MB/CPU Reccomendation

My box just died. I'm looking for reccomendations for a new one. I'm
looking to get away with as cheap as possible, re-using as much as
possible. I was looking into new MB/CPU/RAM anyway because my P4
2.4Ghz w/1G RAM is not capable of doing what I want to do. I do music.
Namely, Cubase with VST/Guitar Rig. CPU seems to be the main issue
when dealing with the program. At pricewatch I come up with something
like:

- 2.13Ghz CPU + 800MhzDDR2 MB for $350
- 2.4Ghz CPU + 400MhzDDR MB for $365 (Asus P5PE-VM Motherboard)

I can't decide. 2.4Ghz+800MhzDDR2=~$565 (Intel MB) but that's pushing
my budget. I know I need the 2.4 but I hate to go with 400MhzDDR. I
also noticed that a Pentium D 950 3.4Ghz is $15 more than a 2.13Ghz
Core2Duo. Would the 3.4Ghz Pentium D run faster? If anyone has any
input on the matter, I would appreciate it. I'm open to suggestions.

- Ritual

Ritual wrote:
My box just died. I'm looking for reccomendations for a new one. I'm
looking to get away with as cheap as possible, re-using as much as
possible. I was looking into new MB/CPU/RAM anyway because my P4
2.4Ghz w/1G RAM is not capable of doing what I want to do. I do music.
Namely, Cubase with VST/Guitar Rig. CPU seems to be the main issue
when dealing with the program. At pricewatch I come up with something
like:

- 2.13Ghz CPU + 800MhzDDR2 MB for $350
- 2.4Ghz CPU + 400MhzDDR MB for $365 (Asus P5PE-VM Motherboard)

I can't decide. 2.4Ghz+800MhzDDR2=~$565 (Intel MB) but that's pushing
my budget. I know I need the 2.4 but I hate to go with 400MhzDDR. I
also noticed that a Pentium D 950 3.4Ghz is $15 more than a 2.13Ghz
Core2Duo. Would the 3.4Ghz Pentium D run faster? If anyone has any
input on the matter, I would appreciate it. I'm open to suggestions.

- Ritual

There are charts here, of CPU performance. This one is floating point,
and the benchmark takes advantage of both cores. But I don't know if
your music program would use both cores - it may only use one of the
two cores while it is running.

http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu.ht...=432&chart=159

This is the integer performance of the 950 versus the E6600.

http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu.ht...=432&chart=158

The Core2 processors may have the advantage in the power department,
and they may run a bit cooler than the alternatives.

For the person wishing to reuse as much old hardware as possible
(that's me), the market doesn't have a lot to offer. Currently, the
P5PE-VM and perhaps the 775Dual-VSTA, are the closest things to reuse
you can find. The P5PE-VM has an overclocked chipset, in that the
865G used on the board, was originally designed for FSB800 and not
FSB1066. Asus overclocks the chipset, to reach FSB1066, and that means
you couldn't overclock the board further if you wanted to. The
775Dual-VSTA is similar in that regard. The 775Dual-VSTA has more
slots, and has an AGP8X video slot, a PCI Express x16 (wiring is only
x4 though) video slot, two DDR memory slots, two DDR2 memory slots
(use only one kind of memory at a time though). And that is the nature
of the boards that allow you to reuse your AGP video card and DDR
memory - the boards tend to use older chipsets which were designed
for FSB800, leaving no room for overclocking if you have plans of
doing that.

The E6600 does have a 4MB cache, and that should help make up for
the memory performance. On the P5PE-VM, you should be aware of the
limitations of the dividers chosen. To keep the memory speed at or
below DDR400, Asus uses the 3:2 memory divider on the chipset. That
applies if you use a FSB1066 processor, and the RAM then runs at DDR354.
I think if a FSB800 processor is used, they can use the 1:1 divider
for that, and then the memory runs at DDR400. Also, at the
FSB1066 speed, you must use an AGP video card, and the internal
(Northbridge) graphics are disabled at FSB1066. That is used to
enhance stability, since the chipset is over spec at that point.

AFAIK, the PT880 on the Asrock board, is also being overclocked,
but the difference is, that VIA rates the chipset at FSB1066,
implying that VIA tests each chip to run at least at FSB1066.
I doubt Intel is testing the 865G's it ships, to run at
FSB1066. (Intel doesn't do stuff like that. They're Intel after
all.)

For stability advice, I'd look at customer reviews on Newegg, and
see what they think. Read both these threads.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Custra...82E16813157092

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Custra...82E16813131029

Another alternative is a PCI Express motherboard that uses DDR2 - then
you have the extra cost of finding a video card, and the DDR2 memory.
This is an example of a cheap P965 motherboard of that type ($119).
At least with one of these, there will be overclocking headroom
for a Core2 Duo at FSB1066. But with no hardware reuse to speak of,
this may be too expensive a route to take.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128017

Are you sure you need a lot more processor for your application ?
Exactly how much more processor does it feel like it needs ?
There might still be some cheap P4's around for example.
Like one of these might make a nice toaster :-)

Intel Pentium 4 570J 3.80GHz 800MHz 1MB LGA775 OEM $168.50 (30 day warranty)
http://www.starmicro.net/detail.aspx?ID=567
http://processorfinder.intel.com/det...px?sSpec=SL82U

HTH,
Paul

theres a ASRock board that does DDR400 & DDR2, speed not sure, and does
multiples cpus too, which is really cheap.
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2810
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2813

Theres a really cheap Gigabyte mobo that ocs well, p965P-S3 (only diff to
DS3 is type of caps.) I'm not sure where I got the first review about this
one.

after searching a few days, if I were to buy today, I would look harder at
this mobo, 1950XT (see tomshardware.com cpu charts), the E6300, and Adata
800 DDR2 2x1GB (if I could find it here in Toronto) - for the matching cheap
ram. Not really sure about the ram, and future upgrade paths about it, &/or
1066/+, quad core (middle 2007?). Lots to read about these, toms,
anandtech.com, etc. If you know what you're doing (I don't) this info may
save you some time.



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that was gpu chart at tomshardware.com. that is a must read. I can't even
find it now! But you may not need a vid card.

I read about maybe ten mobos looking for the cheapest that would do what I
wanted and would oc, and after double checking everyone elses fell apart. I
started w/ ten, had a few left, but after double checking (mandatory) I was
getting the feeling Asus top dollar was the only true way. I went elsewhere
reading. I'm assuming an E6600 can go to a 50% oc for a few yeasrs safely,
so 266 x 1.5 = DDR2800. I can find a review that says many, many other
lower priced boards won't come close to this oc, probably on the first
click, but would like to see a review that says it about the Gigabyte PS3.
It only took maybe 300 pages of read text to get this far, can't give
specifics. This is why I said it may save time. I don't know how these 10
to 3 to 0 to another 1 all got in the list, could have been not with the
same cpu. Checking this with that, double checking, cross-checking.




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When I just wrote E6600 I meant E6300. I do not know if Paul was talking
about quad-core, or EE, or other higher-end stuff he

I just said

"I'm assuming an E6600 [E6300] can go to a 50% oc for a few yeasrs safely,
so 266 x 1.5 = DDR2800".

So I am confused by Paul's post which states

" The P5PE-VM has an overclocked chipset, in that the
865G used on the board, was originally designed for FSB800 and not
FSB1066. Asus overclocks the chipset, to reach FSB1066, and that means
you couldn't overclock the board further if you wanted to.... the boards
tend to use older chipsets which were designed for FSB800, leaving no room
for overclocking if you have plans of doing that"


can anyone explain!!??

"bent" wrote in message
...
that was gpu chart at tomshardware.com. that is a must read. I can't
even find it now! But you may not need a vid card.

I read about maybe ten mobos looking for the cheapest that would do what
I wanted and would oc, and after double checking everyone elses fell
apart. I started w/ ten, had a few left, but after double checking
(mandatory) I was getting the feeling Asus top dollar was the only true
way. I went elsewhere reading. I'm assuming an E6600 can go to a 50% oc
for a few yeasrs safely, so 266 x 1.5 = DDR2800. I can find a review that
says many, many other lower priced boards won't come close to this oc,
probably on the first click, but would like to see a review that says it
about the Gigabyte PS3. It only took maybe 300 pages of read text to get
this far, can't give specifics. This is why I said it may save time. I
don't know how these 10 to 3 to 0 to another 1 all got in the list, could
have been not with the same cpu. Checking this with that, double
checking, cross-checking.




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can anyone explain!!??

even 2x 1GB DDR2 800 is really expensive ($400). And to use this is a 266
stock bus speed of a E6300 must be overclocked by 50 %, and as such the cpu
GHz is oc'd by 50% too, so its 1.86*1.5=2.79GHz. The E6300 overclocks very
well. What gives with all the talk of 1066, and for that matter even 800
when talking cheap parts. In fact anything but the HIGHEST cost? UIs this
about if you could put in another cpu in the future. Just 1066 ram is $600!
Am I thinking wrong? Am I stuck in thinking 1:1.

ANyone?? I don't think I'm in the dark just in this post. With
533/667/8200/1066 and even DDR400, and prices in the stratoshere, why would
this (xyz) be limiting?

Isn't it true DDR2800 is a serious oc, and expensive enough (and in keeping
with 1:1), and any others use a different ratio, but not much performance
difference results either way anyways. Most of the boards I read about
can't oc to the level of the cheap E6300 anyways, whats all the confusiuon?
Is it me, cause I certainly don't know whats going on. If I could find
cheap DDR2 800 ram, aData, or something, then it makes sense to 50% oc as
its just a little more than average ram, but " chipset can't or something
here" in the essence of cheap upgrading/overclocking isn't warrated here, is
it?



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b/c my DDR2 800 is based on 1066/4 x 1.5, whats with the not 1066 comments?
Man I am confused. Would we not be talking about not being able to
overclock i can't f'ing believe this ****, all over again. F!



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http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103637 $76.00

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131022 $94.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227180 $169.99 1Gb
DDR2

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227178 $375.99 2Gb
DDR2

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