C2D Buying Guide
This article is overclocker friendly.
This article is overclocker friendly.
With C2D Buzz on full swing on TE had to do this as so many peeps are confused on what to get and what not. This is a mini guide from us Mods to you members which will help you in decideing on what components to go in for to have that perfect rig. So here it goes. I have tried to break it up in four catagories.
Wannbe's Rig(Price range 17500-20000)
C2D 6300
Asrock 775 Twins
DDR 400 RAM/ DDR 2 533 RAM 1 GB KIT(Depends on the situation)
Swap board for MSI Neo 965 F Platinum for an extra 2500 bucks... You get a Dual channel support and more then that a 965 chipset. And if you are lucky enough maybe you will also get a new bios to go more that 333 FSB which btw is a wall for both MSI and Asrock.
Overclocked Gamer(Price range 30000-35000)
C2D 6400
Gigabyte DS3/ASUS P5B
DDR 2 667 RAM 2 GB KIT
Should you have another 5K to spare then you will be one confused person. You can either go in for a 965 chpset based Dlx mob(ASUS P5B Dlx/Gigabyte DQ6) or you can jump on a C2D 6600. Its a tough call. You can also invest in a better 800 DDR2 based RAM which will help you in attaining 1:1 Overclock as most 6400 will do 400 x 8 or more. You can also downgrade the CPU to 6300 save on a bit of money and go in for a better RAM at the same time.
Gamer with deep pockets(Price range 42000-45000)
C2D 6600
ASUS P5W DH/MSI 975 Power up edition
DDR 2 800 RAM(Loose latencies will be good)/DDR 667(Tight latencies) 2 GB Kit
It doesnt get better then this. Although you can downgrade to a 965 for maybe higer clocks but then again 6600 are not known to clock very high and 965 dont do X fire. Also 975 is a much tighter chipset. The only downer is that you have be really lucky to hit a 450 FSB here. The stock performace of this setup is as fast as AMD FX 62 setup. So if you are running this on stock also then too you dont have any problems.
The one they call "The Enthusiast"(Price range 6200-65000)
C2D 6700(Its a chip to get)
ASUS P5W DH/MSI 975 Power up edition
DDR 800 RAM with tight latencies
Watercooling setup(Optional)
Now you dont need anything else other then a bit of luck. Most 6700 are binned and they clock really well. You would really have to have bad luck to not have a system which should be able to do atleast 3.8G to 3.9G.
Ofcourse you need to have good cooling with each of the above mentioned setups. But a overclocker already knows that. Also remember i have tried to put in components that compliment each other. One getting a 6300 CPU with a 975 based board is not a very wise choice as histroy proves that. Also no point going in for a 965 based board with 6600 and up as you wont able to pull off a 500FSB as 6600 is not a chip known for that and also you need to have some really exotic cooling to run it stable at those speeds. Keep all the factors in mind before going in for a setup. The components have to compliment each other. If you are on a tight budget then there is no harm in opting in for a slower RAM. There is no shame in using dividers. But 1:1 Overclocks are always better. Otherwise you do loose a bit of performance which maybe your RAM or your chip could do. I would again like to mention this " One should invest in a good cooling solution". It does not need to be exotic but it should do the job well. Lots of peeps ignore this fact which is a shame.
Other Components which can go along with the system:
Gfx Cards
Palit GF 7600GT 8500
Monitor
Samsung 740N LCD 11000
Viewsonic 19" Widescreen LCd 15000
viewsonic 20" Widescreen VX2025WM 23000
Storage
Seagate 160 GB 3600
Maxtor 250 GB 4300
Seagate 300 GB 5000
PSU
Powersafe 400 Watts 1600
