new system specs

[polonyc2]

I'm planning on building a new system shortly and want to know people's opinions on my components...I'm especially confused on the memory...I'm mainly going to be using this for high end gaming with medium overclocking...any and all help is appreciated

CPU: Intel E8400 or Intel Q6600

Mobo: ASUS P5E3 Premium (X48) or ASUS P5E3 Deluxe WiFi-AP (X38)

CPU Cooler: Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme or Tuniq Tower T-120-LFB

Video Card: ATI 3870X2 or GeForce 8800GTS (G92)

Memory: need help in choosing the correct DDR3 memory (DDR3-1066? DDR3-1033?)...if I go with DDR2 I will most likely go with 4 GB DDR2-800

Hard Drive: either 1 500 GB 7200 RPM drive or 2 Raptors in RAID0

Sound Card: Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Professional

Case: Antec P182, Cooler Master CM-690 or Cooler Master Stacker 832...or a dark horse candidate the XClio Windtunnel Advanced---> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811103019&Tpk=xclio+wtbk+advanced

Power Supply: PC Power and Cooling Silencer 750W or Corsair 750W/650W

 

[Dangman]

The only pros about the X38 chipset is that it has A) PCI-E 2.0 support which is pretty much useless since there aren't any cards out today that can fully saturate the AGP bus let alone PCI-E 1.1, B) Native Crossfire support which you don't need and C) better support for DDR3 RAM, which right now is horribly expensive.

So no point with going with the X38 mobo or X48 mobos. Go with a P35 mobo instead:
Abit IP35-E Intel P35 Motherboard - $90
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L Intel P35 Motherboard - $90
MSI P35 Neo2-FR Intel P35 ATX Motherboard - $119
Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3R Intel P35 Motherboard - $127
DFI LanParty Dark P35-T2RS Intel P35 Motherboard - $150
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P Intel P35 Motherboard - $151
Abit IP35 Pro Intel P35 Motherboard - $170
Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS4 Intel P35 Motherboard - $176

Just to help you out: If you don't need RAID, more than 4 SATA ports or legacy ports, then the DS3L is a good choice. If you need 5 SATA ports, 2 eSATA ports, and a second PCI-E x16 port, then get the Neo2-Fr. If you want 8 SATA ports, RAID, and legacy ports and high overclocks, than the DS3R is a good choice. If you want the DS3R but need Firewire, then go for the DS3P. If you want a mobo with a ton of overclocking options, go with the LanParty. If you want something that can overclock pretty damn high along with eSATA ports and firewire connections, than the IP35 Pro.

 

[DanNeely]

The only pros about the X38 chipset is that it has A) PCI-E 2.0 support which is pretty much useless since there aren't any cards out today that can fully saturate the AGP bus let alone PCI-E 1.1,

This isn't true. AGP 8x = PCIe 8x (comparing AGPs fast direction to PCIes unidirectional BW), and Toms found 8800 series cards slowed noticably when throttled to 8x. Based on the performance lost I'd wag they were using about 12x bandwidth.

 

[engiNURD]

This isn't true. AGP 8x = PCIe 8x (comparing AGPs fast direction to PCIes unidirectional BW), and Toms found 8800 series cards slowed noticably when throttled to 8x. Based on the performance lost I'd wag they were using about 12x bandwidth.

I cant find the link right now, but ATI cards don't lose much performance in most games compared to NVIDIA cards, when run at a lower bandwidth. So, NVIDIA just needs to make more efficient use of the bandwidth.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/01/23/crossfire_meets_pci_express/page13.html

Conclusion - Switching To PCI Express 2.0 Yields No Improvement
...
Upgrading a Crossfire system from an Intel 975X or P35 chipset to an X38 will only pay off if you play at resolutions of 1920x1200 or higher.