Ritual said:
My box just died. I'm looking for reccomendations for a new one. I'm
looking to get away with as cheap as possible, re-using as much as
possible. I was looking into new MB/CPU/RAM anyway because my P4
2.4Ghz w/1G RAM is not capable of doing what I want to do. I do music.
Namely, Cubase with VST/Guitar Rig. CPU seems to be the main issue
when dealing with the program. At pricewatch I come up with something
like:
- 2.13Ghz CPU + 800MhzDDR2 MB for $350
- 2.4Ghz CPU + 400MhzDDR MB for $365 (Asus P5PE-VM Motherboard)
I can't decide. 2.4Ghz+800MhzDDR2=~$565 (Intel MB) but that's pushing
my budget. I know I need the 2.4 but I hate to go with 400MhzDDR. I
also noticed that a Pentium D 950 3.4Ghz is $15 more than a 2.13Ghz
Core2Duo. Would the 3.4Ghz Pentium D run faster? If anyone has any
input on the matter, I would appreciate it. I'm open to suggestions.
- Ritual
There are charts here, of CPU performance. This one is floating point,
and the benchmark takes advantage of both cores. But I don't know if
your music program would use both cores - it may only use one of the
two cores while it is running.
http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu.html?modelx=33&model1=437&model2=432&chart=159
This is the integer performance of the 950 versus the E6600.
http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu.html?modelx=33&model1=437&model2=432&chart=158
The Core2 processors may have the advantage in the power department,
and they may run a bit cooler than the alternatives.
For the person wishing to reuse as much old hardware as possible
(that's me), the market doesn't have a lot to offer. Currently, the
P5PE-VM and perhaps the 775Dual-VSTA, are the closest things to reuse
you can find. The P5PE-VM has an overclocked chipset, in that the
865G used on the board, was originally designed for FSB800 and not
FSB1066. Asus overclocks the chipset, to reach FSB1066, and that means
you couldn't overclock the board further if you wanted to. The
775Dual-VSTA is similar in that regard. The 775Dual-VSTA has more
slots, and has an AGP8X video slot, a PCI Express x16 (wiring is only
x4 though) video slot, two DDR memory slots, two DDR2 memory slots
(use only one kind of memory at a time though). And that is the nature
of the boards that allow you to reuse your AGP video card and DDR
memory - the boards tend to use older chipsets which were designed
for FSB800, leaving no room for overclocking if you have plans of
doing that.
The E6600 does have a 4MB cache, and that should help make up for
the memory performance. On the P5PE-VM, you should be aware of the
limitations of the dividers chosen. To keep the memory speed at or
below DDR400, Asus uses the 3:2 memory divider on the chipset. That
applies if you use a FSB1066 processor, and the RAM then runs at DDR354.
I think if a FSB800 processor is used, they can use the 1:1 divider
for that, and then the memory runs at DDR400. Also, at the
FSB1066 speed, you must use an AGP video card, and the internal
(Northbridge) graphics are disabled at FSB1066. That is used to
enhance stability, since the chipset is over spec at that point.
AFAIK, the PT880 on the Asrock board, is also being overclocked,
but the difference is, that VIA rates the chipset at FSB1066,
implying that VIA tests each chip to run at least at FSB1066.
I doubt Intel is testing the 865G's it ships, to run at
FSB1066. (Intel doesn't do stuff like that. They're Intel after
all.)
For stability advice, I'd look at customer reviews on Newegg, and
see what they think. Read both these threads.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/CustratingReview.asp?Item=N82E16813157092
http://www.newegg.com/Product/CustratingReview.asp?Item=N82E16813131029
Another alternative is a PCI Express motherboard that uses DDR2 - then
you have the extra cost of finding a video card, and the DDR2 memory.
This is an example of a cheap P965 motherboard of that type ($119).
At least with one of these, there will be overclocking headroom
for a Core2 Duo at FSB1066. But with no hardware reuse to speak of,
this may be too expensive a route to take.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128017
Are you sure you need a lot more processor for your application ?
Exactly how much more processor does it feel like it needs ?
There might still be some cheap P4's around for example.
Like one of these might make a nice toaster
Intel Pentium 4 570J 3.80GHz 800MHz 1MB LGA775 OEM $168.50 (30 day warranty)
http://www.starmicro.net/detail.aspx?ID=567
http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SL82U
HTH,
Paul
