Which CPU/Board combo?

I

iSkylla

Supreme [H]ardness
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Jul 22, 2005
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I'm not up-to-date on any hardware at the moment but I want to upgrade to C2D or whatever is best right now. I don't have that much of a budget, Not more than 250, definately not more than 300. I would like a processor that has good overclocking potential on air. I'm gonna get new memory but I can sort that out and that is also within my budget. I don't have much of a budget so any suggestions are good. Post your FS/T links, too if you want. I have an X2 3800+ and DFI Ultra-D board along with 2GB of G.Skill right now. That's what I'll be upgrading from/selling.

Obviously, I need this new upgrade to be faster than my X2 clocked at 2.7Ghz.
 
Do you have a Fry's near you? If so, there's a combo right now, $78 for an E2200 + ECS 945GC board. Then you can pickup some 2GB DDR2-800 RAM kit for around $35AR. Upgrade the board later on down the road, when you have more money (after you sell your old parts).
 
I live in NJ so no Frys. Thanks for the suggestions so far, but keep them coming! Also, post your FS/T links if you have some for sale.
 
well after owning them myself I would honestly reccomend the following:


Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe 2.66GHz 4M shared L2 $189
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115029

GIGABYTE GA-P31-S3G LGA 775 $69
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128077

$260 and you have a solid platform for moving forward.

Do not skimp on the mobo man, you will only regret it later. If you can get together another $30 grab the GA-P35-DS3L in my sig. Its rock solid and will even run the new E84XX series out of the box!!!!
 
hossdaddy said:
...
GIGABYTE GA-P31-S3G LGA 775 $69
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128077
...
Do not skimp on the mobo man, you will only regret it later. If you can get together another $30 grab the GA-P35-DS3L in my sig. Its rock solid and will even run the new E84XX series out of the box!!!!
Click to expand...

The DS3L is around $82 at clubit.com... w/ CA Tax and shipping, it comes out to around $96 -- the cheapest of the major 3 etailers that I normally use. I miss zipzoomfly's free shipping. :(
 
I can't afford that processor but I can do the mobo if I get the E2160 or E2180.
 
that cpu will not keep up with the E6750 eventhough you can oc the 2150/60 alot. It runs @ a 800mhz fsb and the e6750 is @ 1333fsb.
 
onetwenty8k said:
Will it make a ton of difference with games?
Click to expand...

No, it won't. I don't have the link at the moment -- Danny or enginurd may post it later -- but there's a detailed review showing the performance differences at the same clocks between the E2xxx chips (which have 1/2 the cache) and E6x20 chips/E6600s, which are very similar to E6750s performance-wise. The difference is 5-15% dependent on the application, and it makes the biggest difference with things like archiving/unarchiving and encoding audio and video. It's not worth the extra $100 for you, especially with a limited budget.

Also, E6750s are at end of life. At this point it'd make much more sense to go with an E8400 if you were going high-end dual core. 45nm part, clocks higher, runs cooler.
 
the E8400 is $40 more than the E6750 thats close but still significant.

I would however be interested to seeing what performance you guys are getting from that series (E2160/2150) in steam based games, Crysis call of duty 4 etc?
 
hossdaddy said:
the E8400 is $40 more than the E6750 thats close but still significant.

I would however be interested to seeing what performance you guys are getting from that series (E2160/2150) in steam based games, Crysis call of duty 4 etc?
Click to expand...

I know a guy running Crysis on an E2200 OCed to 3Ghz with 4GB DDR2-800 CAS4 and an 8800 GTS 512MB. I can ask him to run the benchmark if you want.
 
well I would think the most relevant res would be 1280x1024 and 1650x1050.
 
hossdaddy said:
the E8400 is $40 more than the E6750 thats close but still significant.

I would however be interested to seeing what performance you guys are getting from that series (E2160/2150) in steam based games, Crysis call of duty 4 etc?
Click to expand...

I'll go buy one later tonight and let you know in a few days (if they're still in stock).

The 1MB L2 cache isn't a huge detriment to a gaming system right now, as silent-circuit pointed out.
 
I would also like 1920x1200 because I am running a 24" Dell but I can run lower resolutions, too. Thanks a lot man!
 
NewEgg reviews are completely goddamn useless. They're written by utter morons, or the three angry guys who had to RMA, three quarters of the time.

I'd say go with the Patriot if it makes you feel better -- they're pretty much interchangable, spec-wise, and RAM is RAM, no matter what some crazies will tell you, so long as you aren't trying to get DDR2-1066 out of DDR2-800 sticks. That said, I've heard Patriot is horrible about getting rebates back.
 
I just picked up the Fry's combo E2200 + ECS mobo and Overclocked it to 2.93Ghz with BSEL mod, no fuss at all :) i'd say at less than $80 i got a lot for the money :)
 
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