New to Intel

[jlacy76]

Hi guys,

I'm trying to help a friend build and OC a 920. He has not bought anything to date. I've been reading and will read more of course but if you guys could shorten my search abit it would be appreciated.

Is the D0 stepping the one to get because of higher clocks and lower voltages? I ask this because I read the C0 needs not only more vcore but a vtt boost to even get past 3.5. Fact or fiction?

He would like to have 12mb of ram or more, so the Bloodrage is out. We're looking at the Gb offering with 4 dimms but nothing has really been decided. Evga x58/classified, Asus P6t. DFI used to make great boards but since the principle left to start foxxconn I'm a little hesitatant to suggest DFI. One thing he needs is bullet proof and 4ghz would be great.

We've been looking at Ram, Patriot Viper 1600 is being considered, maybe there is something out there for more bang for the buck? It's my understanding that anything over 1600 is a waste for the 920. True or false?

Please help us try and pick best of breed or at least point us in the right direction, I know a little about AMD but near nothing about Intel, but I'm learning. :)

Thanks.
Joe

[Leeghoofd]

Lo mate, nice of you to help out a friend.

For the mobo, they all perform alike, for daily use the Classified might be overkill, the price for sure is :p. All boards will get a 920 to 4Ghz, the volts and settings usually depend more on the CPU then on the mobo. so the brand has to be decided based on features, gimmicks, colour schemes etc... For the CPU yes a DO is your best option, one warning though immediately get a good air cooler as these CPU's tend to get very very hot (boxed cooler is good for 3.6Ghz or so with HT on : 8threads)

12Gb of ram is nice, but it all depends on what apps he wants to use. As usual 12Gb is harder to OC then 6Gb and will require more QPI volts and a higher TRFC setting to get stable. Is it worth it over 6gb, he has to decide.

PC12800 aka 1600mhz ram is more than sufficient, there's absolutely no need to cash out for 2000mhzC7 kits unless you are a bencher and want highest performance out of the box. I would buy a a good 1600mhz C7 kit. If tweaked (Back to Back Cas delay setting : read more here : Back to Back Cas delay setting tested (http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&articID=940)) it can approach 2000mhzC8 speeds that needs to be run with a looser B2B setting. Also with 1600mhz ram you can run the CPU uncore at 3200mhz, with higher specced rams eg 2000mhz you will need to run 4000mhz uncore speed daily ( Uncore always needs to be set at at least twice the ram speed ) which not all CPU's like.
For the brand look indeed for the best price/offer. Brand is not so important to me, warranty is !

For ya 12Gb make sure you don't buy rams with a too hig heatspreader as it can interfere with the CPU cooler, these OCZ rams look like a nice bang for the buck ; OCZ PC12800C7 kit (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227381)

Hope it helps