Pentium D 915

[Cheex]

Pros: 65nm....800MHz....2.8GHz stock....2x2MB L2
Cons: Pentium D 805($101) +$38.49 = $139.49 @ Newegg

I know you will say I should get a E6300 but...
Don't forget where I live (Jamrock)...I could still get a good resale for a 915...
Then I'd upgrade my mobo, gfx card and get a E6600 when the prices stabilize (after all the gouging).

What are your thoughts on that approach ?

 

[trueimage]

the cons of an 8XX are almost unmanagable heat
the cons of non-conroe intels are AMD X2's are dirt cheap now, and outperform all of them

but since you are only upgrading cpu, buy something you can afford if you need it, but don't expect a great resale market after the conroe's are more widespread (or even now, really)

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: Cheex
Pros: 65nm....800MHz....2.8GHz stock....2x2MB L2
Cons: Pentium D 805($101) +$38.49 = $139.49 @ Newegg

I know you will say I should get a E6300 but...
Don't forget where I live (Jamrock)...I could still get a good resale for a 915...
Then I'd upgrade my mobo, gfx card and get a E6600 when the prices stabilize (after all the gouging).

What are your thoughts on that approach ?

yadda yadda yadda

 

[Cheex]

Here in Jamaica a lot of people are satisfied with using lower end stuff but i'm an aspiring enthusiast so i will definately be able to get a good resale price for a 915...Then get myself a Conroe as i said before.

What i want to know is: based on a comparison of price/performance...
1. Is the 915 worth the $40 more than getting an 805 ?
2. Also, will the 915 work in an ASRock 775Dual-VSTA ?

 

[Cheex]

Originally posted by: Cheex
What i want to know is: based on a comparison of price/performance...
1. Is the 915 worth the $40 more than getting an 805 ?
2. Also, will the 915 work in an ASRock 775Dual-VSTA ?

Will someone answer me please?
Is the 915 that good (Pentium D Series only...excluding Core 2) ?

 

[us3rnotfound]

The Pentium D is a failure. It's a dead end. Stop it.

 

[Cheex]

As a temporary measure...cuz i need an upgrade now.
I'm running a Socket A Sempron for crying out loud.
I'll get a Core 2 in Q4'06 or Q1'07.

 

[Blain]

Why even ask us here? :shocked: You've already made up your mind!

 

[Cheex]

No i haven't...but yes i'm leaning towards the D915.
I just need an expert opinion on the matter...Price/Performance.

D805 vs D915
$100 vs $140

Which is a better bang for the buck? (read your sig...lol)

 

[Blain]

I'm an official CPU value expert... Get the 915.

 

[Cheex]

Originally posted by: Blain
I'm an official CPU value expert... Get the 915.

Finally, an answer.
Thank you.

If anyone is willing to second that opinion, it would be even better as confirmation...lol.

 

[Blain]

I second his opinion! :thumbsup:
After all, he's an official CPU value expert. :laugh:

 

[Golgatha]

The Pentium D 915 just screams OC the piss out of me on a Core 2 Duo supporting board and wait for prices to come down! This chip at 4.0Ghz will game no different than a Conroe unless you're going to get some Crossfire action going (SLI support to come soon also on nForce boards). I doubt you'll loose much value on the 915 when you resell it too. I'm running a 920 D (only difference is the 915 doesn't have VT) and loving it with a single X1900XT.

Edit: Buy some DDR2-800 RAM now for future OCing of the Conroe when you upgrade. I'd suggest going for 4.0Ghz on the 915 out of the box. Do make sure to have good cooling though. I use a Zalman 9500Cu.

 

[Golgatha]

Originally posted by: Blain
I second his opinion! :thumbsup:
After all, he's an official CPU value expert. :laugh:

I'll second it.

 

[coldpower27]

The pentium D 915 is a good choice, as I heard they are C1 Stepping cores, which pretty decent for power consumption.

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

Eh, the 805 is cheaper and overclocks very well. IMO, you should be getting a 3800+ X2 though. It's only $150.

 

[Cheex]

Originally posted by: Golgatha
The Pentium D 915 just screams OC the piss out of me on a Core 2 Duo supporting board and wait for prices to come down! This chip at 4.0Ghz will game no different than a Conroe unless you're going to get some Crossfire action going (SLI support to come soon also on nForce boards). I doubt you'll loose much value on the 915 when you resell it too. I'm running a 920 D (only difference is the 915 doesn't have VT) and loving it with a single X1900XT.

Edit: Buy some DDR2-800 RAM now for future OCing of the Conroe when you upgrade. I'd suggest going for 4.0Ghz on the 915 out of the box. Do make sure to have good cooling though. I use a Zalman 9500Cu.

Now this is what i wanted to hear. Value for my money.
2 questions though:

1. What exactly is Virtualization Technology (VT)?
2. What difference will there be between the 920 and 915 performance due to this?

 

[Golgatha]

Originally posted by: Cheex

Originally posted by: Golgatha
The Pentium D 915 just screams OC the piss out of me on a Core 2 Duo supporting board and wait for prices to come down! This chip at 4.0Ghz will game no different than a Conroe unless you're going to get some Crossfire action going (SLI support to come soon also on nForce boards). I doubt you'll loose much value on the 915 when you resell it too. I'm running a 920 D (only difference is the 915 doesn't have VT) and loving it with a single X1900XT.

Edit: Buy some DDR2-800 RAM now for future OCing of the Conroe when you upgrade. I'd suggest going for 4.0Ghz on the 915 out of the box. Do make sure to have good cooling though. I use a Zalman 9500Cu.

Now this is what i wanted to hear. Value for my money.
2 questions though:

1. What exactly is Virtualization Technology (VT)?
2. What difference will there be between the 920 and 915 performance due to this?

1. Has something to due with multiple sessions on the same computer. Most users won't miss this technology one little bit.

Straight from Intel's mouth.

"Virtualization enhanced by Intel Virtualization Technology will allow a platform to run multiple operating systems and applications in independent partitions. With virtualization, one computer system can function as multiple ?virtual? systems. With processor and I/O enhancements to Intel?s various platforms, Intel Virtualization Technology can improve the performance and robustness of today?s software-only virtual machine solutions."

2. No difference in performance.

 

[Golgatha]

Originally posted by: t3h l337 n3wb
Eh, the 805 is cheaper and overclocks very well. IMO, you should be getting a 3800+ X2 though. It's only $150.

The 805 is 90nm tech and like an Easy Bake Oven inside your computer when overclocked. Most likely it won't reach the same OC as a 915 or 920 due to both of these being based on the much cooler (thermally speaking) 65nm process.

 

[Cheex]

Thumbs up for Golgatha...great info
Thanks.

The ASRock 775Dual-VSTA however is not very good at overclocking.
You can't change the CPU core voltage (safety feature IMO...lol) and FSB is maxed at about 340.
You won't get to 340 anyway cuz you can't change the voltage but...

How far could I safely take a 915 on this board?
Stock = 200 * 14 = 2.8GHz
OC = ????

 

[dexvx]

915's should hit the 4Ghz mark fairly easily (with a good aftermarket cooling). Even at 4Ghz, its about teh same heat as an FX-62, so its not as bad as some people would like you to think.

 

[Cheex]

Interesting...

I'm buying a Freezer 7 Pro along with it. The Asrock only allows stock cpu voltage remember (this is the key here).
How high at stock voltage with that kind of cooling ?

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

I still don't understand why you're even considering a Pentium D in the first place when the E6300 and 3800+ are much better choices.

 

[Cheex]

Originally posted by: t3h l337 n3wb
I still don't understand why you're even considering a Pentium D in the first place when the E6300 and 3800+ are much better choices.

budget build...and i need a lot of new stuff so i kinda have to take 1 step at a time and i really need to upgrade NOW from this darn Socket A Sempron (aaaaaaaahhhh). Anything would be better...
I'll get a Core 2 when the prices stabilize and come down a bit...maybe in Q4...but based on budget the 915 is much better than the 805.
I'm not staying with AMD now. To make matters worse...They bought ATI...I like Nvidia...
INTEL/NVIDIA is my preference.
Next...If i'm gonna get a Conroe...it has to be the E6600.

 

[stevty2889]

Don't expect to get much past ~220mhz FSB on that board, especialy with no vcore options. The 805 is a flamethrower, but the 800mhz FSB pentium-d's all tend to get stuck around 220mhz FSB on lower end motherboards.