Quad System recommendations for overclocking

[bilbora]

Prepping to build a Quad system with overclocking. Not a newbie, have built the last three systems I have owned.
I read the Tom's Hardware series on current overclocking.
P35, current Quad 6600 are important.
Basically I can't type anywhere near the speed of this system. I am not an advanced gamer.
I do a fair amount of video processing, will use XP SP2 and planning ahead with a DDR2 plus DDR3 capable MOBO.

Any where I can get the basics from one supplier (perhaps cheaper than purchasing seperately)?
Basics = barebones plus some upgrades

State of technology:
2 mb or 4 mb of ram? What sort is recommended?
Can I use more than 370 mb on a video card?
Want some faster HD, Sata or SataII? Any recommendations?
Will need new case and will a water cooled system be necessary to get anywhere close to Tom's Hardware overclocks?

Tom's is really missing an opportunity to bundle all the goodies into a system for sale.

Thanks for your help
Bilbo

 

[agentsmith957]

Well between 2MB and 4MB i would definately say the 4MB. That way, you can use version 5 graphing calculator software for your OS instead of version 4. In all seriousness though, assuming you mean GB and not MB, i would say it depends on your budget. If youre going to be running XP SP2, the 2GB would probably serve you ok. However using big video editing programs might justify the jump to 4GB. If you plan on overclocking, you will get the best results with high speed DDR3 ram to account for your overhead, but this is very expensive at the moment. Depending on how much you intend to OC, you would most likely be fine with some higher speed DDR2.

Depending on the video card, the applications you are running, and the settings you run them at, you may or may not benefit significantly from having the extra video memory. Where I have noticed video memory to help the most, is when running games at higher resolutions. But realize that just because one card has 370MB and another has 512MB, does not mean that the 512MB will perform better. A lot still depends on the graphics chipset and other card specifications.

Currently, whether you get SATA or SATAII does not matter for any single drive applications. The interface bandwidth for both of these interfaces are faster than the internal transfer rates of any single drive out there. Unless you are planning on setting up a raid configuration with multiple drives, it should not matter. If you want the best price/performance, I would go with a SATAII WD Caviar SE16. If you really need speed, you can fork out the money for a raptor.

I would say the only way to be definite about how much you can squeeze out of you system with air cooling will be to test it yourself. If you find youve reached a wall due to processor overheating, then you know you need a better cooling system. I would start with air cooling, and work your way up from there. You may be happy enough with the results you get without having to water cool.