Advice on a new CPU build

[Scribs]

Im looking to get a new CPU, and Im pretty sure I know what it will be but I am open for suggestions. Im looking to keep the cost down, but while still being able to overclock a good deal and have some fun with it. Heres what Ive got right now... Sorry there are no links, Im posting in a bit of a hurry. Also, I made this list up on a hardware site today sorta quickly too, so please tell me if Ive missed something vital.

Intel C2D 6300 (possibly the 6400, i keep going back and forth)
ASUS P5W DH Deluxe (975)
AC Freezer 7 Pro
Samsung 740N 17in LCD (I already have one of these, I am getting another)
Seagate 7200.10 320GB
OCZ Platinum XTC PC2-6400 (4-5-4-15)
eVGA 7600GT KO
Antec P180
Logitech X-530 5.1 Speakers
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy SE
NEC ND-3550A DVD burner

Any suggestions on good upgrades or downgrades for performance or price would be appreciated, thanks.

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[dt]

burn the sound card. you dont need it. onboard audio is good enough.

gaming on a 17' doesnt sound fun with that kind of video card you got. hit it up with a 19' unless you like the 17'.

maybe get a e6600 if you can.

ocz memeory doesnt work well with asus. dont ask why... it just doesn't.

get corsair cas 4 memory. im sure newegg sales it.

yawns, where is your power supply and operating system?

 

[The_Prophecy]

No... OCZ DDR2 doesn't work with Asus AM2 boards. Should work fine on Intel based boards though.

Suggested Changes:

CPU: Stick with the E6300. The only difference between that and an E6400 is a slightly higher clock speed. The Core 2's overclock very easily.

Mobo: Unless you need the integrated Wi-Fi, swap the board for an Abit AB9 Pro, or Asus P5B.

CPU Cooler: Lose this altogether. The Core 2's don't run hot unless you do some major overclocking (by over 600Mhz or more). The stock cooler will be more than enough for that chip.

RAM: Even though the OCZ you picked should work, this Corsair XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2-800 has lower timings (4-4-4-12).

Sound Card: Like dt said, lose the sound card. If you're an audiophile, you might want to keep it, but if good sound isn't critically important, the onboard sound will do just fine.

 

[Scribs]

First off, I did forget to put the PSU on the list, whoops. PSU Im looking at is a OCZ Modstream 450W, should be more than enough for that system.

For the sound card, I kinda wanted to use something else not really for sound quality but to take the load off the cpu, but I guess its a fairly small load to begin with no?

I like how the 6300 is cheap, but I am thinking I might want the higher multiplier... Maybe I should have emphasized this more before, but Im definitly looking to overclock this as far as it goes, hence the extra cooler and the 975 chipset. Id like to get something a bit better than the AC Freezer, but Ive heard decent things about these,especially for the price. I waffled over the P5B motherboard for a while today, but ended up deciding to stay away from the 965 just because of the limits people have run into in the FSB frequency. The place Im ordering from has a P5W DH open box for a good bit cheaper than the P5B, and although Im a little nervous about the open box thing it shouldnt be too bad.

Thanks for the help from both of you, if anyone else has a suggestion please let me know. Oh, last but not least, I like the Corsair memory but it seems to come at a real premium, around maybe 60 or 70 more than the OCZ, think its really worth it? From what Ive heard, the latencies dont change a whole lot with the C2D prefetch anyway.

EDIT: OS is Win XP Pro, Ive got a copy already.

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[The_Prophecy]

If you're going to overclock, I'd look for something more in the 500-550W range, just to be safe. The sound card only put a 1-2% load on the CPU.... nothing remarkable really. If you're going to be doing a lot of overclocking, grab a Zalman CNPS9500. Might be expensive, but the performance is amazing.

 

[Scribs]

Yeah I was thinking the 450W would be good with only the 7600, but you are probably right as its always good to stay on the safe wide. Ive also heard great things about the Zalman cooler, that was originally the one I wanted to use before backing off a little, but again you might be right and it might be well worth it... Man I hate the tight rope walk between getting a good computer and having grocery money

 

[The_Prophecy]

I got the Zalman cooler for the system in my sig.... dropped my idle temp by 5C, and my load temp by 15C (current idle/load temps: 26C/37C). The OC to 3.4 on my P4 630 is constant.