Final Decision time on my parts

[FrostByte]

here is my final parts list ill be getting, have not ordered just yet. Want to make sure that im getting the very best for my money. Here are the parts i have qued up for purchase, two of which im buying from friends and i will notate which ones those are. Any input on if i should change the memory to something different let me know.

CPU:
Q9550 E1 stepping (XS purchase from member.)

Motherboard:
Asus Maximus Extreme X38 (Purchase from member of TechIMO.com)

Memory:
Mushkin 2x2GB DDR3-1600 7-7-6-18 @ 1600
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146777

GPU:
EVGA GTX 260 SSC
http://www.ncixus.com/products/35708/896-P3-1258-AR/eVGA/

[Cutless009]

why waste money on the SSC version when you can get the normal version and OC it yourself? othr than that parts list looks solid for a budget gaming sustem.

[FrostByte]

because they are slightly higher binned parts and will OC better with their new voltage tool.

[Xilikon]

For me, the choices is solid and if you are happy with them, go ahead :)

[FrostByte]

the ram was the only one i had any doubts about, but if there is no objection, then i will proceed with my purchases.

[Xilikon]

the ram was the only one i had any doubts about, but if there is no objection, then i will proceed with my purchases.

Mushkin is a great manufacturer with a awesome customer support. I own several kits and they never let me down :up:

[RedRaider]

Solid choices, though I've always doubted the "higher bin" claim. IMO, it's marketing..;)

[FrostByte]

its more of a perk for me, just like knowing that this card will always be faster than a stock one no matter what.

[Baleful]

Good choices man. It's hard to go wrong with Mushkin, they make some really high quallity products.

[Septim]

the gtx260 is good enough for this rig you're building. i don't really see a need to go overboard with 2 or 3 sLi... specially if you're not gaming too much...

[zlojack]

Solid choices!

I look forward to seeing your results. I had a hell of a time with DDR3 on X48 (Rampage Extreme) to the point where I sold it and grabbed i7 instead (for not much of a difference in price)

But I see the price has come down a lot on the dual-channel DDR3 kits.

[FrostByte]

cant wait to get this stuff in my case, along with getting my case modified for the dual 360 rads i plan to mount in here this year.

[Cutless009]

what exactly does "higher binned" mean anyways, better quality?

[Xilikon]

what exactly does "higher binned" mean anyways, better quality?

Higher binned isn't higher quality, it's more of hand-picked parts which can perform at higher speeds without issues. Not all chips can overclock the same so they need to get thru a binning process to put the best for the best cards and leave the rest to the vanilla. It's true to a certain extend that if you buy a better overclocked card, you are getting a better chip but it's so marginal not everyone will bother paying a price premium.

[FrostByte]

its still a guaranteed overclock.