[Fortunas]

Soon I will be building a new system with a C2D 6600 in it.
I am looking to spend about 200 dollars or less on a motherboard.
Any suggestions?

Edited by Fortunas, 28 July 2007 - 12:02 PM.

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Do you plan on overclocking?
Do you plan on using crossfire or SLI in the future if so are you using ATI or Nvidia.
James

[james_8970]

Do you plan on overclocking?
Do you plan on using crossfire or SLI in the future if so are you using ATI or Nvidia.
James

[Fortunas]

Yes I am planning on OC the 6600, although I'm not sure how much I should. I will be buying an Antec Nine Hundred Case, with a Zalman 9700 heatsink.
I do not plan torun SLI, probably a single 8600 or 8800.

[Fortunas]

Ok so I was perusing some other posts, and I have come up with a tentative parts list.
I would be thrilled to be able to buy these parts for the system, but I would like to spend a bit less. Any suggestions at cutting costs would be awesome. The only guidelines I have are:
Dual-core cpu
DX10 gpu
2 gigs of RAM
Widescreen Monitor

Here is my current list.

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 - $222.90
EVGA 122-CK-NF68-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - $189.00
G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 - $88.99
Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower - $139.99
XFX PVT80GGHD4 GeForce 8800GTS 320MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card - $279.99
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKB 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive - $109.99
ZALMAN 9700 LED 110mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler - $57.99
ViewSonic Optiquest Series Q20WB Black 20" 5ms DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor - $179.99
Logitech X-230 32 watts RMS 2.1 Black Speaker System - $40.99
Rosewill RP550-2 ATX 2.01 550W Power Supply - $55.99

This setup comes out to roughly 1320 bucks.
I would like to cut down the cost down 100-200 dollars preferably, without loosing too much performance.
Thanks for your help guys.

[james_8970]

Your missing an OS in there as well....

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813188015
You can save a little money there

The next thing that'd have to go would be the case, take a look at zipzoomfly.com you might be able to find some more competitive prices, because I got my Antec 900 case for 110$ CND.

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814130082
I know this won't change the price, but I generally like to have a company paired up with it's own products, EVGA for both you motherboard and video card.

If you want to save another 15$
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16822148215

As long as your overclocking you'll be fine with this processor.
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819115015

I want to vear you away from Rosewill as a PSU company.
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817371002
I know it's more but you really need to spend a bit more to get a decent PSU.

Also for Ram, if you are overclocking I highly recommend this Ram, also it's cheaper after the rebate and much better brand name.
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820145034

James

Edited by james_8970, 28 July 2007 - 02:15 PM.

[Fortunas]

thanks a bunch James. All these parts seem to be great.
How much do you reckon I can safely overclock the e6340?

[james_8970]

I really couldn't tell you, there are alot of factors. You have to remember it's like a lottery, some chips/motherboards will overclock better then others. For some reason the more recent Core2duo's havn't been overclocking as well as the chips that were released a 6month to a year ago. I honestly can't figure out why this could be true. If it's a 24/7 overclock I personally wouldn't push it any further then 3.1-3.2GHz for now and maybe push it a little more when needed, but right now you don't need a processor faster then that. You could push safely push it harder then that but you don't want to push a processor to hard and have it die on you 6 months down the road. Just remember to keep it cool and watch everything closely. Be sure you have as many case fans on your case as possible, unless you do end up getting the Antec 900, because it already comes with enough fans.
James

[Fortunas]

Is it worth it to spend the extra hundred bucks to get the 8800 gts? or is the 8600 adequate for new dx10 games that will be coming out.
I really would like to spend about 100 dollars less on this whole thing.

[james_8970]

If you want DX10 you cannot buy anything less then the 8800GTS, in all honestly I think it will struggle running DX10 games. The 8600 series is pretty bad and I really do not recommend them for gaming, they even struggle wiith most games out today. If you want to spend 100$ less your only other route is to go to the high end of DX9 cards.
James

[Fortunas]

Ok.
I decided to go the high DX9 route, and was looking at the X1950XT
I hear this is the best DX9 card for under ~$200. Is this a good card?
I am also looking for another mobo, seeing as I wont need SLI, and probably only 1 PCI-E slot.
Is there a less expensive good motherboard for the C2D/Quad Core?
Thanks for all your help guys.

EDIT:
Also, on Newegg, the e6750 is only 3 dollars more than the e6600
Is the performance difference really that negligible?
Links:
6600
6750

Edited by Fortunas, 30 July 2007 - 03:58 PM.

[james_8970]

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813128050
There's your motherboard It's a good one, I have one better then that (there are 3 in the series) and so far I've been very happy with it.

Go for the 6750, I thought you wanted to cut on costs and were getting the 6320, your call, but that 6750 is definatly worth alot more money then the 3$ price difference, the gap should be much wider.
James

[Fortunas]

Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe 2.66GHz - $229.99
EVGA 122-CK-NF67-T1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i LT SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - $159.99
OCZ Reaper HPC Edition 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 - $85.99
Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower - $139.99
SAPPHIRE 100186L Radeon X1950XT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 $144.99
Seagate Barracuda ES ST3320620NS 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $94.99
ZALMAN 9700 LED 110mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler - $57.99
ViewSonic Optiquest Series Q20WB Black 20" 5ms DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor - $199.99
Logitech X-230 32 watts RMS 2.1 Black Speaker System - $38.99
Antec True Power Trio TP3-550 ATX12V 550W Power Supply - $99.99

Ok, unless anyone sees anything glaring, or has any other suggestions, this will be the rig I'm buying.

[james_8970]

I recommend the board I mentioned above over the 680i SLI.
James

[Fortunas]

Really...
I hear the 680i is a great chipset for CD2.
Are they pretty similar in everyother aspect?

[warriorscot]

Its a good board but the 6 series Nvidia are older than P35 and usually cost more, P35 James picked or one of the better models is the way to go.

6750 is probably the best buy at the moment it is what i would get because the golden rule is to never rely on an overclock to make the system work, i have a 2Ghz CPU that will happily run at 3Ghz but i rarely use the overclock except when i need it.

Ditch the Zalman cooler for the moment Retail CPUs already come with a heatsink that is half decent and can be used for overclocking the only big difference is noise output and it wont be the noisiest fan in the system, it will save you most of the way towards an 8800GTS. To save a bit more you could get the 6550 its equivalent to a 6600, you are better aiming for an 8800 the x1950 is good but its old its dx9 you will get a massive difference from an 8800.