I need some decision help as well, new kit time maybe.

Long story short for the preamble - northwood 1.8 @ 3+ ghz, 1gb ddr433 (planned on getting a 2.4c but never got around to it), abit ai7, nvidia 6600gt agp.

Recent thunderstorm spiked the power or something, the machine won't start. I bought a new psu that I haven't installed yet, which might fix it, but I was thinking it might be time to switch to pci-e, which means new kit and video card.

I no longer have any real preference between intel and amd - my mindset is best ratio of bang over buck is the winner.

I'm tentatively leaning towards an A64 X2 3800+ on a reasonable motherboard, but that kind of seems like the 'quick brainless' solution to me. I've been out of the loop for a while.

If I do this, I'd *like* to keep the ddr rather than switching to ddr2, but I'll do that if I have to. I'm thinking of $200-$250 for the video card budget and $250-$350 for the mb/cpu/ram budget. Overclocking doesn't scare me (obviously, heh... I've had that 1.8 @ 3.6 ghz for 100% oc, but it wasn't particularly stable.)

What are the best overclocking options right now? I'm talking similar or better than the "take a 2.4c and turn it into a 3.2" days. I know the 4300 is expected to be a sweet overclocker, but I don't particularly want to wait and likely won't have the money q1 2007 anyway.

Suggestions?

edit - hey look, i have a sig, and evidently i have ddr466, oops.

Q1 07 might be a good time to look into a E4300 Core 2 Duo setup.
But you would be looking at a around ~$300 for the Mobo and the CPU alone.. and you would need ok DDR2.

Otherwise.. I have no clue what the price of anything in that price range will be come Q1 07

No, I meant I didn't want to wait until q1 2007, if I decide to do this, I want to do it now. Sorry if I wasn't clear there.

I'm thinking about a 6300-based setup, but having a hard time deciding on a motherboard. I'm not overly concerned with achieving the best possible oc i can, but a solid oc would be very nice.

And as far as video cards go, I'm really at a loss. My 6600GT is fine for what I do, but... it's agp, and the entire point of buying a new kit is updating to pci-e.

InThrees said:

I'm thinking about a 6300-based setup, but having a hard time deciding on a motherboard. I'm not overly concerned with achieving the best possible oc i can, but a solid oc would be very nice.

And as far as video cards go, I'm really at a loss. My 6600GT is fine for what I do, but... it's agp, and the entire point of buying a new kit is updating to pci-e.

Click to expand...

I'm in the same tough spot...

The option I'm stuck on now (and again I'm trying to feel out all my options like you), is to get one of those asrock mobo's that can do unihindered pcie and agp, to keep my decent agp for a bit longer while it's still got some kick in it. That frees up more $$ to get a longer lasting CPU/motherboard combo.

The other factor beyond bang/buck (which I agree to be the most important thing) would be longeivity. That asrock motherboard is socket 939, and it looks like socket am2 is the better way to go so that you'll be able to upgrade your CPU later w/o buying yet another mobo...

That's all on the AMD front. If you open up the intel can-o'-worms, that conroe everyone's been talking about sure looks nice, but I'm reading it won't really become a popular option until next year, and I'm going to need to get my homework done in the fall ^_^, so that rules that guy out.

Whatever the solution, I'm going to want to keep using my agp card if at all possible, and I'd love to find more options (processor-wise) beyond that asrock mobo that'll let me painlessly slip into pcie later when I find it necessary... atm the asrock seems the only mobo w/ agp and pcie that people are recommending however, and that means getting stuck into 939... which seems less future-proof than most options... =(

well I think i've presented my circular dilemma... I'm no expert, and I'm sure there's more info for me to dig up around here and elsewhere, but hopefully what I know will help you and perhaps someone will come upon this thread and set us both straight on what we REALLY want to buy

plz keep us updated on what you decide, i'm sure you and I aren't the only ones floundering about on this issue atm...

there is an asrock board that will run conroe, ddr1/ddr2 and agp/pcie...its around $59 only too.

what model is that? I could get a 6300 or maybe even 6600, get the cheap motherboard, and have money left over for a new video card / ram.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813157092
check the writing on the pcb
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ShowI...+VIA+PT880+PRO+ATX+Intel+Motherboard+-+Retail

That price is crazy. It's almost like a throw-away mobo, haha.

Thank you very much for pointing it out - I can get that mobo, e6300, and reuse my 1gb ddr466 and my 6600gt... then wait until more people have bought better conroe boards and maybe some bios revisions have come out, then make the real choice and get some ddr2 and a pci-e card.

In fact... I think tonight or tomorrow I'll order the asrock and an e6300.

sweet board hey? i bet asrock makes a fortune on those things.