Fastest Intel chip out there?

**grandkodiak** · 08-09-2006, 05:45 PM

Its been 4 years since I was up to date with technology, so I've decided to build a new rig to last me the next 4.

My question is, what is the fasted current Intel chip out there right now? I see the 960 but I also see some new thing called Core 2s but the clock speed and cache are less, but its much more expensive?

Also, DDR was the big thing last time I was building, whats the latest and greatest now, DDR2? I see some DDR3 video cards, is DDR3 available as system ram too, or just for accessories?

**ninobrn99** · 08-09-2006, 07:23 PM

dual core seems to be the way to go. yes the seem slower when looking at the numbers..most out are only 2.x ghz, but they are FAST!

**grandkodiak** · 08-09-2006, 09:42 PM

so the core 2 chips are actually post better performance numbers then the 960? only think i noticed was that the front side bus was alot higher, but the cache was half and the clock speed is almost a gigaherzt behind...

**ninobrn99** · 08-09-2006, 09:45 PM

honestly, i havent looked too much into it. I have a few friends i work with that just all bought new computers that I could ask on friday morning and post up. They've been doing all the research and all have dual cores. gamers..

**grandkodiak** · 08-09-2006, 10:23 PM

i figure i just blew 3 months pay on my car, might as well waste another on a computer

**ss~zoso~ss** · 08-10-2006, 12:22 PM

i just got a laptop with the AMD turion 1.8ghz with a frontside bus of up to 1600mhz, which blows the 667mhz or whatever the duo has

**ninobrn99** · 08-10-2006, 12:34 PM

conroe chips are supposed to be pretty damn good. just got off the phone wiht a friend and he ran me through it. they require less voltage, so they run cooler, they have a 1g fsb and a few other features. the amd chips are great for gaming, but for overall everyday performance, the conroe would be perfect according to him.

**Corona-Extra** · 08-10-2006, 03:15 PM

look around on Newegg.com.... really good site... i buy about 4K worth of stuff there a year... if your building a computer... without a doubt.. this is the place to go

**ninobrn99** · 08-10-2006, 03:15 PM

tigerdirect is pretty cheap too.

**SLIM_DURST** · 08-10-2006, 06:18 PM

AMD has been kicking intel's ass. not sure if that's still the case. but their chips have a better design, more power, for the same power consumption, at lower cost.

**ss~zoso~ss** · 08-10-2006, 07:25 PM

YEA!!, with intel you are paying for the name, my roomate in college has the same laptop as me but with the intel duo 1.6 , so i'll have to race him

**ss~zoso~ss** · 08-10-2006, 07:25 PM

i'll post it in the kill stories section,

**grandkodiak** · 08-10-2006, 07:38 PM

soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo..........

**ForceFed** · 08-14-2006, 03:22 PM

Currently the most powerful Intel chip on the market today is the Core 2 Duo X6800. This has a 4MB cache just like all the other Conroe chips. There are 3 Conroe chips:
E6600 2.4Ghz/4MB cache
E6700 2.67Ghz/4MB cache
X6800 2.93Ghz/4MB cache
All 3 of those chips benchmark higher in nearly every single category than the AMD FX-62. AMD makes a great chip, but currently it is getting its ass reamed by the Conroe chips and for alot less money. Since the Conroes just came out, they're being subjected to price gouging, but once that settles down and the prices return to MSRP, the $316 E6600 is the best deal and rapes the FX-62

IYP · 08-14-2006, 08:00 PM

oh boy...people have to learn that clock speed dsent mean speed.

immagine it this way, you have 1 gallon bucket you need to get water from a 100 gallon container to the other. You accomplish this in 5 mins you went back and forth 100 times. you do this again with a 5 gallon bucket, you move at 1/5th the pace but you still complete the task in 5 mins making 20 trips back and forth. The first example signifies a 100mhz proc and the 2nd example represents a 20mhz proc, they are diffrent clock speeds but accomplish the task at the same rate. the same thing holds true for processors, this is why the AMD and core 2 processors can outperform higher clocked processors.

Intel seems to be leading the performance market at the moment so one of the new core 2 processors are the best deal for you

as for the RAM, the new intel procs run DDR 2 DDR3 is not retail yet...dont confuse GDDR3 with DDR3

for the whole system layout check out this (http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=106479)

find your pricerange....and a word to a wise...dont order from monarch they tend to ship slowly use newegg or zipzoomfly

**grandkodiak** · 08-14-2006, 08:47 PM

whats the diff between thier 960 D which has 3.6ghz and 4mb? why isnt that faster then the X6800?

**ForceFed** · 08-15-2006, 03:50 AM

Originally Posted by grandkodiak

whats the diff between thier 960 D which has 3.6ghz and 4mb? why isnt that faster then the X6800?

Well for starters the core architecture is completely different. The 960D has 2X2MB L2 cache whereas the X6800(and all the other Conroe core CPUs) have a 4MB shared L2 cache. Having the shared L2 cache, the CPU can dynamically allocate the cache based on workload, per core. The 960D's core splits the workload 50% and hence each 2MB L2 core can only receive at most 50% of the workload.
Also, all of the Conroe chips use numerically smaller multipliers and run higher FSB frequency to make up for the smaller multipliers. Having a smaller multiplier usually means the cpu is more overclock friendly. That is why all the new Conroe core CPUs run 1066Mhz bus speed instead of the old 800Mhz.

**grandkodiak** · 08-15-2006, 07:01 AM

ooo... thanks for the info. i bought a motherboard, powersupply, ram etc but the board i bought says it can take basically any 775 from a d to the new duos... guess i'll get a cheap one now and save up for that x6800, seeing as they are nearly 4x the price!!

my sli dual 512 1900 cards should make up for it in the meantime

IYP · 08-15-2006, 07:33 AM

got the actual product names of the stuff you bought?

and the 1900s dont go SLI they go into a crossfire setup

**ForceFed** · 08-15-2006, 07:34 AM

Originally Posted by grandkodiak

ooo... thanks for the info. i bought a motherboard, powersupply, ram etc but the board i bought says it can take basically any 775 from a d to the new duos... guess i'll get a cheap one now and save up for that x6800, seeing as they are nearly 4x the price!!

my sli dual 512 1900 cards should make up for it in the meantime

A Intel Allendale 1.8Ghz E6300 ( should be around 205-225, shipped) has a 2MB cache per core and recent benchmarks of the E6300 paired with the Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 motherboard and overclocked to almost 3GHZ on aftermarket air show it has a decent lead over the $900+ AMD FX-62 in nearly all categories, including gaming. Most people won't need a X6800. In fact, most people won't even need the power of the $316MSRP E6600 Conroe.

My advice. Pick up the E6300, get the 965-DS3, get some high quality RAM by either G.Skill, Geil or OCZ, pick up a Zalman cpu cooler, overclock and enjoy your new powerhouse rig.