Dual Core or Conroe?

[MitaPi]

The Processor I am buying is a 3.4Ghz Dual Core for my new SLI mobo.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819116240

BUT, I have heard that the conroe is the way to go and not the Dual Core. WHICH if I bought a conroe, I would have to buy a new (non sli) mobo to use the conroe since my mobo right now isnt compatible (as I understand it). I sacrafice a 3.4 dual core processor and a SLI compatible rig for the lowest and cheapest of the conroes (since they cost more than I can afford already). So what should I do? I can only afford a cheap conroe and the corresponding non sli mobo. But if I go with the 3.4 Dual Core... I will have a great processor and a way better mobo.

-FYI-
I am going for a gaming rig in case that helps.

[Silenced_Coyote]

Well, it all comes down to cost. Not only would you need to buy a new motherboard, you will need to buy new RAM since you won't be able to use your old DDR ones, unless you get one of those unique motherboards that can use Conroe and DDR instead of DDR2. You would have to forfeit SLI since that feature on a motherboard is costly. Who knows, we'll have to see when the 590 SLI chipsets come out and see what the pricing will be.

You might be able to sell your old parts on Ebay and make some money to pay towards a new motherboard.

[Illusion]

i have no clue what you are talking about. first of all, all conroe chips (AKA core 2 duo) are dual core. have you bought your CPU yet. if not dont the core 2 duo's are much better and over clock like there is not tomorrow. and what mother board have you bought. because alot of newer 775 socket mobos support conroe. second you should not go sli now seeing as soon there are going to be DX10 cards out and your 2 sli cards are going to be usless in the new dx10 games coming out.

so to rap it up buyign that chip would be a wast. i sugest this cpu http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115005
and this mobo http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813127004

both in your price range. and you should hold off on video cards untill dx10 comes out. if you cant wait i sugest a 7600gt for now then upgrading.

[MitaPi]

ok.. so lets put it this way for now. I have two Geforce 7600GS 512MB and a 3.4 dual core. Which are all water cooled so I am thinking of oc'ing them. Is it really THAT big of a difference where what I have wont get the job done as well as having that conroe and lets say a Geforce 7800? I hear what people say about the conroes but it all sounds like a fad to me because everyone is pumped up about it because its new and better than the first dual cores. Is it really THAT MUCH better to sacrafice what I have?

[Slug Toy]

now, you and i have had a rather lengthy discussion about this. still not listening?

the conroe line up IS that good. id say this processor http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115003 and that abit motherboard that illusion linked are a good combo for the price. granted, the CPU there is a little overpriced... being a new release and all, but ill bet it will go down in a while.

if you are going to buy something new either way... conroe is the better investment by far. dont get a 7800 though... that particular GPU has kind of taken a backseat and is definitely a waste of money. it IS worth waiting for the new generation of GPU's.

if you already bought that 3.4GHz pentium D and the two 7600's... it was a mistake, but it may be too late now.

as an afterthought, if you pair up a conroe rig with ram like this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146119 or this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146114.... holy crap. the 1000MHz frequency and the 4-5-4-11 timings are about the best ive seen. those apparently use the infineon D9 chips which are "capable" of up to 2.9V. that ram would either scale up to 1200+MHz, or could probably drop the timings even further than they are right now.

you COULD have a real monster with a conroe and that mushkin ram.

[MitaPi]

The processor does what I want. The conroe could do what I want but faster. That said... the conroe is great. But a 3.4 Dual Core isnt automatically a pos. Maybe somewhat when you compare the two. But as I see it.. the dual core processor is a step down from the conroe. Not an entire staircase down. Okay, that discussion is over. Now for the GPU's. Ive heard alot of not so great things from these GPU's. BUT, they are in my price range and as far as that goes.. I think they are the next best thing without going over 300 bucks per gpu. But like I said... I've heard some not so great things with these gpu's. I even had a person tell me that I should buy a lesser card instead of this one. So change of topic... I havent bought them yet but I am still planning on it unless someone can change my mind about them. And keep in mind.. you cant change my mind if you go over $135.00 per card. Theres no way I can afford anything better so I just plain out wont do it. IF I could afford a 7800GTX OC'd I would buy it. But I cant.. so if someone could find a card that is BETTER or JUST AS GOOD as the 7600GS for 135 a piece then please do so.


EDIT:
also.. lol sorry slug toy.. I'm prob driving you completey insane :P. But I have my point I think with this post. For the price... the 3.4 dual core with an SLI compatible board is fantastic and will play most likely any game I throw at it. I say that because my ATI Radeon Xtasy 300SE plays oblivion at medium setting without glitching and it plays FEAR great too.

[qoou]

conroe. no questions asked.

[MitaPi]

conroe. no questions asked.

Conroe cost to much. If I buy it I will have to buy pretty much everything else too. Which in the end... COST WAY TO MUCH. I could save up untill I have enough you say? Nope, cant do that either. My rig is costing me 1200 big ones just for the basics. I dont even get to do what I wanted to originally do. BUT... it will still be a KAS (Kick A** System) when I am done. EVEN WITH only a small and outdated pos like the Dual Core 3.4Ghz processor. This thread seems kind of pointless now but at least I know that the conroe truly is what people say it is. Now back to the topic I wanted to discuss... the two Geforce 7600GS 512MB Water Cooled GPU's. Whats wrong with them and why shouldnt I buy them? Keeep in mind that if your reason is more costly that 135 dollars I wont even pay attention to it. No offense or anything. 1200 bucks + no car = pos. (even though it will play any game I can possibly think of and perform any operation I can think of. Especially since I am upgrading from a single Xtasy 300se and 2.8 w/ HT to a dual gpu and 3.4 dual core. I mean holy cow.. 2.8 single core to a 3.4 dual core?? I'll notice so much difference that I wont ever think about the conroe again. :P) SO! lol rambling on is a bad thing I know. Can someone just find me a freaking video card for 135 bucks that is just as good or better than the 7600GS? Thanks :D

[Silenced_Coyote]

I would personally rather get one card than go SLI with those 2 cards. I like the 7900 GT.

Oh, the 7600GS has a memory interface of 128-bit which is going to hurt your performance. Also, the 512 MB of memory won't do much better compared to 256 MB.

Maybe instead of water cooling, you could use the money towards the graphics cards.

[Slug Toy]

actually... i would stay away from nvidia for the simple fact that they still cant do HDR and antialiasing at the same time. ati can do that, and its been pretty well proven that an x1900xtx can beat the 7900's. i think a 7950 is out of the question, so we dont need to worry about the fact that the 7950 will beat an x1900.

i dont know about the x1600 vs the 7600 performance wise, but there is still the advantage of HDR and antialiasing with the x1600. the price is pretty good too... i think the x1600xt was about $150. i think the 7600 is a little more than that.

ill look into that stuff a little more... seeming as your mind is set on the pentium D... last month's poster child.

[MitaPi]

actually... i would stay away from nvidia for the simple fact that they still cant do HDR and antialiasing at the same time. ati can do that, and its been pretty well proven that an x1900xtx can beat the 7900's. i think a 7950 is out of the question, so we dont need to worry about the fact that the 7950 will beat an x1900.

i dont know about the x1600 vs the 7600 performance wise, but there is still the advantage of HDR and antialiasing with the x1600. the price is pretty good too... i think the x1600xt was about $150. i think the 7600 is a little more than that.

ill look into that stuff a little more... seeming as your mind is set on the pentium D... last month's poster child.

lol Thanks Slug Toy. I owe you one. But did we need that last part about the poster child? :D Oh well, at least I'm not upgrading to a say... Pentium 4 3.2 w/ HT! :p I think you would probably hunt my skinny ass down and beat me! ^_^

[Slug Toy]

ok i checked things out a bit and this is my conclusion:

7600gt vs x1600xt- they are both crippled by a 128bit interface. they both have 12 pipelines, but the x1600 has 3 shaders per pipeline. the x1600 has a higher core frequency, and the HDR + antialiasing advantage. winner=1600 in my mind. its cheaper for another thing.

for the heck of it... x1800xt vs 7800gtx- 1800 has 512MB of ram, 7800 has 256. HDR + antialiasing for 1800, not 7800. its been proven many times in the past that the 1800 is better, plus its cheaper too.

so thats what i think, and thats what the numbers say. if you go with ati, get a sapphire card. they have some sort of preferred vendor deal and their cards are almost always the cheapest.

[MitaPi]

OKay... I did my research too. I AM SO GOING WITH A X1600XT 256MB GDDR3! Now heres my question.... can I have dual X1600XT's??? CUZ THAT WOULD BE AWESOME! Here is the link.. I picked out a vivo one on purpose by the way. As I understand VIVO.. I can have my satelite sent to my computer via dongle!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814121548

[Silenced_Coyote]

It is great that you settled on a pair of graphics cards, but don't you own an SLI motherboard?

[MitaPi]

Not anymore.. I have decided to get this. Its 50 bucks more than what I originally wanted to pay.. but who can say no!?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813135004

NOW! I can have dual X1600XT with vivo! :D

[Silenced_Coyote]

I wonder if you can get the Asus graphics card and pair it up with the Sapphire one. That way, you get the VIVO from the Asus and you can save some money by getting the Sapphire. (This was probably a stupid question buy I am not familiar with Crossfire at all)

[MitaPi]

Thats makes two man.. lol I know nothing about crossfire.. all I know is that I need this new mobo to have it. I think thats it though.

[Silenced_Coyote]

Of course I know that makes 2. Weren't you originally thinking about 7600GT in SLI but now decided on X1600XT in Crossfire?

[MitaPi]

I was thinking of the 7600GS with 512MB GGDR2.... I have been enlightened though thanks to slug toy! We might not agree on things.. but I will admit. He is a smarter man than I. ^_^ Thanks again slug toy for finding me that card. Well.. not THAT card.. but you led me to it! :D

Edit:
And yes.. I am now getting the crossfire ready X1600XT with Vivo Technology. As for buying ONE vivo and one non vivo... that is a great idea actually. lol I think I heard somewhere on the net that that would work. But I dont want to risk it. That and I trust asus like mad.

[Slug Toy]

for the record... i dont know either. i know nvidia added mixed vendor support for SLI, but i havent kept in the loop for the catalyst drivers. i suppose i should look into that.

[MitaPi]

So much information and so little time! Gotta love the mod scene! ^_^

[Silenced_Coyote]

You are on a budget right? (I think I read that somewhere in your other threads) I was just wondering which DDR2 RAM are you going to buy. I am pretty sure that you won't need water cooling blocks for them. You can save $100.

[Illusion]

you defintly dont need ram blocks. i dont even think THW top of the line over clockers use ram blocks they are just out there for you to spend money

[.Maleficus.]

Yeah, I'd just get a fan blowing on them. But the waterblocks do look mighty sweet...

[Silenced_Coyote]

I think the fans from your case will be more than enough to cool your RAM.