Upgrade....Best Bang for the Buck

[bruins004]

Aight so I am going to be upgrading my rig #2.
So I am looking to go Dual Core and change the following parts:
Mobo (Looking for SLI or Crossfire board)
CPU
RAM (looking for 2GB)
GPU (Going to upgrade to an 8800GTX or 8800GTS)

So I am now looking for the best bang for the buck.
I am looking to spend around $150 on the mobo, $210 on the RAM and $230 on the CPU.

I was thinking about an C2D E6400 or wait for the E6450s to come out (2MB of L2 cache more) w/ an Asus P5E SLI Board (Nvidia 650i chipset) and OCZ Gold or Platinum RAM (2 x 1GB).

Was wondering if there was another system that was better.

 

[AshenSugar]

boards
sli=tforce 590, check it out, my buddy just got 2(one for him one for his boss) and they overclock GREAT and the package is kickass spely compared to other 590 boards.

crossfire, i would get the ECS board for now, in my exp and that of people i know it seems to be the best bang for the buck, overclock VERY well and has the least issues of any board using the 3200 chipset for am2(not alot at the moment), i have seen it push 465fsb without a swet(beta ecs bios they sent us by request!!!!)

and honestly i would just get a 3800+ x2 and overclock it to 5000+(2.6) or higher(have yet to see one that on a decent board wont do 2.8-3.x gz)

then wait for mid year when the k8l comes out, for gaming you wont se a diffrance between the e6800 and the 3800+@2.6 even with a 8800 card.

the 6*50 chips need new boards/chipsets they use a 1333mhz fsb, also they arent due out till after k8l from what i have been reading(q4 or q4 of this year for the 6*50 chips)

if you game, worrie about video card and ram more then what cpu you get, ocz gold 533 4-4-4-12 1.8v ram will clock to 830+ at 2.2volts!!!!! (its what i have for my 2gb kit)

another SLI board option is the tforce 570(hard to come by because they sell out so fast, egg cant keep them in stock) or the asus msn-sli delux but warrning about the asus board, you need to be willing to use Ketxxx's moded drivers for the audio(after using them its better then my audigy3 by a long shot) and be willing to put up with some bios querks, i have one, its ok, i would rather have the tforce(my 550 is being rma'd), they have less bios problems and better clocking fetures.

personaly i would eather hold off till k8l comes out OR get a temp cpu to hold me over(what i desided to do) because for gaming ur not gonna see the diffrance unless you SLI a couple 8800gt* cards and run at uber high res's(1920 and up) then the diffrance is small.

honestly u got 939 i would just find a dual core cheap to hold me over till mid year when the new stuff comes out then deside what i really wanted to do, by then ram prices will be lower, more boards will be avalable for crossfire and sli , and you will have a better idea aboutt whos chip is gonna be better for you next upgrade!!!!
also by then the r600 and other ati dx10 cards should be out to, again, this would let you choose between more types of hardware then are currently avalable, in the end saving you$$$

my buddy just got an opte 175 for his 939 rig at at stock volts it at 3.1gz, at +.125v he got it to 3.3 using his freezer64 pro(moded with a panaflow fan because he broke the orignal one when he droped the cooler the day he got it )

cheap and effective and saves you from excess expenditures for a while (save that extra $ up and get whatever is top of the bang for the buck heap q2 or q3 of this year!!!!!

 

[bruins004]

Well there is a reason I am doing this.
My mobo in this rig went bad and is now done.
Also, I noticed on my first rig that it is a little slow for time to time.
So I am putting the CPU and RAM in my first rig.

Which means I need to get a CPU/RAM/Mobo for this rig.
I am not really throwing any money at this rig since this is for my b-day.

This was the mobo I was looking at to get (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131142).

As for the 8800 series cards, the CPU does make a difference.
This is bc the CPU bottlenecks the cards, hence a faster CPU, the more performance you get out of the card.

I am not looking to upgrade any parts of this computer for some time (I usually dont upgrade like this).
So I figured I would go close to all out once the new revised C2D comes out (prob. round March).

I am also interested if anything is set to come out anytime around April.

 

[Taz100420]

if you get rid of the RAM you got now, how much?

 

[bruins004]

if you get rid of the RAM you got now, how much?

The only memory I would be getting rid of is the Kingston modules which are 2 x 512mb modules.

I am going to put the OCZ Plat. modules in my other rig since it def. needs more RAM.

 

[Taz100420]

The only memory I would be getting rid of is the Kingston modules which are 2 x 512mb modules.

thats what I meant......you gonna sell them privately or on the net? cause i MIGHT be interested.....

 

[AshenSugar]

the 6*50 chips arent due out for some time, intels still selling the 6*00 chips quite well and isnt gonna put out something to draw away from sales of their top selling line.

soonest i would expect a 6*50 chip is when k8l is ready for market, grab a cheap open box 939 board.
like this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813138248
biostar nforce4 board for 50bucks

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813136165
dfi lanparty UT for 60bucks (ati chipset)

you have the ram, and no matter what core that chip has u should beable to hit 2.5-1.6gz minimum!!! either of these boards will let you take a 3200+ to higher then 3800+ clocks(2.4gz is 3800+) with ease.

full list of boards for 939 with decent chipsets
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...deValue=719:18124&PropertyCodeValue=719:18489

that would be enought to let you hold out till mid year to do your full upgrade, once the new parts come out, why buy a bunch of parts that are gonna be replaced with newer stuff in under 6 months?

grab a new board on the cheap, slap it in and away you go.

if yo go with the same chipset(nforce4) you shouldnt even have to reinstall windows!!!!!
(any nforce4 can be swaped for another nforce4 they use the same drivers)

well thats my advice anyway, i think its silly to buy all new parts so close to when alot of new stuff is due to hit the market, specly when 50-60bucks will get you back up and running!!!!

 

[bruins004]

I could hold out on the CPU with no problem, since I am using gift cards to purchase the CPU.

I am going to be getting the RAM and mobo for my b-day so that may be harder to put on hold, but I have until March to order these items.

The RAM shouldnt be a problem to get early...I am looking into getting some DDR2-800 RAM that is pretty good and around $200.

The mobo shouldnt be a problem to put off since I will just tell the gf to order it.

So when is K8L coming out.
Intel is set to release their new C2Ds end of Jan. with some nice price cuts in Q2 (these cuts drop the E6400 and its new counter part below $200).

As for the DDR RAM I will def. be selling that in March. I dont know the price at this moment, but obviously cheaper than a brand new pair, plus this RAM has only been used for a year (and has never been OCed).

 

[Taz100420]

damn im looking for some now......oh well its cool

 

[AshenSugar]

q2 is when k8l is commin out, maby a bit early since rummors are the yealds are looking to be VERY VERY GOOD!!!!!

ah the things i had read said the 6*50 chips where due later then that and def wouldnt work in current boards due to new fsb specs.
the new allendale chips are due out sooner tho, maby thats what your lookin at, the 4300 and such.

and r600 is due out when vista is on the market, alot of things are VERYY VERY close to comming out, i went am2 because i knew it had a longer upgrade path then 775/c2d(it will run am3 chips as well as am2 chips for exaple)

 

[bruins004]

Yea I will prob. wait on the mobo and CPU, which isnt a problem.

However, I do have to ask for RAM early on.
So what are a few nice DDR2-800 RAM (2 x 1GB kits) that are around $200?

Thanks again.

 

[Wile E]

crossfire, i would get the ECS board for now, in my exp and that of people i know it seems to be the best bang for the buck, overclock VERY well and has the least issues of any board using the 3200 chipset for am2(not alot at the moment), i have seen it push 465fsb without a swet(beta ecs bios they sent us by request!!!!)

Are you reffering to the KA3 MVP Extreme? Cause if so, I don't see how anybody hit 465 with this thing. If this was a recent beta bios, is there a way you could post it for me? Mine won't even hit 300 fsb, regardless of what settings or dividers or multipliers or voltages I use. The ram tops out at 2.1V for me and the CPU tops at 1.4V Severely limits any serious overclocking attempts. The 2 most recent bios updates even got rid of manual Command Rate adjustments. Not to mention the serious boot issues it has above 250MHz fsb. Takes a full minute to post from a cold boot, and it won't post from a restart about 60% of the time. I seriously can't recommend this board to anyone that wants to do some serious overclocking. If you plan to stay stock or near stock, it is a great, feature packed and stable board, however. Again, could you please post or point me to where that beta bios is? lol I'm dying for a better one.

 

[AshenSugar]

i will see if i can get him to send me the bios so i can post it, it has alot of stuff enabled that wouldnt normaly be enabled in a full bios,
the tech hes been working with said that the reasion they have limmited the vcore to 1.4x is that the next gen amd chips are rated at 1.2x volts, and they dont want people blowing them by using to much vcore(same as my asus board...arseholes)

as to command rate, ddr2 is designed to run at 2t, the effect on perf is neglagable at best(tested it myself) unlike ddr1 where 2t has a big perf hit.

it will be this weekend at soonest b4 he gets back to me, his office just got 56 new computers(amd x2 dells) and hes gotta wipe and reinstall them all as well as setup 4 new servers(ah its that time of the year again )
i would request them from ecs but it would take longer then just asking him to send them when he gets the chance.

 

[Wile E]

as to command rate, ddr2 is designed to run at 2t, the effect on perf is neglagable at best(tested it myself) unlike ddr1 where 2t has a big perf hit.

The problem isn't that it runs at 2t. If lower the setting in the bios to anything below 800DDR2, it sets the command rate to 1T. As you can imagine, this puts a serious damper on my overclocking.

I've actually tried to request a beta bios from ECS, and they flat out refused me. Does the beta also do away with the 2.1Vdimm?

 

[AshenSugar]

i will ask, it may not because i duno if the board can do more then 2.1, i would email them every week requesting a bios that fixes your concerns
email tech support, marketing and anybody else whos email you can get, be polite, but keep it up, sometimes u just gotta get the right person to get the results you want.

also may want to look for moded bios or help getting a moded bios with the options you want/need enabled/avalable, try rebleshaven forums or the link, im sure you will eventuly find some help, i know how frustrating support can be, asus is worse then ECS, at least ecs uses stuff u can get drivers for dirrectly and at least they respond to email requests for bios and such, asus has retured one out of 20+ emails i have sent requesting things for his board!!!!!!(thing retails for over 140bucks.....)

 

[bruins004]

Hey Ashen,

This is what I was talking about with the C2D chips (http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=22099).

I also heard that K8L is not being released until later this year around end of 3rd quater?

 

[Deleted member 3]

Best bang for the buck and you mention an 8800? The latest most expensive card never has been the best bang for the buck. x1950 and 7900GT are currently the sweet spots as far as I know.

 

[bruins004]

Best bang for the buck and you mention an 8800? The latest most expensive card never has been the best bang for the buck. x1950 and 7900GT are currently the sweet spots as far as I know.

I meant best bang for the buck for the other parts.
I am only getting an 8800 since it was a gift (a nice X-mas gift ).

Still need the RAM/Mobo and CPU, but going to wait for the new line of AMDs and C2Ds to come out. I know the C2Ds are suppose to be out soon ( a few weeks), but when are the new AMDs coming out?

 

[bruins004]

I have just looked it up and saw that the E6600 is dropping down to the low $200s and that the new chips to replace the E6400 and E6300 will be bellow $200.

Price drops are always welcome
Anyways, I see that the K8L chips are due out sooner than Q2 so I guess I will wait a little bit longer.

Anyways, while I wait what is some nice DDR2 800 RAM to get for this system.

Also, one more question, how much performance gain would you recieve by having a chip with the FSB at 1333 mhz instead of 1000mhz? For example have a look at this (http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=605&p=0)

 

[AshenSugar]

its sposta be by mid year the k8l will be out, also by then ddr2 prices will be even lower, im gonna grab a 2nd 2gb kit when that happens!!!!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813138248
just grab this 50$ board and use ur curren chip overclocked for now, it should easly reach 2.5 gz if its a newcastle, if its venice then 2.8, wait a few months and see what comes out and whats avalable.
your 3200+@2.5 will be plenty to power the 8800 for gaming, sure it wont break any records but then again, you would need to overclock an x6800 to break records

 

[bruins004]

I would prefer to get the DDR2 800 for my b-day since I dont have to pay for it. Free beats anything, even if the price gets lower.

So what is some nice DDR2 800 RAM (2 x 1GB) kits?

 

[AshenSugar]

brands i would go with are
gskill
pqi
patriot
adata

lower on the list are ocz corsair and the like, to much$ for what u get unless its on sale.

rules to picking a good kit are easy

you want 4-4-4-12 timings at 1.8volts at default rated speed/clocks, this will let you overclock the ram easly with a small volt boost!!!!!

 

[Wile E]

brands i would go with are
gskill
pqi
patriot
adata

lower on the list are ocz corsair and the like, to much$ for what u get unless its on sale.

rules to picking a good kit are easy

you want 4-4-4-12 timings at 1.8volts at default rated speed/clocks, this will let you overclock the ram easly with a small volt boost!!!!!

I have yet to see a kit that will actually do 4-4-4-12 at 1.8V and 800MHz. Please point me in the proper direction if such a kit exists.

 

[AshenSugar]

seen a few, egg site wont load for me at the moment, think its a dns thing OR their sites locked up*grummbles* i miss cable.....

according to jdec specs ddr2 needs to run at rated speed with 1.8volts to truely beable to support that setting, and i KNOW that egg had at least 2 kits that where capable of it, tho they may nolonger have them listed for some reasion.

check with gskill and patriot and corsair those are the brands i seem to remmber having kits that could do it!!!

 

[Wile E]

seen a few, egg site wont load for me at the moment, think its a dns thing OR their sites locked up*grummbles* i miss cable.....

according to jdec specs ddr2 needs to run at rated speed with 1.8volts to truely beable to support that setting, and i KNOW that egg had at least 2 kits that where capable of it, tho they may nolonger have them listed for some reasion.

check with gskill and patriot and corsair those are the brands i seem to remmber having kits that could do it!!!

The lowest voltage I found for a CAS4 800MHz kit is 1.9V. The only 1.8V kits were CAS5.