New CPU+Mobo+RAM: Advice wanted

[Machiavelli]

I have paid little attention to computer technology and essentially been under a rock for the last 4 years since I put together my last system. I have started wandering the forums again because I am getting ready to upgrade my Mobo, CPU, Memory and Power Supply. Simply stated my goal is not get the most bang for my buck and not necessary the top of the line. I would like to keep this upgrade between $400 and 500. Here is what I have come up with and I would like to solicit opinions.

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale

Memory: for G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1000 (PC2 8000) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory

Mobo : MSI P35 Neo2-FR LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130098&Tpk=MSI%2bP35%2bNeo2-FR%2bLGA

Power Supply(I would like a high efficiency rating) : PC Power & Cooling S610EPS 610W http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703005

or
SeaSonic S12 Energy Plus SS-550HT ATX12V
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151027

Everyone has an opinion and and I welcome them all. Is there a part with a glaring weakness that is going to limit my OC. Again, i'm not trying to set any record just do well with a small amount of money.

Thanks in advance!

David

[zanzabar]

i would go DFI p35 DK, and the pc power is a good unit and ide get that or a corsair


as for ram the gskill 1000 or 1066 4GB kit

[perkam]

i would go DFI p35 DK, and the pc power is a good unit and ide get that or a corsair


as for ram the gskill 1000 or 1066 4GB kitDitto.

Perkam

[Crazypinoy9]

I agree...the DFI P35 is pretty damn good.

and as for the ram it's GSKILL OR BUST!!!

[Mungri]

Nothing wrong at all with the MSI P35 Neo 2 other then its slow second PCI-E slot.

It overclocks like crazy up to 500 Mhz FSB and is one of the best priced P35's available.

[L'enFer]

Crucial Ballistix 4GB (2 x 2GB) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148183)?

[Machiavelli]

Thank you all for the great suggestions. Everyones wilingness to help is what makes this forum great. I have had great past experiences with DFI so I will give them another shot.

[[XC] Synthetickiller]

I own the 550watt seasonic. Its powering EVERYTHING in my sig, w/o any issues. Both are excellent PSUs. The Seasonic is no slouch, neither is the PC P&C.

[DarkDisciple]

i would go DFI p35 DK, and the pc power is a good unit and ide get that or a corsair


as for ram the gskill 1000 or 1066 4GB kit

That motherboard only supports ddr2 800 ram, why get 1000 or 1066? Methinks I am missing something.

Edit: Did some more hunting around and seems I'd need to overclock the FSB on the motherboard in order to take advantage of faster memory. Switching over to the thread on my motherboard to figure how the hell to do that. :D

[zanzabar]

I own the 550watt seasonic. Its powering EVERYTHING in my sig, w/o any issues. Both are excellent PSUs. The Seasonic is no slouch, neither is the PC P&C.

seasonic makes the pcp&c for the 750W and under

[cegras]

You could get a E7200 and notice no difference, and save a ton of cash.

[zanzabar]

You could get a E7200 and notice no difference, and save a ton of cash.

those 7x00 have 3MB of cash and the 6MB in the 8x00 make a huge difference

[Serpentarius]

I have paid little attention to computer technology and essentially been under a rock for the last 4 years since I put together my last system. I have started wandering the forums again because I am getting ready to upgrade my Mobo, CPU, Memory and Power Supply. Simply stated my goal is not get the most bang for my buck and not necessary the top of the line. I would like to keep this upgrade between $400 and 500. Here is what I have come up with and I would like to solicit opinions.

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale

Memory: for G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1000 (PC2 8000) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory

Mobo : MSI P35 Neo2-FR LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130098&Tpk=MSI%2bP35%2bNeo2-FR%2bLGA

Power Supply(I would like a high efficiency rating) : PC Power & Cooling S610EPS 610W http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703005

or
SeaSonic S12 Energy Plus SS-550HT ATX12V
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151027

Everyone has an opinion and and I welcome them all. Is there a part with a glaring weakness that is going to limit my OC. Again, i'm not trying to set any record just do well with a small amount of money.

Thanks in advance!

David



u mentioned high effeciency power supply ... get those power supply certified by 80 Plus ... do not trust those other excessive ads ..
http://www.80plus.org/

it's actually quite hard to be certified with 80plus

[chinaguy]

I think the tests I have read say the only difference between 6MB and 3MB of cache is a perfomance reduction of 2%. So you lose little in performabce getting a E7xxx and E8xxx of silmilar Ghz clock speed.

[LUCI5R]

Is there a big difference between PC2-8000 (1000) and PC2-8500 (1066)? There's is a $41 cost difference in the 4GB (2X2GB) Dual Channel kit - and I really don't want to spend the extra $41 if it doesn't make a BIG difference.

OC'ing Q6600 on ASUS P5K-E/Wifi-AP (P35) board.

Thanks.

[zanzabar]

Is there a big difference between PC2-8000 (1000) and PC2-8500 (1066)? There's is a $41 cost difference in the 4GB (2X2GB) Dual Channel kit - and I really don't want to spend the extra $41 if it doesn't make a BIG difference.

OC'ing Q6600 on ASUS P5K-E/Wifi-AP (P35) board.

Thanks.

for the gskill the 1000 is slitly lower binned and a 6layer pcb, while the 1066 is the highest bun and an 8 layer, so the 1066 gets to like 1160 but the 1000 gets to 1120-1140

its not a bug difference

[LUCI5R]

for the gskill the 1000 is slitly lower binned and a 6layer pcb, while the 1066 is the highest bun and an 8 layer, so the 1066 gets to like 1160 but the 1000 gets to 1120-1140

its not a bug difference

Thanks, yeah, I don't think it's worth $41 for me, so I'll stick to the PC2-8000 1000Mhz 4GB Dual Channel Kit for now.

[Machiavelli]

Help Please!

Well I set up my new rig which includes:

DFI p35 Bloodiron
E8400


I just started to tweak setting in BOIS and OC and for some reason my multiplier appears to be stuck on 6. Bios gives the option to adjust between 6 and 9. It allows me to select any number in this range and it appears to save correctly in bois but when I check cpu-z in windows my multiplier is stuck on 6. For example, I set my multiplier to 7 and fsb to 425 and it appears to save correctly in BOID but it shows up at 6x 425 in Cpu-z. I even loaded and saved optimized defaults and it was still underclocked and stuck on a multiplier of 6 according to cpu-z. Bios reflects my saved changes but cpu-z does not. Am I missing something in bios? Is cpu-z just wrong?

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[zanzabar]

do u have c1e, or speed step enabled

[Machiavelli]

Zanzabar,

c1e is set at auto by default, is that correct? I dont see speed step. I noticed that cpu-z was behaving weird. My multiplier was set at 7 in bios but it was display as 6 in cpu-z but start to bounce up to 7 and then back down to 6.

Thanks!