ram - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showprodu ... -OC&tool=3
cpu - http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.a ... 80571e6700

i'd be overclocking the cpu, most likely. is this a good match? all of the 800mhz DDR2 stuff, like i have atm, are more expensive for some reason. also, for gaming, would this be wasted on a system running a geforce 8800gt @ 512mb?

cheers, hardware geeks

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ュ~ちゃんgamer.jp Pinky: true genius
ュ~ちゃんgamer.jp Pinky: doesn't make sense
ュ~ちゃんgamer.jp Pinky: till you're senseless

You probably shouldn't buy a core 2 duo, or any socket 775 chip for that matter. If your highest demand application is gaming, you could get by with an i3 or an i5, if you are doing something more intense you should really skip up to the 1366 socket and get an i7. On that subject, the Ivy Bridge chips, on the 1155 socket will be coming out very soon. They really won't overclock at all unless you buy an unlocked (expensive) version, but they should do great for gaming. My personal recommendation would be the i7-930, as it is a great balance between price, power, and overclocking headroom (you can easily take a 930 to 4+Ghz on air while staying under 70 degrees).

On the subject of overclocking, that is pretty much pointless for gaming unless you are running 3+ graphics cards in SLI or Crossfire.

As far as the memory goes, I wouldn't go with that particular item. The only point of low voltage memory is to save money/power, but unless you're an eco-freak, it's so small as to not matter. The normal voltage memory is a lot more stable and reliable, especially if you're going to be overclocking. Also, the Cas latency on that memory is 9, if I were you I'd really go for memory with a CL of 7. It really does make a difference. Just remember, you get what you pay for.

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[SpA]cardboard: what you do with your sister is your business

thanks for gettin back

part of the reason that i went for a core 2 duo is because i'd prefer to keep my motherboard - it only takes socket 775, although it has slots for dual DDR3 (@ 1333Mhz max, i think). hopefully it'll be a while yet until i need an I-series, if i can get half decent clock-age out of some high end core 2 duos.

as for the memory - is CAS latency the same(ish) thing as CAS timings? if so, what exactly am i looking for here? the last time i took an interest in hardware was about 3 years ago, so i'm pretty behind on this stuff D: really, the main reason for picking those modules is because i'm running 2gb on Vista x64, and i've heard about how much smoother it runs at 3/4gb - that, and my current sticks are OCZ and they've done me just dandy so far. like i say, only getting DDR3 cos i can't get usable DDR2 for a reasonable price anyway, and because my motherboard supports it, so unless this CAS is gonna really slow things down (which, given that i'm still running a 512mb 8800gt and a SATA-II HDD, i can't really see happening. but then again, i don't really have the full picture).

as for overclocking the cpu; atm I have something from the 22XX range running @3.1Ghz (up from 2.0 or something), so while + .1 of a Ghz at standard isn't all that much difference and i might see little difference from overclocking, i'd probably have a go at it anyway, even if it's just to make things a little more future proof.

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ュ~ちゃんgamer.jp Pinky: true genius
ュ~ちゃんgamer.jp Pinky: doesn't make sense
ュ~ちゃんgamer.jp Pinky: till you're senseless

Get a new motherboard. You should be able to get an 15 and a new mobo in a package deal if money is a problem otherwise i would suggest.

i7-850
G-P55A-UD3P

That is about $300-$400 AUD over here.

AMD has a nice processor too,

AMD Phenom II X6 1100T and a motherboard are around € 300 - 350 For that money you get a six core ( not a six thread ) processor @ 3.3 GHz !!!
Add a nice radeon 6870 and your ready for the future.

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and crapping is difficult with a chair to stuck to your bottom

Ppl expect overclocking to do a major lot. If you don't go overclocking for the sheer fun and experience on it, it's kind of no point. Like was said before, maybe, if you have 3 sli cards and whatnot in your pc.
You could better look at the rest of your hardware. If you have a normal HD, that'll probably be the bottleneck and you'd better buy yourself an SSD. That is if the rest of your hardware ain't fred flinstone stuff.

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M.A.S.K. , is the mighty power that can save the day

Well - TBH overclocking does A LOT. My Core2Duo E6600 has been running @ 3.2 GHz for 2.5 years now and the difference in performance is as big as you'd expect (i.e. +30%).
Overclocking doesn't do much if you have an already beefy computer but the older it gets, the more you get out of everything you can squeeze out.

Overclocking is also SO easy these days - I remember when you had to solder bridges on CPUs to unlock their clocks - now you just enter some settings in the BIOS and check if they work, probably the temperature as well. Done.

But Bucky is right that there are many bottlenecks in a system though they affect different things - i.e. SSDs will not affect your computing performance, of course, but they will make things load faster.

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War does not determine who is right - only who is left. - Bertrand Russell