About:

mmarsh · February 2nd, 2007

I love putting together systems.

So my recommendation

E6600 (if you really a overclocking nut, you could get a E6300 and overclock that sucker). Personally I would get the E6600 and overclock it. I got mine at 3.2 Ghz without difficulty. I see it in Paris for €255. Its a great chip. If you do want to get the E6300 (save 100€) make sure you get a good overclocking motherboard (i975X chipset).

Motherboard. No SLi.
If no GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3. MSI is also very good. The P965 is a good mainstream chipset. If you really want a speed demon, the Asus P5W (P975X). There is also the "BX" (battleaxes out there) which are even faster. But I cannot find them in France. (DS3 €119, 179€ for Asus P5W)

Motherboard Sli
Your choices are limited. There has been trouble with the i680 reference desiegn and SATA drivers. So I wouldnt try motherboards from EVGA, and BFG. That leaves the ASUS Striker Extreme and the P5N32-E. These are essentially the same board but the Striker has a bunch of Gizmos that are nice but not required. Certainly not worth the Extra 120€. That just leaves the P5N32-E SLi its no frills, overclocks reasonbly (but not as good as i975bx) and its the cheapest. (203€). There will be a few new ones coming out very soon Gigabyte had annouced theirs, and I am still waiting on DFi and maybe Abit. Stay tuned.

RAM

Corsair DDR2 XMS2 PC6400 CAS4 5-5-12 running at 800ghz. I don't see the use for PC1000 RAM, just overclock if you want. (220€)

Video Card

8800GTS (any make). As said they generally are the same interns of performance. Just get the one with the features that suites you. Also make sure its the 640mb version not the 320mb. (420€)

Disks Drives (forgot this one yesterday)

If you get a fast system either try setting up a RAID 0 with 2 disks at 7200 RPMs or just get a single Disk at 15000 RPMs. I like Seagate or WD. Hitatchi isn't bad. Avoid Maxtor. They are junk. They are the cheapest, but it really is the addage "you get what you pay for". Get any capcity you want. but at least 160GB. The more the merrier.

I think for the rest you are golden.

February 2nd, 2007
mmarsh Kilobyte Posts: 239 Country: Microchips: 783 Gadgets	I love putting together systems. So my recommendation E6600 (if you really a overclocking nut, you could get a E6300 and overclock that sucker). Personally I would get the E6600 and overclock it. I got mine at 3.2 Ghz without difficulty. I see it in Paris for €255. Its a great chip. If you do want to get the E6300 (save 100€) make sure you get a good overclocking motherboard (i975X chipset). Motherboard. No SLi. If no GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3. MSI is also very good. The P965 is a good mainstream chipset. If you really want a speed demon, the Asus P5W (P975X). There is also the "BX" (battleaxes out there) which are even faster. But I cannot find them in France. (DS3 €119, 179€ for Asus P5W) Motherboard Sli Your choices are limited. There has been trouble with the i680 reference desiegn and SATA drivers. So I wouldnt try motherboards from EVGA, and BFG. That leaves the ASUS Striker Extreme and the P5N32-E. These are essentially the same board but the Striker has a bunch of Gizmos that are nice but not required. Certainly not worth the Extra 120€. That just leaves the P5N32-E SLi its no frills, overclocks reasonbly (but not as good as i975bx) and its the cheapest. (203€). There will be a few new ones coming out very soon Gigabyte had annouced theirs, and I am still waiting on DFi and maybe Abit. Stay tuned. RAM Corsair DDR2 XMS2 PC6400 CAS4 5-5-12 running at 800ghz. I don't see the use for PC1000 RAM, just overclock if you want. (220€) Video Card 8800GTS (any make). As said they generally are the same interns of performance. Just get the one with the features that suites you. Also make sure its the 640mb version not the 320mb. (420€) Disks Drives (forgot this one yesterday) If you get a fast system either try setting up a RAID 0 with 2 disks at 7200 RPMs or just get a single Disk at 15000 RPMs. I like Seagate or WD. Hitatchi isn't bad. Avoid Maxtor. They are junk. They are the cheapest, but it really is the addage "you get what you pay for". Get any capcity you want. but at least 160GB. The more the merrier. I think for the rest you are golden.