deciding between cpu & gpus

[Masta Frankis]

Hey everyone,
okay, heres my delio. My budget is allowing me one of three options.
A Q6600 w/mobo & 8600GTS combo
An E8400 w/ mobo & 8600GTS combo
or An E7200 w/mobo & 8800GT combo

which will give me the best performance overall, especially in games.

Thanks

[pbmaster]

For gaming I would say go for the last option, the E7200 and 8800 GT. The 8600 GTS isn't a bad card, but the 8800 GT is much better for gaming. Also, the E7200's OC very well.

[Xazax]

Agreed E7200 with a great mobo with give you excellent OCing abilities and that 8800GT will be a great GPU to pair with it.

[ShadowFold]

Why would you get a puny 8600 with a high end cpu when you can get a 8800GT and the budget beast E7200??

[farlex85]

Definately the last.

[Masta Frankis]

Thanks. So I decided to go with the E7200. Which of these mobos is better tho?

The EVGA nForce 650i Ultra Motherboard
Or the Intel DG35EC Motherboard

[farlex85]

Neither. The 650i is a terrible ocer, and you can get a better chipset than the g35. Are you going for sli?

[Masta Frankis]

No, I don't think I'd be needing SLI really. But I need a budget mobo, any suggestions?

[farlex85]

p35, maybe the gigabyte ds3g. $70 if in us.

[ShadowFold]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813136038

Should easily get your E7200 to 3.2ghz on stock volts. Just change speed to 400 and multi to 8 :)

[farlex85]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813136038

Should easily get your E7200 to 3.2ghz on stock volts. Just change speed to 400 and multi to 8 :)

Thats not exactly budget, and dfi are not the easiest for beginners.

How experienced are you w/ oc masta, and where are you?

[ShadowFold]

Thats not exactly budget, and dfi are not the easiest for beginners.

Yea but its also one of the only good boards that comes with the Wolfdale BIOS update. Plus I changed two settings in my bios to get 3.2ghz and it looks pretty easy for me.

[farlex85]

Yea but its also one of the only good boards that comes with the Wolfdale BIOS update. Plus I changed two settings in my bios to get 3.2ghz and it looks pretty easy for me.

True, but once you go past stock voltages it gets tougher on that board. A gigabyte could be ocd to 3.6 and above changing nothing but the fsb. The wolfdale thing is a good point though, I'm not sure if the ds3g has that.

[Masta Frankis]

I'm in Chicago, and I'm pretty much a complete beginner. But I'm learning.

And how is this mobo?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128084

[ShadowFold]

You have to a little past stock volts. Like once he started getting into the 4ghz range he might have to mess with the GLT things.

[farlex85]

I'm in Chicago, and I'm pretty much a complete beginner. But I'm learning.

And how is this mobo?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128084

I think thats a solid board. Will oc just fine. Of course, does it have the features your looking for is the key question. I'm not sure if it will do 45nm out of the box though.

[ShadowFold]

I'm in Chicago, and I'm pretty much a complete beginner. But I'm learning.

And how is this mobo?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128084

If your getting a 45nm dual core(E7200, E8400, E8200) You will want to get a board that is known to come with a updated bios cause if it doesnt then you will think something is dead cause it wont post. If you get a Gigabyte DO NOT get the DS3L its known to die randomly, it happened to me too. I can guarantee the DFI Blood Iron, DFI Lanparty T2RS and all X38 based boards will. Lurk around the newegg reviews on certain boards you want and see if anyone was cool enough to say it came with a bios that supported a E7200, E8400 or E8200.

[Masta Frankis]

According to this site, it supports 45nm
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=2729

[farlex85]

It supports it, it just may not have the proper bios out of the box. If thats the case, you would need to get another chip from somewhere that will work w/ that and update the bios. Do you have a core 2 now?

[ShadowFold]

F2 looks like the stock bios so I guess it does.

[Masta Frankis]

I have a Pentium D 840

[farlex85]

The 7200 need F4b though, so I'm thinking it doesn't.

[farlex85]

I have a Pentium D 840

Ok, well you will be fine then. Just pop that in there first, then update to bios F4b, then you can put the e7200 in there. We can always help if you need it.

[ShadowFold]

Ohh I was looking at the E8200.. Yea you will need to update the bios if you get that board :( telling you man, get that blood iron!

[farlex85]

It really depends. Decide how much money you wanna spend, how many sata ports you need, how many pci slots you need, ect. and go from there. Any p35 will do well in my opinion, they each have their nuances, so just go w/ what fits the bill.

[Masta Frankis]

Alright. Sounds good to me. I will most likely come back for help on updating the BIOS.

And I'm going to try for the Blood Iron. It's just a little over my budget, but if you really think its worth it, I'll wait a bit before making my purchase

[Masta Frankis]

And I really just need the minimum. The only SATA drive I have is my DVD drive. Both my internal drives run off IDE. I just need 1 SATA, 1 IDE, 1 PCIe, and 3 PCI. Both of those mobos match

[ShadowFold]

Good luck with what ever board you purchase :) If you need help with that E7200 just message me ive been messing with mine for the past week non stop. Its so fun messing with it!

[Masta Frankis]

Alright, sounds good to me.

Looks like I'll be making a run to the Tigerdirect store soon.

Thanks alot for your help Shadow and farlex. I'll get back to you if I had any more questions. Bye!