Finally, after alot of delay with the shipper, my shiny new Core 2 Duo came. Still waiting on the motherboard (which by tracking shows it's set to deliver tomorrow) and I'll finally be able to step up to 64 bit computing, not to mention all the performance gain I'm going to get over the old Pentium 4. I do need some help though, as for now, it's a minimal upgrade (motherboard, CPU and CPU cooler only for now). I have a pretty good idea what RAM I'm going to get (DDR2 800 of course ), but I need help on deciding on a good motherboard that overclocks well and has gotten good reviews, etc..., also, with deciding on which graphics card to get, as I only plan to use the 6200 for as long as I need to.
So techie guys, some input please. Links to reviews, benchmarks, etc.. would be very appreciated, as I haven't had to consider getting into the market for these sorts of things in some time now, and I just want to know what all my options are.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/10/11/f...ore_2_duo/

Toms hardware is a pretty great site when you need a review on anything like this

Yeah, I've been there, but I'm looking for as much variety as I can in terms of reviews and benchmarks. Thanks though.

Plot did the mainboard you ended up getting support DDR2? (I had mixed reviews when reading some say it does, some say it supports both) Just wondering as this is the board I would like to get with my C2D.

As for GFX, I wouldnt go nuts buying a great card (DX10), I reckon a 7600GT will hold you off and there fairly cheap.

http://www.pcworld.com.vn/pcworld/magazi...c575f&kwd=
It wrote in Vietnamese but they can overclock E6700 2,66GHz to over 3.5ghz with the three mother board mentioned in this article
I myself can overclock my E6300 to 2.4Ghz with my Gigabyte 945G with no problem.
About GFX I think you should stick with your 6200 and wait for a DX 10 card since they will more powerful than current DX9 cards

I will be building a Core 2 system in a month or two but the thing that i'm worried about is getting an incompatable motherboard. I have read that alot of the core 2 motherboards advertised will only post if they have an updated bios and I dont want to have to track down a 775 p4 to post and update it. Did your motherboard work with core 2 out of the box?

emwearz: Read my first post, and you'll find the motherboard comes later today. Trust me, if there's any issues, I'll be sure to tell you.

Yup my motherboard work out of the box.But note that 945 chipset don't support Quad core and 800MHZ memory

Glad to see it finally arrived plot.
You can send the old rig to me now, I wouldn't care.

Grats on the new Conroe (stupid college, taking all my money).
What motherboard did you get?

Don't forget to get a decent graphic card because this is essential to high fps in games, even with a core2duo proc. That
6200 won't give you much juice.

Well anyway looking forward to all the nice pcsx2 (beta) screens you gonna post with your new rig

This post was last modified: 11-30-2006 04:53 PM by meo.

Well, I have just about the WORST luck. Motherboard did come today as expected, and when I went to remove the protection cover from the plate, I managed to brush some pins with my thumb (not hard mind you) and it did quite some damage. I'm now in the process of having to RMA the board, and will be shipping it back to the dealer tomorrow for a replacement. So, yet again, another damper on my upgrade. Hopefully this will be the last one, as I'm getting tired of looking at the nice box the CPU's sitting in and wondering how it's going to be when I use it.

How did you manage that? :o I've pushed pretty hard on mine before and they didn't even twitch.

I guess if you push straight on, it has a less chance of causing damage. Since I brushed them sideways, it was more likely to cause damage.

Crap.

They accept returns for damage not caused by them? Living in Asia I've always been resigned to the fact that any time the product leaves the shop / you open the box, any damages incurred are your fault.

Which is why I don't buy stuff online. It's easier to go to a shop and get the guys there to test it for me. I always go to my friend's shop anyway >_>