Gigabyte s2 or Abit IB9 motherboard for OC better? Help plea

[noidea123]

Question:

1. At Fry's E6400(2mb cache)+ECS MB for 179+tax=$195 (NO HS!) >>2.2ghz
or the E6600 (4mb cache) with ECS MB for 229+tax = $250(have HS) >>2.4ghz

OR

At amazon E4300 for 116 no tax. Free shipping = $116 >>1.8ghz
plus which one....?

At newegg, Abit 775MB IB9 motherboard
can do OC for 75.99 AR >>95*tax+shipping-20rebate = $95 (4gb max memory)
(1066/800, no onboard video)
for a total of 116+95=$211

or get the can do OC Gigabyte S2 945gzm MB for 54+shipping = $61 (only 2gb max memory)
(w/ onboard video, can oc to 1066, 533/800 ok, )
for a total of 116+61=$177

2.

Get the 7600GT for $85 OTD (DX9)
OR
the 8600GT for $133 OTD (DX10) (varies from 15%-42% faster) on games by TomsHardware.com


I only have the 2gb(Dual channel) memory pc5300 667mhz from Fry's for $70 (Kingston)
can I use this for the not so extreme Overclocking? to like 2.2ghz - 2.5ghz
or do i need to get the 800mhz pc6400?
am i ok to use the 5300?

200gb sata 150
Antec 350watt PS and a spear 500 Ultra PS V-series


Please help me. Thank you

 

[BUFF]

so you have the 5300 RAM already?
The IB9 tops out ~415fsb so the RAM is going to be your limiting factor rather than the mobo. I don't know about the ECS.

E6400 8x333=2.664GHz
E6600 & E4300 9x333=2.997GHz
Obviously if the Kingston can go above it's rated speed then you can squeeze some more.

 

[critofur]

4MB cache vs 2MB cache on the Core Duo CPUs has neglible effect in almost every case.

I would recommend the 4300, good value, higher multiplyer (less limiting of the overclocking from your memory).

If you want to overclock, I wouldn't get the Gigabyte 945GZM-S2 MB, though it may be a fine choice for people who want the (ok for 2D, web browsing, office apps, and older 3D games like Quake 3) integrated graphics and won't overclock much (if any).

The 7600GT looks like a good choice for a ~ $100 video card - newegg has the XFX PVT73GUGF3 GeForce 7600GT for $99 after rebate. (Oh, I see you found one even cheaper)

This article may be interesting: http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=639&p=5


Rather than spending any more (than the 4300) on the CPU, it might make more sense to save the money to either get a better video card now, or just save it 😛

If you really like gaming, then something like the ~$270 8800GTS would be a very good choice - if that's too much now, than if you got the cheaper video card now, then upgrading to a card like that in a year or so wouldn't be such a bad idea...

edit: your memory should be fine for moderate overclocking of the CPU

Another CPU option, which is a really great value (cheap) now is the AMD X2 3600+ (65nm). That CPU is so cheap that you save enough money to by another new CPU a year later that's even faster than todays more expensive CPUs.