i need a 64bit Intel mobo and proc. ive been out of the hardware loop for a while now so tell me, whats the most badass mobo and proc i can buy right now?
the Intel core2 extreme, raedon x1950 (although i cant find it for sale... is it not out yet?) , the Intel® Desktop Board D975XBX, and then i have to decide on memory.
it will probably be 2x "2GB 667MHz DDR2 CL5 DIMM "
do i want ECC or non ECC? i understand ECC is "better", but i have heard there is a performance hit because of it. opinion?
You do not want ECC and you want to use DDR2 533 memory, not 667, unless you plan on overclocking.
Also, you chose a CrossFire board. So unless you wish to get two video cards, you can look at other boards and save some cash there.
Also, instead of getting the x1950xtx, you should get the x1950 CrossFire. It's got the same clocks as the x1950xtx and it's got the same MSRP, but it's a CF master card, which means you can couple it with another to get CrossFire. (i.e. 2 x1950xtx won't work in CrossFire together, at least one of the two has to be a CF master card, like the x1950 CF for instance). Even if you don't plan on using CF, get the CF version because if you change your mind, you'll already have it, plus its resell value will probably be higher than the plain xtx.
ATI only paperlaunched their new cards, they'll become available soon.
could you give me an understanding as to why i want DDR2 533 and not 667?
ill be ordering most of this stuff this coming week and i want to get it all right
The FSB on a Core 2 Duo is 1066 mhz, so 2x533mhz. So the memory has to run at 533mhz in order to keep up. The idea between getting faster RAM is that if you overclock, it will be something less to worry about.
I've also read that running the memory synchronously with the FSB helps the system perform better, better than if the memory was clocked higher actually.