New Gaming Rig

[Sora]

Those aren't like benches I have seen and my bad I meant the X2 5600 is on par while a lot I have seen have the X2 6000 faster.

 

[Trepkos]

Probably going to replace the motherboard with this:

Newegg.com - MSI P6N SLI Platinum LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

And the processor with this:

Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail

And change the OS to Media Center.

Should I replace the stock cooling on the CPU for more stability when overclocking as well as a cooling system to keep the entire rig cool when overclocking or will the three case fans, and the stock fans on the cpu and gpu work fine?

 

[scirishman76]

Sora is correct a few AMD X2's have bigger caches 5200,5600,6000, these are identical to FX series CPU's and perform much better than the rest of the X2 lineup I have a 5200X2 and my sotck 3Dmark06 cpu score is on par with the E6600 Futuremark - ORB - Result Analyzer
my cpu scored 2246 here R cpu scores for core 2 duo with 2.4 to 2.6 ghz which is what most E6600 R running at(E6600 will overclock much faster dont get me wrong)
In most of these cases my 5200X2 has a higher cpu score than th E6600 I am Overclocked a little from 2.66 to 2.9 so a closer comparison is look at the E6600's running at 2.6 a similar overclock to mine on my amd scores R close on these 2 cpu's and the 6000X2 vs the E6600 is no contest the 6000X2 will almost always win a cpu test a gaming FPS test is not the way to go alot of other factors(like these 2 use different mobo's) will affect the final result.I think 3dMark06's cpu test is one of the most demanding so thats what I choose to use. My specs R here got the eathquake gaming platform only change I made was to an 8800gts640 instead of the 320 Gaming computer, good price,Nvidia 8800,Nforce sli,sale,Dual core,3dmar06 score
I score over 10,000 overall on 3dmark06 with my 5200X2 and a single 8800gts640

 

[Trepkos]

Sora is correct a few AMD X2's have bigger caches 5200,5600,6000, these are identical to FX series CPU's and perform much better than the rest of the X2 lineup I have a 5200X2 and my sotck 3Dmark06 cpu score is on par with the E6600 Futuremark - ORB - Result Analyzer
my cpu scored 2246 here R cpu scores for core 2 duo with 2.4 to 2.6 ghz which is what most E6600 R running at(E6600 will overclock much faster dont get me wrong)
In most of these cases my 5200X2 has a higher cpu score than th E6600 I am Overclocked a little from 2.66 to 2.9 so a closer comparison is look at the E6600's running at 2.6 a similar overclock to mine on my amd scores R close on these 2 cpu's and the 6000X2 vs the E6600 is no contest the 6000X2 will almost always win a cpu test a gaming FPS test is not the way to go alot of other factors(like these 2 use different mobo's) will affect the final result.I think 3dMark06's cpu test is one of the most demanding so thats what I choose to use. My specs R here got the eathquake gaming platform only change I made was to an 8800gts640 instead of the 320 Gaming computer, good price,Nvidia 8800,Nforce sli,sale,Dual core,3dmar06 score
I score over 10,000 overall on 3dmark06 with my 5200X2 and a single 8800gts640

But don't most users overclock their e6600's to 3.2ghz+?

 

[Sora]

Yes...this is why the E6600 is still the best choice.

 

[scirishman76]

The 5200X2 will run @ 3.2 with a cheap cooling system upgrade and while the E6600 will outperform it slightly at equal speed not by enough to justify a $70 to $100 dollar difference in price the here is mine running A 3Dmark06 @ 2948 on stock cooling and by the way most people who over clock their core 2 duo's are not on stock cooling either.The core 2 duo will over clock nice on stock cooling but almost every over clocker I know is gonna upgrade anyway.Have run less demanding games over clocked to 3.1 and run smooth.My liquid cooler should arrive tomorrow if it does Ill run a few Mark06's and see how she did.Got Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER AQUAGATE VIVA RL-M4A-E7E1-GP Liquid Cooling System - Retail
Here is a link to my 5200X2 doing a 3dmark06 run @ just short of 3.0 ghz on stock cooling Futuremark - ORB - Result Analyzer
Considering the Nforce 590 sli mobo's are also about $70 to $100 cheaper than the 680i's for intel now we got a performance per dollar race.My Nforce590,5200X2,and a $59.00 watercooler to get it to 3.2 or 3.3,are still cheper @ a total of $369.96 used evga 590 mobo for amd,The E6400 and an evga 680i for intel is 445.99 surely the system with the 5200X2 @ 3.2 or more is the better value.:nerd:

 

[scirishman76]

Oh and most people who have spent way more than me on a 680i mobo and an E6600 or E6400 and overclocked it to 2.9 and cant match my 3dmark06 only the top 5 out of 20 could beat my score of 10,051 with a single gts and this is on stock cooling Futuremark - ORB - Project Search here is mine Futuremark - ORB - Result Analyzer

 

[Trepkos]

ASUS Mobo - 139.99
MSI Mobo - 166.99
Price Difference: 27.00

AMD X2 5200+ - 169.99
Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4ghz e6600 - 235.00
AMD X2 6000+ - 239.99
AMD X2 5600+ 195.00

Price Differences:
Intel Core 2 Duo - 66.00
AMD 6000+ - 71.00
AMD 5600+ - 25.00

Original Setup:
Asus Mobo - 139.99
AMD 5200+ - 169.99
Total: 310.00

Option 1
MSI Mobo - 166.99
Intel Core 2 e6600 - 235.00
Total: 402
Price Difference: 92.00
Advantages: Can be overclocked fairly high.
Disadvantages: Replace stock cooler, low stock clock speed.

Option 2
Asus Mobo - 139.99
AMD 6000+ - 239.99
Total: 380.00
Price Difference - 70.00
Advantages: Stock clock at 3.0ghz, stable.
Disadvantages: Can not be oc'ed very high.

Option 3
Asus Mobo - 139.99
AMD 5600+ -195.00
Total - 335
Price Difference: 25.00
Advantages: Stock clock at 2.8ghz, price friendly
Disadvantages: See above

*Prices are taken from Newegg and rounded based on Taxes.
*Local retailer that I am buying parts from usually sells parts 20 USD more than Newegg.com.

 

[scirishman76]

ASUS Mobo - 139.99
MSI Mobo - 166.99
Price Difference: 27.00

AMD X2 5200+ - 169.99
Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4ghz e6600 - 235.00
AMD X2 6000+ - 239.99
AMD X2 5600+ 195.00

Price Differences:
Intel Core 2 Duo - 66.00
AMD 6000+ - 71.00
AMD 5600+ - 25.00

Original Setup:
Asus Mobo - 139.99
AMD 5200+ - 169.99
Total: 310.00

Option 1
MSI Mobo - 166.99
Intel Core 2 e6600 - 235.00
Total: 402
Price Difference: 92.00
Advantages: Can be overclocked fairly high.
Disadvantages: Replace stock cooler, low stock clock speed.

Option 2
Asus Mobo - 139.99
AMD 6000+ - 239.99
Total: 380.00
Price Difference - 70.00
Advantages: Stock clock at 3.0ghz, stable.
Disadvantages: Can not be oc'ed very high.

Option 3
Asus Mobo - 139.99
AMD 5600+ -195.00
Total - 335
Price Difference: 25.00
Advantages: Stock clock at 2.8ghz, price friendly
Disadvantages: See above

*Prices are taken from Newegg and rounded based on Taxes.
*Local retailer that I am buying parts from usually sells parts 20 USD more than Newegg.com.

The 5200 will hit at least 2.8 or 2.9 on stock cooling mine runs fine think better to get the 5200X2 and water cooling will get it to 3.2 or 3.3,Then to get a 6000X2 which will only O.C. to 3.2 on stock cooling anyway.Price difference in the 5200X2 and 6000X2 is 71.00 here and a coolermaster watercooling system is only $59

 

[Ronnie]

go with the e6600 and the MSI P6N 650I motherboard the one thats only like 115 bucks, it will overclock that cpu to 3.4 easily and it will outperform the AMD and run cooler and consume less power