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[Corpus Masochist]

Hi fellas, I don't know if I have ever mentioned this before but I really like this site. I visit here often, more so to Lurk and learn from what you dudes are doing with your computer.

I am part of this community PlanetWCA Forums - Powered by vBulletin I sport the tag "super moderator" only because the head (owner) of the site is a really good friend and put that tag on me.

The reason I am mentioning this is I not the best at responding to threads. So I don't want you fellas to think I am a butthead who takes info and gives nothing in return. I value the knowledge that you dudes have and I do spread the word of this awesome site!! (I probably would comment more (on my site) but the guild is made up of WAY to many kids. The threads consist of meaningless childish shit that I don't have the time for.)

With that said I need to take a little more advantage of you guys, heh heh. Ok my last thread I dumped on you guys was some purchasing advise on a new video card which I went and bought a 8800 GTX.... I am totally happy with it, DOD s 100, 150 FPS but other games like Dark Messiag 10 FPS in certain areas = totally unplayable. I think my processor is being bottle necked. From info (from what I have concluded reading stuff here)

What do you guys think I should do with my system at this point, from viewing my sig? New mother board, processor and ram?

I need to know what is better to go with Intel or AMD I read so many people rant about Intel these days but the numbers don't seem to be as high as AMD? for example

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Dual Core Processor LGA775 Conroe 2.40GHZ 1066FSB 4MB Retail

Compared to

AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ Dual Core Processor Socket AM2 Windsor 3.0GHZ 2000FSB 2X1MB 90NM Retail Box


From what I see here I would go with AMD

Truthfully I don't want any processor by default running less then 3.0 gigs.
What do you guys think?

What mother board, processor and ram combo would you suggest?

Going back to Intel as been on my mind.

Thanks for your thoughts.

[sswilson]

The problem I see with your line of thinking on wanting a 3G chip is the fact that the 6000+ is probably the last gasp of this line of AM2 chips.

If past performance is any indication that means that it probably doesn't have much headroom for overclocking. (same thing applies for EOL video cards like the 1950pro & 6600gt).

Typically the closer you get to EOL the more chance that a lower end chip of the same core will be able to provide the same performance for a much lower cost.

Other's will disagree with me, but I honestly think that C2D is the way to go in today's market. It not only outperforms the AM2s, but the platform still looks like there's a lot of life left in it.

[Corpus Masochist]

Please do explain. I see the head room issue with the 6000+ but why is it that Intel clocks so low (by default) and I see you guys clocking the from say 2.4 up to around 3.7ish I think I see 3.6 to have instability issue but yet 3.7 seems to be fine.

Now then Wilson what upgrade would you suggest?

[ragenrok]

I think one question you have to ask your self is your budget. If you have the cash, I defenetly would go with an e6600. If not just grab an am2 motherboard, and something simple and cheap like an am2 4200+ (brisbane chip not winsor) and over clock that to 3ghz. Im still fighting with my self if i want to spend the money and dump my amd 4200+ or just upgrade the mother board for as cheap as $100 and OC it instead.

[sswilson]

why is it that Intel clocks so low

Strangely enough the best way to look at this is by using the S754 & S939 Athlon platforms.

When AMD released these platforms they needed a way to market the fact that their chips performed as well as higher clocked intel chips. To do this they came up with a new naming convention which was performance based rather than clock speed. (Actually they really started doing this with earlier chips.... but I digress... :) )

Hence, an AMD Athlon 3200 only clocked @ 2G, but in fact was pretty well accepted to perform the same as a P4 clocked @ 3200.

The lower clocked intel chips have now reversed the tables on AMD in that the C2Ds perform better at lower clock speeds than the current AMD offerings.

As far as to what I'd recommend.... I'm suggesting C2D, but I'm only just starting out on that platform so not only will I leave suggestions about what motherboard to look at for others, I will be closely watching those suggestions myself.... :)

[Patriote]

Hi Corpus Masochist,

What sswilson said is right. C2Ds are the way to go! The reason why Intel's clocks are so low is because the clock to clock performance is better than AMD's clocks. Which is why Intel doesn't need there CPUs to be as high as AMD's one (In Ghz term). What i mean here is that a C2D at 3Ghz will outperform an AMD's CPU also clocked at 3.Ghz. Hell i think a E6600 from Intel at stock speed (2.4Ghz) would kick that AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ Dual Core.

My advise is to get a E6600 and everything you need to run it. Which in your case means : a good motherboard and a nice set of RAM.

I see you have a 8800GTX ... Do you plan on going SLI in the future ? If so, would be good to know as we could give you some recommendations for good boards regarding what you are looking.

As for RAM, well, are you planing on Overclocking ? If so, might want to look around for some RAM kit (Like mine) that has Micron D9's chips.

Also, as you can see, i overclocked my E6600 to 3.6Ghz. And that was extremely easily. I could probably hit just about 4Ghz with the watercooling set-up i have. On your side, even if you don't have much much experience into overclocking, im sure you could overclock your E6600 up to 3Ghz easily. Without even raising voltage on it. Which would mean keeping the temperature safe on it. Will you be running the processor on another heatsink than the retail\stock one ? If so, then you could probably hit even higher clocks!

Anyway, you got my opinion! C2D's set-up are currently what you want to aim at!

[Corpus Masochist]

Damn it my post went poof!! Anyway this will be a short version of what I just lost

So I am getting the E6600 from every angle I see/read everywhere, but what about the E6700? or is that just a higher frequency factory preset for a bunch more cash? I would assume with less head room to overclock too?

Mother boards I had my eye on.

EVGA Nforce 680I SLI LGA775 Conroe ATX DDR2 2PCI-E16 2PCI SATA2 RAID Sound GBLAN 1394 Motherboard

ASUS Striker Extreme Nforce 680I SLI LGA775 Conroe ATX DDR2 3PCI-E16 PCI SATA RAID Sound Motherboard
What about this board or is it wasted money?

ASUS Commando ATX LGA775 Conroe DDR2 P965 2PCI-E16 PCI-E1 4PCI DDR2 SATA2 Sound Motherboard

ASUS P5N32-E SLI Nforce 680I SLI LGA775 Conroe ATX DDR2 2PCI-E16 PCI-E1 2PCI SATA2 RAID Motherboard

Now as far as ram goes, chuck a few names/timings at me just for the hell of it. Keeping in mind that yes I will be tweaking it.

Thanks so much for taking the time.
CM

[Babrbarossa]

Cheaper C2Ds are always the best overclocking bang for the buck, but if you want a chance at getting past 3.6 on air , then the e6600 is a safe bet- it's all just a crap shoot though.

I wouldn't bother with the striker- evga has done a better job with the 680i for less money. I'm getting a Commando in the next couple of weeks (Thanks TechGage!), and I'll be pitting it against my 680i so if you're going to be buying after that, I'll let you know what I find- Commando doesn't do SLI either.

here's some memory:
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...y&promoid=1064

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...N&promoid=1064

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...N&promoid=1064

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...y&promoid=1064

[Patriote]

Yeah the E6000 is a real good choice. The E6700 only offer around 200Mhz more which you can easily reach with a E6600. What is worth with the E6700 is that it has a 10x CPU Multiplier instead of a 9x with the E6600. So, imagine your board has a FSB wall at 400... Then with a E6600 that would mean 9x400 = 3.6Ghz and with a E6700 that would mean 400x10 = 4Ghz But that also depends a lot on your cooling solution. If you plan on using an air CPU cooler then, IMO, the E6600 is what you should get.

Heres a few RAM kits recommend i would recommend.

This one uses Micron D9s ICs...(It actually says it under the name) So can reach about 1066Mhz for sure. I personally own this kit right now and it's running 1000Mhz 4-4-4-10 with 2.35v Stable! With 5-5-5-15 Timings and some more voltage i could probably reach 1200Mhz. A little expensive but worth a while if you want to tweak\play\overclock it!

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...acture=G.SKILL

And these ones uses Micron D9s ICs too! Overclock just as good and take voltage just as good as the G.Skill one i posted above. NCIX does not says that these one uses Micron D9s ICs but all Xtreem series from Team group use Micron D9s ICs...

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...%20Group%20Inc.

There is a lot more other kits that are just as good ... But these one are my 2 favorites and i can tell by personal experience. I owned both

EDIT: Heres one just for you. Thats when i had my Xtreem kit.

[Babrbarossa]

Those are great, but you can get D9s alot cheaper right now.