Should I scrap my planned FX-60 build and wait for the Conroe?

[Randolphjo]

I sure could use some opinions and/or advice on a build I have been planning for awhile, and have almost reached the point of no return on.

My plan was to build a more or less state of the art gaming/overclocking rig today that would stay close to the top of the heap (performance wise) for at least a year or so before it would be worth upgrading (again). I?ve been wanting to build a Crossfire system every since I heard of the concept and I finally started buying all of the components to build my Crossfire rig. I chose the AMD Athlon 64 FX-60 processor for my build because when I actually started buying components, it was the processor of choice for a high-powered gaming rig. I was confident that the components I chose for this build wouldn?t be greatly surpassed by significant technological advances in the next year or so. Now all the buzz about the new Intel Conroe processor has me reconsidering my build.

Would I be better off to rethink the build I was planning and hold off for the Conroe processor instead of the FX-60? I have ordered all of the components for the build I previously planned, but I haven?t assembled the rig yet. At this stage, I could sell the FX-60 and Crossfire motherboard and hold off for a Conroe processor and (hopefully) a Crossfire motherboard in the very near future. Would that be the better way to go rather than complete the FX-60 build? From what I?ve read about the Intel Conroe processor, it is supposed to knock the FX-60 processor pretty far down from its lofty perch.

Additionally, if I built my rig around the AMD FX-60 processor, I would also be locked in to DDR memory instead of DDR2. That alone didn?t concern me much since I already have DDR memory, but if the new Intel Conroe AND the use of DDR2 memory is going to leave my new rig in the dust then I need to reevaluate.

What opinions and/or advice would you have given my situation? Funds aren?t unlimited by any means and it took some doing to get the funds together for my planned Crossfire rig, but if I don?t assemble the rig, I can sell the new FX-60 and the Crossfire motherboard and not take too big of a financial hit. I could then hold off for a month or so and buy an Intel Conroe processor, a new motherboard, DDR2 memory and end up with a system that would be technologically more advanced than the FX-60 based rig ? and stay closer to the top of the heap much longer. Would that be the better way to go?

I don?t have the funds to continually chase the leading edge component wise, but I do want to build a top end gaming/overclocking system that will stay very close to the top for a year or better. It all boils down to whether I?m better off bypassing the FX-60 processor now and plan my build around the Conroe processor?

Just as a point of reference, the following is a list of the major components I have already purchased (or had) for my planned Crossfire system ? but haven?t assembled yet:

Motherboard - Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe
Processor - AMD Athlon 64 FX-60 (939)
Video Card ? ATI Radeon X1900XTX PCIe 512MB
Video Card ? ATI Radeon X1900 Crossfire Master Card
Case, Power Supply - Thermaltake 680W Silent Pure Power (W0049)
Case, Computer - Antec Performance One P180B

(the following I already had):
Memory ? OCZ Platinum 2GB Dual channel EL DDR
HDD, Boot/System - WD Raptor 74GB Sata I
HDD, Storage 1 - WD Raptor 74GB Sata I
HDD, Storage 2 ? WD Seagate 250GB SATA I WD2500JD

I would appreciate any help offered. Thanks.

JR

 

[classy]

You already bought the stuff?

 

[blackllotus]

By the time you get Conroe there will be more technology to look forward too. Since you already bought the parts I would just build it. Its not like its gonna be bad or anything

 

[Randolphjo]

Yep. I already bought everything I listed above. The FX-60 is in transit but everything else is on hand.

 

[Praxis1452]

in all honesty. I'd really get AM2... you'll have a really awesome rig but... for the money either wait for conroe or get AM2 but that's just me. If you feel the need just stick to the original build. Upgrade when you need to not just for the latest hardware. If you don't need to wait...

 

[xtremejack]

FX-60 is good enough for now if you can afford it. But if you can wait for 2 months, Conroe 6600 is a really good deal as it offers near-FX like performance for around $300-400, plus you will have good mobos like RD600 or Nforce 5xx SLI which offer crossfire or sli.

Also do know that if you buy a Conroe-mobo with a low cost Conroe, you have the option of upgrading to an Extreme later on, or even to Quad-core Kentsfield, as it will be compatible with Conroe mobos.

Right now if you are choosing between the two, AMD's lineup doesnt look as stunning as Intel's new lineup. But its still a painful two month wait for Conroe

 

[TraumaRN]

Ermm wasnt July for OEM's ONLY on Conroe and that you couldnt buy it retail until like late august september? or was that date changed?? Either way if u dont want the FX-60 you can send it my way

 

[n7]

Just build man.

Enjoy the system now, & later you can worry about C2D when they have all the kinks worked out.

Oh, but dump the POS TT PSU.
That one is horrendous.

Look at the FSP FX700-GLN or OCZ Gamestream 700W (actually just the FSP repackaged) or Silverstone or PCP&C's stuff.

 

[FelixDeCat]

Ebay the motherboard and save the cash Core2. You will regret going fx60. Trust me.

 

[n7]

Originally posted by: FelixDeKat
Ebay the motherboard and save the cash Core2. You will regret going fx60. Trust me.

Thanx for the FUD.

Maybe the OP has waited long enough?

Maybe the OP has a monitor that runs at a 1600+ resolution in which the C2D will benefit him in a very small way for games.

Maybe you could try researching what you are talking about rather than just typing your standard pro-Intel BS.

C2D > FX-60 by a lot in CPU-bound applications, but by an incredibly small margin in high resolution/settings for games.

And yes, i will eventually buy a C2D myself, but not till it makes sense for me, so don't even try to tell me i'm an AMD fanboi :roll:

 

[BlingBlingArsch]

u can go either way, both good rigs.

 

[Praxis1452]

Originally posted by: FelixDeKat
Ebay the motherboard and save the cash Core2. You will regret going fx60. Trust me.

not everyone's a performance freak. If he feels like his system is underperforming then fvck conroe. Even anand has said don't just upgrade because something new came out upgrade because you feel the need.

 

[anandtechrocks]

Personally I would wait. Sure the FX-60 is the fastest processor available, but if you give it till Conroe hits the market then we will see some real results. I enjoy hearing about all the benchmarks some websites are posting, but until a real chip I can buy comes out it means very little to me.

Also, since you want to go Crossfire, I'd recommend waiting even more. Some time this year ATI is going to announce dongle and master card free Crossfire. Perhaps at that time Conroe will be readily available too!

 

[anandtechrocks]

Originally posted by: Praxis1452

Originally posted by: FelixDeKat
Ebay the motherboard and save the cash Core2. You will regret going fx60. Trust me.

not everyone's a performance freak. If he feels like his system is underperforming then fvck conroe. Even anand has said don't just upgrade because something new came out upgrade because you feel the need.

I dunno dude... he said, "build a more or less state of the art gaming/overclocking rig that would stay close to the top of the heap..." Seems like a, "performance freak," to me...

 

[TheRyuu]

Your rig is fine. For today and tommorow. It's still better than 90%+ of all other gaming rigs.

Sure it's not the fastest, but it'll still beat just about anything. And if you overclock some of the stuff (FX-60 @ 3ghz and have the RAM running 1:1 @ DDR500+) it'll match and probably beat some of the AM2 scores and come pretty close to conroe.

 

[FelixDeCat]

Originally posted by: anandtechrocks
Personally I would wait. Sure the FX-60 is the fastest processor available, but if you give it till Conroe hits the market then we will see some real results. I enjoy hearing about all the benchmarks some websites are posting, but until a real chip I can buy comes out it means very little to me.

Also, since you want to go Crossfire, I'd recommend waiting even more. Some time this year ATI is going to announce dongle and master card free Crossfire. Perhaps at that time Conroe will be readily available too!

n7

Read that post over and over and over and stop the fud. Also stop the hate, it does a body bad.

Conroe > FX60

 

[Captante]

I "only" have an Opteron 170 @ 2.4ghz & I'm not about to run to replace it with Conroe when it comes out.... theres ALWAYS going to be somthing better/faster coming soon, so stop worrying about it & put your new rig together.

Even if you don't overclock at all, it'll be plenty fast to last quite awhile without causing you any hardship & btw it should easily oc to 2.8ghz or higher meaning you'll have one of the fastest PC's around period for at least a few months & thats really all you can expect at the top of the heap anyway.

If you want to do anything, bail out on the FX-60, get an Opteron 165/170 yourself & overclock the crap out of it ... 2.6-2.8ghz is still within reach with a little more work .. my CPU will do 2.6ghz on air, but I prefer to run it cooler at 2.4ghz because its plenty fast for me.

 

[dexvx]

Considering the FX-60 is around the $1000 mark, yea I'd consider selling it or returning it for minimal loss of money. Seeing as how even a lower $250 Conroe will beat it in performance and in less power consumption. I'd get a cheap A64 to tide you over or just get a Conroe ready 975 board with a cheap Pentium-D and drop in upgrade in a month or 2.

 

[Randolphjo]

I offer my sincere thanks to everyone who has posted to this thread. The advice, suggestions, opinions, debates and arguments have been most helpful, and I now have a better idea of how I plan to proceed with my build.

Revised Plan:

1. Sell the new, unopened AMD Athlon 64 FX-60 retail processor ($100 +/- loss?)
2. Keep the Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe Crossfire MB
3. Buy a cheaper AMD dual-core 939 processor (Opteron or X2) and overclock.
4. Build my Crossfire system today and enjoy until the Conroe processors and Conroe processor based ATI Crossfire motherboards go mainstream. Then,
5. Buy a Conroe processor, MB and DDR2 memory and do an upgrade.

The crux of my dilemma has been whether to use the (expensive) AMD Athlon FX-60 now, in this build, or if it would be better to plan my so-called ?final? build around an Intel Conroe processor (less expensive) and according to preliminary reports, generally (and arguably) more powerful/capable than the FX-60.

I believe that if I try to sell my new and still unopened FX-60 now, that I won?t take as big of a financial loss (now) as I surely will later on down the road, when trying, (like thousands of others), to sell a used FX-60 processor in order to buy an Intel Conroe processor.

I don?t have cubic dollars available to continually chase the latest and greatest technology, and I can?t (financially) go that route. However, I can pick a point on the curve to jump on and the point I pick needs to stay relatively close to the top of the technology curve for a year or so in order to fit my budget and satisfaction level. What I?m getting from all that I am reading is that the FX-60 is not the right choice for me - based on my particular plans, circumstances and criteria.

I want some of the technological curve still left in the processor choice I make and it would appear that the Conroe could offer that and the FX-60 can not. The FX-60 is already being eclipsed by AMD?s own FX-62 technology ? and that tells me that the FX-60?s technology is now flat and contains no more curve. I?m not saying that the FX-60 processor won?t remain a player in top gaming and overclocking rigs in the near term ? because it will. What I?m trying to say, is that for my goals, I NOW believe that the FX-60 is not right point for me to pick on the technology curve to base my ?top-of-the-heap-for-a-year? rig.

In the interim, I will probably go ahead and build my immediate Crossfire system using a lesser expensive dual-core 939 processor - most likely an overclockable Opteron (model number unknown yet). That will temporarily satisfy my immediate ?Crossfire Jones?, and with the money I recoup from selling the FX-60 now, I can plan to upgrade to a Conroe based Crossfire system later this year ? using those funds. Anyway, that?s how the plan looks on paper right now.

 

[akshayt]

Even if you go with Amd FX60, name one game which bottle necks your cpu at even 1600*1200 with aa and af, even if there is a theoritical bottleneck, how muchmore performance are you goign to get with any faster processor.
If performance is concerned, you shouldn't face any trouble running any game at any res as per cpu is concenred, someone please correct me if I am wrong.

But If you want to save money, a good option is to go with amd 3000 venice and oc to 2.6-2.8ghz if possible or amd 3800 dual core and then overclock it is possible.
Go with conroe later after selling this stuff.

 

[Skott]

Yeah, I'd say if you are going to upgrade in a year just stick with what you got. Its going to be a fast system. Then next year just upgrade to the newer technology if you want. That FX-60 will OC some so that'll give you some extra headroom if you want it.

 

[Hulk]

Originally posted by: xtremejack
FX-60 is good enough for now if you can afford it. But if you can wait for 2 months, Conroe 6600 is a really good deal as it offers near-FX like performance for around $300-400, plus you will have good mobos like RD600 or Nforce 5xx SLI which offer crossfire or sli.

Also do know that if you buy a Conroe-mobo with a low cost Conroe, you have the option of upgrading to an Extreme later on, or even to Quad-core Kentsfield, as it will be compatible with Conroe mobos.

Right now if you are choosing between the two, AMD's lineup doesnt look as stunning as Intel's new lineup. But its still a painful two month wait for Conroe

I thought the E6600 looks to be better performing than FX60 from all previews?

 

[TuxDave]

Originally posted by: anandtechrocks

Originally posted by: Praxis1452

Originally posted by: FelixDeKat
Ebay the motherboard and save the cash Core2. You will regret going fx60. Trust me.

not everyone's a performance freak. If he feels like his system is underperforming then fvck conroe. Even anand has said don't just upgrade because something new came out upgrade because you feel the need.

I dunno dude... he said, "build a more or less state of the art gaming/overclocking rig that would stay close to the top of the heap..." Seems like a, "performance freak," to me...

And the fact that he's willing to spend $1000 on a processor adds a little more detail on what his expectations on his computer is.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: n7

Originally posted by: FelixDeKat
Ebay the motherboard and save the cash Core2. You will regret going fx60. Trust me.

Thanx for the FUD.

Maybe the OP has waited long enough?

Maybe the OP has a monitor that runs at a 1600+ resolution in which the C2D will benefit him in a very small way for games.

Maybe you could try researching what you are talking about rather than just typing your standard pro-Intel BS.

C2D > FX-60 by a lot in CPU-bound applications, but by an incredibly small margin in high resolution/settings for games.

And yes, i will eventually buy a C2D myself, but not till it makes sense for me, so don't even try to tell me i'm an AMD fanboi :roll:

If the OP was tired of waiting, he would have never created this thread to ask advice on which way to go, ESPECIALLY since he has almost all the parts for the FX-60 rig already.

Monitor? Please man..

I'll agree it sure was his standard "Intel Rocks the earth" comments, but fortunately for the OP, his statement was correct. Why spend @ 800 bucks on an FX-60 when you can get the entire Core 2 Duo platform (CPU, mobo, Ram) for less and be faster than the FX-60? So, who needs to research what they are talking about? I think it's you N7.

Nobody called you an AMD fanboi. But it would seem you needed to say otherwise. Did you feel you were being fanboyish instantly attacking Felix's post like that? I guess I could understand how you think other people might think of the way you posted. Like I did.

 

[firewolfsm]

How much money do these people spend just to game? WTF. I built a $950 rig instead of a $500 one, I have to do 3DSMax and I still felt bad....this pisses me off.