q6600 System

[edm]

I've built computers before, but have never really messed with Over Clocking. That said, I'm building a new Q6600 System and would like to leave the door open for OC down the road, even though I plan on running at stock speeds for awhile.

So, what would be a good Motherboard/Ram combination? I'm not looking to get crazy speeds, I'd be more than happy to reach 3ghz, which from what I've read is a fairly reasonable speed to reach with the Q6600, simply by raising the FSB speed. btw, I will be ordering the Go stepping chip from Clubit.

Here is my Price range. RAM: $120 or less, Motherboard: $160 or less. (SLI preferred)

Here are some boards and RAM I've been looking at.

Motherboards
MSI P6N SLI Platinum LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard

EVGA 122-CK-NF63-TR LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard

RAM
CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory

Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory

How these would fair? Comments or any other recommendations? Also, is the stock cooler sufficient for 3ghz? if not, cooler suggestions welcome as well.

Thank You

 

[Nickel020]

Are you actually planning to use SLI in the future? If not, you'll be better off with an Intel P35 based board.

I'd get the Crucial RAM, it's the cheapest RAM where you're guaranteed to get good D9GMH chips, which along with the D9GKX chips are the best overclocking RAM chips. With the Corsair you can't be sure whther the RAM will overclock well, but the Crucial will do DD1000+ for sure.

 

[edm]

Thanks. SLI is not really a necessity, I just figured it would be good to have in the future. Are the P35 boards that much better for over clocking?

If anyone could post some configurations they're using to overclock their q6600 (RAM and Mother Board), it would help a lot. I've only tried overclocking a CPU once before, and it was a disaster, but I'm pretty sure if was poor hardware that I purchased. I don't want to make the same mistake again

 

[jeffw2767602]

p35 is your best bet, and you may want to purchase a thermalright ultra 120 extreme. youll be able to run a q6600 at 3ghz with load tmpes in the mid 40s

 

[firewolfsm]

Your choices are basically the Abit IP35-Pro, the Asus P5K-E and the Gigabyte DS3-R/P. They're all great boards and won't limit your OC at all, just look at the features and choose one, I think they all sell for $150 on newegg.

Also, newegg has only G0s in by now so if they're cheaper go ahead.

 

[aigomorla]

Mwave > Newegg.

I am not starting to like newegg, because they have a counter. Meaning the more people that view that product, the price will increase.

So if we get massive people checking out the Q6600's when you refresh it 30-45min later, you'll notice it gone up in price by about 2 dollars+


Board: Gigabyte P35-DS3P <--- absolute monster overclocker. near identical layout to the DQ6, my third personal favorate below the ASUS P5K-DLX. The top favorate being the DQ6

Ram: Crucial Ballastix PC8500 if you can find them for a good price on rebate, or just get the PC6400. I believe they use the same micron D9 chips.


Dont cheeze on the PSU. Get a Quality PSU. The cheapest PSU i would even think about would be the Antec Neo 550W. I had one and it went strong until i replaced it with another Antec Quattro 850.


The stock cooler is only good for 1 thing. Thats when you RMA the chip, or need a temp tester. Other then that its a POS.

Overclocking a quad means you need an aftermarket. And not just a cheap one either. You really need to learn what your buying b4 you go out and buy them. Check out the quad threads, and only listen to the people WHO have quads. The funniest crap is when people who have dual core C2D's are comparing there temps with kent owners. I laugh when the op comes back a week later asking why it wont work when joe smith recomended something that said it worked on his E6600.

 

[ChronoReverse]

If you plan to be OC friendly, get a P35 motherboard. Actually, except for SLI, you should go for the P35 anyways.

If on air, the TRUE-120 is the nicest you can get. But even something like a Scythe Ninja (middle of the pack for tower coolers) is far more than enough for just 3GHz (both my G0's can do 3GHz using the stock cooler).

As for PSU, the lowest I'd go is a Silverstone Element 500W or Corsair HX520. Keep in mind that both of these have lots of headroom for an mere 3GHz overclock.

As for memory, if you're only going for 3GHz, either is fine.

 

[Ika]

While people are talking about PSUs, I'll throw my recommendation in for a Corsair HX520 (or HX620, if you're the type to fret about not enough wattage).

If you're serious about overclocking on a quad, you'll need to have a good cooler, as mentioned above. The TR Ultra-120 eXtreme is a good choice here; water-cooling would be even better, but that's not terribly easy to mess with.

As for mobos, firewolfsm said it: you've got basically three good choices - Abit IP35-Pro, the Asus P5K-E and the Gigabyte DS3R. I'm not exactly the motherboard authority, but here's what I thought I knew about these:
-The Abit should be the cheapest, but is the best value for what's basically a no-frills motherboard.
-The Gigabytes (GA-P35-DS3R or DS3L) are somewhere between the Abit and the Asus. Nice features, nice price. This is what I picked. It seems to be a pretty popular board, but I've heard some complaints from people about various issues. Gigabyte also has the worst software of the three.
-The Asus is essentially the best (and most expensive) mobo of them. I don't know too much beyond that, though

Here's a Newegg listing of the "Top Sellers" in the P35 mobo category.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...+4802&name=Top+Sellers

 

[edm]

Thanks for all the good info so far, much appreciated. I'm liking the Abit board, IP35-Pro. Along with a Corsair 620HX. So as of now, my config would look like this


Abit IP35-Pro
Q6600 Go
Crucial Ballistix
Corsair 620HX (or the Thermaltake Toughpower W0128RU 650, which I'm also looking at)

I'm still not sure what cooler to buy. The thermalright ultra 120 is nice, but looks pretty big. I'm not sure if it will fit ok in my Antec 900. It's also pretty expensive As I said, I'm probably not going to OC right away, but just want to make sure I can if/when I decide to, so maybe I'll use the stock cooler until then.

 

[boomhower]

The TR 120 will fit in your case. Pair it up with a nice fan, I recommend the Scythe S-Flex F or a High Speed Yate Loon for cheap. It may be a little expensive but it will give the best temperatures short of going water.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: Aflac
While people are talking about PSUs, I'll throw my recommendation in for a Corsair HX520 (or HX620, if you're the type to fret about not enough wattage).

If you're serious about overclocking on a quad, you'll need to have a good cooler, as mentioned above. The TR Ultra-120 eXtreme is a good choice here; water-cooling would be even better, but that's not terribly easy to mess with.

As for mobos, firewolfsm said it: you've got basically three good choices - Abit IP35-Pro, the Asus P5K-E and the Gigabyte DS3R. I'm not exactly the motherboard authority, but here's what I thought I knew about these:
-The Abit should be the cheapest, but is the best value for what's basically a no-frills motherboard.
-The Gigabytes (GA-P35-DS3R or DS3L) are somewhere between the Abit and the Asus. Nice features, nice price. This is what I picked. It seems to be a pretty popular board, but I've heard some complaints from people about various issues. Gigabyte also has the worst software of the three.
-The Asus is essentially the best (and most expensive) mobo of them. I don't know too much beyond that, though

Here's a Newegg listing of the "Top Sellers" in the P35 mobo category.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...+4802&name=Top+Sellers

Okey, let me speak for someone WHO has ALL the boards, well almost all the boards you listed.

The BEST and i cant say this enough, board i have worked with is the Gigabyte P35-DQ6

That board will eat my ASUS P5K-DLX for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The required voltage for same overclock is about .02-.03 LESS then my P5K.

The SECOND favorate board i own is the Asus P5K-DLX which is almost identical to the P5K-E

The THIRD favorate board i own is the Gigabyte P35-DS3P. The DS3L and DS3R can kiss my rear. Look at the board vs. a DQ6 That will tell you a LOT.

The Last of my favorate boards would be the ABIT IP35 series. But its far behind my top3.

The Shittiest and the serious PITA board i have ever worked with, also i question why i spent so much on that sorry POS, is my eVGA 680i. OMG im never going Nvidia ever again on Intel until they fix long term stability. The board cant handle stress for very long at high overclocks.

 

[twinkdogg]

Originally posted by: aigomorla
Okey, let me speak for someone WHO has ALL the boards, well almost all the boards you listed.

The BEST and i cant say this enough, board i have worked with is the Gigabyte P35-DQ6

That board will eat my ASUS P5K-DLX for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The required voltage for same overclock is about .02-.03 LESS then my P5K.

The SECOND favorate board i own is the Asus P5K-DLX which is almost identical to the P5K-E

The THIRD favorate board i own is the Gigabyte P35-DS3P. The DS3L and DS3R can kiss my rear. Look at the board vs. a DQ6 That will tell you a LOT.

The Last of my favorate boards would be the ABIT IP35 series. But its far behind my top3.

The Shittiest and the serious PITA board i have ever worked with, also i question why i spent so much on that sorry POS, is my eVGA 680i. OMG im never going Nvidia ever again on Intel until they fix long term stability. The board cant handle stress for very long at high overclocks.

Why do you put the Abit IP35 "far" behind your top 3?

 

[BrianPotter]

I'm very curious to know why the Abit isn't as good as well. I'm planning to build a similar system using the Abit IP35 Pro, but I'm not 100% on that board yet. I was thinking about one of the Gigabyte's for a while, and I'm waiting for the DS3P to come back in stock at newegg, hopefully they get more in stock next week. I just think the overall value for what you get with the IP35 Pro is pretty good, but if the performance is that much behind the Gigabyte's then I will probably reconsider.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: BrianPotter
I'm very curious to know why the Abit isn't as good as well. I'm planning to build a similar system using the Abit IP35 Pro, but I'm not 100% on that board yet. I was thinking about one of the Gigabyte's for a while, and I'm waiting for the DS3P to come back in stock at newegg, hopefully they get more in stock next week. I just think the overall value for what you get with the IP35 Pro is pretty good, but if the performance is that much behind the Gigabyte's then I will probably reconsider.

oopps i ment wouldnt be far behind.

The ip35-e i absolutely love as a cheap crunch box/work station. If budget is was main concern, this would be my first pick. However in something you would be more using as a main rig, it would be behind the P35-DS3P. The DS3P is near identical to the DQ6 in board layout. Its like a P5K-DLX vs a P5K-E. So they basically overclock near the same. The DS3P is missing the top mosfet cooling sinks. This is easily fixed by getting some enzo ram sinks and pasting it on top.

The DQ6 is my top choice because all you need to do is look at the backside. They seriously thought of everything in keeping the board cool and stable. Also it beat my P5K on the same chip by 1 voltage setting below. My X3220 was overclocked at 3.375ghz at 1.375Vcore.

Asus however has better software for board if your into that kind of stuff. AI Suite owns. Gigabyte's kinda blows.

I didnt bother with the abit's.

 

[edm]

Anyone have any experience with the ZALMAN CNPS9500 LED 92mm? It doesn't look as good as the TR 120, but it's supposed to be very quiet, which I'm looking for, but do you think it would get the job done on a q6600 chip OC'ed?

 

[ChronoReverse]

FWIW, Zalman's haven't been terribly quiet for a while now in comparison with tower heatsinks where you can choose a much quieter fan (and still effective) than the not-that-quiet and not-replaceable ball-bearing Zalman fans on their heatsinks.


Not that Zalman HSF's are bad, just not that good either in terms of quiet.

 

[dflynchimp]

@ Aflac

hmph...I'm running a DS3L, and I have no intentions on kissing your rear

besides, the DS3L OCs just as well as it's R and P brothers

 

[ChronoReverse]

While I don't share his overly pessimistic view of the L and R, they do have less potential than the P. The P seems to have less vdroop than the R and L variety while the power circuity is better on the R than the L.

Of course, an small overclock (in my terms anyways) won't be affected by that.