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acompdude

acompdude

Member
​
Joined
Dec 22, 2005
Ok I had a thread in the Motherboard section and pretty well made up my mind on the board I want. Now its the few other things I need. For the mobo I think I am going with the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L. I think it is about as good as it gets for that amount of money. I just decided to find me a cheap Core2Duo in the classies to hole me over till I can drop the cash for a nice Core2Duo or Quad.

Now what I need help on is the RAM and cooling. I have read through a bunch of threads and everyone seems to say this ballistix is the way to go. But what I am wondering is why should I get slower RAM than my motherboard will handle. I was looking at this G.Skill and was wondering if it would be better. I am planning on getting into overclocking and dont want the RAM holding me back. Any opinions on this would be great.

Now on to cooling. I dont want to spend a fortune on cooling. $50 or less is preferable. There are so many coolers now that I dont even know where to start. Every thread I saw says a different is the best. If the Nirvana is worth the money I will go for it but like I said I dont really know where to start on the heatsinks.
 
Nice choice on the board. About the ram: The newer ballistix have been dying lately and the replacements haven't been all that great either. If they're from the older batch like mine, then you're good to go. I think the ones to stay away from are the single sided sticks. The Gskills are good as well.

Not so sure about the cooling. but the TRUE is the one I would go with if i was going air.
 
For $50 on the cooling budget you can buy a TRUE or a Tuniq 120. I've done fine with the Tuniq but the TRUE is probably a better option. You should also get a $5 AS5 kit if you don't have one. They give you two bottles to clean the CPU/Heatsink with and then a tube of thermal compound that should last you a good long time.

As for the RAM, I got the sticks in my sig for $40 on sale (OCZ Platinum Rev. 2). I think the timings are great and they've been solid for me through Prime95's, memtest86, etc.
 
I'd either get the Corsair XMS2 PC6400 or G.Skill PC6400. The Corsair is about $30 and the G.SKills are $45. The reason you don't need the fastest RAM is because your memory only needs to be as fast as your CPU FSB. I'm running PC8500 or 1033 which means the max stock FSB it can do is 516-517. If you run 516 * 8x multi you get 4128ghz. If you run a 9x multi you get 4644ghz. With a lower end C2D on air cooling you can forget about getting that high. My E8400 is running at 445x9 so the memory isn't working at it's full potential.

For the cooling the TRUE120 is a great choice. Good board also for the money if you can't find an Abit IP35-E.
 
Yeah muddocktor praised that Gigabyte and after checking the reviews on other sites it just seems like a decent bang for your buck. I did notice a lot of people saying they were getting bad sticks of the Ballistix and thats whats holding me off from them. I am really looking for some good input on the RAM. What RAM would be the best for helping me get a good overclock. Even though I am settling on the CPU at the moment I want to do as much as I can to be ready for that new chip and I am still gonna oc whatever I get to hold me over.

I am trying to find some more info and places to buy the TRUE and I am actually having a hard time. I have heard good things about the Nirvana. How does it compare to the TRUE?

And I am going to get one of those cleaning kits.
 
Oh man I forgot all about svc.com. Well they have the TRUE for $57.99 and I didnt want to spend that much plus the fan. Are there any places that have it cheaper? I would really like to get that cooler. I am a little unsure whether it will fit also. I have a Lian-Li PC-V1000 that this is all going in.

Anyway back to the RAM for a minute. So if I read LilBuddy correctly even when I get a newer 45nm 1333FSB cpu I still wont even need the faster RAM? I have a lot to learn to get up to date with overclocking.

So if that is correct there is a ton of PC6400 to choose from. Just glancing on Newegg there is a ton in my price range. Should I get some with a Cas Latency of 4 or does it matter? Looking to spend around $60 or less for the RAM. And that G.Skill 1066 is $60 but if 6400 will do everything I need then I could get something cheaper. There is a lot of good deals on the 6400 after mail in rebates but I know you cant count on those things. So post me up some links if you dont mind...
 
LilBuddy said:
If I really wanted to spend $60 on memory I'd get this:

Corsair Dominator PC8500 - $54.99 AR

Best Value:
Corsair XMS2 PC6400 - $29 AR

Good Price, No MIR, Great performance:
G.Skill PC6400 - $44.99

All of the memory can OC some but the PC6400 OC's a lot more than the PC8500. You should be able to get that PC6400 up to 500x2 with a little extra juice.
Click to expand...

Honestly I think I am leaning towards that G.Skill PC6400. No MIR and still a decent price. I think I could OC pretty well with that RAM. If I do manage to get held back by the RAM later I can always sell that and upgrade since RAM is so stinking cheap now.

Ok so Gigabyte mobo is staying, getting the G.Skill PC6400, and that cleaning kit, and I am at $149.80 with shipping. Looking at around $85 or less for a CPU to hold me over. So I have enough money for that cooler after all. I just hope it helps get me a great OC. Anyway where can I get the best price on the TRUE and what is a good Fan combo for it? And lastly how can I know if fits before I get it?
 
Ok. I just took some measurements and the TRUE will be cutting it close in my case. Its hard to tell whether it will fit or not. If anyone cannot confirm that it will fit a PC-V1000 with a Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L mobo then I think I may need to pick out another that will perform close and will be sure to fit. I just want to prevent the whole RMA process as much as possible. So what else is out there that can compare to the TRUE and if Newegg has a good one for a fair price then that would be awesome. I could get it all from one place.
 
I would go ahead and buy the CPU you want. I don't think there is really any reason to buy a $85 CPU to hold you over until you can afford a $185 CPU. Why waste that $85 now?
 
LilBuddy said:
I would go ahead and buy the CPU you want. I don't think there is really any reason to buy a $85 CPU to hold you over until you can afford a $185 CPU. Why waste that $85 now?
Click to expand...
Well I do have that old Pentium D somewhere. I could just use it and have some fun seeing what I can get out of it. I think it will hold me over well enough. So yes, you have a good point there. So I will save that $85 and put it towards that new CPU.

Still needing some more input on the cooling part though. I think everything else is pretty well situated for the time being.
 
Well from what I am reading the Zerotherm Nirvana is pretty good and the Enzotech Extreme-X and still quite a few others. How do these compare to the TRUE. I really wish I could just go ahead and get the TRUE but I am just afraid it wont fit and would rather go for something that will give close performance and be more sure that it will fit. I really want to place my order(s) tonight so help me out!
 
I would reconsider the motherboard seeing as you are stating about Quad in the future.

The DS3L has a massive vdrop and vdroop. I'm limited to 3.5GHz on mine because to get any higher requires 1.6vcore in the BIOS which is too high for air!!

Had I know the above before I would have spent a little more and got a motherboard without the droop such as the DS3R as it has a fix for it.
 
ps2cho said:
I would reconsider the motherboard seeing as you are stating about Quad in the future.

The DS3L has a massive vdrop and vdroop. I'm limited to 3.5GHz on mine because to get any higher requires 1.6vcore in the BIOS which is too high for air!!

Had I know the above before I would have spent a little more and got a motherboard without the droop such as the DS3R as it has a fix for it.
Click to expand...
Well poop. And I am debating getting a Q9300 now since Micro Center has a deal with that processor and some OCZ ram for $250. I know I wanted to keep my budget low but that seems like a good deal to me. So now I may need to reconsider my mobo. And still dont know about the cooling. Man this is driving me crazy. I want to get the stuff ordered and have it on the way soon.

On the mobo would the ASUS P5K PRO or P5K-E be better? It will up my budget but if I spend that much more on a mobo I want one with firewire.

Keep the ideas coming. I want to get this all ordered ASAP.
 
lordkosc said:
stick with G.skill memory, my current experience with them is amazing.
Click to expand...
Well I really want to but the only way to get the price on that Q9300 is to get the OCZ. I would love to go ahead and get a nice Processor now rather than later and I hate to pass up that deal. newegg has just the processor for $295 and I can get the processor and 2 gigs of ram for $260 shipped.

As much as I would prefer the G.Skill I think I am going to go for that deal. I still dont know about the mobo and heatsink though.
 
I'd suggest the XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 CPU Cooler , its very quiet and keeps my cpu cool as all heck.

got it at the egg!
 
lordkosc said:
I'd suggest the XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 CPU Cooler , its very quiet and keeps my cpu cool as all heck.

got it at the egg!
Click to expand...
Wow I am kinda digging it. Cheaper, looks like it will fit, and the reviews look pretty good. I think I may have a winner there. Thanks man.

Ok now that things have switched up I have: Q9300, 2gigs OCZ PC2-6400, XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 Cooler, and some AS5 cleaning stuff.

Now to make a final decision on the Mobo. Requirements: must oc the Quad pretty well, preferably $150 or less, and I would like firewire since I am spending that much more than my original plan. I am leaning towards the Asus boards if they can handle that Quad pretty well. Let me know what you guys think...
 
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