Final Decision (CPU and Motherboard)

[WoooSaaaW]

ok ive got all my other parts in order i just need to decide which cpu/mb im gonna get now. i know for sure, NOT conroe, its too expensive.

so.. its either

Athlon 64 Processor 3800+ 2.4GHz 512KB Socket 939 ($144)
A8N-SLI Deluxe nForce4 3Gbs SATA ($104)

-or-

Athlon 64 Processor 3800+ 2.4GHz 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 ($146)
Asus M2N-E (GREEN) nForce 570 Ultra AMD Socket AM2 ATX Audio Gigabit SATA 3Gb/s RAID($97) (No SLI support)

-OR-

Intel Pentium D Processor 930 with Dual-Core ($184)
Asus P5ND2-SLI nForce4 SLI Intel Edition Socket 775 ATX Audio Gigabit SATA 3Gb/s RAID (SLI Ready) (Dual-Core Support) ($85)

so i need to decide amd or intel, and if amd the 939 or am2. and last what motherboard? your feedback and opinions are appericiated!

 

[The_Prophecy]

If you don't want to go for a Conroe system (which I really think you should, a Core 2 E6300 system will beat all of these), then go for the AM2 setup.

 

[dt]

am2 is a must for future upgrades since 939 wont be getting any new processors ( unless u make em).

conroe they say will be great.

its really your choice. conroe would be the new fastest thing aka best bang for your buck. am2 WILL have great stuff on it.

 

[WoooSaaaW]

err im trying to decide between amd 3800 939/am2 or intel 930. those systems cost under $250. conroe costs about $500 with a mb, i cant afford that.

 

[waylander]

If those are your choices then get the AM2, for that generation of cpu's AMD wins....

Then again the intel is dual core and the amd is not....

Even if you aren't getting conroe, at least wait for it to come out and you might be able to pick up a X2 3800 processor for cheap.

 

[The_Prophecy]

actually a conroe E6300 setup would cost around 400 or so for the cpu and board.

 

[WoooSaaaW]

the e6300 is only a 1.866. the 930 is a 3.0

 

[dt]

true but you cant judge the processor based on clock speed. a p4 3.0 can be defeated by a processor of 2.2 ghz. but clock speed is a speed factor but not a very big one anymore.

 

[The_Prophecy]

the e6300 is only a 1.866. the 930 is a 3.0

Someone is still stuck in the days of the Ghz battle......

 

[WoooSaaaW]

one of my main concerns is that new games coming out require a 2.0 ghz processor or better... does this mean the conroe would have problems playing the game at 1.866ghz?

i would love to get the amd 3800 because i think it will smoke most of the processors out there, including most dual-cores. however im concerned that in the next year or so dual-core processor and gonna take a huge swing and be twice as fast as a single-core beacuse of new dual-core support in games.

i was looking at the benchmarks for frycry, doom 3, and a few other games, putting the 930 vs the 3800 and the 3800 smoked it. however is this just because all those games are old and dont support dual-core? if i put the 930 vs 3800 on battlefield 2 (dual-core supported) would the 930 smoke the 3800?

 

[Heyyou27]

You don't understand do you... The conroe at 1.866GHz is probably about as fast as a Pentium D at 3.6-3.8GHz

 

[WoooSaaaW]

no i dont understand that is clearly obvious, and i think you completely missed my point. i feel like people would rather make me feel stupid then to explain to me why a 6300 is better then my choices or atleast link me somewhere so i can find out for myself.

i have yet to see anything about the 6300 only on the top of the line conroe. all i know is people tell me thing like the 6300 is 40% faster then the 930 and dont explain why.

so my question is what makes the 6300 so much better then a 930 technically speaking. and is there even a conroe rdy motherboard under $250? my budget for the cpu/mb is about $300.

 

[kiwik]

Okay, just buy a P4 670, it's got 3.8Ghz, IT ROCKS!

 

[jaguarskx]

the e6300 is only a 1.866. the 930 is a 3.0

GHz not longer matters. AMD has proven that to Intel.

Benchmarks is all that counts now. The Conroe E6300 will put an Athlon 4400+ to shame, and can give the FX-60 surprisingly close competition.

If you really don't want to spend just a little extra on the Conroe E6300 1.866 GHz CPU for some mind-boggling performance then get the AM2 Athlon X2 3800+. That way at least you can upgrade to AMD's next CPU, the K8L, whenever it comes out.

 

[TheMaster]

The Core 2 Duo processors much like the pentium M, are more efficient than a P4 and don't need to be clocked as high to have the same performance.

The lower clocked "conroe" processors destroy the netburst P4s in performance.

You won't have problems playing games... and if you decide you can o/c that processor to ohhh about 3.0 ghz and get FX-62 level of performance real cheap.

Here is the core 2 duo wiping the floor with the 3800 and netburst:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core2duo-e6300_10.html