AMD Guy w/Intel questions

OK guys, I am normally a huge AMD fan, but a buddy of mine w/way too much $$ wants a super-fast Intel system. I've got a p4 vapochill on the way, and am looking at stuffing a 3.06 in it. Does anyone have recos, etc. for MB's? I've heard good thinkgs about the Granite Bay chipsets, but how are they for overclocking stably?

P.S. My buddy is one of those guys that if it can be broke, he can break it, so this needs to be ROCK SOLID STABLE.

Also, what's the multiplier/FSB combo on a stock 3.06?

Thx

3066MHz / (533MHz/4) = 23X

If you have the cash to burn think Abit IT7-MAX2 V2.0
http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb/it7max2v2/

Or even a Abit BE7 board...
Many versions to fit your needs, all the way from SCSI, RAID and Gigabit LAN on board
http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb/be7/

IMO you should not buy a board quite yet, or a 3.06 for that matter, in a few weeks we will have 800FSB springdale based boards coming out, and 800FSB late stepping C1 chips with HT, and cheaper than the 3.06...or at least wait for one of those boards and pop in a 533BUS chip until you can get an 800FSB one, do some future proofing!
If you have to do now, go for the Gigabyte Branite Bay board with the DPS module for extra power to the CPU, I reckon this will give the best OC results as the power circuitry is better than any other board on the market (theoretically supporting 10ghz) although I have never used one - the IT7-MAX2 is another option..

i don't know about a few weeks.
Q2 more like it. (which puts it anywhere from april to june)


but there will be an intel price drop in feb.

I got a IT7-max2 v2.0 and it rocks! Very stable, it appears to be very overclockable as well. Doing my burn in now will overclock soon. But fast already. Love it...

i have heard bad things with vapochill...condensation...id go with prometia

I've heard and seen the opposite. If you read the vapo / prom reviews at xtreme and here, you will get that confirmed..

looktall said:

i don't know about a few weeks.
Q2 more like it. (which puts it anywhere from april to june)


but there will be an intel price drop in feb.

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Yeah it's still a long wait. If one can hold out with an old system, it may be worth it, but for people with newer systems I don't see a cost-effective reason to upgrade. You'll likely need a new mainboard, new ram (unless you got 2xDDR400 with super latency now, but many don't) and then a new CPU surpassing current speed grades to get some substantial extra speed.

FIZZ3 said:

Yeah it's still a long wait. If one can hold out with an old system, it may be worth it, but for people with newer systems I don't see a cost-effective reason to upgrade. You'll likely need a new mainboard, new ram (unless you got 2xDDR400 with super latency now, but many don't) and then a new CPU surpassing current speed grades to get some substantial extra speed.

Click to expand...

I know that I won't be upgrading to the springdale mobo once it hits.

my next moove is a new video card, then new speakers (5.1, from 4.1)....

I only wish that the new geforce FX wasn't so loud.....
now I may have to get the 9700pro (oh my, the driver nightmare begins)

by the time I do get the SD chipset mobo, it will be real cheap and maybe have a refresh....

mica

micamica1217 said:

I know that I won't be upgrading to the springdale mobo once it hits.

my next moove is a new video card, then new speakers (5.1, from 4.1)....

I only wish that the new geforce FX wasn't so loud.....
now I may have to get the 9700pro (oh my, the driver nightmare begins)

by the time I do get the SD chipset mobo, it will be real cheap and maybe have a refresh....

mica

Click to expand...

Yeah same for me. My current mainboard has plenty of power and I just purchased a new cpu for it (I may need my head examined for purchasing it though lol) that will last me some time. The next upgrade should offer solid benefits, I'm thinking DDR2, maybe 1066Mhz FSB (if it comes out within a reasonable timeframe) and more than 4Ghz CPU's. Sounds like a far future now, but my system will be top of the line when I get my new parts.

I fully agree about the FX card as well. It's an overweight design as it stands. I have always frowned upon videocard fans that were very noisy and this takes the cake in a big way. I am also not going to reroute any watercooling system I have (bought new water stuff too, I must be ill) just to cool that beast to medium-high temperatures and taking all that heat & flow resistance in the loop with it.

Another thing about videocards that I've noticed is that I don't need all that visual candy so badly myself. I play UT2003 mostly and I do so in the trashy all-details-low-so-you-shoot-heads-off-better fashion. ALL online players that are any good that I know of do so too. The main bottleneck then becomes the CPU.
As far as offline gaming is concerned; fps is much less important there and dips to 10fps occasionally are acceptable to me, especially in typical offline games like RPG's (for me). In short- I don't think any R9700+ level card will do much for me. But it's always an easy upgrade, so eventually I'll move on anyway... but not to a vacuum cleaner +5% performance FX card.

Totaly wait for the price drop, it's pretty big if you ask me (from reading another thread) I mean a 3.06 will be in the mid $500's! Come on !

I'm not a huge gamer, but I do like asthetics, and the FX lacks in that dpt. Neon? Honestly

Fizz, why you ill wit da water?

Just to check in -- how loud (in dBA) are the typical fans on GF 4's nowadays?

I have to agree with you all -- the feature set of the FX has come at a ridiculous cost. How wonderful -- you can have a great visual experience with your computer, but you have to jack up the sound to avoid an audio nightmare!!

Starting to think about the ATI camp lately ... -- Paul

Molybdym said:

Fizz, why you ill wit da water?

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LOL because I had an Innovatek system already and couldn't resit the urge to buy newer better stuff!

macklin01 said:

Just to check in -- how loud (in dBA) are the typical fans on GF 4's nowadays?

I have to agree with you all -- the feature set of the FX has come at a ridiculous cost. How wonderful -- you can have a great visual experience with your computer, but you have to jack up the sound to avoid an audio nightmare!!

Starting to think about the ATI camp lately ... -- Paul

Click to expand...

ATI fans are nearly dead silent and I got my core up to 371 with min unlapped, and man was that bottom ugly when I took it off

interesting! that a 9700 pro? As I understand it, ATI driver support has dramatically improved in the past year or so ... (one of the driving arguments away from ATI for me.) Hmmm .... *edit* I just noticed the lacking linux driver support at ATI's site. Not good ....

Anybody have good experiences on how loud the stock GF4 fans are?
Thanks! -- Paul

macklin01 said:

Anybody have good experiences on how loud the stock GF4 fans are?
Thanks! -- Paul

Click to expand...

Well I have an Asus GF4Ti4600 and I guess this fan is at least as 'loud' as the OEM fan. That is, it's actually as good as silent. As far as I can tell, any case fan will outroar it.

thanks for the response! between good linux support and sound levels, I guess I'll continue to look towards a ti4200 Sorry for the thread hijack, but y'all got me curious. -- Paul