With Conroe formaly Core 2 Duo out and AMD following them by reducing thier proccy prices(X2 Mainly) in counter attack move there is a big confusion in the minds of an end user on what to buy. By no means am i saying that you should follow what i am suggesting but do have a read and then follow what you feel/suits you.
No doubts that Intel has bounced back and has turned tables for AMD upside down by releaseing thier latest offereings but there is a catch in this situation. You just dont need a CPU to have a complete system. You need to feed it up with some decent RAM and a equally decent board. On top of that if you want all the high end features from a mobo and are thinking about some decent overclocking then you need to buy a High end board.
With Conroe's Indian Pricing still not out(We do have a hint that the lowest counterpart aka the 6300 would be available for approx 10K in coming weeks) and scarce availability of the mobos the situation gets different. Also the Pricing for a decent Conroe board will be approx 15K and thereabouts. Adding 2 GB of DDR2 to it will cost you anywhere between 8K to 10K. Adding it all up we arrive at a figure of about 35K.
But when we look at the AMD's offerings as of now the situation is a bit different. An AMD X2 3800 is now available for about 8.5K and a 4200 for about 12K. Adding with up with a decent mobo lets say a A8N E will cost another 5K and a 2GB of RAM as of now cost about 7.5K.If we take a 3800 into the equation the total setup will set you back by 21K. Approximately 14K difference between a Conroe and an AMD X2 setup.
But is that 14K difference really worth it. I would say somewhat "YES". Cause reports indicate that the lowest of Conroe's when overclocked performos equal to an High end AMD setup. And by high end we are taking into account an AMD FX 62.
But (Yes there is a but) what about people who are already on a 939 platform. Well for them its the worse situation. Or if they think so. If you are gamer then this situation is actually the best for you. How, Lets take an example of a person running a Venice 3000+ on an ASUS A8N E with 1 GB of RAM. Now for him a Conroe setup is about 25K(Keeping in account he will be able to get rid of his existing AMD setup for around 10+ K). Thats still a lot of money cause sometime last year for the same AMD setup one would have spent almost 20K. A 10K drop is a definate NO NO. What to do. Well just get rid fof the exisiting Proccy. You end up with a X2 3800+ dual core chip for about 6K(Keeping in mind that the venice gets sold for approx 2.5+ K or so). And by no means a 3800+ is a bad performer when it comes to gaming. Infact all the current batches of X2 3800 clocks to 2.6GHz with ease. And i am sure non of the games demands so much power. So for peeps already on Socket 939 it dosent make sense to jump on a Conroe platform.
Well now some people will come in defense of Conroe's stating the performance jump is massive from 939 to conroe's. Well think of it like this. By Jan next year Quad cores of both AMD and Intel will be available. And we all know what they will be able to do. Now if somebody who is already on a Decent Socket 939 platform jumps to an Conroe platfrom by spending 25K sees that in six months again his setup is obsolete(Remeber he spent about 20 K last year same time too). So even after spending 50K within a Year his platform is not up there(Remember i am just taking into account Mobo + CPU + RAM and 50K is a big figure for these three). So jumping from a a 939 to Conroe dosent make sense at all.
And dont get me started on peeps who are on a AMD Dual core platform as of now. For them it dosent make sense at all as they would have spent almost 40K last year for thier setup. For them to upgrade to conroe it will be another 20K. And they wont notice any major difference as i am sure most peeps on dual core would have overclocked thier rigs. For them the $$$ figure even gets bigger in six months time.
So the crux of the matter according me is :
If you are buying a newsetup... Look for a Conroe eyes closed.
If you upgrading from a Pentium D setup or a Pentium 4 Setup Conroe makes sense.
If you are jumping from Socket 939 Single core platform to Conroe then think twice. Its a tricky situation as of now. An AMD X2 is good for you. You get to keep the same Board + RAM and invest a small sum(As compared to conroe setup in full).
If you are jumping from an AMD dual core setup then either you have big pockets or you are Brain Dead(No offense).
I dont mind flames but back it up with facts. Do let me know you feedback regarding the same.
No doubts that Intel has bounced back and has turned tables for AMD upside down by releaseing thier latest offereings but there is a catch in this situation. You just dont need a CPU to have a complete system. You need to feed it up with some decent RAM and a equally decent board. On top of that if you want all the high end features from a mobo and are thinking about some decent overclocking then you need to buy a High end board.
With Conroe's Indian Pricing still not out(We do have a hint that the lowest counterpart aka the 6300 would be available for approx 10K in coming weeks) and scarce availability of the mobos the situation gets different. Also the Pricing for a decent Conroe board will be approx 15K and thereabouts. Adding 2 GB of DDR2 to it will cost you anywhere between 8K to 10K. Adding it all up we arrive at a figure of about 35K.
But when we look at the AMD's offerings as of now the situation is a bit different. An AMD X2 3800 is now available for about 8.5K and a 4200 for about 12K. Adding with up with a decent mobo lets say a A8N E will cost another 5K and a 2GB of RAM as of now cost about 7.5K.If we take a 3800 into the equation the total setup will set you back by 21K. Approximately 14K difference between a Conroe and an AMD X2 setup.
But is that 14K difference really worth it. I would say somewhat "YES". Cause reports indicate that the lowest of Conroe's when overclocked performos equal to an High end AMD setup. And by high end we are taking into account an AMD FX 62.
But (Yes there is a but) what about people who are already on a 939 platform. Well for them its the worse situation. Or if they think so. If you are gamer then this situation is actually the best for you. How, Lets take an example of a person running a Venice 3000+ on an ASUS A8N E with 1 GB of RAM. Now for him a Conroe setup is about 25K(Keeping in account he will be able to get rid of his existing AMD setup for around 10+ K). Thats still a lot of money cause sometime last year for the same AMD setup one would have spent almost 20K. A 10K drop is a definate NO NO. What to do. Well just get rid fof the exisiting Proccy. You end up with a X2 3800+ dual core chip for about 6K(Keeping in mind that the venice gets sold for approx 2.5+ K or so). And by no means a 3800+ is a bad performer when it comes to gaming. Infact all the current batches of X2 3800 clocks to 2.6GHz with ease. And i am sure non of the games demands so much power. So for peeps already on Socket 939 it dosent make sense to jump on a Conroe platform.
Well now some people will come in defense of Conroe's stating the performance jump is massive from 939 to conroe's. Well think of it like this. By Jan next year Quad cores of both AMD and Intel will be available. And we all know what they will be able to do. Now if somebody who is already on a Decent Socket 939 platform jumps to an Conroe platfrom by spending 25K sees that in six months again his setup is obsolete(Remeber he spent about 20 K last year same time too). So even after spending 50K within a Year his platform is not up there(Remember i am just taking into account Mobo + CPU + RAM and 50K is a big figure for these three). So jumping from a a 939 to Conroe dosent make sense at all.
And dont get me started on peeps who are on a AMD Dual core platform as of now. For them it dosent make sense at all as they would have spent almost 40K last year for thier setup. For them to upgrade to conroe it will be another 20K. And they wont notice any major difference as i am sure most peeps on dual core would have overclocked thier rigs. For them the $$$ figure even gets bigger in six months time.
So the crux of the matter according me is :
If you are buying a newsetup... Look for a Conroe eyes closed.
If you upgrading from a Pentium D setup or a Pentium 4 Setup Conroe makes sense.
If you are jumping from Socket 939 Single core platform to Conroe then think twice. Its a tricky situation as of now. An AMD X2 is good for you. You get to keep the same Board + RAM and invest a small sum(As compared to conroe setup in full).
If you are jumping from an AMD dual core setup then either you have big pockets or you are Brain Dead(No offense).
I dont mind flames but back it up with facts. Do let me know you feedback regarding the same.
