E.
 
also i want to add.. the 45nm intel processors do not work well with the Abit boards so if you still decide to get them avoid the abit boards at all costs.
 
Don't expect a whole lot of performance improvement from P35 to P45.

Option 1 will give you better performance for your money.
 
crhscoog said:
also i want to add.. the 45nm intel processors do not work well with the Abit boards so if you still decide to get them avoid the abit boards at all costs.
Click to expand...

Oh that is interesting, somehow I missed that bit. Any recommendations?

Still curious about P45's PCI express 2.0 and ICH10R. I'd like to see some game benchmarks...
 
AstroCat said:
Oh that is interesting, somehow I missed that bit. Any recommendations?

Still curious about P45's PCI express 2.0 and ICH10R. I'd like to see some game benchmarks...
Click to expand...

Video cards today don't even saturate PCI-E 1.1 let alone PCI-E 2.0. There is no performance increase whatsoever with PCI-E 2.0. As for ICH10R, no idea.
 
What would be a good board for the e8400 doing the 9*400 3.6Ghz overclock for 1:1 memory? I plan on using a Scythe 120mm Fan and the Thermalright Ultra-120 w/AS5. :) thanks!
 
Almost any P35 board in Danny/crhscoog's list, aside from the abits (unless there's a new BIOS update to fix the issues).
 
From doing some homework I am thinking the Gigabyte boards might be a good choice. I am currently leaning towards the EP35-DSR3.
 
I would go with option 1 from the OP. But, with a Q6600 than an E8400. I rather pay for a cpu that came down in price than pay for a cpu that went up in price.
 
Any RAM recommendations? I want to be able to do the 9x400=3.6GHz E8400 OC with 1:1 memory. I think I can get the 8400 for $200 at a local microcenter.
 
If you're going for a 400MHz FSB, stick with DDR2 800; if you're trying to push the E8400 to around 4GHz, bump up to DDR2 1000/1066 (whichever you could find cheaper). You won't see any performance benefits from CL4 RAM (compared to CL5), so unless you find a deal on them, don't buy it. If you buy the Q6600 instead of the E8400, stick with DDR2 800.

G.Skill has excellent, (relatively) inexpensive memory module kits that work just as well as the more expensive brands/models.
 
Most games, while being "multithreaded", aren't really optimized for multiple cores. Keep in mind that the E8400 runs at a higher speed than the Q6600 (3.0GHz vs. 2.4GHz). However, if you do a lot of multitasking and/or CPU-intensive tasks, the Q6600 is a better option. (Right now, due to the high demand for the E8400, the Q6600 is also the better buy.)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top