advices on motherboard and ram

[ilikepure]

hi fellas, I will be buying a E8400, but I haven't picked out mobo and ram.

long story short, I use pc for general purpose and do extreme gaming, so i need your help to choose mobo and ram. i noticed E8400 has fsb of 1333, should I use DDR3 product to make cpu:ram fixed @ 1:1 ratio, or is DDR2 a wiser choice.

i'd like to hear your inputs, thx in advance. please be specific on mobo and ram, as well as the configuration.



edit: I don't plan to SLi video cards, but most likely I will OC E8400 o 3.6G~4G range.

 

[RadiclDreamer]

Ram = Corsair XMS....mmmmm

 

[Stg-Flame]

I am getting the same PSU and have not decided on a mobo either, but I am looking towards the GigaByte P35 Mobo.

For the RAM, I am split between 4GB of G-Skill or Crucial. Both are $160 at Newegg.

 

[ilikepure]

Originally posted by: Chaoticpenguin666
I am getting the same PSU and have not decided on a mobo either, but I am looking towards the GigaByte P35 Mobo.

For the RAM, I am split between 4GB of G-Skill or Crucial. Both are $160 at Newegg.

hmm, pc6400 or above?

 

[Winterpool]

Well, depending on the motherboard BIOS, 1:1 ratio on modern Intel systems often means the 'base' frequencies, ie before doubling (for DDR memory) or quadrupling (for 'quad-pumped' FSB). I know on an Abit P35 board, since the E8400 is '1333 MHz FSB', the base FSB is actually 333. If you ran 1:1 memory ratio with PC2 6400 / DDR2 800 memory, you'd actually be running 1600 MHz quad-pumped FSB (4*400), and your E8400 would be overlocked from 3.0 to 3.6 GHz clockspeed.

Translation: good DDR2 800 memory (eg G.Skill or Corsair) should be sufficient for a 3.6 to 4 GHz Wolfdale. And it will be an order of magnitude cheaper than DDR3.

 

[ilikepure]

^
thx, bro, you clarified a lot for meh.

so is ABIT IP35 Pro a good mobo to get ? i've seen it won the Customer Choice Award at Newegg recently. in the meantime i see people getting cheaper P35 boards around 100$, what's the difference?

 

[Roguestar]

DDR3 is definitely not needed for CPUs with a 1333MHz FSB. Get this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820231122

 

[Winterpool]

As you've seen, the Abit IP35 Pro has nearly 700 reviews on Newegg and an average five 'egg' rating. It has a very good overclocking record (seach these and other forums, including Abit's own). The board offers almost all the necessary 'accessories' and connexions, including 6 SATA ports, eSATA, optical S/PDIF audio, and FireWire.

That said, you could save $50+ by going with a Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L or Abit's IP35P.

Edited: dang, the Corsair memory rebates are mostly finished. You can buy 2 GB of Crucial Ballistix for $20, free postage, from Fry's / Outpost.com right now. If you can afford it, many would recommend 4 GB (two 2 GB DIMMs) of G.Skill's PC2 6400 memory right now, $80 on Newegg.

Generally, concern yourself less with timings than with bandwidth capacity (especially note reviews for how well the memory overclocked), brand quality, and sheer storage (4 GB is really what you want for Vista; I regret only buying 2 myself).

 

[ilikepure]

Originally posted by: Winterpool
As you've seen, the Abit IP35 Pro has nearly 700 reviews on Newegg and an average five 'egg' rating. It has a very good overclocking record (seach these and other forums, including Abit's own). The board offers almost all the necessary 'accessories' and connexions, including 6 SATA ports, eSATA, optical S/PDIF audio, and FireWire.

That said, you could save $50+ by going with a Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L or Abit's IP35P.

Edited: dang, the Corsair memory rebates are mostly finished. You can buy 2 GB of Crucial Ballistix for $20, free postage, from Fry's / Outpost.com right now. If you can afford it, many would recommend 4 GB (two 2 GB DIMMs) of G.Skill's PC2 6400 memory right now, $80 on Newegg.

Generally, concern yourself less with timings than with bandwidth capacity (especially note reviews for how well the memory overclocked), brand quality, and sheer storage (4 GB is really what you want for Vista; I regret only buying 2 myself).

oh my~ i might get 8GB then, it's so cheap, 20$ per 2GB kekeke, but I don' think non-64 bit Visa can recognize more than 4G, so hmmm i will have to use 64 bit. sweet, thx again