mATX gaming system build

[F1ZZY]

I am going to build a small(ish) but powerful(ish) rig for predominantly gaming, but with a bit of a budget too. (<450 quid if poss, just for pc and case (no peripherals and got some stuff already)

What I'm planning on:

CASE TJ08
PSU enermax 600w (got)
MOBO GA-G33m-DS2R matx
CPU C2D possibly E6600 (2nd hand) or a new E6750
GFX 8800GT XXX
RAM cheap DDR2 800fsb (Corsair or Crucial so far)
HDD's (got)
DVD - maybe get new one?

I am nearly there on chosing components but would appreciate some feedback on what i have selected so far please.

I am sure that I will be able to think of more questions, but right now I have....

What is good RAM? Price is important too but it must be able to do 400-450fsb.

Can anyone recommend a good BUT SHORT dvd drive with black facia?

Has anyone else built similar recently? I am curious if a Ninja B will fit a) on the board and then b) in the case.

Many thanks

[staffsMike]

GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC)

This is great stuff for the price. I've got 2 sets as does a mate.

E6600 will be better in a uATX as it will offer easier overclocking if that is what you intend to do.



here's my TJ08

Obviously it shows you can fit big coolers but they may block the hard drive space (like mine does lol)

[Webby]

Waiting for some batteries to charge and then I'll put up a picture of the internals of mine a well

As Mike says the E6600 will be easier to overclock because of its higher multiplier (and you wont be overclocking the motherboard until you get to 333MHz FSB). The motherboard overclocks reasonably well mine is at 400MHz FSB with no problems or additional voltage.

I use an Optiarc DVD drive which is reasonably short fits fine with my Corsair Hx520w you will see how much free space the is when I put up the picks in a couple of hours

Ram wise if you prefer scan (and free postage for Hexites, you would need to get 25 posts though ) then you can get this Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK
it will obviously run at 400Mhz (800MHz DDR) as that is its stock setting, and the E6750 would be running at 3.2GHz and the E6600 would be at 3.6GHz at 400MHz FSB which is probably plenty fast enough!

Graphics card wise the new GTS is out soon could be worth a look over the GT superclocked shouldn't be to many extra pennies

Cooler wise I have a Thermalright Ultra 90 which keeps my E6550 @2.8GHz nice and cool 47-55oC under full load (depending on ambient temperature and what is loading the system) You can see from the pics (when I take/upload them) that it fits nicely. I would think the Ultima 90 would fit as well and would give you even more cooling potential.

[Webby]

Pictures

[F1ZZY]

StaffsMike, thanks for the pic.

How close is the ninja to the side panel?

What DVD drive have you got? Yours looks short too.

Regarding the tight HDD's, I was planning to run the cables through the front panel (where all the others go) and turn the drives around and then have the HDD connections kind of in the 3.5" bay covers. Not sure if this will work though until I get the case.

Also, is that a Zalman fanmate thingy in the corner? A simple mod is to enlarge one of the holes on the case, turn the fanmate around, and push the twiddle-knob through so that you do not need to take off the side panel to adjust fan speed.

[F1ZZY]

Webby, your posts and pics are both informative and helpful.

I will be ordering from scan, hence why joining here, and the XMS2 Ram is exactly what I was looking at.

I have pretty much decided on hardware, just got to choose CPU cooler. My 2 choices had been whittled down to the ultima90 or the ninja (that you and Mike have kindly posted) There is no stock on the U90, even though I prefer it, it may be stock situation that forces my decision.

Are they the stock fans still on the case? How do you find them at 12v?

Cheers

[staffsMike]

The Case fans are noisey as hell I would change them to something like sharkoon golf balls / eagles. Cheap and silent

The Ninja is no where near the side panel, fits a dream that way at least

I wouldn't really recommend it though as it's hard to get the hard drive cables in with the hard drive in its normal place like Webby has. You can see mine is pushed in quite far in essentially like a floppy drive. you have to modify the blanking plate for the floppy drive to make it work lol

Webby..thats good work..do you have limited space or do you just like the size lol

[F1ZZY]

Mike, I think I edited my previous post after you replied above.

Has anyone tried the stock fans at 7v or 5v (do they even spin at 5v)?

[staffsMike]

hmmm if you dont have an answer by thursday I will find out. I don't think they will be too good though.

[F1ZZY]

Wow...thanks

[Webby]

As Mike says the stock fans are noisy mine have been replaced with Akasa Ambers (in fact all the fans you can see are Akasa Ambers ) Then at 12v they are all fine and dandy though the front fan is a bit loud probably because the air is going through the filter and its close... may have to knock it down to 7v and see what it's like or maybe hook it onto the MB System fan header

Mike - It was a combination of fancying a smaller PC and the fact that I was running it backwards and forwards to Uni so smaller meant more space in the car for other stuff, saying that its only been moved twice I think so that may have been a slightly flawed argument

When I build up my next PC (have to finish my PhD and get a job first...) probably for HTPC usage the TJ08 may turn into the media PC and will probably get a bigger tower for my general use PC and an ATX MB so I can actually have an expansion card (not that i need one atm but it would be nice to have the option!), damn my HR-03 but it does a wonderful job of keeping my X1950xt cool

[Methanoid]

U could do well with Sony for DVDs as they are shorter. Pioneer are long drives. I had this experience from building a Aspire X-QPack.

The Silverstone is an expensive case. Have you considered alternatives which also offer 120mm inlet and exhausts and full ATX PSU support. I have a Jeantech Titan Micro in classifieds that fits the bill (shameless pimpage I know).

[F1ZZY]

Meth

I don't know where to find classifieds (maybe due to low post count as I'm new here) and if I could, I really have my heart set on the TJ08, even though the titan is similar in layout it just lacks that class of the Silverstone.

Thanks for your tips and pimpage tho

edit/ found the classifieds but it appears empty, maybe for the same low post count reason/edit

[Methanoid]

http://forums.hexus.net/classifieds-...ml#post1282495

I think you need a post count of 100+ to use it tho.. see what happens if you click?

[F1ZZY]

Non-specific reason supplied but it's probably just post count as you say.

F1ZZY, you do not have permission to access this page. This could be due to one of several reasons:

Your user account may not have sufficient privileges to access this page. Are you trying to edit someone else's post, access administrative features or some other privileged system?
If you are trying to post, the administrator may have disabled your account, or it may be awaiting activation.

Thanks anyhow

[F1ZZY]

hmmm if you dont have an answer by thursday I will find out. I don't think they will be too good though.