Kit Advice Please | Q6600 + Asus P5K Pro Intel P35

[TheJak-L]

Looking to upgrade my Kit and wanted to check in and see if anyone had any comments on the selection.

New Items being considered for order:

Asus P5K Pro Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard

Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 2.40GHz Guaranteed to run at 3.00GHZ (1333FSB) - Retail

Corsair 4GB DDR2 XMS2 Dominator PC2-8500C5 TwinX (2x2GB) Supplied with Airflow Fan (TWIN2X4096-8500C5DF)

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM

Existing items :

BFG GeForce 8800 GT

550W PSU - Not sure which.

2 DVD's reader and writer, both IDE.

Card Reader

Seagate SATA drive - Think it's this one...

1 PATA HD - not sure what...

Looks like the boards support just 2 PATA devices, so guess someone in my house is gonna get lucky and receive some extra storage space Whilst I consider getting another HD

Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM vs Samsung SpinPoint F1 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - learning towards the Seagate right now...


So a couple of questions.

Is that CPU the better to go for, the FSB is 1333 vs the 1066 FSB version - the memory looks like 1066, so would the latter CPU be better suited?

I have heard good reviews of the Asus P5K-E WiFi Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard but as I'm not planning on using the wifi side or Crossfire, I'm presuming the one I have gone for is the same minus these items - Is that really the case?

Initially I'll was thinking of running as is, then perhaps later I'll grab a CPU Fan and see about OC'ing it once I'm happy it's running fine.


Thanks in advance for any info!

 

[Ben M]

That RAM is massive overkill.

Remember it's ddr2 so the frequency is dual pumped. And the cpu is quad pumped, so it's frequency is 333mhz (at 3ghz clockspeed)

It's much more sensible to buy some pc6400 RAM, for example:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...Corsair 4GB DDR2 XMS2 PC2-6400C5 TwinX (2x2GB)
that'll operate at 1:1 with your fsb, up until 400mhz, which is 3.6ghz with the multiplier on this chip.

and also, to be perfectly honest, you don't benefit much from buying a "guaranteed overclock" chip, just buy a normal one and overclock it yourself, the q6600s are great overclockers.

 

[TheJak-L]

Thanks for the quick reply Ben M!

I was originally looking at couple of OCZ 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Reaper HPC Edition Dual Channel DDR2 (OCZ2RPR10662GK) then saw the offer for the pair above and figured I'd save me 2 slots perhaps for later....

But based on your comment I think I'll drop them down to the pair you say.

Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail Is that the CPU you'd suggest with these, it was the one I'd seen first but think I did get suckered into the Sales Pitch on the other...

Or, do I get the OEM version of this and a bigger Fan ready to OC. I presume that's the only difference between the Retail and OEM versions?

Final thought, my current Mobo is an ASRock 939Dual-SATA2, the PSU I have is a Generic 550W Black PSU with Dual Neon Fans, PCI-e, SATA, PFC from another supplier (sorry) so no link but it states:

• Dual Low Noise Light-Up Fans
• Automatic Fan Control System
• Super Silent Design
• EMI Reduction Design
• Approved by UL, CSA, TUV, CB, CE, S, N,D,FI & FCC
• Support Intel & AMD
• Short Circuit / Over Voltage / Over Current Protection
• 100% Burn-In Test / Hi-Pot Test /Vibration Test / Leak Current Test
• Top New Version ATX 12V VeER. 1.

Any thoughts on that one being suitable for my new kit, or should I look at something like Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU or the Coolermaster Real Power 620w Modular Power Supply

TIA!

 

[Ben M]

Or, do I get the OEM version of this and a bigger Fan ready to OC. I presume that's the only difference between the Retail and OEM versions?

No, the difference is that an OEM one comes with no cooler, and only a 1 year warranty (retail comes with 3 years).

If you're overclocking then it's best to use an aftermarket cooler anyway (tuniq tower or thermalright ultra extreme are the best, and an arctic freezer 7 pro is the best bang/buck, but doesn't perform as well as the other two, and is noiser at higher fan speeds)

The corsair psu you listed there is meant to be very good, and is praised a lot. I've no idea what your current psu is like, is it modular? How new is it? The corsair and the coolermaster you listed are both modular, so you have more tidy cables. I would probably go for either the 620W corsair, or keep your own, it seems wrong to downgrade your psu (in term of the max power output) and having extra power may come in handy in the future.