Help in CPU choice !!!!

P

Peppercorns

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Hey guys,

As you've probably assumed, i'm looking into getting a new CPU. Intel to be exact. ;)

Ya ya, i know your all gonna say Core 2 Duo.....but the thing is, my motherboard doesn't support it and i got this mboard only like 2 months ago, just before the Core 2 came out. :mad:

Anyway, I've got an ASUS P5ND2-SLI Deluxe mboard which has a LGA775 CPU slot. In my view, it looks like i have to go for a Pentium D, can anyone recommend any to me and a cheap place to buy one. :o

Thanx in Advance
 
Don't know what AMD has to do with anything, but you can try the Prophecy shop. They have P4D's and you should beable to get 940 maybe 950 for a good price :)
 
IMO, rather save a little and get a new motherboard and CPU, that way you won't have to spend money on a chip which is already behind, and will have to be replaced a whole lot sooner, along with the motherboard anyway.

Otherwise you don't really have a choice, and can only get a Pentium D, in which case I'd suggest get the fastest one you can.
 
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Budget Technologies has stock of the Pentium D 954 3.4 2x2mb L2 cache for R1799.
 
nGAGEd55 is propably right, imo. Rather get a new mobo. The PeniumD is not a very good cpu. Not only outdated, but even in its prime, it was not rated very well.
 
JayT said:
If you're going to be buying a new motherboard and cpu, you might as well consider the AMD options. Check out the benchmark tests and comparisons to the Intel chips. AMD comes out tops.

http://www.gamepc.com/labs/view_content.asp?id=a64x2&page=6
Click to expand...

Dude, there are no Intel Core 2 Duo processors on that benchmark, they are currently better than AMD X2's, they start from R1700 and even the 1,83GHz model beats the Pentium D 3,4GHz and AMD 4200+ in most things...
 
I guess it does help looking at the newer benchmarks *g*. A more uptodate comparison. Intel has some decent Core 2 Duo cpus but the price is a bit ridiculous - R3000 for the E6600 and R2165 for the E6400:

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2014646,00.asp

"It's clear that Intel's Core 2 Duo lineup offers superior performance across the product line when compared with AMD's Athlon 64 X2. In some applications, even a lower-cost Core 2 Duo can outperform some of the higher-end Athlon 64 X2s.

In other applications, it's not so clear. For many users, adequate performance is "good enough," and the lowest-cost solution may be optimal in those cases. AMD's Athlon 64 X2 3800+ certainly offers great value, at under $160, and even the 4200+ can be found for under $200. However, the overall "sweet spot" seems to be the two midrange Intel CPUs—the Core 2 Duo E6400 and E6600. The E6600 offers a higher clock rate and larger L2 cache, while the E6400 can be found for well under $250. At the rarified high end, the Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 is simply in a class by itself. If you're willing to blow over $800 for a processor, then going a couple hundred bucks more doesn't seem quite so extreme."
 
dont buy a cpu now dude

means you'll never get conroe

rather spend the money on a conroe board and save up for for a conroe

or sell your stuff

dont buy pentium D!!!!!
 
killadoob said:
dont buy a cpu now dude

means you'll never get conroe

rather spend the money on a conroe board and save up for for a conroe

or sell your stuff

dont buy pentium D!!!!!
Click to expand...

A simple solution for anyone now is!
Buy an Asus P5PE VM which runs the new conroes on an 865G chipset with pleasure, right up to the extreme 1046 FSB!
That is the cost of the selected conroe chip +- R550-R750 for the board

This makes sense if you already have a potent AGP graphics card and some spec DDR 400 RAM, The higher spec the better.

That is what I am running now and the difference and performance is acceptable! Later You can upgrade the board to a better Conroe performer and the RAM to better DDr2 or DDR3 and chuck a Pentium D in this board with value ram and either sell it or use it as second system. New boards is coming to show very soon that makes best of the conroe! A Very versatile and adaptable stepping stone to gain conroe performance NOW without spending the big bucks

PS if you are an overclocker this solution will not work as the board do not have many overclock features. Me think Asus removed the 14x multiplier from bios deliberately as it would have killed the marked for the higer end new boards!
 
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I've decided to wait for Xmas, and buy the Core 2 duo E6600 processor with what i've saved up...i can then get my mom to get me the motherboard for Xmas. ;) Hopefully the prices should drop by then. :)

I was actually saving up for a nice DX10 card, but i decided that i might aswell save up till mid 2007 when the top DX10 cards should be out...

Thanks for the suggestions in any case ;)
 
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