Go with Phenom II or not?

[boomstik360]

Oh okay, let me find you a good heatsink

 

[mtosev]

i OC my E6600 to 3.1GHz on a stock Intel cooler. 700Mhz on a stock cooler is not bad.

 

[HammerON]

It is a small upgrade price ($30.00 to $60.00) to help protect your CPU

 

[boomstik360]

Actually get Brooksyx's S1283 for 300 shipped with the backplate

A quad core is a whole different story with overclocking on stock HS&F....

I once overclocked an e2180 a full 1.1ghz on stock cooling lol. A quad though, not gonna happen. Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaybe on stock volts but I would rather be safe with a good cooler.

 

[inferKNOX]

Hi everyone, as you can see, this is my 1st post.
I've been reading news here on TPU for quite some time now and decided to finally join the forum.

Ok CDdude55, it looks like these guys are leading you astray. I had a 8600GT until Feb this year so sort of can tell how you're feeling graphics wise.
What all these guys are telling you about CPU is not really relevant at all, unless you're playing a game the is very heavy on CPU (even for World in Conflict, which is CPU heavy, yours is just fine).
I've never overclocked either, but so far as I can tell, the riskiest thing is increasing voltage, and otherwise it's just sometimes tedious and can be unstable until you set it just right. I've just ordered a new CPU, RAM, M/B, GPU & Monitor (the stuff in my specs), but only because I managed to sell my old stuff (Core 2 Duo E8500, A-DATA DDR2-800 2x2GB, MSI P45-8D, PowerColor 4850 PCS+, SAMSUNG 2333SW) at a price that covered the new. I too was/am reluctant to go to high end because of price, heat and noise.

I can tell you that the PowerColor 4850 PCS+ (Homepage, Newegg (only Open Box Left), TPU-review) was the quietest card I ever owned. Also, 48xx are know to run hot, but this card keeps at 46°C-66°C for a card whose stock are 80°C-90°C, so it's pretty good. The card gave me about 70+fps in GRID (ultra graphics level @1920x1080), 30fps in World in Conflict (high, same res), I forgot BioShock, but is was Good. Sure 4890 is the best from ATI (single GPU), but I sincerely don't think you need that much + I'm hearing reports of noise, power heaviness and heat all over; same story on the nVidia side btw.
I think if you really want to see how insanely good games can get, and you have a budget and are generally realistic on getting good stuff at a good price, as opposed to simply cheap stuff, then buy the PowerColor 4850 PCS+ and the SAMSUNG 2333SW (Homepage, Amazon [cheaper than Newegg]). Why that monitor? Well I notice that graphics cards actually perform better for 1080p than lower resolutions in some case, ie the card actually performed better at 1920x1080 than on my prior 22" with 1680x1050 + this monitor has tonnes of good reviews, is HD for the price of 22" and is just excellent quality. Before purchase I research a lot coz I'm on a very tight budget.

That'd be better than dumping all your cash into a 4890 + you'll be in HD with a great monitor. Not to mention that fact that ATI is releasing the 5xxx series soon, which will drop all prices, so it's no use going for more than you need now. It'll give you leeway to saving up for a 5xxx series card then having a good screen to use it on.
I hope this letter, lol, hits the nail on the head for you.

 

[Meecrob]

overclocking is part of the fun, and honestly clocking core2 chips is cake from what i have seen and dosnt take much of a volt boost, as long as you keep the volts in the safe range your fine.

I mostly clock amd, and I can tell you this, its fun, and its not hard as long as you follow some simple rules(depends on you chip/board k8 and k10 are quite different to clock) main rules are the same across both amd and intel, STAY IN SAFE VOLT RANGE FOR YOUR CHIP.

having a chip thats capable of far higher clocks even at stock volts and not clocking it should be considered a crime

 

[inferKNOX]

overclocking is part of the fun, and honestly clocking core2 chips is cake from what i have seen and dosnt take much of a volt boost, as long as you keep the volts in the safe range your fine.

I mostly clock amd, and I can tell you this, its fun, and its not hard as long as you follow some simple rules(depends on you chip/board k8 and k10 are quite different to clock) main rules are the same across both amd and intel, STAY IN SAFE VOLT RANGE FOR YOUR CHIP.

having a chip thats capable of far higher clocks even at stock volts and not clocking it should be considered a crime

Yeah, I've heard... well everyone say that. I'm going to be overclocking my new stuff. And found a thread for my motherboard and CPU to learn all about it. I agree, within safe voltages is indeed "safe". I plan to juice out about 20% extra out of the 955BE, ie boost if from 3.2 to 3.84GHz.

CDdude55, I think you also should think about learning about how to overclock your mobo and CPU and try it out. You should think about a good cooler first though. I hear everyone talking about the Thermalright TRUE because you can strap on other fans to it, so when one dies, you can just replace it easy. I like my Nirvana NV120 though and I hear it matches the TRUE in performance but I'm gonna be in trouble when my fan packs up.
If you're scared of lifespan decrease from overclocking, that's why I advise a good cooler, I'm told it's heat that kills lifespan, not overclock.

EDIT: btw, not even a hello or welcome from anyone. :'-( *cry* *sob*

btw, the TRUE 120 seems to have vanished and people are saying the XIGMATEK HDT-RS1283 matches it in performance, is cheaper, looks like it + has a fan.
I think the Thermalright TRUE Black 120 is nice though, I love HS with Black Nickel Plating.
Definite options, should you want to OC.