Build before Penryn

T

theDreamer

2[H]4U
Joined
Oct 11, 2006
Messages
2,513
So I figured Penryn is hitting soon, and I do not want to wait until the 3-4 month price drop comes around so I figured I would finally get to building a quad core system now. Few thoughts that will either change my build or the parts. What is the maximum number of hard drives I can have on this motherboard? What would be a good board where I can have one OS hard drive and up to 4-6 data hard drives? Is there a board that will offer this and be a solid gaming board, which does not a lot of errors or bugs? What are some easy starter water cooling setups, CPU only, and CPU/GPU?

Setup:
~Case - LIAN LI PC-V2000Bplus II Black Aluminum (Link)
I know it is a server size case, but I want to be able to have plenty of space for water cooling later and expansion for many hard drives as possible.

~Motherboard - EVGA 122-CK-NF68-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i (Link)
Good solid board which seems to have gotten most of the errors and bugs out of it, good over clock board if needed later.

~Graphics - EVGA 768-P2-N831-AR GeForce 8800GTX 768MB 384-bit GDDR3 (Link)
Need a solid graphics card to be able to game at top resolution, plus if I want to add water cooling there are solid WC blocks out so far.

~Power Supply - ENERMAX Galaxy EGX1000EWL ATX12V/ EPS12V/ BTX 1000W (Link)
Solid power supply, want the power for later expansion, plus you can never have to much power.

~CPU - Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz (Link)
Quad core, can over clock to 3.0, and all around a solid chip.

~Memory - This I can not figure out what to pick, any suggestions?

~OS Hard drive - Will pick up a 10k raptor for the OS.

~CPU cooling - ZALMAN CNPS9500 LED (Link)
Good solid cooler, do I need anything when putting this on the CPU?

Other things I either have, or will be picking up after most of this ordering/building is completed. Also I will be using Windows XP (SP2) for the current time until I truly feel Vista is needed. Any suggestions to the build or what I might need to add?
 
I'll just say you need some DAMN good cooling to overclock a Quad. I'm using a Tuniq Tower 120 and I still idle at 48°C
 
Dark Shade said:
I'll just say you need some DAMN good cooling to overclock a Quad. I'm using a Tuniq Tower 120 and I still idle at 48°C
Click to expand...

if your using tower120 and still at stock, try remounting it. my q6600 @ 3.2 idels 38 36 35 35 using 120 extreme w/san ace 1011 @ 7v.
 
Dark Shade said:
I've remounted it 6-7 times, I think it's just my luck.
Click to expand...

I bet your IHS is concave. Do you have a G0?

theDreamer said:
What is the maximum number of hard drives I can have on this motherboard?

What would be a good board where I can have one OS hard drive and up to 4-6 data hard drives?

~CPU cooling - ZALMAN CNPS9500 LED (Link)
Good solid cooler, do I need anything when putting this on the CPU?
Click to expand...

What size monitor do you have or plan on getting? SLI is only needed for high resolution 3D rendering. So, if you have or plan on getting a 1920x1080 LCD or higher, and want to game on it at native resolution, then keep SLI as an option. Otherwise, theres no need for it. A single GTX is still fine for a 1920x1080 (or 1920x1200) LCD screen, and more cost effective than an 8800GTS SLI setup. SLI as an upgrade path isn't worth it unless, again, a large LCD is in the future plans. There should always be a better single card solution, and you could sell your old card to help offset the cost.

On the eVGA 680i SLI A1, you can have 6 internal SATA devices.

WIth the GA-P35-DS3R/DS4, you can have 8 internal SATA devices, but no SLI.

Ditch the Zalman. Go for one of these instead:
$45 - Tuniq Tower 120 CPU HSF
$46 - Thermalright Ultima 90 CPU HS + FBA09A12M - Z ($3)
$55 - Thermalright Ultra 120 eXtreme CPU HS + Scythe S-Flex Fan SFF21E ($15)

Also, pickup a 3.5g tube of Arctic Silver 5 or Arctic Cooling MX-2.
 
officer921 said:
OP, since you're getting aftermarket cooling already and want to overclock, you really need a g0 stepping chip. Here is an OEM g0 stepping Q6600 for $265.00

http://www.clubit.com/product_detail.cfm?itemno=CA1938460
Click to expand...

Thanks, I was reading on Newegg that it was luck of the draw if you got a g0 or the B3(?), something like that.

About the heat sink what do the different options offers?
Those three you presented seem huge, but do they offer better cooling? Would it just be wiser to learn more about water cooling a buy a decent starting setup for my CPU (add GPU later when ready)?

Thanks for the answers everyone.
Besides hard drives, the only other input into SATA is CD/DVD drivers correct? Or are there other inputs that I might use there, if ever?
 
Yah, wait for Clubit.com or tankguys.com to get more G0 Q6600's in stock. Don't chance it with Newegg.

The three I listed were the best for cooling for their price. They're huge but quiet. The Ultra 120 eXtreme is the best air cooler available right now. The Zalman 9500 isn't as good as the Tuniq, and even costs more. The Zalman 9700 costs way more than the Tuniq, and still doesnt cool any better. The Tuniq is your best cost effective solution for a quad, imo. Here's a review: http://anandtech.com/casecoolingpsus/showdoc.aspx?i=3068&p=4

I wouldn't bother with watercooling since you can get great performance still with air cooling. However, if you're really into it, its fun.

SATA is for HDDs and Optical drives only.
 
Thanks for the help.
I am ordering parts slowly, starting out with basics such as case, motherboard, etc. My last buys will probably be the CPU & GPU.

With the, THERMALRIGHT ULTRA 120 EXTREME CPU COOLER, am I going to need to worry about weight or anything? Yeah I just bring up water cooling because it looks great, can allow for better over clocking, plus I have never done it, but I do not have the time to invest into it currently (maybe after college).

Ah, so just having one optical drive and then plenty of room for my hard drives. :D
With the size case I want, because I am hoping to fill up the HD cage, I am not going to be able to just plug all the hard drives into the board. So I will probably need a PCI solution for this correct? Any recommendations?
 
theDreamer said:
Thanks, I was reading on Newegg that it was luck of the draw if you got a g0 or the B3(?), something like that.

About the heat sink what do the different options offers?
Those three you presented seem huge, but do they offer better cooling? Would it just be wiser to learn more about water cooling a buy a decent starting setup for my CPU (add GPU later when ready)?

Thanks for the answers everyone.
Besides hard drives, the only other input into SATA is CD/DVD drivers correct? Or are there other inputs that I might use there, if ever?
Click to expand...

ClubIT guarantees G0 stepping Q6600s so theres no luck involved. I have one sitting on my desk just waiting on my next paycheck to finish my build :eek:.
 
exothermic said:
ClubIT guarantees G0 stepping Q6600s so theres no luck involved. I have one sitting on my desk just waiting on my next paycheck to finish my build :eek:.
Click to expand...

Ah, well that is good to know.
Real quick as you seem to know, but what is the difference between the G0 and, what is it, B3?

I currently am just waiting on myself to take the plunge and build another system. It has been almost four years now (maybe longer) since I build my last computer. It lasted through many games, so as you can tell I build to hold onto for some time.
 
I grabbed a set of 4GB G.Skill sticks from Newegg because I plan on running 64bit Vista. If you plan on running a 32bit operating system you can step down to 2gigs.
 
theDreamer said:
With the, THERMALRIGHT ULTRA 120 EXTREME CPU COOLER, am I going to need to worry about weight or anything?

Ah, so just having one optical drive and then plenty of room for my hard drives. :D
With the size case I want, because I am hoping to fill up the HD cage, I am not going to be able to just plug all the hard drives into the board. So I will probably need a PCI solution for this correct? Any recommendations?
Click to expand...

The Thermalright Ultra 120 eXtreme is heavy, and even heavier when mounted with a fan. While this may worry some people, it'll be fine without any additional support because it has a nice backplate. Others use fishing wire to help support it, since they move their case around a lot. So, if it worries you, get the Ultima 90 instead. It performs nearly as good and is much lighter.

What board did you decide to go with? The Gigabyte boards have 8 SATA ports. If you need more than that, then yes, you'll need a PCI SATA Controller card. I'd suggest a PCI-E 4x controller card, simply for the bandwidth.

I agree, if you want 4GB, that G.Skill PQ kit is a good deal.
 
exothermic said:
I grabbed a set of 4GB G.Skill sticks from Newegg because I plan on running 64bit Vista. If you plan on running a 32bit operating system you can step down to 2gigs.
Click to expand...

That is a great set, might not get Vista 64bit right away, but I can still make use of 80% (or more) of the ram until I decide I want to move to Vista. Plus I can always install XP, buy 64bit Vista and install, and just dual boot. Though Vista has to be on first correct?
 
enginurd said:
The Thermalright Ultra 120 eXtreme is heavy, and even heavier when mounted with a fan. While this may worry some people, it'll be fine without any additional support because it has a nice backplate. Others use fishing wire to help support it, since they move their case around a lot. So, if it worries you, get the Ultima 90 instead. It performs nearly as good and is much lighter.

What board did you decide to go with? The Gigabyte boards have 8 SATA ports. If you need more than that, then yes, you'll need a PCI SATA Controller card. I'd suggest a PCI-E 4x controller card, simply for the bandwidth.

I agree, if you want 4GB, that G.Skill PQ kit is a good deal.
Click to expand...

I think I might stick with the 680i board for the option of going SLi after the new year (once GPU prices drop again), and adding a PCI SATA controller should not be a big deal so I just have to find one I feel comfortable with.
 
theDreamer said:
That is a great set, might not get Vista 64bit right away, but I can still make use of 80% (or more) of the ram until I decide I want to move to Vista. Plus I can always install XP, buy 64bit Vista and install, and just dual boot. Though Vista has to be on first correct?
Click to expand...

If I remember correctly XP will recognize about 3gigs of the ram. Have no idea about your second question since I've never dual booted before.
 
theDreamer said:
I think I might stick with the 680i board for the option of going SLi after the new year (once GPU prices drop again), and adding a PCI SATA controller should not be a big deal so I just have to find one I feel comfortable with.
Click to expand...

What size monitor do you have or plan on getting?

PCI SATA Controller isn't a good idea, since the bandwidth on PCI is low. Like I said, go for a PCI-E 4x Card at least.

XP 32 bit can only address 4GB of memory total. So, if you have 4GB of RAM, but a GTX card (or even two in SLI), you're down to, at most, 3.3GB... and thats without the OS overhead, so its actually less than that.
 
Just noticed the price on those sticks have dropped 5 bux since I brought them last Friday. Ram prices are getting to be pretty nice :eek:.
 
enginurd said:
What size monitor do you have or plan on getting?

PCI SATA Controller isn't a good idea, since the bandwidth on PCI is low. Like I said, go for a PCI-E 4x Card at least.
Click to expand...

Sorry I meant PCI-E 4x, doing work and this, need to get my priorities straight. This takes priority. :D

I will most likely pick up a 24" monitor, I would love for a 30" but maybe next summer. Then I can run a 24+30 inch.
 
theDreamer said:
I will most likely pick up a 24" monitor, I would love for a 30" but maybe next summer. Then I can run a 24+30 inch.
Click to expand...

SLI option is fine as long as you don't mind dropping $1K on graphics cards alone. You'll need SLI if you get the 30" and want to game on it. With the 24", you could get away with a single GTX or Ultra still.
 
enginurd said:
SLI option is fine as long as you don't mind dropping $1K on graphics cards alone. You'll need SLI if you get the 30" and want to game on it. With the 24", you could get away with a single GTX or Ultra still.
Click to expand...

Alright.
If I buy a single 8800 (GTX or Ultra), how easy is it to install another for SLi? Other than installing the hardware, are there extra drivers that need to be installed, just click an SLi option? My last build (many years ago) I just went with a single card (SLi/Crossfire was not around I think actually), so reading all the SLi/Crossfire information is great, but I am still at a loss on how to execute it.
 
SLI does not require different drivers or extra software. If your current drivers detect a second nVidia graphics card in the machine, it will prompt you to enable SLI.

Keep in mind that SLI as an upgrade path is almost always a bad idea, as by the time you are ready to upgrade, a better, more powerful solution would be to just replace your single card with a newer, faster version for about the same or less money (especially if you sell the first card.) Very rarely does the top end of a new generation not beat two of the top end in a previous generation. Just keep that in mind.

As for SLI today, it's worth it if you want to game on max settings at 1920x1200, especially if you want to play a lot of new games (with DX10 code paths and drivers that aren't as optimized as they should be.) Having SLI on my rig allows me to play WiC at a solid 30 at Very High. This is not easy to do with one card. Of course, I would hope (and to a lesser degree, expect) that both Sierra and nVidia will tweak their drivers so that say in a months time, the game will be more than playable at high settings with a single GTX card.

Mark.
 
I know older boards required you to switch some jumpers (my Ultra-D) or a selector card (my P6N) for SLI, along with plugging in the SLI bridge. Translation: its somewhat easy -- not hard.
 
Thanks again for all the help guys, but I think I might head in a slightly different direction after some thinking these past few days. I have realized even if I do have a top of the line gaming rig I do not have that much time to spend gaming or make owning this rig worth it, but that does not mean this build is down the toilet yet.

My idea is to change this from a top of the line, to a more medium gaming rig, and massive storage system, cutting some costs on parts I think are over the top for what my needs are.

New setup will consist of:
~Case - LIAN LI PC-V2000Bplus II Black Aluminum (Same)

~Motherboard - Need new one. Want one with solid support for dual core, plus plenty of SATA connections for hard drives. Would like to not have to get a card to plug in more SATA connections for as long as possible.

~Graphics - 8600 (EVGA or XFX): Since I will not be making this a high end gaming rig I figured I could drop the graphics back this far and still be able to play my older games I enjoy from time to time, plus some not so old and still have some solid quality.

~Power Supply - I had the 1k Enermax, but with the backing off of the graphics and CPU (dual core), I figured I will not need the power any more of course. What is a top quality, but silent PSU that will provide plenty of power now and for maybe future upgrades (adding hard drives, upgrading graphics maybe, etc.)?

~CPU - Will drop this all the way back to a dual core chip. Was going to drop back to a, Link, figured this will be a solid chip plus. Intel Core 2 Duo E4400 Allendale 2.0GHz 2M shared L2

~Memory - Do not need the best so I think this will do, Link. G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800

~Hard drive(s) - I would like to pick up a raptor for my OS plus other programs, but do they generate to much noise for a quieter system? Also, I will be picking up 1tb drives for the storage, I assume Hitachi is solid, but newegg also has a Western Digital 1tb hard drive.

~CPU HS - I will stick with the Zalman for this build.

Any thoughts about the new setup idea, bad idea, looks alright for a storage system first, some what gaming rig second?
 
The Gigabyte P35-DS3R has 8 internal SATA ports.
$130 - Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R LGA 775 Intel P35

All you'll need is a Corsair 520W, but if you want to step it up a bit, go for the 620W (do NOT get it from newegg... check buy.com, zipzoomfly.com, or clubit.com). They're made by Seasonic, so they're quiet PSUs.
$108 - Corsair CMPSU-520HX 520W PSU ($20MIR) (Free Shipping)
$147 - Corsair CMPSU-620HX 620W PSU ($20MIR) (Free Shipping)

Raptors arent very cost effective. And yes, they are loud. Stick to the 7200.10 PRT 'cudas, and you'll have good enough performance short of doing a RAID0.

78MB/s: WD Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB, $160AR
65MB/s: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS 320GB, $80
65MB/s: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3300620AS 300GB, $60
52MB/s: WD Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB, $70
112MB/s: RAID0 'cuda's, 600GB total, $120 (ICH9R on P35-DS3R)

I'd go with 500GB drives instead, since they're much cheaper and you have 8 SATA ports to work with on the DS3R.

Ditch the Zalman. If you want a quiet HSF, get the Scythe Ninja Plus Rev.B. The Zalman isn't worth buying at all.
$35 - Scythe SCNJ-1100P Ninja Plus Rev.B CPU HSF
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top