Another New Hardware Thread! ;D

X

xerus`

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Dec 22, 2005
Messages
1,159
I started one of these back in February, but it turned out I wasn't able to upgrade back then. Now I'm back, with some stuff I want to get, seeking any advice and approval! I haven't built a PC in about two and a half years (I'm running on an overclocked athlon 64 3700+ right now.) so I'm a little lost in this new world of intel and quad cores.

Heres what I am currently thinking:

ASUS P5Q Deluxe LGA 775 Intel P45 Intel Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor
OCZ Reaper HPC Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
Thermalright Ultra-120 CPU Cooling Heatsink

I currently have a 8800GTS video card that I plan to hold onto, and I'm going to see if this OCZ 520w can take the pressure for this new set up. Maybe snag a new hard drive while I'm at it, and give XP 64-bit a go (nope, no vista for me yet.)

No extreme overclocking, but some sort of boost would be ideal. Speaking of which, I've heard that the G0 versions of the q6600 are all the rage, but I'm not guaranteed to get one unless I find a place that is specifically selling them-- is this still true?

Thanks for your time ;D
 
That motherboard is overpriced IMO since you can get an X38 motherboard for that price. The P45 is suppose to be the mainstream while the X38 is geared towards the enthusiast or performance market. In addition, are you sure that yoiu want to spend $200 on a motherboard when a $100 motherboard will perform and OC with the Q6600 about the same?

How long have you had the ModxStream 520W PSU for?

While the TRUE is still the best HS out now, there are much much cheaper HSF out there that performs pretty close to the TRUE:
Xigmatek HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle HSF - $37 & Retention Bracket - $7
ZEROtherm Nirvana NV120 120mm HSF - $50
Thermalright Ultima-90 HSF - $46 & Panaflo FBA09A12M 92mm Fan - $3

By now you have a real high chance of getting a G0 stepping Q6600 from newegg. There aren't any sites anymore that guarantee a G0 stepping.
 
I agree with Danny.

If you wait for the July price drops, a Q9550 will be $350 or less.
 
Unless there's some feature you really want from the P45 board, those would be better options. PCI-E 2.0 offered by the board doesn't make a difference with a single card solution when compared to PCI-E 1.1 from the P35. If you want Crossfire, the dual 16x from the X38 would perform the same if not better than the dual 8x offered by the P45. The die shrink offered by the P45 hasn't appeared to significantly help overclocking so far.

Although if I were going X38 I'd lean more towards the DFI board, both for overclocking options as well as its price.
 
xerus` said:
So as far as mobos go, you're saying I should go with something like:

ASUS P5K PRO LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard
or
ASUS P5E LGA 775 Intel X38 ATX Intel Motherboard

My knowledge of all the chipsets and such are pretty minimal, it's been awhile and I've never actually built an intel system before.
Click to expand...

ASUS P5Q = P45, ASUS P5K = P35. The major difference is that P45 is PCI-E 2.0, while P35 is PCI-E 1.1. P45 can also go into a 8x-8x configuration for Crossfire, while P35 is stuck at 16x-4x. X38/X48 (which for ASUS would be P5E) is better in that it is PCI-E 2.0 and 16x-16x in Crossfire configuration. Unless you want to go Crossfire though, there's really no advantage of it over P45. This day and age though, I really wouldn't go with a PCI-E 1.x mobo these days unless you really don't care about gaming, which you obviously do if you have a 8800 GTS. PCI-E 1.x doesn't hurt any current cards, so if you upgraded every year I'd say go for the P35, but you upgrade less frequently so it very well might matter before you're ready to upgrade again.

What I'd do is just get a cheaper P45 board instead, like the ASUS P5Q-E or Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3R if you want lots of SATA ports and fancy-dancies, or the GA-EP45-DS3L or the MSI P45 Neo3-FR if you don't need as many extras.

xerus` said:
The 520w was new when I put together my current computer, so 2.5 years old.
Click to expand...

If it's the ModStream, not the PowerStream, it's the same one I got for my first build, around the same time (X2 3800+, nF4-SLI mobo, 7800 GT). :) I have since upgraded to the Tt 750W, which I've since realized might be a bit overkill, but it never hurts to have the extra capacity and I got it on sale cheap. That said, you would be better served with a new 500-600W PSU than your current one; the old OCZ (really Topower) PSU's put too much of their current on the 5V rail, and not enough on the 12V rail for a modern computer. I'd replace the OCZ with a Corsair, Seasonic, or Thermaltake Toughpower power supply, even of the same wattage.
 
DFI x38 boards are really good overclockers, and they have good open-box deals on newegg.
 
farfromhome said:
ASUS P5Q = P45, ASUS P5K = P35. The major difference is that P45 is PCI-E 2.0, while P35 is PCI-E 1.1. P45 can also go into a 8x-8x configuration for Crossfire, while P35 is stuck at 16x-4x. X38/X48 (which for ASUS would be P5E) is better in that it is PCI-E 2.0 and 16x-16x in Crossfire configuration. Unless you want to go Crossfire though, there's really no advantage of it over P45. This day and age though, I really wouldn't go with a PCI-E 1.x mobo these days unless you really don't care about gaming, which you obviously do if you have a 8800 GTS. PCI-E 1.x doesn't hurt any current cards, so if you upgraded every year I'd say go for the P35, but you upgrade less frequently so it very well might matter before you're ready to upgrade again.

What I'd do is just get a cheaper P45 board instead, like the ASUS P5Q-E or Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3R if you want lots of SATA ports and fancy-dancies, or the GA-EP45-DS3L or the MSI P45 Neo3-FR if you don't need as many extras.



If it's the ModStream, not the PowerStream, it's the same one I got for my first build, around the same time (X2 3800+, nF4-SLI mobo, 7800 GT). :) I have since upgraded to the Tt 750W, which I've since realized might be a bit overkill, but it never hurts to have the extra capacity and I got it on sale cheap. That said, you would be better served with a new 500-600W PSU than your current one; the old OCZ (really Topower) PSU's put too much of their current on the 5V rail, and not enough on the 12V rail for a modern computer. I'd replace the OCZ with a Corsair, Seasonic, or Thermaltake Toughpower power supply, even of the same wattage.
Click to expand...

Ah.. okay.

I think I'll go with the ASUS motherboard you mentioned there then. I know the 520w is a little old, but for now I'll see if it works out. I'm trying to only upgrade what I really need to for now.

So ASUS P5Q-E, 6600, and the OCZ reaper ram is going to be my final purchase I believe. (Speak now or forever hold your peace.)

Thanks again ;D
 
I know that you're looking at the after-rebate price of the OCZ Reapers, but if you want to save some money immediately, the G.Skill 4GB DDR2 800 kit would perform just as well.

Most, if not all of the OCZ ---XStream model PSUs are based off the FSP Epsilon PSU, which causes out-of-spec voltage fluctuations, or ripple, at high load. Ripple will kill your parts over time, if they don't do it immediately. The concern is that your latest upgrade, plus the fact that it's been used for over two years, makes it more likely that you may experience some sort of ripple... and that's a risk you shouldn't have to take. If you can, replace it with a different PSU ASAP.
 
tiraides, fairly certain he's got a Modstream or a Powerstream, which would be a Topower (P4?) based unit. ;) They're not too bad, just a little puny on the 12v right now.
 
gwai lo said:
tiraides, fairly certain he's got a Modstream or a Powerstream, which would be a Topower (P4?) based unit. ;) They're not too bad, just a little puny on the 12v right now.
Click to expand...

QFT. The ModXStream, GameXStream, etc... came about after the ModStream and PowerStream (note lack of X) were discontinued. They were both indeed Topower-based units; I believe the PowerStream was one version ahead of the ModStream. Though I understand some people not remembering the Jurassic age of computers a whole three years ago. :D
 
tiraides said:
I know that you're looking at the after-rebate price of the OCZ Reapers, but if you want to save some money immediately, the G.Skill 4GB DDR2 800 kit would perform just as well.

Most, if not all of the OCZ ---XStream model PSUs are based off the FSP Epsilon PSU, which causes out-of-spec voltage fluctuations, or ripple, at high load. Ripple will kill your parts over time, if they don't do it immediately. The concern is that your latest upgrade, plus the fact that it's been used for over two years, makes it more likely that you may experience some sort of ripple... and that's a risk you shouldn't have to take. If you can, replace it with a different PSU ASAP.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I hear about this ripple stuff all the time but never encountered any problems at all. I'm quite partial to OCZ right now since they offered the best support I've ever experienced with the ram I currently have now.
 
Excessive ripple isn't something that would appear overnight, it's a long term thing. Most people read about it and think the same thing as you, "my PSU works just fine and has been perfect since I got it two months ago" and they just keep on recommending them. Hopefully, this ripple problem isn't as bad as we think it may be and people won't start losing parts two or three years down the road.

Plus, you probably don't have to deal with bad ripple suppression because you don't have a -XStream PSU.

Also, something to understand about power supplies (well computer hardware in general) is that generalizing based on companies tends to...fail in short. Beyond judging support, the only way to evaluate decisions is based on the individual models, not the entire make. He wasn't knocking on OCZ, but just their XStreams as being rather mediocre PSUs, but their 3Y built offerings are very good...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top