Quote: Originally Posted by BigAkita I caught your last couple of paragraphs, but still wanted to get your honest opinion... Using today as a snapshot in time, isn't the Conroe the way to go right now? I understand that there are not any true overclocking boards available for the Conroe yet, but even a poorly configured rig using mediocre graphics can surpass some of AMD's finest when it has a Conroe in it. The pricing is also surprisingly accessible to the average user unless you are shooting for a top of the line 6800. I'm one of those guys who will change allegiance with whomever has the power, which is why I switched to Intel in my main rig and slapped a 7950 in it instead of the 1900XTX that was installed. Rumor has it that AMD has their dominance scheduled for spring 2007, and I will probably go that route at that time. Currently these Conroe's rock, I just need a better board than the Axe to run mine on. I know you are an AMD enthusiast, but aren't you a bit curious about how it feels to run Intel again?

Iateronmly pretty muched summed up his thoughts on why he wasn't going Conroe a while ago.
http://forums.pcapex.com/pcapex_dail...nstead_of.html

I read that when he posted it, and it seems the only reason is because there isn't a good mATX mobo for the Conroe. Most people don't care about that. I do realize that the Conroe boards are pricey and I hadn't seen one yet that has the capabilities of my 939 DFI.

Quote: Originally Posted by BigAkita I read that when he posted it, and it seems the only reason is because there isn't a good mATX mobo for the Conroe. Most people don't care about that. I do realize that the Conroe boards are pricey and I hadn't seen one yet that has the capabilities of my 939 DFI.

I didn't know if you read it or not. I thought it was actually quite interesting that the SFF/mATX was left out in the cold by Intel.

I'm actually looking at the Abit AW9D-MAX, from what I've seen it looks nice, and Abit seems a bit more enthusiastic about getting back into the overclocking/enthusiast market for real this time. The layout for extreme cooling isn't so great, but I also like the gap between the two 16x slots.

Coolaler did some testing on it, http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=113633 . I can only hope as I loved the socket A and Socket 478 boards Abit put out, and I've been sitting on a E6600 for awhile looking at a bunch of quirky and not so hot boards.

It would be badass if DFI would make a conroe board with all the bells and whistles. I think they would sell relly well, even if they were $300.

Quote: Originally Posted by Sn0wMan It would be badass if DFI would make a conroe board with all the bells and whistles. I think they would sell relly well, even if they were $300.

There working on it just one problem. It lacks FSB support of a real DFI LanParty board.

Quote: Originally Posted by BigAkita I read that when he posted it, and it seems the only reason is because there isn't a good mATX mobo for the Conroe. Most people don't care about that. I do realize that the Conroe boards are pricey and I hadn't seen one yet that has the capabilities of my 939 DFI.

Actually not that many good full ATX either. But it's all a moot point - I've decided against both the Conroe and AM2 for now. I'm going to keep my 754 mATX going. I'm just going to hold out hope someone will make a good mATX board for the Conroe, or wait til AMD can pull the latex outta their butt and kick Intel's @$$ again. I'd rather keep using half way dated hardware that still works, than make compromises I'll know I'd end up regretting.

AM2 = FTL
Conroe = FTW. No ifs and or buts about it.

Actually this acticle didn't help me much (well, except for quick reference) since I already learned this info from you before, lol.
Nice job putting it all down "on paper" though.

Conroe is definitely the performance king, but AMD is the only company worth considering for people who can't shell out more than $150 for the CPU alone. College students who have to pay for gas and a social life along with tuition and living expenses would be part of that demographic.

A mark of a good system is how it provides for those who live the hard life, and I believe that AMD's position of making higher quality computing available at lower prices is more important than Intel's position of making higher quality computing available only for those above a certain income.

Good stuff $SOLID$, although I'm sticking with my 939 until sometime in '07. I hope to see you punch up another quality analysis then.

Yes, you can pick up an AMD rig pretty cheap but it all boils down to price vs performance. What are you willing to spend up front to ensure that you have at list some "future-proof" buffer zone. I would rather spend a little extra today to hold me off for a while than to buy cheap today and buy cheap again tomorrow. The same principle applies to any hardware component you purchase; you buy HDD capacity for what you need in the future and not just what you need right now.

Now, I'm not saying that Conroe is the way to go right now, every individual needs to decide how much computing power they can afford. Given the apps available right now AMD could very well be the price / performance leader.

I don't really understand Hibiki's comment about "higher quality computing" though. When you can get an Intel processor for under $190 that easily overclocks and performs on par with an AMD processor costing over $800, how is that lower quality computing? That's the same argument we had for the AMD Athlon against Intel when the Athlon was released.

I know there is a lot of bias against Intel in the enthusiast community. Hell, I hadn't purchased an Intel processor before this Conroe since around 1998. I had a couple of hand-me-down Intel systems, but they were just platforms for testing heatsinks and weren't able to perform like my AMD rigs. If you put blinders on and depend more on the company name for purchases instead of the actual price vs performance, you will miss out on an awful lot of great deals.

Quote: Originally Posted by EvilClown I'm actually looking at the Abit AW9D-MAX, from what I've seen it looks nice, and Abit seems a bit more enthusiastic about getting back into the overclocking/enthusiast market for real this time.

It looks good in the Anandtech review.
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2829

Can you Digg it?!

The_Pope from Bit-tech was kind enough to post that Digg for us. He is high in the user ranks over at Digg so it is essentially a headstart on Diggs. Be sure to go by and give it a dig and spread the Digg link to others!

Alright Necro, help me out here, out of this list which would you recommend for my asus A8n deluxe? Been an intel guy forever so I do not comprehend AMDs..but with prices dropping why not try one right?

Just to bring up something that was a bit earlier in the thread:
IIRC, reverse hyperthreading has been shown to be 100% fake, as in someone dreamed it up, posted a blog about it, and then it sort of caught fire and echoed around a bit before cooler heads prevailed.

Give me a minute, and I'll try to dig up the article.
::EDIT:: here you go:
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060713-7263.html

That being said, nice writeup, Necro. As always you are impeccably thorough.

OH, one more question, I realize that the EE processors may not have great OC results, but they might still be an option for quiet(er) computing, right?

I love my Intel Core Duo. Thanks Cpt. :-) The Intel "BadAxe" mobo isn't my favorite
but it's still a good board. I've got a 7950GX2 heading my way :-) As far as the AMD
pricing goes, I think the deal is the X2 4800 for $291. I paid almost $900 for mine
a year ago. Link here :-)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103544

I'm still rockin' the OC'd X2 3800+

Yeah same here GK, but you have to admit those Conroe #'s are very impressive and if I am shoping for a new system, I will definetly be lookin at intel this time around.

Just for poops and giggles why didn't you do one on Semprons hahaha. According to newegg reviews someone got a 1.6 ghz Sempron 2800+ to 2.7 ghz with now problems. They sound like real budget beasts...

Just a thought. I haven't posted on here much but man have I been bored lately hahaha.

I need to put some pics of my rig up. I have been a member since this was pimp rig and this is my second post hahaha.

Nice evaluation of the pricing ranges/ OC'ing values of the X2's Nec, rep+ .. Really wishing I got a 4200+ now, but perhaps more that id've gone 939 for a deal cheaper (ram, motherboard). (I run my X2 Windsor 38' @ 2.26 so its just about even with a 42' though I know that 4200+ could've gotten me more.. )
On this AM2 i'm finding the major problem is the first-gen mainboards' inabilities to:

A.) Provide decent enough bandwidth to the processor at anything below 667MHz-

B.) Provide enough voltage to power the memory standard itself (that is, - DDr2 800MHz ).

C.) Be stable at 1T command rates between memory and mainboard>cpu.

I think this is mostly just a voltage issue and would still go 939 for now if planning on OC'ing a bit more care-free of the serious memory implications (till 4x4 that is, hopefully)..

ED: ^^^ On that platform buying tip- if going for an AM2, just make sure to get a board that can supply atleast 2.1v to the ram if planning to pair it with DDR2 800MHz..

I must ask, because I am looking at buying a new system.

From what I have read, AMD is planning on releasing Quad-core processors that operate on Socket-AM2. Does this mean that current generation motherboards will be able to operate these Quad-core processors?

If they do, or if they don't, will the Intel version of the Quad-core processor operate of the current Socket-T as well, in the same situation?

This is going to decide what I will plunk my cash down for.