Final C2D upgrade spec check

Kaiju · 10 Jan 2007 at 10:37

Gonna bite the bullet this afternoon...

Asus P5B Deluxe (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (£123.36)
Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - Retail (£126.89)
Crucial 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-5300C3 667MHz Tenth Anniversary (£211.49)
Tuniq Tower 120 CPU Cooler (£34.06)

£495.80 inc VAT

Any last minute thoughts?

Kaiju · 10 Jan 2007 at 11:09

kmistry said:
Looks good, are you going to be overclocking - if so I would recommend getting some PC6400 RAM to give you some overclocking headroom, as I have 5300 stuff and it means I've got to 2.33GHz (@ 333FSB (i.e. 667)) Whereas 6400 would allow you to go to 400FSB (2.8GHz), without actually running the memory above its rated level

I see your point. May just change the RAM to the Cellshock PC6400. Only £20 more.

Just realised the motherboard doesn't have 2x IDE slots. Bit curious as to what boards will do 1000MHz with 2x IDE slots now. P5N-E is only £70 on a competitor site, but not so sure it'll hit those RAM speeds.

Kaiju · 10 Jan 2007 at 11:42

VTR said:
Agreed about the memory, the Crucial 10th anniversary is probably the best memory out at the moment.

Bettering the Cellshock PC6400?

Kaiju · 10 Jan 2007 at 12:53

Looks good, however it seems the P5N-E board hits 450-500MHz easy without the need for great memory. For £70, plus some OCUK RAM for £150, it looks a bargain with sufficient cooling on the NB/SB.

Asus P5N-E (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (£70)
Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - Retail (£120)
OCUK 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-6400 (£149.21)
Tuniq Tower 120 CPU Cooler (£34.06)

£375 inc VAT

Compared to the original spec at £500, i'm betting i'll get near the same performance as my original spec. Sure, i'll bite my words, if I can't hit 3GHz, but it's worth the shot at a £125 saving.