~$200 for cpu, mobo, ram upgrade

[dario03]

Ok so I'm thinking I'm going to treat myself on my birthday and finally upgrade my computer. My current set up isn't to bad but another gb of ddr ram is not cheap and I figure screw it after I sell my old stuff I won't really be spending much more anyways. For now I would like to upgrade the core parts and get a new cpu, motherboard, and ram, I'll upgrade the video card a little later on.

So I'm thinking...

Newegg.com - ABIT IP35-E LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail $90 - $30 = $60
Newegg.com - Intel Pentium E2200 Allendale 2.2GHz 1MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Retail $94

Ram I'm not sure about. I will be overclocking for sure but I'll only be on air and the e2200 has a high multiplyer. So I don't know if I should spend extra and get good stuff like Crucial Ballistix or just get some decent ram thats on sale. Also I know it would probably be going overboard but I did see a good deal on a 4gb kit of ram and I have been considering moving to Vista (mostly to learn it). So right now I'm thinking

Newegg.com - Patriot Extreme Performance 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail $103 - $35 = $68
or
Newegg.com - Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail $65 - $25 = $40
or
Watch for sales and grab some cheap ram that can do decent timings. (recently there have been deals on crucial ddr2 667 and ocz ddr2 800 in the $25 range after smaller rebates).


So what do you guys think about everything???

 

[Eric1]

That Patriot RAM kicks some serious butt!!! I have the same stuff in my computers, it performs great and I have no problems at all. Crucial is another great brand but for the money I would get Patriot.

 

[dario03]

Also can anyone recommend a good cheap motherboard with raid support

 

[veg1992]

Newegg.com - MSI P35 Neo2-FR LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

 

[dario03]

Is it better to have built in raid or a dedicated raid card?

I was going to order today but newegg stopped the rebate on the abit board

Is that MSI a good overclocker?

 

[veg1992]

built in....

also its a good overclocker (actually its a Great one) ask Vaanish

 

[Vaanish]

someone called?

I have the Platinum and its the exact same board, just with a slightly larger heatsink, and its running 457FSB, with all stock chipset voltages. The e2200 has a 11x multi so you can easily push the chip to its limits with the MSI.

 

[dario03]

Hmmmmmmm...

I could spend the money on it...but I'm cheap (plus I guess I really won't need a great fsb board since theres the 11x multiplier on the e2200).

I might get that msi board but is there any boards about as good as the abit ip35 for cheap (doesn't have to have raid). Or anyone know of any sites that do have the ip35-e for cheap.

Also whats the difference between the ip35-e and ip35-v? Clubit has the v for $69.