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Conroe Choices with Overclocking and OSX in mind


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The following is a collection of information to help make your Conroe buying experience easier.

Processor:

E6300 $180 Shipped at Newegg

x7 multiplier, 2MB cache

Average top speed on air - 3.4ghz (485x7)

 

E6400 $220 Shipped at Newegg

x8 multiplier, 2MB cache

Average top speed on air - 3.55ghz (445x8)

 

E6600 $315 Shipped at Newegg

x9 multiplier, 4MB cache

Average top speed on air - 3.65ghz (405x9)

 

Conroe discussion:

There are two differences here...cache and multiplier. Conroes are unlocked only downwards, meaning that you can only select lower multipliers. This makes things rather difficult for E6300 overclocking, as it requires near DDR1000 speeds. Also, the cache is doubled from E6300/6400 to E6600. Technically, the E6300/6400 chips are called Conroes, but note that there is a difference in cache. It is unreasonable to expect 3.4 ghz from an E6300 on anything but the 965 chipsets.

 

 

Motherboard:

 

965 Chipset:

 

Gigabyte GA965P-DS3 $150 Shipped at Newegg

1x PCI Express x16

3x PCI Express x1

3x PCI Slots

1 x PATA, 6x SATA

Audio Chipset Realtek ALC883

LAN Chipset Marvell 88E8053 10/100/1000Mbps

Rear Panel Ports 2xPS/2 1x Serial, 1x Parallel, 4x USB, SPDIF out

 

Asus P5B Deluxe/WiFi - $220 Shipped at Newegg

 

2x PCI Express x16

1x PCI Express x1

3x PCI Slots

1 x PATA, 7x SATA, 1x SATA external

Audio Chipset ADI AD1988B

Max LAN Speed Dual 10/100/1000Mbps

Rear Panel Ports 2xPS/2 1x Serial, 1x Parallel, 4x USB, SPDIF out, 1x Firewire

 

965 Discussion:

 

Above are the two best boards for overclocking from the 965 chipset series. Variations of the board should overclock about the same, such as the P5B/P5B Deluxe/P5B Deluxe WiFi. 965 chipset boards are extremely good for overclocking. FSBs of over 500mhz have been attained with little to no modding. However, the IDE ports do not work at all at this point, and the sound does not work natively.

IDE Workaround, Sound Patch

 

975 Chipsets:

 

Intel 975XBX Bad Axe - $250 shipped

2x PCI Express x16

2x PCI Express x1

3x PCI Slots

2 x PATA 8 x Internal SATA 1 x External Serial ATA

Audio Chipset Realtek ALC882M

LAN Chipset Marvell 88E8053 + Marvell 88E8053

Max LAN Speed Dual 10/100/1000Mbps

Rear Panel Ports 2x PS/2 1x COM 4x USB 2.0 1x 1394a 1x Optical and 1x Coaxial

 

 

ASUS P5W DH Deluxe $270 Shipped at Newegg

2x PCI Express x16

2x PCI Express x1

3x PCI Slots

2 x PATA 6 x Internal SATA 1 x External Serial ATA

Audio Chipset Realtek ALC882M

LAN Chipset Marvell 88E8053 + Marvell 88E8053

Max LAN Speed Dual 10/100/1000Mbps

Rear Panel Ports 2x PS/2 1x COM 4x USB 2.0 1x 1394a 1x Optical and 1x Coaxial

 

 

975 Chipset Discussion

 

975 chipsets are currently lagging a bit behind the 965 chipsets. They average an FSB of 420-450 mhz However, they are fully supported by OSX, with no patching.

 

DDR2 RAM

$275 shipped Overclocks to DDR2-1100 at 4-4-4 timings

$230 Shipped at Newegg Overclocks to DDR-1000 at 4-4-4 timings

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=119358

 

Video card:

Only one option really, the ASUS x1600 silent edition $95 shipped at Newegg

 

 

I'm open to input and questions, I've been researching this for a while now.

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You summed it up nicely. Some cheap 945G and 945P chipset mobos are very well supported by OSX86, but they hardly clock beyond a 350 MHz FSB. Most seem to be stuck around 330-340. Depends on how much power you need. If you are into gaming, I would think that the graphics card is more important than the OC potential of the mobo.

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...and the sound does not work natively.

 

Yes it does. Ok, it may not be the full HD 8.0 Channels, but I think we have managed to get sound working with 2 channels.

 

Other than that, very good information here. Haven't read anything past the P965 Discussion, but it looks decent. :(

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Intel 975XBX Bad Axe - $250 shipped

 

The Bad Axe 2, which has some signficant improvement and supports Kentsfield, is supposed to be shipping by the end of this month: http://www.vr-zone.com/?i=4111

 

Technically, the E6300/6400 chips are called Allendales.

 

Actually, this is a widely held misconception. The E6300/E6400 are the same Conroe die as the E6600 and above, but half of their cache is disabled. The real Allendale, with only 2MB (not 4MB with half disabled), will be called the E4300 and released next year.

 

For a very long time, it was considered that stripped down versions of the Conroe processors were code-named Allendale. In actuality, Allendale is a code-name for a different processor. Many suggest that E6300 and E6400 are actually code-named Allendale, however, the E6300 (1.86 GHz) and E6400 (2.13 GHz) processors are not code-named Allendale because they physically have 4mb cache, same as their big brothers E6600 and E6700 - it is just that half of their physical memory is disabled. Traditionally, CPUs of the same family with less cache simply have the unavailable cache disabled (this allows parts that fail quality control to be sold at a lower rating). The fact that E6300 and E6400 are not code-named Allendale and actually code-named Conroe has been confirmed by Intel themselves.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Core_2

 

 

You'll find plenty of sources that will tell you the code name for these 2MB Core 2 Duo processors is "Allendale," but Intel says otherwise. These CPUs are still code-named "Conroe," which makes sense since they're the same physical chips with half of their L2 cache disabled. Intel may well be cooking up a chip code-named Allendale with 2MB of L2 cache natively, but this is not that chip.

 

http://techreport.com/reviews/2006q3/e6300...ff/index.x?pg=1

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You summed it up nicely. Some cheap 945G and 945P chipset mobos are very well supported by OSX86, but they hardly clock beyond a 350 MHz FSB. Most seem to be stuck around 330-340. Depends on how much power you need. If you are into gaming, I would think that the graphics card is more important than the OC potential of the mobo.

 

Agreed, so I left them out, since htis is with regard t overclocking.

 

 

 

I think the ASUS P5LD2 R2.0 may be an excellent (and cheap) overclocking Conroe 945P board, but am waiting for people to report results: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16813131048

 

See above. If it can do over 400mhz with ease, I'll add it.

 

 

Yes it does. Ok, it may not be the full HD 8.0 Channels, but I think we have managed to get sound working with 2 channels.

 

Other than that, very good information here. Haven't read anything past the P965 Discussion, but it looks decent. :(

 

I said natively....it needs work, which I linked to.

 

 

 

The Bad Axe 2, which has some signficant improvement and supports Kentsfield, is supposed to be shipping by the end of this month: http://www.vr-zone.com/?i=4111

Actually, this is a widely held misconception. The E6300/E6400 are the same Conroe die as the E6600 and above, but half of their cache is disabled. The real Allendales, with only 2MB (not 4MB with half disabled), will be called the E4300 and released next year.

 

For a very long time, it was considered that stripped down versions of the Conroe processors were code-named Allendale. In actuality, Allendale is a code-name for a different processor. Many suggest that E6300 and E6400 are actually code-named Allendale, however, the E6300 (1.86 GHz) and E6400 (2.13 GHz) processors are not code-named Allendale because they physically have 4mb cache, same as their big brothers E6600 and E6700 - it is just that half of their physical memory is disabled. Traditionally, CPUs of the same family with less cache simply have the unavailable cache disabled (this allows parts that fail quality control to be sold at a lower rating). The fact that E6300 and E6400 are not code-named Allendale and actually code-named Conroe has been confirmed by Intel themselves.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Core_2

You'll find plenty of sources that will tell you the code name for these 2MB Core 2 Duo processors is "Allendale," but Intel says otherwise. These CPUs are still code-named "Conroe," which makes sense since they're the same physical chips with half of their L2 cache disabled. Intel may well be cooking up a chip code-named Allendale with 2MB of L2 cache natively, but this is not that chip.

 

http://techreport.com/reviews/2006q3/e6300...ff/index.x?pg=1

 

 

hm. I stand corrected. Will update.

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I think the ASUS P5LD2 R2.0 may be an excellent (and cheap) overclocking Conroe 945P board, but am waiting for people to report results: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16813131048

 

 

I can't find anything on this.

 

However here's a Biostar board at 550 FSB

 

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showth...highlight=P5LD2

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Agreed, so I left them out, since htis is with regard t overclocking.

See above. If it can do over 400mhz with ease, I'll add it.

 

This standard of 400 is clearly arbitrary. Being able to overclock from 266 to only 330 is meaningful for people looking to save money. They can have the speed of a E6600 at almost half the price with an E6300.

 

While these are not full featured overclocking boards like the ASUS P5LD2 R2.0, the Gigabyte GA-945P-S3 and the ASUS P5LD2-VM R2.0 (with integrated graphics that OSx86 full supports) are fine choices for modest overclocking.

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This standard of 400 is clearly arbitrary. Being able to overclock from 266 to only 330 is meaningful for people looking to save money. They can have the speed of a E6600 at almost half the price with an E6300.

 

While these are not full featured overclocking boards like the ASUS P5LD2 R2.0, the Gigabyte GA-945P-S3 and the ASUS P5LD2-VM R2.0 (with integrated graphics that OSx86 full supports) are fine choices for modest overclocking.

 

 

Why spend $100 on a board that gets you to ~2.4ghz when you can spend $50 more to get 3.4ghz? The chip is capable of it, you are wasting potiential.

 

Yes, I realize you must spend mroe on RAM, but name brand 2GB kits cost 200, and I linked to a kit that does 500FSB fine for $30 more than that.

 

So for $80, you can go from 2.4 --> 3.4ghz, and a bus speed from 333 to ~450.

 

I don't sww why if you're spending $700 on the case/PSU/CPU/MB/RAM, you'd skrimp on another $80 to get ~30% more speed.

 

 

 

EDIT:

 

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=112077 E6300 at 3.7Ghz, under AIR COOLING. Does that put it in perspective?

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Why spend $100 on a board that gets you to ~2.4ghz when you can spend $50 more to get 3.4ghz?

 

One big reason is, of course, that OSx86 does not support the IDE controllers tacked onto 965 chipset yet and solution that work around that problem have not been very effective.

 

But an important second reason is the fact that OSx86 fully supports the GMA 950 (which is paired with the 945G chipset), which is still the only guaranteed way to get graphics working on OSx86 out of the box, the only way to run dual displays in extended desktop mode and a hell of a lot cheaper (free) than buying an ATI x1600 card (at $150 which may or may not work to some extent after some major tweaking).

 

I have yet to read any reports of the new 965 integrated graphics chips, the GMA 3000 and X3000, being used with OSx86. But given that they are significantly different than the GMA900/950, I suspect that they will not work with the drivers we have. (However, Intel has released open source Linux drivers for them: http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/08/10/in..._linux_driver/)

 

So until Apple starts shipping 965 chipsets and GMA 3000's, the 945 boards are still the way to go for many people here.

 

I don't sww why if you're spending $700 on the case/PSU/CPU/MB/RAM, you'd skrimp on another $80 to get ~30% more speed.

With a GMA 950 board, it is possible to put together a decent Conroe hackintosh for about $500.

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Agreed, but most people that are looking for 3.6ghz c2d's wouldn't be happy with onboard graphics.

 

Here's my ideal system:

 

$180 E6300

$150 DS3

$230 DDR2 as linked above

$100 X1600

$50 HD

$70 PSU

$30 case

 

=$810

 

Yes, you could cut out the X1600, and drop to a 945 chipset, but then that's $650. I'm not sure how you're getting this $500 figure. Even if you go super cheap on RAM, at $180 for 2GB, that's still $600.

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Yes, you could cut out the X1600, and drop to a 945 chipset, but then that's $650. I'm not sure how you're getting this $500 figure. Even if you go super cheap on RAM, at $180 for 2GB, that's still $600.

 

Well, at the moment, you can get a PSU good enough for this type of cheap system for free after rebate, so you can cut $70 there (or otherwise find something decent for about $40): http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=30232

 

More importantly, 2 GB of RAM is hardly necessary for good OS X performance. For about $110 or so, you can get 2 x 512 MB of decent RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList....SubCategory=147

 

Some of this cheap stuff, like the A-Data Vitesta and Corsair ValueSelect will overclock to DDR2-800: http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2797&p=17

 

So, you can shave at least another $120 on RAM, placing the total about $500 after you add in $40 for a Pioneer DVD burner.

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I used native to describe a "it works when you plug it inw ith no kext editing".

Is there a better word to describe this?

 

"Out of the box" is one we generally use. As in, "Sound does not work out of the box, but with some editing.... blah blah blah..." :2cents:

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Here is my dilemma, I already have 2GB of DDR2667 RAM in 4x512MB Kingston ValueRAM chips. I want to upgrade my board and and I will probably be getting an e6400. The only board I have seen that would be the best for this is the Gigabyte GA-945P-S3 since I can still use my RAM and I don't really feel like buying more since this was just bought less than 6 months ago. Are there any other boards for overclocking that I could still use my RAM with that would better from a 965 or 975 point? Also I think $150 will be my upper limit for this.

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Add some bucks for a DVD drive/burner and, given that you aim for serious overclocking, don´t forget to invest in CPU cooling/case cooling. A $30 case doesn´t come with fans. Overall another 100+ bucks in need to be spent. Anyhow (just to repeat myself), is your OCmania triggered by your desire to play high-end games real fast high res? If so, add another 100+ bucks for a better graphics card. If not, I wonder why OC is so terribly important? My speed concerns with Intel-based Macs will be almost entirely cleared once Microsoft Office and Photoshop are released in Universal Binary code. That´s IMHO the real (speed) issue.

 

 

Agreed, but most people that are looking for 3.6ghz c2d's wouldn't be happy with onboard graphics.

 

Here's my ideal system:

 

$180 E6300

$150 DS3

$230 DDR2 as linked above

$100 X1600

$50 HD

$70 PSU

$30 case

 

=$810

 

Yes, you could cut out the X1600, and drop to a 945 chipset, but then that's $650. I'm not sure how you're getting this $500 figure. Even if you go super cheap on RAM, at $180 for 2GB, that's still $600.

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Here is my dilemma, I already have 2GB of DDR2667 RAM in 4x512MB Kingston ValueRAM chips. I want to upgrade my board and and I will probably be getting an e6400. The only board I have seen that would be the best for this is the Gigabyte GA-945P-S3 since I can still use my RAM and I don't really feel like buying more since this was just bought less than 6 months ago. Are there any other boards for overclocking that I could still use my RAM with that would better from a 965 or 975 point? Also I think $150 will be my upper limit for this.

 

That board isn't known to do high overclocks as far as I know. I would recommend you take a look at the GA-965P-S3 (or DS3). However, this board isn't exactly the greatest when it comes to compatibility with OSx86, so at the end of the day, it's up to you: OSx86 or high overclocking?

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Well, when I go to Newegg and look at the boards there, the majority of them say DDR2800 as the standard for the 965 and 975s.

 

And I really don't want to spend $250 for a board. Maybe I should just wait until the quad processors come out and look then.

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