New pc. Maximus formula, and watercooling.

[Prophet]

not 4Gb's of ram, 3gb's. it was a 2x1gb kit and a single 1Gb stick. Your RAM will automatically overclock when you change the idiot proof settings in the BIOS (CPU level up). For starters level your processor up to 6850, which runs at around 3.0Ghz and see how stable your computer is. Then you can increase it further. Once you get comfortable with your comp you can experiment manually overclocking to get better performance.

As well, i found this out today, in BIOS, under CPU config (3rd tab in bios) you will have to disable C1E and speedstep. These downclock your CPU during low usage, and will make your sytem hang if overclocked

 

[RyanWhitell]

K heres my shopping cart:

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Edition 32BIT DVD OEM
- dont like 64 bit because of claimed software issues

Antec Nine Hundred Mid Tower Gamer Case 900 ATX 9 Drive Bay No PS Top
- hopefully everything will fit

Corsair CMPSU-620HX 620W ATX Triple 12V 50A 24PIN ATX Modular Power Supply 120MM Fan 2X PCI-E
- i like this im keeping

Samsung SH-S203B Black SATA DVD+RW 20X8X16 DVD-RW 20X6X16 DL 18X/12X INT DVD Writer OEM W/ Vista SW
- yup

Verbatim 4X DVD+R 4.7GB Jewel Case 5 Pack
- free stuff yay

NCIX Heavy Duty Shipping Box
- cuz its awesome

Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 3.5IN 500GB SATA2 8.5MS 7200RPM 32MB Cache NCQ Hard Drive
- enough memory for me and good performance

EVGA E-GEFORCE 8800GT 512MB Ssc Edition 512MB DDR3 PCI-E Dual DVI-I HDTV Out DIRECTX10 Video Card
- i cant buy this untill 2 weeks after Christmas so ill wait to see if drivers improve for the 3870, if not i can settle with a single 8800gt untill i can buy 2 good crossfire cards.

Thermalright ULTRA-120 Extreme 6 Heatpipe Cooler LGA775 Heatsink *Fan Not Included*
- for overclocking hopefully it fits
Scythe S-FLEX SFF21F 120MM Cooling Fan 1600RPM 28.0DBA 63.7CFM FDB
- pretty shure this is the fan for ubuv

Crucial Ballistix PC2-6400 2GB 2X1GB DDR2-800 CL4-4-4-12 240PIN Dual Channel Memory Kit
Crucial Ballistix PC2-6400 1GB DDR2-800 CL4-4-4-12 240PIN DIMM Memory Module
- i like the 3 gigs

ASUS Maximus Formula LGA775 X38 ATX DDR2 2PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 2PCI 2GBLAN 1394A SATA RAID Motherboard
- so i guess i will disable C1E and speedstep, when i overclock it to crazy. still dont get y but i trust prophet.

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Quad Core Processor LGA775 Kentsfield 2.40GHZ 1066FSB 8MB Retail Box
- so im praying for G0

 

[RyanWhitell]

ohh and i forgot, would it be better to use watercooling with the se version board instead of the ULTRA-120, or is the heatsink better.

 

[Prophet]

Well water cooling is better, but it requires a lot of work. You will need to do research to familiarise yourself with it. Then either build a water cooling rig yourself (recomended) or buy a prebuilt one....

As i said before, the Maximus isnt a board that was designed primarily to be water cooled. it just has a waterblock on the NB for people who are water cooling enthusiast ( people that want as much performance possible, not caring about the cost)

I would totally advise you to consider water cooling.....in the future. For now just ease into it. This is your first build ever right? take some time to get used to your new comp, and if you decide you want more performance out of it, then look at water cooling solutions.

And as for speedstep and c1e, those are options for people using stock CPU settings (2.4Ghz) and want to save power by turning down their processor when its not being used. great idea, unless you want to overclock in which these options do the exact opposite and downclock your CPU.

Who wants a q6600 clocked at 1.6ghz?

 

[Prophet]

Another note, i looked around on some other forums for people using the thermalright extreme in a antec 900 and just so you know, it will be a tight fit.

It can fit in the case, but if the heatsink cant be mounted perpendicular with the RAM, then you will have a hard time shutting the side panel. As well you wont be able to mount a side fan with this heatsink. Now with the Maximus i was able to mount it perpendicular with my RAM, but even with a cool master stacker 830, i still had to remove one of my side fans for my side panel to close.

just thought i'd give you a heads up

 

[RyanWhitell]

k thanks alot

 

[dark strike1]

Is an x38 Formula better than most motherboards out their right now compaired to heat distribution and overclocking? I am looking at getting this for my new build and wanted to see someone opinion.

 

[Prophet]

The maximus is one of the top boards out right now. Amazing overclocking potential, massive array of options, and probably the best layout of any board. but it is expensive, and unless you really want a board that can do some series overclocking, probably not worth it.