"Phil Weldon" <notdiscosed (AT) example (DOT) com> wrote

that I have read about but never actually have seen in action. Most of the
folks who go with the nVidia do so for support of SLI, nVidia's version of
the ATI Crossfire. I see much more about it on the gaming sites than the
more basic productivity sites.........But that ain't all bad if you know
what I mean....... Today's games require massive horsepower, both from the
CPU and GPU. Personally, I have no experience with nVidia chipsets on the
Intel platform, but did have one on an AMD a few years ago and had no issues
whatsoever. I wouldn't hesitate going that route myself if I wanted support
for SLI, but would probably go the tried and true I965/975 route since I
have no plans on spending $800-$1000 for a couple of SLI video
cards.......:-).


Ed

"Ed Medlin" <ed (AT) edmedlin (DOT) com> wrote

frame rates of a single $400 - $500 card.

Amir

PS: ATI's Crossfire is a version of nVidia's SLI.
LOL

"Amir Facade" <amirfacade (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote

thing..........:-)

Ed

The obvious route, IMO, would be the E4300, but the B2 (4meg cache
rather than 2) stepping kind of raises my attention as to whether that would
be the best route. It kind of reminds me of the P3/Celeron days when the
larger cache outperformed the smaller cache at the same speeds in most
instances. With your cooling, I just might lean more towards the E6600 just
for the raw HP you may be able to get. The E4300 is obviously the best bang
for the buck. I am not so sure you could get much more than mid-3ghz before
the E4300 starts giving up the ghost even with great cooling unless you get
lucky with a really good overclocker. As always, this can vary from chip to
chip. I just wonder about the Peltiers being more trouble than they help
overall. I have used them (guess all the old farts have..:-), but I would
like to see what the results are with them vs. just water cooling. I still
have a few left over from the P2/P3 days but didn't really think about using
them anymore.

I tend to lean towards Asus just because I have have had so few problems
with their MBs. It has been a long time, probably since the Coppernines,
that I have built a system with an Abit. I don't have any idea how many Asus
based systems I have built over the years and have just not had any major
issues with them. I am not dissing other manufacturers, I just go with what
has worked for me.

That is about all I can comment about............I probably raised more
questions than answers....:-) Good luck Phil.......Let me know which way you
go. I have the upgrade fever myself and am still trying to decide which way
to go myself.


Ed

Phil,
I'm running :
E6600 @3.85ghz (bench) 3.42 24/7 (1520 FSB 9x)
OCZ DDR2 PC2-8000 Titanium Alpha VX2 2x1gb 4-4-3-8 1T 1066 Mhz
Asus P5N32-E SLI (680i)
2x seagate 7200.10 320 g raid 0
EVGA 8800GTX
TT Symphony water.
Silverstone Olympia 1KW PSU

I switched from an Asus P5WDH Deluxe (Intel 975x) and I'm happy I did.

The overclocking headroom on this board is awesome, the only problem
I've found is that the 680i northbridge runs hot. I MEAN HOT!!!

At ~1.45v, you can't touch the heatsink and heat pipe..

I would really recomend at least replacing the passive air heat pipe
with active air B$ you install the board. Even if you only remove the
nb and sb and replace the crap factory tape with AS5 you'll be far
ahead of the temperature problem. I have a swiftech water block
cooling the nb and it works very well.

I am extremely happy with this board as I was with the P5WDH-Deluxe,
but again this board clocks much easier. It's also 1333Mhz ready, I
eventually would like to move to the new 45nm processors when they
become available.

I'll also say that I'm really happy with my overall system performance
@3.42 ghz.
Along with the 8800GTX, I can throw any game I want to at this system
at max settings, and they run smooth as silk, even flight simulator
2004 and fsx which are well known cpu hogs.

The Asus board is not a reference board, but built from scratch. In
fact if you peel the P5N32-E label from the board, you'll find the
striker nameplate. It's a striker extreme without the fancy bells, for
~150.00 less ($249 at Tiger Direct).

Which ever 680i board you choose, I think you'll be really happy.
I frequent 3 overclocking forums--

Graphics benchmarks:
http://www.overclock.net/benchmarkin...chmarking.html

I'm nuclearjock..

P.S. Those benchies were obtained with my old P5WDH-Deluxe.

All the best,

Al

On Mon, 26 Mar 2007 06:26:28 GMT, "Phil Weldon"
<not.disclosed (AT) example (DOT) com> wrote:

Really?

What pair would that be?


bob


"Amir Facade" <amirfacade (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote

"Billy Bob" <me (AT) getlost (DOT) com> wrote

I would like to know what those cards are too......:-), especially if they
are going to give the performance of top-of-the-line PCI-E cards.

Ed

http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16814130062
Bench mark close to but not quite as fast as GTS8800.
I know, I know, benchmarks aren't real world, but how are you going to
compare without spending a lot of money?
Amir


"Billy Bob" <me (AT) getlost (DOT) com> wrote

Phil Weldon wrote:
Phil,

I'm also looking for a new rig, similar to your lay-out.

First thing is, I'm wondering why you went 'all-out' with the memory? I was
thinking about getting some 800 MHz CL4 memory (cheaper), since overclocking
the CPU by 100% would still leave me with an FSB of 400 MHz, which
translates to 800MHz memory speed. Or are you simply investing in future
upgradability?

My prediction? Well, on air, I think about 3.4 GHz? Mainly depends on
whether you're lucky with yr sample, I guess.

Let us know how you fare!

--
Met vriendelijke groeten, Thomas vd Horst.

Phil Weldon wrote: (also in part)
I understand more about what you're trying to do... With exploring the
limits, you dont want to be limited by something like yr memory.

I've been overclocking, too, this started on my P75 :-) I went with a
watercooling setup with my P4C 2.6, but this time I'll see how the current
air cooling solutions pay out first. I'll be keeping that setup running, my
girlfriend was surprised how fast photoshop runs on it :-) Good excuse for
me to pass that system to her and make a completely new build.

I'm now mainly interested in building a 'budget' rig, and trying to get the
most out of all my components. In the past, i tried to make my pc's future
proof, but that never really paid out :-) I kept upgrading half my PC
because the upgradability was less good than advertised.

I'm mainly doubting about my mainboard. I'm planning on getting an Ati
x1950XT vid card, and it'd be good to have at least the possibility of
adding an extra card with crossfire. Currently, I'm leaning towards the Asus
P5W DH Deluxe.

Anyway, when (if...) I finish the build, I'll report back!

--
Met vriendelijke groeten, Thomas vd Horst.