[b]Hi All!, Ok i've been threating for a while wondering how i'm going to go with upgrading. I don't need a hdd upgrade or case upgrade or a gfx or screen upgrade. So the other 3 components Memory, CPU and MOBO.

I've decided on :

Mobo: EVGA 132-CK-NF79-A1, NF790i Ultra SLI

CPU: C2D q6600 go stepping

OR

CPU: C2D e8400

Memory: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Pro [...] tID=767378

But with the ddr3 ram i'm not liking the timings atm the timings are too high and to get decent timings you need to frok out £400 over on the ram. I know you can get really good ddr2 and cheap, but I just don't like the fact that memory prices drop quickly and there is always something new out. So i'd like to be "future" proof if there is such a thing.

With the CPU i've seen on forums pros and cons for each ive seen the bencmarks and its all mind boggling. The q6600 the usage of this cpu is not maxed out with games and you are able to run other prgrams in the background fine, but with the e8400 that seems to be better with games, but also I see that its maybe only 5 frames per second difference .

If any of you have any suggestions for me to help me with this problem id be glad to listen to your opinions . My budget is £450 and im going to be using this rig for gaming and video encoding but mainly gaming.

Thanks

Unless your 100% sure your going SLI, don't bother with the nvidia chipsets. Grab an intel chipset instead.

As for DDR3 timings, again they only appear to be high. The way the architecture is compared to DDR2 makes it so that "slack" 8-8-8-25 timings are equal to about 4-4-4-12 on DDR2. Maybe not quite that good, but you get the idea. It was the same when making the jump to DDR2 from DDR1.

On a side note, unless your worried about the minor power consumption differences from DD2 to DDR3, DDR3 is overpriced hogwash. The increased bandwidth is useless because it's all limited by the processors FSB. Meaning anything faster then being synced with the processor FSB is practically useless. Uber fast RAM has little to no performance gain in real world applications. FYI little meaning less then 1% performance. So your best bet is to conserve your cash, and stock up on the DDR2. BUT if you really want a DDR3 system, at least you know you don't need to spring for the most expensive RAM.

As for the processor, since you mentioned video encoding your best bet is the quad. And you definitely will not be disappointed in it's gaming performance.

I'm beginning to think that some people get SLI mobo + 1 weak gpu for bragging rights.

Dump the board unless you SLI right away. Future proof til end of year? For $350 US? No thanks. Cuz Nelahem is around the corner. Should be out in the fall. I know I know it may be a total let down for overclockers, but there's P45 that's supposed to be the best of S775 chipsets. It's out next month.

@ Lucius - Thanks for your help on the RAM buisness i've decided to go with ddr2 and go for the 4gb Corsair XMS2 pc2-6400, i think thats the best bet for me. But xp doesn't really make use of the 4gb and I am definatly not swapping to vista.

CPU wise I am forwarding to the quad but, im still doing some research really.

@ akhilles - yeah I know it wont be future proof hence the quote marks around future .

i'm not going to be using SLI, i'm even considering going to ATI, but thats not for a while im happy with my gpu atm.

But i'd still like some help with a mobo, for a price range of £180 just over, i've seen so many and so many good reviews I just can't decide and i'd like some help from people who are more experianced than me.

Thanks

Glad i could help.

Since your not going SLI, you might want to take a look at the ASUS P5K-E. It's not expensive, built solid, and overclocks amazingly well. But since your budget is a lot higher, i would also look at the ASUS Maximus Formula. It runs exceptionally cool, again overclocks like a champ, and it has LLC. Which is Load Line Calibration, AKA the mother load in overclocking features.

May i ask why you wouldn't even consider Vista?

Let me explain some things anyway. Vista is not the cranky beast everyone makes it out to be. Sure it hogs a little more RAM, and it does pull down your max performance by small percentage, but in my opinion it is nothing to lose for what your get. And i admit it is a pain turning off all the useless stuff, but didn't we have to do that at one time for XP? Not to mention it will get optimized a lot more, just like XP did ages ago.

Prefetch is great. Especially since i have 64bit and a full 8gb of RAM. What Prefetch does is it loads up your most used programs into your RAM, not enough to slow you down of course, so that application and games launch a lot faster.

DX10. Although not really utilized a lot yet, it's there.

But the biggest thing i love about Vista is the fact, at least for the moment, it's very virus/spyware resistant. Since i built my computer back just after christmas, i have not had one single virus/spyware on my computer. I don't have a software firewall, just a built in router firewall, which my computer is ported through. So other then Vista's natural protection from this stuff i have no additional protection from it. In addition, the two other computers on the network, running XP, protected by firewalls, and anti spyware/virus software have been infected more then once during the same time mine hasn't.

One more thing. Vista 64bit, while running true 64bit programs outperforms XP 64bit due to better coding.

Ok, my Vista doesn't suck, rant is over..lol. But seriously though, i hope this information is at least a little enlightening.

Hmmm honestly, I don't want to totally be utilized by vista HAVING said that, I can always partion my drive for it . I suppose hogging some more RAM is no big deal if you are using over 4GB of it leaving alot spare for other apps, this is true vista will need to be optimized and can maybe become better than XP, cos in my best opinion is the best OS MS has made and they have done a good job with it in the process.

HMMMMM i heard somewhere that with sp3 for XP they will be releasing DX10... but doing that would cripple one of micosofts main selling points for vista.

I have to be honest vista's natural protection is very decent its firewall and windows defender are very good.

Looks like microsoft could take a leaf out of your book on how to use vista

With the mobos i've always been desiring to get one of those maximus cases and considering I have the budget of £450 jsut for 3 items I can afford it

Yup, i;m running 8gb and no page file It's thing of beauty.

I very much doubt they'd be releasing dx10 for XP, reason being is very soon M$ is not gonna be supporting XP.

And i'm not even using window defender, it's way too annoying. And i have auto updater off, welcome back small amount of resources I just update every so often.

Anything with the beloved LLC is great. It makes Overclocking much smoother. You don't have to have the idle voltage to your processor nearly as high because of it.

Not supporting XP? surely that would slaughter MS in their sleep?

Anyway I have decided to go with the Asus Maximus Formula (mmmm get stalker with it to ).

CPU wise it's going to have to be the e8400 for me cos tbh video encoding ill do while i sleep and that was my only interest in the q6600.

RAM welll that i havnt decided, im going for ddr2 and the mobo can support ddr3 so that''ll be useful later on, i'll probably go for 4gb reapers or 4gb dominatix not sure what do you guys suggest?

I'm running OCZ Platinum, no complaints here. I've heard the Reaper is good too.

Pretty much anything that's 5-5-5-15 or lower in timings, 800mhz, and cheap is good. You might want to check out which brands of memory are known to work on your mobo.

If you plan on overclocking your 8400 far, then you'll want to research some RAM that is known to overclock easily.

My RAM was clocked at 888mhz at one point for a while without any issues. But i know there's better 800mhz RAM for that.

This is assuming you leave your RAM synced with your FSB. In my opinion it offers the best performance.

I've purchased my Asus Maximus Formula and hope for it soon, also purchased my ram OCZ reaper x edition 4gb ddr2.

Also does anyone know how to remove thermal paste of a motherboard cpu pins? i was thinking of getting some alcohol substance and soaking some paper cloth with it and put it between the pins and move it up and down slightly?
Would that work?

No ideas anyone?

Hmmm what would be the best case for about £160?
Looking for removeable mobotray, decent cable management, good cooling, either midi or full tower, not a loud case and a side window ><.

I've seen a few but not sure which is the best.

You got some down in there too eh? This happened the last time i reseated my HSF, a little "crumb" or two of thermal paste fell into the motherboard's cpu socket.

I used a needle to painstakingly pick it out. It's a tedious job, i wouldn't want to do it again.

I shall try that first and if there are some bits left i will use isopropyl and tissue paper. Is there anywhere on here about talk of it?

A Q-Tip might be easier.

wouldnt a Q-tip bend the pins?

Would nail vanish remover work aswell?