Up to Speed

[figgly]

It's been a long while since I built a system and I don't have a clue what is going on in terms of hardware these days.
I want to stick with Intel. My brief looking around has me thinking a good CPU is this one:
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz

Would anyone point me to a source that can tell me what motherboards/chipsets/memory work with this CPU and otherwise educate me on where we are these days with building a new computer. One good article maybe so I don't have to try to weed through a hundred threads trying to figure it out.

Last computer I build had a P4 2.8 Canterwood. Socket 478. Memory was PC3200. At least that's what I remember.

Also, if there is another CPU that I should consider, I'm all ears.

Thanks in advance for any guidance.

 

[Roguestar]

I'm going to be broad and basic as I think if I went into detail I'd not do it as well as other places or posters, so here goes:

Core 2 Duo is a new efficient architecture from intel, which overclocks fantastically. The E6600 is a high-performing mid-range core 2 duo, with 4MB of cache. To save money you can go a little lower than that and get the E6300 or E6400 and overclock them instead(seeing as they all top out withing 300mhz~ of each other this can be a big saving). Get an aftermarket heatsink/fan if you're doing that, and a reliable motherboard. Motherboards should all be "socket" LGA775 and you're looking for a P965, 975X or 680i chipset motherboard from intel, intel and nVidia respectively. Memory wise you want DDR2-6400 to get the sweet spot in price/performance and if you get RAM sticks with Micron D9 you can overclock them easily. Hard drives are mostly SATA now but for the sake of us with PATA drives (IDE) and for most DVD drives motherboards still come with one IDE channel. Graphics is pretty much all PCIe now, price/performance choice is x1950 Pro and the extreme performance choice is the 8800 GTS/GTX.

 

[trOver]

Originally posted by: Roguestar
I'm going to be broad and basic as I think if I went into detail I'd not do it as well as other places or posters, so here goes:

Core 2 Duo is a new efficient architecture from intel, which overclocks fantastically. The E6600 is a high-performing mid-range core 2 duo, with 4MB of cache. To save money you can go a little lower than that and get the E6300 or E6400 and overclock them instead(seeing as they all top out withing 300mhz~ of each other this can be a big saving). Get an aftermarket heatsink/fan if you're doing that, and a reliable motherboard. Motherboards should all be "socket" LGA775 and you're looking for a P965, 975X or 680i chipset motherboard from intel, intel and nVidia respectively. Memory wise you want DDR2-6400 to get the sweet spot in price/performance and if you get RAM sticks with Micron D9 you can overclock them easily. Hard drives are mostly SATA now but for the sake of us with PATA drives (IDE) and for most DVD drives motherboards still come with one IDE channel. Graphics is pretty much all PCIe now, price/performance choice is x1950 Pro and the extreme performance choice is the 8800 GTS/GTX.

yep, rogue sumed it all up well

 

[figgly]

Thanks for the help Rougestar!

Two follow ups.
(1) what do you do with all old IDE drives? I have 6 so they all won't fit with only 1 IDE port.
(2) If you were not going to overclock, which CPU would you recommend for best price/performance : E6600 or 6400?