Greetings. I have 2 quick questions about overclocking with DDR3 RAM, and also a power supply question. I'm using Windows XP 32bit. I'm considering the following items for my next upgrade. As you can see I'm not an early adopter. I like to get the final revisions in the previous generation of things: Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-EP45T-UD3LR http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128371 Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115037 Power Supply: Antec BP550 Plus 550W ATX12V V2.2 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371016 Video Card: GIGABYTE GV-N26SO-896I GeForce GTX 260 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125294 RAM: CORSAIR 2GB (2x1GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM 1600 (PC3 12800) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145248 1. Will I be able to achieve a 4.2+Ghz overclock with this motherboard and DDR3 RAM with the e8400 processor? I've heard that the DDR3 ram has a divider of 4, for example if you had DDR3 1600 ram, the supported front side bus would be 1600/4=400 mhz. And I've heard that DDR2 RAM has a divider of 2, so DDR2 1200 would have a supported front side bus of 1200/2=600 mhz therefore making it better to overclock with? I know the maximum multiplier of the e8400 is 9, so if I wanted 4.2 Ghz, 4200/9= 466.66 mhz. We know also that the FrontSideBus on the e8400 is quad-pumped, so 466.66x4=1866.66 mhz. That means my DDR3 ram would have to overclock, but only if I want to stay in synchronous mode. Could I switch to Asynchronous mode to a 3:4 FrontSideBusRAM ratio or similar and get that 4.2 Ghz overclock? Is that a good idea? Would this DDR3 ram be able to overclock to 1866 mhz? The motheboard claims to go up to 2200 mhz... 2. Will this power supply be acceptable for the video card? If I want to overclock it? If I want to software based Volt mod it with EVGA GPU Voltage Tuner v1.1.2.2? It says on the specifications page of this cards non-overclocked version, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125291, that it needs 36A on the 12V rails of the power supply. The Antec BP550 power supply has the 550W, but it says each of the 12V rails has 22A. If it uses 2 12V rail connectors as the video card needs, would that satisfy the 36A? 22+22=44? Alot of the power supplies I see in a wide range of Wattage don't offer 36A on each of the 12V rails. Thanks very much for helping me!
There is absolutely no reason to get DDR3 for a Core 2 system, it doesn't provide any extra performance. DDR3 memory is slightly cheaper than DDR2 nowadays, but you can save a lot of money by using a motherboard without DDR3 slots. You can get an E8400 to 4.2Ghz with a lot of boards, though it requires 467FSB to pull off, meaning PC8500 or higher RAM, and reasonably high voltages all round. I have to say though, I very rarely advise people to buy E8400s any more, they're just too much money for a dual core CPU. You could build a quad core system for pretty much the same cost. 550W is ample for that system, 450W is ample, but that's not a very good unit. You have chosen a very poor graphics card as well. that $199.99 is buying you a graphics card only worth $120, if that. Get this instead: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161299 In general, for the $600 or so you're spending on those 5 components (and why only 2GB of RAM?) you would get much more by spending a little more and getting: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115131 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128380 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145256 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161299 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817610002
I do, yet I don't actually own one at the moment. Corsair are, all around, the best choice for people, but simply put, for absolute silence they've been topped by other PSUs that are less good value. The Nexus 430W unit is one such example, but due to its admirable performance, having 2 PCIe power connectors and the lack of availability of the 520HX and 550VX at present, it has usurped the Corsair in my build lists currently.
