this CPU & MOBO or a different one

James Manns · 24 Dec 2009 at 22:54

hi there,
i have been recommended these for a new build by a very helpful person (theron) ,
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-301-IN
and
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-120-MS

i have a budget of about £200 or maybe i bit more if nessacery,
I'm going to use this computer for for pretty much everything possible,
gaming,surfing,editing,video editing,music,films and overclocking+water cooling.
is this the best setup or has anyone got any other thoughts?

any advise is much appreciated

David41 · 24 Dec 2009 at 22:57

Yeah that mobo is very good value for money.

James Manns · 24 Dec 2009 at 22:59

would you say that is a good set up for a good overclocked water cooled rig?
and what is the max someone has got out of a i5 or the average max?

David41 · 25 Dec 2009 at 00:19

Usually people go for 4GHz on an i5. That mobo will get you to at leat 3.5GHz with the push of a button from the oc genie feature.

James Manns · 25 Dec 2009 at 14:49

ok thanks i think ill go with that

James Manns · 26 Dec 2009 at 22:53

what about this with one of the very top phenom II's e.g 965,
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-169-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1481 ??

cmndr_andi · 26 Dec 2009 at 23:35

In almost all tasks the i5 (at stock speeds) is faster than the Phenom II 965, plus the i5 overclocks much better and is cooler.

Personally, I would go with this board - good overclocking, low price.

That said, if you are doing a lot of CPU intensive stuff like encoding - an i7 is faster. You could get a s1156 Xeon for around the price of a i5 - have a google for the Xeon X3430 and X3440.

James Manns · 27 Dec 2009 at 20:39

is that any better than the other one i was suggested for the i5?
the one you suggested does look very good

i think i5 and board is proberbly the way to go + with those boards they are i7 compatable so if in the future i want to upgrade i can

cmndr_andi · 27 Dec 2009 at 22:28

It isn't any better, but it is £30 cheaper and should do everything you need of it (no SLI though). I have seen this board happily hit 4Ghz with an i5 - so it's overclocking scope is rather good.

The reason I suggested the Xeons was that they are actually re-branded s1156 i7 chips with slightly lower multipliers. They overclock almost as well as the i7 860 - definitely aim for 3.8-4GHz. The main benefit over an i5 is that they have hyperthreading enabled - which makes them a good chunk faster than an i5 in CPU intensive stuff like editing, clock-for-clock.

As the Xeons cost around the same as the i5 chips - It is certainly something to consider.

ryan123hanna · 27 Dec 2009 at 23:11

i just got an i5 and put it in a gigabyte p55m ud2

its a great boad and great for overclocking, bit tech rate it very highly in their tests

for 80 quid you carnt go wrong