I'm thinking (and hoping) that this is final, unless there's some way I can improve performance while keeping the price about the same.

Q6600 OEM
Asus P5E Deluxe (x48)
Coolermaster 690
HD4870
4GB (2x2) DDR2 1066
Seagate 500GB HDD, 32 MB Cache
AC Freezer 7 Pro
AC MX-2 Thermal Compound
Corsair 750TX


$1149 with best prices from Ewiz, Tigerdirect, Best Buy, and Newegg.
$1179 from New Egg (I'll probably do this for the single-vendor convenience.)

I've already got Vista x64. I'll use my current monitor for now. The system's going to be used for music production (onboard sound is fine for now), some video and effects work (Adobe After Effects), and gaming. The info I've seen says that this will be plenty to run Crysis on max-everything at 1280x1024 (my current resolution--I game on one monitor, productivity stuff on two). I'll add a second 4870 later on. I will be overclocking the Q6600 (3.2-3.4 range, unless higher is easier.) Can anyone confirm that Newegg OEM Q6600 has G0 stepping?


Any thoughts or suggestions on this build, whether compatibility issues, ideas for better performance, personal experience, etc.?

I think you can get by with DDR2 800.

Besides for that - looks great... very similar to my build actually. Only the cooler/case is different.

Perhaps you could save some money downgrading to a x38.

Oh, and forget abourt Crysis max-everything (AA and AF maxed, too). No system in the galaxy can run it like this, even@640x480...

Keep your ddr 1066 since you're overclocking but i'd be careful going to 3.2 - 3.4 with air cooling unless you case move a hell of a lot of air besides you cooler.

@galta: Thanks, but it looks like the x38 version of the P5E is actually $5 more, and the only X38 board that I could find that was actually cheaper after shipping was a DFI board with mixed reviews (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813136045). And for Crysis, I was thinking I'd still be able to get at least 30fps, probably >40 @1280x1024 (http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] 964-9.html).

@blyn: The DDR2 800vs1066 issue is something I haven't been able to find a clear answer on, but some info would suggest that 1066 is just 800 shipped at higher clock speeds (=higher voltages, less overclock potential). So thank you, I'll probably just go with DDR2 800 and save $20.

What cooler are you using for your P5E Deluxe X48?

And does anyone else have any tips on this?

If you can afford it, go after the Q9450. Otherwise no comments that haven't already been shared.

Good luck!

if you can push it to $1200 get yourself a premium heatsink (Zalman/Thermalright/etc)

if you can push it to $1330 get yourself a Q9450 (M1)

Save money with a P5Q-E, PCIe 2.0 is fast enough for graphics on 8 lanes.
Ignore Zalman coolers. Get info on CPU Coolers here: http://www.frostytech.com/top5heatsinks.cfm

Cyborg, I had been wondering the same thing about P45 vs X48, and I came across this article:

http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/ [...] index.html

It looks like the synthetic benchmarks are pretty much unaffected, but min/avg fps are both affected fairly heavily. I think I might be better off with the P5E for this reason.

Anyone have any tips before I take the plunge?

Wow. Thanks, I am shocked. My only two thoughts (based on little to nothing) are proper drivers and PCIe 2.0 implementation and (even less likely) card memory.

If there is a driver (intel or ati) difference supporting the two boards all bets are off.

I would have thought that 4GB / sec /card would have been more than the CPU could dish out. It's the equiv. of repopulating the system memory twice a second with geometry, textures and a bit of instructions. I guess you could make up for this a bit with more video ram but damn.

Anyway... clearly right now if you want CF get an X48.

*edit*

I still "just" want a P5Q-E. If anyone feels the above indictment of the P45 moves them to tear said mobo out of their system, please feel free to toss it in my direction