Help: Wolfdale vs. Windsor??

Hey all,
I am building a comp from scratch and this is what I think I am down to. Which would you choose?

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8400 - Retail
- $189.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115037

OR

AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ Windsor 3.0GHz Socket AM2 125W Dual-Core Processor Model ADX6000CZBOX - Retail - $113.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819103773

Also, what mobo would you go with? I am torn with the AMD one because I don't know if I should get a AM2/AM2+ mobo for the sake of possibly upgrading. And I have never dealt with Intel before so Im clueless there.

Thanks!

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The Intel build will blow the AMD out of the water, especially if you overclock. For office applications, however, it really won't matter much. What are your intended purposes for this build?

------------------------------ There is ALWAYS a drone. Exactly where, or how many drones you will encounter may vary, but that there will be at least one will not.
Reply to jtt283

I would say mild gaming since Im hoping to start playing counterstrike again along with a few other games (starcraft 2 when it comes out)

Also, I do a lot of DVD Burning and ripping for my Zune.

Thanks for your input jtt

Reply to vinniez

Probably want the Intel one then. Though if your gaming is only going to be mild, then perhaps a slower, cheaper model Wolfdale is in order. Besides, with the money you save on a slower Wolfdale, you can buy a better HSF and then overclock it like hell, getting some real value for your money.

I'm thinking an E8200 is in order. Maybe an E7200, but I think people have problems OC'ing those very far.

Reply to mathiasschnell

I think you will be happier with Intel. Although you say "mild" gaming, it is really hard to argue with the bang for the buck you get with an HD4850. Unless your budget is really limited, that's the one to get.
I don't think you have any reason to get anything fancier than a P35 board.
A quality PSU in the 500W-550W range should be sufficient. Although getting dated, you might start with the list at http://www.tomswiki.com/page/Tiere [...] ngs?t=anon and choose a model from tier-3 or better.

------------------------------ There is ALWAYS a drone. Exactly where, or how many drones you will encounter may vary, but that there will be at least one will not.
Reply to jtt283

You don't seem to be a power user so both CPUs will more than suffice, obviously the E8400 is the faster chip, and runs much cooler. If you can afford it then why not, though the X2 6000+ is not a bad chip either, especially at that price.

Reply to epsilon84

Yea the 8400 is the much faster chip. Both are good, but I would go with the 8400.

Best,

3Ball

------------------------------ ASUS P5Q Pro P45 Motherboard
Intel C2Q Q9550 @ 3.40ghz w/ (8.5x400mhz, 1.2125v, Zalman 9500 & 24+ Hours Prime95 Stable)
6gb G. Skill DDR2 6400 @ 800mhz w/ (5-5-5-15: 2T, 2.04v)
EVGA GTX275 @ 660mhz/1550mhz/2400mhz
Reply to 3Ball

Unless you're tight on money, get the E8400

Reply to turboflame

Money really isn't an issue, I just want a solid computer that I know will be modern for a while.

Can anyone recommend a good mobo? My friend recommended the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L. But keep in mind I don't mind spending the cash to make a solid computer.

Thank you all very much for your help.

Reply to vinniez

Good solid reliable choice for the mobo.

Reply to dirtmountain

+1

------------------------------ There is ALWAYS a drone. Exactly where, or how many drones you will encounter may vary, but that there will be at least one will not.
Reply to jtt283

AMD Budget Gaming Rig

Total w/shipping: $494 ($434 after rebates)

AMD Athlon 64 X2 5400+ Brisbane 2.8GHz 65W: $87
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819103235

MSI K9A2 CF-F V2 AM2+/AM2 AMD 790X ATX: $104
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813130172

MSI R4850-T2D512 Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3: $198 ($168 AR)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814127359

Antec earthwatts EA430 430W Power Supply: $60 ($30 AR)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817371006

G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800: $45
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231098

Intel Budget Gaming Rig

Total w/shipping: $500 ($440 after rebates)

Intel E2200 2.2GHz 1MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W: $80
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819116063

GIGABYTE GA-EP45-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P45: $117
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128345

MSI R4850-T2D512 Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3: $198 ($168 AR)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814127359

Antec earthwatts EA430 430W Power Supply: $60 ($30 AR)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817371006

G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800: $45
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231098

When you up the X2 5400+ to 3.1-3.2GHz and the e2200 to 2.7-2.8GHz (with stock cooling and maybe a slight bump in voltage) you will have 2 'snappy' systems with a video card that's smokin'

(My free cut 'n paste unpaid computer consultation of the week)

Reply to wisecracker

I don't think the OP is on a 'budget' though, at least not a tight one.

Quote :

Money really isn't an issue, I just want a solid computer that I know will be modern for a while.

X2s and E21x0s are nice cheap chips but don't perform anywhere near Wolfdales.

If money is no issue I don't see why he should be aiming for anything less than an E8400.

Reply to epsilon84

ok so I think I am going to go with the Wolfdale and based on what everyone said, the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L motherboard, right?

Can anyone make recommendations on a video card?

Thanks again for the help guys!

Reply to vinniez

EVGA 512-P3-N801-AR GeForce 8800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card -Retail

1x Winner of Customer Choice Award - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130318

$159.99
Save $10.00 With Promo Code EMCAHBACE
Your Price: $149.99

$129.99 After $20.00 Mail-In Rebate

Free 3 Business Day Shipping

or a HD4850

or
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applica [...] w%20PzEEwy

XFX GeForce 9800 GTX Video Card - FREE Company of Heroes PC Game, 512MB DDR3, PCI Express 2.0, SLI Ready, (Dual Link) Dual DVI, HDTV, HDMI Support, Dual VGA Support

$199

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to jamesl

jamesl wrote :

EVGA 512-P3-N801-AR GeForce 8800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card -Retail

1x Winner of Customer Choice Award - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130318

$159.99
Save $10.00 With Promo Code EMCAHBACE
Your Price: $149.99

$129.99 After $20.00 Mail-In Rebate

Free 3 Business Day Shipping

or a HD4850

or
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applica [...] w%20PzEEwy

XFX GeForce 9800 GTX Video Card - FREE Company of Heroes PC Game, 512MB DDR3, PCI Express 2.0, SLI Ready, (Dual Link) Dual DVI, HDTV, HDMI Support, Dual VGA Support

$199

for the love of god dont buy an nvidia card if you buy that p35 board, or any intel chipset for that matter. buy the radeon hd4850 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814161235 for $199 that blows any 8800 or 9800 out of the water (except mabey 8800GTX/ultra) and if you need more preformance later just buy another one for crossfire. CF also scales much better than SLI so its a win win with that p35 board

Reply to jjokubauskas

the 4850 does not blow the 9800 gtx out of the water, and considering they're the same price, its a fair alternative

http://www.anandtech.com/video/sho [...] =3341&p=19

http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] 64-13.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] 964-9.html

and considering the 8800 GT is 70 dollars cheaper, its fine if you're not wanting to spend a lot of money

Message quoted 1 times
Message edited by jamesl on 07-11-2008 at 07:44:45 AM

Reply to jamesl

If you plan to crossfire, don't get the p35 or p45 mobo, get the x38 or x48 instead.

Reply to Shadowthor

jamesl wrote :

the 4850 does not blow the 9800 gtx out of the water, and considering they're the same price, its a fair alternative

http://www.anandtech.com/video/sho [...] =3341&p=19

http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] 64-13.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] 964-9.html

and considering the 8800 GT is 70 dollars cheaper, its fine if you're not wanting to spend a lot of money

True but,

9800 GTX = dual slot

HD 4850 = single slot

9800 GTX = more power connectors

HD 4850 = less power connectors

...

Reply to amdfangirl

sorry for sounding like an idiot, but what in god's name is crossfire?

now I am really confused....what mobo should I go with?

Im defintely going to go with the e8400 wolfdale....

I still need to decide on mobo, video card, heatsink, hard drive, powersupply and soundcard (do I need a soundcard? since I dont plan to set up surround sound)

Im just going to get 4gb of ram from crucial

Thank you all very much for your replies!

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to vinniez

Crossfire is marketing slang for two similar Ati cards working together

SLi is Nvidia's way of marketing it...

Crossfire is found on Intel and AMD motherboards whereas SLi is only found on Nvidia chipsets. However there is an exception to this rule, graphics cards with already 2 -3 GPUS which have crossfire or SLi built in.

BTW: Not much clock for clock is gained from the huge cache (e7200 vs e8400 at same Ghz)

I would think a soundcard useless in your circumstance. The integrated will suffice most but the audiophiles... Pretty much anything with 3 holes is pretty good and 6 is even better... I have a really hard time discerning the difference tho...

Message quoted 1 times
Message edited by amdfangirl on 07-11-2008 at 03:53:56 PM

Reply to amdfangirl

vinniez wrote :

sorry for sounding like an idiot, but what in god's name is crossfire?

now I am really confused....what mobo should I go with?

Im defintely going to go with the e8400 wolfdale....

I still need to decide on mobo, video card, heatsink, hard drive, powersupply and soundcard (do I need a soundcard? since I dont plan to set up surround sound)

Im just going to get 4gb of ram from crucial

Thank you all very much for your replies!

CrossFire is the AMD/ATI multiple video card system. For nVidia it's called SLI. Solid performance gains can be seen in many games - sometimes not

Onboard sound most likely will be fine for you.

The e8400 is an excellent cpu but in your case it's hard to say if it will be worth the extra $50-$100 over the e7200 or e2200 (or the AMD possibilities) for what you would like to do.

Build today for what you need now because in the future hardware will always be smarter, cheaper & faster. The concept of 'futureproofing' is a little silly because excellent (and even better) $150 cpu/mobo combos will always be available down the road.

That's why it's important to purchase a decent durable case and power supply, good hard drives, a decent monitor and today, 2Gb sticks of ram.

Since you are a 'light' gamer it does not make a great deal of sense to spend $140 and up on a video card. There are excellent cards available for under $100 that are more than capable for you.

And if your gaming is truly 'light' an AMD 780g IGP motherboard with onboard sideport video is the ticket for around $100. It has a PCIe Gen2 x16 slot for when you want to enter the gaming fast lane.

Reply to wisecracker

amdfangirl wrote :

Crossfire is marketing slang for two similar Ati cards working together

SLi is Nvidia's way of marketing it...

Crossfire is found on Intel and AMD motherboards whereas SLi is only found on Nvidia chipsets. However there is an exception to this rule, graphics cards with already 2 -3 GPUS which have crossfire or SLi built in.

BTW: Not much clock for clock is gained from the huge cache (e7200 vs e8400 at same Ghz)

I would think a soundcard useless in your circumstance. The integrated will suffice most but the audiophiles... Pretty much anything with 3 holes is pretty good and 6 is even better... I have a really hard time discerning the difference tho...

3 means you have a Speaker, Line-In and Mic and normally if it supports surround sound it is done through those 3 ports and normally not very good.

6 means you have the same as above but the 3 extra are for the surround sound (Front, Rear and Center).

The easiest way is to just get speakers that all connect to the sub and the sub goes to the port. Much easier.

As for the OP, no you do not need a soundcard. A soudnd card does give a few more FPS in games since it takes the load of sound off the CPU but nothing amazing really.

Message quoted 1 times

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http://www.steamcalculator.com/76561197970703804/camo_sig.png

Reply to jimmysmitty

you can find SLi too on the very "affordable" Skulltrail Motherboard

Reply to wh3resmycar

jimmysmitty wrote :

3 means you have a Speaker, Line-In and Mic and normally if it supports surround sound it is done through those 3 ports and normally not very good.

6 means you have the same as above but the 3 extra are for the surround sound (Front, Rear and Center).

The easiest way is to just get speakers that all connect to the sub and the sub goes to the port. Much easier.

As for the OP, no you do not need a soundcard. A soudnd card does give a few more FPS in games since it takes the load of sound off the CPU but nothing amazing really.

Seriously, I just think that 3 ports and 6 ports is a good way of telling apart cheaper audio from more expensive integrated...

Reply to amdfangirl

As of yesterday, you'd see probably dozens of post recommending the P45 chipset mobo.

"Guess Not!"- Dane Cook

Reply to flyin15sec

should i look into a P35 or P45?

this is where I stand as of now:

Monitor - Acer AL2216Wbd Black 22" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor with HDCP support - Retail - $219.99

Processor - Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8400 - Retail - $189.99

Motherboard?

Video card – EVGA 512-P3-N802-AR GeForce 8800GT Superclocked 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
- 164.99 (144.99 AR)

Harddrive - Western Digital Caviar SE16 640GB 3.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM - $89.99

PowerSupply - Corsair VX 550W ATX Power Supply - CMPSU-550VX - $74.99

Heatsink?

Reply to vinniez

The difference mainly between the two is price. I have seen though that the P45 should provide better more stable OCing but this will be up to you.

I believe that P45 has PCIe 2.0 where as most P35s have PCIe 1.1.

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Reply to jimmysmitty

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Help: Wolfdale vs. Windsor??

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