Lets Hear about the Conore rig your planning to build

[FireChicken]

I am so excited about building a new rig. (ITS MY FIRST BUILD BTW) Heres my plan. Lets see what all you people have in mind!!!!!!

Budget ~$2K

Cpu-E6600
Mobo-Asus nForce 590 (not released yet and I hope they are making one)
Memory- 2GB OZC PC2 7200 EPP edition (im an OC noob)
VC- XFX 7950 Extreme (might want to go quad later)
PS- not sure yet 600w maybe
Case- Antec P180B
CPU fan-tunic tower or s.ninja or shogun
HD-1 WD 74GB Raptor
running on windows XP home Ed

 

[skooma]

hmm, my budget is closer to 3k

Anyway, as an owner of one I'd presonally say not to waste our money on the raptor.

For my build, I'm waiting for some more mobo info but the gigabyte is looking sweet. I'll pair a 6600 with some mobo, 2 gigs, either a 1900xt or a 7950gx2 and my current HDDs.

 

[Duvie]

(1) Core 2 Duo E6600 (preordered)
Scythe ninja w/ 120mm fan (ordered)
Intel 965chipset MOBO
2gb (2x1gb) Gskill DDR2-800 cas 4-4-4-12* (ordered)
ATI X1300-PCI-e 256mb (ordered)
NEC 3550 DVD-/+R/RW* (ordered)
Liteon LT163 DVD-Rom (already bought)
(2) Seagate 300GB SATA II in Raid 0* (already bought)
Chenming SOHO Case w/ 600watt OCZ Powerstream* (already bought)


Just need a good mobo.....maybe need a 975x if the 965's cant hit 400fsb regularly..

 

[skooma]

Duvie, youre quick fast in a hurry on the 965 chipset. How come?

 

[Wall7486]

Core 2 Duo E6600 (pre-ordered)
Waiting for a mobo
2GB Corsair DDR2-800 6400C3 , or 2GB Corsair DDR2-800 6400C5, still debating to myself
Silverstone Strider 600W
eVGA 7900GT (Already Have)
NEC 3520 ( Already Have)
Raptor X 150GB
160 Hitachi Desktar (Already Have)
Lian-Li PC G70, modified for triple rad install
Potentially watercooling it

 

[Duvie]

Originally posted by: skooma
Duvie, youre quick fast in a hurry on the 965 chipset. How come?

I am not....

I know the 965p chipest is the chipset designed specifically for the conroe...975x has been out for awhile and carries too big of a premium if you ask me....

It is more likely most of us that dont wnat SLI or crossfire will look at 965p chipsets....

 

[skooma]

How about the 590 chipsets?

Sorry, I know they're sli but just wanted your opinion.

 

[Duvie]

Originally posted by: skooma
How about the 590 chipsets?

Sorry, I know they're sli but just wanted your opinion.

Well I think they are going to carry quite a premium as well and may have a bit more whistles then I need or want.....I also think they are further off then the 965p chips....

 

[zsdersw]

I just ordered one of these: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128012

Otherwise, E6600 (pre-ordered), 2GB DDR2-800 (4-4-4-12), Seagate sata-2 hard drive, Gigabyte fan-less 7600GT 256mb.

 

[Just4Ever]

Can someone please tell me why the E6600 is the Conroe of choice? Are there any links to some testing?

 

[codylawyer]

Budget: $600-$700 I need a better summer job.

Core 2 Duo E6300
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3
G.Skill 1GB DDR2-667 Ram
Geforce 6800XT 256MB

 

[Duvie]

Originally posted by: Just4Ever
Can someone please tell me why the E6600 is the Conroe of choice? Are there any links to some testing?

It has about as low a multiplier as you may want to go...actually the 6700 and its 10x is more preferrable since 400FSB has been attained in a few good mobos, but the premium of the E6700 over the E6600 doesn't justify the limited gain in speed...

The E6600 is the point at which the CPU has 4mb of L2 cache....probably biggest reason users may look at this....not to mention it is 2.4ghz (about the midle of early released conroes) and about the price point most ppl dont find so outrageous....


Any lower multiplier and even with a high end mobo you may not hit a high OC...the E6600 and the sweet spot of 400fsb+ seems to be hitting the 3.6-3.9ghz I have seen the conroe E6600 attaining on air cooling alone....

E6400 is 2.13ghz which is 8x 266 (1066fsb)... 400fsb and you only get 3.2ghz...you would need 500fsb (can I say good luck without heavy mods) for 4ghz


E6300 is 1.86ghz which is 7x 266 (1066fsb)... 400fsb will only get you an anemic 2.8ghz and 500fsb would only get you 3.5ghz

 

[bigshooter]

It's higher clocked (2.4ghz i believe versus 2.2 for the 6400) with 2meg/cache per core so 4meg total (the 6400 has 1meg/core).

I'm waiting on benchmarks to see how much of a difference the cache really makes, but without an onboard memory controller, it probably makes a pretty decent difference.

edit: guess someone beat to the punch. I'm not all that concerned with multipliers since I will probably not try and overclock as high as possible. I'll be happy just to sit around 3ghz which is what the EE edition is supposed to debut at. Guess we'll all have to wait and see how well everything really works in retail.

 

[Duvie]

Originally posted by: bigshooter
It's higher clocked (2.4ghz i believe versus 2.2 for the 6400) with 2meg/cache per core so 4meg total (the 6400 has 1meg/core).

I'm waiting on benchmarks to see how much of a difference the cache really makes, but without an onboard memory controller, it probably makes a pretty decent difference.

There have been benches done on this and linked in a recent conroe thread....Gaming has the biggest gains as well as winrar...3d rendering and such showed no real gain....

 

[bigshooter]

Jesus.... I can't even edit my post before someone replies to me.

 

[StevenNevets]

Budget: $1,200 - First build as well

CPU: Core 2 Duo E6300 ? July 14th
http://www.newegg.com ? July 14th
$210

Motherboard: Conroe compatible ? 7/14
http://www.newegg.com
$80-$120

Operating System: Windows Xp home with SP2 - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16837102059
$87.99

Ram: CORSAIR ValueSelect 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Unbuffered DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) System Memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145098
$147.99

Case/PSU: Antec LifeStyle SONATA II Piano Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 450Watt SmartPower
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129155
$99.99

Western Digital Caviar SE WD1600JS 160GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144415
$64.99

CD/DVD Drive: LG Black 16X DVD-ROM 52X CD-R 32X CD-RW 52X CD-ROM 2M Cache IDE Combo Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827136067
$25.99

Video Card: eVGA 256-P2-N553-AX Geforce 7600GT CO 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130283
($139.99 after $30.00 Mail-In Rebate)

Monitor: Acer AL1906AB / 19" / 8ms / 500:1 / SXGA 1280 x 1024 / Black / LCD Monitor
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications...em-details.asp?EdpNo=1962523&CatId=170
$159.99

Keyboard: Logitech Internet Pro 967450-0403 Black 103 Normal Keys 8 Function keys Function Keys PS/2 Wired Standard Keyboard ? OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16823126167
$14.99

Mouse: Razer KRAIT RZ01-00110100-R2ML Black 3 Buttons 1x Wheel USB Optical Mouse
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications...Details.asp?EdpNo=2265232&sku=R99-1028
$29.99

Speakers: Logitech X-530 70 watts 5.1 Speaker - OEM
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications...em-details.asp?EdpNo=1068238&CatId=492
$49.99

Approximate Price = $1,042 + motherboard

 

[Duvie]

Core E6700 - 2.67GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 32+32KB L1, 4MB L2, Dual Core, TDP 65W - $530 - Q3
Core E6600 - 2.40GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 32+32KB L1, 4MB L2, Dual Core, TDP 65W - $316 - Q3
Core E6400 - 2.13GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 32+32KB L1, 2MB L2, Dual Core, TDP 45W - $224 - Q3
Core E6300 - 1.86GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 32+32KB L1, 2MB L2, Dual Core, TDP 45W - $183 - Q3


If you look at it the E6300 and E6400 are 45watt chips though I dont think cooling is going to hold these chips back.....I think they will clearly be chipset and FSB limited....at least based on todays mobos and early testing...

 

[FireChicken]

Originally posted by: Just4Ever
Can someone please tell me why the E6600 is the Conroe of choice? Are there any links to some testing?

It is 1/3 the price of an FX-64, which is $1000 (I did not see this chip schedueled for a price cut on July 24th BTW) and performs just about as well. I dont know the links but if you search the cpu/overclocking Forum topic, the early reviews are there.

 

[FireChicken]

Originally posted by: skooma
hmm, my budget is closer to 3k

Anyway, as an owner of one I'd presonally say not to waste our money on the raptor.

For my build, I'm waiting for some more mobo info but the gigabyte is looking sweet. I'll pair a 6600 with some mobo, 2 gigs, either a 1900xt or a 7950gx2 and my current HDDs.

Hey Skooma,
Just would like to know why you do not recommend the raptor (best buy has it on sale for $130) and which HDD you would recommend for gaming. I am a little of a tech noob and rely on people like you for your valued advice. Thanks

 

[Duvie]

Originally posted by: FireChicken

Originally posted by: skooma
hmm, my budget is closer to 3k

Anyway, as an owner of one I'd presonally say not to waste our money on the raptor.

For my build, I'm waiting for some more mobo info but the gigabyte is looking sweet. I'll pair a 6600 with some mobo, 2 gigs, either a 1900xt or a 7950gx2 and my current HDDs.

Hey Skooma,
Just would like to know why you do not recommend the raptor (best buy has it on sale for $130) and which HDD you would recommend for gaming. I am a little of a tech noob and rely on people like you for your valued advice. Thanks

They are faster for OS loadup for sure but the price premium of GB per dollar is a bit steep....

YOu coudl get (2) SATA drives and place them in a Raid 0 and get same performance but likely much larger storage compacity and quieter due to 7200rpm drives....

That is my 2 cents at least...

My (2) 250gb in Raid 0 is noticeably faster in my test then my old raptor and only about 7x the size of storage...

 

[buzzsaw13]

I'm gonna wait 2-3 months for a cheap board with OC options comes out

 

[bignateyk]

Does anyone know how much difference the timings on DDR2 make? Is it really worth paying twice as much for better timing?

2x1GB XMS2 Corsair cas5 = $198
2x1GB XMS2 Corsair cas4 = $269
2x1GB XMS2 Corsair cas3 = $469

How much difference does it really make? Does it really only affect performance if overclocking?

 

[Duvie]

Originally posted by: bignateyk
Does anyone know how much difference the timings on DDR2 make? Is it really worth paying twice as much for better timing?

2x1GB XMS2 Corsair cas5 = $198
2x1GB XMS2 Corsair cas4 = $269
2x1GB XMS2 Corsair cas3 = $469

How much difference does it really make? Does it really only affect performance if overclocking?

http://www.behardware.com/articles/623-10/intel-core-2-duo-test.html

check this out....

 

[bignateyk]

hmm.. so it looks like the cas3 definitly isnt worth it (at least in my budget). An extra 70 bucks for cas4 seems tempting though, even if the performance increase is less than 10%

Edit: also found this link which kinda helps answer my question:

http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/03/31/...equencies/page10.html#final_conclusion

 

[PhoenixOrion]

Conroe E6700

Albatron PX975X

OCZ XTC PC8000 2x1GB

Seasonic S12-600

Zalman Reserator Plus (solely on CPU)