Starting up a new rig, need advice!

[Maharg]

Hey all,

I have decided to upgrade my rig. Here are my goals for the system:

-Quiet
-Cool (not excessively cool, just not 'too hot')
-Poweful

I'm not looking to make the best system out there, but I think I am living a bit behind the times and wouldn't mind giving a newer Pentium 630 chip a try. I do have a few questions, first...

-How easy are these to overclock?
-Assuming I will or won't overclock, what motherboards should I look at?
-Is a 2mb cache better than a 1mb cache, eg, is it that simple?
-I plan to hang on to my Radeon 9600XT for a while...
-I have 1 gig of PC3200 (2x512)

I will be using the system for gaming, office operations, some video encoding, music, movies, etc...I'd like to stick to quiet, simple air cooling also.

I'm just wondering what the best bang for my buck is right now, and I am behind the times in my knowledge so I feel swamped looking at the online stores.

Any advice is greatly appreciated guys. Also, let me know if I'd be better off checking out some AMD stuff, I'm not sure about that either since back in the day it was known that AMD was really hot and Intel was not (see goals one and two)

[BigDan3131]

For me quiet and cool = 120mm fans.For mobo's I love my ABIT no matter who says what. Asus and Abit are my choice models but I cant help with model numbers as I wont be modernizing till Conroe comes out late next year.

[batboy]

Sounds like you've narrowed down the options already. You want a 630 CPU (good choice by the way), but would like to retain your AGP vid card and DDR RAM. Well, that processor is socket LGA775, so you'll need one of the hybred motherboards like the Abit AS8 or Asus P5P800.

The advantages of the 6XX series are 1) they are guaranteed to be the latest stepping, therefore that are great overclockers, 2) they have 2M cache which helps in performance in many apps, and 3) they support 64-bit technology if we ever get (I mean when we get) the new Windows 64-bit OS.

All Prescotts run a bit warm, so you'll need decent cooling, but good air cooling don't have to mean loud. Just make sure the case you get allows the use of 120mm case fans. Zalman copper CPU heatsinks tend to cool pretty good and are quiet.

Just be aware you might not be able to crank up high voltage or achieve max O/C unless you have higher end cooling. But, I would say 3.6 to 3.8 gig should be fairly easy, even with low voltage and relatively quiet air cooling.

[Maharg]

Thanks for the replies guys. Do you think that this setup is a good upgrade from what I've got? Will I notice a slowing down in running multiple progs. at once? Or will this CPU blow me away? I understand that HT technology is almost like having 2 CPUs, is that correct?

Thanks!

[batboy]

You have two T-Breds running as dual procs? I don't know exactly how that compares, but I think an overclocked 6XX P-4 would beat it. The system you are describing will have plenty of muscle. Maybe do some benching and look to see what other people here are getting with their overclocked 630 systems. Hyperthreading is not exactly the same as dual procs, but it does significantly help with multi-tasking.

[Maharg]

Ok thanks a lot for your help batboy - what mobos would you recommend? Even if I don't plan to overclock, will this proc. keep me happy?

Also, if I DO decide to o/c - how easy is it with this setup? I'm so used to painting bridges and modding sockets *ugh* :)

[batboy]

Intel overclocking is not hard. Start out with good cooling and go into the BIOS to increase FSB. Reboot. You're overclocked. In my easlier post, I suggested a couple of motherboards... you'll need one of the hybred motherboards like the Abit AS8 or Asus P5P800... if you plan to use your current vid card and RAM.