Author Topic: conroe and an upgrade (Read 1098 times)

Krusty · « **Reply #15 on:** April 14, 2007, 12:44:54 AM »

Tigger, thanks for the little testimonial. I think I'll see if I can't swing it so I can get less CPU but more RAM as you mentioned.

Krusty · « **Reply #16 on:** April 14, 2007, 06:20:48 PM »

D'OH!!!

Checked my mobo manual. Only supports 2GB max (so a 1x2GB stick is worthless), but it also only supports up to 667/533.

At first I was thinking of purchasing this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231087

but that's 800mhz. It's one of the few that sports 4-4-4-12 timings.

In the PC5400 667mhz range I found this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820609219

and it comes with heat spreaders (what I want) but it's doesn't list the timings it runs at. Has anybody ever heard of "super talent"? On the plus side, it's considerably less expensive. It's got some pretty sad reviews.

Looks like the next acceptable one up on the list jumps back to what the G.Skill 800mhz cost,

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820141211

at the same timings (4-4-4-12), it also has heat spreaders but comes from pqi, a brand of which I have little knowledge.

questions:

1) How important are the timings? Will 4-4-4-12 be noticably faster in reducing hitches/stutters than 5-5-5-15 and higher ones?

2) will 800mhz "clock down" to 667 even if it doesn't advertise that it can do so? Or should I specifically get 667 to avoid any problems with my mobo?

Fulmar · « **Reply #17 on:** April 14, 2007, 10:44:23 PM »

Answers:

1) Yes, 4-4-4-12 is a good improvement over 5-5-5-15. Can't give you numbers off the top of my head but from my experience from what I've seen, lower timings are worth it.

2) Yes 800mhz will clock to 667 or 533, whatever. $135 is a great price for that g.skill as I paid $220 3 months ago for almost the same thing.

3) Avoid pqi like the plague.

Krusty · « **Reply #18 on:** April 14, 2007, 11:03:35 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Fulmar
Answers:

1) Yes, 4-4-4-12 is a good improvement over 5-5-5-15. Can't give you numbers off the top of my head but from my experience from what I've seen, lower timings are worth it.

2) Yes 800mhz will clock to 667 or 533, whatever. $135 is a great price for that g.skill as I paid $220 3 months ago for almost the same thing.

3) Avoid pqi like the plague.

I'm glad you mentioned that last one

It was my primary choice for a little while (right up until I read this).

Schutt · « **Reply #19 on:** April 15, 2007, 05:22:01 AM »

E4300 is the start of what will be the low cost conroe familiy, has no virtualisation and is slower than E6300 but not much.

The budget family will eventually go off with less cache mem, but i think they didnt so far and probably wont eaven be sold before the next family of conroes. Intel anounced another price cut in end of april i think.

Krusty · « **Reply #20 on:** April 15, 2007, 02:52:16 PM »

Hrm.... Maybe I can wait to the end of the month, then?

I don't know how long it'll take to get my tax returns, either.

I'll see how long I can wait before getting impatient

Fulmar · « **Reply #21 on:** April 15, 2007, 03:38:47 PM »

Off the top of my head, April 23rd is the Intel price drop. It's going to be significant, so it is definantely worth waiting for.

Krusty · « **Reply #22 on:** April 20, 2007, 03:29:54 PM »

I hope you're right about that one

I might snag the ram while it's cheap, because you never know when the price'll jump! I've got a pair of 1GB sticks lined up at about $115 (USD). If the CPU price drop is sometime next week then I think I'll just get them together. If it doesn't drop I might just get the RAM and wait for newegg to drop their prices.

Skuzzy · « **Reply #23 on:** April 20, 2007, 03:45:08 PM »

Actually, I think it is 4/22 when Intel announces the new prices. And from what I have gathered, they are only lowering the upper end prices. The low end Conroe's may stay about the same.

Krusty · « **Reply #24 on:** April 20, 2007, 04:37:55 PM »

Awww...

Well, I'll wait and see, anyways. Maybe the 6400 will drop a bit so I can get it instead of the 6300

Krusty · « **Reply #25 on:** April 23, 2007, 09:28:56 AM »

The 6300 and 6400 dropped about $15, but the 6600 and the 6700 dropped quite a bit (and consequently are now sold out on NewEgg -- happened rather quickly, to boot!)

I'll probaly put the order in soon. Price drop helps me justify it to the family

Irwink! · « **Reply #26 on:** April 23, 2007, 10:55:13 AM »

I just looked at Newegg and they're listing the 6700 @ $515. That's not the new price is it?

Krusty · « **Reply #27 on:** April 23, 2007, 11:03:23 AM »

Wierd... I checked it earlier today and it wasn't that much. It was also sold out!

They must have just got a shipment, bumping the price back up, because now there's a couple new CPUs out there!

You know the E6300, now there's the E6320. The -20s have the 4MB cache on the chip, instead of 2MB. I heard they were going to put the 4MB on the lesser chips, but I didn't know it would be so soon. There's also a E6420 with the same feature.

The -20s have the same price the -00s had previously. The -00s are now about $15-20 less.

Since these just came out today, my question is:

Is there any difference in performance between 4MB and 2MB cache on the E6300 chip?

Fulmar · « **Reply #28 on:** April 23, 2007, 11:24:30 AM »

My friend is looking at building a new system and on Saturday I checked the prices on Newegg and it seems they were lowered already. They had the E6600 for $230, when I built mine in January the E6600 was $320 something and my E6400 was about $221.

Fulmar · « **Reply #29 on:** April 23, 2007, 11:27:19 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Krusty
Is there any difference in performance between 4MB and 2MB cache on the E6300 chip?

I couldn't find the article on the internet but when I was researching my computer I was debating between the 4mb E6600 and the 2mb E6400. In the test they overclocked the E6400 to the stock speed of the E6600 and found very small differences in the test they did. At the end of the article they suggested the E6400 fits the bill just fine and you could save $ by a medium overclock to the E6600 speed.