E8500 & DDR2-800???

kutark

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Hey all, i'm getting rdy to purchase a new mobo to replace my skittish p5n-e. I'm going to be purchasing a Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R.

Right now i'm kind of debating between 2 ideas. 1 is to purchase the mobo, 2x WD RE3 HDD's for a raid 0 array, and a new heatsink (zalman cnps8700) for my C2d E6600, all in all this would cost ~300 usd.

The idea behind the above was to run a raid 0 for my system drive (I have 3x other storage drives as well as a fileserver, so data loss isnt a big deal), and use the new heatsink to OC my e6600 up around 3.2-3.4 ish, assuming i can get it that high. Later on down the road, maybe 3-6 months, i was thinking about picking up an e8600 or e8500 to rep the e6600, assuming intel is still shipping them, etc.

What i am wondering is if i might be better served by picking up a single fast drive, like a 320gb seagate 7200.11, an e8500, the mobo, and the heatsink, this would cost a bit more, around ~420 usd.

My question is i have 4gb (4 1gb sticks) of supertalent 5-5-5-15 DDR2-800

From reasearch i see the e8500 is a 9.5x multiplier at 333mhz. I know this is a n00b question, but since i have effectively 400mhz memory, i should in theory have a limit of 9.5 x 400mhz, for 3.8ghz, of course assuming the processor and cooling is capable of putting up 3.8ghz.

My question is what would you guys do?

Stick with the cheaper solution, and overclock my existing processor?

Go with the more expensive solution for more CPU performance, but lower HDD performance?

Some alternative? Any other opinions?

I am using the comp primarily for gaming, its got a factory OC'd 8800gt 512mb for GPU. Right now i am mainly playing Warhammer Online, and since its a pretty CPU intensive game, these are the reasons i was tossing the two ideas around.
 

chookman

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The cheaper option is the way to go (if you must upgrade now)

You wont notice a significant enough difference from the e6600 to a e8xxx to justify the cost.
Im not sure on the RE3's performance, but check it against the black editions as they are one of the quickest right now and make sure you read into RAID a bit more. Please also dont consider RAID as backup this is NEVER the case.

Heatsink wise the best out there for the price is the Xigmatek HDT-12xxx cant remember the exact model but its big so watch case compatibility.

I have my e6600 at 3.33ghz with 370FSB cant get it much higher stable...so your RAM wont be an issue there. Theoretically your top out is at 400mhz (of DDR2-800) which gives you 3.6ghz, however, most RAM sticks will overclock but just adds another unknown.

Also note that overclocking will put more strain on your PSU whatever it maybe
 

kutark

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KK, thanks for all the info, to update i am using a coolermaster 620w PSU.

As for heatsinks, i forgot to mention that heighth is a major issue for me. Back when i chose my case, i didnt account for the fact that it has a removable motherboard tray, which takes about 20mm of the width of the case. Basically i can't have a heatsink over about 110mm in height, and even the 92mm versions of the tall heatsinks are way too tall.

Sadly, i have a Tuniq Tower 120 i purchased way back for this proc thats been sitting as a paperweight for the last almost 2 years since it was way WAY too tall for the system.

Honestly if i could get 3.2ghz out of my e6600, i think that would be more than enough to tide me over for another year or so when i do a complete rebuild.

As for the HDD's, the WD RE3's are actually caviar black's that have been "enterprised", they supposedly can sustain about 94 mb/s read and write.
 

chookman

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I knew it was 12-something...
 

kutark

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I thought about doing just that. But its just a little too ghetto for my blood. No offense to anyone who is doing that, its just not my cup of tea ;-).