upgrading, overclocking and media players!

[edp33]

I'm planning on upgrading my old 939 socket to the following (based on looking at thousands of posts on hexus forum!)

CASE: Antec P182
Mobo: Abit I35E
PSU: Corsair VX450
CPU: Intel Q6600
HS: Scythe Ninja Rev B
Ram: Corsair Twinx DDR2 6400 4-4-4-12
Gfx: 8800 GTS 320
Monitor: 17" TFT - Using old one
OS: Vista 64/XP Dual Boot
HDD 1: WD Raptor 150G
HDD 2: WD Cavier AAKS 400G
DVD: Sata Samsung SH-203 DVD RW
+ Arctic Silver 5

A few questions
1) I would like to overclock a little bit, from Clunk's excellent overclocking sticky, 6400 RAM seems to have plenty of headroom on the Q6600 to overclock it, 3ghz is attainable?. Is there much difference in performance (mainly gaming) with lower latency ram? Most DDR2 seems to be 4-4-4-12 or 5-5-5-15. Is there a big difference between the sealent that comes with the Ninja Rev B heatsink and Arctic Silver 5?

2) I take it that the budget Abit I35E is ok for overclocking it just lacks extra features like RAID, SLI, etc that I don't plan on using?

2) I'd like to watch dvd, xvid, mpegs etc on my television set downstairs, (currently use a wireless transmitter and receiver that has interference with wireless router ) can you recommend any cheap dvd players that do this, this -> http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=622948 seems to do the trick?

3) The Antec P182 case seems to have raving reviews but it doesn't have a removable motherboard tray (used to lian li's !) are there any other cases with noise dampening + removable motherboard trays ideally with thumbscrews, guess they are standard now? Secondly is it also worth putting the raptor in a noise dampening box or will a case like the P182 be enough?

4) PSU's is it worth paying extra for a modular solution, my understanding is that you can choose which cables to connect thus reducing airflow, is this the main reason people prefer modular? For my purposes a strong 12v rail, vx450 providing 33a should be plenty?

[Rosaline]

To work out if your ram will be able to handle your desired overclock, divide the target processor speed (in MHz) by the CPU multiplier to get the target FSB speed. Then multiply this by two and compare with the quoted speed of the ram - as long as the target FSB speed is less than the speed your ram is designed to run at, you shouldn't have a problem. In this case, I think you're fine

Regarding your choice of case, I would imagine that a removable motherboard tray would mean more noise. Raptors are famed for being extremely loud and hot, however some people find the noise levels low enough to be not noticeable.

[edp33]

Thanks Rosaline, can anyone help out with the other questions?

[EtheAv8r]

You will see no discernable real world difference with low latancy RAM with Core 2 CPUs..... methinks

I always use AS5 except when first fitting Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pros as the 'already fitted' AC MX is very good. Zalman STG1 is also very good and by far the easiest to apply correctly.

I love the 180 and 182 and don't think the removeable motherboard tray is such a big deal ... as Rosaline says - likely to be noisier and less rigid - an issue with large HSFs.

I use Seasonic S12 Energy + PSUs in the 180/182 and I dont use modular. It is easy to tuck away unused cables, and with the 182 you will have virtually no power cables snaking around inside the main chamber if you are carefull.