C2D for $1200 - Final Thoughts

[airrob]

Alright, after much tweaking and deliberation, I've come up with this for my roommate:

https://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/Wishlist/PublicWishDetail.asp?WishListNumber=3406411

He does not want or need more hard drive space. Besides that, unless you guys think anything should be changed, he's going to order this weekend.

 

[General Crespin]

Now he doesn't, but down the road, who knows?

Unless you're on a tight budget, get at least a 160GB.

 

[filthysanchez]

nothing wrong with getting a secondary later.
i have a 40 gig hard drive, with a 250 external, and it's all i need.

 

[engiNURD]

If he doesn't plan on OC'ing, he should get DDR2-533 instead. Check out this article:
http://www.anandtech.com/memory/showdoc.aspx?i=2800&p=6 ... and if he does want to OC, he'll be better off with DDR2-667 and the DS3 board instead of the S3 board. Here are some more RAM Chioces and their best timings (tested by anandtech): Source

$215-40 - pqi TURBO 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2-667 PQI25400-2GDB ($40 MIR)
PQI - DDR2-667 - 2x1GB, Model # PQI25400-2GDB
CPU Ratio/Memory Speed/Best Memory Timings/(Voltage)
4:3 // DDR2 400 // 3-2-2-5 // 2.0V ..... 1:1 // DDR2 533 // 3-2-2-7 // 2.0V
4:5 // DDR2 667 // 3-2-3-9 // 2.2V ..... 2:3 // DDR2 800 // 4-3-3-9 // 2.2V

I'd go with those sticks above, but if you're worried about the 2.0V, the following are all 1.8V:

$250 - Patriot 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2-667 PDC22G5300LLK
CPU Ratio // Memory Speed // Best Memory Timings // Voltage
4:3 // DDR2-400 // 3-2-2-5 // 1.9V ..... 1:1 // DDR2-533 // 3-2-3-7 // 1.9V
4:5 // DDR2-667 // 3-3-3-8 // 2.1V ..... 2:3 // DDR2-800 // 4-3-3-8 // 2.1V

$215 - CORSAIR ValueSelect 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2-667 VS2GBKIT667D2
CPU Ratio // Memory Speed // Best Memory Timings // Voltage
4:3 // DDR2-400 // 3-2-2-5 // 1.9V ..... 1:1 // DDR2-533 // 3-2-2-7 // 2.1V
4:5 // DDR2-667 // 3-3-3-8 // 2.1V ..... 2:3 // DDR2-800 // 4-3-3-8 // 2.2V

$105 - AMPX 1GB DDR2-675
$105 - AMPX 1GB DDR2-675
CPU Ratio // Memory Speed // Best Memory Timings // Voltage
4:3 // DDR2-400 // 3-2-2-5 // 1.8V ..... 1:1 // DDR2-533 // 3-2-2-7 // 1.9V
4:5 // DDR2-667 // 3-3-3-8 // 2.15V ..... 2:3 // DDR2-800 // 4-3-3-9 // 2.2V

$215 - A-DATA Vitesta 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2-533 ELJKD1A16K
CPU Ratio // Memory Speed // Best Memory Timings // Voltage
4:3 // DDR2-400 // 3-2-2-5 // 1.8V ..... 1:1 // DDR2-533 // 3-2-2-8 // 1.9V
4:5 // DDR2-667 // 3-3-2-8 // 2.1V ..... 2:3 // DDR2-800 // 4-3-3-8 // 2.1V