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Need advice on Core 2 Duos!

E

etrips

Weaksauce
Joined
Oct 17, 2006
Messages
97
First off, hello there! This is my first post in my week long information gathering trying to figure out which processor I want to end up with. I believe this is my last choice in building a new rig, first had to think of which monitor I wanted, then deciding on if I should wait for the new dx10 cards to come out, THEN picking a video card I want right now.

So it has all come down to this, E6400 or E6600? Do I want to overclock? Or leave it stock? I personally have never OC'd before and have been running my two computers completely stock. So I really do not have much information on what OC'ing really entails other than it boosts up your mhz and you need the proper cooling to support it.

How safe is OC'ing? How badly does it shorten its lifespan if any? I can't fully comprehend the mathematics for adjusting the memory timings, what memory speed would I want / be ideal for OC'ing if I should choose to do so?

I've also read some motherboards being picky with certain types of ram, are there any that I should stay away from?

Thank you all in advance, I'm sure there are more questions I want to ask... but I'll suppose I'll ask when they come to me!

Edit :
Projected setup so far-

Case - Sonata II
PSU - Cool Master RS-500, 500W
Video - ATI X1900XT
Ram - Need suggestions
Mobo - Need suggestions
Processor - Need suggestions
Heatsink - Scythe Ninja (Should I choose to OC)

Any suggestions on this?
 
If you use a 975x chipset based mobo you shouldnt have a problem with ram compatability, if you go with the 965 chipset make sure to get DDR2 ram with 1.9V (Corsair stuff is pretty good, thats what i have) Im a fan of the Intel Bad Axe, very stable board mine has been great, i know two other people with the board who also like it.


I would go with the 6600, extra cache is nice, but i hate upgrading cpus so i usually get the fastest one i can afford and sit on it for about two years, i plan to go quad core when they come down to a sane price.

That answers some of your questions, im not a big OCer so someone else will have to deal with that. Its not hard to do, you can catch on pretty fast. Just not my thing.
 
I've been running AMD chips and only AMD chips for years until just recently.

I needed to build a computer for a friend and she was willing to spend a little bit extra for a budget system but she didn't want nothing too crazy so I decided to go with an Intel E6300.

I used a Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 main board, a Sapphire X1600XT and 2x512MB of cheap Micron DDR2-667 CL5-5-5 memory. Part No: MT16HTF6464AY-667

The performance of this memory just blew me away and made my overclocking experiments dead simple. The Micron memory is rated as CL5 at 1.8 volts. By simply upping the voltage to 2.1 volts this stuff ran 100% Prime stable at DDR2-944 speed with tight timings of CL4-4-4-12. This stuff is competitive with high $$$$ ddr2-800 memory for a fraction of the price.

As long as you keep the heat down, overclocking a processor is not going to hurt anything. If it only lasts 10 years instead of 20 years, who cares. If it dies tomorrow, its under warranty so you're covered. If you're really paranoid then keep it at default CPU voltage like I did.

allendale3304ip4.png


These low dollar processors are absolute beasts and you don't have to be a rocket scientist to get the most out of them. There's no reason to spend huge amounts of money when you can get so much performance for so little.

This was the fastest, most over clocked and strangely enough, the most stable system I've ever put together. With a decent graphics card a system like this would really rock. If you're into gaming you're far better off spending more money on a graphics card compared to a faster processor. The E6300 is plenty fast enough.

The above performance came with the Intel OEM heatsink and fan. Imagine the possiblilities if you actually put some money into an Intel system these days. :)
 
very interesting... Getting really excited in building this beast. Except I want to up the ram on that, and you think the X1900XT isnt worth it?
 
etrips said:
very interesting... Getting really excited in building this beast. Except I want to up the ram on that, and you think the X1900XT isnt worth it?
Click to expand...
An X1900XT combined with an overclocked, low end, E6300 cpu would make for a great gaming rig. Using 2 GB of memory would also be smart.

If you go with this board do some research for what ram works with it.

I originally bought some nice looking Mushkin XP2-5300 Xtreme Performance Black Series memory but I couldn't get the Gigabyte board to even post. This memory requires 2.1 - 2.3 volts but unfortunately the board only supplies 1.8 volts until you can get into the bios and make a change. Because I couldn't get into the bios, I couldn't up the voltage so I was left with a dead system. If you read about this board re-booting infinitely without posting then incompatible memory is the most likely problem.

Some different memory rated at 1.8 volts sure woke things up! :eek:

Great board. Most of the returns you'll read about at Newegg, etc. are because of incompatible memory issues like I had.

Here's a good article how Anandtech is doing with the latest bios version.
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2854&p=2

For my next project I might try a P5B Deluxe from Asus which is another 965 based board with similar overclocking features. Believe it or not, some users are having even better success with the Asus board. Budget super computing.
 
unclewebb said:
I've been running AMD chips and only AMD chips for years until just recently.

I needed to build a computer for a friend and she was willing to spend a little bit extra for a budget system but she didn't want nothing too crazy so I decided to go with an Intel E6300.

I used a Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 main board, a Sapphire X1600XT and 2x512MB of cheap Micron DDR2-667 CL5-5-5 memory. Part No: MT16HTF6464AY-667

The performance of this memory just blew me away and made my overclocking experiments dead simple. The Micron memory is rated as CL5 at 1.8 volts. By simply upping the voltage to 2.1 volts this stuff ran 100% Prime stable at DDR2-944 speed with tight timings of CL4-4-4-12. This stuff is competitive with high $$$$ ddr2-800 memory for a fraction of the price.

As long as you keep the heat down, overclocking a processor is not going to hurt anything. If it only lasts 10 years instead of 20 years, who cares. If it dies tomorrow, its under warranty so you're covered. If you're really paranoid then keep it at default CPU voltage like I did.

allendale3304ip4.png


These low dollar processors are absolute beasts and you don't have to be a rocket scientist to get the most out of them. There's no reason to spend huge amounts of money when you can get so much performance for so little.

This was the fastest, most over clocked and strangely enough, the most stable system I've ever put together. With a decent graphics card a system like this would really rock. If you're into gaming you're far better off spending more money on a graphics card compared to a faster processor. The E6300 is plenty fast enough.

The above performance came with the Intel OEM heatsink and fan. Imagine the possiblilities if you actually put some money into an Intel system these days. :)
Click to expand...

Makes my day!
 
etrips said:
First off, hello there! This is my first post in my week long information gathering trying to figure out which processor I want to end up with. I believe this is my last choice in building a new rig, first had to think of which monitor I wanted, then deciding on if I should wait for the new dx10 cards to come out, THEN picking a video card I want right now.

So it has all come down to this, E6400 or E6600? Do I want to overclock? Or leave it stock? I personally have never OC'd before and have been running my two computers completely stock. So I really do not have much information on what OC'ing really entails other than it boosts up your mhz and you need the proper cooling to support it.

How safe is OC'ing? How badly does it shorten its lifespan if any? I can't fully comprehend the mathematics for adjusting the memory timings, what memory speed would I want / be ideal for OC'ing if I should choose to do so?

I've also read some motherboards being picky with certain types of ram, are there any that I should stay away from?

Thank you all in advance, I'm sure there are more questions I want to ask... but I'll suppose I'll ask when they come to me!

Edit :
Projected setup so far-

Case - Sonata II
PSU - Cool Master RS-500, 500W
Video - ATI X1900XT
Ram - Need suggestions
Mobo - Need suggestions
Processor - Need suggestions
Heatsink - Scythe Ninja (Should I choose to OC)

Any suggestions on this?
Click to expand...

Or you could just run the E6600 at stock or barely overclocked. At stock speeds a very cool running, power sipping and quiet computer performs similar to a FX-62. Even with EIST turned off it's very easy to live with temp wise when at stock speeds.
 
Alright does this sound viable? Getting a E6600 slapped ontop of a P5W DH Deluxe or E6400 on top of a P5B Deluxe. Then is it possible to buy ram that will support stock speeds and if needed, should I find that I need something a little faster, be able to OC properly with? If it is, what speed RAM would I need?
 
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