Build recommendations

extra-ordinary_

I've caught the bug again and was thinking of doing a new build. I want a **** hot system as cheap as posssible! I'm being lazy and rather trawl the net for weeks comparing and researching, I thought someone might give me a few recommendations for parts. Is it possible to get a mobo with integrated graphics but also with a good chipset and BIOS for overclocking. Basically I want a pretty good system but I don't need graphics for gaming or anything like that. Should I just wait for X38 and the new CPUs?
Anyone know when DFI's new X38 board is coming out? The last nforce 4 ultra-d board I had of theirs was a cracker, and I have high hopes of their new one. It's a pity about dfi-street though.

8T8

Well there is the odd board out there with integrated graphics and overclocking options like the ABIT Fatal1ty F-I90HD but given that add-in cards are so cheap these days it simply may not be worth it.

X38 isn't due till August or September so you'll be waiting a while more for it. The P35 chipset is the same thing with 1333Mhz FSB support and support for the newer Core 2's so thats a viable option.

The X38 really only brings SLI support (rumors) to the table which is it's big thing. MSI sell a P35 for €108 and you get all the basics you need and overclocks decently too.

extra-ordinary_

8T8 wrote:

Well there is the odd board out there with integrated graphics and overclocking options like the ABIT Fatal1ty F-I90HD but given that add-in cards are so cheap these days it simply may not be worth it.

Yeh that's a fair point.
I wanted to go mATX for size and neatness and I looked at that ABIT board before, but when I started reading into it I found that an awful lot of people had issues with it - dead boards,etc.

8T8 wrote:

X38 isn't due till August or September so you'll be waiting a while more for it. The P35 chipset is the same thing with 1333Mhz FSB support and support for the newer Core 2's so thats a viable option.

The X38 really only brings SLI support (rumors) to the table which is it's big thing. MSI sell a P35 for €108 and you get all the basics you need and overclocks decently too.

SLI doesn't interest me at all, and I would be very surprised (and disappointed) if that's all that was in the newer chipset. Yeh I saw that it is scheduled for a September release.

I'll probably hold off a bit longer.

nibble

X38 won't be here for at least another couple of months so I'd without a doubt go for a P35 based board, the Abit IP35 Pro is looking good at the moment, or DFI have a P35 LanParty coming somewhat soon. Although alot of the big DFI fans are those that come from skt939 systems where DFI ruled the roost in terms of good overclocking/tweaking boards, but they haven't had much success on an Intel platform. Discrete graphics, even if it's just a 7600 or the like is a far better option than integerated, having a GPU in your northbridge really holds back overclocking, and you don't want that.

blackgold>>

ABIT IP35E, Sockel 775 Intel P35, ATX 113,09 €
Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 Box 2048Kb, LGA775, 64bit 106,79 €

overclock the cpu to 3ghz save yourself some money.