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newbie needs reassurance

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sjones002

Registered
Joined
Apr 13, 2003
Location
North Carolina
hey all, I'm putting together a gaming rig and I plan on overclocking eventually.

Tell me if this looks alright:

Antec TrueBlue 480W
ASUS P4c800-E dlx
P4 2.6 800 bus
Corsair CMX512-3500C2 PT

Thats it for right now. One question though, should I get 1 stick of 512 or 2 sticks of 256? and any suggestions on video cards? price isn't an issue when it comes to my video card.

thanks!
 
id say get some ram rated at pc4000 or pc4200 and get a dual channel kit for that p4 system

also get a 9800pro if money is no problem

some ppl might say get the abit IC7 motherboard but i dont really know much about intel systems
 
Get 2 sticks of 256MB to run on dual channel.
I am not familiar with that RAM but if it's a CH5 it's
gonna limit your OC. For video cards , it depends on your budget.
But I would stick with ATI.
 
So I should definitely go dual channel.

do you think that pc4000 or 4200 would be stable even if its not listed on ASUS's recommended mem list for this board?
 
yes the PC4000 or 4200 will still run fine. but first tell us how much overclocking you are gonna do. if you are going to stay under 250 FSB that ram would be a waste of money. Now if you are going to go over that, get the faster ram :D
 
I haven't really thought about any specific overclocking goals, but I'd like to overclock as high as possible without spending more than $150 on cooling (and no water cooling). What kind of FSB can I expect in that scenario?

Thanks for your help thus far!
 
I assume you would want to be a 1:1 overclock meaning that you will overclock the CPU just as much as the Memory this will give you the best overal system performance boost. You could also increase the cpu by a factor 5 and the memory by a factor 4 for example in wich case your memory wont overclock at the same level as your cpu. Lets do some maths together :)

you got a P4C at 2.6 Ghz that means your multiplier for the CPU is set at 13 while the standard Fsb is set at 200

13x200mhz = 2.6 Ghz there you got your cpu speed
the system bus is quad piped wich basicly means the FSB x 4
4 x 200mhz = 800 Mhz
the memory would standard be running at 2 x 200 Mhz = 400 Mhz (PC3200 mem is set to run at 400 Mhz)

Say you will raise the FSB to 250 mhz wich should be a safe overclock with a good heatsink and a moderaltey good fan.
13 x 250mhz = 3.250 Ghz (CPU)
4 x 250 mhz = 1000 Mhz (System)
2 x 250 Mhz = 500Mhz (memory)

Here is a a choice you will have to make PC-3700 memory is set to run at 466 Mhz (FSB set at 233 Mhz) Pushing it to 500 Mhz is already a overclock on its own and you will need some good memory corsair and ocz come to mind to be 99%sure that your system can handle it. (you can never be 100% sure as there is no guarantee the memory will overclock to 500 mhz but those brands most likely will) You could also splash out on some PC4000 memory wich is guaranteed to run at 500 Mhz. As a bonus you still have some head room to take the 1:1 overclock a bit further should your CPU be a good overclocker.

If i was you I would get me some PC-4000 Mem, clock the FSB at 250 mhz and then graduately take it up little by little to see how high you can get without setting the Core voltage higher then 1.6V.You will have a safe overclock of around 650 mhz and the PC4000 will give you some room later on should you ever get better cooling. Settling for 233 Mhz FSB would be a waste of the potential of the P4 2.6 and the motherboard. Going for 250Mhz FSB on PC-3700 mem would limit your future overclockability.
My 2 cents, hope it helped a bit.

Almost forgot no matter on what memory you decide make sure it is dual channel memory. Its memory sold in packs of 2 and its optimised for working together.
 
I'm looking at Corsair's TwinX series, 1GB or 512MB. I can't decide, any recommendations? Are there any other factors b/w the 2, besides the larger amount of RAM?
 
MUSHKIN the only way to go!!!!!!!! check out article page 68 maximumpc november issue.(owned before it came out)
 
No difference between a dual channel 2x256 kit or a 2x512mb kit part from the size. TBH at the moment you dont really need a GB of ram unless you are into very very heavy multitasking or massive multiplayer online games as they tend to EAT ram.
 
looks like I'll go with the TwinX1024-4000Pro then, this rig is for serious gaming plus those LEDs would look really cool through the window in my case. Thanks again!
 
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