New build components suggestions please

[Eagle Eye]

Here are the components I have decided on, all will be purchased from DC, better prices than most and free shipping. Everything from my previous build (read sig) will be moved from there onto the new system with the exception to the memory cpu and motherboard.

Biostar Tpower I45 ATX LGA775 P45 DDR2OC 2PCI-E 2PCI SATA2 RAID Sound GBLAN CrossFireX Motherboard - DirectCanada Great overclocking potential, read some reviews and a couple people here have this board here it is priced reasonable well for what I want it to do.

Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Dual Core Processor LGA775 3.16GHZ Wolfdale 1333FSB 6MB Retail - DirectCanada I have requested the new EO stepping from DC if that is at all possible to get. I will see what they have to say.

Corsair XMS2 Dominator TWIN2X4096-8500C5DF 4GB 2X2GB PC2-8500 DDR2-1066 CL5-5-5-15 240PIN Memory Kit - DirectCanada The Choice of ram is simply because DC doesn't seem to carry Mushkin Ascent if anyone else can tell me otherwise I will add them to my current cart.

If there is anything else you might do differently let me know, hoping to have this processed by Sunday night at the latest. As always your comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Eagle Eye

[miggs78]

Processor, I would suggest you to stay with an E8400.. But that is me though..

Memory check on memoryhouse.com.. sometimes they are very good deals, and the shipping is also well priced there. Otherwise you're lookin good..

[Eagle Eye]

Already recieved confirmation from DC that cannot guarantee the revision so its pretty much luck of the draw, given that you're probably right miggs that its just better to get an e8400 and just spend less money.

I checked memoryhouse.com and the Buy Mushkin Ascent PC2-8500 4GB 2X2GB DDR2-1066 CL5-5-5-15 240PIN Dual Channel Memory Kit are on backorder. Would this be a better option Buy Mushkin Ascent PC2-8000 4GB 2X2GB DDR2-1000 CL5-5-5-12 240PIN Dual Channel Memory Kit

[miggs78]

I wonder, seen people use them..

Wonder what this is then.. Buy Mushkin XP PC2-8500 4GB 2X2GB DDR2-1066 CL5-5-5-15 240PIN Dual Channel Memory Kit

It shows to have those Ascent heatspreaders.. Sorry EE, me+memory = not too much knowledge.. I'm sure someone can help out..

I really hope you get an EO version of the E8400, they can overclock to 4.4ghz.. I have a C0, and I got it to 4.0ghz with little tweaking, I haven't tried higher yet..

[Eagle Eye]

My thoughts exactly miggs78 the new stepping is pretty impressive it really shows how Intel continues to improve on the design and efficiency of their processors the key being reducing the voltage to achieve such speeds. I doubt that I would be able to do 4.4ghz on air, but 4.0 on air with less voltage than it would take to get a CO stepping to the same is why I want the E0 stepping.

The mushkin ram you suggested is their XP line and the heatspreaders in the picture don't represent the product I am actually buying, I double checked the part number on mushkin and it sent me here: XP2-8500 DDR2 - Mushkin Enhanced

[Eagle Eye]

Well my intel rig is on the way suprisingly BestDirect had a slightly better sale on the E8400 it was 5 bucks cheaper than DC, the motherboard was $9.90 more than directcanada, and they actually had the mushkin Ascent PC2-8000 in stock and were $12.59 cheaper than memoryhouse so it all worked out in the end and to top it off I got free shipping too!

Miggs I will let you know the stepping on the E8400 when it arrives, likely it will be the CO crossing my fingers though.

I will post a worklog and pics of my new build once it arrives and expect to see some AMD products up for sale in the coming weeks.

Regards,

EE

[miggs78]

Gr8 to know you got those Mushkin's in stock, bestdirect aka tddirect, man they still have awesome deals.. Found quite a bit of things cheaper than DC which are 95% of the time cheaper than ncix..

Yeah I'll let you know once I get back to overclocking, right now I got back to stock.. Oh and if you need help, you know enaberif right, I think he's one of the most experienced members with the E8400, one of the few who got the E8400 clocked high..

[Eagle Eye]

Suprised to see how fast the order processing has been already, not sure if its an automated system doing the work but I am already at the shipping stage I could have this sooner than expected, sweet!!

I am not looking at the extreme end of overclocking just some more power to unlock some of the seemingly endless performance of my GTX280 its highly bottlenecked by my current config. If you saw the 3DMarks I got when I ran my system through some synthetic benching it was pretty pathetic, albiet on par given my cpu, motherboard and memory.

I am pretty stoked this will be my first intel system I have ran in almost 8 years, looking forward .

[miggs78]

You will be really happy with it, I started off with an E6600, and man what a performance boost from a AMD Dual Core processor, Opteron 165, server based. Then I got a sweet deal on an E8400, the time it was out and everybody had grabbed it with lots of shortage and back ordering in process, a good friend from this forum living locally helped me out..

Yeah I can imagine, a GTX 280 can be badly bottlenecked with that kind of system.. Did you order direct from bestdirect or PM to NCIX.. I'll have to order sometimes, well at least we know it is part of Netlink so shouldn't be bad CS..

[Eagle Eye]

I ordered from bestdirect, PM from ncix was strange the 3 items i pricematched the only one that did was the motherboard, it has a lot to do with their terms and conditions because both memory and cpu were "deals" ncix doesn't allow for it too happen. Take for example the CPU it was NCIX - Intel E8400, Core 2 Due E8400 Wolfdale Dual-Core Processor try price matching it against BestDirect price here: Buy Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Dual Core Processor LGA775 3.0GHZ Wolfdale 1333FSB 6MB Retail *Limited Qty*
and nothing happens. I guess its a choice between getting it now or waiting for ncix.com to repsonsed to an inquiry regarding it, I highly doubt they would match it and still offer free shipping for the order, given 248.30 for an E8400 ouch thats pricey.

I spoke to guy a lucomputers.com located here in toronto and I asked about their pricing and he says it has to do with the CAD dollar they'll stand loose to much if they're prices don't reflect that especially when people from states start ordering from them. What blows is that us canadians suffer bigtime with these ridiculous prices when 2 weeks ago an E8400 was getting closer and closer to the $160 mark.