New system need a little help

Hello,

After a lot of searching I have finally (well almost) decided ont eh components that I'm going to use for my need PC. Below is the list and I would like too know if I'm on the right track and what could do with being change. I am on a budget (although a quite reasonable one) so nothing extreme.

Ok so here goes,

p5b-dlx (Don't need the Wifi as I have a netgear USB superG that for the moment isn't being used. But other then the Wifi does the dlx WiFi have anything important on it that the dlx doesn't?)

E6300 or E6600 (still can't decide but I'm leaning more towards the 6600

Thermalright Ultra-120 (to cool the above)

G.Skill Kit Extreme2 2 x 1 Go PC6400 HK
F2-6400CL4D-2GBHK
timings 4-4-3-5 (can this be right?) 2,00 to 2,10 V (Are these anygood? There timings look great) as these things are cheap (185€)

Other then this RAM there are (the obvious 2nd choice is the oCZ spec ops, or maybe even the titanium alpha's if I go 6300 and get a nice clocking one but I normally have BAD luck):

OCZ Special Ops Urban Elite Edition 2 x 1 Gb PC6400 (245€)
4-4-3-15: 2,10V
OCZ2SOE800URB2GK

Corsair Twin2X 2 x 1 Go DDRII PC6400 CAS 4 (255€)
4-4-4-12 T2: 2,10 V
TWIN2X2048-6400C4

G.Skill Kit Extreme2 2 x 1 Go PC6400 HZ (280€)
4-4-4-12: 2,00 to 2,10 V
F2-6400PHU2-2GBHZ

OCZ Titanium Alpha VX2 2 x 1 Go PC8000 (295€)
4-4-4-15: 2,30 V
OCZ2TA1000VX22GK


Geforce 8800GTS (can't really afford/justify the GTX, other then the obvious gains is it really worth the extra money? And how does the GTS do for overclocking)

I'm going to be reusing my , WD Raptor 74Gb, case antec 1080, Enermax 600W PSU, and will be using the onboard sound (is the onboard sound anygood on this board?)

Also I'm trying to get a quieter system as currently I have a thermalright XP-90 w/ a vantec tornado @ 5-7V (looking back it was a real bad choice, but it got my 2.6C to 3.18)

All help and comments are appreciated. This machine will most likely last as long as my current one has. As the board doesn't have Sli would it be better saving a bit more for the 8800GTX?

Anyway I think I have babbled for long enough, if I've missed anything off let me know.

Thanks in advance,

Mow

----------------------------
Abit IC7
Intel 2.6C@ 3.18
Ati 9700pro @357.75/335.25
WD Raptor 74Gb
Sb Audigy

if you arent tied to a huge LCD monitor where you have to run a high native res...the 320mb GTS/GTX cards are quite fast and affordable.

Mowgly1 said:

p5b-dlx (Don't need the Wifi as I have a netgear USB superG that for the moment isn't being used. But other then the Wifi does the dlx WiFi have anything important on it that the dlx doesn't?)

Click to expand...

nope. same board, but without wifi.

if you go the e6300 route, you will want some good quality rams, with d9 chips. the g.skill HZ's, and the OCZ titaniums you had listed, but also crucial ballistix and my ram, teamgroup 667's and 800's all fit the bill. these rams are needed to get 3.5ghz+, because your ram is tied to your fsb speed (500fsb*7=3500mhz, and ram needs to run at 500mhz also).

if you go with the e6600, you can get away with cheaper ram. basically any ddr2-800 with decent timings will get you to 3.6ghz+

hUMANbEATbOX said:

nope. same board, but without wifi.

if you go the e6300 route, you will want some good quality rams, with d9 chips. the g.skill HZ's, and the OCZ titaniums you had listed, but also crucial ballistix and my ram, teamgroup 667's and 800's all fit the bill. these rams are needed to get 3.5ghz+, because your ram is tied to your fsb speed (500fsb*7=3500mhz, and ram needs to run at 500mhz also).

if you go with the e6600, you can get away with cheaper ram. basically any ddr2-800 with decent timings will get you to 3.6ghz+

Click to expand...

Ok thanks, thats what I was thinking the OCZ titaniums (might as well for the price difference between them and the G.Skill HZ's) for the 6300, but if I go the 6600 will the G.Skill HK's be anygood and are them timings (4-4-3-5)correct?? What is the chance of getting a 6300 that would reach 400 or higher fsb?

For the graphic card, at the moment I have a old (about 4-5 years) 17" LCD and I don't think I can admit to the rated ms it has, which I'm thinking to upgrade in 6-9months to a 19-21" LCD after I build this pc. Anyway back to the 8800 GTS does anyone know of a review of the GTS with the 320Mb? Or if there anygood next to there bigger memory brothers?

Thanks again for the help, I'm pretty much in the final stages of making my mind up, been out of the loop for quite some time.

Mow,

i can't help much with the gpu choice...i know that both the gts and gtx are super fast.

they HK's would work great with a e6600.

the chances of getting a e6300 over 400fsb are pretty much 100%. 500fsb a challenge, but not really a huge one.

hUMANbEATbOX said:

i can't help much with the gpu choice...i know that both the gts and gtx are super fast.

they HK's would work great with a e6600.

the chances of getting a e6300 over 400fsb are pretty much 100%. 500fsb a challenge, but not really a huge one.

Click to expand...

Ok just done a little math and the 6300 and the OCZ titaniums is cheaper then the 6600 and G.Skill HK, although by not enough to make it a final decision.

with that said, if I go with a 6600 and manage to get 380*9 = 3420 (from what I've read pretty much all 6600 gt to at least that).

Or with 6300, I'd need to get to 488*7 = 3416 (dunno if most would get there, so lets say it does a modest 450*7 = 3150. The with the greater bandwith, it would perform better in most circumstances? Unless it's a CPU intensive task. Did I get this right?

Mow,

Hi I just read that e6600's with the motherboard I choose you can lower the multiplier, is this true? If so I think it might be better to get the 6600 and the better memory.

Mow,

Yes, you can lower the multiplier on an E6600. But what about getting an E6400 instead?

batboy said:

Yes, you can lower the multiplier on an E6600. But what about getting an E6400 instead?

Click to expand...

I had pretty much decided to go for the 6600

but never thought about a 6400 do they overclock as good as the 6300 and 6600?

Once this rig is built, it most probably won't be upgraded for about another 5/6 years. I know the 2.6C and IC7 aren't 5/6 years old, my original PC has a 2.8B and a Gigabyte RDram board in it switched them out with a friend who was building a new PC and gave the old pc to his mother. As it overclocked nicely it has kept me going till now. But you never know, maybe when forced to use vista in about 3 years I'd need to upgrade sooner.

Thanks for all the input.

At the moment here is what I'm going to be putting into this system: think i'm prety much decided on a 8800gtx (the choice between the gtx and gts has been hard and will probably change back to a gts at when I finally order the parts)

ASUSTeK P5B Deluxe (Intel P965 Express),
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
Thermalright Ultra-120 w/ Enermax UC-12AEBS,
ASUSTeK EN8800GTX/HTDP/768M - 768 Mo TV-Out/Dual DVI - PCI Express (NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX),
OCZ Titanium Alpha VX2 2 x 1 Go PC8000,
Samsung SH-S183A,

Going to be re-using:
Antec 1080
WD raptor 74Gb

Once it's built I'll be posting results on here, is prime95 still the test I have seen may people taking about orthos, does this stress the system more or have built in for 2 cores?

Also is there a good alternative to the Ultra-120? On my current PC I have a XP-90C which is great and does the job nicely.

Ok so I fannaly cracked and ordered the parts for my new system. They should arrive early next week (I don't know how I'm going to make it through this weekend).

Here goes what I finally decided on,

ASUSTeK P5B Deluxe (Intel P965 Express)
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
G.Skill Kit Extreme2 2 x 1 Go PC6400 HZ
ASUSTeK EN8800GTX/HTDP/768M (NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX)
Samsung SH-S183A OEM
Thermalright Ultra-120 w/ 2x Enermax UC-12AEBS (Does Push/Pull work well? Or is it just a waste?)

Finally decided between the 6300 and the 6600, also by making this choice didn't need to go for the faster ram so went with the G.Skill HZ's. The last choice I made was going with the 8800GTX (This was a real tuffy and it was gonna be a GTS since my last post right up until I made the order then switch too a GTX), hope I'm not going to regret this one, I know it's a faster card and all, but still I gotta pay the rent too. The only way I could justify it was my current PC hasn't had anything spent on it for 5years (bar the XP-90C + Vantec "my ears are bleeding" Tornado), and this system will hopefully last as long. I don't plan on putting Oh oh it looks nice and pretty Vista on this PC (well not for at least 2-3 years hopefully).

Anyway I'll be posting results when the system is up and running, and again with updates of the hopefully nice overclocks I manage to get. Most probably be needing help on the tweaking and all.

Thanks,

Mow