Need your help on a conroe setup

[enforcerfx]

Im looking to spend 15-1600 bucks on a new conroe system, thing is, I have no where to start. I was thinking of the E6600, but if theres any better, please say. I already have a case picked out: Koolance KC3 Pro case(Lian-Li). It has liquid cooling, but im not too familar with it, so anything to add on that part would be great too.


http://www.frozencpu.com/cst-246.html


All i really need is a motherboard, A cpu(conroe) and some good ram. Im ordering the case soon, so the limit is now down to about 1000 or so. I plan to flash it up with some accesories(neon, neon fans, etc.)Im already adding my harddrive, video cards,sound card, power supply(if compatabile) and my CD/DVD drives. All suggestions are appreciated. Thanks.

 

[qwazzy]

Im looking to spend 15-1600 bucks on a new conroe system, thing is, I have no where to start. I was thinking of the E6600, but if theres any better, please say. I already have a case picked out: Koolance KC3 Pro case(Lian-Li). It has liquid cooling, but im not too familar with it, so anything to add on that part would be great too.


http://www.frozencpu.com/cst-246.html


All i really need is a motherboard, A cpu(conroe) and some good ram. Im ordering the case soon, so the limit is now down to about 1000 or so. I plan to flash it up with some accesories(neon, neon fans, etc.)Im already adding my harddrive, video cards,sound card, power supply(if compatabile) and my CD/DVD drives. All suggestions are appreciated. Thanks.

I would try Antec fans, they are the best. I would wait until COnroe comes out so you get a variety of mobos and the nyou should pick the RAM.

 

[avarice]

Agreed - wait until the dust settles a bit after the release - not too many MB's are out that state they support Conroe. There are some, mostly in the $250 range. Wait until the release when there should be more to work with.

Cheers.

 

[enforcerfx]

Alright, thanks a lot guys. I appreciate it.

 

[qwazzy]

Alright, thanks a lot guys. I appreciate it.

 

[The_Prophecy]

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600

Mobo: Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3

RAM: OCZ Gold 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2-800

 

[qwazzy]

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600

Mobo: Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3

RAM: OCZ Gold 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2-800

This has to be the millionth time you have suggested the DS3! How do you even KNOW it's going to be comp. with Conroe?

 

[MagicPants]

This has to be the millionth time you have suggested the DS3! How do you even KNOW it's going to be comp. with Conroe?

Pretty much every 965 board is conroe compatible. Plus it says so in the description.

I'm thinking of getting the DFI Infinity 975 myself. I want to use an inverted motherboard case (Lian-Li PC-101A) So I need to avoid heatpipes, because they don't work so well upside down. So far I've found matching the PSU, case and Motherboard to be the trickiest parts.

Anyone seen any overclocking figures using stock cooling? I noticed Anandtech did a review on OCing the Conroe, but they used the tuniq tower, which is #$@! ridiculous.

I'm still up for suggestions on the psu. I'm thinking ocz gamestream, silverstone SST 750W or antec 550 NeoHE

 

[The_Prophecy]

Power Supply: Antec TruePower 550W. Anything higher than 550W is overkill. 550W may even be overkill, but I don't know what videoc ard you're using.

 

[enforcerfx]

Is the E6700 a EE or a just a regular Core 2 duo processor? Cause if theres only a marginal increase, i wont get it. How much are the EE's going to be though?

 

[The_Prophecy]

No, the E6700 is not an EE. The EE of the Core 2 lineup is the X6800. Unlike previous EE chips and their respective families from Intel, there will be a noteworthy performance increase between the E6700 and the X6800. The only question is whether or not you think it's worth the extra money.

 

[turpit]

Im looking to spend 15-1600 bucks on a new conroe system, thing is, I have no where to start. I was thinking of the E6600, but if theres any better, please say. I already have a case picked out: Koolance KC3 Pro case(Lian-Li). It has liquid cooling, but im not too familar with it, so anything to add on that part would be great too.


http://www.frozencpu.com/cst-246.html


All i really need is a motherboard, A cpu(conroe) and some good ram. Im ordering the case soon, so the limit is now down to about 1000 or so. I plan to flash it up with some accesories(neon, neon fans, etc.)Im already adding my harddrive, video cards,sound card, power supply(if compatabile) and my CD/DVD drives. All suggestions are appreciated. Thanks.

Anandtech did a review of several Coonroe capable mobos. Located here:

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2797


CASE
On the case, the beautiful thing about conroe is, you dont need water cooling, even if you want to overclock. Intel did the design of the Conroes right, plus the reduction of the die node from 90nm to 65 nm decreases power requirements. What that means, is these thing dont generate nearly the waste heat that the P4s/Netburst or AMD Athlons(pre A64) did.

If you do want to overclock, test sites have shown the Conroe's will overclock nicely on air cooling, however, if you want to overclock to the extreme, stick with the water cooling.

MOBO
Be careful about the mobo you choose. Depending on where you want to go with your video card setup, you may be limited by the mobos chipset.

CPU
The 6600 is about the best bang for the buck in the Conroes. It is the lowest Conroe to have 4Mb of cache. The 6400 and 6300 both have 2Mb.
Going in the other direction, the price difference between the 6600 and the 6700 is not proportional to the performance increase.

RAM

One of the big differences between the Athlon 64s/X2s and Conroes is memory. The AMDs use an on die memory controller. Quality(expensive) ram is critical to these CPUs. The Conroes use an off die controller, coupled with the cache. (thats why I would go for the 6600--4mb cache). This makes the quality of the ram for a conroe mostly moot (i.e cheap ram works perfectly well, unless you're planning on overclocking the memory.


Peace

 

[enforcerfx]

How much does the X6800 and higher processors start at?

 

[turpit]

How much does the X6800 and higher processors start at?

Pre order prices have ranges from $1149.99(US) to $1354.99(US) for the 6800EE

 

[bladetech8]

$430 for a case is kinda pricey IMO. I know it's a liquid cooling system but I never found myself needing anything more than just fan's to cool down my system.. Then again I don't overclock.

:idea: Yay first post :!:

 

[clue69less]

I'm still up for suggestions on the psu.

Check out the new mushkin!

 

[enforcerfx]

And how many ghz do those X class Core 2 duos put out? I think im just going to stick with the E6600.

 

[ikjadoon]

Nice Mushkin find! And it is modular. Wish I could find a review comparing it to the Antec TruePower II 550W... I like the extra amps on the 12V, can't be anything but good.

What do you mean, Enforcer?

~Ibrahim~

 

[enforcerfx]

Like the E6600 produce 2.4ghz of processing speed, How much do the Extreme Edition processors of the Core 2 duo class put out?

 

[The_Prophecy]

Like the E6600 produce 2.4ghz of processing speed, How much do the Extreme Edition processors of the Core 2 duo class put out?

I have to point out right now that Ghz doesn't matter anymore like it used to..... but to answer your question, the X6800 comes stock at 2.93. It should be easy to bring it up to at least 3.6 with a good air cooler like the Zalman CNPS9500. If you're not going to overclock the X6800, forget the Zalman and just use the stock cooler.

 

[enforcerfx]

Well since the price of the x6800s are close to 1000 bucks if not more, i plan to get the E6600, and put on a nice watercooler. Thanks for the help guys.

 

[clue69less]

Nice Mushkin find! And it is modular. Wish I could find a review comparing it to the Antec TruePower II 550W... I like the extra amps on the 12V, can't be anything but good.

I found a short review of it last night and forgot to bookmark it. I'd never seen the site before so I don't know if it was a reliable source or not. They measured the usual stuff like voltage levels, ripple, output, etc. It only has 28A of +12V but like the mushkin 650, it also has the rail fusion capability, and that's good news. Some people avoid modular cables but the mushkin cables are well made and the modular plugs fit tight. I know that mushkin made their 650 as a less expensive alternative to the big PCP&C and I'm guessing that the 550 is meant to chip into Antec's mid-to-upper-mid segment dominance.

 

[ikjadoon]

Ah..It is OK. I'm glad to see Mushkin kicking it out with the big guys.

~Ibrahim~

 

[kenneth_k]

Im looking to spend 15-1600 bucks on a new conroe system, thing is, I have no where to start. I was thinking of the E6600, but if theres any better, please say. I already have a case picked out: Koolance KC3 Pro case(Lian-Li). It has liquid cooling, but im not too familar with it, so anything to add on that part would be great too.


http://www.frozencpu.com/cst-246.html


All i really need is a motherboard, A cpu(conroe) and some good ram. Im ordering the case soon, so the limit is now down to about 1000 or so. I plan to flash it up with some accesories(neon, neon fans, etc.)Im already adding my harddrive, video cards,sound card, power supply(if compatabile) and my CD/DVD drives. All suggestions are appreciated. Thanks.

To the best of my experience you should hold your breath for a while and wait for a larger proportion of media reviews. Furthermore, the planned August launch of Intel-versions of the popular NVIDIA nForce500 chipset series will definitely have its influence on the market. The overclocking options when using the two latest Conroe-compatible Intel-chipsets are by far too limited, so I'd advise you to wait for NVIDIA's bid.

 

[kenneth_k]

Well since the price of the x6800s are close to 1000 bucks if not more, i plan to get the E6600, and put on a nice watercooler. Thanks for the help guys.

According to what you mentioned earlier you're not very experienced when it comes to watercooling. Therefore, considering the relatively small cooling efficiency gap between air and water, I'd advise you to stick to a state-of-the-art air cooler. Overclocking options are not equally good, but you still have numerous possibilities.