eVGA 680i Questions

[mantis90]

I plan on getting an eVGA 680i mobo along with an E6400. The question I have is what aftermarket cooler to get that will allow me to OC the E6400 stabily to 3.0GHZ. Also I want to get a (1GB)stick of DDR2 800 ram and upgrade to another stick when I have the money. What RAM would you suggest?
Thanks for your help!

 

[_Morphine_]

Put the horse in front of the cart.

I would get a 2GB (two 1GB sticks) dual channel RAM kit first. When you are ready to OC add the cooler and things will go much smoother.

-M

 

[raknarius]

im using the arcitc cooler freezer pro 7, works great, took like 15 seconds to install and cost me 16 bucks. geting really nice temps too.

 

[ScarletSpider]

I recommend the zalman 9500 LED or the 9700. The 9700 is newer and a littler bit bigger. If you read reviews around the web, you'll find these two are top picks for any OC project. Even tom's reviews on different mobos, cpu's and such use the zalman. That's gonna be your best bet. I'm not trying to bash that other guy, but if you purchase cheap parts, you often times get "cheap" results. And since this is something thats going to be keeping your cpu from burning itself into the ground... well, I'd rather spend the money and get a really nice hsf. Otherwise, if your like other people with money to spend (but I figured not, since your getting the e6400), then there's always the monsoon II. It's a peltier of sorts, and has very high recommendations from the people that use them. I think the last I saw one, was priced at $140. Oh, the zalmans can run you around $50-65, I think. Go to newegg.com and see what they are priced at.

 

[raknarius]

Actually if you like zalman which they are good, youll be fine, however ive actualy seen benchmarks and tests comparing the top dozen coolers and the freezer pro 7 was rated right up in the top 3 with less then one degree differnce. if you looking for bang for your buck you cant beat it.

 

[i_hate_flying]

Actually if you like zalman which they are good, youll be fine, however ive actualy seen benchmarks and tests comparing the top dozen coolers and the freezer pro 7 was rated right up in the top 3 with less then one degree differnce. if you looking for bang for your buck you cant beat it.

You don't have a link to those benchmarks, do you? I tried to get an Arctic Freezer 7 Pro, but it was out of stock. Then I tried for the Zalman 9700, but it too was out of stock. Ended up having to go with a Thermaltake Big Typhoon. Wondering where that rates on those benchmarks...

 

[njvsav]

Get a Tuniq 120 and call it a day.

But seriously, the Freezer Pro is a kick ass cooler , and dirt cheap. If money is no object, Tuniq 120 is pretty much one of the best coolers made to date...for around $50, but hard to find in stock anywhere.

Do a search on here, xbit, anandtech, etc etc. You'll find reviews for all 3.

 

[XrayMan]

And heres my 2 cents worth. Get the Zalman 9500.

 

[slavadon]

Watch out for the EVGA 680i with Zalman 95 or 9700, from what I was reading you have to mod the backplate to fit it onto the board. Sounded like a huge pain. If you're a moding noob like me, I don't think you can beat the arctic freezer pro. I've heard it's almost as good as the tuniq tower and takes about a minute to install rather than an hour.