Check the Spec

photoshop · 14 Mar 2007 at 14:16

What do you IT Gurus think of this spec:

- CellShock 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C4 800MHz Dual Channel Kit
- Gigabyte GA 965P DS3P (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard - OEM
- Intel Core 2 Duo E6300
- Samsung SpinPoint T HD400LJ 400GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM
- Icy Box External Enclosure IB-360AStUS SATA + USB Combo - Black/LED
- Sapphire ATI Radeon X1950 Pro ULTIMATE SILENT 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
- Samsung SH-183LBEBN 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer Serial ATA Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM
- Seasonic S12 500W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply
- Zalman Reserator 2
- Samsung 22" 226BW

£1,175 Incl P&P
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Will be used for anything and everything incl gaming, watching movies, buring/encoding movies, office stuff, CAD, general office stuff etc.

Looking to get an overclock in the region of 3.5Ghz but want 3.6Ghz + ideally.
Want a super quiet running machine as i like my silence.

Dont need case, s/c, floppy, fans, already have a 300gb SATA.

Anything i can change to save money at all without jepodising performance?

Will the Zalman be able to cool a 1950XT and the conroe whilst keeping temps below 60*C'ish when overclocked.....OR are there better kits out there which cost less and can be silenced?

melbourne720 · 14 Mar 2007 at 15:12

Get an 8800 GTS - the stock cooler is quieter than either my very quiet seasonic psu or the quite quiet nexus fans, and it will make a huge difference in games. I'd ditch the Zalman reserator, you can get 3-3.5 on air. You might want to use a e4300 to get the higher air clocks as it has a 9x multiplier (my friend had one up to 3.7).

Edward01 · 14 Mar 2007 at 15:16

Thats a very good spec. Personally I would change the seasonic 500w to the corsair, might be a bit louder tho,
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-005-CS&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=823

and I couldn't comment on the zelamn as I have no experiance with it.
apart from that good rig.

Edit, the 8800gts is another 70quid on the 1950pro but I agree it would be worth it if you can spend the cash

semi-pro waster · 14 Mar 2007 at 16:59

3.5-3.6ghz+? You will need your Ram at 500mhz+ if my maths is not mistaken, possible but it will require very good Ram and cooling I'd think. Either a 4300 (9x multiplier, although you may need to up the volts quite a bit apparantly) or a 6400 (for the 8x multiplier) might make it a bit easier.

As melbourne720 says it might be as well to drop the Reserator and go for a good air cooler to save cash - Scythe Ninja, Tuniq Tower or Noctua are amongst the best.

melbourne720 · 14 Mar 2007 at 17:06

semi-pro waster said:
3.5-3.6ghz+? You will need your Ram at 500mhz+ if my maths is not mistaken

Spot on, but Cellshock uses micron memory which should go to 500MHz+ with slackened timings.

photoshop · 14 Mar 2007 at 20:33

Thanks guys but i dont really want to use an air cooler for the cpu, especially if i am to get a good OC which will turn up the heat (which will mean turning the rpm on the fan up)

My main priority is sound and i want it to be as low as possible.

What type of rpm will a aircooler be doing to cool the E6300 doing 3.4-3.6GHz ?
Im assuming it will be needing 1.45 - 1.50V to achieve it. If its anything over 2,000rpm then i dont favour it

As for the RAM. I though CellShock were a very good brand and were capable of reaching 500MHz at 4-4-4-15 ?
Or would a better ram be better..?

i think the 6400 with 8x may be better?

semi-pro waster · 14 Mar 2007 at 21:04

I think the Cellshock does use Micron chips, this list suggests that most of them do aside from the PC6400 V2 but OcUK say in their description that they definitely do on the sticks they sell so if you don't get Micron chips you should be able to return it.

I'd probably opt for the 6400 if I was aiming for 3.6ghz since it requires less of the Ram and allows some of it to fall on the CPU although obviously as with all overclocking nothing is guaranteed.