Opinions on these components for my new PC...

Hello,
I'm going to buy some pc components to build a new rig and I'm thinking about getting the following:

INTEL CORE 2 DUO E6600 2.40 GHZ LGA775 - 1066 FSB
RAM DDR2 KINGSTON KHX6400D2/1G HYPERX 1GB PC6400 800MHZ, Timings: 5-5-5-15
ASUS P5B P965 / ICH8 Intel chipset
ASUS EN7950GT/HTDP 512MB PCI-E

This PC is mainly aimed for 2D/3D gaming (2D Emulators, Doom3, Quake4, HL2,Prey, new upcoming 3D games, etc..) and I'm not going to intall more than one GPU in SLI mode or what ever, so I choose the cheaper P965 Intel Chipset M/B, rather than the more expensive 975X ASUS boards.
Also I might use this M/B to upgrade to a Quad Core CPU, later on when they become affordable.

1. Instead of the INTEL CORE 2 DUO E6600 2.40, would it be wiser to get INTEL CORE 2 DUO E6400 2.13 GHZ LGA775, based on performance/price ratio?

2. Is it worth spending the extra money and getting a 975x ASUS M/B instead of the P965 / ICH8, in terms of overall performance based on my needs?

3. I have not deciced whether I should get the more expensive ASUS EN7950GT/HTDP 512MB PCI-E GPU, or get the cheaper:
ASUS EN7900GS TOP/2DHT 256MB PCI-E, which comes factory overclocked:
Engine Clock: 590 MHz.
Memory Clock: 1.44GHz (720MHz DDR3)

That's higher than the stock 7950GT specs & in some benchmarks it even scores close to the 7950GT performance!
http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles...086&cid=3&pg=1

4. Should I get the 1GB PC6400 DDR2 800MHZ Kingston Ram, or just get a cheaper 1GB 667MHZ DDR2 Twinmos RAM, CAS Latency: 5?
Will the 800MHZ grant me a greater difference in performance over the 667MHZ RAM taht will justify the extra cost?

Any opinions will be highly appreciated
Thanks in advance.

1. The 6400 would be better (or even the 6300 = cheaper), overclock them to above 6600 speeds and u will see excellent results. Get a custom cooler such as the arctic freezer 7 pro which will help the overclock.

2. The 965 chipset is fine for C2D and will overclock well, gigabyte make good overclocking motheboards (DS3, DS4, DQ6)

3. dont get a 7950GT, get an ati 1950XT which will be faster for the same money. Or if you can afford it get a 8800GTS.

4.If you can afford it get 2GB of ram (saving on proc should allow this) and get 800MHz 4-4-4-12 timing. Also i dont think kingston make that good quality ram, go for corsair, ocz, crucial, geil etc.

What about the already overclocked XFX 7950GT at Scan for £175 ?

Thanks for the tips.

I read here:
http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=get...62&articID=472
That DDR2 533 would be a better choice if you are not overclocking. (Intel Core 2: Is high speed memory worth its price?)

Also, should I get one 1x1GB DDR2 or rather 2x512GB DDR2 so that it will work in dual channel mode? Will it be any faster this way?

Thanks in advance.

I'd get at least DDR2-667 or even -800 jus so when you feel your PC get slow you have the option to overclock. And if you are only getting a single GB now, get it in 1 stick - that way you can easily add a 2nd, possibly 3rd&4th if needed.

You make no mention of budget, however, so it's difficult to make suggestions. The other thing you don't mention is PSU etc- no good spending hundreds on a decent board processor and GPU if you run them off a £10 Q-Tec PSU.

Dave

Regarding the E6400.. just thought i'd mention a guy at work bought his C2D system and managed to overclock to 3.2GHz on the stock fan using an Antec P180 case. I'm fairly convinced that he could have got more if he had got ddr2 800MHz ram instead of ddr2 667MHz.. ;)

OK, so here are some interesting notes to keep in mind for anybody getting a new pc:

1. Cheaper Core Micro-Architecture: Core 2 Duo E4300 CPU Review)
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu...duo-e4300.html

2. 8900/8950/8850? Nvidia is preparing a faster version of the G80 for launch around the same time that ATI launches its new card. The full article can be found here:
http://www.theinq.com/default.aspx?article=36106

3. Cheaper GeForce 8800 Cards In Mid Feb:
http://www.vr-zone.com/?i=4472

4. New cheaper low end G80 cards coming around March:
8600 Ultra
8600 GT
8300 GT
8300 GS
http://www.guru3d.com/newsitem.php?id=4834

http://translate.google.com/translat...language_tools

http://translate.google.com/translat...language_tools

5. L2 Cache: 4MB or 2MB?
If you're planning to keep the cpu for some time, and you're into Overclocking, the 6600 4MB L2 Cache CPU might be a better choice:
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets...spx?i=2795&p=4

6. FSB Bottlenecks: Is 1333MHz Necessary?
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets...spx?i=2795&p=6

7. DDR2 533 better price for value:
(Intel Core 2: Is high speed memory worth its price?)
http://core2memory.notlong.com/

8. ASRock M/B not so great for overclocking:
http://forums.anandtech.com/messagev...VIEWTMP=Linear

09. C2D 6600 better overclocker:
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets...px?i=2795&p=18

10. Fun trivia info:
Interestingly enough, the Intel CPU with the highest Cache memory, is the Itanium 2 CPU with an impressive 24MB L3 cache!
http://processorfinder.intel.com/det...px?sSpec=SL98T

11. All the Intel CPUs in full detail specs (Pentium I and up) :)
http://processorfinder.intel.com/Default.aspx