Core2Duo Build - £300-£400

[Dynix]

Hi there,

Was looking to building a C2D built a few months ago but never got around to it, but I think I need to now

Looking at E6600 along with 2GB DDR2, so got this so far:

• Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-5300C3 667MHz Dual Channel Kit (BL2KIT12864AA663) - £70.49
• Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail - £150.39
• Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 775) - £17.61
• Total: £247.89

Got another £50-£150 to play with for the motherboard, but need help on choosing the right motherboard (would like overclocking as a possibility, don't need SLi).

Hardware I'm looking to keep / use with the above:
- 1800XT PCI-E Graphics Card
- 2 x 250GB IDE HDD's (May replace one of these with another 320GB SATAII)
- 1 x 320GB SATAII HDD
- IDE DVD-RW
- Tagan 480W PSU
- Case

Looking at the reviews for the E6600 and many are keen to the Gigabyte GA 965P DS3 - anyone else suggest this, or is there anything better?

Cheers

 

[Lanz]

If your going for cheaper memory, a 650i board would be better for overclocking maybe, as they dont need the good stuff to reach top speeds.

 

[doctoe2260]

I'd recommend the Gigabyte DS3R, it's just short of £100 right now. It has the new P35 chipset which is supposed to be awesome for overclocking and well stable. It also supports DDR3 and the Penryn processors which will be coming out soon so it's nice and future proof too. All for very little more than the DS3!

 

[stickroad]

How about this setup:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.13GHz (1066FSB) - Retail
Gigabyte GA_P35C_DS3R (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 & DDR3 Motherboard
CellShock 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C4 800MHz Dual Channel Kit
Noctua NH-U12F (Socket LGA775/754/939/940/AM2) Heatsink

Total : £356.27

Just dropped the CPU to E6420 to save a bit of cash.
The Gigabyte board has a great reputation for overclocking.
The Memory is fantastic, you wont get much better RAM then the Cellshock stuff.
Also changed the CPU Cooler to a Noctua, great cooler and will keep that chip nice and cool.

 

[Dynix]

How about this setup:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.13GHz (1066FSB) - Retail
Gigabyte GA_P35C_DS3R (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 & DDR3 Motherboard
CellShock 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C4 800MHz Dual Channel Kit
Noctua NH-U12F (Socket LGA775/754/939/940/AM2) Heatsink

Total : £356.27

Just dropped the CPU to E6420 to save a bit of cash.
The Gigabyte board has a great reputation for overclocking.
The Memory is fantastic, you wont get much better RAM then the Cellshock stuff.
Also changed the CPU Cooler to a Noctua, great cooler and will keep that chip nice and cool.

Cheers for that, loving the two suggestions for the motherboard also, great future proofing it seems

I honestly, don't mind spending an extra few quid for the E6600, it comes highly recommended and seems like a great CPU so wouldn't mind sticking to that as the original choice

Not a great overclocker, so swapped out the RAM and put in some GeIL (slap me if this is a really bad choice ) which the reviews seem to speak highly of.

So looking at this for the final build:

• Noctua NH-U12F (Socket LGA775/754/939/940/AM2) Heatsink - £38.76
• Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail - £150.39
• GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) - £72.84
• Gigabyte GA_P35C_DS3R (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 & DDR3 Motherboard - £96.34
  Total: £368.02

Any adjustments to that?

Must say, looking forward to this upgrade, the 3700+ started to show its age

Cheers!

 

[doctoe2260]

Almost exactly what I intend to build within the next two months! Go for it!

 

[stickroad]

Cheers for that, loving the two suggestions for the motherboard also, great future proofing it seems

I honestly, don't mind spending an extra few quid for the E6600, it comes highly recommended and seems like a great CPU so wouldn't mind sticking to that as the original choice

Not a great overclocker, so swapped out the RAM and put in some GeIL (slap me if this is a really bad choice ) which the reviews seem to speak highly of.

So looking at this for the final build:

• Noctua NH-U12F (Socket LGA775/754/939/940/AM2) Heatsink - £38.76
• Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail - £150.39
• GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) - £72.84
• Gigabyte GA_P35C_DS3R (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 & DDR3 Motherboard - £96.34
  Total: £368.02

Any adjustments to that?

Must say, looking forward to this upgrade, the 3700+ started to show its age

Cheers!

Any reason you changed the Memory?, it will overclock quite easily to the speeds that you want. Its high quality RAM.

 

[Dynix]

Any reason you changed the Memory?, it will overclock quite easily to the speeds that you want.

No reason at all really, the most I'd be overclocking this to would be 2.6-2.8GHz (its likely I probably won't even overclock) so not looking for any extreme overclocking speeds.

Would you still recommend the CellShock over the GeIL even if I won't be overclocking much (may seem as a waste, tis' all ).

Cheers!

 

[stickroad]

No reason at all really, the most I'd be overclocking this to would be 2.6-2.8GHz (its likely I probably won't even overclock) so not looking for any extreme overclocking speeds.

Would you still recommend the CellShock over the GeIL even if I won't be overclocking much (may seem as a waste, tis' all ).

Cheers!

Ah i see , if your not going to overclock, the Geli will be fine. None the less though, the price of the Cellshock is amazing to be honest and well worth it.