So many choices, so little time!

Most rebates expire on the 30th, and instant savings can be changed at any minute. Please help me decide which Motherboard and Graphics card to go with. I hope to take my E6600 to 3.6 ghz with a Tuniq Tower and a pair of Crucial Ballistix BL2KIT12864AL1005 DDR2-1000 Ram. Which motherboard would work best to achieve this speed and which graphicscard should I get?

As far as graphics cards, I can see myself playing to many games in the future, I just want Vista to look and perform smoothly.

Do you thnk I will be able to get by with the eVGA 256-P2-N554-AX e-Geforce 7600 GT KO 256MB (580mhz) at Newegg for $125 or should I consider one of these?

eVGA 256-P2-N584-AR Geforce 7900 GT KO 256MB (500mhz) - Newegg - $220
eVGA 512-P2-N637-AR Geforce 7900 GT KO Superclocked 512MB (600mhz) - Newegg - $275
MSI NX7900GT-VT2D256E HD GeForce 7900 GT 256 MB (500mhz) - ZZF - $200
eVGA 512-P2-N635-AR Geforce 7950 GT KO 512MB (560mhz) - ZZF - $245
eVGA 512-P2-N637-AR Geforce 7950 GT KO Superclocked 512MB (600mhz) - ZZF - $281

As far as Motherboards, I can't decide between the P5B Deluxe, eVGA 680i, the DFI Infinity, and the P5WDH Deluxe. I am kinda strapped for money, so the P5B fits into my budget better, but I would go with one of the others if they would offer a better overclock for my E6600.


Please give me feedback on both parts so that I can hopefully decide by tomorrow night and order those last couple parts.

IF your looking for soem kick get the 7950 gt ko 560mhz if you got some extra cash.

any of the mobo's you selected should do fine getting 400FSB (and your ram is overkill for that overclock, you could save some money getting DDR2 800 and spend more on the GFX)

So the general consensis on the motherboard is that if I get a P5B DLX, I should be fine for getting 3.6ghz, processor willing?

yes.

but seriously, save the money on the ram if you haven't ordered it already. ddr2-1000 is a waste for what you are planning.

Unfortunatly I have already ordered it but it was only $20 more than a pair of Crucial Ballistix DDR2-800 sticks. I will have paid $265 after rebates on the DDR2-1000.

my humble suggestion for your vid cards-> don't buy any that are "overclocked edition" or "superclocked", you are paying them to do the same thing you can do on your own with the regular version of the card.

If you got good 2GB dual channel kit of DDR2-1000 for $265 AR... Sell it for a profit and get some DDR2-800.
And I agree, I'd get a regular clocked eVGA that I could use in there trade up program before getting pre-overclocked cards.

What would I sell it for?

Isnt DDR2-1000 going to make my computer a bit more future proof, and if I stick with the DDR2-1000, I wont have to worry about Overclokcing my ram, which i dont know if to do if there is such a thing.

mawsoccer said:

What would I sell it for?

Isnt DDR2-1000 going to make my computer a bit more future proof, and if I stick with the DDR2-1000, I wont have to worry about Overclokcing my ram, which i dont know if to do if there is such a thing.

Click to expand...

yes, dd2-1000 could be nice down the line...if you downgrade to a e6300. the e6600 with its multi of 9 makes it so you won't need ddr2-1000 speeds. consider that by the time you will be ready for another upgrade, most likely you will be looking at ddr3. with ddr2-800, you will have a rig that will last you years, and the extra money could be spent on a better video card or something.

all that said, you got an awesome deal on the memory from what i can tell. i'm not sure how much of a profit you can make off of it, but i would probably keep it if it were me. is that rebate still on? that might influence how much you'd be able to sell it for.

No, the cheapest that ram goes for is $290 now, and it is sold out currently at Newegg.com, which is where i got my deal from.

What ram would you recommend that would save me so much money and still provide a good overclock for an e6600?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820150054
BUFFALO Firestix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
cas5's
the cas4's that were reviewed online were the high binned D9's (IE the IC's used in DDR2-1000 Ocz plats) but its speculated that now that Micron is getting more expensive they swiched to normal binned D9's for these.

thats only $20 cheaper than what I paid for the DDR2 1000s, Its not worth it for me to sell them and buy a DDR2 800 pair.

actually guys if the op uses the 800 ram ratio at 400mhz his ram would be running slightly oced @ddr2-1068. even with a 667 ratio the ram would be damn near ddr2-1000(actual 934).

Evilsizer said:

actually guys if the op uses the 800 ram ratio at 400mhz his ram would be running slightly oced @ddr2-1068. even with a 667 ratio the ram would be damn near ddr2-1000(actual 934).

Click to expand...

What are you talking about.. 1:1 with a 9 multi at 3.6Ghz is 400mhz FSB IE DDR2-800.

And if you could find a buyer of DDR2-1000 for signifiganly more then you paid for it, that would be the only reason to sell it.

well im takling about the ram ratios. as from my board a 1:1 with 400fsb i would select 533 ratio,for higher 667/800 ratio. you can double check me, i did ddr2 speed difference from stock cpu fsb. where at 266mhz the speed difference for 667(333mhz) is 67mhz, where at 800(400mh) is 134mhz.
example fsb equals 400mhz now at either ratio add 67mhz for the 667ratio or add 134mhz for 800 ratio.
so ddr2 speeds would be what i posted unless i just did the math wrong agian.

i know asus ones have alot of ram options, irc a ddr2-1200 ram option.

i dont recall reading if he made up his mind on the mobo, i even read it agian...another up for 24hr day(s)...lol

Its an E6600, Im just trying to keep things simple
Your talking about wich bootstrap to use, thats what a calculator is for LOL.

This is driving me nuts, I had a e6400 and now an e6600 (still have the e6400 on a DS3 not finished yet) and the ram I tried both ocz plat and camo and cant clock it worth a darn. Anyine with any tricks for the P5B-Deluxe? I am still way faster stock, but core 1 tends to turd out during tests. Time to do some googling.