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I am so confused! Q6600 + what mobo + what ram!

D

daggermeerkat

Member
Ok .. I have decided on what processor I would like and that will be the Q6600. However after spending hours reading the forums, I am very confused and just can't make up my mind.
Its been almost 2 years since I upgraded so I am very out of the h/w market.

What mobo should I get? I would like one that overclocks very well with the Q6600 .. am looking at the abit [ip35-e] or gigabyte [p35-ds3 series] in this respect? Which of these do u suggest? RAID not required nor is SLI. Open to other mobo suggestions.

And I intend to get 2x2gb of RAM. The question is which one? I want to get the maximum out of my system so overclocking is a priority.

I am going ahead with a ASUS 8800gts 512mb that I found at a relatively good price online.

I already have a 530W Tagan TG530-U22 from my old system so I don't think I need to look for a PSU.

Help would be gladly appreciated!

[I will continue reading nevertheless, but please grace me with your collective knowledge!]

EDIT:

Decided on the RAM but suggestions are welcome:

Thinking of either Gskill or OCZ

Will the boards let me take full advantage of these speeds?
 
First off the Ram you chose are good options, I have heard good things from that Gskill kit (1100mhz+). The board you choose will be fine with that amount of ram but you have to have a 64bit OS to take full advantage of all 4GB. As for specific model- it really comes down to personal preference. Both the ones you suggest are (from my experience with the IP35-E and reading about the DS3- although I won't be buying Giga products over the 680i fiasco) solid boards, I would get whatever is cheapest- in that bracket you also have the MSI NEO2 FR and Asus P5E variants to have a look at.
 
I'm in the same boat as you. I will likely go with the Asus P5E board with the x38 NB.

I haven't decided on RAM. I was planning to go with 4GB of Corsair XMS2 DDR2-800, since lots of guys overclocking the Q6600 well past 3.0GHz with 800MHz RAM at 1:1.

If I'm not mistaken, DDR2-800 will allow me to overclock up to 3.6GHz (400MHz FSB) with the RAM at 1:1 and multiplier left at 9. I don't need DDR2-1066 unless I get the FSB over 400MHz or set my RAM in asynchronous mode.

P.S. The DDR2-800 sticks can be had with 4-4-4-12 timings as opposed to 5-5-5-15 on the DDR-1066.
 
I was strongly on the side of the abit ip35-e until i read the issues about double posts and compatibility with the Raptor 150gb. Another note is it worth waiting for the p45 mobos? I mean are they going to be so different from the p35 that I have to wait till June because .. I have am pretty sure by June there will be something to wait for until the end of the year 😛

 
Originally posted by: daggermeerkat
I was strongly on the side of the abit ip35-e until i read the issues about double posts and compatibility with the Raptor 150gb. Another note is it worth waiting for the p45 mobos? I mean are they going to be so different from the p35 that I have to wait till June because .. I have am pretty sure by June there will be something to wait for until the end of the year 😛
Click to expand...

They are not going to be revolutionary in any respect (much the same as the difference between X38 and X48) and you'd be more than happy with a current *established* P35 board- I'd say go for it :thumbsup:
 
Ok .. I am going to let go of the raptor, probably settle with my existing hdd so abit is back in the game. Going to compare the 4 mobos .. right now!
 
I have the same CPU and am building a system now - for RAM I chose DDR2 Corsair 1066 because it is crazy cheap right now...
MB is a gigbypte GA-P35-DS3R, which ARS Techincal likes (and I like their recommendations, given how much stuff there is available!)

good luck
 
I have a 965 mobo, from Gigabyte (965-DQ6), and based on that experience they make good overclocking boards. Took a 1.8GHz E4300 to 2.93GHz (367x8). That leaves my RAM at 980MHz 5-5-5-15. I've seen it post and boot windows up to 3.2GHz, but its just not 100% stable without increasing the voltages up past 1.37v.

On the other hand, my friend has the P35-DS3, and I was able to take an E6750 (stock 2.66, 1333 bus) to 3.40GHz (425x8). That didn't even use a voltage increase.

My RAM is that G.Skill 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-8000 set you were checking out, and an additional 2GB (2x1GB) OCZ PC2-8500 set. Independently, I can get the OCZ past 1066 (never tried much further than that), and the G.Skill to 1010MHz. That's why I'm running it at 980MHz. 6GB isn't bad, though, I'm sure that I "lost" 30MHz because of using 4 DIMMs.

My buddy has 2x1GB Corsair PC2-6400 4-4-4-12. I noticed this has no problem overclocking, but I'm not sure his upper end. I got them up to 850 @ 4-4-4-12, using 1:1 memory ratio. I'm sure at 5-5-5-15 you could squeeze out something more. But we're already talking a 425MHz bus here.

By the way, Tom's Hardware just did an article comparing memory speeds with applications in Core2 Duos. Their results across the board were 1066 @ 4-4-4-12 wins. 1066 @ 5-5-5-15 has about a 3% advantage over 800 @ 4-4-4-12 and 4% over 800 @ 5-5-5-15.

Can you notice it? Probably not, but since you are OC'ing, might as well get the highest clock rate on your RAM too.
 
Originally posted by: joex444
...By the way, Tom's Hardware just did an article comparing memory speeds with applications in Core2 Duos. Their results across the board were 1066 @ 4-4-4-12 wins. 1066 @ 5-5-5-15 has about a 3% advantage over 800 @ 4-4-4-12 and 4% over 800 @ 5-5-5-15....
Click to expand...

But, in the conclusion of that article it says:

The results must look disappointing for the memory vendors, as the largest performance differences we found amount to 7-8% with DivX and WinRAR, while almost all other benchmarks and applications perform alike: a 1-3% performance delta cannot be noticed at all. Some games showed several per cent performance difference between low-latency high-speed memory and conventional high-latency average speed DIMMs. The synthetic benchmarks on the memory revealed even more differences, but these clearly aren't very relevant in everyday life.
Click to expand...

This kind of makes me feel good about my choice to go with large quantities of relatively cheap DDR2 800 RAM
 
Ok .. I think I have decided on what to go with:

Q6600 G0 SLACR with Zerotherm Nirvana as the cooler
ABIT IP35 Dark Raider
4GB G.Skill PC2-8000 (5-5-5-15)
Asus EN8800GTS 512mb
Samsung SH-S203D 20X DVD±RW/RAM/DL Serial ATA
Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme

Components from old build:
Akasa Eclipse 62 case with 2 x Akasa 120mm Amber fans
Western Digital 500GB WD5000AAKS
TAGAN TG530-U22 PSU
Akasa Blue chipset cooler [probably just use the fan for the one of the chipsets on the ABIT]

So what does everybody think, anything that I should change, add or reconsider?
 
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