X2 4800+ or the new Conroe processors

[Valkyrien]

If you want the value solution, the AM2 Athlon X2s are the way to go. For sheer power though, all indications are that the new Intel chips will mop the floor with the current Athlons. So, depending on budget, you might want to wait for the Conroes :)

[validusername]

You should always listen to Valkyrien, because these godnesses were those who dicided which of the dead died as heroes...according to old Scandinavian religion. :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valkyrie

We are lucky to be able to choose the AMD x2 cpu´s as the budget alternatives. Yes, the Conroes are definately better IMO, but they are more expensive and so are their mobos. So it just depends on your needs and your budget what is more sensible choice.

I´m thinking of buying S939 X2 3800+ and a mobo, because it´s cheap (around 200 euros for the cpu and the Asus nforce 4 mobo) and I have 2GB of PC3200 ram that I could use, otherwise the X2 socket is a better choice.

It appears that the Conroes overclock better than the AMDs, so if you intend to o/c then the Conroes might be a hands down choice.

[eujin]

Valkyrien - thanks for your advice. Would you please tell me if i were to go for the conroe chips while model would be a more advisable choice and for the mobo too ?

validusername - thanks for your comments too ...could you please tell me whats the difference between the X2 Sockets and the s939 sockets? Even with the death date stated by AMD for the X2 is it still advisable to go for them? *lost*

Thank you for all your replies ... it will be of great help to me on deciding which stup to go for...


cheers!

[Szos]

I am shocking myself when I write this (since I am a huge AMD fan), but Conroe seems to be The Processor - for the time being. I just read a review in MaxPC of the Core2 Extreme X6800 CPU and the speed difference wasn't just 5 or 10%.... in one benchmark it was closer to 70% faster!! :eek:

That really is unheard of. Now the issue is though, that those were benchmarks, so how these chips handle real life applications is still up in the air.

I just can't wait to see what AMD comes up with to counter.

If you have the money, and you need to buy now, then I would go Intel.

[cpan]

validusername - thanks for your comments too ...could you please tell me whats the difference between the X2 Sockets and the s939 sockets? Even with the death date stated by AMD for the X2 is it still advisable to go for them? *lost*

no, they anounced the death of the 2x1MB cache X2s, the 2x512Kb X2's still remain on the market. And they did this cause it reduces the manufacturing costs at nearly half and the production capacity increases as well a lot. Taking in acount that the difference between 512Kb vs 1Mb X2s is roughly 2-4%, this is a really good deal :)

The main difference between skt AM2 and 939 is that the AM2 uses DDR2 (wich is as fast as the 'old' DDR1 but consumes less energy), the AM2 cpu's OC better and also with AM2 you have an upgrade path to Quad K8L next year ;)

get an

Asus M2N mobo
X2 5000+ (rougly same as fast as the Conroe E6600, but it's cheaper :))
2GB DDR2 800 (4-4-4 or lower latencys for best performance)
7900GT

and you're set ;)


in one benchmark it was closer to 70% faster!

yes, if you play SuperPi alot (and other stupid syntetic benches) Conroe is your best friend =)

[GregHess]

The Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 (2.4 ghz) will most likely be one of the best buy chips in the next few months...though many owners will argue that paying another 130-140 USD for a whopping additional 520 megahertz (260x2) would make the best performance buy. (E6700 2.66 ghz).

The performance war has practically flipped, with Intel's new chips outpowering AMD's on a clock per clock basis...completely opposite of the previous processor architecture (when intel had to have incredibly high clock speeds just to have a prayer...unless you had a laptop).

However...the inital production of the Core Duo 2's are extremely limited. This combined with a relative board shortage, is going to limit your ability to jump onto the new platform quickly. Most analysts will tell you to "wait" a month or two to allow the shippments to stabilize and provide greater variety in terms of motherboard choices.

The first slated price reduction for core duo 2 is slated for sometime in november I believe...by then we'll probably have 3.2 or 3.3 ghz chips available.

If you had to buy today...or in the next couple of weeks, it would probably still be more cost effective to purchase a tried and true AMD solution. You'll have more board choices, and the latest price cuts make it an attractive option.

In you can wait though, conroe IS the better solution, and not only that, AMD is about to start pushing their 4x4 systems (crappy name), which are basically dual, dual core, ethusiast systems in the 1k-1400 USD range. Basically quad cpu's for el cheapo for everyone paying attention.

http://www.techreport.com

[Szos]

While I do not trust benchmarks a tremendous amount, they were both more than just synthetic benchmarks... instead they were actual application benchmarks (which tend to be a little more realistic). In the article, in the PhotoShopCS2 benchmark the new Intel chip was 80% faster, and in Premier benchmark it was about 55% faster than their baseline PC which is an Athlon64 FX-60.

Draw conclusion which ever way you want from those numbers, but they are damn fast. And even more shockingly, the Intel chip was insanely cool running... they even ran it for a while without even the heatsink fan running!

[lots]

As Greg has mentioned, Core 2 Duo is the way to go, if you want performance. AMD wont have any competing CPUs out until K8L hits the streets early next year. Not that it matters a WHOLE lot, since Intel says they will only be shipping 25% of thier total volume as Core 2 Duo based CPUs. The rest (75%) is still the aging Netburst based Pentium 4/D. Intel plans to up the production in 2007, but until then, quantities will be fairly limited as Intel ramps up its production facilities for Core 2.

Additionally, AMD has re-arranged its price structure for its consumer CPUs. This helps place its CPUs in a relativly nice price/performance ratio, when compared to Core 2.

Also, AMD plans to cut the 2x1MB L2 Cache Athlon64 X2s and replace them with the 512KB variants. As has been mentioned, this reduces the size of the CPU die by half, cuts the costs of production, and doesnt lose all that much speed in most applications. On top of that, AMD is also planning a 2x256KB L2 cache version of the A64 X2. This will further reduce prices (though, arguably, this could cause more of an impact on AMD's performance than the reduction from 1MB to 512KB).

But dont count AMD out just yet. With the likely acquisition of ATI, there are some extremely promising technologies that will be arriving in the future. Dual core CPUs where the second core is a GPU, HTX based GPUs, vector co processors, etc. If AMD has an advantage of Intel at this point, it is HyperTransport. The volume of things that AMD can do with this technology may out weigh Intel's Conroe. Imagine a physics co processor that had direct access to the CPU and its memory. This could vastly improve physics calculations in games, and other things..

I think we should see plenty of interesting things from both sides of the fence. And until K8L, I am going to recommend the Core 2 Duo route if it fits your budget...

[eujin]

Szos - Thanks for the great information. I heard alot too about the benchmarks that the new conroes are hitting. Its amazing! But somehow i cannot seem to stop imaging how BIG the price tag of the core extreme X6800 would be. Btw your inputs were really helpful and those benchmarks you stated for applications are some really BIG numbers to consider.Thanks!

yashu - Thanks for your enlightenment on the death date of the X2s. You cleared up that scary thought. Just 1 question i have about that is ... would it not be better to have 2x1mb cache in comparision to 2x512kb cache in terms of hardware performance? ( sorry haven't been keeping myself updated )

GregHess - Thank you for the great update/info. I read the link that you posted too...it was really helpful and interesting. I wonder if the "4x4" would be released this year. I'm really looking to have the new computer that i will purchase to last me for at least 3 to 4 years without major upgrades and drawbacks in processing capabilities in the 3d field. Thank you again for your great advice.

Lotz - Thanks for the insight between AMD and Intel. It definately gave me some direction. (if fact all the advise gave me a direction). So if Conroe is the way to go now. (if i have the budget) which one should i head out for. the E6600, E6700 or the X6800 (in terms of cost efficiency) and what mobo do you reccomend to go along with it?

Thank you all for your patience and advice. Hopefully more people will give their 2 cents worth.

[marlinjunior]

Aint woodcrest better than conroe? Woodcrest is the CoreDuo2 family your talking about?

[tfortier]

here whats happen when you overclock the two low end Conroe cpu;

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2802&p=7

they beat even the mighty X6800!

its a good way to spend 224$! and with only air fans..!

cant wait they hit the streets!

[lots]

Aint woodcrest better than conroe? Woodcrest is the CoreDuo2 family your talking about?
Woodcrest is the server varient of Core2Duo. Basically it adds support for multiple CPUs, but this is out side of the apparent price range suggested in this thread...

[eujin]

marlinjunior - i think lots has managed to answer that for me. thanks lots.

tfortier - thanks for the link man...it seems like most conroe chips has got an outstanding overclocking ability. But the only problem now is that i am not an overclocker and with that said. I have to admit i have no knowledge what so ever with overclocking.http://forums.cgsociety.org/images/icons/icon9.gif Is there like a step by step guide to how you can overclock your conroe processer but yet have stable results, cause i don't mind overclocking if its stable?

lots - thanks for answering that question. cheers!


Heres the new setup so far that seems to be more advisable at this stage. (after reading some reviews on the net) What do you think? If you have any comments on that please do post your suggestions.


Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 (2.4 ghz)
ASUS P5W-DH mobo
CORSAIR TWIN2X PC6400 DDR2 800
GIGABYTE GV-NX79T256DP-RH (GeForce 7900 GT 256MB)
MAXTOR 80GB 8MB
MAXTOR 300GB 16MB

*what brand and voltage of powersupply would be advisable for such a setup?

[lots]

Having no first hand experience with Core 2 Duo just yet, all I can tell you is what the benchmarks say, and for the most part the E6600 seems to be a good buy. Faster than the Athlon64 FX-62 in many instances, and better performance per watt. I havnt looked up the prices for these things, but it may turn out a bit cheaper as well...

What is important about PSUs is the number of Amps they deliver on each rail. If you look at newegg, you will see the stats of each PSU. Normally they will list +12V (some times there are two or 4 of these) +5V +3V. Each of these are a "rail" Under each rail, there is a maximum amp output. Generally, you want many amps on each rail, as this means that they can handle a higher load. You also want to check thier power efficiency at room temperature. What this means is how much heat they dissapate when running at maximum. You may see 80% efficiency for example, meaning that 20% of the energy used to produce the number of watts needed for your system is lost to heat.

You also want to ensure the PSU has over voltage protection, active PFC, and a slew of other certifications, to ensure that should the PSU fail, it wont take the rest of the system with it. Additionally, a good quality stable PSU (PSUs whose power does not flucuate much) will result in a generally more stable computer, and longer lasting parts.

One thing to make sure you do not do, is use a PSU that you got out of a $30 case, or one that was much less than $40 on its own. Wieght is also a good indicator of quality, if the unit is only a few pounds, expect it to be no good.

Some decent companies are Antec, Fortron, Zippy, SeaSonic..
If you've got money to burn, you could look at PSUs from Silverstone or PC Power and Cooling, though expect to pay an arm and a leg for those (PCP&C is probably the best money can buy though...)

[VolumeViz]

The recent price cuts from AMD has made the Athlon X2 5000+ a very attractive buy. According to Tomshardware.com the price/performance ratio on AMD chips are similar to the Conroe processors. Personally, I think that Intel needs all the competition it can get so I tend to go for the underdog AMD which has delivered better products the last couple of years. Without strong competition from AMD Intel would never have bothered making a decent product line like the Conroe processors.

However if you can wait, I think the AMD 4X4, as previously mentioned by Greg Hess, looks like a perfect system for someone in need of lots of processing power. Cheap dual dualcore (total of 4 cores) entusiast system with high memory bandwidth (and faster unbuffered Dimms) using affordable AMD X2 desktop processors (much cheaper than the dual core Opteron server range). The system will work nicely with only one processor if you prefer to buy the second one at a later point. The best part is that the concept will carry over to eight cores, by upgrading your system with two quad-core chips, giving your 4x4 (actually 8x4) system a total of 8 cores. I believe that a 4x4 system would be perfect for someone working with applications optimized for parallell processing like Maya, Mental Ray, Renderman, 3ds max... giving you incredible fast rendering times.

See these articles for more information:
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=33269
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=33268

However, if you want to accuire your system now I would recommend something similar to what Yashu proposed:

AMD X2 5000+ (AM2)
Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe, nForce 590 SLI motherboard
2Gb Corsair TWIN2X 6400C4 DDR2 CL4
Western Digital Raptor 74GB SATA 16MB 10000RPM (dual/tripple boot windows/Linux)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB SATA2 16MB 7200RPM
Seasonic 430W S12 Power supply
Nvidia 7900GT video card (or Quadro 1400 if you can afford it).
Antec Performance One P180 Miditower (or similar "quiet" ATX case).

[tfortier]

me too im a newbie with overclocking... never did that! but I feel its time to start! I will probably not crank it at 2.8 but maybe 2.6... (the 6400, 230$)...

there is planty of site about overclocking. googling about that will probably give goor result.

[GregHess]

One thing I don't think any of us have mentioned yet...

Make sure to take into account the cost of DDR2 memory when figuring out your cost/performance benefits.

DDR2 is DRASTICALLY more expensive then standard DDR, especially if you are looking for a low latency solution. Now some individuals will say it really isn't that much more...but when you pile on low latency, high capacity, high speed, registered, and ecc...it tends to lighten the pocket book.

Just keep this in mind! (This also applies to AM2 systems). And don't cheap out on the ram either!!!

Remember the triad of stability! Power (psu), Cooling (hsf/fans), and Memory (0 errors ftw!)

[eujin]

lots - thanks for the insightful information. I did alittle bit of research and came up with the following psu listed below. Mind giving me your opinion on which is a better choice? (neat and tidy cable would be a real plus)

1. OCZ ModStream 520W
Ref Link:http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/other/display/atx-psu_10.html

2. Sunbeamteach Nuuo Series SUNNU550-EUAP (550W)
Ref Link:http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/other/display/atx-psu4_6.html

3.Enermax Liberty 620W
Ref Link:http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/other/display/psu-roundup_3.html

4. Coolermaster RealPower 550W
Ref Link:http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/other/display/atx-psu4_4.html

VolumeViz - Thanks for the reccomendation man. Its appreciated. But i think i might go for the Conroe E6600 for the sake of future upgrades and performance.

tfortier - Cool man ... maybe we can share some links.

Greghess - Thanks man your information have been of great assistance too. I think i might be going for the CORSAIR 2GB XMS2 DDR2 PC6400 800MHZ 4-4-4-12 (not sure if they have ecc) What do you think ?

*Just a thought nividia 7900GT or ati X1900 XT? (shed some light please)

[GregHess]

Current top tier PSU's are...

PC Power and Cooling
http://www.pcpowercooling.com/home/

FSP
http://www.fsp-group.com.tw/

One of the psu's you mentioned might be based off an FSP core...I'll have to check.

I'll get back to you on the ram this week, unless someone else answers first.

[lots]

The Liberty seems to be rather well recieved amongst the reviewers. I'd look closer at that one. And because of its ability to detatch cables you dont need, it can be a real cable management solution, giving you minimal cables. Makes things alot easier to handle thats for sure :)

Personally I like my Silverstone, though it is a bit on the loud side.

I'd stay away from the Antec NEO series of PSUs, they've had quite a few problems.

I'd also go for the Geforce over the Radeon, mostly for compatibility's sake. 3D apps in general tend to like Nvidia based hardware better. Though there are people who've had no problems with ATI. I guess its just a chance you take. Personally I use linux alot, and find the ATI drivers completly lacking on that OS. If drivers were given a grade, in linux, ATI would get worse than an F.

[lukx]

for PSU, SEASONIC all the way!!!

[azloha]

allow me here.

so, now, how about opteron. the dual core opteron i mean. with the same price, is the am2 dual core better than the opteron dual core? and does the opteron have am2 chipset?

[lots]

The Opteron is basically the same thing as an Athlon64. The main difference is quality control and the number of CPUs (the whole package) you can have in one system.

Opteron does not use AM2, unless we are talking about the 1xx series. Which, for all intents and purposes is an Athlon64. In the coming months, Opteron's new socket will debut, Socket F, this socket has over 1200 pins, and is LGA style like the Intel chips. I've heard it supports ECC Registered DDR2 and FB-DIMMS, maybe even some DDR3 support (but probably added later.. K8L?)

A 1xx Opteron compared to an Athlon64 of the same cache size and GHz, will perform identically.

[Duffer]

In answer to your question 7900 or x1900. Lets get down to the specifics.

The motherboard you are looking at getting (ASUS P5W-DH) can support both cards with one large caveat the chipset on the Asus supports CROSSFIRE, not SLI. Why does this matter? The X1900 is Crossfire enabled, while the 7900 is SLI. This basically means nothing at all unless you want to get 2 of either card and have them setup in the respective CF or SLI. Lets put this on hold for a min.

Deciding whether or not to go with a Crossfire or SLI setup is important for several reasons. SLI/CF motherboards are more expensive (though if you get the Conroe processor (which I would) you really have no choice on the expensive mobo). The power supply is a big consideration, you can save yourself a good 70$ by not getting an SLI certified PSU. And obviously there's the added expense of buying the second identical video card.

If you don't plan on EVER having an SLI/CF setup then I would look at these PSUs:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817174024
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817159040

Both are highly rated, great price, dual 12v rails, active PFC (efficient power). I must note however that the cable sleeving on the Coolmax looks pretty fruity, though for some this may be better than no sleeving at all like on the Hipro. Anyways, both will provide far more power than you will ever need for a non SLI/CF setup. Also don't be concerned about too much power as your system will only use what it needs, and this can actually be a good thing, if your system is only using ~300w and your PSU is rated for 550w, you're not straining your PSU, thus running alot cooler.

Now lets talk about SLI and Crossfire for a min. Well.. I'll let Wikipedia do that for me:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scalable_Link_Interface
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossfire_%28GPU%29

Basically Crossfire is more expensive, and in the case of the need for a 'master card', it can be outright assinine. Though the eye-candy benefits of Super Anti-Aliasing for the true enthusiast speak for themselves.

Back to the motherboard for another thought. The motherboard you have listed is considerably expensive. Wait a week for the mobo manufacturers to start pumping out boards with the rocksolid (and well established) 570/590 chipsets. They're nVidia sets so the boards will be SLI, but the added competition to the 3-5 mobo's that support Conroe will drop prices dramatically.

Anyways, back to the 7900 v 1900, do a google for each one and read the reviews. x1900 takes the cake on some games while 7900 on others. Personally i'd get the 7900 but that's just the fanboi talking. I've never owned a Radeon, but that may change pretty soon if nVidia can't start putting out reliable 512mb 7900s.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102004
pretty enticing with that 30$ MIR...

MM

[lukx]

so if I'm not going to use 2 graphic card setup there's no point getting: Asus P5W DH Deluxe Intel 975X. This: Asus P5B Deluxe / WIFI-AP Intel 965 shoudl be just fine?

[eujin]

GregHess - Thanks for your input once again. Its greatly appreciated.

lots - Thanks lots...i'm leaning more to the enermax liberty one too, but right now i'm doing more research to see what other options i have and silverstone is definately one of them. cheers for answering the question by azloha too!

azloha - Through benchmarks the conroe does seem like the fastest cheap in the market right now.

Duffer - Thanks for taking the time to explain on the graphic cards and posting all the great links i will definately do more research into it.Cheers! It seems like there are more mobos avaliable right now. Listed below are a few other options that i have in mind besides the ASUS P5W-DH. ( have yet to do more research )

- GA-965P-DS4 http://www.giga-byte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=2288&ModelName=GA-965P-DS4

- GA-965P-DS3
http://www.giga-byte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=2314&ModelName=GA-965P-DS3

*Everyone's 2 cents worth are still welcomed.

*Its great to see so many people that are willing to share whatever knowledge they have. I am grateful to everyone that has posted in this thread giving their advice and sharing their knowledge. This will not only help me but everyone else that reads it.

Cheers!

[Duffer]

so if I'm not going to use 2 graphic card setup there's no point getting: Asus P5W DH Deluxe Intel 975X. This: Asus P5B Deluxe / WIFI-AP Intel 965 shoudl be just fine?

Correct. Even http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131030 would work (but it has universally bad reviews) I would hold out a week or two for http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=247091 it's based on nVidia's well established 570 chipset (as opposed to Intel's brand new, and not very well recieved 965 set (not to be confused with the older, matured, Intel 975x)). Personally I'm waiting for a well reviewed mobo that supports Core 2 Due (Conroe) but also has the nVidia 590 chipset :love:.

MM

[GregHess]

You should also check out the "bad axe" which seems to be a highly recommended conroe board. It's the "ONLY" board which has been around for the entire conroe development, so most of its kink's are already worked out.

It also has quite an elaborate passive hsf system. Here's the spec's.

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2797&p=4

http://www.intel.com/products/motherboard/d975xbx/index.htm

It also has an utterly simple overclocking mod available to it (as intel usually prevents overclocking) which just involves shorting two pins on the board where a jumper used to exist. It's so simplistic even a complete noob could accomplish it.

The main problems with the board are just related to heavy overclocking. You can't raise the ram voltage past 2.1v without frying one of the chips on the board (unless you go to a lot of trouble with a crazy complicated mod). Standard voltage is 1.8 if you're wondering.

You also have to make sure you get revision 304 and the latest conroe enabled bios. You can't just order it from newegg, because there is a chance you'll get an older revision. Have to find a site willing to check the revision of the board prior to mailing it to you (not hard, its on the freaking box label!).

I've actually ordered this board myself, so I'll have some first hand feedback in about a week if anyone has questions. Still working on sourcing a processor that doesn't have a 200 dollar markup.

As for the ram...it gets very confusing. Here's some quick tidbits.

Divide the latency of DDR2 by 2 to get its equivilant DDR1 latency. So if you see Cas 4 DDR2, thats basically like Cas2 DDR1. This means that the Cas 3 DDR2 is pretty farking fast.

I just reconfused myself on the speed ratings again, I'll post later when the starbucks wears off.

[MadMax]

One thing I don't think any of us have mentioned yet...

Make sure to take into account the cost of DDR2 memory when figuring out your cost/performance benefits.

DDR2 is DRASTICALLY more expensive then standard DDR, especially if you are looking for a low latency solution. Now some individuals will say it really isn't that much more...but when you pile on low latency, high capacity, high speed, registered, and ecc...it tends to lighten the pocket book.


Considering All of AMD's new stuff and all of Intel's is DDR2, it's almost irrelevant to be concerned with the cost of DDR2 being higher than regular DDR. Bottom line, you are buiying DDR2 no matter what you do unless you get something old.


AND......

Long tiem no see around these parts Greg, how's it going?

[MadMax]

One thing I don't think any of us have mentioned yet...

Make sure to take into account the cost of DDR2 memory when figuring out your cost/performance benefits.

DDR2 is DRASTICALLY more expensive then standard DDR, especially if you are looking for a low latency solution. Now some individuals will say it really isn't that much more...but when you pile on low latency, high capacity, high speed, registered, and ecc...it tends to lighten the pocket book.


Considering All of AMD's new stuff and all of Intel's is DDR2, it's almost irrelevant to be concerned with the cost of DDR2 being higher than regular DDR. Bottom line, you are buiying DDR2 no matter what you do unless you get something old.


AND......

Long time no see around these parts Greg, how's it going?

[GregHess]

Doing just fine! Same old same old. Starting to cycle back to the tech side of things again, so I might be posting more...who knows. Kinda try and keep from getting oversaturated again!

Now if only people would stop marking up those 2.67 conroe's! And yes, I concur on the have to get DDR2 thing...I was just pointing out its not el cheapo like the standard DDR1, and individuals should be aware that they could be paying 2-3x as much for decent ram. (Of course even with a 2-3x multiplier, its still not too expensive...its just a hike up is all)

[eujin]

Duffer - Thanks man. I think i might just take your advice to see what other mobo might be coming out. But after reading a few reviews i have to admit that i am still leaning towards the

1. Asus P5W DH Deluxe Intel 975X ( due to its capability to upgrade to next-gen multi core CPU and its seems to be a rather compatible and reccommended platform right now for overclocking and performance ) *thought its quite pricey...still need some thoughts about it.

OR

2. Asus P5B Deluxe / WIFI-AP Intel 965 ( i don't really need crossfire or SLI so i am still thinking about this board for a cheaper solution)

GregHess - Thanks for the reccomendation. But through certain reviews the "BAD AXE" does seem limited in some ways though i am not sure whether i will be affected by its limitations. Will be looking more into it...Thanks for the educational comparison between the DDR2 and the DDR! (everday we learn something new...cheers!)

MadMax - Thanks for the input .....i think DDR2 is the only way to go right now for me!

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