Intel vs. AMD

Estuansis,

Yes! I noticed that with Gina's. The computer ran better with the memory at 800MHz than it did at 900MHz. DocTY mentioned that too!

I'm also thinking about going with a GigaByte GA-965P-DS3 instead of the Asus P5N-E SLI. I've noticed a lot of people using an Intel E4300 in them with G.Skill memory having good success, and the 650i Chipset on the P5N-E is a bit "Tweaky and Peaky"! Not enough overlap between the adjustments. I'm sure that future bios revisions will help improve that but I want to try the 965 chipset. Just about the same price too! I've successfully done the P5N-E at 3.0GHz, so I want to try something new and maybe get a better OC!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128012

Let me know what you think!

Happy Computering,
theone

 

Go for it, you have the option to compare them, and I haven't seen many bad reviews with that board, especially not with GSkill RAM.

 

Going on the relative success I've had with that board I'd have to recommend it as one to check out for overclocking.

I might have my E6600 up to 3.2GHz if I'm comfortable with the temps. I plan to keep that board as long as I'm using a C2D system.

 

Sam,

I particularly noticed A. the amount of reviews, and B. the huge jump in it's rating over the last couple of weeks. Nobody's seemed to have any real problems with it for a while now, a far cry from when it was first introduced! In all fainess, that's called the "New Chipset Blues"! LOL! Even some of the complaints seemed a little silly, like the "Color Scheme" not matching anything or complaining that there's no 1394a. Hell, that one he should have checked before he bought it! I don't use it so no big there!

I'm also a bit gunshy about getting a MB that won't do what I want. It took 3 tries with Gina's to get it right and I just don't want to go through that again. Mort81's post made me think about that one a bit. Thanks Marty! I also noticed that most are getting 3.2-3.4GHz out of the E4300 with a minimum amount of fuss! Bodes well for a new build, and everything I learned from my last personal build and the mistakes I made with it are lessons well learned, so it's high quality all the way this time! Nice Thermaltake 500W PS, Good memory, good CPU cooler and excellent drives! Should do just fine! Thanks for the feedback Sam.

Happy Computering,
theone

 

Having used both, you would then be able to make a solid comparison with the two, with the same CPU and RAM I understand? That would be very useful.

 

Sam,

Same CPU but different RAM. I used the XMS cas4 SLI Certified memory on Gina's but I'm going with G.Skill cas4 this time. If I remember rightly I have to drop it to cas5 with timings of 5-5-5-15 for the 965P chipset anyway, and 2 512 sticks are on sale for $85 so why not! No matter what, it should be fun and I might even learn something to boot. I may even keep the Cooler Master case and make the guy buying the old D-940 a better deal for my black one!

Happy Computering,
theone

 

I don't remember hearing that, you might have to loosen the timings initially to get it to POST with both sticks, but I don't recollect the 965 chipset having an impact on latencies. However, I don't use one, so go prove me wrong!

 

FYI

Anyone that's been thinking about a new Intel CPU and putting it off, then some serious price drops have occurred.

The E6600 is now only £146 Inc VAT
E4300 £76 Inc VAT

Not bad for those wnating top performance at reasonable costs.

E4300 now being swapped out for another E6600

 

the egg has the E6600 for $235 now with free shipping. BigDK, let us know how those new E6600's OC. before you yank out that 4300, what are your MIPS at 3.6ghz? I'm just curious.

Russ,

I've heard good things about the latest revision 965 chipset. some even prefer it over the 975. keep us updated.

my memory also performs better at 800mhz than it does up around 900mhz but then again that's where it's designed to run at.

 

Sam,
This is what it says in the specifications.

I remember reading about that when someone on one of the Forums complained about having to change to 5-5-5-15. I think it may have been Soph but I'm not sure. It was quite a while ago.

Mort81,
Thanks, I'll keep you posted. The E4300 and round cables showed up this morning! I can't order anything else until I get paid for this job.

Happy Computering,
theone

 

thats so the e6600 goes up against the 6000+ in the £150 price range.

anybody seen how these 2 compare in performance when head to head?

 

personally I don't know but Ken (DocTY) told me via a phone conversation that when his E6600 was at stock 2.4ghz, even then it walked all over his AMD opty 185 OC'ed to 3.0ghz which is the same clock speed as the 6000+.

 

That doesn't surprise me much, the Core 2 Duo at 1.86Ghz seems to match the performance of a 2.2Ghz X2, so we're looking at perhaps a 20% speed increase with the 2MB cache CPUs. Add the extra benefit of a 4MB version like the 6600, and maybe 30% is attainable, therefore meaning a 2.4Ghz Core 2 can best a 3.0Ghz AMD.

 

By now I'd hope people would have learned there's more to the power of a CPU than just clock speed. AMD proved that the past few years with the lower speed processors walking all over Intel's higher speed Pentiums. Put simply, C2D architecture gets more done at comparable clock speeds than other processors. When speeding up a C2D, the user is simply making a high capacity processor move faster. Running an AMD at the same speeds or even faster doesn't make it capable of doing more work (being faster) than a C2D. It's about more work per cycle as compared to more cycles with less work. Intel took that page from the AMD playbook and went one better.

 

My E4300 is already on eBay now (24 hour sale), it'll be gone by the weekend, I'm away for 2 days so won't get a chance to test it before I have to send it off.

New E6600 already ordered, at least I'll be able to see what the new one has compared to my existing E6600, at the price it is now I couldn't resist.

Even the quad cores are starting to come within range, so when the next set of chips come out, that'll hopefully make a quad affordable.

After buying the phase cooler and spending ££ like it's going out of fashion getting all the extras for my new build, I can't justify paying for a quad yet, hopefully by autumn I'll have one though.

 

some real bench scores for a hd2900xt

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=7043

note the 29xt will be facing off against the 88gts and the 29xtx will go up against the 88gtx

 

And this is a genuine bench this time?
looks promising, but I'm more interested in the XT-X version, as much by its performance as its power consumption and therefore cooler compatibility.

 

The GigaByte GA-964P-DS3 showed up this morning and it's Revision 1.33 which is the absolute latest one. All I need now is memory and a video card and I'll be ready. The free 512 MB memory stick is a flash drive but it's made for usb for cameras and other things. Weird little thing as it's just a tiny inch long stick without any socket. Works fine though. I'll get another one when I order my memory. ChiefValue has some pretty good prices on certain things.

I'm going with either this memory,
http://www.chiefvalue.com/product-_-productdetails.cv_-_item--20-231-087
or this one,
http://www.chiefvalue.com/product-_-productdetails.cv_-_item--20-144-062

the G.Skill is cas4 while the Geil is cas3.EDIT Both are cas4! I just have to find out if it will work in the DS3.

I have a few observations about the Thermaltake WOO93 500w PS. It's very quiet but exhausts some heat inside the case (that clear plastic over about 1/3 of the fan thing) through the side vents so it raises the temps a couple of degrees. The strange thing is that the CPU cooler fan now runs about 2600 RPM, and if you shut it down and then turn it back on after a few minutes, the HSF sounds like an airplane as it runs at 3000 RPM for a minute or so! Weird! Still, this is the quietest PS I've ever had by a bunch!

Happy Computering,
theone

 

I don't know how you can stand it Russ. on my last build, I said I was going to order a little at a time until I had all the needed (wanted) components. well I couldn't stand the wait once the 1st few items showed up. I went ahead and ordered the remainder and used the bill me later option at newegg (3 months same as cash). worked out well as I had everything paid for in 3 months so I didn't pay any interest.

best part was I had my rig up n runnin in 2 weeks from the time I purchased the 1st part instead of 3 months like I was gonna do it.

 

My Freezer 7 Pro's full speed is slowly increasing. When I first got it, max speed was about 2400rpm, it's now up to 2700rpm. Weird. I run it at 900rpm though (minimum PWM speed) and the CPU rarely breaks 50C. Just the Power supply I have to quieten now. Considering swapping my Thermaltake 750 for a Corsair 620.