E6600 & SLi mobo

timmorris

timmorris

timmorris

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Joined
16 Jan 2006
Posts
65
I'm moving my X2 4400 and DFI Expert into my nephew's PC, so I guess the best value CPU for me to buy at the moment is an E6600. What mobo and RAM will give me the best OC performance. I've got 2 XFX 7800 GTX graphics cards that I'll be moving across.

On the other hand will the total cost of a 4600 AM2, mobo and RAM come out cheaper. Regardless of CPU cost, it is the sum-total of the three components together that really matter.

I've been using AMD since I moved from PIII 800 to an overclocked XP 1500+ many years ago, and I whenever I start googling for reviews I end up more confused than when I started!

Tim
 
Id go for this mate. Should clock nicely and you got a SLI board for your GTX's

MY-034-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC5300 667MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB5300DC) (MY-034-GL)
£129.99 £129.99
CP-127-IN Intel Core 2 DUO E6400 "LGA775 Allendale" 2.13GHz (1066FSB) - Retail (CP-127-IN)
£139.99 £139.99
MB-179-AS Asus P5NSLI nForce 570 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-179-AS)
£69.99 £69.99
Subtotal £339.97
VAT £59.50
Total £399.47
 
Jokester said:
Don't think the Nvidia boards are particularly good for overclocking to be honest.

Jokester
Click to expand...

Is that based on usage or the reviews that can't get over 300FSB?

http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc?id=124752

That's a 25% overclock, which I'm not unhappy with given that I'm cooling it with a Thermaltake Orb II in a cramped low profile case.

I really don't know what those reviews were on about, but I think the problem is to do with the implementation of Speedstep and C1E.

I do think the board is a fabulous overclocker for Allendales as I was unable to get over FSB 360 (2.5GHz) with an E6300 I had. Even so, that would still make it run a sub-20 second super-pi time, which was pretty impressive for a CPU/motherboard combo that cost £200-ish all in.

Yes, the two graphics cards run at x8 in SLi mode, but if you need SLi then you're using very high resolutions on a big panel screen and it's not that big an issue.

New boards are coming, but I'm quite happy with this old-tech solution as it's perfectly stable. This is my fifth Core2Duo compatible motherboard and it's the first one that actually works properly, out of the box. It's been out a while now, and it hasn't required a BIOS revision yet. That's very unusual for Core2Duo boards.
 
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So what you're saying then is get over yourself and buy it!

I use the graphics cards to drive a 20" TFT at 1600x1200 and a 50" plasma at 1366x768, though I can send 720p via the HDTV out to the scaler if it would help. Is there an alternative board that will give me similar results but with 2 16x PCI-E slots?

I'm a bit confused as to the CPU/RAM recommendations. Is it simply that the CPU/RAM combo suggested can be clocked to the same level as an E6600 CPU and PC6400 RAM.

I'm not a complete noob as far as building systems, it is just I'm on a clock and haven't had the ususal week or two to spend researching prior to buying.

Any suggestions for a quiet cooler that will support a decent amount of overclocking? It is used as an HTPC from time to time, so it doesn't need to be silent, but unbotrusive.

I'm currently running the fans on a DFI mainboard that has thermostatic fan headers so it only gets noisy when driven hard.

Lots of questions I know, but I'm requiring a bit of spoon-feeding I'm afraid.

Edit: I think all of my boards at the moment use an Nvidia chipset in one form or another. It seems to have worked out that way. I'm not massively constrained by budget so if there's another board out there that will give me a performance boost I'm happy to spend the money.

Tim
 
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MY-012-GS G.Skill 2GB DDR2 LA PC2-5400 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit (F2-5400PHU2-2GBLA) (MY-012-GS) 1
£124.99 £124.99
CP-128-IN Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail (CP-128-IN) 1
£194.99 £194.99
MB-174-AS Asus P5N32-SLi SE Deluxe nForce4 SLi X16 (Socket 775) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-174-AS) 1
£119.99 £119.99
HS-017-AR Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 775) (HS-017-AR) 1
£17.99 £17.99
Subtotal £457.96
VAT £80.15
Total £538.11

That board will give you 2 x 16x PCIe SLi, but it's a lot of additional money for the very small difference in graphics performance. But if you want that, then it's available.

I really like the AC Freezer 7 Pro. It's highly effective, pretty quiet and it fits the standard cooler holes without any fancy backing plates or other stuff.
 
Thanks for your help. I know what you mean about incremental gains. I'll have a think about it and place the order in the morning. I take it there's no benefit from buying faster RAM?

Tim
 
There is some benefit to buying faster RAM, it's just a lot more money for, again, a very small increase in performance. The G.Skill is good in that it has a low-ish latency for that speed of DDR2.
 
Why dont you use a 975X board with 'modified' drivers for SLI?
Then you will have the choice of SLI, or Crossfire later!
My spec (below) seems to work very well and am more than happy with it (bar having to RMA the ram. Wish I had bought the Geil stuff when it was cheap!)
 
westma said:
Why dont you use a 975X board with 'modified' drivers for SLI?
Then you will have the choice of SLI, or Crossfire later!
My spec (below) seems to work very well and am more than happy with it (bar having to RMA the ram. Wish I had bought the Geil stuff when it was cheap!)
Click to expand...

Got any links about this?

I've not been following the motherboard arena recently, but I'm looking for a motherboard for an upgrade to conroe (6600 almost certainly). I've got 2 7800GTXs at the moment, but I'll probably upgrade these when the DX10 cards come out. Anyway, having the choice of SLI or crossfire would be handy at that point...

What 975x board would you recommend for heavy overclocking of a 6600? Ideally I'd like the capacity to clock to 400mhz in 1:1 if my processor is capable of it...

Thanks :)
 
I could mail them to you if you like? You can get my addy if you look!!!
The forums are not allowed to post the drivers as the run risk of backlash from Nvidia!!!
I think best 6600 mobo with crossfire is P5W-DH at the moment, but a lot of people on here saying the PRO and WS boards are giving better FSB results than this board!
 
Thanks matey. I found a thread about the modded 85.96 drivers on XS, but the link was dead so if you're happy to mail them to me that would be great :)

I can't see your email in your profile, so I'll post mine here:

*****

Thanks again...
 
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All arrived

I've ordered all the kit and it is here. For Dual Channel RAM on the P5N32 do you install the sticks in matching coloured slots (1 in channel A and 1 in channel B) or in adjacent slots (sockets 1 & 2).

May seem stupid but with my DFI board you used either the orange or the yellow slots depending on the type of RAM.

Zalman 9500AT - what a heatsink - it's HUGE!

Tim
 
Kit arrived a while ago but I've only just got around to building the PC. I'm really out of my depth in terms of overclocking this beast but I've got:

Zalman 9500 CPU HSF
2Gb GEIL 6400 DDR2 Ultra
P5N32-SLI Deluxe mobo
E6600 Stepping 6.

I used AS3 from my last build that has been sitting in the fridge, and have the Zalmann plugged into the PWM slot and 4 case fans (2 inlet and 2 exhaust) the Case is a Coolermaster ATC110 alu case that I've had for 5 years. The 3.5 drive bay slots are free but I have all the 5.25 slots full. A lite-on DVDRAM drive, and 3 WDC1600 Sata II drives mounted in Zalman passive heatpipe mounts, so there is good airflow through the case. (Output fans are a blowhole plus the traditional outlet fan below the PSU (which is an Antec NeoPower 550, at least, maybe slightly more). The fans are YS-TECH 1.2W and I have them all plugged into the PWM controlled chassis fan connector using Y leads (well within the current limits according to the manual). Running stock under full load (SP2004 ORTHOS) case temps are 41 and CPU 51 which I think are a little high. CPU fan is at 2750 RPM, case fans at 1864.

I can re-seat the 9500 using AS5, but I'm guessing I need more powerful case fans which will of course be just as quiet when it is idle.

Is there a decent web page(s) (or forum post(s)) which explain overclocking the E6600 and overclocking using the P5N? I really want to get a handle on voltage and temperature limits before I start tweaking.

I know I need to set the memory timings and voltage manually to get the best out of the GEIL, but my initial foray into increasing the FSB maxed out at 275MHz, which must be wrong.

I don't expect chapter and verse in response to this post, but some links to answers elsewhere would be appreciated.

Tim
 
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