PSU and cooler advice

[jasper]

Hi there,

Can anybody recommend a decent PSU which would be able to power the following system?

Asus Blitz Formula Special Edition MOBO DD2 1066/800

Intel Core 2 Duo 6850

2x1GB Corsair TwinX XMS2 Dominator, PC8500

(Antec p182 case.)

I'm guessing the 3.0ghz speed of the chip and the fact it is dual core would need a high power rating.
Many Thanks


Also, Has anyone tried the Zalman CNPS95000 or CNPS9700 cooler on this motherboard, and did you have any problems fitting it?

Joe

[Tetras]

What is the graphics card? Do you intend on Crossfire and water cooling?

I know you didn't ask for advice on the motherboard but that is A LOT of money for a P35 board... I'd be tempted to wait for X38 and the new AMD chipsets if I was gonna spend that much money on a high end P35 one or even make the CPU a quad core and get a cheaper board...

[jasper]

I haven't decided on a graphics card yet and didn't plan to go for water cooling rather one of the Zalman fans.

I've looked at the cheaper Intel DP35D board and the Q6600 quad core chip. The memory rating is lower though, what is your opinion on the two chips; the 6850 and q6600 which are priced about the same?

I would prefer Crossfire, do you know when the new chipset is available, thing is I need to get the system up fairly soon.

Any other advice would be welcome.

Thanks
Joe

[Tetras]

do you know when the new chipset is available

Hard to say, both are September - October in theory but who knows with new hardware.

I've looked at the cheaper Intel DP35D board

It'd prolly be a very good value, stable board at default clocks but I'm not sure you can even change the memory voltage from 1.8v, Yellowbeard said that you could not in the Corsair care forum and that'd be a serious limit on what memory you could pick before you even think about overclocking.

and didn't plan to go for water cooling

One of the features of that board you selected is watercooling modularity, I think it does work ok with air cooling but it is a bit of a waste to pay extra for a feature you aren't gonna use.

There are plenty of other decent, highly clockable Crossfire supporting motherboards on the P35 chipset, Asus P5K, Abit IP35, Gigabyte P35 series etc (most of which are a lot cheaper and offer much of the capability of the Blitz)...

The memory rating is lower though, what is your opinion on the two chips; the 6850 and q6600 which are priced about the same?

I'm sure there are many other threads on that topic elsewhere on this forum but seeing as you asked my opinion..... The 6850 will be faster in current games but where dual core is supported quad core should follow and with the potential for physics and splitting up the processing between cores I'd be very tempted to go with the Q6600 at this point in time. Particularly as with a decent P35 (around £70 and up) motherboard and CPU cooler you should be able to overclock the Q6600 to near or over the 6850s core clock without too much trouble.

[jasper]

Following your advice I've come up with these changes:

Gigabyte GA P35-DS3P which supports crossfire and hopefully will allow for overclocking.

Zalman CNPS9700-NT fan for air cooling

2Gb (2X1Gb) Corsair TwinX DDR2 XMS2 Dominator which are compatible according to the corsair site.

What sort of PSU would I need to power this set up as the Antec p182 isn't supplied with one.

Now I have to decide on the chip Q6600 or 6850.(and look at a graphics card)

Thanks
Joe

[Tetras]

Without knowing graphics card it is hard to give a recommendation as they define your requirement more than the rest of the system.

As you also seem keen on Crossfire this is even more important as if you wanted to Crossfire HD 2900s then the PSU you'd need would have to be very meaty indeed (talking £100+, probably more). Though if Crossfire is something you are seriously considering the P35 platform is not ideal due to the 16/4 bus restriction which reduces the effectiveness of the second card somewhat (just showed up on pre-order Gigabyte GA_X38_DQ6: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...d=5&subcat=946).

[jasper]

Ok, well this is the sort of graphics card spec I had in mind; probably upgrading to a second at a later date.

256MB Sapphire HD2600XT

At around the same price as the gigabyte mobo and sticking with the P35 chipset as I need to get it in the next couple of weeks, which would you go for?

and which PSU for this revised system?

Many thanks for taking the time to answer these questions.

[jasper]

or is there another chipset you would go for at this point in time if you weren't able to wait for the x38?

[Tetras]

Corsair HX520 would be fine for that (and Crossfire HD 2600 XT):
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=446788

I'd suggest the HX620 for use with a HD 2900 XT (with a low draw system the 520 would probably be ok too).

Crossfire HD 2900 XT I'm not sure but the HX620 may not be suitable for that, would consider something in 700+ range...

Crossfire isn't really an ideal route for upgrades as the HD 2600 cards aren't very fast, get considerably more performance from the high end 8800 GTS/HD 2900 ones and in DX9 an X1950 Pro is a better bet for the same money. Admittedly the HD 2600/8600 range are DX10 but from what I've seen so far they are gonna be too slow to really make decent use of that DX10 capability in the future anyway.

or is there another chipset you would go for at this point in time if you weren't able to wait for the x38?

975X has 8X/8X Crossfire but the chipset is kinda old now, P35 has more reliable CPU support and overclocking. DFI is the only manufacturer with ATI RD600 and they are pretty much unavailable now so that is out the window too.

[jasper]

What do you think of the following setup?

Gigabyte GA P35-DS3P which supports crossfire and hopefully will allow for overclocking.

Zalman CNPS9700-NT fan for air cooling

2Gb (2X1Gb) Corsair TwinX DDR2 XMS2 Dominator which are compatible according to the corsair site.

512MB Power Color RX1950Pro Arctic Cooling PCI-E(x16) Mem 1400MHz GDDR3 GPU 600MHz 36pipes CrossFire

Intel Core 2 Quad-Core Q6600

520W Corsair HX Series Modular PSU

[Tetras]

If I was getting a 512MB X1950 Pro I would get the HIS version myself:
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=589468

Exhausts the hot air out of the case and is very quiet.

Zalman CNPS9700-NT fan for air cooling

LGA775 coolers aren't something I know much about but I don't think that nvidia version is worth the extra over the standard. There was a mega-test on hexus not long ago: http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=8757 and www.frostytech.com has many other cooler reviews.

Gigabyte GA P35-DS3P

On paper it looks a decent buy, P35 based boards are a good choice and I don't see why it wouldn't meet your needs. The Gigabyte 965 DSx were high regarded and the P35 series have been getting good reviews that I've seen.

[jasper]

well it's come up a bit more expensive than I'd planned but doesn't it always. I think I'm going to go with it and review the motherboard like you said, take a second look at the equivalent Asus as they seem to get good reviews as well.

Thanks again!

Joe

[Tetras]

Welcome, good luck!