HI all

Its been over 3 years since I have built a new system and I have use AMD for 13 years!
So I am new to Intel CPUs and Mobos.

I am going to build a new computer that will be mostly used for Gaming.
I want to water cool it for overclocking. NOT sure what brand to go with!

I have the hard drives(raptor) the case(LianLi PC-V2100B) monitor Sharp 32" 1080p and 2 PSU 500w and 600w that I am thinking of putting on a 12v relay switch.

What I am thinking of using:

OS =WINDOWS XP PRO 32bit or Maybe Vista premium 64bit so I can use 4gigs of ram

CPU = Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0GHz OR E8500 3.16GHZ Dont know which is the better overclocker I think its the E8400

Mobo = EVGA 132-CK-NF78-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI OR Does the nforce 709i support DDR2? I dont think so

Memory = 4 gigs of DDR2 because DDR3 price vs performance is not there I dont know what to use DDR2 800 or 1066 to overclock if you overclock the FSB for the CPU does it O/C the RAM speed on Intels or can you control it?

Video = SLI 2 vid cards (2) 8800GTS(G92) 500 mb OR (2) 8800GT(G92) 1gb


Like I said not sure on the water cooling ,CPU for overclocking and ram for overclocking

Any suggestions or recommendations or Funny comments!

TIA

on w/c

dtek fuzion
Laing D5
any 2 fan rad + 2 yate loons
any old high flow res
dangerden gpu waterblock

15m of 3 1/2 tubing
3 1/2 clamps
additive (or use iodine)

E8500 is the better overclocker by about 100-200mhz.

I dont know what to use DDR2 800 or 1066 to overclock

DDR2 speed = when in linked mode (recommended)

FSB = Memory bus (1/2 rated speed hence "ddr" )
DDR2 800 = 400FSB
1066 = 533

533x 9(?) = 4797 max OC (without ocing ram)

i would spend more time on this but i g2g to work so have fun and check i got the multi right

o btw, might want to w/c northbridge there (780i's get a little hot sometimes) your most likely going to hit an FSB wall then a heat issue, so don't expect miricals from w/c

Thanks for the info Acidpython on water cooling and yes I would water cool
the Northbridge as well as the Video cards

I will go with the E8500 (by the way is 9.5)
Toms have it up to 4.3ghz air cooled with ddr2 800

Not sure I understand the FSB overclocking the CPU vs the DDR2 memory bus if when you OC FSB the DDR2 RAM is automadically OC as well?

If you OC the CPU FSB @ 433 x 9.5 = 4113.5 ghz the DDR2 would be
433 x 2 =866mhz so if I have DDR1066 ram it would still be within limits of the DDR2 1066 is that right

I will go for 2 of the 8800GTS (g92) 512mb wish they had a 1 gig of vid ram

Thanks again

PS an nforce 790i Mobo can it only run DDR3?

To FORUM Moderator
I have not received a validation email how do I get validated?

Heres a quick sum up. Intel uses FSB (frond side bus) as a controller for the speeds between your CPU northbridge etc etc. If you run in linked mode (will get a perfomance increase here) your RAM will overclock in accordance with your FSB.

So CPU FSBxMulti = Speed
DDR (double data rate) = 2xFSB

I'd expect a max OC of 4.3/4.2 with that board. I wouldn't expect 4.6 or anywhere near that without a x38/48.

Oh yeah as for RAM recommendations, Crucial Ballstic tracers are nice ^_^.

Multi is locked at 9.5 you can't change that (unless you pay for the x)
So your stuck overclocking FSB. Stock FSB is 332/333 if you want to achieve a 4.3ghz overclock then you'll need a FSB of 452/3 = DDR will run at speeds of 900. That means you can tighten timings or mess around with it some more. (1066 means it is guaranteed to run that high =) )

Predicted Max OC - 4.3
Predicted Max everyday OC 4.0

(imo + research) 780i is a good solid board good luck and enjoy your dream PC . Make sure you invest in good w/c equipment! take your time and have a spare computer to check the loop for leaks etc etc (run for about 2-3hours)

And forget about using two power supplies -- you don't want to have to try to troubleshoot weird intermittent errors due to ground loops and so forth.

Ok
I should go for the DDR2 1066 Crucial

I like what I read about the X38 X48 Mobo but Nvidia SLI seems to be the best for games and those Mobo dont support SLI Always a tradeoff somewhere.

We'll see what AMD does with Spider

Mondoman I think you are right I should just invest in a good 850 watt PSU
Do you have any recomindations on any PSUs?

like I said its been over 3 years since I built a new system Im looking forward in building a new one!

OH i have another Question about using 4 gb of ram
Win XP can only use 3 gb of ram right so what would be the better configration of ram?
2 x 2gb Dimms = 4 gbs 1 gb not use does it take 500mb from 1 Dimm and 500mb from the orther or what?

Or maybe 2 x 1gb dimms Plus 2 x 500mb Dimms - 3gbs of ram

I think the first

Maybe Im just over thinking this.

Thanks guys