£750 Spec Please

[Pigeon_Killer]

I've decided to upgrade my PC and need a bit of help/advice. I'm after a Q6600, a motherboard, 4GB and a 8800GTX.

I'm not too bothered about brand names so have gone for the cheapest memory and graphics card.

I'll be overclocking the processor and think the Tuniq Tower offers the best performance for the price. I'm not bothered about breaking any records so anything over 3GHz will do me.

My problem is what P35 motherboard to go for? I don't need dual PCI-E slots and I'd like the TT to fit without hassle. I've read some Gigabyte boards have some issues with the TT.

Any other improvements and/or suggestions are welcome.

Thanks

 

[Teaf]

Spec looks excellent, can't fault it.

Since you don't need stuff like dual PCI-E lanes you should opt for one of the midrange boards, which are still great boards and differences are just stuff like the lack of dual PCI-E lanes and some other stuff like CMOS reset switches. Two popular options are the Abit IP35, Gigabyte P35-DS3P and the Asus P5K.

The issues with that cooler and Gigabyte boards persist mostly with the P35C-DS3R model, however with the DS3P the cooler will fit fine although you may need to plug the motherboard 4 / 8 pin rail in first prior to fitting however this is probably the case with Abit and Asus boards due to the size of the cooler.

Personally I would recommend the DS3P Gigabyte board, it's a very solid board and even with it's midrange price still comes with good features like dual PCI-E lines and better board layout (such as sideways mounted IDE connector). You'll not go wrong with any of them though.

 

[Pigeon_Killer]

Cheers flibby. I knew the Tuniq had problems with the DS3R but wasn't sure if it was a problem for all Gigabyte boards. I'll probably go for the DS3P if no one else has any suggestions as it's a bit cheaper than the IP35.

Time to say goodbye to my Athlon XP 2800, 512MB and GeForce 3

 

[Teaf]

Time to say goodbye to my Athlon XP 2800, 512MB and GeForce 3

That's one massive upgrade