Pretty much decided to switch to Intel, need advice/info :)

[Careface]

Hey. Well, some of you may know Im a fairly hardcore AMD fanatic. A fanboy you would say (why fanboys have a stigma surrounding them, I dunno either way, Im about to eat my own words ).

Basically with nothing coming from AMD thats half decent atm, Ive decided to build an Intel rig - and hey, why not try OC something Ive never OC'd before, right?

Firstly, Im totally freaking confused by whats happening with Intel. Penryn is coming out soon? Nehalem is a new CPU slated for 08, which brings big changes - will it need a new mobo? (this one is important), which mobos support penryn?

Any help there would be muchly appreciated.

Secondly, my main rig in sig Ive just noticed it start to really drag when it comes to.. well, almost anything, and seeing as RAM is the main culprit, and DDR is so damned expensive here compared to DDR2, a complete upgrade is needed. No point going AM2 for me atm, for reasons given above, (plus Im impressed at the speed my flatmate's C2D crunches SETI, and encodes dvds) so Ive come to you guys .

Im looking for a reasonably quick fix, so Ive decided to get the E2160 as a "hold me over until new quads come out" chip, but I have no clue as to which mobo to buy? I hear only some support penryn? What about DDR3? Is it needed? Better? should I stick to DDR2? what mobo uses DDR3 and not 2? etc etc. Id like this mobo to last a long time - basically like my mobo in sig when it was the top of the line.. pretty much still is the best 939 mobo anyway for ocing, and thats what Id like - the intel equivalent

Eventually (ie sometime late this year) Ill be popping in a quad penryn, I guess, and will oc the ring out of it until AMD bring something decent to the table, in which case Ill review my position then.

Anyway, theres a lot of questions to be answered, I know, I apologise.. but really, Id like to know 100% what Im getting myself into before I do not only an entire platform upgrade, but an entire architecture/company switch.

Thanks in advance for any help
Careface*

EDIT: Oh, the reason I chose the E2160 is because I hear its cheap and ocs really well.. is there a better alternative? cheers

 

[blackersabbath]

As far as motherboards that support Penryn's go, I believe that both P35 and X38 chipsets support them. I'm not sure about other chipsets. I have the E2160 that you are looking at and I like mine. OC's well and plays well with all the games I want too. As for RAM, I would stick with DDR2 as the price on them is way better than the prices on DDR3. You only get like a 5-10% performance increase from the DDR3 anyway and to me it's just not worth the price now.

 

[Careface]

Ah okay, thanks for the reply. So basically Im looking at any mobo that has either P35 or X38 chipsets, and anything else is just personal preference? Or does a particular board OC well?

Im new to DDR2 - is there anything I need to look out for? My flatmate runs (as far as I can tell) generic 2*1gb DDR2 on an E6400 @ 3.8ghz (h2o cooled) and his system runs smoooooooooooooth. I know I wouldnt be looking at quite the same level of performance as his, but Im guessing the E2160 and 2gb DDR2 will be a fairly huge jump in performance over my 3000+ and 512mb ram, right? xD


Cheers

 

[stdu007]

Hi ... so for the mobo take a look arround abit p35 board as the have ip35-e ip35 and ip35 pro ... if you wanna run in raid take the ip35 if not thake the basic ip35-e ... and for a full fearturing board go with the ip35-pro ... and if you don t mind for abit just take a look to the ds3 serie from gigabyte still some great board ... it's depend what you're doing with ...

 

[gazfocus]

Would you be looking to run 2 graphics cards in crossfire? (Intel chipsets only support crossfire and don't support SLi).

If you are at somepoint hoping to run crossfire, the X38 is the chipset to go with because the P35 has limitations on the PCI-Express. The P35 chipset provides 16 lanes to the first PCI Express slot and only 4 lanes to the 2nd, where as the X38 provides 16 lanes to each. (there is a full review comparing the chipsets here).

As for the board lasting a long time, Intel are changing their sockets after the Core 2 family of processors so it'll never last as a potential long term upgrade solution

 

[Roisen]

P35s seem to be the consensus for overclocking, so that would be a good bet. My board that I bought over a year ago will support Penryn with a bios update, but do some research first before you pick one, just to make sure.

As far as ram goes, It's pretty cheap to max out your operating system. I picked up 2 gigs of DDR2 800 for $30 after MIR, and they're overclocked to 1000 with 5-4-4-12 timings no problem.

Penryns will run on newer boards, and depending on the board, can utilize either DDR2 or DDR3, but like BS said, go with DDR2.

Nehalem will require a brand new board and with utilize only DDR3, And I think they're hoping for a Q3 release. (also, pretty much confirmed octocores with nehalem, with hyperthreading, meaning 16 logical cores!!!! wooooot!)

If you're going to be running dual gfx, then I reccomend the 680i, because it supports SLI, and I honestly can't see why you would want crossfire right now..
The 680i is also a good OCer. My friend did a suicide at 3.8 up from 2.13 on his 6420 (air cooling ftw), and was able to run superpi before it locked up.

 

[sef]

I would recommend that Abit IP35-E if you don't need the most features possible, if you do, the IP35-Pro is nice. For overclocking the IP35-E has performed well for me (details in my sig).

I originally bought a Gigabyte DS3 board and it was dead on arrival (rebooted 3 seconds after start). This has been a constant problem with them, from what I've read, users are returning the boards for this problem and getting replacements that later develop the same constant reboot issue.

As for the chip, the E2180 has performed well for me. For the price its hard to beat, though someone has suggested getting an e4300 on ebay and overclocking that.


** Thanks to MadMan007 for reminding me to explain my problem with the DS3 boards. Here is a threads showing others with the problem I had: http://forums.tweaktown.com/showthread.php?t=25051 **

 

[hokiealumnus]

+1 for anything from the abit IP35 series, depending on the features needed. All of them are great OC'ers.

I wouldn't bother with an X38 board at the present time. All it gets you is basically DDR3, which is outrageously expensive right now anyway.

Just get yourself the P35 board of your choice with some good DDR2-1066 (or PC-8500) RAM and enjoy OC'ing the snot out of it. These C2D/C2Q chips are an overclocker's dream.

I may get yelled at for this, but ignore anything having to do with SLI and Crossfire. The benefit you gain for the cost incurred (in cash and frustration) is not worth it. If you game, get one excellent GPU and be done with it. Additionally, any of the nVidia chipsets will not OC as well as the P35 does.

Good luck to you!

 

[orion456]

Welcome to the Dark Side! It's time to make that CPU SCREAM !

Mobo = ASUS p5k premium mobo.

Memory = Ballistic pc8500 ddr2 memory. (ddr3 is too expensive and adds nothing in speed right now)

Cooling:

Water = Swiftech H20-220 . (ease to install kit, great OCing)

Air = Utra 120 . (slightly better performance than SI-128)

or:

Air = SI-128 . (easiest to add a fresh air intake duct, my preference for air)

 

[w2richwood]

p5k premium would be a kick *** system
Rich

 

[AlabamaCajun]

Totally happy with my GA-P35 in sig. This from a fellow AMD defector .

 

[Shiggity]

Another bump for P35 mobos.

I wouldn't put a brand new wolfdale or yorkfield on an old P35 though. I'd get an x38 just because its newer and will probably OC it faster with more features.

 

[Careface]

Hmm, though Im all sure you will tell me im just being a procrastinator, it just dawned on me. With Nehalem coming out that will apparently be a jump in performance equal to that of A64 -> C2D, wouldnt me building a rig now with a low end 2160 and upgrading to a QPenrynNumberHere be basically like buying a P4 when C2D was about to come out?

I always worry about these things. I dont plan on being on the bleeding edge, but I do want a PC that will be at least considered "well up there" by hardware enthusiasts for some time to come.. and if its going to mean a platform change (or "just" mobo/cpu), then wouldnt it be better to hold off and buy the new platform?

I mean, the specs you suggested Orion here in NZ would cost $188 for the ram, $362 for the mobo, $126 for the HSF (cant buy the h2o kit in NZ, and I cant find anywhere that will ship it internationally, let alone the shipping cost would be xD)... cpu is $107 for the E2160, upgrading that to a penryn.. atm the cheapest penryn is the Q9450 in NZ, thats $607.. so we are looking at basically 1.2-1.3k for a system that would be obsolete in 3Q..

Thoughts?

 

[BoogieMan]

Just jumped off the AMD bandwagon myself and back over to the Intel boys, better faster products for the money.

 

[AlabamaCajun]

Looking forward at Neha, expect to buy a new board to support the IMC. I think Intel may release a 775 version of the Heha but that just a small upgrade to save on older hardware.

 

[Careface]

Looking forward at Neha, expect to buy a new board to support the IMC. I think Intel may release a 775 version of the Heha but that just a small upgrade to save on older hardware.

so AC, would you suggest that I either 1) wait for Nehalem, 2) buy an E2160 and low spec P35 mobo to get some decent OC, buy some cheap DDR2 and then do a balls-to-the-wall upgrade to Nehalem, DDR3 etc etc.. or?

I mean, you've been a pretty big AMD fan and you switched, what do you think I should do? Bearing in mind that money is tight for me being a uni student and all :<

 

[ou_phidelt]

so AC, would you suggest that I either 1) wait for Nehalem, 2) buy an E2160 and low spec P35 mobo to get some decent OC, buy some cheap DDR2 and then do a balls-to-the-wall upgrade to Nehalem, DDR3 etc etc.. or?

I mean, you've been a pretty big AMD fan and you switched, what do you think I should do? Bearing in mind that money is tight for me being a uni student and all :<

There is always going to be something new around the corner. If you need a system now go ahead. A quad penryn based system will last you a while. If you don't and can stand the wait, then hold out until Neha. The new socket will last you longer but it will be more expensive, if for nothing else than the ram. DDR3 will drop in prices but no where near where DDR2 is now. I think we are all going to have to get ready to pony $200-$300 for top notch ram again.

 

[AlabamaCajun]

I think a 2160 Allendale would disappoint you. Unless you start with a 4600, 6550 or 6600 then it won't perform better than what you have other than multi cores. You will need a good board to reach the high FSB needed to get speed from a 2160. It's not as nice as getting a 5000BE and a nice Biostar budget board. I bought the quad for it's power and it cost a bunch to get in on the Intel fray for business reasons and folding. I only spent more on the Phenom because of the boards were high then. I now have a 80 buck board in the mail today for the current phenom until the "bad" Penoms come out. If you have the Dosh, then a E or Q 6600 is the Intel to get but I suggest the P35 boards or extreme X38 to really see some action.

 

[orion456]

I mean, the specs you suggested Orion here in NZ would cost $188 for the ram, $362 for the mobo, $126 for the HSF (cant buy the h2o kit in NZ, and I cant find anywhere that will ship it internationally, let alone the shipping cost would be xD)... cpu is $107 for the E2160, upgrading that to a penryn.. atm the cheapest penryn is the Q9450 in NZ, thats $607.. so we are looking at basically 1.2-1.3k for a system that would be obsolete in 3Q..

Thoughts?

For a student I'd recommend a very economical Q6600 OC'd to 3.0 that will beat an AMD 64 3000+ by a factor of 7x or more, so while it's nice to be on the leading edge, perhaps that's more than enough performance for you at what is going to be a very low price.

q6600 = $275

Mobo = $99

HS = $45

Ram = $71

Total = $490 US

 

[orion456]

For a student I'd recommend a very economical Q6600 OC'd to 3.0 that will beat an AMD 64 3000+ by a factor of 7x or more, so while it's nice to be on the leading edge, perhaps that's more than enough performance for you at what is going to be a very low price.

Here it is in Oz dollars from Oz suppliers:

Q6600 = $333

mobo = $113 Gigabyte DS3L

HS = $56 Plug the other components into the shop bot and voila!

Ram = $110 Corsair pc6400 (good to OC to 3.6 ghz)

Total = $602 Oz bucks.

In a year sell it for $300+, and you haven hardly spent anything for a really powerful system.