I know some retailers which give a 5% discount if you buy a whole system from them....

Just that these guys don't.

I still don't know which of the 3 RAM will be best for overclocking. A review suggest the Corsair, but its a really thin margin...

Any ideas for the RAM?

I just found out about 2 different E6300, the L2 and B2 stepping, any ideas which is better? Just assume I can get my hands on either.

As I read there are new versions of the 6300 and 6400 hitting retail second quarter

zzz. I thought we covered that somewhere else. I am absolutely not interested in the new processors, as they have lower multipliers, making them that much harder to overclock.

And I don't really care about the 2mb of cache, they don't really matter when it comes to performance... yet.

yeah I see where you're going. I learned the hard way about low multiplier. I think I'm going to get a 6800 or a quad6700...maybe

Sorry, not that well off. I'm still wondering about the RAM.

Okay, I went and bought and ordered parts in the last week.

Right now, I own:
Gigabyte P965-DS3P rev 3.3
Gskill F2-6400CL4D-2GBPK
Sapphire 256mb X1950Pro
Antec TP3 650W

Right now on order:
Intel Core2Duo6400 (Batch# L629B062)
Thermalright Ultra-120
Thermalright HR-03
Thermalright HR-05-SLI
2x Arctic Cooling Arctic Fan 12
Arctic Cooling Arctic Fan 8
Arctic Cooling Fan AF9225

Who needs new HDDs or case when you can reuse, and spend AUD$200 on cooling accessories?

I should have everything by Monday, installed by Tuesday. Will be testing everything before applying aftermarket products for about a week, which means it'll be next weekend before I use my nice new thermalrights + Arctic Cooling Fan combo.

Another few days of stability testing, and then overclock mania

Will get back here with results from everything. Will also post on www.overclock.net.

Good choices, though it does seem you went a little crazy on the cooling

Crazy?

They're the best you can get if you want to go on aircooling IMO.

The thermalright ultra 120 is questionable tho, with the tuniq tower. Also, they have released the ultra 120 plus, which comes with an extra heatpipe (which is bent into a "U" making it look like 2 heatpipes). Given that it was on special, and the tuniq tower is pretty hard to find around here, the ultra 120 was my best choice.


And if you're wondering, every single item has been researched up, and I've got a very good reason behind the choice. I might write it up later when I've got more time.

Got the new comp up and running. Coretemp shows 20C idle temp, 36C load temps with the ultra 120 on. Not using AS5 atm, lost my tube...

stock 3DMark06 score of 4851

Okay, I've just determined the fastest OC I can get at the highest vCore I dare go to, which is a piddly 1.35V. Given that this comp is gonna be on just about 24/7, and I don't intend to replace it for many many years to come, I'm not going to increase the voltage anymore.

Highest OC @ 1.35V: 3.2Ghz.

Will update with new 3DMark06 score, and then overnight Orthos stability check, then GC OC time. Now its 2 mins Orthos friendly, 3.4ghz failed Orthos in as little as 1 sec. RAM at 5-5-5-15, will change to 4-4-4-12 before running benchies.

update: RAM timings changed, Orthos stable 2 mins. Benchmark run at 1280x1024, no AA (same as stock), all tests run.

CPU @ 3.2Ghz score: 5256

I'll let run Orthos overnight, and if its 100% stable till then, I'll call it stable, and start OC the GC.

Upgraded the CPU to E6420. Managed to get a new overclock of 3.4ghz@1.40V. Screenies are here on techspot itself. Load temps included.

http://www.techspot.com/gallery/data/504/untitled22.JPG

Superpi 1m of 14.985s too!! I broke 15s!! Took me a damn long while to tweaking my RAM to get from 15.062 to 14.985....

Anyway, pics are finally up on this comp.
Here, here and here.

If you want more angles, just ask.