Question Alienware Area 51 7500 R5 upgrade information ?

[MajorPager]

I finally managed to get my hands on one of these cool units after many months of searching, and for a good deal!

Now I need to know the best CPU I could pair with the nForce 680i SLI board that's in it.
And also what would be the fastest DDR2 I could pair with the board.

 

[Lutfij]

The Q6600 was the best CPU you could get the price. This thread is a good read.

 

[MajorPager]

The Q6600 was the best CPU you could get the price.

My old Optiplex system I had used a Q6700, could I use that?

Or what about a Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850? I heard that it was the highest the 680i could support.

 

[Joseph_138]

If you get a Q6600, make sure you get the SLACR stepping, and don't cheap out on the cooler. It is an overclocking beast. You might also be able to use a C2Q Extreme 6800, if the latest BIOS update allows it. I upgraded a Dell XPS 720 to one, after first considering the Q6600.

 

[MajorPager]

Good news! The Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850 arrived yesterday, I installed it, and have made a sleeper build out of the unit. It's really faster now!