Intel E8400 Questions

[kidrock978]

HI all,

I was wondering a few things . I am in the process of building my new machine, thus far I have the following items:

Motherboard: EVGA 780i (EVGA 132-CK-NF78-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard )

Memory:CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)

Video Cards: EVGA 7600's (x2) SLI

Power Supply: Antec 1000W

Case: Antec 900

I am going to go with a SATA 3.0 400-500GB HDD, I have a 22: Widescreen and a G15 KEyboard. My main use of my PC is Gaming. World of warcraft mostly, but looking to play newer games like Fallout3, Far Cry 2 etc I want great graphics.. I do SOME video editing etc. but mainly games.

My question is, I was going to go with the Intel E8500 from NewEgg for $188.99 , But I just realized Micro-Center a few towns over has the Intel E8400 for $150. So I am pretty sure I want that instead as it seems to be the exact same chip just 3.0ghz compared to 3.16 on the 8500. Is this the the right choice?

AS far as cooling goes I was thinking between either of the following two?

1: Thermaltake Spin Q (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835106123)

2: Tuniq 120 (which is HUGE) (http://www.frozencpu.com/products/1449/cpu-tnq-01/Tuniq_Tower_120_Ultra_Silent_Universal_CPU_Cooler_-_Rev_2_T-120.html)

Any opinions on those?

So, my main question for you all is, How do I Overclock the CPU? I am in the IT field so i do know what I am doing, I just want a few peices of advice to go by. Is this done while in BIOS or in program in Windows? I would like to overclock it only to a safe degree, I dont want to have it last only a few months. 12-18months would be nice lol. Well Thanks alot in advance for all your help. I do appreciate it. Thanks again

-Jason

 

[kidrock978]

O/S= Windows XP ..

 

[mashupS]

Haha i say get the big one. It means ur pc runs at lower temps so u can Oc it even more, I have E8400 and u could get it to 3.8ghz no probs with that heatsink. But u should consider the Q6600 as it is definetly a good cpu when Ocd to 3.4ghz.

 

[V3NOM]

for the price, the e8400 is a better deal... just make sure you spend that money on some high end RAM - it matters a lot in 8xxx ocing.

cooler wise, i would HIGHLY suggest the S1283 + backplate.

with that combo, you could quite easily have a 4.0GHz CPU, which would most likely go to 4.5

you wouldnt really notice the difference once you get to 4.0 though...

 

[cjl]

High end RAM?

Get decent DDR2-800, that's all you need. The E8400 at that price is a great value, and should be an excellent chip for what you want.

Oh, and why on earth are you SLIing 7600's? They aren't exactly great cards, and you'd be FAR better off getting something like an Intel P45 board, and an ATI HD4670 for midrange graphics (which will FLATTEN the pair of 7600s while still being fairly cheap). The P45 is also much better at hitting a high FSB than the Nvidia boards, and will do much better for the fastest overclock than the 780i.

 

[werxen]

High end RAM?

Get decent DDR2-800, that's all you need. The E8400 at that price is a great value, and should be an excellent chip for what you want.

Oh, and why on earth are you SLIing 7600's? They aren't exactly great cards, and you'd be FAR better off getting something like an Intel P45 board, and an ATI HD4670 for midrange graphics (which will FLATTEN the pair of 7600s while still being fairly cheap). The P45 is also much better at hitting a high FSB than the Nvidia boards, and will do much better for the fastest overclock than the 780i.

i was halfway through writing my post when i realized you just said exactly what i was saying. +1.

with the heatsink go with the tuniq it rocks.

 

[cjl]

Another thing I just realized: 1kw PSU? That system is unlikely to need more than 500W ever, due to the relatively midrange graphics.

 

[V3NOM]

hey cjl i would be a bit careful there... my single 7600GS (OC'd 50%) is about 40% slower than my single 9600GT (hardly oc), so two of them...

still, i highly disagree with the two 7600's :lol: and the psu...

 

[cjl]

Why am I not worried about the 4670 outperforming this?

Seriously, 7k in 3dmark is easy enough with a 4670, and with a little more budget from downgrading the PSU to a decent 650W or so, a 4850 would slaughter those cards.

 

[kidrock978]

hi all, thanks for replys/

I got the 1000W Antec PSU for CHEAPER than I would have paid for the Antec 850. So I just figured better to have incase I ever do need it. It certainly cant hurt.


Does anyone have a link or a guide for me to go by for overclocking for my VERY FIRST TIME. Assume I know nothing. and I would like to read that forum lol.

I am strongly thinking of getting that Heatsink listed above with the backplate as it seems to have alot of great reviews...