New rig.... your thoughts please chaps

[staffsMike]

I wouldn't go as far as it being crap, I recommend samsung as they are very quiet but I use an optiarc and its pretty much perfect.

[Thorsson]

OK, crap is relative. The Optiarc is not as good at burning as most other current drives. This is from extensive testing with different media on the specialist websites. Of course this is relative, and with the right media it is probably perfectly adequate for most purposes.

And I can confirm that the Samsung is quiet. I can hardly tell it's there, while I can certainly hear my Lite-On and LG drives.

[CDM]

What about Asus P5E series... that has crossfire support...

I was looking at the P5K Premium before i looked at SLI, sadly Asus's range of SLI supporting motherboards is slim to say the least.

From what I have read about the 2x 3870X2, this is not supported at present and there are no drivers for this config, it is effectively quad crossfire.

Also, although the card is PCIe v2 the XF interconnect between the two onboard GPU's is actually PCIe v1.1 and the memory is clocked slower than a single 3870, seems very odd.

I do very much like the idea of the Samsung OD though, thanks for the heads up on that one.

[vrykyl]

OK, crap is relative. The Optiarc is not as good at burning as most other current drives. This is from extensive testing with different media on the specialist websites. Of course this is relative, and with the right media it is probably perfectly adequate for most purposes.

And I can confirm that the Samsung is quiet. I can hardly tell it's there, while I can certainly hear my Lite-On and LG drives.

Do the Optiarc drives still have a dvd rip lock to limit dvd ripping speed? I know the samsung doesnt....something worth considering when purchasing anyways....

[CDM]

Very nice - how much is the case by the way? Why did you choose that one? (not a criticism - just don't know anything about that case).

Thermaltake Kandalf LCS

[Nutter]

Looks like a nice system coming together there fella.

any amendments to the spec sheet?

[CDM]

This is my latest configuration.

Mobo:- Asus Striker II Formula nForce 780i (Socket 775)
CPU:- Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450
RAM:- Patriot Dual Channel DDR2 4Gb (2x2GB) PC2-6400 Kit LLK
HHD's:- 2 x 500 GB Seagate ST3500320AS Barracuda 7200.11
GFX:- 2 x 512MB Asus 8800GTS, PCI-E 2.0 (x16) Running in SLI
Case:- Thermaltake VD4000SWA LCS Kandalf Full Tower - Silver
PSU:- 800W Tagan TG800-BZ
OD:- Samsung SH-S203N/RSMN 20xDVD±R, 12xDVD±DL, DVD+RW x8/-RWx6, SATA,Lightscribe, Black


Change of the OD at the bottom but thats about it

[Nutter]

Why not go for 2 of these bad boys in SLi:
1GB Asus 8800GT PCI-E2.0(x16), 1800MHz GDDR3, GPU 600MHz, 2xDual Link DVI-I/HDTV, HDCP Ready

Linky: Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK

[Nutter]

Hard Drive Config

How about this :
HD1 150 Gb Western Digital WD1500AHFD Raptor X, SATA150, 10000 rpm, 16MB Cache, 4.6 ms, NCQ £120.97 : Linky: Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK
HD2 150 Gb Western Digital WD1500AHFD Raptor X, SATA150, 10000 rpm, 16MB Cache, 4.6 ms, NCQ £120.97 : Linky: Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK
HD3 500 GB Seagate ST3500320AS Barracuda 7200.11, SATA II, 7200 rpm, 32MB Cache, 8.5 ms, NCQ £76.13 : Linky: Computer hardware and software at amazing prices, available online from Scan Computers UK

Partition setup:
HD1 50gb System / 100gb Recovery
HD2 150gb Games
HD3 500gb Pron Stash/Data Store

[CDM]

Yeah they do look nice, but I'm never ever going to have the monitors that I would need 2 of those for.

Know of any reviews of those though?

[Nutter]

You could probably mod the drive cage aswell so that the drives sit facing the window with their guts showing :\0 yum

[Nutter]

Yeah they do look nice, but I'm never ever going to have the monitors that I would need 2 of those for.

Know of any reviews of those though?

Not that i have seen yet but im sure there is/will be some on Toms.

[CDM]

You could probably mod the drive cage aswell so that the drives sit facing the window with their guts showing :\0 yum

It does look like there will most likely be room to park my car in that case, I may have to see what moddin I can do, had a custom laser cut window done on my last case, it's good to know a man in the business

[Nutter]

Well i have the same case and have been considerin modding the drive cage for this exact reason and it dosnt look like it would be to much work to get ir reconfigured to allow for at least one raptors window to be visible from the stock window in the side of the case.

btw the case is a beauty to work inside.

[CDM]

The only thing I was a bit concerned about with the case was the IO panel at the top, does it not get in the way of the PSU?

[Nutter]

Yer had a few issues fittinng the PSU i have in there so just removed the top IO panel (4 screws and out she come) and have left her off for the mo as may replace with blowhole fan... not sure... ex job to put back.