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Thinking about moving to Conroe

C

clickclickw00t

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Dec 14, 2005
Messages
1,993
So I'm going to college in september and I want to upgrade my rig before I go (because I know once I get there, I'm gonna end up spending money on booze). I figure that I might as well upgrade to Conroe and DDR2 while I still have some money left.

Here's what I have now:

AMD socket 939 x2 3800+ @ 2.4ghz
OCZ 1GB Plat Rev.2 RAM 2x512 running at 2.5-3-3-7
DFI SLI-DR
BFG 7800GTX
Audigy 2 ZS
2x200GB HDs

So far this is what I have. I'm kinda new to the whole intel scene, so I'm not really sure what I should get. I dont wanna break $500 whilst upgrading, but I want my new system to be worth the upgrade. I plan on keeping the graphics card, sound card, and HDs. I dont wanna sell the CPU MOBO and RAM because I'm gonna use it for a home server. So please guys, tell me what I need. I'm leaning the route of a e6300 or so, but I'm not even sure what I can get in my price range. I've been die hard AMD for a long time, but its time to switch up to the better half. Let me know what I can do.. Thanks
 
You could get an ASUS P5K, E6420, a good HSF and 2GB of good DDR2 for under $500.

 
Sounds like you've got a plan and don't need this thread. Good luck.


 
Not to sound cocky or anything, but I just I already know what I want. I just want to make sure I'm getting the right stuff, at a good price, and that its gonna be worth it...

Fanboy stuff aside, is an e6600 clocked @ 2.8ghz gonna beat my x2 3800+ by enough for it to justify the cost?
 
i think you killed your chance of getting any help by shooting down all advice offered to you. just go with what you've already made up your mind about.
 
clickclickw00t said:
Not to sound cocky or anything, but I just I already know what I want. I just want to make sure I'm getting the right stuff, at a good price, and that its gonna be worth it...

Fanboy stuff aside, is an e6600 clocked @ 2.8ghz gonna beat my x2 3800+ by enough for it to justify the cost?
Click to expand...

Nice to see you have it all figured out already. :rolleyes:
 
LOL@ 2.8ghz with E6600.. Do you not know the older E6600 batches clock to 3.6 easily. ?

2.8ghz is a bad overclock..on an E6600
 
IceWeasel said:
i think you killed your chance of getting any help by shooting down all advice offered to you. just go with what you've already made up your mind about.
Click to expand...

I fail to understand where I shot down any advice that was given to me, I just simply said that I'd rather buy a used CPU and get a better one than get a new one thats slower for the same amount of money.

As for overclocking, I really don't wanna go past 3ghz. I value stability WAY more than I value a few miliseconds off in a superpi run.

Sorry if I came off as a if I knew it all. So far, I'm gonna go with 2GB of DDR2 OCZ ram, an E6600.

Can you guys give me any suggestions on motherboards though? I'm completely lost here.
 
aldamon said:
You could get an ASUS P5K, E6420, a good HSF and 2GB of good DDR2 for under $500.

Click to expand...

aldamon gave perfectly good advice on how to stay under $500. check out this thread to see why saving money by getting a E6420 may be a good idea, instead of getting a used E6600
 
A used e6600 is possibly being sold because it's of the newer batches that do not overclock well. Most e6420s are overclocking to 3.0 and up. Mine runs at 3.2 everyday and has gone to over 3.4 before. Someone else on this forum has gotten his to 3.7. You're not doing yourself any favors by going to a used e6600.

As for your question about notcing a difference between conroe at 3.0ghz versus your x2 3800. You won't notice a huge difference in gaming. If I had your system, I wouldn't spend $500 to go intel, I would put it into a 8800 gts 640.
 
Tzzird said:
A used e6600 is possibly being sold because it's of the newer batches that do not overclock well. Most e6420s are overclocking to 3.0 and up. Mine runs at 3.2 everyday and has gone to over 3.4 before. Someone else on this forum has gotten his to 3.7. You're not doing yourself any favors by going to a used e6600.

As for your question about notcing a difference between conroe at 3.0ghz versus your x2 3800. You won't notice a huge difference in gaming. If I had your system, I wouldn't spend $500 to go intel, I would put it into a 8800 gts 640.
Click to expand...

I don't do THAT much gaming honestly, if any at all. I do a lot of photoshop, audio recording/editing/mixing etc. I've heard many good things about intel in this sector so I figure I'd give it a try. I really don't like pushing CPUs past 600mhz of their stock speed, so 3.2 and 3.4 is no good for me. If it can hit 3 easily, I'll be more than satisfied.
 
clickclickw00t said:
I don't do THAT much gaming honestly, if any at all. I do a lot of photoshop, audio recording/editing/mixing etc. I've heard many good things about intel in this sector so I figure I'd give it a try. I really don't like pushing CPUs past 600mhz of their stock speed, so 3.2 and 3.4 is no good for me. If it can hit 3 easily, I'll be more than satisfied.
Click to expand...

For that type of stuff, I'm willing to bet you'll see a HUGE improvement. photoshop and audio recording should fly with a Core2 overclocked.
 
Citizen86 said:
For that type of stuff, I'm willing to bet you'll see a HUGE improvement. photoshop and audio recording should fly with a Core2 overclocked.
Click to expand...

ditto.

And I don't know where you get your 600mhz rule from. If you're going to overclock it 600mhz, might as well go 1000mhz, or even 1200mhz if you cpu can handle it, right? You can stability test to see whether it will crap out on you at random times. Conroe processors are ridiculous good overclockers. They are hailed as the best overclocking processors since the days of intel's celeron 300A processors. Take advantage of it!
 
Tzzird said:
ditto.

And I don't know where you get your 600mhz rule from. If you're going to overclock it 600mhz, might as well go 1000mhz, or even 1200mhz if you cpu can handle it, right? You can stability test to see whether it will crap out on you at random times. Conroe processors are ridiculous good overclockers. They are hailed as the best overclocking processors since the days of intel's celeron 300A processors. Take advantage of it!
Click to expand...

Yea, I guess you're right man. I mean, when I got my first 3200+ Venice, I had that thing running at 2.8ghz for about 4 months (normally runs @ 2.0ghz). Yes, it was better, so I can see what you're saying. I just don't want to kill a cpu/mobo/PSU. I have an OCZ GameXtreme 600W right now, so it should be good enough. So yea, I guess I will push for 3.2 or 3.4 if I can. I plan on going watercooling midway through college anyways.

Is $180 a good priced for a used E6600? Ohh and btw, what is a good motherboard to get? Thanks
 
As long as it's not too hot, they don't take much voltage or overclock. Temps should be your main concern, and if they are cool, then don't even worry about the lifespan of your other components, they should be fine. And if you get into watercooling, even better!
 
So now that we have overclocking covered, I need a good motherboard. Right now I have a DFI SLI-DR and I want something comparable. I want at least 6 USB port on the back (believe it or not I use all of them) and extensions for 2 on my case. I also want at least 3 pci slots as well as just one PCI-e, but two is fine as well.. I dont really care about onboard sound as I have an external sound card. A really big plus would be a printer port, as my DFI does not have one.
 
clickclickw00t said:
Is $180 a good priced for a used E6600? Ohh and btw, what is a good motherboard to get? Thanks
Click to expand...

$180 is a good price for a used e6600 if it can go over 3.0ghz guaranteed. Like I said earlier, if someone is selling a e6600, there's a good chance that it is of the newer batches that can not overclock worth squat. For example, 2 weeks after I built the e6420 rig in my sig, I built a similar system for a friend. The ONLY difference between our systems was the processor; he went with the e6600. He said that overclocked speed is "fake speed". When I put the system together for him, I tried a 3.0ghz overclock on it just to see what would happen. I couldn't even get the motherboard to post at that speed.

For about $188, you can have a new e6420 with retail HSF. My other friend I built a system for with a e6420 did NOT want an upgraded HSF like the one i'm using (9700 zalman). He decided to save money by going with the retail HSF. He's running at 3.0ghz right now with a slight bump in voltage (1.35 to 1.4). Not bad for stock!

As for motherboards, everyone will have a different opinion based off what they've used. I'm partial to the ds3 gigabyte 965p motherboards because I've installed 3 of them into systems that have worked flawlessly. It's relatively cheap ($120) and overclocks well. It's the board that appears most on the conroe overclocking database. Some people have had horrible experiences with it, but not me.
 
Depends on how much you want to spend. P965 boards are good overclockers, but can't do SLI with them, if you want that option later on. For SLI look at the Nvidia 6 series, 680i boards. SLI and good overclocking.

Maybe the new Intel P35 boards, but I don't know how they've been overclocking/stability wise.
 
The new P35 boards I've seen are doing pretty well in the OC department, at least on par with the current 965 and 680i.

680i is going to cost more AND you really only need it if you're going to run SLi.
965p has been know to hit the high fsb speeds, and the chipsets are very stable even at extreme clocks.

So it just depends really, I'm running a Gigabyte 965P DS3 Rev 3.3 and went with it because it was cheaper than running a high end Asus 965P, which would be my next recommendation as for which one you should buy, you've got the info now, and well in all reality you need to know how you want to OC your proc before you decide. :D
 
Thanks guys. Looks like I have everything I need to start on this. The only thing is that I've been reading about price drops coming up on the C2Ds. I think I might just get watercooling now, along with some good DDR2 RAM while the prices are so low, and then I'll get the CPU and mobo before I go to college in september.

Thanks for everything.
 
July 22nd baby!

At that time you might be better of grabbing a nice Q6600 and get ready for all the quad core stuff :D
 
clickclickw00t said:
Alright, then I guess I'll wait. But WTF DO I NEED 4 cores for, I cant even use two efficiently. lol
Click to expand...

No you can't, but your OS can, and your encoding programs usually can, and future cames probaby should.

Whole lot of woulda coulda shoulda? Maybe... but still, 4 cores and a decent overclocker with decent cooling for $266? duhhhhhh
 
Citizen86 said:
No you can't, but your OS can, and your encoding programs usually can, and future cames probaby should.

Whole lot of woulda coulda shoulda? Maybe... but still, 4 cores and a decent overclocker with decent cooling for $266? duhhhhhh
Click to expand...
QFT!!!!!!
 
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