Core 2 Duo (Conroe) the new king

[alanschu]

They were really just sitting on a computer with superior architecture?

[angshuman]

I don't believe that's true. Conroe has evolved through the following chain:

 

P6 (Pentium II) -> PIII -> Banias -> Dothan -> Yonah -> Merom -> Conroe.

 

Banias, Dothan, Yonah and Merom are all Israeli Pentium M/Centrino cores. Merom has not yet been released. I don't think Conroe was ready until recently. It's true that if Portland had started working on this line in parallel with Haifa instead of focusing all of their efforts on Netburst derivatives, Conroe might have been born a lot sooner.

[angshuman]

Feeding The Monster (Conroe Buyers' Guide)

[Alec]

Core 2 Duo Conroe processors are exceptional!

[mkreku]

Yeah, Asus make great hardware. Just remember though: Abit is back in the business. Might be worth waiting to see what the reviews say about their latest offerings too (if you're at all interested in overclocking and performance).

[angshuman]

Hmm... I've never tried Abit. Would you put them in the same league as DFI, MSI and ASUS?

[alanschu]

Abit, IIRC, used to be the big dawg in terms of OC friendly motherboards.

 

I've been an Asus fan for pretty much my entire life though (motherboard wise...not sold on their video cards)

[alanschu]

Make sure you're not always waiting.

[SteveThaiBinh]

Make sure you're not always waiting.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

This is also my fear. The Conroe processors sound like such a better deal than anything else available that at the moment I'm feeling it's worth the wait, but only for a month or two. If they're delayed or not available for ages, then I'm getting an Athlon.

[mkreku]

Hmm... I've never tried Abit. Would you put them in the same league as DFI, MSI and ASUS?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I believe their current direct competitor would in fact be DFI. They market themselves in the same (crazy) segment of hardware buyers. MSI doesn't have such a hot marketvalue (in Sweden at least) and ASUS have such a wide array of products that they're not exactly in the same segment either. The expensive ASUS (Deluxe models) is a bit like Abit used to be.

 

I have an Abit motherboard in my own computer and an ASUS in my girlfriends computer. The Abit is much more versatile when it comes to overclocking (and tweaking memory latency) but the ASUS has a MUCH smarter motherboard layout. I recently bought a Zalman fan for my (overclocked) CPU and the damn motherboard is so stupidly built that I had to cut off a big piece of metal from the cooler just to get it to fit.

[angshuman]

... damn motherboard is so stupidly built that I had to cut off a big piece of metal from the cooler just to get it to fit.

Wow, I don't think I'd have the nerve to do that.

[angshuman]

Anandtech shows how easy it is to overclock a $183 E6300 with stock cooling and make it run circles around an FX-62.

[WITHTEETH]

So whats the best Mobo to get, and what new standards have arrived, or will arrive?

[angshuman]

So whats the best Mobo to get, and what new standards have arrived, or will arrive?

There's a link to a nice Conroe motherboard article from Anandtech in this very thread (it's called Feeding the Monster); you should find a lot of relevant information there. It's probably best to wait for a month or so until the chips actually hit the market and settle down to stable prices. Hopefully, Nvidia will announce a new chipset by then so we can have a much clearer picture of the range of choices available.

[mkreku]

The Conroe goes on sale on aug. 12 and aug 20 (different versions of it) here in Sweden. By then a lot of motherboard manufacturers will have had time to release their new Conroe compatible boards. I'm going to wait for a decent Abit one myself, so I can get hold of

[angshuman]

X-bit labs has an article on Conroe's 64-bit Performance. A bit underwhelming, it seems.

[Kaftan Barlast]

At first glance it looks like the Conroe-compatible socket 775 Motherboards are going to be twice the price of the regular 775's. Any reliable info on that?

[angshuman]

It's here.

 

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Se...u=CP2-DUO-X6800

[swaaye]

X-bit labs has an article on Conroe's 64-bit Performance. A bit underwhelming, it seems.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

So the lead is only 15% if you actually use 64-bit Windows. BTW, I've switched back to 32-bit XP yet again, after my 3rd stint in x64. There is simply no advantage and lots of little quirks.

[Fionavar]

X-bit labs has an article on Conroe's 64-bit Performance. A bit underwhelming, it seems.

So the lead is only 15% if you actually use 64-bit Windows. BTW, I've switched back to 32-bit XP yet again, after my 3rd stint in x64. There is simply no advantage and lots of little quirks.

 

Indeed and that synthetic bench is further reduced from a 6% difference in actual performance with the AMD architecture. the fact is that Conroe is a great 32-bit CPU ... problem is we're on the verge of a 64 bit shift. So AMD - with the AM3 4x4 - continues to push Intel to keep up ... or so that's my take

[WITHTEETH]

Clicky!

I think it would be safe to wait for this motherbaord.

[Tuerkek]

The solution to all of this is buy AMD X2's for cheap now (I didn't though, I was on a budget), then build a conroe system later instead of paying top dollar.

[Alec]

X-bit labs has an article on Conroe's 64-bit Performance. A bit underwhelming, it seems.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

So the lead is only 15% if you actually use 64-bit Windows. BTW, I've switched back to 32-bit XP yet again, after my 3rd stint in x64. There is simply no advantage and lots of little quirks.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Indeed and that synthetic bench is further reduced from a 6% difference in actual performance with the AMD architecture. the fact is that Conroe is a great 32-bit CPU ... problem is we're on the verge of a 64 bit shift. So AMD - with the AM3 4x4 - continues to push Intel to keep up ... or so that's my take

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I think AMD has grown strong throughout the years of progress. Intel is having problems keeping up IMO. Besides, it's always AMD that comes up with the bright ideas: 64 bit, Dual Core, Quad Core ecc.

The 64 bit system is now used to transfer data more securely and better. It's more advanced, makes less noise, has very good performance (not as much as some 32 bit CPU that go over 3 Ghz of course...), consumes less (in this case for portable computers) and is much cooler.

[angshuman]

Besides, it's always AMD that comes up with the bright ideas: 64 bit, Dual Core, Quad Core ecc.

This is a common misconception. Intel launched its 64-bit processors only a couple of months after AMD did. It takes several years to design and build a processor. Intel has already started working on processors targeted at the 2010 timeframe. There are always several alternative designs being parallelly worked on by multiple design teams, but only a few finally see the light of day. Exactly which product or feature is launched when depends on several factors, which include market conditions, state of the competition etc.

 

If Intel didn't launch 64-bit processors when AMD did, it was likely because the marketing teams felt that there wasn't enough demand for it. It seems AMD's marketing for 64-bit was good enough to create sufficient hype about it, and so Intel had to respond. Of course, it takes a few months for the product to be sent for full-scale manufacturing, but the 64-bit designs were ready long before that.

[alanschu]

Intels solution was the Itanium was it not?