The Amish Kid

I would really like to upgrade to core 2 duo. The problem is I only have about $400. Since that cant buy me anything good as far as cpu/motherboard/memory I thought I would try and find a core 2 duo motherboard that can use DDR1 memory. I have only found one
ECS P4M890T-M2 (V1.0B) Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail at Newegg.com

Does anyone really know anything about this motherboard? I would get this and probably a E6600 or a E6400.

So in your opinion do you think it would be worth it? Or should I just save money and just buy a skt 939 dual core and save up for somthing decent that's core 2 duo?

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Dex

Wait till after Christmas for the CPU Necro keeps bleating on about (lol j.k dude), its gonna be a great overclocker, and parts will be cheaper then.

Im sure you can wait a few months

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$SOLID$ Necro

BLEEEEET!!!!!!!

BLOOOOP!!!!!!

BOOONG!!!!!

E4300 is the one that will ring your GONG!!!!!

http://forums.pcapex.com/hardware_ad..._rig_help.html

Also see

http://forums.pcapex.com/intel_cpu_m...mix_e6850.html

DDR2 vs DDR1 Performance is not a real issue, but I would skip that Motherboard, it has no OC Options, and is limited to DDR2 533 if you were ever to decide to upgrade to it later.


You are willing to lay down the money for a 6600 (350$) so, I would think that you would not want to cipple it!

I have mine stable at 3.6-3.8GHZ for daily use, and benching at up to 4.1GHZ with a ripping 12.4second 1MB pi time!

Today, I would suggest if you want to give Overclocking a try, get the 6300 or 6400 and the Gigabyte DS-3, along with 1GB of DDR 2 667or 800, it will set you back about 400$ total, and will reach 3+GHZ easily and kick the combo you are thinking about to the curb!

Also see: "Everything you ever wanted to know about building a Conroe (Core 2 Duo) System"
http://forums.pcapex.com/intel_cpu_m...d_to_know.html

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thachamp05

i just bit on the combo fry's had for black friday

279 for e6600 and the ecs mobo

havent got to do anything really

my first try was with 2x128 mb ddr 333 i had laying around so i tried to install win xp lite on it but it was a no go because the lite version didnt want to work with the c2d although it works with p4's and a64's

im downloading the vista final and im going to put in my 2 gigs of ddr400 from my main rig to see if it will run it ok but im not too sure

i bought a 7900gs for 119 but the mobo only has agp so im using a 9800 pro, should run the aero glass hopefully... ill let you know how it turns out

i would never waste a cent on that mobo personally, retail on it is 60 bucks, for that price i could find 512mb ddr2 or use it toward a decent mobo

The Amish Kid

Quote: Originally Posted by $SOLID$ Necro BLEEEEET!!!!!!! BLOOOOP!!!!!! BOOONG!!!!! E4300 is the one that will ring your GONG!!!!! http://forums.pcapex.com/hardware_ad..._rig_help.html Also see http://forums.pcapex.com/intel_cpu_m...mix_e6850.html DDR2 vs DDR1 Performance is not a real issue, but I would skip that Motherboard, it has no OC Options, and is limited to DDR2 533 if you were ever to decide to upgrade to it later. You are willing to lay down the money for a 6600 (350$) so, I would think that you would not want to cipple it! I have mine stable at 3.6-3.8GHZ for daily use, and benching at up to 4.1GHZ with a ripping 12.4second 1MB pi time! Today, I would suggest if you want to give Overclocking a try, get the 6300 or 6400 and the Gigabyte DS-3, along with 1GB of DDR 2 667or 800, it will set you back about 400$ total, and will reach 3+GHZ easily and kick the combo you are thinking about to the curb! Also see: "Everything you ever wanted to know about building a Conroe (Core 2 Duo) System" http://forums.pcapex.com/intel_cpu_m...d_to_know.html

Thanks for the links. See I could do that (6400, DS-3 and 1gb ram) but I really want2gb of ram for gaming and what not. Of course now that I think about it I could always sell the parts I have now....

Well if I sold my stuff right now:
opty 146 - $60
ram - $130?
motherboard - $50
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thats somewhere around $240 I could make fom selling the stuff I have now... SO I'm up around $600 now...

EDIT:
Alright thinking about it, I could get the motherboard and memory for christmas and then when the E4300 comes out I can sell my parts and buy one of those.

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$SOLID$ Necro

Yes, 2GB or ram is the way to go for gaming, with AMD in the past, having 2x1GB kits was the way to go for sure from a performance standpoint.

However, with Intel and Core 2 Duo, I have seen some reports that indicate a slight performance INCREASE with 4 sticks, so if you can only offord 1GB at this time, adding 2 sticks of the same ram a bit later won't kill ya...the one draw back would be that it may limit your ability to go with 4x1gb sticks later.

I am however unsure if 4 sticks will compramise overclocking, I had no issues with 4x256 BH-5 on my 939...but if it does, it may not be to any large degree (Slightly looser timings, or possibly slightly less max FSB)

I am sure if you shop around, you should be able to come up with an inexpensive 533 or 667 2GB kit that won't break the bank.

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The Amish Kid

Necro could you suggest a good 2gb kit for somewhere around $230? This looks pretty good to me but I really dont know much about DDR2
OCZ Platinum 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail at Newegg.com

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$SOLID$ Necro

Most kits in the the 200-230$ range all perform about the same, I have had good luck with the OCZ "Gold" 667 running at DDR 850 speeds with higher than stock voltage, and decent timings! (5-5-5-15)



The DDR 1000 I am using now (OCZ also) can run slightly better timings, but is not realy worth the money!

The ram you picked out looks pretty good, I don't think you would be unhappy at all with it!

I always read the customer reviews, just remember though, alot of them are "Noobish" experience wise, and don't realise that you might have to juggle the timings slightly, or bump the voltage up a hair to get things to work on some board...often a new bios revision will fix it too!

Some of the indications of how to pick a good set of ram would be too look at the timings, and the voltages they need!

1.8v is standard voltage, so if it can run 4-4-4-15 with that, it's golden!

Some kits require 2.0-2.1v... so look very carefully at that, you can often run loooser than stock timings and have it run with 1.8v, or take ram that is rated looser (5-5-5-15) and have it run tight (4-4-4-15) with more voltage.

Sometimes I realy think its all the same ram chips with different voltages and SPD settings when it comes right down too it....lol
(SPD=Serial Presence Detect, or what the ram will set timings to when left in "Auto")

The "High end kits usually do have beter chips in them, the legendary Micron D-9 "Fatbody" chips are hard to find now if not impossible, but have ben replaced by something that performs as well or better!

AnandTech: OCZ EL PC2-8000 XTC: Low Latency PLUS DDR2-1100

Other memory reviews to read:

AnandTech: Memory Section


Just remember OCZ has one of the best RMA and warranty policies around...that is peace of mind in my book!

GSKILL
G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail at Newegg.com
G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail at Newegg.com

A-DATA
A-DATA 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail at Newegg.com

Geil
GeIL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail at Newegg.com

OCZ
OCZ Gold 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail at Newegg.com

From what I have noticed so far, most 533 kits will run at 667 or even 80o speeds, and 667 kits will run at 800 or even 900+ and most 800 kits will run over 1000!

(You have to play with voltages and timings sometimes, but not always...)

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