ZZF doesn't have shipping costs, its all free, thats why most people order cases from there
also, Crucial Ballistix aren't just his gut instinct... they are one of the most popular sets of ram among power users... people who actually know what they are doing buy them since they overclock better and can handle more stress and still churn out the best performance, not to mention they look sexy and can be called magicstix
It's true. They're incredible. If you know what you're doing, you can make these things scream at nice timings.
I'm more easily ready to agree with you upon the Ultimate vs. Premium... it's just sort of a preference thing really. I'd have no problem going to premium... but if I had the budget at the end of the day I'd say screw it, let's go Ultimate... unless theres an Ultimate reason not to asides for price...
I appreciate your RAM suggestions but it's tough for me to decide either way without lack of first hand experience with any or and all of the above so to speak... though I've heard good things about them as well...
I am interested in overclocking, and I've been very back and forth with AMD/Intel all along... though for some reason my gut just says AMD... when it all comes down to it... it maybe the same kind of spark you have towards Crucial Ballistix! haha... I know Intel's doing well right now... and I'm sure overclocking with Intel maybe the better option... but unless it's just hands down... for exp, "WTF were you thinking choosing this? It's blatantly obvious you should get "this" because it's just this much better"... it's going to be tough for me hah...
I've kept up with hardware decently well for the last few years, and you'll have to understand from my perspective... and the lack of physical experience opposed to reviews, forum advice... etc
Though I do appreciate your help!
I hear ya on the Ultimate vs Premium part. I was just saying for $$ sake. I mean if you have the extra $$ and you want to do it, by all means go for it.
And about the memory, I understand first hand expereince means alot, and it's hard to just go by what people say. But ask any overclocker or power user, and they will most likely tell you to get Crucial Ballistix if you plan to overclock. Very high quality memory, they can handle alot of stress, higher voltages, and tight timings. They also stay surprisingly cool for how much voltage you can pump through them.
I was a huge OCZ Fan. I loved their memory, it was great stuff. But these Magicstix straight up own any other DDR2-800 memory.
And regarding the Intel Vs AMD thing. If you would of asked me over the past 4 years or so if you should get an Intel or AMD proc, I'd say AMD, hands down. But, I think you'd be surprised with some of the overclocks people have been getting. I have a Q6600 quad core. First, it's a quad core, so it's going to run hot. Second, it's B3 steppings, not the favorable newer G0. It came at 2.4ghz stock. Right now I'm running mine at 3.1ghz. That's a 700mhz increase on air cooling. I'm probably going to go to 3.2ghz tonight, which will then be a 800mhz increase in clock speed.
With the Core 2 duos, people are getting up to 1ghz increase just from overclocking. So yes, as far as overclocking is concerned, this is rather a "duh" choice. Haha. AMD makes good cpu's, theirs no doubting that. But as far as overclocking and price/performance is concerned, currently Intel is the way to go. Especially considering they're releasing their 45nm procs begining of '08.
I'm sure it's hard to take advice from some random guy online. But I've been around computers for years now and have some good experience overclocking, and I do know what I'm talking about.
Hope I was able to help you with your decision!
I'm not trying to be a pushy ******* or anything, or trying to strain you away from AMD. I'm just letting you know about how the current Intel line up is and how nice they overclock.