Worth upgrading to a P35/P45 + Q6600?

T

TechHead

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System in sig.. it's two years old now. Planning on retaining the video card and sound card, but seeing that Nehalem is coming so soon, is it worth it?

I know that Nehalem is going to be ultra-high end at the beginning, and I'm not willing to spend that much on the PC.

What do you guys think?
 
If you are unhappy with the performace you are getting in your current system, then I would recommend you upgrade. It's going to be at least 9-12 months before Nehalem is an affordable solution (between CPU/Motherboard/DDR3 prices and availability of early chips).
 
Since you're on an old ATI system, I would make the jump to a P45 board but get the Q9450 instead for $50-100 more. It's definitely worth the hit. Otherwise, prepare to wait at least 9 months.
 
P35 mobo and any 3+Ghz Core 2 and you'll be happy with the extra performance over an X2 @ 2.4Ghz .

$130+- P35 mobo

then you could go cheap like a temporary solution e2180, e7200 crank it up to 3++Ghz (real cheap or cheap 45nm)

or $200 range an e8400 will go 4Ghz likely, or a Q6600 should do about 3.4Ghz+-
(45nm or quad)

or higher end Q9450 and thats the best of both worlds 45nm and quad.
 
Yeorwned said:
Since you're on an old ATI system, I would make the jump to a P45 board but get the Q9450 instead for $50-100 more. It's definitely worth the hit. Otherwise, prepare to wait at least 9 months.
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Why is it "definitely worth the hit"? If he's not encoding, it probably won't be worth it IMO. And unless he plans on going crossfire, a solid P35 board will do just fine. Just because something is newer doesn't mean it provides a useful benefit.
 
aethelwulf said:
Why is it "definitely worth the hit"? If he's not encoding, it probably won't be worth it IMO. And unless he plans on going crossfire, a solid P35 board will do just fine. Just because something is newer doesn't mean it provides a useful benefit.
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They cost $10 more and provide a cooler running solution, slightly more energy efficient, PCIe 2.0 (helps even future single GPU builds), ICH10R, longer manu support, and often better software features (like Express Gate).

Why would you intentionally out date yourself for $10-$20?
 
aethelwulf said:
Why is it "definitely worth the hit"? If he's not encoding, it probably won't be worth it IMO. And unless he plans on going crossfire, a solid P35 board will do just fine. Just because something is newer doesn't mean it provides a useful benefit.
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Am going to be doing a bunch of encoding as well... lots of HD stuff for the PS3 and my AVCHD grabs.

So: Q6600 + Asus P5Q + 4GB DDR2-800.. which RAM/motherboard would you guys recommend?
 
While Gigabyte makes good motherboards (I have one myself, the P35C-DS3R), there's no reason not to go with P45 over P35 these days, unless you're on a strict budget. If I were going to get a Gigabyte motherboard toady, I'd go for the EP45-DS3R.

As for memory, pretty much throw a dart and pick any DDR2-800 (PC2-6400) you find, as long as it's well reputed.
 
I say yes, as long as you buy 8 GB of DDR2 while it's still cheap. Then you can laugh at all the people buying DDR3 for Nehalem and how 2 GB is all they can afford.
 
LstOfTheBrunnenG said:
I say yes, as long as you buy 8 GB of DDR2 while it's still cheap. Then you can laugh at all the people buying DDR3 for Nehalem and how 2 GB is all they can afford.
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so true, i was going to wait for nehalem but overall i got get 90% of the benefit for 1/3 of the cost.
 
I just went from an opteron 165 @ 2.5 ghz to a q6600 @ 3.4 ghz on a P5Q (P45). Doubled the ram from 2gb to 4gb as well. I'd say it was worth it, runs cooler and quieter than my opty. Much, much more power to work with as well.
 
TechHead said:
Am going to be doing a bunch of encoding as well... lots of HD stuff for the PS3 and my AVCHD grabs.

So: Q6600 + Asus P5Q + 4GB DDR2-800.. which RAM/motherboard would you guys recommend?
Click to expand...

I would say the upgrade would be worthwhile. The Asus P5Q sounds like a good board. I'm using the Asus P5K-E/Wifi and it seems to be a very nice board and it seems to like the Corsair XMS2 RAM I'm using. I built a system with these same components for my son, plus two coworkers used pretty much the same components as well and we're all happy with the systems. I've seen overclocks anywhere between 3.0Ghz and 3.6Ghz with this group and they're all running nicely at those speeds.
 
LstOfTheBrunnenG said:
I say yes, as long as you buy 8 GB of DDR2 while it's still cheap. Then you can laugh at all the people buying DDR3 for Nehalem and how 2 GB is all they can afford.
Click to expand...

Also its funny because Nehalem uses triple channel RAM, so getting a third matched stick later on to buy what they purchased now may not even be possible.
 
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