$600 to spend on a conroe build. Rate my choices and suggest improvements.

[LW07]

Alright. I'm budgeting $600 to spend towards a Core 2 build. I don't need a video card, monitor, case, PSU. I don't know if I'll need a new hard drive, I have a Seagate 160GB IDE Drive and a Maxtor 80GB IDE drive that I'll be getting rid of. My main purpose for this is to be ready so that when the quad core CPUs become more mainstream and come down in price, I'll be ready to get one.

Anyway, here are my choices for the upgrade:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819115004
Intel Core 2 Duo E6400. $220.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820145153
Corsair XMS2 DDR2 800 1GB ram, will get another gig in the spring. $142.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813131070
Asus P5B-E Motherboard- $155

Total: $531 after Fedex Saver Shipping.

Of course, I will consider the E6300 as a cheaper alternative if that would be the better choice.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115005

Total with E6300: $493 after Fedex Saver Shipping.

Or I might even consider this Pentium D 915 as the CPU to hold me off until Kentsfield, but I want to make sure that would be a good route.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819116253
Pentium D 915 2.8ghz for $120

Total with Pentium D 915: $430 after Fedex Saver Shipping

So, rate my choices, with an E6300, with the E6400, and with the Pentium D 915, and suggest any improvements I need to make and which CPU I should go with to hold me off until the quad cores.

 

[Ayah]

I'd go with the e6300 and overclock.

 

[The-Noid]

Kentsfield will be out really soon. Why wait to prepare when it is basically out.

 

[Ayah]

Originally posted by: Yoxxy
Kentsfield will be out really soon. Why wait to prepare when it is basically out.

For the price of liver, Kentsfield is yours!

 

[aatf510]

Are you sure you need a quad-core processor instead of a ultra fast dual core?

 

[LW07]

Originally posted by: toattett
Are you sure you need a quad-core processor instead of a ultra fast dual core?

I'm just preparing so that when the quad cores become mainstream and come down in price, I will be able to get one. I just need the upgradable path because games might come out sometime that will use the extra 2 cores.

 

[Modular]

Just get the E6400.Don't mess with the old dual cores, there's no reason not to get C2D. If your budget is actually 600 then I would get the E6400. The MOBO that you're planning to get is a great overclocker and so is that chip. This one's pretty cut and dry IMO.

Also, read the review that is on the homepage here on the Kentsfield. The likelihood of you upgrading to it in the "near" future is very small. There are hardly any apps which utilize it properly and they predict that there won't be for some time. So you should take that into consideration as it means that you will using this build for more than a year. Get something that you will be able to use happily for that amount of time (or longer).

 

[LW07]

And do the Core 2 Duos have heat problems? I've read some reviews on newegg and some of the reviews are complaining about how their Core 2s run hot. Is that true? I'm wanting to use the stock cooler, so will I get heat problems?

 

[n7]

Seriously, who cares about quad cores?

I for one am unimpressed with how Intel & AMD have decided to pack as many cores as possible on a CPU for "better performance" instead of actually improving their processors.

Unless you're someone who spends all day long encoding video or audio, the benefits of quad core of dual core = nonexistent, even for heavy multitaskers.

Now don't get me wrong, a day is coming when quad core will be a utilized better, & sure, i'll own one.
But based on what i see upcoming, that day is years into the future, aside from maybe on Alan Wake. One game.
I know very well UT2k7 is going to run just as well on a dual core as a quad core.

To me, quad core = royal waste of money at the present, & likely for a year or two into the future as well.

 

[gramboh]

The problem is, you are buying a decently expensive P965 mainbaord now ($150ish). By the time quad core is affordable ($999US for 6800 on launch, ~$800US for the 2.4GHz version in 1Q07) Intel will have the Bearlake mainboard chipsets out (~May or so) which have improvements and new features that aren't on the current 965/975X.

It just seems silly to do it now to be "ready" for summer 2007, unless you want to upgrade your current PC which appears good enough for now (3500+, 2GB, X1900XT?). I'd consider trying to find a cheap Opteron 165 for $100-150 to drop in to get dual core now.

 

[LW07]

Originally posted by: gramboh
The problem is, you are buying a decently expensive P965 mainbaord now ($150ish). By the time quad core is affordable ($999US for 6800 on launch, ~$800US for the 2.4GHz version in 1Q07) Intel will have the Bearlake mainboard chipsets out (~May or so) which have improvements and new features that aren't on the current 965/975X.

It just seems silly to do it now to be "ready" for summer 2007, unless you want to upgrade your current PC.

So the wise action would to just be happy with what I have now and wait until then to grab a quad core CPU? Or would the affordable quad core CPUs in the future still work on a 965?

Or should I upgrade my 3500 to a 4600+(I don't know if my mobo, an Abit KN8 Ultra, would be compatible with an opteron) and get a SATA drive and a sound card?

The main problem I have with the AMD dual cores is that I've read about people having some trouble with them in older games, and I don't read that with Intel Dual cores. I've read where dual cores lock up on people and stuff.

But, then again, the 4600+ route is cheaper, allowing me to allocate that money elsewhere.

If I were to go with a 4600+, then how would this setup be?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148140
Seagate Barracude 7200.10 320GB SATA 3.0GB/s Hard Drive. $95

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16819103545
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+. $232

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829102005
Creative Labs XtremeGamer Fatal1ty card. $140. I'm coming from a Soundblaster Live! 24-bit.

Total: $478 with Fedex Saver Shipping.

So, would that make much more difference than a Core 2 Duo E6400 rig and keeping my PATA drive?