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The Right Time for a New Build? (CPU and Mobo Questions Inside)

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by tm36usa, 26 Dec 2007.

  1. tm36usa

    tm36usa What's a Dremel?

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    Hey All,

    My current rig is getting a little long in the tooth these days so I've been looking to start fresh with a new build. And to top it off, my parents decided that the best Christmas present for me was a little piece of paper saying they would pay for my new CPU, Mobo and PSU. Now I’ve been looking around for a few months and reading various reviews to see if this is the right time to take the plunge. Now I know every thing in technology is obsolete the day you buy it and bigger and better things come out the next business day, but I'm still having a hard time deciding if the right time is now. Here are some of my questions.

    I have my eye on a Quad core processor. Now I'm not gonna lie, I'm an AMD fanboy, every single rig of mine has been AMD since the K6-2 days. Right now im on a Skt-939 3000+ Venice and have been happy with the overclock I have been able to achieve. I really would have liked to see the AMD quad cores come and kick intels ass, but sadly that just didn’t happen. I know I will be buying a Q6600 and I've come to peace with it. Now my question is seeing as only the Kentsfield cores are released, how long until Yorkfield and Wolfdale launch? Is it worth waiting for 45nm?

    Now that brings me to my next question, Which motherboard should I go with? I've been reading so many good things about the ABIT IP35 Pro and I was pretty much dead set on that board but then the ABIT IX38 Quad GT came along with its support for the new cores and now I'm not sure if now is the time to upgrade.

    Also a thing to consider is I do plan to overclock this rig on air cooling which is also why I am considering both boards. So to some it up:

    Q6600: Kentsfield or Yorkfield/Wolfdale?

    Mobo: ABIT IP35 Pro or ABIT IX38 Quad GT?

    Build a new PC right now or wait a few weeks?


    Thanks in advance for any responses! Also if you think there is a better option out there please let me know!
     
  2. ryanjleng

    ryanjleng ...

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    ABIT IP35 would be my choice 'cause it is cheaper and IX38 is only in DDR2 with limited performance gain. Go for IP35 and spend the savings on the Graphics instead.

    FSB of 1333 vs 1600MHz is no major improvement considering Q6600 & Q6700 have 1066MHz bus.

    IMHO, 45nm will take sometime coming to town in reasonable quantity to make it priced reasonably. i would personally go for Q6600 and oc it instead of Q6700. the only reason to wait for a few weeks is probably for the price of Q6600 to drop slightly, not worth it i think.

    we're in the mist of DDR generation change. it's either buy the best of this generation can give you, or wait a bit longer and get next gen.

    IX38 is a DDR2 board, so it's not worth thinking about future upgrading.

    Get a minimum of 4GB of premium branded 800MHz or 1066MHz DDR2 even if you're planning on 32bit OS. it is so cheap. :brrr:

    think of it this way... your next upgrade after this rig will be a DDR3 system with 45nm tech, with a bit of luck, maybe 32nm CPU at the end of DDR3.

    happy hunting. :)

    011100100111100101100001011011100110101001101100011001010110111001100111
     
  3. tm36usa

    tm36usa What's a Dremel?

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    Thanks for the reply, few more questions tho.

    DDR2 800 or 1066 from a purely overclocking standpoint. Also why run 4gb even if it is cheap becuase that will mean 4 sticks of ram which is harder to overclock.
     
  4. wyx087

    wyx087 Homeworld 3 is happening!!

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    overclocking? faster is better :)

    as long as your 4 sticks match, it won't be harder to overclock than even 1 stick

    the new 45nm will probably require you to wait until next Feb or later for price to be stable, even so, a good quad core (q9450) will cost the same as when e6700 came out, which is a lot more expensive than current q6600's.
     
  5. oasked

    oasked Stuck in (better) mud

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    Get the Q6600 G0 and the IP35 Pro now - don't bother waiting.
     
  6. heir flick

    heir flick Minimodder

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    ive been thinking about the same sort of upgrade myself and had i my eye on the Asus P5K Premium, but with the rumors of the p45 chipsets coming in January I'm tempted to wait because they may have pci 2.0 and as the graphics card is the component most often changed in my pc then it may well be worth waiting for, because who knows when pci 2.0 will become a necessity
     
  7. ryanjleng

    ryanjleng ...

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    OK, here's the answer in a nutshell...

    Using DIMMs made from different period is usually a bigger problem than Clock Skew, 'cause they most likely will use different ICs and/or with difference PCB.

    Here's the Kung Fu thingy :wallbash:

    technically, yes OC can be a 'bit' challenged at speeds beyond JEDEC 800MHz with all slots occupied. One of the reason is the actual mm distance difference between 1st and 4th slots. That's where tweaking the clock skew comes in.

    Wikipedia: "In circuit design, clock skew (sometimes timing skew) is a phenomenon in synchronous circuits in which the clock signal (sent from the clock circuit) arrives at different components at different times."

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clock_skew

    Clock Skew problem is always there, regardless. That is why the RAM channel-slots are positioned where they are and also why mobo tech support always ask you to swap RAM locations.

    Choose a mobo with DRAM Clock Skew in the BIOS. tweak in the increment of 50ns. there's material on how to do that online.

    here's another small geeky thingy, 'technically' when all slots are occupied the CPU can address and access 4 DIMMs at the same time, giving programs double the memory 'bit-space' juxtaposition 2 DIMMs. It's more significant in 64bit.

    The reason for choosing 1066MHz is that these modules 'usually' have superior ICs and PCB implementation.

    In short, the clock skew effect can be compensated with better DRAM and PCB combo. It actually does not remove the clock skew in any amount, but other factors can improve the signal 'definition'.

    The jewel is the one that has 1066MHz with VDIMM spec at default 1.8-1.85v on the label regardless it's a C4 or 5

    Some 1066MHz C5 dimms are simply hacks of 800MHz C4 versions. You could usually identify these with higher VDIMM requirements. In this case, it's a coin toss and probably make more sense to buy the cheaper one.

    :) IMHO, budget 4x 800MHz C5 works for me 'cause i spend my extra cash on graphics card and big screens.
     

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