pgh_kid

building a new pc was wondering if i should wait to conroe comes out or should i get a cpu thats out right now. i dint want to spend more then $350 on a cpu, i would like to be able to overcl**** it also and i wont have water cooling but i will have a huge zerman cpu fan. I also need help picking out a mobo dont want to spend over a $150 on that please any advise i be thankful

Aselus

Well Core(Conroe) based chips are actualy not that far away, only a few more months to go. So if you want to go intel, and want conroe, I think it's well worth the wait to wait for it rather then stick yourself wtih NetBursts 65nm offering (cedar mill).

AS for AMD vs. Intel..yes conroe is technicaly better then the current hammer offering (siting anandatechs recent overview of the architecture...so nobody pin me to the wall here ;-P) and we have no clue what AMD has planned next (past AM2, which is barely an improvement over current AMD procs, with just DDR2 support). It's up to you..I say if you have the patience..wait for it..if not...then don't.

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pgh_kid

AMD Opteron 165 Denmark 1000MHz HT 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket 939 Dual Core Processor looks kinda sweet but the conroe for the same price has a fbs of like 1066 and 4mb of cache looks like a better deal to me. I'll think i work on my case and work over time to keep busy till conroe comes out thanks for the help.

Wordbiker

As a general rule, processors are the most expensive when first introduced. While the first preliminary reports of Conroe are good...they were supplied by Intel, and are therefore questionable.

Before you go calling me a fanboy, the processors set to release for AMD's socket AM2 are also unproven. Both manufacturers have taken a different approach in that the new gen seems to be focused on efficiency and performance-per-watt rather than a race to see who can pump out the most MHz...at least in the mainstream market. Lower wattage CPUs abound in both lists, and depending upon your perspective, that's either a great way to build a quieter rig with still very adequate power, or a lot of overhead for OCing.

If you are on a budget (and aren't we all?) you may wish to avoid the early adoption of these new CPUs. Once they arrive, prices traditionally drop on the existing technologies, and are often the best performance for your hard-earned (or begged from Mom) dollar.

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The Dragon Reborn

Quote: If you are on a budget (and aren't we all?) you may wish to avoid the early adoption of these new CPUs. Once they arrive, prices traditionally drop on the existing technologies, and are often the best performance for your hard-earned (or begged from Mom) dollar.

My thoughts exactly.... although in my case we are talking Euros... lolz.. ... I know my (overclocked) PIV 2,6c with 1gig of ram & a 6600GT (also overclocked) is "aging" hardware, it still plays most games just fine
on 1024x768 or even 1280x1024.... sure... with the most "demanding" games I'd better skip on AA & AF...
but generally things run just fine....

I've been saving cash for over a year & will do that for the coming months.... so I can buy me some
hardware which will REALLY show an improvement over my current hardware.... (besides gaming,
I'm into lots of other applications and I multitask a LOT)...

So... we're talking dual/multicore CPU(s), 2GB or more memory, a "next-gen" GPU (no... not SLI...),
like Wordbiker pointed out.... it will take some time for the prices of that to come down.....

Like a year or so....

In the mean time.... I'll still be "modding"... even if I won't use the cases myself... heck I can always sell them! Anyway.... when I really buy the new stuff I know it will be a BIG step forward from what I'm using now and I probably don't need to pay the "premium" for it!

TDR

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Ator

Quote: Originally Posted by pgh_kid AMD Opteron 165 Denmark 1000MHz HT 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket 939 Dual Core Processor looks kinda sweet but the conroe for the same price has a fbs of like 1066 and 4mb of cache looks like a better deal to me. I'll think i work on my case and work over time to keep busy till conroe comes out thanks for the help.

The only reason it has 4MB of cache is because it would be tons slower with 2MB. The Conroe, from what I can tell, is very dependent on the cache for good perfomance.

At any rate, the Conroe looks to crush anything AMD has to offer, including the mild AM2 upgrade that is coming at the end of the month. The only difference looks to be low wattage tweaks and DDR2 memory, which won't help much since the A64 isn't bandwidth-starved.

I would say wait until more independent reviews of Conroe come out before choosing what you want to spend your hard-earned money on.

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Zaltan

Conroe is good. I'd say wait till the various options become clearer.

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