Building new system based on 6400 or 6600, need some advice

[MorpheriosFoH]

Ok, so as the title says I'm looking to build a 6400 or 6600 system, and I'm looking for some advice for some hardware choices. Been out of the loop for a bit and I'm jumping into a new architecture so I could use some help.

First of all, if I can afford the 6600 without a problem, is there any benefit to going 6400? Reason I ask is because I know that back in the 478 socket days going 3.0 or 3.2 ghz p4 wasn't necessarily better because if you bought a 2.4 you could overclock it like a madman, so I'm wondering if this is a similar situation. If the 6600 is a strong enough performer I'll just stick with that.

Secondly, I'm trying to figure out what motherboard to seat this in. The last system I built was a 478 socket p4, and I used the ABIT AC7-Max3 board, so I've been partial to ABIT. However I have no qualms going to Asus if there's a definitive difference/improvement. Figuring on money is no issue, what's the best board to seat this puppy in.

Last question would involve ram. Not sure how much I wanna stick in it yet but again price won't be much of a problem when I get this system built. Any suggestions?

I do plan on overclocking the rig so I'll need some headroom for ram I'm sure. I'd also like to go SLI on the mobo but I'm sure that won't be much of an issue if i'm going high end, regardless of what brand I side with.

Thanks for any help in advance.
Lastly, RAM.

 

[KreyMerr]

From what Ive seen the 6400 can about catch the 6600 in terms of OCability, meaning each can reach about the same level. However there is no way to OC double the L2 cache, so the 6600 is ahead there if price is of no concern to you.

I havnt seen any SLI mobos out yet, just crossfire you could make do with if you wanted to. From what I read the Asus P5B delux is pretty top of the line, but hard to find and expensive. I went with the MSI 975X Platinum V2 and put the money I saved into RAM.

On the RAM topic, the prices are pretty high for good quality RAM, so its kinda personal choice and youll have to shop around. My Corsair 6400C4 sticks cost about $30 more at newegg now than when i bought them earlier this week.

*EDIT* looks like a nice priced SLI mobo coming out in a few weeks. newegg asus mobo seems nice for the price. DDR2667 is a downside and i dunno how well it will OC like more expensive boards.

 

[MorpheriosFoH]

Thanks for the input. From what I had seen a lot of people were using that Asus board so I kinda assumed it might be the way to go assuming I can find it.

I had noticed the L2 Cache difference on the 6600 as opposed to the 6400, just wasn't sure if there was enough of an overclock difference to offset it although that'd probably have to be a pretty significant difference, so I think I'll plan on the 6600.

I don't have to worry too much about cost because I'm borrowing the money from a family member to pay back so I won't have to pay interest or anything and can pay it off gradually so it's not too big of an issue (which is also why I'm not going for an extreme, money's no issue, within reason).

Ram is definitely important to me too, is what you recommended good for a high end/overclocking rig?

 

[KreyMerr]

This is the ram i got and i think it should OC pretty well. but i havnt been following ram as close as some because I dont really plan on going much beyond 3GHz with my 6600. Ive seen some people who have been impressed with a GSkill ram set, but im not sure which one it is. someone will see this and post more info on ram im sure.

 

[MorpheriosFoH]

Excellent, thanks for the help. Yeah I've been reading a bit about the GSkill and Team Extreem ram sets, I'm far enough outa the loop that these were new to me. When I built my last rig the decision pretty much came between Corsair and OCZ and then there were a lot of people making fun of other people for taking Kingston's HyperX. Might have to do a bit more investigation over these 2 that I'm not familiar with, but I used Corsair before and I tend to be very brand loyal until I have a reason not to be so I'll keep your set in mind definitely.

 

[KreyMerr]

also note that the same ram was $255 5 days ago. so who knows whats up with pricing. i guess DDR2 uses unleaded gas now?

 

[MorpheriosFoH]

Hah, apparently. I've known RAM to be a volatile price market but jesus, that's a lot of movement over a short period of time. Did a plant burn down somewhere that I didn't hear about?

 

[itachi2k4]

i would go for the e6400 seeing how the e6300/e6400 both oc about the same or more than the e6600 on air and i recommend the p5b deluxe since it is good in bed. check out my thread http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=474731
also g.skill ddr2 800 hz is some pretty good ram dawgZ!

 

[MorpheriosFoH]

That's pretty much why I was posing the question, wondering if the 6400 could clock up better, Krey had a good point, you can't substitute an overclock for the additional cache, what's your take on that difference?

 

[Evilsizer]

That's pretty much why I was posing the question, wondering if the 6400 could clock up better, Krey had a good point, you can't substitute an overclock for the additional cache, what's your take on that difference?

difference of what exactly?

some other good ocing ram is this stuff
http://www.tankguys.biz/ddr2-3338-p-1676.html
see here
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=110839

in terms of ocing say e6300 or e6400, both will reach the same cpu speed. This is given that say both need to same volts to hit that speed. Now on the other hand the boards fsb is the big limiting factor. the e6300 with the 7x and say your board tops out at 450 so 3.15ghz oc, now same fsb with e6400 450x8=3.6ghz. Just for the sake of it say both can do 3.6ghz now the board is you biggest wall as it is stuck at a stable 450mhz fsb. Now if looking at the e6600 vs e6400 both can hit the same oc within reason so assume the max is the same @3.6ghz. with a 9x thats 400fsb for the e6600 vs 450mhz for e6400. with the newer bios's on the asus boards if i am correct you can drop the multi to match the e6400 to get back to the 450fsb. With the extra 2mb's on the e6600 it is about another 5%-10% based on the app and how well it can use the extra 2mbs. anandatech overall increase at the same speed them making it a avarage increased over the i think 10beches they ran was only 5% overall. in my above statement just assume that all you have is air cooling while water might help oc its not going to get around boards max stable fsb.

 

[itachi2k4]

the difference is close to nothing cause most 6600 cant oc as high as the lower end models on air. i'm pretty sure a few hundred mhz make up for the cache and the price difference is a bonus ^_^

 

[Evilsizer]

the difference is close to nothing cause most 6600 cant oc as high as the lower end models on air. i'm pretty sure a few hundred mhz make up for the cache and the price difference is a bonus ^_^

yea if you were going to just run stock speeds and had the extra money i would say get the e6600 over the e6400.

 

[seeker]

Evilsizer, you put the answer out there very well. I keep hangin out here looking for the best bang for the buck just like a lot of of others and thanks to people like you we can decide to clock a 6400 that will compete with the best (amd or intel) or not clock a stock chip.

Heard much about the 4300 lately?

 

[Evilsizer]

Evilsizer, you put the answer out there very well. I keep hangin out here looking for the best bang for the buck just like a lot of of others and thanks to people like you we can decide to clock a 6400 that will compete with the best (amd or intel) or not clock a stock chip.

Heard much about the 4300 lately?

why thank you i tried my best to keep in simple.

(e4300) no we wont till about the end of this year... im looking forward to getting one as no vt and 800fsb with 9x priced around $150. that is the cpu people will be getting once out. It will be the best bang for buck and with ocing i would expect it to hit 266fsb or 2.4ghz with stock volts.