Thinking about upgrading while waiting on Conroe

[ormandj]

Hi all,

I'm considering upgrading my aging pc (for cheap) until Conroe arrives.

I've currently got:

Athlon XP 2600+
1.5 gigs of PC3200
Asus A7N8X-Deluxe Mobo
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro (AGP)

It pretty much drags now. I've been holding off on upgrading for a while, but I'm smitten by smp/dual core (all of my workstations are dualies and always have been, I want it at home!)

I was thinking that a smart path to go would be to pick up an Intel 805 (I know they aren't that fast, but far better than my 2600 and only 150$), a motherboard that supports PCIE, get a new videocard (just a middle of the road, nothing too crazy), and 2 gigs of DDR2 ram.

My question is, does this make sense? The things I'd be spending the money on (the video card and ram) - would they work with a conroe system in the future? Or is it going to use DDR3 or something, forcing me to upgrade all of that again?

I hope this is the right forum, because it mostly relates to my processor choice, if not please feel free to move it where appropriate and my apologies in advance.

Thank you all for your help,
David

 

[Maximilian]

Dont do it! seriously, my system was very similar to yours and now im sitting on a dual core opty and x1900xt, i wish i had waited for conroe, Core architecture looks to be far faster than K8 and it dosent use pins.

Ill sell my opty nearer the release of conroe dependent on the situation. You should totally wait.

 

[ormandj]

Well, I intend on getting Conroe when it's out. I am just thinking an upgrade now might make sense, just a cheap one (to the 805) to tide me over until Conroe. I'm just curious if the ram will be compatible or if I'll need new stuff for conroe.

805 - 150$
mobo - 70$
vid card - 150-250$
ram - 200$

If I can keep the video card and ram, it's only 200-someodd bucks to upgrade, and it'll last 6 months or so. It seems to make sense. I just want to make sure my DDR2 ram would still be usable...

 

[ormandj]

I've done some searches on here and on the net and I'm hearing conflicting things. Is conroe DDR2 based? And if so, what speed should I buy?

 

[Jules]

Originally posted by: ormandj
Hi all,

I'm considering upgrading my aging pc (for cheap) until Conroe arrives.

I've currently got:

Athlon XP 2600+
1.5 gigs of PC3200
Asus A7N8X-Deluxe Mobo
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro (AGP)

It pretty much drags now. I've been holding off on upgrading for a while, but I'm smitten by smp/dual core (all of my workstations are dualies and always have been, I want it at home!)

I was thinking that a smart path to go would be to pick up an Intel 805 (I know they aren't that fast, but far better than my 2600 and only 150$), a motherboard that supports PCIE, get a new videocard (just a middle of the road, nothing too crazy), and 2 gigs of DDR2 ram.

My question is, does this make sense? The things I'd be spending the money on (the video card and ram) - would they work with a conroe system in the future? Or is it going to use DDR3 or something, forcing me to upgrade all of that again?

I hope this is the right forum, because it mostly relates to my processor choice, if not please feel free to move it where appropriate and my apologies in advance.

Thank you all for your help,
David

go for it. i wouldnt wait conroe will probably be overpriced.

 

[Looney]

go for it. i wouldnt wait conroe will probably be overpriced.

According to this, it's going to be priced VERY well.

 

[code65536]

Hmm... so if I'm reading you right, are you suggesting that you build a machine based on the 805 now, and then when Conroe comes around, you toss out the mobo + 805 (find it a good home on eBay?) and replace that with a Conroe setup, while keeping all the other components like memory, HDD, and video in place?

If so, that actually sounds like a pretty good idea.

 

[n7]

As much as i hate to recommend a Pentium D based system, it does make sense than tiding yourself over with a Pentium D 805 might just be a decent plan, since buying DDR for an A64 X2 system might get difficult to sell later.

 

[plus]

I suggest a little healthy skepticism regarding the "Conroe" benchmarks. Even Anand comments "As far as we could tell, there was nothing fishy going on", basically acknowledging Intels long history of rigging benchmarks in their favor.

Notice the bios on the AMD machine is dated 2003, prior to the FX series processor... if it can't recognize the FX60, how does it know to enable SSE3 and other features?

The mp3 encoding benchmark can run entirely in the 4mb cache of the Conroe - somewhat of and advantage, wouldn't you agree?

Intel is in a somewhat desperate situation - with billions at stake, is it much of a reach to suggest they're repeating history by rigging the Conroe benchmarks?

Plus

 

[Proletariat]

Just get a new vid card. I don't understand how that system can possibly lag at this point. What are you doing to stress to it?

 

[plus]

Pricewatch lists an A64-3400 for $145... why not use the ram you have, get a socket 939 motherboard, install winXP64pro, and see what happens to your performance?

 

[code65536]

Originally posted by: plus
Notice the bios on the AMD machine is dated 2003, prior to the FX series processor... if it can't recognize the FX60, how does it know to enable SSE3 and other features?

Someone on the comments page for the article noted that all the BIOSes say that and that the real version is at the bottom, not the top. Having never used one of these BIOSes, I wouldn't know, but I thought I'd point that out.

The mp3 encoding benchmark can run entirely in the 4mb cache of the Conroe - somewhat of and advantage, wouldn't you agree?

Um. No. The output might be able to fit in 4 MB, but we don't care about the output. What is important is the input, as that is what the processor actually works with. And there is no way that in heck that raw decompressed audio that takes over a minute to encode on high-end processors is going to fit in 4 MB of cache (and even if they were transcoding from a compressed format to another compressed format, the audio still needs to be decompressed in the process).

Intel is in a somewhat desperate situation - with billions at stake, is it much of a reach to suggest they're repeating history by rigging the Conroe benchmarks?

I think that saying that they have a history of rigging benchmarks would be reading a bit too much into what Anand said. Everyone favors benchmarks that are "friendly" (*cough* Apple), and it is healthy to be skeptical, which is why Anand anticipated that everyone would ask about the legitimacy of the benchmarks (not because of Intel's reputation, but because this is common from everyone in the computer industry) by saying that he didn't think that they looked fishy... besides, these aren't traditional synthetic benchmarks that are easily riggable.

Also, Intel isn't that stupid. If they did cheat, they'd gain pre-launch fame and then have a PR blow-up right before the actual launch when reviewers test the samples sent to them, so they don't have much incentive to cheat. (Apple does have incentive to cheat because they don't reveal the specs of exactly how they do their benchmarks, so nobody can verify them; this is not the case here).

 

[Avalon]

Yeah, your upgrade actually kind of makes sense for your situation. It won't be a high end machine, but if dual processing is your thing, the 805 will help at a cheap price. The PCI-express card and DDR2 memory you choose WILL be reusable for Conroe.

 

[bjc112]

Originally posted by: Soviet
Dont do it! seriously, my system was very similar to yours and now im sitting on a dual core opty and x1900xt, i wish i had waited for conroe, Core architecture looks to be far faster than K8 and it dosent use pins.

Ill sell my opty nearer the release of conroe dependent on the situation. You should totally wait.

I dont regret my purchases and upgrades one bit.. I have had this X2 since near release, and love every minute of it, as it dominates everything out there..

BUY NOW or you will wait for ever.

Sell yor X2 when Conroe finally drops.

Upgrade cycle continues again.

 

[VivienM]

Originally posted by: Proletariat
Just get a new vid card. I don't understand how that system can possibly lag at this point. What are you doing to stress to it?

Why should the OP get a new AGP card? It's sinking big $$$$ into something that can't be recycled into a future system, whether AMD or Intel-based...

 

[MBrown]

So will conroe work on current 975 and 955 MBs?

 

[openwheelformula1]

guys your current 975 and 955 chipsets don't support Conroe. We've been over this many times. Don't dump 200 bucks for that junk. Perhaps newer revisions of 975 based boards will support Conroe, but that likely won't happen because. Once Intel takes the performance crown, then Intel's demand will skyrocket. 965 will be the best choice. I believe there is also a 946 chipset for 800mhz fsb Core Solos as well.

 

[MBrown]

^not even with a bios update? That seems wierd that the same chipset cannot support conroe.

 

[Ninjaneer]

I am in a similar boat as OP, except for the fact that I am not interested in jumping to Conroe yet. My system is almost identical, though:
- Athlon XP 2600
- Asus A7N8X Deluxe
- 2GB PC2700 (well, 2x512 PC2700, 1 GB PC3200)
- ATi X800XL

I was looking at picking up a Pentium 4 630 and an Abit AS8-V. The whole upgrade will run me about $260 to $270. Would this be a worthy upgrade or will I feel like I wasted my time and money? I am not quite <financially> ready to make the technology jump to PCI-e and DDR2 memory, so I'm holding on to what I got as a new vid card purchase is out of the question. I would most likely sell off my old stuff and the 2x512 PC2700 memory to recoup some of the cost of the upgrade.

Opinions? I won't be doing any overclocking, either. Thanks in advance.

 

[RussianSensation]

OP, given that you have 1.5 PC3200 ram already, I'd get x850XT $180 or 6800GS a DFI Infiniti $80 S939 board and A64 3000+ Venice and overclock that to 2.4ghz. That should hold you over on the cheap. You can also overclock XP2600+ to 3000+ speeds and get a used 6800GT AGP or something along those lines.

However, if you are into multitasking, going with a cheap P-D might be a good idea. Get DDR2 667 ram though just in case.

 

[pctwo]

now I feel like I should sell my 2week old X2 3800

 

[stelleg151]

Originally posted by: pctwo
now I feel like I should sell my 2week old X2 3800

And wiggle your thumbs for 6 months?

 

[ND40oz]

The 2nd revisions of the 975 boards will support conroe, they need to update the vrm for the correct voltages for conroe. The current 975 boards may or may not, it depends on the manufacturer and if they built them outside of current intel guidelines. Asus is known to do this and this is the reason they can use the ct479 pentium m adaptor on some of their boards. So right now, it's wait and see.

 

[ormandj]

Originally posted by: code65536
Hmm... so if I'm reading you right, are you suggesting that you build a machine based on the 805 now, and then when Conroe comes around, you toss out the mobo + 805 (find it a good home on eBay?) and replace that with a Conroe setup, while keeping all the other components like memory, HDD, and video in place?

If so, that actually sounds like a pretty good idea.

That is correct. Next question is, will any of the intel branded motherboards support the 805? I'm looking at the: BOXD945GNTLKR (945GNT) made by Intel. Their website lists 800 series, but doesn't say 805. just 820+. It looks nice (and cheap). 2 gigs of DDR2 800 ram is about 250+150 for 805d+110 on mobo+whatevervideocard. So only 250 of my money is going to things that won't be usable in an upgrade later. Even if I switch to AMD, the ddr2 and the video card will still be good! Just need to know if that motherboard will work. Contacting intel too.

 

[openwheelformula1]

one again, 945 and 955 chipsets don't support Conroe. 965 and revised 975 will support Conroe.