First attempt at C2D!!

Man of Honour
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12 Jul 2005
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Aberlour, NE Scotland
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+ :eek: 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 :D 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.
 
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 said:
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.

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 :D
 
Minstadave said:
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 :D

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. :D :D
 
Minstadave: was the cpu bought new recently? I saw week31 2006 so I assume not. I am buying a c2d tomorrow and if it was bought from ocuk recently I will definately get a 6400.

Edit: oops, sorry wrong thread!
 
ubern00b said:
Minstadave: was the cpu bought new recently? I saw week31 2006 so I assume not. I am buying a c2d tomorrow and if it was bought from ocuk recently I will definately get a 6400.

Edit: oops, sorry wrong thread!

Yup it was bought recently, last week in fact but it took ages to get here.
 
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. :D
 
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.
 
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