My Build - Constructive Criticism Welcome

[dannyb007]

Hello! This is my first build in a long long time and my first forray into the world of overclocking, so Im looking for all the help I can get.


The SPECS!!!!

C2D E6750 - (goal is to overclock to 3.5ghz)
Gigabyte P35-DS3R rev 2.0
Thermaltake 120x
Corsair PC6400 XMS2 DHX 2x1gb 4-4-4-4-12
Geforce 8800 GTS 320mb
Antec Sonata III Piano Black (inc 500w Earthwatts PSU)
Samsung Spinpoint 320gb





Areas of concern or uncertainess are:

Cooler - Thermaltake 120x, only concern about this is the whole sanding the base crap. How hard is that? I want an easy straight forward build. Perhaps i should go for a tuniq tower or similar instead?

Memory - I think there are cheaper and equally as good if not better modules than the corsair available that will do the same job I require? Crucial ballistix seem a common choice. On the otherhand I could go for PC8500 1066mhz but it has slower timings and from what I can see not the correct choice???

Motherboard - Am I going along the right lines with the motherboard? Are there other similarly priced boards which will make life easier for the overclocking?




Ok Ill leave it at that for the time being, any comments, ideas, suggestions or criticism welcome. Cheers.

 

[akhilles]

Lapping takes time & patience. Not hard at all.

You might wanna get Ballistix, seeing you're going to overclock.

P35 all overclocks more or less the same way. I think GB is a bit easier in that there are fewer options than others like P5K.

Are you sure you want 8800gts? Why not HD3870 for $200? $50 less retail. Free shipping?

http://accessories.us.dell.com...J&cid=24471&lid=566643

This 320GB harddisk isn't bad:

http://shop2.outpost.com/product/5296757

 

[tylerdustin2008]

Originally posted by: akhilles
You might wanna get Ballistix, seeing you're going to overclock.

NO!

Ballistix is the worst ram in the world. Runs to damn hot, with no OC the ram over heats. And when you OC it becomes unstable. Ballistix and Tracers require a ram fan.

OP go with different ram that has a bit better cooling.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820145175

And someone don't tell me I am wrong with the Ballistix. I have allot of experience there, I had to buy the OCZ ram fan just leave computer on for over and hour.

Plus the heat sink on most of crucial's ram is just a thin strip of aluminum.

 

[dannyb007]

Thats why i was thinking of going with the corsair because the heatsink is apparently up there with the best of them and will keep em nice and cool, even when overclocked.


What about the cpu cooler? The thermaltake 120x, am I likely to have to sand it? How much of a pain in the ass would that be.... maybe I should just go for 1 of the other popular coolers ie tuniq tower, scythe infinity etc. Or if the thermaltakes base isnt flat, can i just send it back and exchange it?

 

[fausto412]

I would look at getting a p180b rev 1.1(same as p182 minus black paint inside) i bought min for 120 with 40 dollar rebate which brings price down to 80 bucks. excellent quiet case, great air flow and wife management. best case for 80 bucks out there. they've had that deal twice at fry's in last 60 days.

gigabyte has a lot of voltage issues, i would do some research and see if another motherboard maker has a board that you can rely on when it comes to voltage regulation.

i'm at 3.4 because my ram holds me back, in giga p35 boards you can't lock the ram at whatever speed you want, you have to do 1 to 1 at a minimum. i was going to get some 1066 ram until i figured out my board overvolts when set to +.4 it's actually 2.38 too much.

i would definetly wait till january and buy a 8800gt way more bang for your buck.

i can tell you that if you watch the fry's ads and the newegg prices you will figure out when stuff about to go sales. i bought my whole setup on sale or with rebates, it's still worth more than i paid for it. the deals are out there.

A scythe ninja rev b works great, it's big but once it's in there you ain't gotta mess with it.

 

[Roguestar]

Originally posted by: tylerdustin2008

Originally posted by: akhilles
You might wanna get Ballistix, seeing you're going to overclock.

NO!

Ballistix is the worst ram in the world.

And someone don't tell me I am wrong with the Ballistix. I have allot of experience there, I had to buy the OCZ ram fan just leave computer on for over and hour.

Plus the heat sink on most of crucial's ram is just a thin strip of aluminum.

:roll::roll::roll:

Ballistix is good quality RAM, with a lifetime warranty and using highly overclockable ICs. In my work we used Crucial for three years running and had to RMA one set out of hundreds. My Crucial Ballistix are running cool and overclocked from 533 to 860 with no errors after 24 hours of Orthos Blend or any errors on memtest, and this is enough to overclock my CPU from 1.86 to 3GHz. Most RAM doesn't even need heatspreaders if you've got good case airflow, RAM heatsinks and fans are only for those looking for a placebo effect or into extreme overclocking.

Now I shall quote the most pretentious and condescending part of your post and use it for my own!

"And someone don't tell me I am wrong with the Ballistix. I have allot of experience there"