Upgrade decision AM2 CPU board or C2D build ?

[Soubriquet]

I know its no good asking other people to make your decisions for you but I would be interested to hear comments people have to make about the upgrade choice I have to make.

I have a SanDiego 3700 box running on a
ASRock Dual SATAII with
1024 DDR,
X850XTpe AGP,
2xHitachi T7K250s RAID0 (+seagate backup),
XFi-pl etc.

The Mobo has great upgradeability, with AGP + PCIex16 slots and also a CPU card for an AM2 riser.

Now the question is, do I build a new Core2Duo box from scratch and strip the 3700 down to do it or do I go with upgrading the main box by getting the AM2CPU board from ASRock, slight issue, can't find it in the UK but I guess it will ship from the US if needs be.

Since the price drop in AMD parts (9thApr) it looks feasable to get a AMD 6000 for example, whereas a new build would be looking at Intel 6300 or 6600 on 650i. Probably about twice the price but would it be worth it ? I could buy myself a new air-conditioner with the money I would save for example to keep me and my box cool this summer.

Another factor, I really didnt like the way nVidia performed with nForce2 which is why I made the move to ULi chipset. Has their performance improved (IDE drivers, legacy OS support etc) or are they ditching XP asap ?

Comments ?

 

[GFORCE100]

Get yourself something like an Asus P5B Deluxe motherboard and Core 2 Duo 6400/6420 CPU + new DDR2 PC2-6400 memory. Either carry over the HDD's or buy new Seagate 7200.10 320GB version for RAID 0 and sell the other system off. You should keep the XFI Platinum sound card.

I would stick to Intel chipset boards, Uli, VIA, SIS are all budget chipsets and all lack something or have some kind of problems/shortfalls. There are also Nvidia and ATI chipsets of which the former is better. If however going for an Intel CPU, try marrying it with an Intel chipset board, it's the right choice to make.

A 6400/6420 CPU will overclock to 3-3.2GHz or more happily and bring you a smile on your face for sure.

 

[EXEEMLITE]

Obviously, it depends on your cash flow, I have built 4 amd systems, Since core duo 2 release I have built 3 intel systems, and wont be looking back at amd anytime soon. Core duo 2 or quad is the way to go if you have the $$$$

 

[MarcVenice]

c2d simply beats amd's x2's. they did drop prices big time though, and those fx cpu's do kinda rock, and halfed in price as well. If getting a new AM2 CPU is possible at near the same clockspeeds then a c2d, then your obviously getting the most bang for your buck with amd. Do realize that c2d's can be purchased at lower clockspeeds and will quite easily be oc-ed to 150% of the stock clockspeed.

 

[Soubriquet]

Thanks for the replies guys. I appreciate your thoughts.

I have to say for sake of conversation Geforce100 I tried out those Seagate 7200.10 based on their good reviews in a RAID3(Revo) array I built for a home office system and not only did two out of three fail, but once I got the new ones I noticed they all ran much hotter than previous Seagates and I had to boost the cooling. I would not be using those again based on that experience sorry to say. Also I had the same concerns you have about trying a ULi chipset but honestly I want for nothing with that chipset, whoever made it knew what they were doing, maybe thats why nVidia bought out ULi a few months later. Reviews testing that mobo and the CPU riser, surprisingly, put performance on a par with other chipsets and mobo configs.

Exeemlite, sure I am no loyalist, like you say I go where the bang per buck is. I am just wondering where exactly that is right now! Since like MarcVenice said AMD have finally checked into the real world and dropped their prices. If AM2 CPU board was easily available and the CPU prices another 10% lower I would say they might just have a deal. As it is I am still on the fence. And yes I read about the C2D 6300 clock thing which is a possibility but I seem to recall a cache difference with 6600 as well.

 

[GFORCE100]

Originally posted by: Soubriquet
Thanks for the replies guys. I appreciate your thoughts.

I have to say for sake of conversation Geforce100 I tried out those Seagate 7200.10 based on their good reviews in a RAID3(Revo) array I built for a home office system and not only did two out of three fail, but once I got the new ones I noticed they all ran much hotter than previous Seagates and I had to boost the cooling. I would not be using those again based on that experience sorry to say. Also I had the same concerns you have about trying a ULi chipset but honestly I want for nothing with that chipset, whoever made it knew what they were doing, maybe thats why nVidia bought out ULi a few months later. Reviews testing that mobo and the CPU riser, surprisingly, put performance on a par with other chipsets and mobo configs.

Exeemlite, sure I am no loyalist, like you say I go where the bang per buck is. I am just wondering where exactly that is right now! Since like MarcVenice said AMD have finally checked into the real world and dropped their prices. If AM2 CPU board was easily available and the CPU prices another 10% lower I would say they might just have a deal. As it is I am still on the fence. And yes I read about the C2D 6300 clock thing which is a possibility but I seem to recall a cache difference with 6600 as well.

You must have received a bad batch of those Seagates as don't forget, manufacturing a product is one thing, but how it's transported later is another. Being a hard drive, if it was bounced around it could have suffered micro damaged which turned into macro damage when used since the heads were too close to the platters or similar. Only Seagate offers a 5 year limited warranty on their HDD's and rest assured, just because you got a bad batch doesn't mean it's all bad. The choice as a consumer is always yours however, if you prefer to buy say a Hitachi HDD then so be it, whatever makes you happy.

And on the notion of what makes people happy, right now the best performance per watt and best performance per dollar or GBP as you're in the UK is Intel's Core 2 Duo, more so if you consider how well these items overclock without adding more Vcore thus risking your processor.

There is only one cache difference between say a 6300/6400 and 6600 upwards, namely that one has a 2MB L2 cache while the latter is all 4MB L2 cache save for the quad versions which have 2x 4MB = 8MB for a total of 582 million transistors. In a few weeks Intel will launch the 6320/6420 versions which will also have 4MB L2 cache. The only Core 2 Duo's with 2MB L2 cache will be the E4300 and soon to be launched E4400 versions, these also run off a 800MHz FSB natively.

If you're the type of person who simply seeks best per buck as it's called then you can't go wrong with Intel at present. If however you are an AMD die hard fan then no convinving or sales pitch will even dent your intentions. If I was you I would choose Intel simply because I am honestly guarantee you'll be pleased with the end result. If you plan to overclock however do invest in a good board such as the Asus P5B Deluxe which is not all that expensive, but really nice. All these boards that mix AGP and PCI-E on one board are economy boards and there is a difference in usability and functionality. Rememeber also that just because a board claims AGP + PCI-E in one, it can mean the AGP is running off the PCI bus hence performance is much lower.

Only you can make your mind up and choose to accept or ignore advice, even if it's honest.

 

[Soubriquet]

Thats what I keep tryin to tell you friend, if you read the review this chipset/mobo isn't slow! Not even AGP, which is why I got it, just so you know I ain't as dumb as you think I look.

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2524&p=9

And its true, in 3D Mark it performs about 3% off the peak for this CPU VGA combo.

Its quite a big price difference between a new build and an AM2 CPU board because I would get a new case and floppy & DVD so if I really was a bang for buck guy I would have to go with AMD, just I have read the C2D reviews and I cant help feeling it might be worth it. What I wonder is, is that hype or reality ?

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2933&p=8

If you look at this CPU review the AM2 6000 is way up there. But I wonder about real world performance. Would be nice to hear from someone who has both and more to the point someone who has used the AM2 CPU board.

 

[happy medium]

Sell you stuff and get a core 2 system. Gigabyte ds3 (quadcore ready) for 120.00$, new e4300 cpu 140.00$, 2 gigs super talent ram 110.00$. 8800gts 320mb 260.00$, good cpu cooler 40.00$

Overclocks to 3.0ghz easy for 670.00$. You should get 250.00$ for your stuff.

So you spend 420.00 for a system thats more than twice as fast, directx 10 ready, and twice the ram as the one you have now and quad core ready.

 

[GFORCE100]

Asrock boards may not necessarily be bad boards but they aren't meant for the true enthusiast be these lack of features or performance and/or stability. Ascork is actually a sub-brand of Asus which only makes economy class boards hence why they're cheap. There's no such thing as a free lunch in this world, you get what you pay for.

Do remember the AM2 6000 uses about 25% more electricity than the E6700 under load but if you prefer AMD, then this is of not relevance to you.

Wait till the Intel price custs in 10 days or less and then decide.

Originally posted by: Soubriquet
Thats what I keep tryin to tell you friend, if you read the review this chipset/mobo isn't slow! Not even AGP, which is why I got it, just so you know I ain't as dumb as you think I look.

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2524&p=9

And its true, in 3D Mark it performs about 3% off the peak for this CPU VGA combo.

Its quite a big price difference between a new build and an AM2 CPU board because I would get a new case and floppy & DVD so if I really was a bang for buck guy I would have to go with AMD, just I have read the C2D reviews and I cant help feeling it might be worth it. What I wonder is, is that hype or reality ?

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2933&p=8

If you look at this CPU review the AM2 6000 is way up there. But I wonder about real world performance. Would be nice to hear from someone who has both and more to the point someone who has used the AM2 CPU board.