Hi All (and esp. Sam)-I began the quest for performance with the purchase of an HP m8120n Media Center PC- too good of a deal to pass up locally. Since then it has evolved quite nicely.I'm still stuck with the HP BIOS on what is essentially an Asus P5B board- but I have made improvements elsewhere.Power supply replaced with Corsair 620 Modular- nice and quiet.The OS is Vista 32 Ultimate with all Aero disabled, indexing disabled and UAC disabled. Runs nice and stable with snappy performance.HD are the WD 7200rpm 320gig SATA 2/300 drives in RAID0 (with data backed up to another external drive Sam).All the Media Center stuff (including the Hauppauge card) is gone.Onboard sound disabled, SB Audigy SE instead.Video Card replaced with 8800GTS.So- despite my OEM ugggghhhhh- not too bad so far.NOW HERE'S THE QUESTIONS-What do I replace the current 3 gigs of RAM with? They are not PC-800 and I would like to upgrade my Vista Performance Score. Currently EVERYTHING except Memory is scoring 5.9- the memory scored 5.5 and thus that is my Vista Performance Score. Keep in mind I want something STABLE that will post without issue on the stock setup- BUT................(see below)Next-WITHOUT altering timings or voltage (stupid HP BIOS will not allow and it is soldered on so unless there is a GUARANTEED way to use the forced /f without RMAing the board I don't want to mess with it now) and only using CLOCKGEN on the STOCK far/heatsink- what would you suggest for OC? Would like to get to 2.8 or so for now. Later with a P35 board in another case with a Tuniq Tower maybe more..........Ok, thanks-Best-Carl F. Avari-Cooper BAW0225http://online.vatsimindicators.net/980091/523.png

That's a Q6600 / 3 gigs-O-DDR2-667 / 8800GTS system / Good 620 watt PS system. Right? What's not to like!? That's a nice setup, as is. The Q6600 has the FSB set at 266mhz (QDR 1066). The DDR2-667 ram is guaranteed to run up to a FSB setting of 333mhz. Maybe it will go a bit more. I only tried Clockgen once on an old, locked-down Sony Laptop, without much success. Maybe it's improved these days. It seems the only thing you can try is to run the FSB up till it won't boot, back off a notch and see if Orthors will run. If the temps stay below ~ 65C and Orthos fails, it's likely not temperature related and a new heatsink won't help. Remember the ram will run up to a FSB of 333. If Orthos is failing below that 333 FSB number, it's not ram related and DDR2-800 won't help. If clockgen will get you a bit more, that would be a gift. Vendors (generally) have their machines totally locked down and there's not much a player can do. The upgrade sequence might go like this: A new mobo would be the first step ($75 Abit P35e).http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16813127031The mobo alone will get you to ~2.8 (now cooling limited). Another $60 for the Tuniq or the Thermalright will get the CPU to 3.0 (now ram limited). Another $70 for DDR 800 ram will be necessary to get to the CPU's maximum potential of 3.2 (non-GO limited). Speed costs. How fast do you want to go?

Sam-Corsair XMS2 PC-800 RAM enroute already- should be here Tue/Wed. I would like to stay with this case and MB if possible (micro ATX and relatively nice HP case with card readers and front FW/USB etc.).Can I just pop in the E6850? The issue I see is it is 1333FSB and my P5BW-LA board supports only 1033 FSB. If it will work, only a bit slower that might be the option to go to 3.0ghz- or should I just bite the bullet and upgrade MB to overclock the Quad? I do have a credit at CompUSA that will almost cover a nice case, and then it will only be the cost of the board. Will the Abit P35e be ok, or are there others you would recommend over it (up to about $200- no more). If the Abit is fine- the $75 sounds great. I'm assuming the P3 references the chipset (that then would support the Penryn.....)? I am running RAID0 and despite that board having the ICH9 controller chip, there are reviews saying it has no RAID support...?I imagine the Quad, OC to 3.2 or so on the Tuniq, with PC-800 RAM and the 8800GTS- should run FS9/FSX well! I am TIRED of fussing with this and want a monster to chew up and spit out FS9 at least!Sam, as always- thanks for your willingness to share what you know with us mere mortals :)Carl

Also-My current processor (Quad 6600) is a 1033 FSB- If I go ahead and upgrade to a P35 board it will be 1333 FSB- will this be ok, or will I now need a new processor as well.....sorry- just not quite up on all of this yet :(Carl

You'll have to find out what chipset HP used on your Mobo. Try this little program: http://www.cpuid.com/pcwizard.phpIt will tell you all about it. Now do a bit of Gesearch to see if that chipset supports the 1333 FSB.A bit of technical background might be helpful: The chipset doesn't decide what speed to run. The CPU is internally hard-wired to tEll the chipset what FSB speed it wants. Either the chipset can provide this FSB speed, or it can't. If it can, the chipset will run at the requested FSB and you O/C from there. If the chipset can NoT support the FSB speed the chip is requesting, the computer just won't run. There are some crazy CPU mods that solder together various CPU backside "pins" to cause the CPU to request non-standard FSB speeds . . . but don't go there.If your chipset will support a E6850's 1333 FSB request (and run there), dropping in an E6850 mIgHt work. If not, it absolutely will NoT work.The Abit IP35 Pro is the next step up. The Asus P5K is the hot mobo right now, but it may have some problems with the new PCIe-2.0 Vcard interface. Wait for that to settle out. It'd be a shame to get a mobo that couldn't use the new G92 Vcards. Gigibite /MSI are hit and miss. Stay away from the Nvidia 680i, entirely.If you have 3 weeks, wait for the X38 chipsets. Everyone will offer a board with this chipset. The forums will have the 1st reviews during the 2nd week of Sept. We'll see. However, all the 3 series chipsets are current-gen and will work with everything Intel.Any Core2 at 2.4 will run FS9 just fine. For FSX, I'd wait to see what SP2 has up it's sleeve. Maybe a little better MulTi (x4?) core support? Overall, I'd just enjoy the system 'as is' for a while. Let's see what settles out of all these variables.

I have CPUid and ClockGen from the same site....will get PCWiz.As far as chipset- Intel 965 and ICH8.Ok- I can wait a few weeks to let the dust settle- the RAM will be here Wed/Thu.I hate that I am still running FS9 with nothing except Dense Scenery and 20% 3d clouds and STILL not completly smooth!On this machine it ought to be FLYING!!!!I am wondering if staying with the 22 instead of the current 24 Samsung would have helped when I went to the 8800....oh well!Thanks!Carl F. Avari-Cooper BAW0225http://online.vatsimindicators.net/980091/523.png

Here's the MB specs-http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/documen...3440615〈=enThe MAIN reasons I want to stay with the current MB is not having ANOTHER OS reinstall, and also I like the case- clean form factor. That said, I'd like 40 FPS w/ mostly all sliders and boxes on a LOT better!Thanks!Carl F. Avari-Cooper BAW0225http://online.vatsimindicators.net/980091/523.png