How Many Cores??

Hello Group
I'm looking into building / buying a new system to replace my GA-N400-Pro2
with an XP3200 and a gig of OCZ dual channel DDR. When I first put this
system together a few years back, it was the dogs nads and the envy of my
mates... not any more tho.

With the Processor and Mobo choice leading the way, I am struggling to make
a decision. Firstly I thought I must buy the best AMD (On my 4th AMD now) I
could afford and looked at the Phenom range with an AM2+ Mobo.

Looking over some benchmarking on Tom's Hardware, I was surprised to see the
AM2-64 6400 beating some of the quad core Phenoms on some apps - Then
looking at Inels core2 quad.... these seem to give much more performance at
less cost than a comparable AMD system - now this was never the case in the
past as far as I knew.

I'm not a big game player, but I render DVD quite alot and anticipate
Blu-Ray rendering in the near future.

Do I need a quad core system?
Are Intel systems as easy to build and set up?

I'm considering
Asus Motherboard P5K3 Deluxe WiFi Intel P35 LGA775 with Core 2 Quad Pro
Q6600 95W
and
Asus Motherboard M3A32-MVP Deluxe AM2 Phenom 790FX with AMD CPU AM2 9500
Phenom 64 Quad Core

amongst others. Any help / advice / comments would be welcomed.

Somewhere on teh intarweb "Chris Flash" typed:
> Hello Group
> I'm looking into building / buying a new system to replace my
> GA-N400-Pro2 with an XP3200 and a gig of OCZ dual channel DDR. When
> I first put this system together a few years back, it was the dogs
> nads and the envy of my mates... not any more tho.
>
> With the Processor and Mobo choice leading the way, I am struggling
> to make a decision. Firstly I thought I must buy the best AMD (On my
> 4th AMD now) I could afford and looked at the Phenom range with an
> AM2+ Mobo.
> Looking over some benchmarking on Tom's Hardware, I was surprised to
> see the AM2-64 6400 beating some of the quad core Phenoms on some
> apps - Then looking at Inels core2 quad.... these seem to give much
> more performance at less cost than a comparable AMD system - now this
> was never the case in the past as far as I knew.
>
> I'm not a big game player, but I render DVD quite alot and anticipate
> Blu-Ray rendering in the near future.
>
> Do I need a quad core system?

Only if the software that you're using is capable of using four cores. As
you seem to keep your systems a while then there's a chance that, it the
software isn't quad-core-capable now, it could be in a year or two. Your
decision.

> Are Intel systems as easy to build and set up?

IME easier than AMD. I too went from a Barton to a new system a while back.
I chose Intel, it's a no-brainer really.

> I'm considering
> Asus Motherboard P5K3 Deluxe WiFi Intel P35 LGA775 with Core 2 Quad
> Pro Q6600 95W

Two things, doesn't that mobo take DDR3 RAM? It's 2x the price of DDR2 and
is nowhere near 2x the performance. Also, the Q6600 is old, 65nm tech. If
your last system was the "dogs nads" why compromise on this one? Spend the
money you save by *not* going DDR3 and put it towards a 45nm CPU is my
suggestion. Quad or dual, up to you. (I chose dual, at higher clock speed.
It's considerably faster in real-world aplications.)

I have a P5K-E WiFi. They're excellent boards as long as you don't get the
vanilla P5K. P5K-E and above, avoid DDR3.

> and
> Asus Motherboard M3A32-MVP Deluxe AM2 Phenom 790FX with AMD CPU AM2
> 9500 Phenom 64 Quad Core

AMD ain't where it's at right now. Even if it was, I most certainly wouldn't
buy a 9x00 Phenom, they're buggy. That's why the 9x50 range was released so
quickly (and why the 9x00 are so cheap).

> amongst others. Any help / advice / comments would be welcomed.

Have fun.
--
Shaun.

DISCLAIMER: If you find a posting or message from me
offensive, inappropriate, or disruptive, please ignore it.
If you don't know how to ignore a posting, complain to
me and I will be only too happy to demonstrate... ;-)

"~misfit~" <> wrote in
news::

> AMD ain't where it's at right now. Even if it was, I most certainly
> wouldn't buy a 9x00 Phenom, they're buggy. That's why the 9x50 range
> was released so quickly (and why the 9x00 are so cheap).

That was the first batch of Phenoms, they have fixed the issues now. Still,
I would go with the C2D at 3.0GHZ as that offers the most bang for the
buck.

"ytrewq" <> wrote in
news: m:

> I also wonder if DDR3 is worth the current price premium.

Nope. My next PC I build I will use DDR3 but not until the prices drop
considerably and that won't happen until DDR3 becomes mainstream. If you
want a system with DDR3 then wait about six months or so or just go with
DDR2.

Somewhere on teh intarweb "The Coward Robert Ford" typed:
> "~misfit~" <> wrote in
> news::
>
>> AMD ain't where it's at right now. Even if it was, I most certainly
>> wouldn't buy a 9x00 Phenom, they're buggy. That's why the 9x50 range
>> was released so quickly (and why the 9x00 are so cheap).
>
> That was the first batch of Phenoms, they have fixed the issues now.

Yeah, that's what i said. However, there are still stocks of the old batch
around, being sold to unknowing people.

> Still, I would go with the C2D at 3.0GHZ as that offers the most bang
> for the buck.

Indeed. My own system is an Asus P5K-E WiFi/AP running a C2D E4500 (2.2GHz
stock) at 3.31GHz stable, cool and effortlessly.

Cheers,
--
Shaun.

DISCLAIMER: If you find a posting or message from me
offensive, inappropriate, or disruptive, please ignore it.
If you don't know how to ignore a posting, complain to
me and I will be only too happy to demonstrate... ;-)

OK Thanks for the input you good people - some sound advice well taken
there.

I've sort of made a decision.
I found a Mobo which supports DDR 2 & 3 so I'll go with a 45nm 3Ghz C2D and
use DDR2, then in a year or so, I can upgrade to a C2Q and DDR3. Sounds like
a plan eh?
I'm thinking of...
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0GHz (Retail 775) Quickcode: #30243
Quickcode:

You can easily jump to a product by typing its Quickcode into the
LiveSearch!

BX80570E8400, 1333MHz FSB, 6MB Cache, new Wolfdale core

Gigabyte GA-EP35C-DS3R P35 Socket 775 Motherboard
Quickcode: #31059 unless of course... you know of a good reason to avoid
either?
Cheers,
Chris.

Somewhere on teh intarweb "Chris Flash" typed:
> OK Thanks for the input you good people - some sound advice well taken
> there.
>
> I've sort of made a decision.
> I found a Mobo which supports DDR 2 & 3 so I'll go with a 45nm 3Ghz
> C2D and use DDR2, then in a year or so, I can upgrade to a C2Q and
> DDR3. Sounds like a plan eh?

Yep. Although being able to upgrade to DDR3 isn't really needed. If it's
compromising your board choice in any way then drop it. Seriously, it isn't
worth worrying about.

Personally I wouldn't limit the number of DDR2 slots I have available just
to have the option to use DDR3 at a later date. The increased performance of
DDR3 is negligable and most certainly *not* better than just being able to
upgrade to more DDR2 if needed at a later date.

However, thats just a niggle. At least you're on the right track with Intel
and 45nm. :-)

> I'm thinking of...
> Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0GHz (Retail 775) Quickcode: #30243
> Quickcode:

E8400 would be my choice of CPU if I was buying now.

> You can easily jump to a product by typing its Quickcode into the
> LiveSearch!
>
> BX80570E8400, 1333MHz FSB, 6MB Cache, new Wolfdale core
>
> Gigabyte GA-EP35C-DS3R P35 Socket 775 Motherboard
> Quickcode: #31059 unless of course... you know of a good reason to
> avoid either?

Comments above. I'm not familiar with the motherboard but Gigabyte, like
Asus, are fairly reliable (as long as you're not buying the bottom end of
the range).

Luck,
--
Shaun.

DISCLAIMER: If you find a posting or message from me
offensive, inappropriate, or disruptive, please ignore it.
If you don't know how to ignore a posting, complain to
me and I will be only too happy to demonstrate... ;-)