£300 for CPU, RAM + Mobo

Muso · 3 Jun 2007 at 14:18

Hi guys

i was wondering if you could reccomend me what the best I could get for my money would be. Ideally I want Intel. I have seen a few package detals but the ram is all quite low spec which makes me think I should make my own.

currently I'm looking at:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail

GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC)

Not sure about which motherboard to get or if that RAM is gonna be decent. I really want something to match up with my BFG Geforce 8800 GTX

Any suggestions would be great.

Cheers!

semi-pro waster · 3 Jun 2007 at 14:57

Do you want to overclock? If so then I'd consider a few different motherboards, some of the new P35 based motherboards are supposed to be good, Gigabyte is a brand to look for. The Asus P5N-E 650 SLi is pretty decent, supports quad core and overclocks well. For a slightly older but still good chipset the 965P is also worthwhile - the Gigabyte DS3P would be my choice here and also supports quad core.

The Ram is reasonable but there are better options available for overclocking such as the Crucial Ballistix PC5300 C3 for not much more money.

Additionally if you are overclocking then an aftermarket cooler such as the Noctua NH-U12F or Tuniq Tower are worth looking at.

Muso · 3 Jun 2007 at 16:08

Cool thanks for the reply, Ill get that combo. just a bit over my £300 budget but the ram timings seem very good.

Muso · 3 Jun 2007 at 23:17

My budget has increased to £400, what do you guys think, should I maybe get something a bit better?

Cheers

semi-pro waster · 4 Jun 2007 at 00:47

If you have £400 then I'd still probably go for this but it now includes one of the best air coolers so should aid in overclocking.

Gigabyte GA_P35C_DS3R (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 & DDR3 Motherboard £81.99
(£96.34) £81.99
(£96.34)
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-5300C3 667MHz Dual Channel Kit (BL2KIT12864AA663) £67.99
(£79.89) £67.99
(£79.89)
Noctua NH-U12F (Socket LGA775/754/939/940/AM2) Heatsink £32.99
(£38.76) £32.99
(£38.76)
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £125.99
(£148.04) £125.99
(£148.04)
Sub Total : £308.96
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £8.25
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £55.51
Total : £372.72

Muso · 4 Jun 2007 at 10:31

thanks for the reply, I noticed you changed the motherboard. Ive looked around for some reviews and can't find much out about that motherboard GA_P35C_DS3R. and Also is that ram really gonna be good enough for overclocking with?

semi-pro waster · 4 Jun 2007 at 10:57

The motherboard is new but it is a solid design with people already getting good results from the P35 chipset.

That Ram is actually great for overclocking, it uses the same chips as the PC8500 version so many people get the Ram to 1000mhz plus, for reference something like Geil PC6400 C4 will probably go to 900-950mhz.