How does this budget built look?

[Sora]

There are actually 5 different kinds of G.skill DDR2-800

NQ
PK
NR
HK
HZ

To my knowledge all of them except the HZ's used binned PROMOS chips. I believe how it works is they make all of the NQ-HK models the exact same way and then test each one. After they have tested them they pick which model they should go in terms of their performance. They then add a different color Heatspreader on it and sell it with a different model name. I would suggest the NR, HK, or HZ's if you want to make sure you hit 1000mhz...however my NR's hit 1130mhz so It's very possible that the PK's will as well. They are to this day the only modules that I haven't heard too much in terms of overclocking.

I would go with the HK's just becuase I believe they are the best in terms of Price/Performance right now. As for timings don't worry too much about that really..just buy a set based on what I have told you. I love my Green NR's as they are simply AMAZING and only cost $145 now for 2GB set..I payed 115 and 100 for each stick of mine in the past 3 months...bah lmfao.

Yes you might as well wait for the E6x20 models ( it's 20 not 50 due to common belife heh) however 4mb cache doesn't make too much of a difference...and really none in gaming. Still the E 6320 is deffiantly a good choice.

 

[HGL1668]

Thanks for the help guys, I just realized that I still need to do more researching. seeing that the Arctic Freeze 7 Pro its only 25 bucks in svc.com, oppose to 59!! at newegg.com, I always though newegg has the best price if not closest to best.

Since I am waiting for the E6x20 series to come out, I heard new series of graphic cards will be out too at almost the same timing with the E6x20, so I should wait for those too huh?

Another questions, since E6300 and E6400 is almost the same, lets say they are both OCed to 3.0hz, will they perform the same?

 

[Sora]

Yes the Arctic Freezer Pro 7 is being highly overpriced at the egg and I have no idea why.

The new 8 series cards will be out yes but we have no idea on their performance w?o benchmarks.

Heh well the difference between the 6300 and 6400 is that the E6400 uses an 8x multiplier while the 6300 uses only 7.

The thing is...the rawr CPU power comes from the FSB. If they were both OC'd to exactly 3.0ghz the E6300 would be more powerful literally speaking as a higher FSB is better...BUT.

You have to understand that the C2D chips run at a standard 266 FSB with a multiplier.

6300 is 266x7=1.86
6400 is 266x8-2.13
6600 is 266x9-2.4
and so on.

So to get an E6300 at 3.0ghz you need 429x7
while the E6400 would use 375x8

So really at those speeds the E6300 has a Higher FSB and would be faster...but thats not fair to say becuase both can reach the same FSB so an E6300 at 3.0ghz on one board...take it out and put in an E6400 and you will get 3.43ghz. So really it is faster but still only becuase of the extra multiplier which doesnt help as much as a high FSB. What I'm getting at here is The E6300 is better in terms of Price/Performance as the only difference you will notice is the 40 bucks more you payed for the E6400.

Hope that made sense...it can be confusing.

 

[HGL1668]

I understand what you are saying but does that mean the ghz does not really matter, and the FSB is whats count?

 

[Sora]

Ghz matter to a certain extent but i'm just saying that the difference of 429x7 as opposed to 375x8 would be a frame or two is all....really though 429x8 still would be faster overall than of coarse one with only 7x multi but there are certain tasks that FSB does help more than ghz.

I would jsut get an E6320 when it comes out and then OC it with some nice G.Skill ram to 3.0ghz+ and you would be rocking.

 

[HGL1668]

So the E6320 will be around 163 USD
and the E6420 will be around 183 USD

is the extra multiplier worth the 20 bucks?

So, I am pretty set for the ram, I have decided to go for the Gskill HZ series.

As for the Power supply and Motherboard I am still deciding. I am planing to OC that thing, so what voltage PSU should I get? and since I am not going to go for the SLI, is the P5B-E still a good choice to overclock?

 

[Sora]

it depends on how strapped for cash you will be..the extra 20 bucks probably will be worth it unless that 20 bucks means the difference between a better video card or something more important.

The G.Skill HZ series is very very good however you could look into the G.Skill HK's as the PROMOS chips in there pretty much hit the same speeds as the HZ's for 20 bucks less...either one is a great choice though.

The P5B-E is still a very good choice as is the DS3 and the MSI P6N which are btoh cheaper as well.

For a PSU it all depends on what video card you will be running. Here is my new favorite mid line PSU as it is very good for the money and Xclio make pretty good PSU's.

Newegg.com - XClio 450BL ATX 450W Power Supply 115/230 V UL, CUL, TUV, CB - Retail

Or if you want a more trusted brand then you could go with this.

Newegg.com - FSP Group (Fortron Source) AX450-PN, 12cm FAN, version 2.2, 2 SATA, PCI Express, 450W Power Supply - Retail

I trust Xclio enough where as I would go with theirs.

 

[HGL1668]

For the motherboard, the P5N-E SLI has a 650i chipset
and the P5B-E has a intel P965 chipset,

Since the P5B-E is more expensive, I would think the P965 is better in performance?

Which chipset is better in OCing?

 

[gurusan]

For the motherboard, the P5N-E SLI has a 650i chipset
and the P5B-E has a intel P965 chipset,

Since the P5B-E is more expensive, I would think the P965 is better in performance?

Which chipset is better in OCing?

In general, all the P5B boards are great overclockers....the P5N-E has potential but is quite new and is fairly buggy where the 965P chipset is much more mature. As far as performance differences I dont think you would notice anything significant between the 2 boards. As long as it's not some Via chipset they should perform roughly the same.

I just made the switchover from AMD x2 to a e6300 and P5B Deluxe the other day and am very pleased.

Also regarding the PSU, the Thermaltake Toughpower series are very good power supplies for the money...incredibly stable and powerful....but any other PSU's they make you should avoid like the plague.

 

[HGL1668]

Well, I am down to these few boards to choose from

1. ASUS P5N-E SLI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard

2. ASUS P5B Deluxe LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard

3. ASUS P5B / P5B-E LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard

4. GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard

5. GIGABYTE GA-965P-S3 LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard

Most likely, I will not use the SLI feature, and I heard the p965 is a better chipset. so lets put board 1. out of the way,

as for the p5Bs I dont know if the deluxe is nessary, whats the advanage of the deluxe?, i put the deluxe in because it got good score in anandtech. and whats the difference between the P5B and P5B-E

for the Gigabyte boards, whats the differece between the ds3 and s3?

I have been reading alot about these boards, it sounds like it all comes down to the bios, which one has a better bios?