Alternate CPU Options

[Halo46]

Greetings All,

I hope to take advantage of your combined intellect and knowledge base. Listed below are the components I have put together for my new rig. This is my first build so if something looks amiss let me know as well please. It was my intention to use an Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale CPU with it, but I missed the chance when Tiger Direct and Newegg ran out of stock.

I am looking for an equal/similar alternative option while staying in the same price range or a contact for where to find the E8400 (that is not priced $500.00 as I hope to get a new monitor as well) so I can purchase next month. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks.


Antec 900 case
Intel BOXD975BX2KR LGA 775 Intel 975X ATX Intel Motherboard
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250310AS 250GB 700 RPM SATA 3.0 Gb/s Hard Drive
Ballistix Tracer 240 pin DIMM (with LEDs), DDR2 PC2 5300 memorymodule BL2KIT12864AL663 2 X 2 GBs
GeForce 8800GT superclocked 512MB GRRR3 PCI E Vid card
Sound Blaster X Fi xtremegamer sound card
Windows XP PRO with SP2C OEM
Liteon 52x32x52 CD/DVD Combo Drive
Ultra X-Connect 500-Watt ATX Dual 80MM Fan Titanium-Black UV Clear Sides Modular Power Supply

Currently this will be primarily a gaming computer. I do not about the future.

[Condor]

Intel E6750 appears to the best bang for the buck at $189 (NewEgg).  I'm doing my first buils also and that's whatI will buy unless E8400 CPUs become available at a decent price in the next couple of weeks.

[HomeBoy]

Halo,
I agree with Condor about the 6750.  That's a pretty decent alternative to the 8400.  You could do a 6850 for about the price of an 8400 which is an even better choice for a little more money.

What is your thinking on the Intel mobo?   Are you wanting to keep SLI as a possibility?   Are you wanting X38 so PCI-e 2.0 is there?  If neither of those are that important to you, you might want to look at the Abit IP35 Pro mobo?   It's on rebate right now at newegg for $135.   It gets great reviews and you can't beat that price.  I don't know much about the Intel board.  I've had both Abit and Asus and both of them are great for overclocking.  Overclocking will buy you time down the road.

I would try to talk you into going to a Raptor as a system drive.  I used to do RAID0 all the time and a Raptor is just as good without the complexity of the second drive.  Performance is way greater than a 7200 RPM drive.  Course you could RAID0 two Raptors for some insane performance (I guess, I've never tried that).

That Ballistix Tracer memory is great for overclocking and you can't do better than the GeForce 8800GT.  That Antec 900 is absolutely the best deal on a case you can find.  Your PS might be on the light end of things especially if SLI is in the upgrade path down the road.

Looks like a great system the way it is though.   I'm just making some comments.  If you buy exactly what you've listed you'd have a great system.

Good luck.
-hb

[Halo46]

Thanks guys, appreciate the input. The components have all been purchased minus the CPU. I got the PS for only 29 dollars so figured I would upgrade in the future and SLI is what I am looking forward to in future as well. Rapter sounds interesting, will need to learn more about that. Thanks alot, I will check out those CPUs.

[Dragon]

I'm using the 6750 also due to best bang for the buck, even with Vista Home Pro, it's very quick.  I almost got the Ball mem with the lights, but as I have a closed box, saved the 70 bucks and went without.  I don't know if was my board (ASUS P5nesli) or not but I had problems loading XP with 2 gig of RAM.  Recommend using 1 stick till all programs and updates are installed, then add second. 

[Getback]

Halo,

I use the Abit pro. It seems awfully good for the bucks. I also have the E8400. I purchased it for $211 and it was originally suppose to be for $183 from some artilces I have read. If I were buying today and I had the money I would get the E8400 again. You just wouldn't believe it. It runs cooler than a cucumber and seems to be able to handle the onboard sound with out stuttering. I didn't buy a sound card and I have the best sound I ever had. So put back the sound card and splurge on the chip. If for some reason you need the sound card later you can buy it then.

I saw the chip at a site for $211 but guess what it was sold out.

I really wish you could sit at my computer and play AH. You would be a believer! My kill ratio has improved, my hit % has improved and it's just a lot more fun.

That's all I know and I hoped I helped.

Best wishes on the build.

[Condor]

If only the E8400 were avaialble  Those vendors who don't state up fron that it is out of stock specify a 6 to 12 week delivery time. 

[Getback]

If only the E8400 were avaialble  Those vendors who don't state up fron that it is out of stock specify a 6 to 12 week delivery time. 

I'd wait. It's that good.

[humble]

Thanks guys, appreciate the input. The components have all been purchased minus the CPU. I got the PS for only 29 dollars so figured I would upgrade in the future and SLI is what I am looking forward to in future as well. Rapter sounds interesting, will need to learn more about that. Thanks alot, I will check out those CPUs.

The original "X-connects" didnt come with a PCI-e power connection. Basically they were designed when the AGP standard was in vogue. In addition they have a single 12V 34@ rail with no active PFC. They also didnt have a 24 pin supply to ther MB if I recall (you'd need to check on that). I've owned to ultra PS's and wasnt overly impressed by either. I had one in my gaming box for awhile and literally just tossed it one day on overall "feel"....didnt even bother keeping it for a lesser box.

There are alot of good resonably cheap PS's out there. The lastthing you want to do is toast a good build on a bad choice in power supply. Running a gaming rig on a power supply just because you got it cheap might turn into a $500+ mistake. You can get a good PS for $70 or so...use the X-connect as a doorstop and get something reasonable....just my 2 cents...

[TX58]

 Might try the Xeon E3110. It is supposed to be the exact same chip. http://www.circuitremix.com/index.php?q=node/122

[Getback]

http://www.excaliberpc.com/Intel_BX80570E3110_Xeon_E3110_3.00GHz/BX80570E3110/partinfo-id-584805.html


Found a site that has the xeon 3110. I found several sites that said it is the same as the e8400.

Whew! that took some doing to find it. According to the the site, they have 95 in stock.

[TX58]

 BTW The E3110 is gettin hard to find, as word gets out but, they are currently in stock here http://www.excaliberpc.com/Intel_BX80570E3110_Xeon_E3110_3.00GHz/BX80570E3110/partinfo-id-584805.html

 Whoops Getback beat me to it.

[Getback]

  Tx we found the same site. Makes me feel good about my efforts.

[Halo46]

thanks fellas for all the info and advice. I am going to check them out for sure. Humble, you were talking about the PS, I don't know much about them and used the online power calculater at Newegg, it recomended 450 watts, I will take another look at that.

[Getback]

BTW The E3110 is gettin hard to find, as word gets out but, they are currently in stock here http://www.excaliberpc.com/Intel_BX80570E3110_Xeon_E3110_3.00GHz/BX80570E3110/partinfo-id-584805.html

 Whoops Getback beat me to it.

That would be by a very small fraction of a second. When I posted mine and went back to review it yours was there too.