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Review my upgrade, please :)

I

iRoNeTiK

Vodka Martinis are for the Weak
Joined
Aug 4, 2003
Messages
1,417
Hey! Anything you would change to get better performance and cheaper?

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 Yorkfield 2.66GHz
DFI LP LT X48-T2R LGA 775 Intel X48 Motherboard
OCZ Reaper HPC 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066

All for 750. I plan to oc on aftermarket air cooling. Any recommendations on heatsink? I have a DFI mobo right now and looked at the anandtech review of it and it looks good.

I mostly do gaming, some photoshop and general computing and keep everything else in my current PC in signature.
 
You could save some money if you went with a Q6600 instead of a Q9450, but I understand your reasons for going with the 45nm chip.

You could also save some money by getting a P35 board. IMHO X48 is a waste unless you're doing dual GPUs.

If the RAM is over $100, it's a waste of money, and you can find something just as good that's DDR2-800 for $70-$80 at Newegg.
 
LstOfTheBrunnenG said:
You could save some money if you went with a Q6600 instead of a Q9450, but I understand your reasons for going with the 45nm chip.

You could also save some money by getting a P35 board. IMHO X48 is a waste unless you're doing dual GPUs.

If the RAM is over $100, it's a waste of money, and you can find something just as good that's DDR2-800 for $70-$80 at Newegg.
Click to expand...

That pretty much sums it up for me aswell.

Get some XMS2 DDR2 800 2 x 1 gig 4-4-4-12 for $29 after rebate. I have 4 gigs of that and it's excellent.
 
I am not sold on that motherboard getting you any better of an overclock compared to some of the better P35 boards. Also if you are not doing heavy video work and want to overclock anyway, the Q6600 is a much better deal.

What you picked out is fine and all, its just not stuff a lot of people would spend $750 on since its outside the performance/value sweet spot. I put together the entire system in my sig for a little over $750.
 
Looks good.

I like the Q9450 choice - runs cooler and might hit 4Ghz if you're lucky

The DFI X48 I think is more than you need and costs way too much, but IF you know what you're doing it can be a great board for experienced tweakers. IF not you may be better off with a cheap P35 mobo.

2x2Gb is great. OCZ ram is fine. Though I'd probably get the G.Skill as its cheaper after the mail in rebate, and I've had good experiences with G.skill.
 
chrisf6969 said:
Looks good.

I like the Q9450 choice - runs cooler and might hit 4Ghz if you're lucky
Click to expand...

I think you gotta be lucky just to get one over 3.4-3.5 range right now. 4Ghz on a Q9450 would definitely be an anomaly without outrageous cooling and voltage.
 
3.4 ghz sounds good. Yah I looked at a DFI and Asus P35 board, knocked the price down to 600!

Regarding ram, I have g.skill now, I'll take a look around, definately going to get 4 gigs. Wouldn't 2x2gig be better than 4x1gig?

Everyone seems out the Q9450 :( Newegg was out of it then had it, now this morning it's gone.

The Q9450 and 1:1 ram divider, that would be 667 ram speed right? So with ddr2 800 @ 1:1, I could possibly achieve a 3.2 ghz?

I'm deciding between 800 or 1066, the price difference is marginal.

Thanks for the tips.
 
Everyone seems out the Q9450 Newegg was out of it then had it, now this morning it's gone.
Click to expand...

In stock right here:

http://www.tankguys.com/product_info.php?products_id=1791

That is a great place to order from too!

Wouldn't 2x2gig be better than 4x1gig?
Click to expand...

Yes

The Q9450 and 1:1 ram divider, that would be 667 ram speed right? So with ddr2 800 @ 1:1, I could possibly achieve a 3.2 ghz?
Click to expand...

Yes

I'm deciding between 800 or 1066, the price difference is marginal.
Click to expand...

Get the 1066 then if you do get into high FSB overclocking, you have less to worry about. If not, you are out like $3 and it runs fine at 800 anyway
 
Thank you for the link! Any recommendation on a good heatsink? Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme? I got a nice 120mm fan right now! So thinking just get heatsink that accepts 120mm fan

I'm going with the P35 ASUS P5K Board
 
iRoNeTiK said:
Thank you for the link! Any recommendation on a good heatsink? Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme? I got a nice 120mm fan right now! So thinking just get heatsink that accepts 120mm fan
Click to expand...

Personally I would not use a TRUE 120 as you will find a lot of people having trouble with the flatness of the block plus others having trouble with the weight of the cooler causing contact issues (which you can fix with a penny btw).

I have a Xigmatek S1283 (comes with a 4 pin 120mm PWM fan) and I use the X brace mount for it (http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/lgbowiscsp.html). I would buy this combination again over a TRUE any day of the week. Its cheaper, performance is almost identical between the two, and no heavy weight to worry about.
 
ocellaris said:
Personally I would not use a TRUE 120 as you will find a lot of people having trouble with the flatness of the block plus others having trouble with the weight of the cooler causing contact issues (which you can fix with a penny btw).

I have a Xigmatek S1283 (comes with a 4 pin 120mm PWM fan) and I use the X brace mount for it (http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/lgbowiscsp.html). I would buy this combination again over a TRUE any day of the week. Its cheaper, performance is almost identical between the two, and no heavy weight to worry about.
Click to expand...

I've come to the same conclusion with my Thermalright Ultima-90. It was very concave and my temps are really bad. I read every (modern) review of heatsinks and also ordered a Xigmatek S1283 with the TR LGA775 bolt-through kit. It seems to be the one to beat these days.

I'm not sure how you went from a DFI X48 to an ASUS P5K. I wouldn't make that leap. :)
 
chrisf6969 said:
Looks good.

I like the Q9450 choice - runs cooler and might hit 4Ghz if you're lucky

.
Click to expand...


i just sold my q9450 and bought the q6700 oem for $239. the q9450 ran much hotter at the same vcore. also, the q9450 has an fsb wall with the dfi x38/48 boards of around 420mhz. so that will limit you to under 3400mhz if you get the dfi board. i was able to get 422mhz in my dfi x38 lp and around 460 in my 780i board, and that was with massive vcore. gfl hitting 4ghz, even with water. get a q66/6700. or an e8400 if your really interested in going over 4ghz.


edit dfi makes some great p35 boards, ie the lp lt/ut t2r in particular.
 
vanilla_guerilla said:
i just sold my q9450 and bought the q6700 oem for $239. the q9450 ran much hotter at the same vcore. also, the q9450 has an fsb wall with the dfi x38/48 boards of around 420mhz. so that will limit you to under 3400mhz if you get the dfi board. i was able to get 422mhz in my dfi x38 lp and around 460 in my 780i board, and that was with massive vcore. gfl hitting 4ghz, even with water. get a q66/6700. or an e8400 if your really interested in going over 4ghz.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info! I'll consider it but I think I'm content with getting around 3.4 or so :)
 
Would a DFI p35 board be able to push it above 420? I just read anandtech article on the DFI x48 board and it mentions that 420mhz wall for the quadcore 45nm while the ASUS Rampage can get to higher fsb with much more ease.

So If i were going x48, I go with ASUS; it seems to hit higher clocks but what about P35?
 
iRoNeTiK said:
Cost!

Any other P35 board you guys would recommend otherwise?
Click to expand...

P5K is good, though Asus RMA service makes continental drift look fast. Luckily, Asus boards are not likely to fail :D

I had a Gigabyte P35 board myself and scrapped it for a MSI Neo2 FR. Without getting into it, I have no complaints with the MSI and I doubt I use another Gigabyte product in the next 5 years. Anything between a Asus P5K, MSI Neo2, and DFI Blood Iron would be my picks for cheap(ish) P35 boards. Abit IP35-E was good too, however they stopped making it. There are lots of good P35 boards out there with very mature BIOSes now.
 
p35 seems to be the best board for the 45nm quad so far. abit p35 pro is good, as are the dfi p35 boards. i have never used a gigabyte board so cant tell you either way. i have used asus boards and would advise against it.
 
the asus boards i have used have all been overpriced, never overclocked as well as other tier 1 mbs, almost always released with issues that arent fixed until later bios updates, ram compatibility problems, and probably the worst customer service of any manufacturer. their web site is even slow.



105843672_1dfe6cbaac.jpg
 
I will probably go DFI just because I use them currently and in the past and love them. I'm sure ASUS is good too, just no reason to change, but I'm going to buy in the next week and see what the prices and availability are :)
 
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