I am currently deciding on what PC parts to buy. Two questions for you ppl.....
I am toying between a 2.8ghz 'c' p4 and a 2.4ghz 'c' p4. Is it worth saving a few quid in buying the 2.4, and then overlcoking it more vigurously. I can save about £80 in doing this you see. The performance should be the same as long as i get an uber heasink n fan [recommendations? I have a lian li pc75 with 6 case fans so system temp aint a problem]
Second Question is with motherboards. I know that the Abit IC7 Max-3 is a good 1, as is the ASUS P4C800, and the Gigabyte 8KNXP. As I would like to overclock, and am a huge gamer, n my pc is usually media focused, which would be the best board???
A reply quickly would be nice thanks lads and lasses


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Chipset seems the most important, far more than simple manu. Do check the reviews but bear in mind they usually review the Deluxe or Elite (ie top end) type mobos and the lesser variiatons can differ. 865 based are very good, 875 a tiny bit better so see how prices compare. As for the CPU, def get the 2.4ghz and save yourself the cash as both will most likely accomplish the same o/c only the 2.4 will allow for higher FSB speeds. If you are a huge gamer rem the gfx card is WAY the most vital component, if you can't afford at least a Rad9700-9800 then look to going AMD over Intel to allow more cash for the gfx card.
so that;ll do me for now
What you should get depends upon what you plan to do when o/c'ing, much of which will depend on your specific components anyway. PC3200 is all you truly need if you switch it to run at a slower speed (ratio to FSB), as you'll probably have to do anyway if you want serious FSB/CPU speeds. However PC3500-4000 don't demand huge prices and will allow you to keep the RAM sync for longer, it is ideal to keep sync but perf hits aren't as bad as many think and most prefer 1000FSB async to 900FSB in sync.
As you no doubt know, brand is all important in RAM. Top companies are Crucial, TwinMOS and the ever popular Adata ... Corsair are best but only narrowly and really rip you off with the asking price, no where near worth it. 2x256MB is probably wisest at the mo, more is easily added later when prices will have fallen and 865/875 seem marginally optimal with 4 slots filled rather than perf hitty. From what I hear double-sided RAM is best but again only marginally so. Then there's latency, it matter little esp on Dual Channel mobos and even less so on 865/875 so don't worry about it, lower is better just don't pay OTT. Finally there are 'matched pairs' and other such crap, forget it and just buy 2 sticks of RAM as closely matched as possible, ideally same size, brand, speed, latency etc.
