Member Avatar for madoverclocker

i've been a long time amd supporter and i have always had good luck with their processors, but with lackluster reviews of am2+ boards and phenom chips and no news of when we will see am3 sockets on the market... my next build is going to be intel. so i'm asking everyone from the blue team what processor they recommend (i am going to overclock the hell out of this).

also, does anyone know of any good pci-e 2.0, sli mobos? i'm finding a lot of cross fire boards but i'd like to go with sli 8800gt's.

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Member Avatar for jwenting

In both cases, define "best" :)

If you mean "fastest", "most powerful", it's easy: a Core 2 Quad QX6850. Will cost you over a thousand dollars though.
For just over a quarter of that, you have a Core 2 Quad Q6600.
Bit slower, but for the money you can replace it with a faster one twice when higher spec CPUs drop in price and still spend less money in total.
It is however less overclockable. But then Intel CPUs are sold at close to their optimum clockspeed, so there's less overclocking them anyway than with AMDs.
Intel does factory tests of each manufactured CPU, and sells it at its peak performance, so a batch of (in theory) 2.4GHz CPUs can contain both 2.2, 2.4, and 2.6 GHz CPUs with the majority being 2.4.

The ultimate motherboard for Socket 775 CPUs is likely the Asus Striker Extreme.
There are of course others, like the P5N32-E SLI Plus.

Member Avatar for madoverclocker

well, i guess what i'm asking is what do you recomend?

i've heard good things about the overclockability of the Q6600, but i'm tempted to just wait for cheaper yorkfield models (intel has promised their arival in Q1 of 2008).

i've been looking at the striker extreme, but it doesn't have pci-e 2.0 and i'd like to make sure that my board can make the most of this next generation of gpus.

Member Avatar for The New Normal

I'm afraid for Intel SLI, you're given the breathtaking choices of 680i, 680i or 680i. This means no pci-e 2.0 at the moment. The new 700 series will be 2.0, but other than that, better 45nm CPU support and tri-SLI (why would you bother?) , they won't be much different.

So:

  1. for ultimate bandwidth on 1 Nvidia or 2 ATI cards, go an Intel chipset (X38)
  2. for more than enough bandwidth on 2 Nvidia or 1 ATI card, go the Nvidia chipset (680i)

http://tinyurl.com/2qb86g
I decided on option 2.

If you're looking at a spanking new CPU like a Yorkfield QX9650 for a bazillion dollars, maybe wait for 790i (rumored to have 1600FSB, DDR3 and tri-SLI) http://tinyurl.com/yvgmbk

Personally, I can't wait.
I'm with jwenting on the CPU, the Q6600 is the price/performance king.

Member Avatar for madoverclocker

hmmmm... well intel has said that they intend on releasing a cheaper yorkfield in Q1 of 2008, but $750 is cheaper than $1,200 and still out of my price range. as much as i'd like 45nm and all that cashe, i'll probably go Q6600 and 680i. i've had great luck is overclocking with my 590 so i'll stick with nvidia.

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