Yes, it's another "rate my combo" thread. Sorry.

[Shooty*]

Morning all,
Right. the Dark Raider is no longer on scan. OK, so I've had to re-evaluate, and have found threads where people were saying P35 is an old chipset.
Right.
Damn, I'm getting too old for this.

I think I'm going to ebay my present mobo/ ram/ cpu. Reckon I could probably get £150 for it, if I'm lucky. A8n32 SLI deluxe with HR 05 Sli cooler on the northbridge (silent, passive, looks the nuts), with 2 x 1gb Corsair XMS 3200 RAm, with a 4200 x2 processor under a Scythe Rev B running at 2725 (from memory), stable. Sound about right, you reckon?

To replace it:
Q6600
P5Q Pro
Funky Ram

Whaddaya reckon? Will have to get a new CPU cooler, or course... wonder if the ninja rev b will fit...

Expense now to be considered very carefully: Am about to be a dad again Had the 12 week scan last night. Woot!

(p.s. seriously, I'm too old for this stuff now. I haven't a clue about the latest mobos. I used to rely on Custom PC mag, but they haven't updated the elite products in an age)

[Boon72]

i'd get the E8400 over the Q6600 unless your encodin video etc (there slightly cheaper too)

http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=736334

[Sprite]

If you do go dual core you could get an E7200

[Shooty*]

Thanks lads, but where's the "CongratS!!!!!!"?

[staffsMike]

Congratulations... it's a good spec

No seriously good luck with the baby

The spec looks good to me I think it's what I would buy right now. The ninja will work on that not problem

The TRUE has come down in price though so that with a yate loon would also be a very effective but quiet choice. Personally I'd probably still buy the ninja because for some reason.. I always do lol

[s_kinton]

That RAM really isn't good value for money and unless you overclock the Q6600 more than 3.6Ghz then you'll never need more than PC6400.

Do yourself a favour and get 4Gb PC6400
http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=632574

Also, contrary to the recommendations above I would go for the Q6600. It overclocks easily to at least 3Ghz.

[Shooty*]

Vista 32 bit, so I might go for 2 gb of that stuff.
Wait...
4gb for 60 quid? Fark. Might get that, and it'll still use 3gb of it, won't it? Wow.

I quite had my heart set on quad core, got to say. Got dual at the moment, and was hoping, amongst other things, quad might be better at the whole Windows Start Up thing, running through all the processes at the start. And, of course, gaming.

Would the switch to a Quad from a dual core be as impressive as going from my single core 939 4000 to my OCd dual core 4200?

Just found another thread dissing the OC ability of the P5Q pro... interesting.

[staffsMike]

True but the native FSB on it is 1600MHz which is enough to take the q6600 to 3.6GHz without overclocking lol

same sort of money gets you a older Abit IP-35PRO or kick it up a notch to the abit X38. Or wait for the Abit P45

He's right about the RAM though I didn't look at it. PC6400 is the way to go and 4GB will be better obviously.

[Shooty*]

Wait a bit for the abit?

[Blackmage]

Wait a bit for the abit?

Or if he can't wait A bit he can scan scan for another abit

[FifthFreedom]

Lol...

You know your thread fails when people start making grammar jokes....

Yes, a good rig.

[Shooty*]

Or if he can't wait A bit he can scan scan for another abit

Grammar jokes. Honestly. What a bunch of asus we are.

[Boon72]

according to most review site the new 45nm beat the old in most things, tomshardware has the E8400 beating the Q6600 in quite alot

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/c...?p=1275%2C1267

[Thorsson]

Ah yes, Tom's Hardware. Doesn't seem to factor in that a Q6600 OCs far better than an E8400.

The Q6600 is a legendary chip IMO. Rarely do you get such a potent mixture of sweet-point power coupled with great overclocking.

[Boon72]

the E8400 has been overclocked to 4ghz on air so it cant be that bad

[staffsMike]

It's not bad no, but the excuse people have for buying the E8400 is for gaming and a Q6600 or E8400 is more than enough for gaming at stock speeds, 4.0GHz is overkill imo.

I'm running my E6600 at 2.4GHz right now and it doesn't struggle to do anything.

The pro's of the Q6600 far out weigh the slight (and i mean slight) disadvantage it has compared to the E8400.