Advice on Conroe setup ($1700 USD)

dragonfly22588

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Hi guys, I’m new to the forums and need some advice on a new system I’m building now for college and moderate gaming.

I’m currently upgrading from a:

HP Pavilion 750n bought 4.5 years ago with:
· Pentium 4 1.6 GHz (Prescott, I believe…?)
· BFG 6600 OC (I actually used BFG’s lifetime warranty and upgraded from a 5700 Fx Le)
· 1 GB Valuselect Corsair RAM (2 x 512 mb)
· 100 GB Maxtor HD
· 17” HP MX 75

So far my new system has:
· Samsung 931 BF 19” LCD, 2 ms, 700:1, 300 cd brightness (I swear it’s almost impossible to find reviews on this display!)- $269.99 (USD)
· Seagate SATA II 300 GB 7200 RPM, 16 mb cache HD- $99.99
· EVGA 7900 GT KO- $254.99
· OCZ PC2 5400 dual channel (2 x 1 GB) Value Pro Series, 5-5-5-10- ($139.99-$20 mail in rebate)
· 550 W Athena PSU- $89.99 (Anyone know about Athena psus?)
· Saitek gaming keyboard- $39.97
· Logitch mx 518- $42.00
· Antec Solo Black case (basically the P 150 in black and without psu)-$77.78
· HP refurbished dvd740i-RF cd/dvd/rw burner/lightscibe-$50.00
· Logitech x-230 2.1 speakers-$36.83
· Some other peripherals, total so far including tax is $1,229.35

Btw, in case your wondering about the strange prices, I work at Fry’s Electronics, so I saved about $150 in discounts.

My problem, I can not decide if it’s better to buy a Duo Core 950 For $228.00 with an SLI motherboard for about $100 or wait 1-2 weeks to get a Core 2 Duo E6600 for $379 and a $150-$200 motherboard.

I have never dealt with system BIOS or overclocked before. However I am beginning to be interested in the possibility of doing that with my new system. Which CPU/board setup should I choose for limited oc features?

Can anyone tell me where the potential bottleneck could be in this setup? (I’m thinking memory?)

Any kind of comments or suggestions as to the quality of the stuff I have bought? Or any compatibility issues that I’ve missed.

I now it might be possible to find cheaper prices for CPUs and boards online but I’m the type who needs to physically see things before I buy it (control freak I know J)

I’d like to see my system capable of playing top end games for at least the next 2-3 years and be able to last 5+. Thanks for your time and comments.
 

deusex

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LOL wish i worked at Fry's....but (13 years old)....sigh...still have good old newegg...

your new concept rig is similar to mine (also $1700)


CHANGE to

X1800 XT GPU - better pic quality - better yet, a X1900XT, but you can wait for DX 10 if you prefer.

E6600 CONROE IS A MUST!

Logitech G5 mouse = 2000DPI

better ram (4-4-4-12) - dont know much about frys - I'm a newegger:)


When do you go to college?
 

Zog

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Tend to agree you.....should wait for there E6600....

What motherboard did you have in mind ?

It may be worth to go for 2 HDD, maybe an 80 and a 250 so you can split up the OS and storage area, move the Swap file etc....

As for the Raedon vs GF question...probably an issue of preference.
 

dragonfly22588

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Zog Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 6:39 pm Post subject: Re: Advice on Conroe setup ($1700 USD)

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Tend to agree you.....should wait for there E6600....

What motherboard did you have in mind ?

It may be worth to go for 2 HDD, maybe an 80 and a 250 so you can split up the OS and storage area, move the Swap file etc....

As for the Raedon vs GF question...probably an issue of preference.

See that's the problem, I don't know which board to pick because there are such limited choices. I've already heard that many people have had problems with OCZ and Abit and OCZ and Asus! So I guess that leaves me with my next choice, a Gigabyte. Thanks for the responses more are welcome. Any problems people see with the overall setup?
 

dt

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hmm i like this. but i cant help to think amd will release something new and then when its intels turn again people will need another mobo to use intels future processors....

dont know what to do...

go with amd or intel... save money with amd at the moment.
i was thinking of getting a 4000+with 1X2mb cache and over clock it to an fx62 ( which is easy) with an asus mobo. ill save about 200-300 bucks if i go with this instead of e6600 then i would be ready with amd's upcomming processors....


any comments...?
 

dt

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hmm i like how that sounds..

gotta make a budget with the core 2 duo in it.
what would be a good time to get this im wondering


also.. anyone know why newegg is not selling core 2 duo? ( or is it just me cant find it)?
 

dt

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eh your making it seem like amd just stops fighting.

intel releases a processor that makes all amd processors weak. but you must not forget that the processors intel have is much higher technology than all of amd's processors.

i see intel with 64mn technology and amd has not even gotten there yet.
i think the core era will contiune to be great IF amd doesnt release a processor. just wait til they release something.


but hopefully they dont put prices like they did in the past.

i do agree that core 2 owns, but the price for it right now is too much.
that mobo kills my pocket.
 

dt

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The only way to guarantee that, is if you get the Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6. Other boards may support Kentsfield, but there's no guarantee.

hmm this gives me a good reason to wait a bit longer to see what else they come out with. i just dont want to spend 200+ bucks to get support for their next processor.