HW Advice

Well Im going to go for a new processor/mobo and I want to know what you guys think or have ANY other suggestions
Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850 Kentsfield 3.0GHz

http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggIma...115-026-04.jpg

GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS4 Rev. 2.0 LGA 775 Intel P35http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggIma...128-064-03.jpg



I picked the processor because I believe it to be one of the fastest, and I want a top CPU now

The board I picked because of all the USB ports and TBH I don't know that much about boards I am still researching for a Very good one for around $200.
PLEASE help me guys I want something that will hold me over for a while and I want avail 8 gig ram slots also. Thanks guys for ALL and ANY advice you have to offer

I've always liked Gigabytes (except for the "secret" BIOS backdoor keystroke).
What OS you running that will see 8GB of memory?

I will prob stay with XP but I do some video editing and loads of encoding and I thought more ram would help speed those up, no?

XP - at least the 32bit variety- won't see more than 3.1 GB (give or take a bit depending on hardware) of RAM anyway.

So even with the editing and encoding I wont use more than that?

As cheap as DDR2 is these days I wouldn't worry about it.
Just get 2x 2GB and if XP only addresses 3-some GBs, then so be it.

Alright but if I went to the 64 bit or even decided to give Vista another try ( god I hope I don't ) then it would be useful to have more then, no?

Yes.

Even Vista 32bit will only recognize 4gb of RAM,
Vista 64bit on the other hand can recognize up to 128gb of RAM

EDIT even when the 32bit OS recognizes 4gb, it will not use any more than roughly 3.3gb

the p35 chipsets overclock well but they have a strange booting issue on cold boots. they start then stop then start again...adds roughly 30 seconds to boot time.

looks like u have alot of money to drop on a new machine.

Not a whole lot, but I REALLY want that CPU so I cant really spend a bunch on a MoBo that supports it, If anyone knows of a good combo for around $1000-$1200 or less ;) that would be cool too.

I can appreciate (and sympathize) with the desire to own a truly cutting edge bit 'o kit but...

-In my experience, the realization- in a matter of weeks- that your uberpart has already been superceded by something even better , is sort of a bummer.

-Any PC works better if the parts are balanced.
In this case, if you're going top of the line on the chip you should be prepared to go that zoot on the board and RAM as well.

-If I had to choose, I'd spend big on the board and cut back on the chip. That way, when the chip in question does fall from the price summit, you could pick it up at a significant discount and plop it onto the board which is already set for it.
At that point technology has already doomed the entire platform to obsolescence and it's time to start all over again.

In computer hardware, I will NEVER buy a newly released product. You will waste a lot of money and you'll wake up tomorrow and have an outdated part.
The trick is to buy the second "top of the line" product.

In short, I agree with clocker

Funny just now I was eating dinner and thinking the same thing, thats so weird I have WiFi in my head. The thing is I don't really know too much about MoBo's. What would a decent step down be From the ATM I have Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 2.13GHz
and I do want something better but now I might keep the Gigabyte board because I like it a whole lot unless of course someone has a better suggestion

OKAY I think I finnaly got the Combo I want what do you guys thinkhttp://img140.imageshack.us/img140/1...ffiwantqq7.png

EDIT wrong CPU in screen

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80562Q6600 - Retail

The one I want

abit ip35-e
intel e6750

good combo in my opinion

The Q6600 is a good chip to overclock as well.
There are many people getting 3.4-3.6Ghz on air cooling, and up to 3.8Ghz on water

I think Im going to got with the q6600 almost for sure

But what about the MoBo?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128066

I think it is good but I can me a moron at times

Too bad it lacks native eSATA on the backplane I/O and I'd also prefer that the onboard SATA ports be oriented parallel to the board instead of perpendicular.

Just nitpicks really, but it's not a cheap board so I'd expect the very best.

i 2 was looking @ teh p35 ds4 v2 board, but i plan on running SLi with the new BFG 8800gt's. i'm on the lookout for the nForce 780i chipset even though it's basically the 680i with pci-e 2.0. only thing that's gonna change my mind is the ati 3870's. looking sweet so far, but if it's not on par with the former said card then i'll be going nVidia. i'd love for ati to cum up a notch and finally gain some ground vs nVidia for i'd love to own an ati card again. :o ati does have the superiour hardware, but the damn things just can't keep up. nVidia has a good thing going. 780i's are scheduled for a december release (don't really wanna wait this long) and the 3800 series in 1 weeks time.

ur x38 chipsets aren't doing well @ all atm (as well as my 780i's). terrible bios problems. i understand bios fixes will soon cum, but the gain over the p35 boards just aren't there for the extra money spent. even though imma sucker for the words pci-e 2.0 right now. gl with ur build. mines in the works. can't wait. ;)

edit: btw, q6600 ftw!

So what board are you going with Nails??

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Originally Posted by Detale

So what board are you going with Nails??

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it's not the question of what board i'm going with atm i'm going to answer right yet for i'm still undesided, but i will put this out for u.

if ur not going to run SLi or even crossfire, but still want a decent OC'ing mb i'd recommend this board to u...

GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3R.

if u want the same great quality, but want to be able to run crossfire i would recommend this board to u...

GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS4 Rev. 2.0.

and of coarse the Q6600.

i can't recommend ANY SLi mb's at this time for it's my opinion that most of them are junk. i believe that the 680i chipset is a GREAT chipset, but manufacturers have $hit yields with that product, but ship it anyway. MSI being the number 1 junk maker followed by EVGA. once again.. this is my opinion. ASUS has been my board of choice for the longest, but their quality seems to be slipping as well. i mite be making the move to Gigabyte.

the x38 is a good chipset, but i'm not interested in the v1(bios) boards. i'll let some bugs get squashed first. the Gigabyte x38 IS the best board out there from this new chipset, but the p35 chipset is the way to go "atm". as long as my waiting game stands i will eventually get the x38 (lol, to make a long story short in answering ur question). this is precisely why i want ATI's new 3800 series card to shine. hopefully these new 3800 cards do @ least as good as the 8800gt i will crossfire them. the 3870 is the card i am looking @ atm for crossfire. if all goes that direction i will be a happy gamer.

sry for the essay for i'm @ work and i'm getting paid to do this. :p

Detale, you may want to have a read through this article I came across today.
Aside from the CPU comparison they go through motherboard recommendation to match the processor.
In short the Q6600 and MSI P35 Neo2 were recommended.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/11/...uad/index.html

I know you said earlier you wanted the new hardware NOW, but as Intel (and AMD too) are coming out with new procs in the next few weeks, it might be worth it to wait just a little and see about those. Just a thought. Also with mobos, I personally wouldn't go with anything other than Asus or Gigabyte.

Oh yeah to update I AM going to wait until after Xmas to see how prices drop/ new stuff comes out. Thanks guys for all your help

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Originally Posted by hvymetal86

I personally wouldn't go with anything other than Asus or Gigabyte.

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While those two have sterling reputations, don't forget DFI and Abit, both of whom made their bones building hot rod boards for overclockers.

DFI in particular absolutely ruled the s939 platform and set the bar for BIOS options.
Dunno if this has carried over to the newer Intel based stuff but they shouldn't be discounted lightly.

I dunno much about DFI, but I've heard both love and hate stories for Abit. I'd appreciate it if you'd share any more info you have about those two co.'s boards.

Just as a side question, my sig image and avatar arent' showing up at all, anyone have any advice? I followed all the size and dimension requirements.

I had an Abit motherboard back in socket A days, the NF7-S.
I've never owned a board I like more than that one. Was quite possibly the best overclocker of it's time. NEver had a problem with Abit whatsoever.

My first S939 board was an Abit. Absolutely no software support for 64 bit, so what was the point of having a 64 bit board?

After about a year I decided to upgrade it as my main storage system, lots of nice SATA drives. Only to find that the SATA controller was stuffed (as it apparently was on some boards) and it was a week out of warranty. :angry:

First and last experience of Abit, I won't touch another.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hvymetal86

I dunno much about DFI, but I've heard both love and hate stories for Abit. I'd appreciate it if you'd share any more info you have about those two co.'s boards.

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Originally Posted by kaiweiler

I had an Abit motherboard back in socket A days, the NF7-S.
I've never owned a board I like more than that one.

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Originally Posted by lynx

First and last experience of Abit, I won't touch another.

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As you can see hvy, motherboards can be very platform specific.
I too was quite fond of the NF7-S (had two of 'em) but switched to a Gigabyte for my first forays into s754- a platform that lasted a matter of weeks, IIRC- and ultimately into s939.

Within a few months of the nForce4 release the DFI boards had already started to garner rave reviews, so off I went.

I don't think it's possible to generalize motherboards by manufacturer.
With each new chipset, some boards rise to fame while others die infamously and I don't think it falls along manufacturer lines.

Gigabyte seems to have risen lately and Asus has always been a tier 1 maker...Abit went through a few years of near bankruptcy (?)and some folks are really fond of MSI (whom I've always had really bad luck with) and then there's my sentimental fave, DFI.

When time come for my next upgrade though I won't be buying from the heart, I'll definitely check the hw fora* and see what's what.


*[H]forum
OCForums
Xtreme

Yeah, I knew it varied between chipsets, but as niether I nor anyone I know has ever used Abit or DFI so the only things I had based my opinions on were online reviews. Personal feedback from people who've used them in thier own builds is always insightful, so thank you.

Unfortunately I'm not going to be able to do a new build until this summer, I wouldn't want to start one until AMD and Intel's new offerings come out anyway. My current system is:

AMD Athlon 64 3400+
GeminII heatsink w/ 2 12cm fans
ASUS K8N-E Deluxe
Antec TruePower 550
ATI X800 Pro
1 Gb DDR400
200Gb and 160Gb internal SATA HDs
300Gb external IDE HD
Thermaltake Tsunami case (black, windowed)
22" Samsung LCD and 21" Trinitron CRT
Logitech G15 and MX518

The most recent addition being the GeminII due to it being free on newegg with a rebate, lol, I snagged 3 of em which was the limit.
The system is decent, and with the heatsink and the 2 12cm fans on it my cpu temp at idle has dropped from 48ish to around 39 and at full load from 56 max to no more than 43. Haven't had a chance to OC it at all which i hadn't done before because it ran hotter than I wanted it to to begin with, but that should help the performance life of it some. The only big sticking points right now are the shader model of the vid card being to old (2.1) to run some of the newer games like lost planet and anything else with shader model 3.0 or higher.

If you just wanted to tweak around with your system you could always RAID the hard drives.

Not sure if any of you guys read anandtech at all, but they've got a great budget gaming pc guide for November up. Here's a link to the Intel version, can't beat it for the price I'd say.

http://www.anandtech.com/guides/showdoc.aspx?i=3148&p=5

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Originally Posted by clocker

If you just wanted to tweak around with your system you could always RAID the hard drives.

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Yeah, the mobo does support RAID, but in 1 I'd get a capacity of 160 (wasting the 40 extra of the 200) or in 1 I'd get 320 (still losing space). I don't really think its worth with this one, I'll def be using RAID for my next build though. If I had bough two of the Seagate 160Gb SATAs last year the Thurs b4 black Friday, it was $20 after the rebate :(

is ddr3 ram worth it? sry for offtopic, detale might want to go with a ddr3 set up tho

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Originally Posted by AmpeD

is ddr3 ram worth it? sry for offtopic, detale might want to go with a ddr3 set up tho

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for the price and performance, no. ddr2 is still the way to go for now.