Rate My Future System (e6600 to 3.6ghz+)

[shk]

I'm coming a little closer to actually buying this thing, but before I do I'd like any and all suggestions you can throw at me. Here's how it looks so far...

CPU: e6600
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 (rev. 1.3) or Asus P5B Deluxe or (insert motherboard here)?
RAM: Crucial Ballistix 2gb DDR800 4-4-4-12 @ 2.2V BL2KIT12864AL804
Graphics Card: evga 8800gts 640mb
HDD: WD Raptor WD1500ADFD
Optical: Absolutely lost. Maybe Samsung SH-S182D/BEBE? I'm open to Pioneer and Lite-On also. Burn tons of dvds so this is an important choice. Any suggestions?
PSU: OCZ GameXStream 700
Case: Antec P180, maybe Antec P182 gun metal or SE. Problem is I'd prefer to not have a door but still have a sleek look. The case will be enclosed in a box under my desk, so I'm not sure if that would do the silver edition justice. Personal opinions?
Fans: Noctua NF-S12-1200 - should I replace the defaults?


I'm hoping to overclock my e6600 to the 3.6-3.8ghz range so constructive criticism would be great.
Are there any parts you may recommend that would be "better", from a value or performance or overclocking standpoint?

EDIT: The system I ended up buying was:
e6600
Asus P5K Deluxe
Crucial Ballistix 1066 @ 5-5-5-15
Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme (Scythe S-Flex 1600rpm)
evga 8800gts 640
wd raptor 150gb (adhd)
samsung dvd burner
corsair 620w
silverstone tj09 (yea I saw that one post about the antec 900 but that thing is ugly)
fans: yet to buy, may get noctua or yate loon or nexus.

 

[rammedstein]

for the case look at the silverstone tj09 (i think) it is pretty nice, sleek, roomy, well laid out, no door

 

[deceneu]

sorry to inform you, but you wont get to 3,6 ghz with that cpu, not any more, curently they are worse for Oc than the first ones, the first 30 weeks or so were the best for Oc, after that ....
I was also intending to buy one of those but now I am thinking on waiting till 22 july and take the quad version: Q6600

 

[deceneu]

between the giga mobo and the asus mobo, take the gigabyte. it has the965 chipset which is better for OC and also runs cooler

 

[jsc]

deceneu is right. You probably will not be able to reach 3.6 GHz with a current E6600. I bought mine last December, and I can reach 3.6 GHz - at a vcore of 1.6 volts. And it is almost stable. Maybe with water-cooling, you can reach 3.6 GHz. OTOH, with the stock HSF, it runs nicely at 3.0 GHz.

I have a SATA Samsung DVD drive. So far it seems to be working OK.

I never like to put computers on the floor. They seem to suck in more dust there.

 

[shk]

for the case look at the silverstone tj09 (i think) it is pretty nice, sleek, roomy, well laid out, no door

Beautiful! That looks perfect, except it's around $280. >_< And the vent right next the hard drives means my raptors will eat my eardrums.

It's great, I'm just trying to keep the cost down a little since my watercooling will run me $300+. Any alternatives?

 

[Kabobi]

i have the P182 which i bought 2 weeks ago and it is an amazing case. As long as all the fans are on low you wont hear anything. (At first boot i was wondering if it turned on or not). I would recommend putting the rear fan on medium to cool the E6600.

Currently i have a system very much like yours (same GPU, CPU, RAM, etc.) and my sustem temp in ~36 degrees celcius (i think).

As for overcloking, i cant help you, since i have no experience.

However, i'm surprised to know that with stock HSF i can overclock my e6600 to 3.0Ghz!!?!

 

[jsc]

I was experimenting and my chip ran at 3.0 GHZ at 1.25 volt vcore.

YMMV.

 

[malphadour]

Spend a few extra pounds/dollars and get the DS4. It has much better cooling for the chipset and also the mosfets which you may well need if you are going for a reasonable heafty overclock. I can't see any mention of CPU cooling, but make sure you get something serious. It might be worth looking at a water cooler (a decent one, not a cheap n cheerful one), which could also effect your choice of case. Attractive cases are not always the best and I would recommend one that has a 120mm fan mounted at the bottom at the front and has a clear pathway for the air, not just a little slot at the base of the front of the case.

The crucial ram is pretty good stuff, tho I can also highly recommend the Geil Ultra as this tuff works really well on the Gigabyte boards yet is cheaper than most of the other brands. I have had the Geil Ultra 800 4-4-4-12 working on my board at 960ddr at 4-4-4-12 timings.

Good power supply, can't knock the OCZ stuff, they have cartainly got their act sorted on PSU's and consistantly get good reviews for their products.

What graphics card are you looking at, if you are going for and 8800GTX or ATI HD2900 you might want to up to an 800w gamestream.

 

[systemlord]

sorry to inform you, but you wont get to 3,6 ghz with that cpu, not any more, curently they are worse for Oc than the first ones, the first 30 weeks or so were the best for Oc, after that ....
I was also intending to buy one of those but now I am thinking on waiting till 22 july and take the quad version: Q6600

"Boy you nail it! My E6600 will only go to 3.6ghz @1.6 Vcore." Even if I drop the Vcore one notch lower its not stable any more. Also I seem to need 1.6v at 3.6ghz to. It was good while it lasted. I might just get the newer 1333FSB processer's when they come out just so I can maybe run a least 4ghz.

 

[speed4life]

Thats Bull I just bought two E6600 one is L706A499 and the other L646G494 and they both can do 3.6Ghz easy. Although I am water cooling and using an EVGA T1 Motherboard. Right now I am running at 3.6Ghz. with my L646G494 and idle temps are 23c. I do have screen shots that go with this but I cannot post them. I do not have enough posts yet. Here is what I got running @ 3.7Ghz.

Motherboard: EVGA T1
CPU: E6600 L646G494 @ 3.7Ghz. 1:1 Ratio Linked & Synced Voltage 1.44 Load Temp 45c
Idle Temp. 25c
SPP:1.45volts, MCP: 1.50volts
Memory: Mushkin PC2 8000 4-5-4-11, 2T Voltage 2.1
Swiftech Water Cooling H20-220
Video: One EVGA 8800GTS 320MB
Power Supply: Silverstone 750W
OS: XP Pro

 

[aevm]

for the case look at the silverstone tj09 (i think) it is pretty nice, sleek, roomy, well laid out, no door

Beautiful! That looks perfect, except it's around $280. >_< And the vent right next the hard drives means my raptors will eat my eardrums.

It's great, I'm just trying to keep the cost down a little since my watercooling will run me $300+. Any alternatives?

I was just reading a review of the TJ09 a few days ago and they were comparing it with the Antec 900. The Antec is cheaper and cools better.

 

[Ogdin]

deceneu wrote:

between the giga mobo and the asus mobo, take the gigabyte. it has the965 chipset which is better for OC and also runs cooler

That Asus board is also 965 chipset and has a heatpipe that provides better cooling than the ds3.The tradeoff is that the Asus costs more. The 6420's have been clocking as high or higher as the 6600's lately so you might wanna go with one of those instead.

 

[bkiserx7]

asus p5b deluxe
e6420 or e6320
crucial ballistix ddr2 1066 from buy.com ($95 after MIR)
and a good PSU

fsb to >500 with 7 multi and you got 3.5 Ghz+