Anyone else waiting for CPU-Day July 23?

Hifriday · Post by **Hifriday** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 9:36 am

There have been several sites mentioning that both AMD and Intel plan on making some drastic price cuts to their existing processors around the time Conroe (Core 2 Duo) is expected to ship (July 23rd?).

DailyTech
Digitimes
HKEPC - translate from Chinese (TRAD) with Babelfish

Single-core Athlon prices are already dropping, 3500+ for under $120 and 3800 for $150 (drool). And a dual-core X2 3800+ is expected at half price!! (mops drool off the floor). And of course the new Conroe starting around $200.

Anyone else putting off their upgrade/new system buy until then? So with so many choices which processor do you have your eye on?

Personally I've been waiting to upgrade to dual-core, and have my eye on an Opteron 165 (hopefully with a 35W TDP); s939 will allow me to reuse RAM, MB, heatsinks etc while AM2's lack of performance gain doesn't make it attractive. Conroe would also mean the added cost of new components, but might be worthwhile if power/performance-wise it significantly beats X2...

TheLongshot · Post by **TheLongshot** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 10:45 am

I've actually put off my buy for about 6 months, since I saw that AM2 and Conroe was just around the corner.

I'm probably going to go with an AM2 system. To me, it doesn't make sense to go with 939 anymore since it will be an obsolete platform soon, and if I want to upgrade or replace a part, it will be more expensive than if I went with AM2.

I'm also going to keep an eye on what Conroe is going to go for, but I have a feeling that AMD will give the best bang for the buck at first.

Jason

_MarcoM_ · Post by **_MarcoM_** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 11:13 am

I'm waiting for the AM2 price drop, 3800 x2 for almost 150 euro (in Italy) is good for me

klankymen · Post by **klankymen** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 1:33 pm

considering I allready have a 939 board, I'm sticking with it, but I certainly am looking forward to picking up a cheap X2

McBanjo · Post by **McBanjo** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 1:53 pm

My current P4 3Ghz works fine for me at present time but from the looks I'll probibly get a Core 2 duo next year or so. But I'll probibly wait for DDR3 before I buy it (or any new version)

JazzJackRabbit · Post by **JazzJackRabbit** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 3:54 pm

I'm in the same boat as McBanjo. While I would like to get new conroe, my P4 3GHz>3.4Ghz is plenty powerful for now and upgrading will cost me a pretty penny. So I'd rather wait another year before upgrading. By then who knows which one will be better.

nici · Post by **nici** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 4:24 pm

Most likely a 939 because i have two s939 computers that work perfectly fine, so no reason to upgrade the mobo really. IF i upgrade either cpu it will be an X2 s939.

Wedge · Post by **Wedge** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 6:03 pm

I will likely upgrade at the end of this year. Not sure if I will go Conroe or AMD, but by December 2006 surely things will pan out and prices will change for the betterr still. I'm looking at a dual-core setup of course.

I'm trying to make decisions prematurely though. Every day. I'm reading and suffering a lot of wasted time that could be spent doing more productive things. Can't decide: ATI or Nvidia; AMD or Intel. Pros and Cons for both of them.

stupid · Post by **stupid** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 6:12 pm

HKEPC.com has posted an article stating Conroe will be delayed 4 days to July 27th.

http://www.hkepc.com/bbs/itnews.php?tid ... &endtime=0

I will be replacing my Athlon XP as soon as possible with a Conroe E6600.

defaultluser · Post by **defaultluser** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 8:48 pm

If I were in the market right now, I'd pick up Conroe.

But I don't need an upgrade for at least 2 years. My 3800+ X2 @ 2.4 GHz w/2GB will have a nice long life. By then, AMD will have K8L quad-core chips in the mainstream, and Intel will release a quad-core Conroe.

That, and the industry will probably move on to DDR3.

smilingcrow · Post by **smilingcrow** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 1:40 pm

This review shows a Merom 2.0 over-clocked to 2.4 performing almost identically to a Conroe 2.4; they both have 4mb cache. That sounds very tempting for low power and high performance. If someone brings out a half-decent motherboard that overclocks reasonably and isnâ€™t priced like the Aopen board, thatâ€™s probably what Iâ€™d aim for next.

The fact that the AM2 socket will also support the next generation CPUs (AM3), does make them look attractive for a longer term punt.

McBanjo · Post by **McBanjo** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 2:59 pm

smilingcrow wrote:This review shows a Merom 2.0 over-clocked to 2.4 performing almost identically to a Conroe 2.4; they both have 4mb cache. That sounds very tempting for low power and high performance. If someone brings out a half-decent motherboard that overclocks reasonably and isnâ€™t priced like the Aopen board, thatâ€™s probably what Iâ€™d aim for next.

The fact that the AM2 socket will also support the next generation CPUs (AM3), does make them look attractive for a longer term punt.

Wouldn't that be more expensive and maby more heat? Or am I confused again?

HammerSandwich · Post by **HammerSandwich** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 6:22 pm

klankymen wrote:considering I allready have a 939 board, I'm sticking with it, but I certainly am looking forward to picking up a cheap X2

What he said! Of course I'll be drooling over Conroe, but I like $100-200 upgrades.

Elixer · Post by **Elixer** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 7:51 pm

You should add a "None of the above, I won't be upgrading this generation." People like me won't be upgrading for at least another year and at that time we'll be talking about quad-cores.

Personally I think the market is going to look really good for buying a processor in about 3 months. By then the non-enthusiast market, who are the majority of buyers of processors and therefore have the greatest effect on the market, will know about Conroe and it's superiority and be buying it. Prices will have stabilized and the competition between AMD and Intel is bound to make some great deals. Conroe is making me think that this generation is good time to upgrade, however I won't have the funds to do so for at least a year (spending a year studying in Germany).

Slaugh · Post by **Slaugh** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 8:57 pm

smilingcrow wrote:The fact that the AM2 socket will also support the next generation CPUs (AM3), does make them look attractive for a longer term punt.

Yes it's true, but with some limitations...

Socket AM2 Forward Compatible With AM3 CPUs:

DailyTech wrote:As we also mentioned earlier, Greyhound will be the first desktop processor to support HyperTransport 3.0. Part of the specification for HT-3 is backwards compatibility with older revisions of HyperTransport, and the forward compatibility of the AM2 socket confirms that. However, itâ€™s important to mention that even though AM3 CPUs will work in the AM2 socket, HT-3 allows for 5.2 Giga-transfers per second, while current AM2 motherboards top out at 2.0 Giga-transfers per second. Even though the additional headroom is likely not completely necessary, quad-core CPUs will certainly benefit from the additional bandwidth to additional CPUs or co-processors.

smilingcrow · Post by **smilingcrow** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 12:05 am

McBanjo wrote:
smilingcrow wrote:This review shows a Merom 2.0 over-clocked to 2.4 performing almost identically to a Conroe 2.4; they both have 4mb cache. That sounds very tempting for low power and high performance.
Wouldn't that be more expensive and maby more heat? Or am I confused again?

Merom prices start at $209 for the 2MB version and $294 for the 4MB; Conroe starts at $183/$316 for the 2MB/4MB versions. So thereâ€™s nothing in it with the pricing. The Conroeâ€™s are clocked faster but the Meromâ€™s will typically over-clock better as they only run slower to meet the thermal design for laptops. But, if you want a fast and cheap Merom then you need a S479 motherboard that over-clocks well and the only current board that does that costs Â£210; ouch.

When you say, â€˜maybe more heat?â€™, in reference to what? Merom has a TDP of 35W versus 31W for Yonah. This seems to apply to a maximum clock speed of 2.33 GHz in both cases, but could possibly even refer to a higher clock speed for Merom. According to the review above, Merom is noticeably faster per clock than Yonah, therefore, it will at least be as efficient per watt, or more likely it will more efficient. So, less heat!

I mention Merom because you can run one at 3 GHz and it will consume significantly less power than a Conroe at the same speed, so itâ€™s easier to cool quietly. The fact that it seems to perform as well as Conroe per clock once the FSB is increased from 667 to 800 makes it very efficient per watt.

Incidentally, thereâ€™s an AMD roadmap showing that the 65nm AM2 chips have a TDP of 65W all the way up to the 2.8 GHz 5400+. Unless the 65nm CPUs perform better per clock than the 90nm ones, they will be noticeably less power efficient than Conroe, with Merom giving them a beating. The fact that AM2 will support AM3 CPUs (with some limitations) does give them something to stand out from the crowd with.

Krazy Kommando · Post by **Krazy Kommando** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 12:10 am

if i can pick up an X2 CPU for a rock bottom price, then i will. but otherwise, i probably wont upgrade for a while, and when that time comes, AM2 and conroe will probably be out dated lol

ShagMan · Post by **ShagMan** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 5:24 am

I was gonna wait, but with AMD discontinuing a lto of their 1MB L2 cache CPUs and the success people have been having with Opteron overclocking, I bit the bullet and bought an Opteron 170 to play with

jackylman · Post by **jackylman** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 7:40 am

Krazy Kommando wrote:if i can pick up an X2 CPU for a rock bottom price, then i will. but otherwise, i probably wont upgrade for a while, and when that time comes, AM2 and conroe will probably be out dated lol

Sounds like my plan. I am currently running a Winchester 3200 and may upgrade to a cheap X2 3800. I don't do gaming, so I don't see anything that's going to require more power than that. Maybe high-def stuff once it becomes cheaper. By then, we'll probably be at AM3.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 7:49 am

Elixer wrote:You should add a "None of the above, I won't be upgrading this generation."

Agree.

I didn't vote in the poll 'cause none of the choices apply to me.

Hifriday · Post by **Hifriday** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 9:47 am

Ralf Hutter wrote:
Elixer wrote:You should add a "None of the above, I won't be upgrading this generation."
Agree.

Hmm... I did have this option when I created the poll, not sure why it didn't show up. If anyone can help me out as to how to add this back in, I'll be glad to do so.

HueyCobra · Post by **HueyCobra** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 5:02 pm

Hifriday wrote:Anyone else putting off their upgrade/new system buy until then?

I've been planning to replace my P4 1.6Ghz for over a year, and waiting for the results on Conroe isn't causing much angst, especially while hardware prices continue to drop. Last year I was forecasting buying in Q3 2006, but due in large part to AM2 and Conroe that will become Q4 2006 if not Q1 2007.

So with so many choices which processor do you have your eye on?

E6700, but if Conroe doesn't deliver as expected, I'm happy to go with an AM2 X2 4600+ or better.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Sat Jul 08, 2006 6:25 am

Hifriday wrote:
Ralf Hutter wrote:
Elixer wrote:You should add a "None of the above, I won't be upgrading this generation."
Agree.
Hmm... I did have this option when I created the poll, not sure why it didn't show up. If anyone can help me out as to how to add this back in, I'll be glad to do so.

Done. "Your every wish is my command".

And I finally cast my vote too!

RDaneel · Post by **RDaneel** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 10:16 am

I'm in the "waiting for Conroe to decide" boat, too, though it is the front runner right now for me. I have both Intel and AMD systems, it's not a brand loyalty thing, it just looks like these will be a pretty nice jump in performance with the new architecture, and with a reduction in heat! I'm sick of my watercooled P4 system (which runs at only 3.4ghz and 6800GT), it's too much to worry about. Conroe should allow quiet air cooling and a 7900GT is priced pretty well...

mobutu · Post by **mobutu** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 12:57 pm

Since my curent build is sooo outdated (Athlon XP) I will definitevely upgrade to Conroe (Core 2 Duo). I have in mind E6600 w/ninja probably, hopefully a good mobo with nVidia 590 Intel Edition chipset (hope to be available soon), fast 2GB DDR2, a silent 7900GT, etc all in an Antec Solo case.

Can't wait!

JVM · Post by **JVM** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 3:46 pm

I finally have a super quiet system that does all I need and I ain't messing with anything

Anyone else waiting for CPU-Day July 23?

What is your next processor?

Anyone else waiting for CPU-Day July 23?

Re: Anyone else waiting for CPU-Day July 23?