Core 2-Compatible Chipsets Compared

theraindog writes "Intel's Core 2 Duo is clearly the most attractive processor on the market, but which motherboard chipset is it best paired with? The Tech Report has rounded up four of the most common Core 2-compatible chipsets on the market to find out. The chipsets' features are compared and their performance is tested in a wide range of application, peripheral, and even power consumption tests. One emerges as a lemon, two as solid options, and the other as a clear winner." From the article: "Some fanboys still stubbornly cling to their favorite underdog, but most enthusiasts have seen the light and are looking at Core 2 for their next upgrade or system build. The prospect of a Core 2 system build can seem a bit daunting for enthusiasts who have spent years focused solely on the Athlon 64. Core 2 processors need new motherboards for those switching from the Athlon 64, and that requires navigating a whole new world of core logic chipsets. Since the Core 2 processor relies on the chipset for its memory controller, one's chipset choice can also have a much more profound impact on performance. "

Comments

My C2D Rig was my first custom built PC

[Frobozz0]

Well, my Core 2 Duo gaming rig was my first computer ever built from scratch. I'm actually a Mac fanatic, but I love games. I think any serious gamer should have a PC for such a reason, dispite Windows as the OS. *sigh* Anyway, I didn't run into any problems, really. Here is my rig:

Intel Core 2 Duo e6700 @ 3.095 GHz (2.66GHz stock)
Zalman CNPS9500 CPU Air Cooler
Intel 975XBX "BadAxe" Motherboard
Sapphire Radeon x1900xt in Crossfire Mode
ATI Crossfire x1900 Master Card
2 x 512mb Crucial Ballistix DDR2 800 Memory (4-4-4-14)
2 x Seagate SATA2 320GB Perendicular recording HD's in RAID 1
LG DVD-ROM / CD-R/RW Optical Drive
Antec Performance I P180b Case (super quiet and runs very cool)
Antec TruPower II 550 Watt Power Supply (comes with appropriate cabling for Crossfire)
Windows XP Professional SP2 ... my 3DMark '06 scores are well over 10,000. I'm sure I could eek out more with some additional tweaking. It runs any game I throw at it smooth as butter. The BIOS is easy to use and Intel's software and support is excellent. Obviously, I've OC'd the graphics cards, memory, system bus, and processor. All of these were easy to do and test and although you could get slightly more performance by going with other mobo's, this is a solid setup that is hard to screw up for a newbie like myself. That's why I went with it.

My only caveats were that the case, while it runs VERY cool and is nice looking, fit the motherboard tightly against the bottom case section. This made certain connectors difficult to work with, such as the SATA. firewire, USB, and power. Also, if you're smart and looking to do Crossfire, consult ATI's website to get certified motherboards and power supplies.

Re:Language tip of the day

[Trogre]

Can you hear yourself? It's not irregular because it's a greek word?

We're talking English here, thank you