Advice on new spec and PSU question.

Trash Man

Trash Man

Trash Man

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Looking to order a few bits today to upgrade my main comp. Now I have not upgraded for a while so I'm a little out of date with new hardware, I've picked out

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB ST3320620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache

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

Asus Commando Intel 965 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard

OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC2-8500 1066MHz Reaper HPC Edition Dual Channel DDR2

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 775)

I have a couple of questions that are possible silly to some of you :) What FSB will the CPU run at in this MB? I know it's an 1066 CPU and that's why I have gone for the 1066 memory, but does the MB go to this?

Is the memory choice ok? Should I be looking at something else.

I currently have an OCZ Modstream 530w PSU, will this be enough for the items above with an X1950 XTX.

Thanks for any help :)
 
The motherboard runs at whatever speed your CPU fsb is at, so it will run at 1066mhz. The ram is an excellent choice. If you want to save ££ you could get something less powerful and expensive like 2GB PC6400. The PSU is fine for those components and graphics card. It will handle something like an 8800GTX fine as well if your wanting to upgrade.
 
Could swap the RAM for Crucial Ballistix 5300 for around £30+ cheaper, anything above 6400 will only be needed if you're lucky enough to get above 3.6Ghz (and the crucial 5300 clocks better than most 6400 RAM).

I'd spend more on the CPU cooler too personally: ie Noctua, Tuniq Tower or Thermalright Ultra-120 (best of the lot, but you need to buy a 120mm fan).

530W should be enough if it's a good quality PSU (which coming from OCZ I assume it will be).

1-1 the RAM will run at whatever the default FSBx2 is (before being multiplied). The multiplier is 9x so 8500 RAM is only needed if going above 4.5Ghz (lol, yeh right), but it will make for nice timings at lower settings.
 
Good spec to me, but I would probably change the motherboard for another 965 board thats cheaper. You can get something like a DS3P for a a lot less with similar features and overclocking ability.
 
Thanks for the replies guys :)

On the subject of the CPU cooler, I have heard nothing but good things about the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro is it really worth paying twice as much for another cooler? I currently have a Thermalright Ultra-120 in my system at the moment, C2D were not about when I bought this though, would this one still fit a 775 or have they been changed at all lately? I do like the look of the Noctua NH-U12F, but it is much better if any over the ACF 7 Pro?

Memory wise, I think the £158 that it will cost is cheap really, not fussed about saving a few quid if that memory is good stuff. I paid more than that for the 1gb of DDR 3200 I have in my system at the moment when it was built :eek:

As for the motherboard, I'm happy to admit that I'm a bit of an Asus fan and I have only ever had asus boards, my first being an AV7133 years back. So far I have no problems at all with Asus, so I would like to stay with them for the time being.

Thanks again :)
 
As far as I am aware Thermalright Ultra-120 is just that i.e. without revisions since they got it right first time, socket 775 was certainly around when you bought it so I'd just use that since it is a good cooler. The AF7 can be a bit hit and miss I believe, always better than stock cooling but not always that much better unlike the Noctua, the Scythe Ninja or Tuniq Tower which are or indeed your current cooler.

You could either get an Asus P5N-E 650 SLi or an Asus P5B if you want to stick with Asus, the latter is also built on the 965P chipset but much cheaper. :)
 
Sorry been away for a few days :)

So would 6400 DDR been fine for this system if I'm not overclocking? Thinking of going for 4gb rather than 2gb as well. Nice to see the CPU's have dropped a little to :D
 
I will be putting Vista 64bit on when I upgrade.

Just one more question :) So the CPU runs at 1066, and the MB will run at that no problem. So if I stick 800 ram in, is the CPU still going to run at 1066? Would I be better of in anyway with 1066?

Cheers again :)
 
This is just as I understand it and is probably where I expose a horrible lack of knowledge but anyway. The FSB is quad-pumped as it were so it runs at 266.5x4 (or effectively 266.666..7rx4) so technically all you should need is PC4200 Ram to run it at full speed (PC4200 being 266.666..7x2) but that leaves little room for overclocking so most people go for PC5300(333x2) or PC6400(400x2).

I personally prefer PC6400 as if you get a good CPU matched with that then running the Ram within specification allows you to go up to 3.6ghz (400x9 e.g. Ram speed x multiplier). :)
 
semi-pro waster said:
This is just as I understand it and is probably where I expose a horrible lack of knowledge but anyway. The FSB is quad-pumped as it were so it runs at 266.5x4 (or effectively 266.666..7rx4) so technically all you should need is PC4200 Ram to run it at full speed (PC4200 being 266.666..7x2) but that leaves little room for overclocking so most people go for PC5300(333x2) or PC6400(400x2).

I personally prefer PC6400 as if you get a good CPU matched with that then running the Ram within specification allows you to go up to 3.6ghz (400x9 e.g. Ram speed x multiplier). :)
Click to expand...

That's it, spot on semi-pro :) .
 
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