what quad ?

[juGGaKNot]

After seeing that a x4 920/940 will not work on my mb i have decided to sell them and buy new ones

What should i get ? i can afford a q6600 or q9300, i "hope" to o/c to 3-3.6 ghz if x264 will not crash.

Will a newer quad like q9300 be better than and old q6600 ?

What about AMD in that price range ?

[St Devious]

It's really a tossup between AMD and Intel as far as P45 or AM2+/AM3 platform is concerned. Both can be found for about the same price.

You will have to find a good motherboard too.

I would say go with AMD Quad as they will overclock better than the above Intel CPUs you listed. The Q6600 is 65nm tech, so it will run hot plus it is limited by the default 1066 FSB, i think it can be pushed to 3.4 GHz but it's hard to get it there. The Q9300 is limited by the multiplier i.e. 7.5 IIRC. It will get to 3.4 I think.

AMD 940 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103471 is a black edition CPU, which means that it has the multiplier unlocked. It's your best bet to reach the higher clocks on AM2+ platform. It can even reach 3.8 GHz.

And this is a good board to pair the CPU with http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128384

[DJ Bobo]

I'd keep the AMD CPU and just change the motherboard for mere 70€. Asus makes good future-proof AMD boards. Get an AM2+ model that accepts AM3 processors. Asus keeps its compatiblity lists always updated.

[juGGaKNot]

Well got it down to x4 940 vs q9450

Will 3 gb of ddr3 at 1600 be bettar than 8 gb ddr2 800 ( x264/vegas wise )

[DJ Bobo]

I'd assume that you already have DDR2-RAM onboard.
8GB will allow you to get rid of the page file, which will make everything go much smoother (no hard disk access anymore).
Single Channel DDR3-1600 and Double Channel DDR2-800 have the exact same bandwidth (12,8GB/s), but DDR2 will be faster since it has a lower latency.
So I'd keep the DDR2 memory.

[Jom]

CAS latency is measured in clock cycles.

DDR3 1600 is twice the frequency of DDR2 800, so latency is 1/2 at the same CAS value.

i.e. DDR3 1600 CAS 9 has lower real latency than DDR2 800 CAS 5 (just)

[juGGaKNot]

I'd assume that you already have DDR2-RAM onboard.
8GB will allow you to get rid of the page file, which will make everything go much smoother (no hard disk access anymore).
Single Channel DDR3-1600 and Double Channel DDR2-800 have the exact same bandwidth (12,8GB/s), but DDR2 will be faster since it has a lower latency.
So I'd keep the DDR2 memory.

CAS latency is measured in clock cycles.

DDR3 1600 is twice the frequency of DDR2 800, so latency is 1/2 at the same CAS value.

i.e. DDR3 1600 CAS 9 has lower real latency than DDR2 800 CAS 5 (just)

8 gb a-data 4-4-4-12 it is.

what about the cpu ? 9550 or x4 920/940 ? hoping for 3.6 ghz 24/7 stock cooler

MB wise http://www.pcgarage.ro/placi-de-baza/asus/m3n-h-hdmi/

asus M3N-H/HDMI looks good, what do you think ?

gfx wise a simple 9500 gt 512mb ddr3 to try out cuda.

[Jom]

If you are going to overclock, google for overclocking reviews against the mainboard you choose to make sure its suitable.

Either option should net you similar results in x264 with / without overclocking. I suspect the Phenom route would be cheaper.

Spend any money you save on neuron2's cuda frameservers and put that GFX card to use during encodes.

[St Devious]

MB wise http://www.pcgarage.ro/placi-de-baza/asus/m3n-h-hdmi/

asus M3N-H/HDMI looks good, what do you think ?



try to go for a better board
http://www.pcgarage.ro/placi-de-baza/biostar/ta790gxb-a2-plus/

this gigabyte would be the best for the price
http://www.pcgarage.ro/placi-de-baza/gigabyte/ga-ma790x-ud3p/

[juGGaKNot]

k thnx for the tips.

[mr soft]

gfx wise a simple 9500 gt 512mb ddr3 to try out cuda.

I'd suggest the 9600 gt , 256 bit as apposed to 128, prices have come down a lot and you can always play some games later.;)

What PSU are you throwing in there ?

[Konrad Klar]

After seeing that a x4 920/940 will not work on my mb i have decided to sell them and buy new ones

What should i get ? i can afford a q6600 or q9300, i "hope" to o/c to 3-3.6 ghz if x264 will not crash.

Will a newer quad like q9300 be better than and old q6600 ?

What about AMD in that price range ?

If to comes to o/c: problem with Q9300 is its relatively low multiplier - 7,5.
To achive 3,375 GHz you would need memory able to work at 450MHz (900MHz effectively).
Lowest available MemoryClock:CPUBase ratio at Intel chipstets for Core2 is 1:1.

[burfadel]

8 gb a-data 4-4-4-12 it is.

what about the cpu ? 9550 or x4 920/940 ? hoping for 3.6 ghz 24/7 stock cooler

MB wise http://www.pcgarage.ro/placi-de-baza/asus/m3n-h-hdmi/

asus M3N-H/HDMI looks good, what do you think ?

gfx wise a simple 9500 gt 512mb ddr3 to try out cuda.

Well, if you do get that motherboard you can cross the q600/q9550 off the list :) - AMD and Intel processors use completely different and incompatible boards.

In terms of Intel, the q9550 is superior to the q6600. Even though overclocking is said to be slightly better on a q6600, the loss of speed over a q9550 isn't worth it! In addition to many other improvements, the q9550 offers SSE4.1, whereas the q6600 doesn't. For the same clock speed a Q9xxx series cpu is faster than a q6xxx series CPU.

Memory wise, dual channel memory isn't twice as fast as single channel, its the theoretical vs actual argument that applies here!

3.6ghz 24/7 stock cooler is a push, even if you can manage that it will seriously limit the life of the CPU. You will also shorten the life of the motherboard if not cooled properly due to increased chipset heat, then there's the consideration of that chipset, cpu, and RAM heat possibly affecting your HDD's, since heat is a prime HDD killer!

Just remember anything over 3gb requires a x64 operation system.