New Rig Advice Needed

[sociable.nomad]

As some of you may remember, I was building a rig a couple of months ago.
BUT due to financial constraints (such as my car breaking down) and some unscrupulous (sp?) individual breaking into my other car and practically r@peing the interior to get my audio system out, I was forced to sell the parts I had bought and redirect my funds in the direction of repairs.

So now that Im over all that (and I have a trip to the US planned) Im lookin at starting again in a couple of months on the road to geekdom (yes this will STILL be the first build Ive ever done.)

Im lookin for advice on what components are shaping up to be well priced and deliver great power output.

bieng I am neither an intel or AMD fan so Im open to suggestions as long as they can be justified. I was originally lookin @ building an AMD dual core machine and would like to stay on the dual core path. Please also remember I need to be able to source the parts here in New Zealand.

Is the 'Conroe' Chip as good as the reviews say?

Is it worth waiting for AM3?

What's the difference in AM3 likely to be?

Will this post ever end? :rant:

Thanks in advance for all your input -SN-

[Omega65]

Yes the Conroe is as good as the reviews say it is but it's largely unavailable and will be in short supply for the next few months (unless you're willing to pay a premium) The conroe motherboards are also new and new hardware usually has bugs. The (predicted top performing) ATI RD600 motherboards wont be out for another month or two

Socket AM2 is fast and the X2 DualCore CPUs are cheap now.

AM3 doesn't arrive until Summer 2007.

One path you could take is getting a Conroe capable motherboard and a Dual Core Pentium 4 (like a 805) and upgrade to a Conroe when they are more readily available.

[WuGgaRoO]

im not that great with current technologies but i will tell you that it will all change pretty soon..right now i feel that the computer market is VERY turbulent and waiting a year for a PC owuld probably be your best bet..thats what im gonna do and all i'm using is an p4 2.53ghz cpu with an ati all in wonder 9800 pro...not too good

[sociable.nomad]

thing is, I dont have a rig of my own (never have) so Im lookin to purchase in a couple of months (mid - late october) so Im thinkin the conroe is soundin pretty good. at the moment Im doin UBER data collection on whats hot and whats not.
now for the next question; Im assuming the term 'conroe' refers to the core (similar to how ppl refer to AMD chips as winchester etc...) if this is the case, what will the the "retail" name for these chips?

[Kibsimvak]

Where you get it???

[Omega65]

Conroe (CPU Code Name) = Core 2 Duo Retail CPU Name

Intel's Core 2 Extreme & Core 2 Duo: The Empire Strikes Back (http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2795)

In 2-3 Months the Conroe will be THE CPU to have and the motherboard comparison reviews will be in. You'll know by then whos top dog, ATI, Nvidia or Intel.

[edcentric]

I like the way that Omega is thinking (I can't beleive that I said that).
I would be looking for a C2D mobo. You need to wait long enough to see what the nF5 and A6xx chipsets can do. The Asus P5W-DH is a great looking mobo, but before I droped $250 on a mobo I would want to see some competition.
I would also look to by a D805 cheap. The prices on C2D cpus will not come down for a while.
Intel talks about their rapid ramp up in production, but many of those chips have in fact been sitting in boxes for weeks. It will be a while before there are enough chips in the pipeline that prices soften.

[Thrax]

Another vote for Conroe. There's just no close competitor for it. $250 C2D chips are blowing $900 AM2 chips out of the water at stock speeds.

[WuGgaRoO]

Another vote for Conroe. There's just no close competitor for it. $250 C2D chips are blowing $900 AM2 chips out of the water at stock speeds.
if i remember correctly...if thrax reccommends an intel cpu..it has to be a DAMN good CPU

[sociable.nomad]

Ok, next question. this is for those "in the know"
in about 6 - 7 weeks time whats looking to be a pretty decent "bang for buck" motherboard to mount a Conroe chip on? Ill be lookin around the NZ$250 - 300 mark (US$125 - 150) if this is too low a number (I wouldnt know Im a noob). whats goin to be a decent motherboard at a decent price? Ill be lookin to overclock the lil begger but not to anything too astonishing just enough to get some free power.

P.S - Ive settled on the E6600 if this helps.