I think a moderate 775 motherboard + Q6600 is cheaper than a similarly moderate AM2 motherboard + Phenom, and both systems use same 1066 RAM. For example:

AMD system:

motherboard : Gigabyte GA-MA770-DS3 AMD 770 (Socket AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard ----------- 55 pounds
CPU : AMD Phenom X4 Quad Core 9750 2.40GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail ------------------------------------------- 141 pounds

total: 196 pounds

Intel system:

motherboard : Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3 Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard ------------- 67 pounds
CPU : Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail ---- 124 pounds

total: 191 pounds


******************************


It appears the Intel system is slightly cheaper than the AMD system but moreover, at the stock frequency of 2.4 GHz the Intel quad is quicker than the Phenom (and it overclocks much better).


Am I right on the above or am I missing something?

Right.

You are correct there. The only phenom that can even remotely compete with the Q6600 in most applications is the 9850 with both at stock clocks (the 9850 is still slower in most benchmarks, but it's not too far off), not the 9750, and as soon as you OC the Q6600, it leaves any current phenom in the dust.

I would go with the Q6600 system. It is faster and overclocks better.

Why would you want an AMD 770 board anyways? That chipset is junk. Only one worth getting is the 790FX or 780G.
And the last I saw in the US, the dollar difference between the 9750 and Q6600 is $15, not 20 pounds (~$40).
I guess AMD systems are way overpriced there...

100%

That's why I have a Q6600 instead of a Phenom (besides the performance and OC potential).

UD.

You are correct and everyone knows it. That Q6600/EP35-DS3 will OC to 3G with no voltage increase. All you do is lock the PCIe to 100 and raise the FSB to 333, then set the RAM multi to 2 or 2.4 (Gigabyte setting, it's really 1:1 or 5:6 multi) depending on 667 or 800 and you are done. It's the easiest OC in history. Do yourself a favor and get a heatsink/fan that has a backing plate.

What RAM modules would I need in that case? The 1066 ones (PC2-8500) ? (and ouch are they expensive....)

800mhz modules will limit you to 3.6ghz without even overclocking the ram (at 1:1) - check my sig

Looks like price/performance for AMD is about to go down (better)! (Edit: originally said up... meant to say down cause down in this case is better.)

http://www.hothardware.com/Article [...] ut/?page=1

Q6600 is still the better choice if you plan to overclock.

140w TDP @ 2.6ghz!

haha! Yeah 140W TDP is crazy, hope 45nm turns out better :-/ Although I was seriously thinking about one of those 65W TDP ones for my 780G HTPC

This is so confusing. OK.

Q6600 runs with FSB at 333MHz - which is then described as "1333MHz" (so we multiply the real frequency by 4) but this "1333MHz" rating is meaningless? I mean how can I use the "1333 MHz" to find out what RAM I need?

Internally the Q6600 multiplies the 333MHz by 7-ish to achieve the 2.4GHz? And I presume we are free to change the multiplier to anything we wish until the CPU does not work anymore?

Additionally, the motherboard (or is it the north bridge?) takes the FSB 333 MHz and divides it by something to derive the 100 MHz for the PCIe clock as well as the 33MHz for the PCI slots. Therefore if we overclock by increasing the FSB we are also upsetting a whole range of peripherals, right?

Finally the CPU/ North Bridge needs to talk to RAM, and for that it uses the FSB frequency, in this case 333 MHz ? So I simply need 333 MHz RAM which is branded as PC2-5300 (667 MHz) ??? Unless I plan to overclock the FSB in which case I can get PC2-6400 (800MHz) ?

I assume you read my post about locking the PCIe to 100.

You are making this way more complicated than it is. The base clock is 333.

333 x 4 = 1333 FSB speed
333 x 9 = 2997 CPU speed
333 x 2 = 667 RAM speed

333 x 2 with 5:6 divider = 800 RAM speed

Technically all you need is DDR2 667 RAM. With prices so cheap you may want to go with DDR2 800 in case you want to increase the FSB above 333 for a higher OC. Much above 333 you will need to start raising voltages to the CPU (Vcore). Also you can run the RAM at 800 with stock timings or 667 with tightened timings. Also be sure to set the RAM voltage to the manufacturers specification.

I think you've about got it take the base FSB clock say 333 and multiply x4 = 1333 FSB cause the FSB is quad pumped. the 1333 isn't meaningless, just meaningless when calculating the memory and cpu speed. Take the base FSB clock say 333 and multiply x2 to get the memory u need to run at 1:1 which would be 667.

My FSB is clocked at 400 which means 1600 is my FSB, I need DDR2 800 for (1:1), and my E6400 proc which has a multiplier of x8 runs at 3.2GHz.

Oh, also in response to one of your other questions... You can change the multiplier DOWN on any cpu. You can only change the multiplier UP if you have an Intel Extreme processor (denoted by an X in the name such as QX9650) or an AMD Black Edition processor.

You can't change the multiplier UP on the Q6600