1) What is the best motherboard for the E8400 DUAL 3GHZ CPU => $100 range and Easy to Overclock and I dont care about SLI

2) Is 500 watts more then enough of a power supply for a overclocked E8400 and a single 9600GT 512MB? Also interested in the case below will be really good for air circulation.



Vid card - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 14-150-289
CPU- http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicat [...] RICECANADA
PSU/Case - http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicat [...] CatId=1858



THANK YOU!

That case does not include a PSU. Please note that, with exceptions, Ultra PSUs live (or maybe croak) on Tier-5 ("do not buy" ) of the list at http://www.tomswiki.com/page/Tiere [...] gs?t=anon. If possible, choose one from Tier-3 or better.

You cannot get a good motherboard for overclocking for $100 or less. The motherboard should be one of the most expensive parts of a computer build (graphics excluded) if you want any level of sustainability and ability to overclock. Remember, with most Intel processors you can only overclock by increasing the front side bus since most processors have locked clock multipliers. Look at getting an X38 chipset.

Oh I linked the wrong product.. here is the correct case/PSU.


http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicat [...] CatId=1858


Also, what about this motherboard it seems to be suggested by many people to be used for overclocking:

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=29705

^Agreed. The P35-DS3L is a very good overclocker.
See: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] w=0&nojs=0
for OCing help on the P35-DS3L.

Considering he is using the e8400 processor, wouldn't it make sense to use a motherboard that will meaningfully be able to overclock it? From your article it seems you got that board stable at 400 Mhz, which is only a 600 Mhz increase for the e8400. To really overclock that processor you should get a motherboard that can get up to 450 or higher (X38, X48).

P35 moyherboards are more than one year old now
get X38 chipset mobo and even better X48 one

The P35-DS3L may have trouble if you try to put DDR2-1066 on it.

As to that case, the front door looks like a royal pain in the keister, not to mention the questionable PSU.
CoolerMaster makes a lot of decent cases that aren't too expensive.

Ok, very interesting points!

Can you suggest the best low price x38 or x48 motherboard then? Assuming the gigabyte p35-ds3l isnt capable of overclocking my e8400 well.

THANKS!

Yes. It will have problem with RAM natively higher than DDR2 800. This is true for most P35 boards and some X38 boards.

True, but Nehalm is just around the cornet (mid next year) a P35 should hold out till then.

I would not wait for nehalem. It will be expensive as hell when it comes out, and it is never good to be the guinea pig for new technology because there always will be issues that will get fixed usually six months after initial release.

As far as 1066 not working on X38 boards, I do not think that is true. Please correct me if I am wrong, but all X38 boards have a FSB running at least at 1333, so 1066 should not be an issue.

As for a good recommendation for a X38 board, I have been extremely satisfied with my maximus extreme, although it is a bit costly at $350.
Like I said earlier, with graphics card excluded the motherboard should be the most expensive part of your build. A cheaper alternative would be to get the maximus formula, which is identical to the extreme except that it uses ddr2 RAM instead of ddr3, and it costs about $280.00.

You're absolutely correct
Problem new things will come at a price
New processor
New mobo technology
Not sure if will support DDR3 maybe need DDR2
But for sure forget DDR2 which is extremely cheap
Again new graphic card
As a result your credit card is fully loaded
Personally I believe X48 mobo+E8400+DDR2 rig will work well for 3 years
Upgrade to QX9650 when prices go down can add 1 or 2 years more
Then you need new rig

Im not actually at all interested in DDR3 ram Ive read a lot of reviews and they all say to go with DDR2 because 3 is a) too new b) too expensive c) ridiculuosly minute gains like 3% in games.


Why is a good mother board so important? Remeber I have no plans to upgrade this system Ill buy anew one in a few years. Also I dont use raid (not worth it for me), no SLI (cause only 10% gains for twice the price).

All I need is a board that I can very easily and safely overclock my E8400 on, and it must be pretty quiet.

THANKS!