** How's this look for a system over-haul? ** -- Q6600, EVGA 680i, & 2GB OCZ PC6400

** How's this look for a system over-haul? ** -- Q6600, EVGA 680i, & 2GB OCZ PC6400

I think the wifey is probably gonna ask me what I'd like for Christmas this year. So, naturally, I'd like to be ready with an answer. . . .

The budget will probably be about $500. Here's what I'm thinking for an upgrade . . .

Motherboard: EVGA 122-CK-NF67-T1 nForce 680i LT SLI
-- I was originally considering the ASUS Striker but I read a lot of bad reviews from different websites as well as average users. The EVGA seems to be one of the best overclocking boards from what I hear.

CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor
-- This seems to be the best "bang for the buck" in CPUs.

Heatsin/fan: MASSCOOL 92mm Ball CPU Cooler
-- The retail CPU that comes with a stock heatsink/fan is about $20 more than the OEM chip. So I figured I might as well get the OEM and choose a nice, big heatsink/fan myself. (I'll probably put the CPU under a TEC when I have time later anyways.)

Memory: OCZ SLI-Ready 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit
-- I'm kind of a fan of OCZ. Plus, with the rebate, I think that's pretty cheap for a 2GB DDR2 kit.

So after rebates, that adds up to just about $500 (with tax and shipping). I plan to use the rest of the stuff in my sig (the Raptors, the 8800GTs cards in SLI, and the PCPn'C power supply). I think that should definitely be an adequate rig for a while.

Please let me know if you have any recommendations or suggestions . . .


** Here's some specific questions I'm also trying to sort out. **

1. Does is it matter if I get the LT or non-LT version of that motherboard? According to the EVGA website the difference I see is that the non-LT supports "nVidia SLI-read memory with EPP" up to 1200MHz while the LT board only supports it up to 800MHz. I see that the the TR model doesn't support Quad-core overclocking so I'm staying away from that. But I'm not entirely sure about the LT. (There's so many different models! )
Here's the EVGA comparison chart: http://www.evga.com/products/pdf/motherboard_perfGuide.pdf

2. What is the difference between the "OCZ SLI-Ready" memory and the Platinum. Is the "SLI-ready" just a gimic? Both kits cost around the same price with similar rebates, so I was trying to figure out which one to go with. The platinum can be seen here: OCZ Platinum Revision 2 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit

3. Is there any reason to upgrade to 4GB of RAM? I don't plan on running Vista any time soon and I do moderate gaming and multi-tasking (video editing, music editing, etc.)

1. As far as the EVGA boards go, the A1 and T1 were the ones I recommended and used, now I can't find them anywhere, including one for myself to replace a fried board. I can't even venture a guess as to how the lower models will perform.

2. SLI ready, as far as I'm concerned, is crap. The largest difference I see between those two sets of ram are the pretty SLI logos and black heat spreader on the "SLI Ready" modules. We should just refer to "SLI Ready" as "Ripoff Ready", I think it would be more accurate put that way. The timings and voltages on the ram are identical, I'd be willing to bet that they use the same exact chips, but that would be the only difference worth mentioning. Just for example, according to nVidia, my PCP&C Silencer 750 is NOT SLI ready. I beg to differ.

3. If you're running a 32 bit OS, 4GB of ram isn't what I would call useless, but it's pretty close (keep in mind we're talking desktops here). If you're running a 64bit OS, 4GB of ram is an option, but at this point I think the Q6600 is the upgrade you'll get the most punch out of, not an additional 2 gigs of ram.