Hmm...AM2 or Conroe...?

[Le_Petit_Lapin]

Lets start with where I am now:

Currently have a lovely little Opty 248 happily running at 2.8Ghz, but alas, its on a Socket 939 board (DFI NF3 Ultra-D as far as I remember....havent tweaked it in months) and as such is running AGP (with a rather nice 7800GS, but I dont see a future in upgrading AGP). Its got a set of nice G.Skill FC Series RAM in there too.....but again, its DDR, and as such more or less a dead dodo. All this in a watercooled YY Server Cube case, with a yellow and black warning stripe spray job all over. Somewhat worse the wear now as I basically used it as a coffee table and its chipped and stained. Incidently, did you know that the DFI Ultra-D can endure having a cup of water spilt all over it while switched on? Windows went AWOL and BSOD'ed and the hard drive went a bit funny and needed formatted, but the MoBo was fine once it dried out. Loved building up this PC and modding the case to fit the watercooling and all that, but, its got no future.

So...I smell a new project in the pipeline. a new server cube is in order (love these things, so much room), and a new set of watercooling kit, new mobo, CPU, RAM, drives.....well...new PC in fact However having been out of the PC loop for about 8 months now I'm at a bit of a loss. I didnt realise AMD had switched to AM2 already, and was using DDR2.

....and even more suprising...Intel was once again a viable contender! I nearly choked on my tea. Been using AMD's for years now due to their good price/preformance and overclockability, but this Conroe thing does seem to be getting good press, so I'd consider it even if it does technically mean selling my soul to the devil.

Right. Now I guess you're asking what on earth I'm rambling so much for, and wanting em to get to the point. Here you are:

Based on either a Conroe platform or an AM2 platform, can someone knock me together a rough idea at what CPU, RAM and MoBo combo works well together?

In the case of the CPU is it must be considered to be Mid Range. I like to buy the cheaper CPU's and thrash the **** out of them.

RAM, I've no idea on, never used DDR-2 before and don't know if the old "good" companies are applicable anymore.

MoBo, has to have more overclocking options than you can shake a stick at. I've been spoilt with DFI, and I like it.

GPU, don't bother speccing me one, I'll try and slot a 7950 or x1900 into my budget after I work out the core components. Trying to get a rough idea as to what this wee project will be costing me before seriously considering it. Case, drives, case mods, watercooling, et al, can be worked out at another point.

/Rambling madness.

 

[Le_Petit_Lapin]

Oh theres no real rush. Probably I'll be buying a server cube first, and sanding that down, then work on spray painting that while I see how things change. Might go for a pearlesent coat finish to the case this time, still undecided.

All I was after was a rough idea on what kind of thing I'll be wanting to put in it for decent overclocking fun. As I say, have been out of the loop for a while, so I'm not sure as to whats hot and whats not.

 

[Le_Petit_Lapin]

So at the minute we looking at something like:

for Intel:

Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe"
DFI Infinity 975X
2Gb G.Skill DDR2 PC2-6400 ZX Series 4-4-4-12 Dual Channel kit


And AMD:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4600+ 2.40GHz
Abit Fatal1ty AN9 32X or Abit KN9 SLi nForce 570 SLi
2Gb G.Skill DDR2 PC2-6400 ZX Series 4-4-4-12 Dual Channel kit (Can get it cheap....is it bad RAM? G.Skill used to be good.)

Something along those lines? Is that RAM any good?

 

[Le_Petit_Lapin]

Where did this DVD-RW come into things from?

Anyway, aside from that, I've been rummaging through a few boxes of bits I have at the house over the last hour and have found a pair of 200GB SATA drives I never got around to installing in this PC. That'll do for storage, providing of course that they are working ok. I did buy them on Ebay for cheap afterall.
A DVD-RW I can *ahem* borrow from work, and will do for boot media. Havent used a floppy drive in 4 years and dont intend to start again now.
Watercooling kit I'll get off that auction site and the members market over the next couple of months, (I'm in no hurry) just buying the bits as they become available. Waterblocks I'll buy new, once I've finallised kit.
PSU...well, I think I've a spare Hiper Type-R 580W Modular PSU somewhere. Bought two ages ago now, in case the one I'm using went pop, but thankfully it didnt.
Graphics Card....hmm...it'll have to be either a x1900 or a 7950. I dont overclock them as every time in the past, bar none, when I've overclocked a GPU its went and fried on me. Either that....or its got a stable overclock, but needs the cooling replaced, and when I go to change the cooler I either break the GPU core, or accidently knock a few resistors off the PCB. Over time (and 11 Graphics cards) I've learned just to buy a good one and leave it be.

So really it only leaves the base unit (MoBo, CPU, RAM) and case to be sorted. Questions:

Will a case with ATX mounting holes hold a Socket 755 motherboard?
Is the DFI Infinity 975X any good at overclocking, or is it a piece of cack? Is there a better Socket 755 MoBo for overclocking?
What are good steppings on the E6600's?
Waterblocks...what ones fit a Soc. 755 board, and are also good? Will probably be using a standard 1/2" ID setup and either a Dual or Tripple 120.2 radiator (depends on what case I get...which one fits. )

Case will probably be a YY-Server Cube. I'm currently using a YY-0420, and its a big sturdy old bugger. Its just a shame the metal they used for it is 1.2mm Kobe steel. Its a ******* to cut holes in. Is there anything similiar, but uses aluminium? Please....no suggestions of using a shoebox. (Shuttle et al)

 

[Le_Petit_Lapin]

I'm not intrested in AM3 to be honest. It'll be coming too late for me to care about it.

A little more on topic please?