Intel Core 2 Duo/Extreme

[Rossco]

Good idea, I'll ask at OCuk. But its not that 939 is getting more expensive, its that they've brought their new tech (AM2) in an extremely low prices, I guess its just to compete with Intel, but all the hype is that they are so much better. How's your X6800 then?

[sj33]

Don't know yet! Preordered with the assumption that nForce5 boards for Conroe would appear for the Conroe launch, but we're not expecting them until early August =( Could get an Intel-based one, but I'd rather wait. Will be coupling it with 2GB DDR2 and a GeForce 7950 GX2 though, so should be pretty good indeed
Until this arrives though, the X6800 is gathering dust on my unit.

Came with a suprisingly nice cooler, though I'll probably use a Scythe Ninja Pro instead.

[Rossco]

I had my eye on a Scythe Ninja myself too!!

Disappointing regarding no suitable motherboard yet, how much is that DFI one going to cost you? And is it a proper dual x16 PCI-E for true SLi or a shady "16x - 2 times 8x" one that some manufacturers try and scam you into buying!?

I think I'll be going for E6600 with a 7900 GT OC 256MB and 2GB DDR2 RAM but I'm unsure of what mobo to pick up.

[sj33]

It's a proper dual x16 one mate, nForce590 chipsets - it's the lower-end nForce570 which is 'shady' one you mention Stick to 590 chipsets and your safe. No point in going SLi if your not going the whole hog, after all.

There's literally no news about any nForce5 boards right now, other than they'll appear in August... really a pain as I can afford the entire machine right now.
OC have various Conroe boards, but they're all running on the outdated Intel chipsets (not even the newest Intel chipsets!), your really better off waiting for the nForce or newer Intel ones in August.

The thing that I love about that DFI one is that ia actually has a fair few amount of standard PCI slots... these are increasingly being dumped in favour of adding more PCI-E x1 slots - does anything actually use these?! Need PCI for my X-Fi!

[SubparMario]

Does the Geforce 7950GX2 need a SLI board even though it's one physical card?

I'm rocking a DFI nF4 board in my 939 based PC. Can't fault it apart from the northbridge fan being pretty loud - quite annoying after I made an effort to silence the rest of the PC.

[sj33]

Doesn't need SLi I don't think as machine reads it as a single card, though there are compatibility problems with some mobo's, most fixed with bios updates. Think there's a list on the Nvidia page. I assume any new board will be fine.

[NW2013]

Will the nforce 590 series of boards be compatible with the Kentsfield chips or will these require a different type of board again? I thought I read that they were coming out in Q4 2006 now rather than H1 2007. Could give Conroe a short shelf-life indeed.

[radlord]

Does anyone have an idea how much these new intel nForce5 boards will be likely to cost when they come out in August?