Plz Advise- Mobo & components for NON-Overclocking e6600

[Phatboy]

I am wanting to build a very stable and reliable general purpose system.
I wouldn't mind doing a very basic overclock but don't want to risk stability.
I do not have an absolute budget set but as with everyone, I am looking for the best components for the $.

I currently have:
Corsair DDR2 XMS2 6400-c4 - 2 gig
Corsair PSU - HX 520 w
Ultra Wizard case

Want to purchase & need suggestions on:
e6600 C2D CPU - pretty much decided on.
Motherboard - No need for major overclocking (need stability)
CPU Cooler
Med to low-highend PCIe GPU
Hard Drive
Sound Card - (if not integrated with Mobo)

Please give your suggestions. Thanks in advance.

 

[Cyrezz]

Cpu cooler: Take a 'Aritc freezer 7 pro' it should be one of the best for the price.
Sound card: X-fi Extreme Music

 

[f61]

Buy an Intel P35 MoBo if you're NOT going to o/c. IMHO get off this 'I wanna o/c a little' crap. Either you do or you don't. Once you do o/c then you might find out about other poor choices you made that costs $$$. Scary isn't it? Relax, and buy the Intel P35, and stuff a Q6600 Quad in it: only $40 more than the E6600 on 7/22/07. You won't need to o/c untill the DDR3 memory gets competitive in a year or so.

Anandtech's review of the P35 . Note the meaning of this page. FREE upgrade to 1333MHz FSB. That Q6600 looks like a Q6700 at NO COST.

AMD is toast.

f61

 

[Phatboy]

Thanks for the info. The reason for the "overclock a little" statement is that I've read about some very basic / mild changes that you can make and get some pretty decent performance increases while still maintaining stability PLUS not requiring special cooling mods such as additional case fans, H20 etc. I would consider a basic OC if I got confirmation that it was worth it. I am not going to push the OC limit to that point at risk of instability.
So "yes" I might overclock a little but not like a lot of people do.

 

[Zorg]

Buy an Intel P35 MoBo if you're NOT going to o/c. IMHO get off this 'I wanna o/c a little' crap. Either you do or you don't. Once you do o/c then you might find out about other poor choices you made that costs $$$. Scary isn't it? Relax, and buy the Intel P35, and stuff a Q6600 Quad in it: only $40 more than the E6600 on 7/22/07. You won't need to o/c untill the DDR3 memory gets competitive in a year or so.

Anandtech's review of the P35 . Note the meaning of this page. FREE upgrade to 1333MHz FSB. That Q6600 looks like a Q6700 at NO COST.

AMD is toast.

f61

No need for me to post. maybe I'll just add, use a Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme

AnandTech: Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme: Is More Better?
http://www.anandtech.com/casecooling/showdoc.aspx?i=2943&p=2

OP: Listen to F61, It's the smart choice.

Edit: In case it wasn't clear, f61 is saying to use DDR2 initially, until DDR3 matures.

 

[morg]

Buy an Intel P35 MoBo if you're NOT going to o/c.
f61

i would suggest

Biostar TP35D2-A7
foxxcon P35A
asus P5K SE
MSI P35 Neo-F
Abit IP35-E
Intel DP35DP
(reference boards)

all comming with minimum cooling components on chipset.
aftermarket heatsink fan i recommand and a double check to
airflow for all the board... need a good case and not so hot video card.

if it's to overclock, it's perfect. as soon as case temps are OK.
around 140 $ CDN each ( 130-135 US i suppose)
the cheapest seems to be the biostar

 

[MattC]

Regarding overclocking - many, many people here seem to take it to an extreme - they try to get every last drop of performance out of their system, even though many (but not all) of them will never notice the difference between their super-clocked system and the same system mildly overclocked, or even at stock speeds.

Here's an alternative for you to consider:
Using the Gigabyte ds3 board and an e6320, I have *undervolted* my system by a significant bit and I run at around 1.8 gigs when doing nothing. When the cpu is being utilized, the gigabyte overclocking kicks in, and without any voltage changes (I'm at 1.1 right now) the cpu speeds up to around 2.4. Using a Watt meter I measured the power use difference and found that this setup gives me the performance I think I need (whether I do or not doesn't matter) when it's needed, and the rest of the time the power usage is reduced.

I wouldn't go for the same hardware, since the market has changed, but you may want to consider testing some lower voltages and minor overclocks. You really don't have to worry about stability - it's just not an issue for a well tuned system.

 

[Zorg]

Buy an Intel P35 MoBo if you're NOT going to o/c.
f61

i would suggest

Biostar TP35D2-A7
foxxcon P35A
asus P5K SE
MSI P35 Neo-F
Abit IP35-E
Intel DP35DP
(reference boards)

all comming with minimum cooling components on chipset.
aftermarket heatsink fan i recommand and a double check to
airflow for all the board... need a good case and not so hot video card.

if it's to overclock, it's perfect. as soon as case temps are OK.
around 140 $ CDN each ( 130-135 US i suppose)
the cheapest seems to be the biostarNo Gigabyte? How about the GA-P35C-DS3R with DDR2 and DDR3 slots.

 

[morg]

[quote="morgNo Gigabyte? How about the GA-P35C-DS3R with DDR2 and DDR3 slots.

half-featured boards are CRAP
as every board having ddr/ddr2 split, ddr2/ddr3 split
pci-e8x/agp8x ports, an old chipset with a hardware fix so it can support young cpu's , all of this reduce reliability, compatibility and does nothing good but limitation for the future...

i only posted boards using the reference board standard. without raid
(which is totally useless now.) and without any extras of any kind.

ddr3 support increases price and decrease reliability and max ram size.
while it will not support last LGA775 cpu.

so... no, there's no suggested gigabyte right now... maybe if they get a straight, lightly cooled P35 entry level board... but until then, stay away from split-featured boards...

( reminds me of dual socket s754/s939 board... lol... )

 

[Zorg]

[quote="morgNo Gigabyte? How about the GA-P35C-DS3R with DDR2 and DDR3 slots.

half-featured boards are CRAP
as every board having ddr/ddr2 split, ddr2/ddr3 split
pci-e8x/agp8x ports, an old chipset with a hardware fix so it can support young cpu's , all of this reduce reliability, compatibility and does nothing good but limitation for the future... The board supports 4GB of DDR2 and 4GB of DDR3 which is more than enough. I don't believe that there are any major changes to the hardware except the addition of the slots. I don't know what limitations there will be, if any, and I don't think you do either. I'm just wondering whether the addition of the features on the GA-P35-DS4 would be better then the DDR3 support.

i only posted boards using the reference board standard. without raid (which is totally useless now.) and without any extras of any kind.

It looks like you posted only the cheapest most stripped boards that you could find. There is nothing IMO that is more irritating than trying to plug something in and realizing that the interface is not on the super budget board. I'm no fan of RAID but plenty of people love it.

ddr3 support increases price and decrease reliability and max ram size. while it will not support last LGA775 cpu.

DDR3 does increase price and has no real increase in performance, so I don't recommend it right now. Your comment about DDR3 decreasing reliability is total FUD. The Gigabyte boards, both DDR2 and DDR3, will support older CPUs. With the price of the new ones who in his right mind would buy an old CPU anyway?

so... no, there's no suggested gigabyte right now... maybe if they get a straight, lightly cooled P35 entry level board... but until then, stay away from split-featured boards...

I think what you are really saying here is that when Gigabyte comes out with a super cheap mobo which is featureless with no cooling and crappy components you will recommend them

 

[Phatboy]

Thanks to everyone for their input. I appreciate it! I will report back when I get my system up and running. Thanks again!