Author Topic: New 'puter  (Read 290 times)

Offline gewehr

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New 'puter
« on: March 22, 2008, 05:52:26 PM »
  In the market for a new machine, but would like some input as far as potential conflicts/ problems with the main components.
MoBo: Asus P5N-E nForce 650i SLI Chipset LGA775 FSB1333 DDR2
CPU: (Quad-Core) Intel core 2 Quad Q6600 @2.4Ghz 1066FSB 8MB L2 Cache 64-bit
HD: single 750GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM
Mem: 4GB (4x1GB) PC6400 DDR2/800 dual Channel Memory
PSU: Thermaltake ToughPower 750W Quad SLI ready
Video: 2xNVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 1GB 16x PCI Express
OS: XP Pro SP2
Liquid cooled
  Thanx for the input in advance. <S>

Offline Fulmar

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Re: New 'puter
« Reply #1 on: March 22, 2008, 08:04:12 PM »
Thats the same board I own, it's 'older' but still pretty good.  It's nice that it supports the new 1333mhz FSB processors.  Only thing I'd recommend is getting a chipset cooler for the northbridge.  It's a passive heatsink and the NB runs got, about 50+ C on load.  I placed two 50mm spare fans I had on top of it (glued the fans side by side and it is secured on the heatsink by a 3M picture hanger strip thingy), lowered the load temps to 36C-38C.
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Offline Tigger29

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Re: New 'puter
« Reply #2 on: March 22, 2008, 08:57:01 PM »
Looks good, but a couple suggestions...

You might consider getting a faster dual core instead of a quad core.  Unless you use specialized applications that will take advantage of the quad core environment, you're going to see better performance with a faster dual core.

Liquid cooling tends to be more problematic than helpful, and requires a bit of maintenance.  There's always the chance of leaks, and they can be a pain to assemble/disassemble if you ever decide to swap parts out.  The new Intel processors actually run quite cool with fans (much, MUCH cooler than my old AMD), so if you're not planning on overclocking and want fewer problems, don't spend your money.

Windows XP (32 bit anyway) is not going to recognize all four gigs of ram.  Unless you plan on using vista, 4GB is going to be overkill anyway.. might want to invest in 2 or 3GB of faster ram.

You might consider two hard drives.. a faster but smaller drive for your system drive, and a larger drive for your storage drive.  This does make a difference.

Stick with one video card.. go better if you can (might even want to check into the 9XXX series that are coming out.. they are getting very good reviews).  The little bit of increased performance on an SLI setup is about the worst "bang-for-the-buck" you can do right now.


Now keep in mind that's a pretty monstrous system you're looking into, and will perform very well, but you can easily save a few a bunch of money and get something easily 90% as fast.. unless of course, you have money to burn.. or you just want something you can show off!

Enjoy!

Offline BaldEagl

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Re: New 'puter
« Reply #3 on: March 23, 2008, 05:06:37 AM »
Personally, I'd skip the quad-core for a high-end core2duo (E8400), eliminate the second card, stick to air-cooling and upgrade to a much higher end card (8800 GTX or GTX ultra).  Either way you're building a top of the line rig.  Enjoy.
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Offline gewehr

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Re: New 'puter
« Reply #4 on: March 23, 2008, 03:54:44 PM »
  Thanx for the replies gents. Consensus seems to be one higher end GPU & higher end Duo CPU sans liquid cooling.
   Keeping in mind I'm tech un-savvy, is this better?
MoBo: same
CPU: (Sckt775)Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 CPU @3.00GHz 1333FSB 4MB L2 Cache 64-bit
HD: 1x 750GB SATA-II 3.00Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD
MEM: same
PSU: Corsair CMPSU-650TX
VIDEO:NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GX 1GB 16X PCI Express
OS: same
Ditched liquid cooling, added an extra fan.
   Thoughts?
« Last Edit: March 23, 2008, 05:03:23 PM by gewehr »

Offline lambo31

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Re: New 'puter
« Reply #5 on: March 23, 2008, 05:54:25 PM »
gewehr,

 If your going to spend the money for the E6850 I'd suggest waiting till the E8400 was back in stock and get it. It's the same price range and a bigger bang.

 
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Offline Getback

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Re: New 'puter
« Reply #6 on: March 23, 2008, 08:53:17 PM »
I have the e8400, it would be worth the wait. You may also want to search for the xeon E3110. It is the same chip as the E8400. Do a search on Amazon.com. I found some for about $230.

I will be happy to tell you all one more time. That processor is so-o-o-o-o sweet! If only you could sit at my desk and play this game. (You'd probably steal my computer).

Good luck with the build.

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