Cain needs a new PC January 2008 Edition

[WalkinTarget]

Another DDR2/DDR3 board, this one from Asus:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131188

It offers 4 DDR2 and 2 DDR3 slots, but it has more features than the MSI that I linked above. Asus is one of those brands that I can't vouch for ATM, so I know that they have a well established base of users, but I have no experiences to report on the P35 Asus series.
Pairing this board up with the Penryn and DDR2-1066 would make for a very nice start to a new build.

[WalkinTarget]

Asus P5KC P35 LGA775 board - $140
Crucial Ballistx DDR2-1066 2gb - $111
Intel Q9450 - 2.66Ghz Penryn - $316
Nvidia GeForce 8800GT - $300

I'm OK with all of the picks other than the 8800GT ... I don't know enough about the availability other than to comment that factory OC cards are being discontinued, and according to the latest Nv rumors, they are releasing a mid-range card to knock AMD/ATI out of even the lower end category in mid to late February, but that doesn't mean they will be releasing the 9800 (the 8800's successor) at that time.

[juneau]

Don't forget the Gigabyte P35C DS3R. Been getting some bad press lately though.

Great spec above WT. It's is the spec i would recommend. However the RAM is over priced imo. Anything by Corsair, Geil, G Skill, OCZ, costs a lot less and does the exact same job

[WalkinTarget]

Been getting some bad press lately though

That's why I forgot it ...

[juneau]

Been getting some bad press lately though

That's why I forgot it ...

Speedy! I was editing too! Not all of the boards are bad though. And you only hear about them when they break.

[WalkinTarget]

Yea, I agree on the RAM as well. The thing is, ANY RAM that runs over DDR2-800 is considered 'high performance' overclocking RAM, and you pay a hefty penalty for buying it. I was shopping for 1066 sticks and found that all the deals were on lower end stuff, with no deals whatsoever on 1066 stuff.

But keep in mind the higher 1066 speed is perfect for the higher FSB of the Penryn chip, so that it is not even running overclocked at all, unlike the DDR2-800 RAM once you start bumping up the FSB to overclock. The Crucial Ballistix received favorable reviews and match up well with that Asus board.

Considering I paid $180 (and that was a darn good deal !!) back in March for 2gb of Buffalo Firestix, I'd gladly trade them for the Ballistix 1066 at this point. Any takers ????

[Cain]

Question:

Will the new 45nm CPUs be faster, or cooler, or superior to the current fastest 65nm CPUs ?? Dual core ??

[WalkinTarget]

Faster ... expect 10-15% on average, with games showing the most improvement.
Cooler ... 45nm die process ... it SHOULD be cooler, but heat will not be an issue to be concerned with. Heat was an issue back in the Prescott/Presler days.
Superior ... it meets the two above requirements, so by that token I'd say it is yet another resounding success by Intel.

Keep in mind Intel was getting dusted by AMD simply because they weren't smart enough to realize their mobile platform was far superior to their desktop platform, and they kept happily cranking out those overheating Intel Pentium D chips by the truckload.

Problem was the heat dissipation was not done fast enough to allow the processors to scale up past 3.7ghz without overwhelming the stock cooling apparatus. Intel was unable to break 4ghz with their current chip design, so they then began the 'More cores running at lower gigahertz are better than a single core at higher gigahertz' mantra, which AMD had been saying for years, but Intel always laughed at that assessment.

Funny how things have changed from those days in the Intel camp, eh ??

Then some dirty Chinese chip marketers started taking the mobile chips running at 1.5ghz and remarking them as desktop 3.1 chips !!! Somebody eventually caught on and soon enough, Intel wised up and decided that, hey, our mobile chips are pretty good, and so began the eventual rollout of the Core2Duo chips, which finally put Intel back in the performance drivers seat after an 18-24 month absence.

So does the Penryn seem like your best choice ?? Hell yea !! Would you be willing to wait a month for the Yorkfield ?? Geez, I know I would, as it is the best of the Penryn chips if you are willing to wait and see what they offer.
I'd be most interested in the coming month to see how things shake out matching up the chip with either an AMD mainboard or DDR3 RAM (assuming price reductions that are bound to occur after the Penryn release).

[Gremlin_flg]

Get a Gigabyte board. If you ever have to call Asus for CS good luck.

[Cain]

If I want to do SLI for Dual nVidia video cards, do I have to use an nVidia chipset MB ??

[Gremlin_flg]

If I want to do SLI for Dual nVidia video cards, do I have to use an nVidia chipset MB ??

If you do not want sli problems yes you do. But Boards like gigabyte and asus boards that have mentioned above will support it.

[juneau]

If I want to do SLI for Dual nVidia video cards, do I have to use an nVidia chipset MB ??

If you do not want sli problems yes you do. But Boards like gigabyte and asus boards that have mentioned above will support it.

There isn't many SLI boards around really. I wouldn't recommend a 650i or 680i as they're getting on a bit now and weren't great to begin with. That leaves you with the 780i. It's new, stupidly priced, and isn't that great to boot now that the reviews are coming out.

SLI for most is a waste of time Cain. A single fast card solution is always the best option.

[Gremlin_flg]

I forgot to mention what Juneau said in my post.

Having SLI is a waste of money. Suggestion is wait for the 9800 cards to come out. Rumor has it coming out in March. If you can't wait, get the EVGA 8800GT 512 in Feb and in 90 days you can step up to a 9800 video card.

Spend the extra cash that you save from not doing SLI, get a good PSU like a Corsair 750 or Antec 850.

[juneau]

I forgot to mention what Juneau said in my post.

Having SLI is a waste of money. Suggestion is wait for the 9800 cards to come out. Rumor has it coming out in March. If you can't wait, get the EVGA 8800GT 512 in Feb and in 90 days you can step up to a 9800 video card.

Spend the extra cash that you save from not doing SLI, get a good PSU like a Corsair 750 or Antec 850.

a Corsair 520 is more than enough. It isn't all about the wattage.

[Gremlin_flg]

The reason i said for 750 is for future. what if he decides to get a new video card and some more stuff in the same pc?? Why waste money again down the road. if he does not have the money now I agree but if he does not go for SLI use that to buy the 750.