Q9300, EVGA GeForce GTX 260, what RAM and Mobo?

Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R or UD3P.

Mushkin or G-Skill DDR2 800 rated at 1.8V.

Whats ur budget???

Thanks theAnimal. What is difference between UD3R and UD3P?

As about the RAM, the *rated* you said is the voltage, isnt it? What about these two:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Adjustable voltage from 1.8 to 2.0 is fine or not?

Also, if I want to have best OC, should I use stock Q9300, or what heat sink should I buy?

Thanks

For mobo and RAM (up to 8GB), around $300 is fine to me.

UD3R only has one PCI-e x16 slot, while the UD3P has two and is capable of Crossfire, as well as having 2 LAN ports.

Adjustable voltage is fine, but I'd go with the 4GB.

For a good OC, get a Xigmatech HDT-S1283.

Thanks theAnimal for your advice. Here are those that I got from newegg:

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/TemporaryWishList.asp...

Together with Q9300 and GTX 260 and a HTPC case, I dont know I will need any thing more  .

As being totally newbie for this, I have a question: the GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P you suggested comes with 240 pin DDR2 1333 standard, so those 8G GSkills DDR2 800 will work fine? Why shouldnt I buy DDR2 1333?

Thanks,

D.

The DDR2 800 is fine. DDR2 1333 is only achievable with OCing.

I see. Thanks. I forgot to get a dedicated sound card. Should I get one or should I use the on board one? If dedicated, then which one you guys can recommend me?

Now that I am waiting for components to come, I think I should build up some basic knowledge about how to OC Q9300 and GTX 260. Any one can recommend me a good tutorial and necessary information?

Thanks.

If you want dedicated sound (worth it in my opinion) get an Asus Xonar D1. Cheapish and very good sound quality.

Start with the on-board sound, upgrade if you're unhappy with it.

Start by reading the sticky in the CPU section of OCing.

Thanks for all the help guys. I will report back once the system is up (and maybe some other questions  ).

D.

I need help again. I feel so stupid that I did not check all the dimensions before buying all the stuffs. Now when I got them, I found out that the Xigmatek HDT-S1283 is a little big to my HTPC case (it is so high that I can not put the top cover).

Anybody suggests me an alternative? I found ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...) with a very good review, and smaller than the Xigmatek. Will it work with my Q9300?

Thanks.

Freezer 7 Pro is not much smaller. How much clearance room do you have?

I still have plenty of room. Problem is only the height. The case is Sunbeam ACHT-HUVB (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...) and its high is 198mm. But the Xigmatech HDT-S1283 is 159mm high and is a little higher than all the high I have left. The Freezer 7 Pro is 126.5mm high and is 33mm shorter than the Xigmatech, so I am pretty sure it will fit.

Thanks.

Freezer 7 also comes in a Low Profile version.

Sorry, what does *low profile* mean? Is it good or bad? You think it is fine if I take it and return the Xigmatech?

Low profile means shorter.

If you think that the 33mm will give you the clearance, I'd say go for it.

Thanks. I bought it and am waiting for it to come. I already set up the system, running fine and I am trying to play around with the video card first. It is pretty easy to OC it in Vista. I planned to install Linux (preferable Ubuntu) for long term use, but it seems that GTX 260 is new to the linux world. Ubuntu recognizes the card, the card runs fine, but I can not OC it (both with nvidia-settings or nvclock).

Any body has any clue? Is Ubuntu 64 bit suitable or anybody has other suggestion of other linux distro which supports 64 bit and GTX 260 better?

Thanks a bunch.

D.

I got the Freezer 7 Pro today. Fit perfectly with my case. Everything went well. I started to learn how to OC my system.

After reading, first OC the CPU is pretty easy. I know Q9300 has a multiplier of 7.5, FSB of 400 gives 400x7.5 = 3GHz. Question is if I set FSB to higher than 400, the Memory Frequency will go higher than 800MHz. I can not find any value in System Memory Multiplier that is smaller than 2. And I read that if the memory operates at freq higher than its stock, system will not very stable.

Anybody helps?

Thanks,

D.

Most RAM should be able to OC, you may need to increase the RAM voltage. Just go in small steps and test stability.