new build coming up, need help choosing cpu

[trOver]

i have been a huge amd fan all my life, starting from the duron through my athlon 64 which im running at the moment. But, one can not notice intel's huge come back with the c2d, and i certainly havent. Im thinking this new build is going to have to last me awhile, and i am very into the pc enthusiest world, so staying on top is hard for me. as far as ram, mobo, vid, psu, etc goes, i can choose all that fine. (6 for 6 on my builds.. ) the problem here isnt that i dont know what im doing, or have inexperience, its just more of a moral and bragging issue. budget on this system is around a grand, with hd and monitor excluded. overclocking is fine for me, i do it all the time. i just want to know if people are going to be boycotting a certain line and holding off for something better? whats the latest scoop on the whole cpu world at the moment? this pc will be used primarily for gaming, vid editing, and showing off as a classy comp. I want the top performace for my dollar, so i have a few questionss.

1. should i wait till kentsfield is out and about and get the priced droped say e6600?

2. i want quad core eventually, and im willing to hold off till prices come down (only 1 build remember). am i wasting my time?

3. quad core mobos?

4. when is amd going to get their act together?

 

[myocardia]

No, you shouldn't wait until Kentsfield is out, since the Q6700 will be at least $1,000, and the Q6600 will be $850. You'd need to at least double your budget to even get close to a quad-core. And if you're going with a completely new build, I'd say your processor choice should be between an E6400 and an E6600.

 

[trOver]

thx,

any more replies plz???

 

[nyker96]

I'd go with dual core right now. Quad won't be much faster considering lack of software at this point and even next year. I would get E6400 and OC it. The extra cache from 6600 isn't showing much on benches. But dump your extra cash on a 8800 tho, that will make a huge difference for ya.

 

[Ayah]

I'd go with an E6400 as the others and overclock, then try to fit an 8800GTX in the budget.

 

[trOver]

 

[trOver]

i would rather spend just anohter 100 bucks or so to get the e6600 and have the 4mb l2 cache, and extra included stock speed

so you guys really think an 8800 is the way to go??

 

[harpoon84]

Originally posted by: trOver
i would rather spend just anohter 100 bucks or so to get the e6600 and have the 4mb l2 cache, and extra included stock speed

so you guys really think an 8800 is the way to go??

If you don't intend to overclock, the E6600 is a good choice.

If you will be overclocking, the E6600 would only be marginally faster than an E6400, at best. Due to the smaller cache the E6400 tends to clock slightly higher than E6600s, which makes up for the lack of cache.

As for the GPU, obviously the 8800 lineup is currently the best available. If you can afford it, shoot, happy gaming lies ahead.

 

[trOver]

so if i go for an e6600 and a 8800, wat chipset should i go for? which works best with conroe and overclocking, intel chipsets or the new 680i??

 

[EXEEMLITE]

You will be well over your budget with any two of those three components. With a thousand dollar budget. If you are going to use any of your other parts i.e. ram, case, and so forth then maybe you can get in the area of 1500 or so but just the vid card is 600-700. processor 300+ and the board is 250. I believe with a budget in the 1k area I would stick with 6400 (like i did), x1900 and some really choice ram. Ofcourse you are already well on your way with just the vid card mb ram cpu. You can defiantely build a nice conroe system for a grand but talking about the latest and greatst just isnt possible on the prposed 1k budget

 

[The-Noid]

Wait for Xeon X3210 if you really want a Kentsfield. Will be a E6400 with a price of 420$ @ Map.