ok so i'm building a new machine (gaming mainly)... these are my dilemas:
some hardware part i have right now:
e8400 cpu (was undecide wether to get a q6600 but i opted for this 45nm insted)
275 gtx sli
corsair tx850w
1) i found a corsair kit of ddr2 5400ul 667mhz (4x512mb) ram with 3-2-2-8 timings and was wondering if the low timings are really worth it... i heard ddr3 does not bring major performance improvements (correct me if i'm wrong) over ddr2 and that general gaming performance won't benefit from low latency ram (at least not as much as number crunching programs superpi, benchmarks and stuff like that.. right?) as much as from higher frequency/bandwidth ram (wich would mean better overclocking.. nč? ) when overclocking cpu.
bottom line should i get this low timing ram ? you think i could overclock it to 800mhz ? would it give a decent boost if i did?
2) i can't decide what mobo to get, these are my options:
a)xfx 750i (i heard there were problems with the bios and overclocking and other stuff like cpuz reporting the 750i chipset as a 650i, not much overclocking potential but still decent etc etc....all problems that were fixed with a bios update)
b)asus striker extreme 680i
c)evga 680i
(and i was wondering if the performance on x16 x8 sli would not be as good as a x16 x16 sli.... if performance will benefit even 10% i will go for it but i still want good cpu overclocking, planing on taking the cpu to 4ghz or maybe beyond as i heard it's easy as pie.. )
bottom line... which is best for a good sli and decent overclock?
this new rig is giving me more headaches than joy..
Ok well, unless you want to sell the E8400 for a Core i7 quad core, sell the second GTX275. SLi for socket 775 is completely pointless, the motherboards are so unreliable your PC will be an absolute nightmare to use on a daily basis.
1. PC5400 is very slow for gaming PCs, even with that low latency you may experience performance degradation. Use PC6400 as a minimum. DDR3 does not bring performance benefits over DDR2, but if you use Core i7, DDR3 is mandatory.
In any instance, you should not buy that RAM, it will not overclock to 800mhz without significantly loosening the timings, rendering it pretty much pointless.
2.
a) Definitely not, the 750i is a poor chipset.
b) Even moreso - The Asus Striker Formula & Striker Extreme are officially recognised as the worst motherboards ever made. The various people I know who owned them have all had at least three RMAs within 6 months, some as many as eight.
c) Again, no - the 680i is also terrible - see above. i7 (due to the intel chipset) or no SLI.
