Please help me configure my perfect 3XS system

[NightOwl]

Well, NightOwl, you've thought it through so I can't rag on that. I just remember picking components myself and getting carried away with one extra level of goodness and ending up with expensive overkill.

I guess times are passing me by, but I'm living quite decently with a 75 gig drive. So yea, I just wanted to highlight those things in case you just wanted big drives for the sake of big drives.

Yeah, I appreciate where you're coming from.... and I know just what you mean! I've been looking at the possibility of a water cooled system but it really would be way over-the-top and not of any great advantage to me so I've had to reign in such a silly idea and go for normal air cooling instead. It's all too easy to get carried away with grand ideas. I blame Scan, myself - their goodies are too tempting by half. Ha ha!

[NightOwl]

I agree fully with disk space. You can never get enough and certainly I've found that video takes up lots of space, download / create in high-def and that's four times bigger again. If you are going to keep the system for 2 / 3 or 4 years then space requirements will doubtlessly have moved on again during that time frame.

TB drives are now very cheap and seem to offer the best value for money so (looking at the cash that you are already prepared to spend) I'd install a 1TB drive as standard and then have another for backup via external unit with eSATA and USB connections so that data would be securable and portable.

I'm doing the same with mine, only I have a 1.5Tb drive in the system and already own a 1.5Tb external unit to back it up.

I've been using two HDDs for quite a few years now, a great system for internal backups, I find. If one physical drive were to fail I would always have another (with a copy of my data) to fall back on, so I'm going to stick to my plan. I do, however, have a 200GB drive here that I think I might hook up as an external drive in an enclosure - I could use this as a permanent and portable archive for my parameter files (the original fractal "recipes" for rendering images and very small by comparison) instead of burning to DVD (though I may do that too every few months or so - with the work that I do, if I lose the parameter files I would never in a million years, ever, be able to recreate them. I cannot stress how crucial this data integrity/backup is to me). Price is not the issue, it's function, security and peace of mind that I'm after.

Two 1.5 TB drives? Now that is serious storage space, my friend!

[Philipp]

Hi NightOwl,

Not forgotten about this, wasnt in the office yesterday

Ill have a reply by end of day

[Philipp]

NightOwl

Sorry I have not yet got a reply for you, just remembered while eating my tea...

Ill get back to you first thing in the morning, sorry for the delay.

Regards

[NightOwl]

Thanks, Phil, the morning would be great as I am pretty much ready to place my order now.

PS. One more question:
Can I arrange for the hard drives to be partitioned? If so, how, or who do I contact about this please? Ta!

[Philipp]

Thanks, Phil, the morning would be great as I am pretty much ready to place my order now.

PS. One more question:
Can I arrange for the hard drives to be partitioned? If so, how, or who do I contact about this please? Ta!

Partitions are not a problem, once you have ordered your system I can either make a note of the requirements or you can email across your requirements...

[Philipp]

Anyways.... I'm beginning to firm up on the final system spec now, I just have a couple of further quick questions for you:

1. As I understand it the Thermaltake cooler will be fitted with two Akasa Amber fans as standard, I believe. But how many of these Amber fans would I need to add in the configurator to replace the fans supplied with the Cosmos 1000 case? I'm not sure if I need 3... or is it 4? Can you confirm please?
Also: I hope your back room boys will send me the old case fans that they have removed? I might just be able to use them in another PC - waste not want not, as they say!

2. What do I do about the graphics card? If I order the system online would it be OK to configure "no card" at all on the system specs and simply add the one I want from the shop to my order?

3. I want to add some other items to the order too (keyboard/mouse and maybe a couple of other small-ish items) - hopefully you can ship the lot to me when the time comes?

Hello NightOwl

I would advise selecting 4 additional fans we can install 2 into the ceiling of the system one onto the rear and one at the front. We will also ship the replaced fans along with your 3XS system

Yes if you wish to order online just select no card add the system to your basket then add any further components.

Certainly any further items can either be added at the time of purchasing the system or just drop me a mail or PM and I will have them added further down the line. These will be shipped with your system with no additional carriage cost.

Just going to have a look over the system spec now

[Philipp]

Here is my proposed system - I may change my mind about hard drive sizes but this is basically it, I think - hopefully I have everything I will need:

System Overview

Case: Coolermaster RC-1000 Cosmos - Silent Aluminium Full Tower Case
CPU: Intel i7 920 2.66GHz 4.8GT s QPI 8MB Cache Retail
CPU Coolers: Thermalright Ultra 120 eXtreme 120mm Heat Sink Fan
Overclocking: 3XS System Core-Logic Overclocking*10 - 20%*
Memory: 6GB (3x2GB) Corsair XMS3 DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600) CAS 9-9-9-24
Power Supply Unit: 620W Corsair HX Series Modular PSU (Single Graphics Card)
System Drives: 500 GB Samsung Spinpoint F1 7200 rpm 16MB Cache
Storage Hard drives: 500 GB Samsung Spinpoint F1 7200 rpm 16MB Cache
Floppy Drive Flash Card Readers & Writers: Akasa Multi Memory Card Reader & USB 2.0 Port
Blu Ray Reader Writer: LG GGC-H20L - Super Multi DVD Writer & Blu-Ray + HD-ROM Reader
Sound Card: Creative X-Fi Xtreme Audio - PCI-E (x1)
Case Cooling Fans: 120mm Akasa Amber Case Fan Ultra Quiet and Long life with NO LEDs, x 3

Operating system: *Operating System Not required*
Software - Application: MS OFFICE 2007 - 25 Usage 60 Day TRIAL
Software - DVD Blu Ray Decoding: CyberLink PowerDVD 8 Standard Movie Audio Player & Decoder

TFT Monitor: 24" Dell 2408WFP Ultrasharp Widescreen LCD 1920x1200 3000:1

Extended Warranty: Standard 3XS System Warranty - 2 Years (1st Year Onsite 2nd Year Return to Base)

Plus fixed specifications:
3XS X58 Core i7 System
Asus P6T Deluxe - Intel X58 - Sok 1366
2 x 120mm AK-183-L2B Akasa Amber Case Fan
Silverstone FP51B Black Transfer Bracket
Thermalright Ultra Fan Clip
Thermalright LGA1366 Bolt Kit
Akasa 8 Pin Extension cable
45cm Akasa Rounded Floppy Drive Cable
Acronis True Image Home 2009
Scan 3XS System - 1year Onsite Warranty (Mainland UK)
Scan System Configuration

Additional requirements/changes not found on configurator:
Graphics card: 512MB Gigabyte 9600 GT, PCI-E 2.0(x16), 2000MHz GDDR3, GPU 720MHz, 64 Cores, 2x DL DVI-I / HDTV ...... Scan shop code LN23589
Keyboard/mouse: Logitech Desktop MX 3200 Cordless Keyboard, USB 1.1/2.0, 1000dpi Laser Mouse, Black ........ Scan shop code LN17722
+ possibly a pair of "home plugs" for a domestic LAN
+ possibly a HDD enclosure to turn a hard drive of mine into an external backup device

Looks spot on, there is nothing that I would recommend adding or removing for your needs, It’s going to be a very nice system

On a side note seen as it was your idea our internal web department are currently working on the new gallery section

If I have missed anything dont hessitate to point it out and ill get onto it ASAP.

Thanks

[NightOwl]

Looks spot on, there is nothing that I would recommend adding or removing for your needs, It’s going to be a very nice system

On a side note seen as it was your idea our internal web department are currently working on the new gallery section

If I have missed anything dont hessitate to point it out and ill get onto it ASAP.

Thanks

That's great, Phil, thanks a lot. Everything has been answered and I'm ready to go now.

Looking forward to seeing the gallery when it's done, it will be a great asset to the 3XS system forum, I'm sure!

Cheers.

[robbieuk]

Ask for a freebie with that system (mousemat?)

[NightOwl]

System order done and dusted!

[Philipp]

You have mail...

Cheers

[NightOwl]

Received, thanks.

[NightOwl]

Well, today is the date I was given for building my system - I'm just wondering if everything is on track for that?

Any chance of some photos while I sit out the last few days of waiting?

[NightOwl]

Now that I've had my new 3XS system a little while I thought I would post up my experiences - this is more along the lines of customer experience rather than a techie review, by the way. While there have been a few delays and small problems I have nothing but praise for the way in which the staff at Scan have dealt with any issues. Basic details of my system spec can be found to the left here, below my username, or you can peruse the full details further up in this thread, if interested.

I had to wait a few days longer than expected for delivery because final testing had revealed the system was unstable. This turned out to be a faulty CPU which had to be replaced and then tested all over again. The test was performed over the best part of a weekend, 41 hours in total. It passed with flying colours and I'm happy to know that Scan have gone to such lengths to ensure I have a good processor as the work I will be doing with it on occasion will be not too dissimilar to these torture tests. At my request Scan sent me the temperature logs for the tests - the highest temps reached on each core were in the region of 75-78 degrees, which looks OK to me.

Delivery of the system by City Link was a bit of a shambles. They were given two boxes to deliver but on the appointed day the van turned up with just the one, which contained my new monitor. This was a bit of a let down but at least I had something to play with. The next day the system box finally turned up. In all I had waited a full three weeks from placing my order to actually receiving the system - I was aware of the building timeframe beforehand and don't have a problem with how long it took, my point is that any prospective buyers shouldn't expect a speedy delivery, especially during periods when Scan are rushed off their feet with orders.

Onto the system itself... I had already unpacked and set up the monitor the day before. I chose the 24" Dell 2408WFP and it's simply stunning - beautiful picture, fabulous build quality, I love it! The second box was absolutely huge and very heavy - inside was the system itself, packed in the Coolermaster case box, the motherboard box (complete with extra cables and fittings), various manuals and disks for the hardware, some other bits and pieces (the stock Intel CPU cooler and two original case fans that had been replaced/upgraded), and three other boxes for additional items I had purchased (wireless Logitech keyboard/mouse set, an external Icy Box HDD enclosure and a pair of Newlink NL-HP 200DL Home Plugs). Everything was well packed and arrived in excellent condition.

I eventually got the system out of its box - housed in a Coolermaster RC-1000 Cosmos case it is both large and very heavy, which I expected, but fortunately the built-in handles make moving it a lot easier. I opened up the system case to remove all the bubblewrap packaging inside - everything seemed to be securely in place and it was time to admire the quality of the build and cabling inside - astonishingly neat and professional! I plugged everything in and held my breath as I powered it up for the first time - it worked like a charm. I found the startup Express Gate software had been enabled but I have now turned this off as I see no need for it in day to day use.

I bought my system with no OS so my first task was to install one and add some of my programs and backed up data. In order to facilitate this I had put everything I wanted to transfer on to a hard disk which I had intended to use as an external drive - this is what I had purchased the Icy Box for. This was when I hit the first snag - with the HDD installed in the Icy Box I discovered it was faulty - every attempt to plug it in to the PC resulted in the main power fuse in my house tripping off! Mercifully nothing was damaged by this event. Eventually I had to abandon the Icy Box idea and install the hard drive inside the system case instead - this was easily done as I found a spare SATA power connector conveniently available inside and I just had to add a single red data cable. The HDD caddies inside this case make installation a breeze.

A further problem cropped up a few days later when I went to plug in my headphones to the socket on the top of the system case. This area houses a number of USB ports, the power & reset buttons etc. There was clearly something not quite right here, the sockets were loose and I couldn't engage the jack plug properly. To cut a long story short there was a problem with this area of the case, broken screw thread attachments, so the whole thing had to go back to Scan to be repaired. To be fair to Scan, this problem was not of their doing, it was a fault with the case as supplied by Coolermaster and not something that is easily spotted. Although unfortunate, and I had to make do without my new system for a few days, I have no hesitation in recommending Scan's customer support on this one - the problem was handled efficiently and speedily. The system was collected on Monday, delivered to Scan on Tuesday and by Wednesday the panel had been replaced and the system shipped out that evening. Some hours later, on Thursday morning I received it back, all in perfect working order and with a new, rock solid, top ports panel. I even got a courtesy email to check that everything was OK. Outstanding service in my book. I was also impressed with the response to the faulty Icy Box problem - when the RMA was agreed Scan promptly arranged for it to be collected, free of charge - it was found to be faulty and a refund has been issued. Again, no quibble, no fuss.

Despite these inconvenient but ultimately quite minor problems the system itself has survived three trips in the hands of City Link and has performed flawlessly on every occasion. I am delighted with having a PC built to my own particular specifications, with quality parts. The performance is outstanding, the system is around six times faster than my old PC which makes working with it a real pleasure now. The staff at Scan have proved themselves to be helpful and professional in all my dealings with them, with good communications and highly commendable customer and after sales service.

I'm very happy with my system now, thank you guys (you know who you are!). Keep up the good work and I'll almost certainly be back in a few years time for my next 3XS PC *grin*.