What would be a good conroe system?

[DorumonFanatic]

I'm going to have around $2000 for a new computer for when Conroe comes out and I was wondering what the best conroe system for the money is. I'm looking at the extreme edition for the processor and 2GB of RAM, I have a 200GB SATA hdd right now so I'll keep that. I want a really good graphics card, LCD monitor (I have a CRT right now :O), mobo, nice gaming case and water cooling. (I want to overclock this to it's limits so is a 530Watt power supply good enough?) I've also been looking at dual graphics cards but I don't think I'll have enough.

 

[jaguarskx]

If you want to build a PC around the Conroe Extreme Edition, then $2000 may not be enough. In lots of 1000, the fastest Conroe (E67000) is $530, the Conroe EE maybe as high as $900, but that is just pure speculation since no price has been anounced yet.

$1,100 for a mobo, RAM, LCD monitor, highend video card, etc. may not be enough. A powerful GPU can eat $400 or more, and a good LCD will be at least $300. A good PSU to power everything can run you $130, etc.

$2000 will cover at least 85% of your buiild depending on just how "highend" you want to go.

 

[mesarectifier]

By all means start saving, but the only thing that'll likely be the same in your design between now and release date will be the RAM.

There are tons of these threads already, have a search.

 

[DorumonFanatic]

I wasn't looking for a highend monitor just a $300 19" one. I really want the Extreme Edition one for the overclocking abilities. Would the Master Power 530Watt ATX power supply I have be good enough to handle the overclocked EE? Also would a THERMALTAKE CL-W0005 LIQUID COOLING SYSTEM be enough to handle the overclocking? (That cooling system is $99 but it got decent reviews)

 

[sdrawkcaBgoD]

I'm going to have around $2000 for a new computer for when Conroe comes out and I was wondering what the best conroe system for the money is. I'm looking at the extreme edition for the processor and 2GB of RAM, I have a 200GB SATA hdd right now so I'll keep that. I want a really good graphics card, LCD monitor (I have a CRT right now :O), mobo, nice gaming case and water cooling. (I want to overclock this to it's limits so is a 530Watt power supply good enough?) I've also been looking at dual graphics cards but I don't think I'll have enough.

Latest info on the Extreme Conroe "X6800" puts the prcie at around $1,000.00. That's half your budget right there. A good OC mobo will probably run $175-$200, 2 GB of good DDR2 will run $200-$300 and a good gaming LCD will cost about $300. So far that's $1,675 - $1,800. And in a 7900GTX or x1900xt/x and you're looking at about $2,250. Add a good case and watercooling and you could be looking at $2,500+.



I'd forget about the X6800 and get a CPU at about $500, whichever one that'll be. Then you can OC it to X6800 speeds (probably). Forget about running multiple GPUs. Spending $900 on 2 GPUs before DX10 comes out might haunt you later. Also, you might not need to watercool right from the start. You can probably get a good OC off a good HSF to start with and then upgrade to WC later if it's necessary.

In short, you can get a good Conroe system for your budget, but don't even think about getting an "Ultimate monster machine" unless you up your budget by about a grand.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[DorumonFanatic]

I can up the budget by $150 because I found a couple things I'm returning to compUSA. When will the direct X 10 cards come out? Right now I have a Nvidia GeForce 7300GS that I could suffer with until the Direct X 10 cards come out. Unfortunetly looking at my current speakers they also need to be updated with the system. Also I've already decided on the EE so that won't change.

 

[Hitokiri777]

If you are going water cooling get a good case like a Thermaltake armor (unless you want silent) get an E6700, spend a good $300 or so on watercooling. If everything from OC.com holds true you can get that way over EE speeds with water. We will see in July.

 

[DorumonFanatic]

I would Much rather get the EE than any of the other conroe chips and I could take some sacrifices on the other components because this computer isn't just going to be for gaming, it will also be encoding, photo editing and some audio editing. So I'm going to stick with the EE.

 

[TheMaster]

The thing is, these conroes seem to be HUGE overclockers and people have hit 4 ghz with them already, and that's on the Engineering Samples!
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?p=1471041#post1471041

the 2.66 is about 500 dollars, and the 2.93 EE - 1000.
less than 300 mhz difference will cost you 500 dollars...

But hey if you want to shell out that money for the "EE" label go right ahead, i'm not going to stop you.
Just think its a little silly, that's all. :tongue:

 

[sdrawkcaBgoD]

I would Much rather get the EE than any of the other conroe chips and I could take some sacrifices on the other components because this computer isn't just going to be for gaming, it will also be encoding, photo editing and some audio editing. So I'm going to stick with the EE.

So spending an extra $500 to shave a couple minutes off a DivX encoding is worth it to you? Well, if you can't be talked out of the EE then there is no way in hell you're going to get everything you want in your build for $2,150. Sorry, buddy, but's it's just not going to happen.

 

[DorumonFanatic]

I guess I can go down to the X6700 and make it up in the overclocking. But as I asked before will my current 530Watt PSU be able to handle it?

 

[sdrawkcaBgoD]

Yes, your 530 Watt PSU should be fine.

I didn't mean to sound like a jerk, but you can easily make up that 300MHz through overclocking, especially if you water cool. If you hadn't listed your budget at $2000, I wouldn't have said anything negative about your choice. I'm just trying to help you get the most bang for your buck!

 

[TheMaster]

Yes, your 530 Watt PSU should be fine.

I didn't mean to sound like a jerk, but you can easily make up that 300MHz through overclocking, especially if you water cool. If you hadn't listed your budget at $2000, I wouldn't have said anything negative about your choice. I'm just trying to help you get the most bang for your buck!

Its a conroe... not a pres-hot, he should be able to hit 3 ghz minimum with a prescott heatsink.
Hell, i'm willing to make a blind guess that you could get to 3.5 on air. 8)

 

[sdrawkcaBgoD]

I know. I said that in my first post.

 

[jaguarskx]

I can up the budget by $150 because I found a couple things I'm returning to compUSA. When will the direct X 10 cards come out? Right now I have a Nvidia GeForce 7300GS that I could suffer with until the Direct X 10 cards come out. Unfortunetly looking at my current speakers they also need to be updated with the system. Also I've already decided on the EE so that won't change.

Start saving money then.