Proposed Rig

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31-07-2006, 09:32 AM
Gibb0N

Proposed Rig: Opinions Please

Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 ""LGA775 Conroe"" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail (CP-128-IN)

ASUS P5W DH Deluxe Pentium 4/Celeron/Pentium D/PentiumEE/65nm dual-core/Core2Duo...

G.Skill 2GB DDR2 ZX PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit (F2-6400PHU2-2GBZX) (MY-011-GS)

Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-044-CO)

Western Digital Raptor 74GB WD740GD 10,000RPM SATA 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-015-WD)

Antec Phantom 500GB Atx12v V2.01 500w 20or24pin Psu

Antec P180 Black SPCR Advanced Super Mid Tower - No PSU

Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 4 7.1 EAX Sound Card - OEM (SC-037-CL)

Asetek 03-L-1301 CPU kit KT03A/T 12V 80mm Radiator

Any thoughts on any of it? Would you change anything?

My main concern is the lack of 975x motherboards with an nforce chipset. Because of this I'm of the opinion that getting an nvidia card wouldn't do the system justice as it wouldn't be working with an nforce chipset. so I'd rather go for ati.

cheers
31-07-2006, 09:44 AM
jackvdbuk

just my opinion so dont belive it but ehres my thoughts:

remove that raptor, an absolute waste of money, get some spinpoint sp2504c's instead a much better buy.

nice case, but the akasa eclipse is also a good case to consider, come out trumps in CusomPC

do not get that audigy4, its very old n lacking, onboard is fine, or when/if u can afford it, get a X-fi xtreme music, MUCH better, newer technology:)

that watercooling kit, imo is a waste of 130 quid, it wont give that much better cooling than a decent CPU air heatsink... and it is also cheaper so would suggest to get a

Thermalright XP-90C which is around £35 and that gives u 100 more to spend on X-fi and a betetr graghpis card :)

just my opinion :P
31-07-2006, 09:58 AM
Ben_

looks a nice rig

your gonna be waiting a while for that conroe tho

i was planning an AM2 rig but im told to go for even the slowest conroe over a fast am2

so now im left wondering about new mobo, ram and potentially gfx judging from what u say aboot no nforce chipsets being available for conroe
31-07-2006, 10:27 AM
Gibb0N

Cheers for your thoughts guys, keep em coming.

I'm still unsure over the water cooling. But there's no point getting even a decent heatsink if i'm gonna pay the money for that antec phantom psu. I think the money spent on quiting the psu would be out done by the noisy cpu fan and gpu. Might be worth compromising it and getting a X-fi but i'm not a great believer in paying for soundcards. gone with on board my whole life and it's been fine tbh.

keep your thoughts coming please :>
31-07-2006, 10:38 AM
kalniel

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gibb0N

Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 ""LGA775 Conroe"" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail (CP-128-IN)

ASUS P5W DH Deluxe Pentium 4/Celeron/Pentium D/PentiumEE/65nm dual-core/Core2Duo...

G.Skill 2GB DDR2 ZX PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit (F2-6400PHU2-2GBZX) (MY-011-GS)

all good so far.

Quote:

Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-044-CO)

Interesting choice.. I would go for a different card here (see below).

Quote:

Western Digital Raptor 74GB WD740GD 10,000RPM SATA 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-015-WD)

Fine, but consider looking out for the 16MB cache model instead.

Quote:

Antec Phantom 500GB Atx12v V2.01 500w 20or24pin Psu

Antec P180 Black SPCR Advanced Super Mid Tower - No PSU

Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 4 7.1 EAX Sound Card - OEM (SC-037-CL)

Fine, consider an X-Fi now they're a bit cheaper.

Quote:

My main concern is the lack of 975x motherboards with an nforce chipset. Because of this I'm of the opinion that getting an nvidia card wouldn't do the system justice as it wouldn't be working with an nforce chipset. so I'd rather go for ati.

?? Why would an NVidia card work better on an nforce chipset? There's no difference. For that reason I'd probably get a 7900gt card.
31-07-2006, 10:43 AM
Gibb0N

I'm thinking about that now actually yeah. Might be worth getting a 7900 gt extreme, and then biding my time for dx 10 cards. Thanks for the input. Think i've upgraded the hdd to the 16mb cache version. My updated list is at home, not at work :<

Does that ram seem good to most of you? I'm not a buff when it comes to RAM, the alternative is 2 gigs of Corsair TwinX 6400 set.

Once again, many thanks for all your input, please please please keep it coming :>

edit//
updated

Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 ""LGA775 Conroe"" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail (CP-128-IN)
ASUS P5W DH Deluxe Pentium 4/Celeron/Pentium D/PentiumEE/65nm dual-core/Core2Duo...
G.Skill 2GB DDR2 ZX PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit (F2-6400PHU2-2GBZX) (MY-011-GS)
Leadtek GeForce 7900 GT Extreme 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-079-LT)
74 Gb Western Digital Raptor, SATA, 10000 rpm, 16MB Cache
Antec Phantom 500GB Atx12v V2.01 500w 20or24pin Psu
Antec P180 Black SPCR Advanced Super Mid Tower - No PSU
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music Sound Card OEM
Asetek 03-L-1306 WaterChill CPU Kit KT03AT12VS 10mm 120mm Rad

£1300

Undecided on the motherboard depending on whether a better one comes out by the end of August when I buy the rig, Changed the gpu to a 7900 GT extreme, updated the raptor to 16mb cache and got a x-fi extreme music soundcard. Might want to ditch the water cooling in favour of a fan, but it would have to be silent [18db].

Thoughts please?
31-07-2006, 11:32 AM
kalniel

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gibb0N

Does that ram seem good to most of you? I'm not a buff when it comes to RAM, the alternative is 2 gigs of Corsair TwinX 6400 set.

The RAM's absolutely fine :)

Quote:

Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 ""LGA775 Conroe"" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail (CP-128-IN)
ASUS P5W DH Deluxe Pentium 4/Celeron/Pentium D/PentiumEE/65nm dual-core/Core2Duo...
G.Skill 2GB DDR2 ZX PC2-6400 (2x1GB) CAS4 Dual Channel Kit (F2-6400PHU2-2GBZX) (MY-011-GS)
Leadtek GeForce 7900 GT Extreme 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-079-LT)
74 Gb Western Digital Raptor, SATA, 10000 rpm, 16MB Cache
Antec Phantom 500GB Atx12v V2.01 500w 20or24pin Psu
Antec P180 Black SPCR Advanced Super Mid Tower - No PSU
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music Sound Card OEM
Asetek 03-L-1306 WaterChill CPU Kit KT03AT12VS 10mm 120mm Rad

£1300

Undecided on the motherboard depending on whether a better one comes out by the end of August when I buy the rig, Changed the gpu to a 7900 GT extreme, updated the raptor to 16mb cache and got a x-fi extreme music soundcard. Might want to ditch the water cooling in favour of a fan, but it would have to be silent [18db].

Thoughts please?

Looks good. I don't know anything about watercooling so can't advise there - personally it'd never be worth it for me over a silent or even passive solution. The motherboard is good - don't change it. Even if newer ones come out it's often good to have a bit of maturity so you have a stable bios and the features/limitations of the board are well understood. Any improvements in motherboard that come out in a month aren't going to translate to any noticeble difference in the real world.
31-07-2006, 11:58 AM
Gibb0N

cheers for your input kalniel, sounds encouraging. :>

keep em coming people, any thoughts at all. :>
31-07-2006, 01:55 PM
Gibb0N

Anybody else got any thoughts on this rig? All criticism greatly appreciated. :>
31-07-2006, 02:22 PM
Ben_

get a better gfx
31-07-2006, 02:25 PM
Gibb0N

any in particular? Want to keep in mind dx10 cards are on their way in the not too distant future. the 7900 gt extreme is the ebst buy I can find atm unless there is a better one. Not sure.
31-07-2006, 02:41 PM
owen1978

Ram

http://www.memory-configurator.com/p...kit/index.html
31-07-2006, 02:45 PM
Gibb0N

PC5300? :/

want ddr2 800 ideally. Haven't heard of the make either so I'm skeptical, but I'm no buff when it comes to ram.
31-07-2006, 02:51 PM
rainbow

tbh, i think your right to wait,the 7900 gt extrem is faster than a 7800 gtx, which is fast, and will run most games at med to hig settings a a good res and they are great value :)
31-07-2006, 02:58 PM
MSIC

Looks good. I also am not experienced / in favour of watercooling due to a) cost b) complexity c) risk of something going wrong d) maintenance.
A high end aircooled HSF would be my preference. You state that you need 18db max from it - do you work in some sort of military testing base?
My experience is that quiet enough is good enough. Basically, if i can't hear it, I dont care if it is actually producing noise or not.
Having a raptor, rather than a Samsung Spinpoint, will absolutely make much more noise than any good HSF such as a Zalman 9500.
31-07-2006, 02:58 PM
Clunk

regarding the raptor, i would get a couple of big samsung drives for about the same price, and then add a raptor later on as a boot drive, and that way, you will feel the speed difference.

IMO dont bother with any of the 7900 series cards, they are more trouble than they are worth, and the chances of getting a good one are slim to none. the 7600 series get good reviews, or if you want to shell out a bit more, try the x1900xt, available for about 240 upwards.

lots of reliablility problems with the P5Wdh motherboard, i would advise you to steer clear of that one at the moment, saying that, theres not much else thats worth having yet.

i would dump the antec psu in favour of something like an FSP or tagan or seasonic, go 600w, it leaves room for future upgrades.
31-07-2006, 02:59 PM
rainbow

yer tbh, imho what is peple problem with sound. just fill it up with oil ;)
or just passivly cool things and have loats of quiet case fans
31-07-2006, 03:07 PM
Gibb0N

Never had a quiet pc before and am wanting one quite badly lol.

Not in favour of dropping the hdd below 10'000rpm as I'm a serious gamer, but I hadn't considered its noise until now. Will have a think about it.

Need to think about my choice in gpu aswell. hmmm

Do you really think there's a need to go above 500watts in this rig? Even with 2 gpu's in sli I don't think I'd need above 500watts.

With regards to the motherboard I'm buying this rig at the end of August. The motherboard is subject to change if and when a better one presents itself. Gonna pre-order the E6600 tonight. Just pray to god that I get one. :>
31-07-2006, 03:10 PM
MSIC

In most (decent) modern PCs, it's actually the hard drives that make the most noise of any of the components, and you have chosen the noisiest of the lot LOL!
Hence people recommending the Samsungs (or Seagates, or Western Dig's)
31-07-2006, 03:13 PM
Gibb0N

But are they 10'000 rpm?

Most of them are 7200 aren't they. I realise that this is by no means measly [currently running WD 5200rpm 8mb cache] but I'm really looking for the extra kick.
Have heard about a lot of problems people have had with the spin points...
31-07-2006, 03:15 PM
NightshadowUK

Nah Spinpoints are the shizzay, everyone loves 'em.

And Raptors are the only SATA 10,000RRM hard drives you can buy, and they do indeed give that 'extra kick', but only in certain things.
31-07-2006, 03:28 PM
kalniel

Spinpoints are very quiet, but if I was going for this spec machine I would go for the 10,000rpm drive for the extra %. The 16mb cache version is less noisy than the older ones anyway.
31-07-2006, 04:17 PM
Clunk

fwiw, ive only had my raptor since friday, and in the 2 hours that i used it, i noticed that it was much quieter than the 2 maxtors i have, some might find the sound it makes a bit annoying as its higher pitched, as opposed to the chatter of the maxtors, was better for me though :)
31-07-2006, 05:23 PM
owen1978

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gibb0N

PC5300? :/

want ddr2 800 ideally. Haven't heard of the make either so I'm skeptical, but I'm no buff when it comes to ram.

This is the best kept secret no one listens to me i dont know why i bother! :)

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=101692

Sigh

Basically this thing overclocks like hell, there Teamgroup rep stated that the newer 3-3-3-8 sticks could reach DDR1000!

The first batch few months back were 3-4-4-8 these have no been superceded by 3-3-3-8 sticks.

You can thank me later ;)
31-07-2006, 06:11 PM
Bennah

Teamgroup memory is very good. Working like Corsair 6400 C3's but at half the price. Not read too much about them but looking around for a little bit, things are looking good.

Back to the original question of the thread...

The cpu and board are fine. The gpu I would change to a 7900 GT. The psu I would change to a Tagan U25 600w. Its a great psu. Very strong rails and steady output. My experience with Antec psu's isnt good. They tend to drop on the rails quiet badly when put under load.

That watercooling kit is a total waste of money. It will not preform any better than a decent heatsink and fan. I would get a decent HSF and save some money.

If you want quiet, then why are you wanting some Raptors? They are quite loud when seeking. Couple of spinpoints or hitachi deskstars in raid would be a better option ;)
31-07-2006, 08:42 PM
Gibb0N

cheers for the input coming guys, keep it coming. :D
01-08-2006, 09:35 AM
Gibb0N

Ordered my raptor among other things, just need to decide on my choice of gpu but that's gonna be effected by my choice in mobo. When I finally get my E6600 in the post, whenever that is going to be, I'll grab the best mobo out there for it I think. Just can't make up my mind whether to get the 7900GT Extreme, or the ATi X1800XT