Help/advice deciding CPU/memory

[herbals]

Hey guys, ive been doing a fair bit of research into some new parts.
I pretty much have everything worked out except my CPU and memory

I plan to use my computer mainly for playing games, alot of older games too, i dont really care for crysis. But will probably want to play starcraft2 i pretty much do ZERO multimedia applications, i might convert MP3's to .wav for burning, but thats seriously about it. or watch a dvd

Ive decided to go with this motherboard: GigaByte EP45 UD3P (the one rated highly on this site)

I was thinking something along the lines of:

Q6600 (slacr g0) seems these can easilly get around 3.6ghz
E8400 - about the same price as the q6600, read can get around 4ghz
E7400 - a bit cheaper
E5200 - really cheap some have overlocked really well even 4ghz

Can you please give me some reccomendations, id like the price to be around the E8400/Q6600 mark which is very similar where I live. I plan to overclock as high as I can get stable, I dont care what that number is im just after extra performance for free. and what memory to pair with that motherboard. I want to start with 2x2gb sticks, and maybe get 2 more later. I also plan to buy a really good aftermarket CPU cooler, possibly something like a thermaltake V1. My case will be a coolermaster rc690, so there will be decent airflow, I have no desire for watercooling.

If you think I should get a CPU can you please tell me what revision or stepping to look out for.

Im upgrading from a p4 3ghz with AGP 1gb

THANKS!!

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

q8200 $100 at MicroCenter

 

[herbals]

Thanks for the reply but just wondering why you would choose that processor?

the Q8200 may have a higher FSB than the Q6600 - 1333 MHz compared to 1066 MHz, but it features a lower frequency (2.33 GHz) and half the amount of L2 cache - 'just' 4 MB. It also has a really low multiplier of 7

really the best overclock you could hope for on a 8200 is "7x500 @ 3.5GHz"

on a q6600 a simply bump to a 400FSB will put the CPU at 3.6Ghz because of the 9x multiplier


thanks/bump anyone else got any advice?

 

[vj8usa]

Originally posted by: WaitingForNehalem
q8200 $100 at MicroCenter

By the way, the Q9300 and Q6600 are also $99 at Microcenter.

herbals, how long do you intend to use this computer before upgrading? You might not need a quad at all if you don't play a lot of newer games.

 

[herbals]

Probably along time, There seems to be so many conflicting opinions, quad is no doubt better multimedia applications. My multimedia use is pretty much nonexistant, no professional apps, and i dont care about waiting a few minutes extra for a cd/dvd encode/decode.

I guess ill want something decent for windows 7 64bit aswell

Ill probably throw in the best possible CPU in that board at some stage in the future when they drop alot in price or become cheap, and a new videocard, i only plan to get a 1gb 9600gt for now aswell

 

[herbals]

bump