Best Build in Pricerange - ~$800

[tcG]

I expect to get this rig to get my E6420 to around 3.5GHz (500 x 7 1:1 4-4-4-12)

Already cared for:

Case
Video Card
Processor
Optical Drive
CPU Heatsink

Without further ado, the build is as follows:

DFI INFINITY P965-S

G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) HZ

Enhance ENP-5150GH 500W

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache

Any suggestions?

 

[Jayczar]

I can vouch for the memory as mine overclocks well but the cpu & mb haven't really surfaced yet to say one way or the other. Good luck though that DFI looks nice, BTW
do I see dip switches above the PCI slot or jumpers? can't tell.

 

[tcG]

I haven't seen a desktop motherboard equipped with dip switches in a long while - I don't think so.

Plus it has jumpers, and I don't think they would put both jumpers and dip switches.

 

[Jayczar]

Check this thread if you haven't already, he has the same setup as you are looking at.

 

[tcG]

Bump?

I've been on top of the hardware market since the release of C2D so this is of more of a precaution than a 'revise my build' thread.

Anyone?

 

[tcG]

Bump

 

[Phantomaniac]

I couldn't agree with your build more. E6420 + DFI P965-S FTW!

 

[RussianSensation]

I'd probably upgrade to 320gb drive. For $14-15 you are getting extra 70gig of space. Seagate 7200.10s look nice.

Also for the ram for the same price you can get PC1066 Link - this is guaranteed unlike 6400 which you'll have to overclock to get 3.5ghz (btw, E6420 has a multi of 8x not 7x so you'll need around 438x8). If you intend to overclock the 6400 ram, check out Corsair 6400 kits for around $130 on Newegg.

 

[Phantomaniac]

Originally posted by: RussianSensation
I'd probably upgrade to 320gb drive. For $14-15 you are getting extra 70gig of space. Seagate 7200.10s look nice.

Also for the ram for the same price you can get PC1066 Link - this is guaranteed unlike 6400 which you'll have to overclock to get 3.5ghz (btw, E6420 has a multi of 8x not 7x so you'll need around 438x8). If you intend to overclock the 6400 ram, check out Corsair 6400 kits for around $130 on Newegg.

Thats a pretty good deal for DDR2 1066. But no way is any low-end kit of Corsair going to out overclock the G.skill HZs he's already picked which use Micron D9s.

 

[tcG]

I know the E6420 has an 8x multiplier; I was planning on dropping the multiplier and upping the FSB for better performance.

Also, the HZ uses D9GMH chips and people have been getting them to around DDR2 1100... but yeah, I guess if anything needs to be changed it's the RAM.

 

[RussianSensation]

Originally posted by: Phantomaniac

Thats a pretty good deal for DDR2 1066. But no way is any low-end kit of Corsair going to out overclock the G.skill HZs he's already picked which use Micron D9s.[/quote]

Low End Corsair Kit doing 1000mhz...This is only at 2.1V

Anyways Core 2 Duo platform does not benefit from high FSB OR high memory speed.
Benchmarks - low latency rules Core 2 Platform, not memory/FSB speed

It's only natural considering Core 2 duo doesn't have an internal memory controller that Intel platform gets the most benefits from lowest timings.

I would personally rather spend $30 extra towards OCZ PowerXstream 600watt power supply than towards more expensive memory. I've learned this the hard way by purchasing Patriot 2-2-2-5 PC3200 ram for P4 platform that actually benefited from low timings and high memory speed (bandwidth) which could easily clock to 280mhz (560 effective) and there was almost no real world benefit. From that point I try to get the cheapest overclocking ram possible.

 

[tcG]

Sorry for being difficult here, but where does it say anything about FSB speed not affecting performance?

 

[RussianSensation]

Originally posted by: tcG
Sorry for being difficult here, but where does it say anything about FSB speed not affecting performance?

I was reading a 2nd article showing FSB changes and it showed the same thing (i.e but I forgot to link it and now I can't seem to find it a 385x9 system was almost equal in performance to a 500x7 system).

Besides WinRar which responds well to FSB/Memory boost for Core2Duo there arent going to be many apps that benefit from this. 500FSB is also serious stress to your motherboard.