First attempt at C2D!!

[pastymuncher]

Hi guys, i am looking at getting a 8800GTX but obviously i cannot with my 4000+ as it will bottleneck it badly. I was going to go for an Opty 185 and clock it to 3ghz but now the price has gone up to £280+ everywhere so it's just not worth it. I now have a new plan as i cannot afford to upgrade everything at once i thought i would do the CPU, Mobo and ram first. As i have a pair of 7800gt's it has to be an Sli board. There's no way i am going to pay over £150 for a mobo so thought i would go for the Asus P5N-E Sli NF650.

I just made £400 from selling all my 754 kit and a SI-120 (went for £51+£7.50 p&p i almost felt guilty) at auction, so i have that to spend at the moment. All will be purchased elsewhere. I was thinking the following:-

E6600 + Asus P5N-E Sli + 2Gb Geil Ultra PC6400 cas4 or 2Gb Corsair XMS2 PC6400C3 £404.64/£413.54 depending on the ram.
OR
E4300 + Asus P5N-E Sli + 2Gb Geil Ultra PC6400 cas4 or 2Gb Corsair XMS2 PC6400C3 £314.84/£323.74 again, depending on which of the ram i go for.

The 6600 route is my preferred choice as knowing my luck i would get a 4300 and end up with yet another poorly clocking cpu. I will be clocking it and the CPU and graphics cards are/will be watercooled.

What do you think of the components? The Asus seems to be a good clocker but not sure of the ram.

 

[pastymuncher]

I am tempted by the 4300 but i really don't want to be stuck with another poor clocker.

As for the 8800, that's going to have to wait a month or so after this. By then the reviews should tell us if the lower memory makes any difference.

 

[pastymuncher]

I went with a 6400 and the P5N-E, clocked really nicely:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17689680

Only had it 2 days, but its very fast, I can recommend the Scythe Infinity cooler too, awesome bit of kit.

I think the E6400 is a happy medium, not a huge amount more than the E4300 but clocked really well. Saying that though I have a second hand E6600 arriving tomorrow

Very nice clocks. Up until you said that i was going to go for the 4300. Luckily i priced up the 6400 at the same time and it's only an extra £30 on the 4300 outfit. I take it 8x is the multiplier for the 6400?

As for cooling, I live in NE Scotland, it's bloody freezing and i am on water with a triple rad sitting on a windowsill.

 

[pastymuncher]

Decided to go with the 4300. That way if it does'nt clock well i have only lost £99 and can replace it when the price drop happens or the new cores are released. Also going with the Corsair XMS2 pc6400C3 as i have seen some good reviews on these.

Thanks for your opinions guys. Will let you know how i get on next week.

 

[pastymuncher]

Same one as above. Asus P5N-E sli. No choice really as i need an sli board until i get an 8800. I did briefly contemplate the MSI 650 Sli board but could'nt find any reviews on it. Anyway Minstadave had done good with the Asus.