New Gaming Rig - E8500 with OC target of 3.8-4.2 Ghtz

PCLoadLetter5769

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Oct 1, 2008
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Hello - I've been doing some research in order to build a new overclocked gaming rig and wanted to get thoughts and feedback on my proposed solution.

Objectives:
3.8-4.2 Ghtz OC at or near stock voltage for gaming, minor photo editing and playing 1080p HD content.

Budget:
~$850 for the components below

CPU:
E8500 - Good price/performance point with a 9.5 multiplier that should allow good OC.
Could I go with OEM from newegg or should I stick with retail? Would like a good OC'er and purchasing a HSF separately.
~$185

HSF:
Xigmatek S1283 - Good cooling, can adjust fan speed to make it quieter if needed.
~$35

Mobo:
Asus P5Q Deluxe - Is this overkill? Could I go with a "Pro" or simpler for less and still hit an FSB of 400-450 that would be needed for a 3.8-4.2 Ghtz OC?
~$199 (less for the non deluxe)

Memory:
G.Skill 4GB DDR2 1000 PC2 8000
(http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?Item=N82E16820231174)
So many choices! I just need something to reach 450 and this should be fine through 500 at 2.1V. Would it be better to get the Mushkin Ascent DDR2 800 at 1.8V and OC it up to 450?
~$80

Video Card: (not sure if I should post this part separately in the Video forum?)
Radeon 4870 512MB
I thought this seemed like the right part for performance/price point given the specs on the rest of the system. So many vendors, but will probably go with Powercolor, Diamond, Gigabyte or HIS (never heard of this last company - any good?).
~250 (after rebate)

Harddisk: 640MB Western Digital
I'm imagining its ok to go with an OEM harddisk too. This seemed like a good choice.
~$80

Rest of the system parts I already own:
Case: Antec Sonata II
Powersupply: OCZ GameXStream 600W
Keyboard,Mouse, CD, Floppy: Existing parts.
Monitor: Getting a new 24 inch flat screen separately. Probably looking to support enough resolution for a 24 inch flat screen and/or to pump out to a 1080p plasma (1920x1080).
OS: XP for now, Vista soon enough (I'm ok with only using 3+ Gig of memory out of 4G till I have Vista)

I hope I've given enough information for you to comment constructively and that I have picked sensible parts as a baseline. Please let me know your thoughts. If you have alternative suggestions to hit my OC goal or to better spend the money to fine tune the system towards better gaming performance just let me know.

Thanks for your help!
 

auscanzukus

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Jul 26, 2008
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Throw this in along with the cooler:

XIGMATEK ACK-I7751 Retention Bracket - Retail

Any good P35/P45 can get the o/c targets. Yeah, get the PRO or even GA-EP45-DS3L or GA-EP35-DS3L for less than $100.

Both Mushkin Ascent & Redline are good overclockers. If you plan to overclock Yorkie sometime, you might want 1066mhz or faster ram. You won't have to upgrade ram.

Look into Visiontek & Sapphire gpus.