Strategic upgrade...

[NightshadowUK]

Although the E8400 chips are having temperature problems and the Q9450 is yet to be released, 'Biscuit' and myself believe if we leave upgrading any longer, our old S939 gear isn't going to be worth anything. So after much pondering we've come up with the following shopping list:

- Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 ~ £77.19

We were originally looking at E2 chips but decided 1MB cache just wasn't acceptable. 3GHz+ should be easily achievable and with the same cache as our Opterons (2MB) we feel it'd be a decent upgrade and a worthy stop-go on our route to quad-core awesomeness.

- Abit IP35-E ~ &#163;60.15 <-- Biscuit

- Abit IP-35 Pro ~ &#163;112.44 <-- Me

After having an AN8 Ultra for a good few years, I'm a bit of a uGuru whore. We know the Abit IP35 boards are solid and will host a quad nicely when the time comes.

- 2GB OCZ PC2-6400C4 Platinum Rev. 2 XTC ~ &#163;30.50 <-- Biscuit

- 2GB Corsair TwinX XMS2 PC2-6400 CAS4 ~ &#163;37.18 <-- Me

Biscuit already snapped up the OCZ stuff when it was on offer a few weeks ago and as I'll be shopping at Scan HQ the Corsair is my obvious choice. I had been considering 4GB kits but from what I've read most applications don't even use 2GB, I could be wrong though... ? I'd also been looking into PC2-8500 memory as the Q9450 only has a 8x multiplier, but from what I've read either of the above can be dropped to CAS5 and overclocked to those levels anyway.

So basically we just want everyone's feedback and comments, are we doing the right thing?

Thanks as always folks!

[SadikP]

If your going to upgrade to a Yorkfield Quad in the near future just get the cheaper E2XXX, extra cache comparison .

& a x38 chipset will probably be slightly better for the new quads (little extra FSB)(alot newer as well)

Your RAM choice is good, but for a little bit more you could get some Crucial Ballistix 8500C5 (will do 1066+ C4 all day long)

[staffsMike]

Depends what the PC is for I suppose but the cache should affect things too much espeically in games. I would go pentium dual core myself.

If you want to get the sort of speeds the Q9450 is capable of then probably best to get the PC8500 ram if you can. It will give you much more comfort for overclocking at these high FSB's.

Are you sure you can't be swayed toward the Q6600, chances are you will only really get the same sort of overclocks with both chips and the performance difference should be negligable.
It means less expense (PC6400 more than enough and you don't have an old dual core to sling) you won't get any overclocking issues (even the IP-35pro gets high PWM temps with big overclocks). Still seems like the way to go to me.

[NightshadowUK]

It's SSE4 on the new chips that's got me, I'm more than willing to wait for the 30 - 40&#37; gain on number crunching.

Urgh this is hard, it's so much easier when it isn't my money.

What's your say on the whole 2GB vs. 4GB thing btw?

[Biscuit]

Well i have been rethinking and i cant see quad making enough difference in games for it to really bother me. Yeah i do some video editing and encoding etc, not enough for the extra few seconds to be of importance.
I think an upgrade to a E4500 6400 ram and basic P35 mobo. Once i have sold my exsiting parts it will only cost me like 20-30 quid in total i reckon and that will keep me goin well enough until quads become the standard upgrade. If i start to lose some FPS i will upgrade my graphics card, in COD4 im doubting i will have any problems though.

The only other option i think would be phesable would be going E8400, i may consider putting my cash into that howeveri dont think the advantages over a E4500 would be enough to warrent double the price.

Another option i may vaguely consider is gettin the DDR2 X38 mobo however the rest of my parts will be behind (E2180 PC6400) kinda seems a bit daft

[staffsMike]

If you are considering a quad even in the next 1-2 years then a stop gap chip like the e4500 will still be plenty. The E8400 seems like a more permanent 3-4 year chip to me (which also in my eyes makes it pointless as the Q6600 is only &#163;30 more). You won't need the 4-4.5Ghz it has to offer as 2.4 - 3.0GHz is plenty of cpu power over 2 cores for the moment.

COD 4 runs on anything, it's like a miracle game. Runs on my 2.2GHz C2D, 8400GS laptop

Nightshadow, 4GB is so cheap now it seems silly not to. &#163;60 will get you a decent 2x2GB kit of PC6400 and about &#163;80 - &#163;115 for PC8500 depending or what you buy and where from. I'd personally stay away from the silly heatsinked kits (OCZ reaper etc..) as the heatsinks may get in the way of some of the bigger CPU coolers.

Big overclocks (1333MHz chips) will benefit from 2x2GB rather than 4x1GB if you are planning on a gradual upgrade as it wont stress the mobo as much and you're less likely to get one bad module. It's also cheaper in most cases

[Biscuit]

COD 4 runs on anything, it's like a miracle game. Runs on my 2.2GHz C2D, 8400GS laptop

A mate in my clan plays it on a P4 with a 6200 xD

Havent seen him around in a while tho...

[staffsMike]

I'm not suprised by that, if only all games were like it

[SadikP]

I would say 4Gb is a must for Vista 64-bit & it's well cheap

[NightshadowUK]

Nightshadow, 4GB is so cheap now it seems silly not to. &#163;60 will get you a decent 2x2GB kit of PC6400 and about &#163;80 - &#163;115 for PC8500 depending or what you buy and where from. I'd personally stay away from the silly heatsinked kits (OCZ reaper etc..) as the heatsinks may get in the way of some of the bigger CPU coolers.

Aye even Corsair's DHX range looks a little tall for my liking. Are there any decent 2x2GB PC2-6400 CAS4 sets out at the moment?

[staffsMike]

Yeah a decent set from G-SKill

Don't wish to offend you with the link if you don't like them but it's the first place I thought of lol
G.Skill 4GB DDR2 PK PC2-6400C4 (2x2GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit (F2-6400CL4D-4GBPK)

Should be able to get them from memoryc.com too.

The Geil Black Dragon set is supposed to go down to something in the region of CAS4 assuming you don't overclock it.

[GSte]

I'm not sure if that Corsair/OCZ will hit the frequencies you want. I had trouble getting the Platinum to do even the advertised timings on my dad's machine, and the Corsair isn't supposed to be great for OCing, just a bit of advice, I know the price is great on both kits.

That CPU has an 11x muliplier...... PC6400 will get you to 4.4GHz then..... were you planning on going past this? Do you have phase change? Or did you mean you want the RAM to last until you get your quad? Even so it would be good for 3.6Ghz and a bit further......

Your IP-35 Pro is supposed to be great, may be worth watching Scan's Today Only page for a while, they had them for 80-something quid a week or so back.

[staffsMike]

My assumption was the RAM was for the quad

Yep it was on for &#163;88 a few weeks backa nd regularly <&#163;100 now. The Dark raider is often on for &#163;60 as well which might be good for Biscuit

[NightshadowUK]

Yeah I'm wanting the memory to last through to getting a quad and I was looking at going above PC6400 cos the Q9450 only has a 8x multi.

Think I'll get the E4500 this weekend as it's on today only and wait for the IP-35 Pro to follow. Cheers for the link Mike, that looks perfect.

[GSte]

If you want 4GB:

4Gb DDR2 PC2-8000 PQ Desktop RAM Gamin Memory Upgrade from G.Skill

But personally I've never needed more than 2GB, and in which case I would have to say:

Crucial 2GB Kit (2x1GB) Ballistix Memory DDR2 PC2-8500 5-5-5-15 Unbuffered NON-ECC DDR2-1066MHz 2.2V 128Meg x 64 - BL2KIT12864AA1065 - www.microdirect.co.uk

Best memory I've ever owned, I absolutely love it. It does it all, low latencies or high clocks, superb.