Pentium D 805 a good "holdover" chip?

[ornryactor]

I'm in the middle of building a new rig, primarily for gaming and a bit of audio editing. I'm trying as hard as I can to future-proof the setup so that it will still perform well for the next two years or so.

With the new Core 2 stuff just coming out (and still high in price) and Vista rolling out DirectX 10 at the end of the year (among other new graphics tech), I'm seriously considering buying a cheap processor and video card right now, and just using them until the E6600 or E6700 come down in price and GPUs with DX10, etc. are ironed out.

I keep getting recommended to the Pentium D 805, since it's so easily overclocked. I'm not an uber-hardcore gamer, and I don't have any OCing experience, so I wouldn't need to take the 805 much past stock speed. With a small to medium OC, would the 805 be a good CPU to use for the next 6 months or so? It'll probably be in an Antec P180 case in a cool room, so heat shouldn't be a problem, and power consumption is not an issue.

 

[aj6065]

That's probably the best thing to do. It has good enough performance to hold you over for a while. And considering it's so cheap, you probably will lose little or no money by the time you upgrade to a better CPU (since prices will have dropped so much). The same goes for holding off for a DX10 card. That's the single best way to future proof your PC when they come out.

 

[vsamaco]

I did that! I am using all my conroe parts with an overclocked d805 at 3.8ghz!!! Definitely beats the hell out of my p4 and should hold me off from spending too much on e6600. Seeing that newegg has them going for 459, zipzoomfly 400, and out of stock for anything cheaper.

I got pissed after not being able to get a "retail" e6600 on the launch date. I didn't want to bother with oem from tigerdirect. Plus from the looks of it... the e6600 doesn't seem to be as overclockable as the 6400 with 2mb cache for some reason. So I'll be keeping a close eye on its performance.

Though I did get impatient. I put an order at buy.com for retail e6600 for 339. It still marked as sent to warehouse and suspect that prob won't ship till end of month. So I have the option of cancel and order somewhere else cheaper.

This 3.8ghz d805 performs like an x2 4400+ which cost ~200+!!! Well worth the $100 in which most ppl are gonna spend extra on getting an e6600 now...

 

[LPS]

At this point, I would be also looking at the D915.

 

[ornryactor]

vsamaco, I don't think I'd OC an 805 quite that high. Like I said, I have no experience with overclocking or monitoring/checking case temps. Plus, I just don't want to bother with buying a third-party cooling solution if I don't have to.

At this point, I would be also looking at the D915.

Any particular reason why? I don't really know much about the Pentium D line as a whole.

Since both my CPU and GPU are going to get replaced in well under a year (I estimate I'll have them for around 9 months), I was looking to have $100 be my upper limit for each component. I'm not a miser, but I'm not made of money, either. If I spend less money on holdover parts, then I can afford to spend more later on to get better permanent parts.

Now, if there is a compelling reason to spend the extra $50 on a 915, I'd certainly consider it.

Thanks for the help, all.

 

[LPS]

Plus, I just don't want to bother with buying a third-party cooling solution if I don't have to.

The D915 is 2.8 800FSB, the D805 is 2.66 533FSB

The D915 runs cooler and uses less power than the D805

I guess, if you really want to save some money, you should search the forum and see what some people have done with a Celeron!!

 

[ornryactor]

Hmm, interesting. I didn't know the 915 ran cooler and used less power. Do all the 900s do that?

Well, heck, maybe I will get one of those instead. I found a Radeon X1600 Pro for $72, so I can "splurge" on a 915 and still have it balance out.

Heh, go Celerons. I'm not THAT desperate to save cash...

 

[LPS]

I also forgot to tell you that the D915 has 2 x 2mb cache where the D805 has 2 x 1mb

 

[LPS]

Check this thread out.

Overclock of the D915

 

[htoonthura]

I'm in the middle of building a new rig, primarily for gaming and a bit of audio editing. I'm trying as hard as I can to future-proof the setup so that it will still perform well for the next two years or so.

With the new Core 2 stuff just coming out (and still high in price) and Vista rolling out DirectX 10 at the end of the year (among other new graphics tech), I'm seriously considering buying a cheap processor and video card right now, and just using them until the E6600 or E6700 come down in price and GPUs with DX10, etc. are ironed out.

I keep getting recommended to the Pentium D 805, since it's so easily overclocked. I'm not an uber-hardcore gamer, and I don't have any OCing experience, so I wouldn't need to take the 805 much past stock speed. With a small to medium OC, would the 805 be a good CPU to use for the next 6 months or so? It'll probably be in an Antec P180 case in a cool room, so heat shouldn't be a problem, and power consumption is not an issue.

Hello

What are your current pc stats. If i have to upgrade now, i would go at least with 6300. If you go with 805 and plan to overclock, you will need a good ram, cooling, power supply. You will need to increase the voltage to have stability at high clock rate. These are the hidden costs behind the 95$ chip. In addition to that, 805 is using old technology. If i were you , i would go with c2d or save money for future upgrade.

Remember, once you have built the system , you will not be able to sell it easily.

Bye.

 

[ornryactor]

What are your current pc stats. If i have to upgrade now, i would go at least with 6300. If you go with 805 and plan to overclock, you will need a good ram, cooling, power supply. You will need to increase the voltage to have stability at high clock rate. These are the hidden costs behind the 95$ chip. In addition to that, 805 is using old technology. If i were you , i would go with c2d or save money for future upgrade.

Remember, once you have built the system , you will not be able to sell it easily.

I'm not planning on selling this PC. I'll be using it for gaming and for the huge hard drives I'm putting in, so that I don't need to try and cram it all on my laptop. When it gets too old to game with (still years off), I'll probably relegate it to a fileserver or something.

Maybe you misunderstood my post- I'm getting a Pentium D right now because I need a functioning tower, even if it's not top of the line ATM. Like I said, I do plan on getting a C2D, but I need to wait until prices go down- I can't afford them at this point. I would rather wait and get a 6700 at a reasonable price 7 months from now than pay a lot for a 6300 right now.

My current specs? Lol, okay...

Laptop:
14" G4 iBook (don't recall frequency)
1GB RAM, 80GB hard drive, whatever random GPU Apple puts in there (not a bad one, w/e it is)

Tower:
Pentium 3 (Slot 1) 750 MHz
256MB, 9GB hard drive

I built this tower just to see how cheaply I could build a computer that still ran moderately well. I'm running Windows 98 on it, so it's incredibly fast. It's great for internet, but I'm going to try and put Ubuntu on it this fall, after I get this new tower built. If not that, then it'll be a fileserver.

 

[vsamaco]

I guess you can say there are hidden cost for d805 if you are really going on a budget. For my case, my conroe rig covered that costs anyway.

gigabyte ds3
2x1gb corsair xms2 6400
x1900xt
550w antec psu
zalman 9500

Overclocking to 3.3ghz was relatively easy since it required no additional voltage, just changed bus to 133 to 166. A 600mhz increase is a pretty big boost with temperatures of 30-32C. After 3.3ghz, it get a lil hairy. I wanted to save as much possible on temporary cpu, but I doubt a celeron would provide the same performance to d805. If you are going down the pentium d path, you will only get pretty good performance if you overclock a good amount... Overclocking with stock cooler isn't going to get you far btw.


The e6300 and e6400 option is a pretty good processor, though not as a temporary processor. Currently 6300 oem is going for $183 => http://www.ewiz.com/query.php?categry=0&s=e6300+processor&Go+Search%21.x=0&Go+Search%21.y=0

Check out this 6300 - 6400 article => http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2802

On stock, a 6300 performs like a x2 4400 and 6400 compares to x2 5000. The 6400 would probably fit you best as a permanent processor for two years. The 6300 would probably beat an overclocked d915.. With the video card you're getting, the e6600 would be overkill, unless your gonna go all out on dx10 later on...

Most likely the 6600 won't be coming down in price as time soon. Newegg has it for 450, zzf 400, and other cheaper place is out of stock. 400 seems like the norm, while 350-360 is a bargin at the time.

I've placed my order for 6600 at buy.com for 339 but doubt it will be shipping soon. But if this cpu doesn't overclock as much as the 6400, I may go with that instead.

If you don't mind me asking, if you were gonna get a 6600, 6700 aren't you going to get good memory, hsf, and psu neways?

 

[rushfan]

I bought an 805 but experienced buyer's remorse soon after. The chip runs damn hot - it's unsettling. My office is about 10'x12' and it warms up in no time with that thing running. I have never known the exhaust from a CPU to heat up a room before, but I do now.

Somebody gave you some good advice - look for the 915. It overclocks just as easily but runs cooler than the 805. It has twice the L2 cache so clock for clock, it will be faster than the 805. I am replacing my 805 with a 915 today and the 915, thanks to the recent price drops, is only $14 Canadian more than I paid for the 805.

 

[vsamaco]

I bought an 805 but experienced buyer's remorse soon after. The chip runs damn hot - it's unsettling. My office is about 10'x12' and it warms up in no time with that thing running. I have never known the exhaust from a CPU to heat up a room before, but I do now.

Somebody gave you some good advice - look for the 915. It overclocks just as easily but runs cooler than the 805. It has twice the L2 cache so clock for clock, it will be faster than the 805. I am replacing my 805 with a 915 today and the 915, thanks to the recent price drops, is only $14 Canadian more than I paid for the 805.

What temperature is your 805? When I'm gaming, it is around 45C and 33C idled with the zalman 9500 (1700-1900rpm). If anything, my x1900xt is a space heater from hell. Going as high as 70-80C, makes my 805 seem cool...

 

[i_am_not_god]

just get a 6300, and just clock it up a bit, then u got a mobo that supports conroe, and ram, so u can just buy a new cpu and graphics card later. 6300 is really cheap for price/performance, its £60 more then the 805, but once clocked up to 3ghz at least there is no comparing it to a 805, plus, you wont even need to upgrade it when u buy a dx10 graphics card, cause at 3ghz, it will be all you need tbh.

 

[vsamaco]

just get a 6300, u and just clock it up a bit, then u got a mobo that supports conroe, and ram, so u can just buy a new cpu and graphics card later. 6300 is really cheap for price/performance, its £60 more then the 805, but once clocked up to 3ghz at least there is no comparing it to a 805, plus, you ownt even need to upgrade it when u buy a dx10 graphics card, cause at 3ghz, it will be all you need tbh.

I would agree the 6300 won't disappoint you after some overclocking. But the 6300 wouldn't be a temporary cpu. I'd advise this processor or 6400 rather than getting a temporary then changing later. Once they release the kentsfields dual conroes next year, you'll be able to get a much better c2d processor the following year.

 

[htoonthura]

What are your current pc stats. If i have to upgrade now, i would go at least with 6300. If you go with 805 and plan to overclock, you will need a good ram, cooling, power supply. You will need to increase the voltage to have stability at high clock rate. These are the hidden costs behind the 95$ chip. In addition to that, 805 is using old technology. If i were you , i would go with c2d or save money for future upgrade.

Remember, once you have built the system , you will not be able to sell it easily.

I'm not planning on selling this PC. I'll be using it for gaming and for the huge hard drives I'm putting in, so that I don't need to try and cram it all on my laptop. When it gets too old to game with (still years off), I'll probably relegate it to a fileserver or something.

Maybe you misunderstood my post- I'm getting a Pentium D right now because I need a functioning tower, even if it's not top of the line ATM. Like I said, I do plan on getting a C2D, but I need to wait until prices go down- I can't afford them at this point. I would rather wait and get a 6700 at a reasonable price 7 months from now than pay a lot for a 6300 right now.

My current specs? Lol, okay...

Laptop:
14" G4 iBook (don't recall frequency)
1GB RAM, 80GB hard drive, whatever random GPU Apple puts in there (not a bad one, w/e it is)

Tower:
Pentium 3 (Slot 1) 750 MHz
256MB, 9GB hard drive

I built this tower just to see how cheaply I could build a computer that still ran moderately well. I'm running Windows 98 on it, so it's incredibly fast. It's great for internet, but I'm going to try and put Ubuntu on it this fall, after I get this new tower built. If not that, then it'll be a fileserver.

Good luck,then.

 

[MikeRP]

Well: I just went with the 805. $97.00 at Newegg

I bought a MSI 945PL Mobo that will handle the 900 series but not Conroe.
$77.00

I also have Ultra V series 400 Watt Power Supply ($10) after rebate and an Ultra Case ($40 dollars minus $40 rebate) = $0.00 dollars.

I bought a Termaltake Golden Orb 2 for $30 dollars for no more than a 3.6 Mhz overclock.

I'm using Samsung PC4200 DDR2 memory from my LOUD Dell and some Ultra Case Fans. I sold my p4 530 and the 805 fan to a guy for $60 bucks.

So right now after rebates, I will have $200 in this rig.

I think that;a pretty good for an interim rig until all the COnroe stuff gets worked out.

 

[Skidd]

I bought my current setup as a sort of bridge machine for c2d. Now all im waiting for is a nforce 590 board and the prices to drop on the core 2 e6600 a little and them im all go for a c2d setup

 

[vsamaco]

Well: I just went with the 805. $97.00 at Newegg

I bought a MSI 945PL Mobo that will handle the 900 series but not Conroe.
$77.00

I also have Ultra V series 400 Watt Power Supply ($10) after rebate and an Ultra Case ($40 dollars minus $40 rebate) = $0.00 dollars.

I bought a Termaltake Golden Orb 2 for $30 dollars for no more than a 3.6 Mhz overclock.

I'm using Samsung PC4200 DDR2 memory from my LOUD Dell and some Ultra Case Fans. I sold my p4 530 and the 805 fan to a guy for $60 bucks.

So right now after rebates, I will have $200 in this rig.

I think that;a pretty good for an interim rig until all the COnroe stuff gets worked out.

Ugh, I got my 805 for $104 almost a week and half ago from newegg. I'm surprised that its only 45C on full load on 3.8ghz. I'm tempted to see how hot it goes for 4.0ghz 8O

 

[rushfan]

I bought an 805 but experienced buyer's remorse soon after. The chip runs damn hot - it's unsettling. My office is about 10'x12' and it warms up in no time with that thing running. I have never known the exhaust from a CPU to heat up a room before, but I do now.

Somebody gave you some good advice - look for the 915. It overclocks just as easily but runs cooler than the 805. It has twice the L2 cache so clock for clock, it will be faster than the 805. I am replacing my 805 with a 915 today and the 915, thanks to the recent price drops, is only $14 Canadian more than I paid for the 805.

What temperature is your 805? When I'm gaming, it is around 45C and 33C idled with the zalman 9500 (1700-1900rpm). If anything, my x1900xt is a space heater from hell. Going as high as 70-80C, makes my 805 seem cool...

When I run two instances of Prime95, loading both cores to 100%, my 805 gets up to 72-74 celcius. That's with the Zalman at 2400 RPM. The CPU voltage is around 1.36 - under 1.4 in the BIOS, anyway.

Idle temps are around 45-50 degrees. The CPU fan blows directly into a 120mm fan at the rear of my case so the hot air gets moved out pretty quickly. I was pretty careful about seating the HSF and my idle temps lead me to believe that it's seated properly. I have two hard drives, a Radeon X600XT and an ATI TV Tuner card in there too, adding heat.

I'm spoiled by my A64 3000+. Even at 2.5 GHz, it doesn't go much above 44 degrees under load.

I wonder if thermal grease really makes that big a difference. Is Arctic Silver really that good?

 

[vsamaco]

When I run two instances of Prime95, loading both cores to 100%, my 805 gets up to 72-74 celcius. That's with the Zalman at 2400 RPM. The CPU voltage is around 1.36 - under 1.4 in the BIOS, anyway.

Idle temps are around 45-50 degrees. The CPU fan blows directly into a 120mm fan at the rear of my case so the hot air gets moved out pretty quickly. I was pretty careful about seating the HSF and my idle temps lead me to believe that it's seated properly. I have two hard drives, a Radeon X600XT and an ATI TV Tuner card in there too, adding heat.

I'm spoiled by my A64 3000+. Even at 2.5 GHz, it doesn't go much above 44 degrees under load.

I wonder if thermal grease really makes that big a difference. Is Arctic Silver really that good?

I've used AS5 with my zalman. Although my mobo is just chillin on top of a box right now, so once put in a case it would probably be higher. But I don't plan to put it inside until I get my c2d. Then my 805 will take a vacation until I figure out what to do with it.

Before, I could stand getting a dual slot card. But now I like it, because the air gets shoved out of the case, instead of inside. I mean who uses pci-e 1x neways?

 

[LPS]

Did you read the D915 thread?

Thats my choice for right now.

Upgrade it later.

 

[iceblast]

I don't know if you have a motherboard already or not. But you could pick up this board. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813157092
and a 805 and some ddr2 ram and wait for the prices to drop on the conroe. Then you could just drop the conroe on to this board and be good to go.
You can do some minor over clocking with it as well if you like.

I plan on getting this board and a 6300, and use my high dollar agp video card from my old computer in it, and wait for the new Nvidia DX10's to come out. Then I'll upgrade.