Conroe: Now or Later

[Pollock]

Originally posted by: Crazyfool
I am going to wait a bit before I upgrade to Conroe for a few reasons.

CPU prices almost always go down especially right after a big release like this... I don't want to pay a premium to have the first Conroe available. A month could save you $100 or more depending on which chip you decide on.

RAM prices also historically continue to drop so waiting on that isn't gonna hurt either.

But my biggest reason for waiting is that I want a larger selection of more reasonably priced motherboards. I'm sure that sometime in the next couple months one of the mobo companies will release something with all the bells and whistles that overclocks well for less than $100. Plus, all these early adopters will let us know which boards are best and which ones have issues... I would prefer not to be a beta tester for new hardware.

Sometimes it pays to be patient. Although I want one yesterday too!

QFT. At the very least, after the short-term gouging the CPU prices should return to around MSRP, although after that I'm personally waiting for much cheaper motherboards that can still overclock decently. Also, I heard DDR2 prices are supposed to go up again as the year progresses.

 

[Cheng]

Originally posted by: Hard Ball

Originally posted by: Cheng
when do you expect the cpu's to drop, about year? or when the next line of cpus come out?

and when do you expect new motherboards to come out?

Intel typically drop prices sometime in October, usually simply moving the price structure of the SKU down one grade; which means that if you buy in late October, you will probably be able to get the next higher Conroe in terms of clock speed than the one today, for the same price.

They may do that for conroes and allendales separately (ie. 6700 to 6600 price and 6400 to 6300 price), but I don't think they'll make the e6600 the same price as the e6400, that's a huge 100 price drop.

 

[busmaster11]

Originally posted by: 450R

Originally posted by: Kwint Sommer
Conroes will go down a fair bit in mid-August but they won't go bellow that for months. As far as overclocking motherboards, the best P5W DH Deluxe is already here and will remain the best through the end of the year. However it is selling for $250 now and that might go down a little but probably not below $220 and might even go up as demand increases around Christmas. On the other hand, the SLI ready boards aren't here yet and the "budget boards" still need some fine tuning. If you want the best get the P5W DH Deluxe and an E6600 now but if you want a middle-of-the-road system or SLI then wait a few months.

What about the Gigabyte DS3? From what I've read it overclocks better than the P5W DH, and it's $100 cheaper.

What makes you think the P5W DH will remain the best for the next 5-6 months? Honest question, no sarcasm ... just seems like a really vague statement to make.

Exactly. Conroe buyers now have the choice of jimmy-rigged older chipsets, newer but buggy 965s with only one x16 slot, or a choice of like three 200$ 975 boards, none of which are capable of pushing Conroe to its thermal limitations with much confidence...

So glad I went for a 100$ PD 805 and a 75$ NF4 or 945p board. Half the price but within shouting range of the performance oc'd to 3.6G... And at 3.6 there's no need to bump up vcore or fan speed - according to THG this seems to be the sweet spot for lower energy consumption and heat dissipation.

Give the cutting edge pioneers with money to burn and the mobo manufacturers a couple months to test and come out with some boards that truely push the envelope. No need to ask what is among today's crop - come Christmas time, I think we'll likely see a 110$ mobo that can drive a 6300 to within the neighborhood of 4G. Edit: possibly not that close, but taking better yields into account, you never know...