A Few Questions

[Ellothar121]

I was paging through all the stuff I plan on ordering within the next year, checking the reviews, etc. And I noticed two things;

A) The Motherboard I have on my list, while SLI (Which, after reading more about, I learned I don't need...), apparently has junk BIOS, and is reportedly problematic. It also allegedly can't overclock past 1300MHz, and I was hoping for at least 2.5GHz on an e6300. Can anyone confirm these things? If they're true, can you point me in the direction of a mobo with a better BIOS (preferably for </~$100)

2) I looked at the e6300, and the e4300, and their FSB speeds. After learning that their multipliers were locked (the e4300 at a higher one), I was wondering which would actually be the better purchase.

Yeah, after 5 pages of questions (on my part) and answers (on your guys' parts), I'm still a newbie. Go me ^.^

EDIT: Okay, some more simple math that most of you have already done, or don't care about. At the aforementioned 1300MHz cap, and the multiplier locks, you can reach ~2.268GHz on an e6300, and 2.926GHz on an e4300.

EDIT2: The math:
Proc: (M.Lock * 1300MHz) = a.bcdGHz
e6300: (~1.745)*1300MHz = ~2.268GHz(Approximately)
e4300: (2.25)*1300MHz = 2.925GHz (Exact)


EDIT the 3rd:

Links!
e4300
e6300
Motherboard

 

[lookin4help]

Yes but if you wait until Q2, they are putting the L2 cache up to 4M on the e6300 and e6400 while keeping the price the same and at that point, they will be way better than the e4300. That will give it a very noticable performance boost.

As for a motherboard, you might try the Biostar TForce 965PT. It comes in at 104.99 but is a solid board and has a good BIOS for OCing.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813138037

Check out this article for more infos
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2903

 

[Ellothar121]

Okay, thanks! You've answered both my questions, and now I have yet another source for information (Which I need to start checking more regularly...)!

I'm not getting the motherboard until Christmas this year, so I can cross my fingers and hope for a price drop on this, as well as the e6300, which I will also get for Christmas ^_^


One more question: Does the e6400 offer any substantial advantages over the e6300 after overclocking them?

 

[lookin4help]

Overclocked, the e6400 offers slightly higher performance output and ratings. Check around on that site that I linked earlier, they have some great articles on the different processors and nice little charts on their performance ratings.

 

[Ellothar121]

Okay, thanks! I think I'll stick with the e6300, though. I don't think I can pull together (read: convince my parents to pay) the extra $38.

Also, How well will I be able to run F@H with this? I think I'm going to put that up on my new setup; It looks like a worthy cause.


BIOSTAR TForce965PT LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 Conroe 1.86GHz (LGA 775) (4M L2 Cache{!})
1GB Patriot DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)

GeForce 8600Ultra, assuming it comes out at the listed price ($180)

Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit
SunBeam/CaseGears 450W PitBull (These guys apparently love compound words...)
Western Digital Caviar SE WD2000JS 200GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
SONY Combo Drive Black IDE Model CRX320EE/B2S W/O SW

...I also plan on getting this and this, not sure if cooling affects overall performance, or just stops computicide (<--That's now a word.)

 

[lookin4help]

With that vid card I would slap an extra gig of RAM in there. Watch for good deals, like the patriot RAM has a nice rebate on it right now.. that happens often with different brands, you just have to watch for it and buy it when you see it.

Other than that things look good. That video card should be able to play nicely with just about any game you toss its way.

Your best bet since you are buying gradually is to watch prices, check for rebates, keep your items in your favorites list so you can check once a week or so to see if the are running a sale and then hop on it.

 

[lookin4help]

Try and go with a better psu. Fortron, Antec, Sparkle - all those are good quality. 450W should do ya. And if you are going the Vista route I would definetly put that extra RAM in like I suggested.

 

[lookin4help]

Also, the case you are getting offers 3 fans, so I wouldn't think you need to go overboard with cooling methods. I think one cooling method (on top of the case fans) will be enough to keep things cool even with that vid card. You can always add a cooling method later if need be. What you should do is after you get the system, run your games and things for a while and then check your temps (free programs will do this for you). As long as you are under 60C you are fine. If you are spiking over that, then go ahead and get another cooling method.

 

[Snake-Eyes]

Also, How well will I be able to run F@H with this? I think I'm going to put that up on my new setup; It looks like a worthy cause.

You can run F@H on any computer. I'm doing it.

 

[Ellothar121]

Sounds good (Cooling methods reply). This SpeedFan doohickey is awesome right now; I'm measuring relative to how bad it feels when I stand after having my laptop on my legs, and before I had this on, it must have been WAY over the 45C max it is now. The actual max is 48C, but that's only because I left it running with the fan smothered by a heavy pillow for an hour.

I plan on putting another gig of ram exactly six months after I finish this(/*/). Also, I've been hearing some good things about this PSU, what do you think? I'm on a budget (</~$1000), and I think this one looks like a good candidate


/*/Incase you haven't read my other thread, my birthday-christmas cycle is spaced out by 6 months, exactly (6/25->12/25->6/25).


EDIT: Thanks, snake-eyes ^.^ So, I can run it on my Mobile Celeron M340, with 512MB of RAM?