I'm looking at stepping back up to a dual-core, and am debating Wolfdale (E800 intel) vs. Conroe (like a E6850).

Nearly no stock/price difference---both at about 3.0 ghz and about $240 retail.

But the Wolfdale is more efficient---less juice to run and runs cooler---which suggests it'd give better overclocking in an appropriate mobo.

So really no reason to stick with Conroe in a new build, if you got a mobo with BIOS support, other than one notable online seller seems to have most of its stock stuck in Conroe?

I'm thinking I'll go with Wolfdale if I can find a supporting mATX board.

Just found this tidbit of research: http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/02/19/wolfdale_on_steroids/page18.html

So I'm thinking Wolfdale is the way for me, since I don't already have Core Duo running. Might not be much of a step-up for someone already running a Conroe overclocked with aftermarket gear.

So really no reason to stick with Conroe in a new build, if you got a mobo with BIOS support, other than one notable online seller seems to have most of its stock stuck in Conroe?

Bingo. For the end user, they're essentially the same, other than a bit less power/heat with the Wolfdale. Die shrinks make for easier production on Intel's part though.

Definitely go with Wolfdale. Its a new revision, as well as cheaper (On newegg at least, a 3.0ghz Wolfdale is 210$, while a 3.0ghz Conroe is 270$.) The Wolfdales also have more L2 cache, which helps make them a bit faster ( 6mb vs Conroes 4mb).

I should also note that on Newegg, the Wolfdales are out of stock, so look for a retailer that has them for below 220$

Question---if I try to capitalize on the 6mb of L2, then I absolutely need Vista 64bit, no?

I dont see why you would need Vista. The cache is utilized by the cpu, not by the OS.

Question---if I try to capitalize on the 6mb of L2, then I absolutely need Vista 64bit, no?

No, should work fine in XP (or Linux). However, I wouldn't recommend XP for new computers anyway, see the other thread about Vista.

E6850 has never been worth its price tag

Ok....looks like this might be my next build if I can find an online seller that actually has these in stock:

ASUS P5E-VM HDMI LGA 775 Intel G35 HDMI Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Model #: P5E-VM HDMI
In Stock
$129.99

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8400 - Retail
$209.99

CORSAIR DOMINATOR 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X4096-8500C5DF - Retail
Model #: TWIN2X4096-8500C5DF
$189.00


Only the mobo is in stock. :lol:

I think I might get an extra 2GB of this ram in 1Gb sticks to bring the system to 6GB and run Vista64.
At 6GB, even if Vista might be lame, I can't imagine it being worse than XP32 at 2GB.

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813131237
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16819115037
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820145197

Doesn't seem to support DDR2-1066

I know. Since this the mobo's BIOS is very customizable, I was hoping to get better timing settings on the RAM since the RAM is rated over what the mobo supports. The RAM should be compatible at the next lower setting.