Jump to Core 2 Duo?

[Capt Caveman]

Just looked at Fry's Labor Day Ad and noticed an E6600 & ECS P965T-A Mobo Combo for $379

I'm thinking the ECS mobo will allow me to wait for the newer mobos that are coming out. And I can also take advantage of the Crucial Memory Deal at ZZF

Think this is a good deal?

 

[Conky]

I'd say it was a very good deal considering the cpu alone at newegg would cost you $360 making that a $20 motherboard.

That Crucial RAM is some good stuff too. :thumbsup:

I'd say go for it. These Core 2 Duo's are really impressive.

 

[imported_Stin]

That motherboard may only be worth $20. Ive never been impressed with an ECS mobo.

 

[Capt Caveman]

The board is actually $85 AR at Newegg and has gotten very good reviews as being a solid mobo but not an overclocker - http://www.newegg.com/Product/CustRatingReview.asp?Item=N82E16813135022

 

[Polish3d]

Go for it, I came from 4400+ and its a superb upgrade. With a decent OC on the C2D (say 3.6ghz) you'll have a CPU that performs in the neighborhood of double the speed as your 4400+ at 2.4-2.6ghz

 

[Capt Caveman]

Originally posted by: Frackal
Go for it, I came from 4400+ and its a superb upgrade. With a decent OC on the C2D (say 3.6ghz) you'll have a CPU that performs in the neighborhood of double the speed as your 4400+ at 2.4-2.6ghz

Damn. Alright, I'm going down to Fry's in a little bit.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman

Originally posted by: Frackal
Go for it, I came from 4400+ and its a superb upgrade. With a decent OC on the C2D (say 3.6ghz) you'll have a CPU that performs in the neighborhood of double the speed as your 4400+ at 2.4-2.6ghz

Damn. Alright, I'm going down to Fry's in a little bit.

Don't expect to get 3.6Ghz just like that. Many Many people have serious trouble getting stability above 2.8Ghz and heat becomes a very big problem. Some chips need alot of voltage to get fast speeds and that builds a ton of heat.

 

[hennethannun]

Originally posted by: Frackal
Go for it, I came from 4400+ and its a superb upgrade. With a decent OC on the C2D (say 3.6ghz) you'll have a CPU that performs in the neighborhood of double the speed as your 4400+ at 2.4-2.6ghz

I would hardly call 3.6ghz a 'decent oc' for an E6600. that is a full 50% over stock speeds, and the E6600s have not been performing well with 965 chipsets (in fact, all the conroe chips don't seem to do too well with 965, while the allendale cores seem to love the 965s). AND that ECS board is not a great overclocker.

expecting anything 400 FSB seems a bit optimistic. not totally impossible, or even outrageous, but certainly not something i would take for granted.

however, for the OP. that is certainly a very nice price for the E6600 + mobo combination, and the E6600, even at stock, is learly a better chip than your 4400+ (which is still no slouch).

If you think you can sell your 4400+ for decent money, and thusly upgrade to C2D at a marginal cost of $150 or so dollars, or if you could really use two powerful computers in the house, then go for it. but if your old, and still very good, system is just going to be lying around the house, then I don't think the upgrade is worth the money.

EDIT edited to correct my crappy typing...

 

[najames]

hennethannun, I thing you offered excellent advice. I think people are getting a little over-hyped. What will the new system do, also requiring new RAM, that the old one didn't? This is from one of the mobo reviews on Newegg.

Cons: Doesn't have a lot of oc options and only has settings for up to 333 FSB.

 

[PerfectCr]

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman
The board is actually $85 AR at Newegg and has gotten very good reviews as being a solid mobo but not an overclocker - http://www.newegg.com/Product/CustRatingReview.asp?Item=N82E16813135022

I gotta tell you reading those comments on that ECS board it feels like they are all plants. They just don't "sound" like they were written by a real user. It might be a decent board but I'd want to see some real reviews before I jump on it.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Thanks for the input folks!

Well, I picked-up the combo and just waiting for my crucial ballistix to come in tomorrow. I'm just looking to use the ECS board to get me to 3ghz and til some of the new conroe boards come out. Up til this deal at Fry's, I wasn't considering a C2D set-up til the cpus came down in price and better/less espensive boards came out. I'll do some more research. I can always return it and wait.

 

[n7]

I went from an Opteron 165 @ 2.6 Ghz w/ RAM @ 200 2-3-2 to my current E6400 @ 3.4 GHz w/ RAM @ 850 5-5-5, & it's just under twice as fast as my Opty was for video encoding :Q

I'm pretty happy.

 

[Pabster]

Originally posted by: Beachboy
I'd say it was a very good deal considering the cpu alone at newegg would cost you $360 making that a $20 motherboard.

That Crucial RAM is some good stuff too. :thumbsup:

I'd say go for it. These Core 2 Duo's are really impressive.

:thumbsup:

I can tell you firsthand that a 4400+ to an E6600 (even at stock everything) was an improvement. And my 4400+ was steeply overclocked.

 

[Pederv]

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman
Thanks for the input folks!

Well, I picked-up the combo and just waiting for my crucial ballistix to come in tomorrow. I'm just looking to use the ECS board to get me to 3ghz and til some of the new conroe boards come out. Up til this deal at Fry's, I wasn't considering a C2D set-up til the cpus came down in price and better/less espensive boards came out. I'll do some more research. I can always return it and wait.

Must be nice having money to burn. Not to mention the time to rebuild your system 2 or 3 times. Takes me 2 months to get everything loaded and setup, when I rebuild my system.