Question On Intel Quad Core

[Smithy_83]

I haven't bought PC hardware for a long time, and I'm going to upgrade my Athlon FX-55 to a quad core setup.

What I'm confused about is a lot of motherboards only support 800mhz DDR2, but the cpu bus is 1066mhz for the quad core 2.4ghz. IF i went with 800mhz DDR, will this affect the CPU?

Thanks,

 

[jimmysmitty]

It won't effect the CPU but what you want to do is get a nicer one. I have a P5K-E WiFi A/P and it supports the 1066 FSB. I would suggest anything with a P35 or better. If its for SLI than a 680i or even wait until the 7xx+ is out.

But any P35 will support the 1066 FSB. You would just have to select that setting in BIOS like I did. But I just OC'ed it to 2.7GHz on a 1200MHz FSB.

I can suggest a line of mobos if you want but let us know what you want in terms of SLI or not.

 

[Smithy_83]

Thanks,

I've really lost touch with all the new technology, when you say SLI you mean if i want to run two graphics cards together? is that correct?

IF so, then no i only really want one card, but the ability to SLI in the future wouldnt go amiss

 

[Evilonigiri]

Yeah Sli is putting two nvidia cards together. Cross-fire is putting two ATI card together.

IMO, I don't think SLI or cross-fire is worth it.

 

[DrMaV]

Chips run at quad fsb, and memory runs at bi fsb at 1:1 (you may change ratio in bios to 4:5 for instance).

Therefore, if fsb = 266, then,

Q6600 is 4 (quad pumped)x266fsb = 1066 fsb, for which 9 (multiplier)x266 = 2.4GHz,

And memory at 1:1 ratio, gives 2x266 = 533MHz.

Thus, if you OC your fsb to 400,

then 4x400= 1600 fsb, for which 9x400=3.6GHz,
and Memory at 1:1, gives 2x400 = 800 freq.

So, DDR2800 is plenty for quad.

I use DDR2675 for reference.

My quad is at 3.3GHz, with 366fsb, and memory is OC'd to DDR2733 with 4,4,4,12 timings. OCCT and prime stable for 4 hours.

I get 14,318 '06 score with 8800gt on those settings.

Difference between DDR2800 and DDR21066 does not warrant the price difference for performance.

 

[Smithy_83]

thanks,

i thought that maybe the case, in the past i have been duped into buying the "next big thing" when it comes to RAM etc and i never notice a difference. I find its the amount of memory you have makes a difference, not the type.

 

[Smithy_83]

Anyone have advice on a good motherboard to go with this, and also a decent video card (say for about £150)

Cheers,

 

[Badarthur]

I ve been running a C2Quad 2.4 from anyware from 3.3 to 3.5 with the ArticCooling 7 20 dollar cooler and am upgrading to a 9700 Zallman because the AC7 just isint that good a cooler fo the higher end Ocing . If your going to OC like the man said you need the ASUS P-35 E/Wifi Mb or better because of how the better ASUS boards power the cpu that causes less heat on the OverClock. If your not going to overClock then it docent matter but the better ASUS only costs about 15 buck's more than the cheaper one's.

On memory I used 4X1Gig of Cruciall Balistic DDR-2/800 memstick's and could have just as easily used the 1066 / stick's and got further in my OC but not had the range the 800 stick's have because they go all the way from 533 to a little over 1000 not quite 1066. I went for the 800 that had the 4,4,4,12 timing so as I got up in the OC I could just jump to the 5,5,5,15 timing. Anything over like 950 and I just use the 5,5,5,15 timing and they work grate. Just remember to reset your mem voltage on your first power up to the mfg required voltage it will start at 1.8 and you will have to change it to like 2,1 or 2,2 like I did for mem stability. I went from an insanely Oc'ed Opty-170 to my quad and found more range and stability and also clock's exceeding 3Gig easily. have fun I sure am. [Judge]BadArthur