eVGA 790i board and DDR3 RAM

You don't need $85 AR DDR2-800. There's a deal somewhere (ZipZoomFly? Buy.com? Maybe even Newegg, I don't remember) for 4GB of A-DATA (solid stuff -- they OEM for several bigger names) DDR2-800 for $65, no rebate. I'd go with that. You will not see any performance difference.

I'd go with a Western Digital 640MB AAKS series drive or a Samsung 750GB F1 series drive over the Seagate.. unless the Seagate is considerably less expensive. Both the WD and Samsung drives are faster.

What do you feel you need a 1000HX for? A TX 750 is enough for Quad SLI by my own calculations, at least, with a good bit of headroom too. It can be had for less than 1/2 of the cost of the 1000HX.

If you aren't going SLI, buy a P35 board.
 
silent-circuit said:
You don't need $85 AR DDR2-800. There's a deal somewhere (ZipZoomFly? Buy.com? Maybe even Newegg, I don't remember) for 4GB of A-DATA (solid stuff -- they OEM for several bigger names) DDR2-800 for $65, no rebate. I'd go with that. You will not see any performance difference.

I'd go with a Western Digital 640MB AAKS series drive or a Samsung 750GB F1 series drive over the Seagate.. unless the Seagate is considerably less expensive. Both the WD and Samsung drives are faster.

What do you feel you need a 1000HX for? A TX 750 is enough for Quad SLI by my own calculations, at least, with a good bit of headroom too. It can be had for less than 1/2 of the cost of the 1000HX.

If you aren't going SLI, buy a P35 board.
Click to expand...

Which line of A-DATA? If you check here there are a few types. All of them are around $80, but I don't know which line is which with that brand.

That's weird, it went to the wrong Seagate. I was actually looking at this one. It's a 7200.11 1TB 32MB buffer drive. I went with that just because I heard that the 7200.11's were the way to go. Are the Samsung's comparable? They're exactly the same price at 219 each. I will never ever ever buy WD again. I've had like 12 of their drives die on me. And that doesn't include the ones that died on me at my job either (Double that number, at least). People can say what they want, but I think they are the worse company ever. Nothing can wash the bitter taste out of my mouth for them.

Actually the only reason I went with the 1000HX instead of the 750TX is because I wanted modular cables ;) haha I could be wrong but I think the only other modular cable one that Corsair makes is in a 600 something watt, isn't it?
 
The 750GB Samsung F1 is ~$120 if you look around. Why pay 2x+ for another 1/4 the space?

Modular cables aren't worth $20 to me, much less $130, but hey, your choice.

DDR2-800 is DDR2-800. If it's CAS5 or lower, it's good enough. People obsess over RAM entirely too much. I'd choose this kit of the DDR2-800 kits on Newegg though: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211281

If you're willing to deal with the rebate and want 3Dmark for "free":
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146726
 
silent-circuit said:
The 750GB Samsung F1 is ~$120 if you look around. Why pay 2x+ for another 1/4 the space?
Click to expand...
On Newegg, the 750GB F1 is $120, the 1TB is $220. At those prices, you're paying $0.16/gig for the 750 or $0.22/gig for the 1TB, so yea I guess the 750 is better value. Are they comparable to those 7200.11 Seagates as far as speed and reliability goes, though?

Modular cables aren't worth $20 to me, much less $130, but hey, your choice.
Click to expand...
I'd rather have modular cables if I can get it. If you can think of a good PSU like the 750TX that costs the same that's modular, I would go with it. I just know that the 1000HX is a top-notch PSU (that I won't have to upgrade once Nehalem comes around) that will handle everything I throw at it and it has modular cables. But I guess you're right, it's really just a matter of opinion.

DDR2-800 is DDR2-800. If it's CAS5 or lower, it's good enough. People obsess over RAM entirely too much.
Click to expand...
Best I can find is 5-5-5-18 for around $75-$80 for 2x2GB. There is also some OCZ Reaper HPC at 4-4-4-15 and 2.1v with heat spreaders for $110/$85 after MIR.
 
silent-circuit said:
I edited the above post with a Mushkin kit that's a better deal than that OCZ.
Click to expand...

Because of the tighter timings? Because it's more expensive than the OCZ. Is there a significant difference between 4-4-4-15 and 4-4-4-12? I've never benched them against each other.
 
LittleMike said:
Because of the tighter timings? Because it's more expensive than the OCZ. Is there a significant difference between 4-4-4-15 and 4-4-4-12? I've never benched them against each other.
Click to expand...

Didn't notice that. Nah, there will be no difference. Granted, the Mushkin does come with a key for a $20 copy of 3DMark Vantage Advanced... which I bought and can tell you isn't worth $0.50. So go with the OCZ if you want CAS4, and look elsewhere if you want to spend less. There should be a $65 no rebate A-Data kit somewhere.
 
silent-circuit said:
Didn't notice that. Nah, there will be no difference. Granted, the Mushkin does come with a key for a $20 copy of 3DMark Vantage Advanced... which I bought and can tell you isn't worth $0.50. So go with the OCZ if you want CAS4, and look elsewhere if you want to spend less. There should be a $65 no rebate A-Data kit somewhere.
Click to expand...

Yea, 3DMark was not a selling point for me. Haha. I may just go for the OCZ. Actually, they have 3 kits that are similar and after MIB they go for $65, $69, and $85. Slightly different timings on each, though. One is 5-5-5-18, 5-4-4-15, 4-4-4-15, respectively. See if this link works (not sure if NewEgg dynamically generates the URL for comparisons) Three OCZ kits

On a side note, so are those F1s as good as those Seagates? I can deal with 2x750's for $200 less than 2x1TB. I'll just have to put more pr0n on the external. LOL.

Oh, before I forget again, I have the P182SE chassis. Those are Tricool fans, correct? Should I replace those with something else?

Speaking of cooling, what do you think about the Thermalright Ultra-120?
 
You really are going over everything with a fine tooth comb LittleMike. So what parts have you decided on for sure?
 
Thanks, heatless. I take that as a compliment. :) I like all the machines I build to be the best bang for the buck, but up there in performance as well. Nine times out of ten, getting the best technology doesn't yield as good of a performance to cost ratio as getting second best, or even third sometimes. I haven't decided anything concrete yet, but after listening to a lot of silent's input, this is the tentative build (and feel free to add to this if you want):

eVGA 750i FTW Motherboard (I've been convinced that DDR3 isn't worth the money right now)
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz (Can OC to 3.6 on air with DDR2-800 RAM)
2x2GB OCZ Reaper HPC Edition DDR2-800 RAM ($85 after MIB, 4CAS timing)
2x Samsung F1 750GB 32MB buffer SATA 3.0 drives in RAID0 (.16c/gig over the 1TB model at .22c/gig)
eVGA GeForce 8800GTS (G92) KO 512MB 256-bit GDDR3(KO edition, same price as non for $225 each after MIB)
Corsair 1000HX PSU (Corsair is the dog's bollocks and unfortunately I want modular cables and they don't make one at a 750 other than the TX)

That is tentative, but what I'm leaning towards. I could use some help on other things I need like fans, HSF (I like the Thermalright 120 or maybe the 120 ultra), but it's shaping up :D
 
Bump. This has been a great thread. I wanted some opinions on that tentative final build I posted last.
 
Good list, just a few things I comment on. Why bother with RAID 0? You get more bandwidth at a cheaper price per GB true, but in normal desktop operation it doesn't add whole lot of real life performance plus it's twice as likely to fail. I'm all for RAID for data redundancy.

Also, do you do much video/audio encoding? The Q6600 is a great overclocker but lacks SSE 4 and at least some people seem to be doing alright with overclocking the Q9450's. Just buying a new chip that lacks new features just isn't me. But the Q6600 is still cool.

I do agree that DDR3 isn't a good bang for the buck technology right now, and the eVGA 750 looks like a very good board at a decent price so I'm with you there.


So go for it unless you think SSE 4 has something to offer you then you might consider a Q9450. Good luck!
 
heatlesssun said:
Good list, just a few things I comment on. Why bother with RAID 0? You get more bandwidth at a cheaper price per GB true, but in normal desktop operation it doesn't add whole lot of real life performance plus it's twice as likely to fail. I'm all for RAID for data redundancy.

Also, do you do much video/audio encoding? The Q6600 is a great overclocker but lacks SSE 4 and at least some people seem to be doing alright with overclocking the Q9450's. Just buying a new chip that lacks new features just isn't me. But the Q6600 is still cool.

I do agree that DDR3 isn't a good bang for the buck technology right now, and the eVGA 750 looks like a very good board at a decent price so I'm with you there.


So go for it unless you think SSE 4 has something to offer you then you might consider a Q9450. Good luck!
Click to expand...

Actually silent recommended RAID 0 for the performance gain. I do video editing, heavy photoshop work, as well as gaming. My current rig is set up RAID 5 for both redundancy and performance boost, and honestly, I didn't see any performance boost. He suggested go with 0, not 5. I do backups to an external drive, so redundancy isn't *critical* to me and I'd rather have performance over safety.

I considered the Q9550, but I was told that the Q6600 would be cheaper and give me the same performance.
 
LittleMike said:
Actually silent recommended RAID 0 for the performance gain. I do video editing, heavy photoshop work, as well as gaming. My current rig is set up RAID 5 for both redundancy and performance boost, and honestly, I didn't see any performance boost. He suggested go with 0, not 5. I do backups to an external drive, so redundancy isn't *critical* to me and I'd rather have performance over safety.

I considered the Q9550, but I was told that the Q6600 would be cheaper and give me the same performance.
Click to expand...

Even at RAID 0 I doubt you'll notice much difference. I've done RAID 0 in the past and it just didn't do what I thought. You really have to be hitting a disk HARD to notice, most desktops just don't do the things that make RAID 0. Just my comments.

Check your video apps for SSE 4 compatibility. I use TMPGEnc 4 xpress a lot and SSE4 adds a big boost. I can't say that I've seen it with my own eyes because I went from a Q6600 that wasn't overclocked to this sig rig so it was going to be faster anyway but I've seen some benches and its a large boost depending on what you're doing of course. Something you might want to look at. It may mean nothing to you as the Q6600 is pretty much the same otherwise.
 
heatlesssun said:
Even at RAID 0 I doubt you'll notice much difference. I've done RAID 0 in the past and it just didn't do what I thought. You really have to be hitting a disk HARD to notice, most desktops just don't do the things that make RAID 0. Just my comments.

Check your video apps for SSE 4 compatibility. I use TMPGEnc 4 xpress a lot and SSE4 adds a big boost. I can't say that I've seen it with my own eyes because I went from a Q6600 that wasn't overclocked to this sig rig so it was going to be faster anyway but I've seen some benches and its a large boost depending on what you're doing of course. Something you might want to look at. It may mean nothing to you as the Q6600 is pretty much the same otherwise.
Click to expand...

It's definitely something to look into. I also have to figure out if the performance boost is worth the extra $100-$150 for the chip. All of this means nothing when Nehalem comes out too, you know? It's tough to decide on what to buy.
 
Nehalem will actually support a new version of SSE 4 and that will push more software to use it.

Don't agonize so much over it. Any and everything we buy today is obsolete tomorrow, that's just technology. If you are having a tough time then look at your budget and set a hard cap, let that be the decider. What you've got listed is going to be fine for your tasks through next year except perhaps gaming, there may be a need to upgrade there.

Just relax and enjoy the smell of new hardware!:D
 
heatlesssun said:
Nehalem will actually support a new version of SSE 4 and that will push more software to use it.

Don't agonize so much over it. Any and everything we buy today is obsolete tomorrow, that's just technology. If you are having a tough time then look at your budget and set a hard cap, let that be the decider. What you've got listed is going to be fine for your tasks through next year except perhaps gaming, there may be a need to upgrade there.

Just relax and enjoy the smell of new hardware!:D
Click to expand...

Haha, well thanks for the tips. Any suggestions on an HSF? I like the looks of those Thermalright 120s. I think the Ultra? Performance seems to be pretty good too.

Oh, I'm such a noob when it comes to fans. The case I have comes with Tricools, I think. Should I change those to Scythe's or something?
 
Tricools are some of the worst fans ever. I'd say just buy a bunch of mid speed Yate Loons and a fan controller (Sunbeam rheobus is ~$15-20). $15 each for S-Flexes is crazy.
 
silent-circuit said:
Tricools are some of the worst fans ever. I'd say just buy a bunch of mid speed Yate Loons and a fan controller (Sunbeam rheobus is ~$15-20). $15 each for S-Flexes is crazy.
Click to expand...

Okay, cool. So mid speeds for all of them? What about the one in the chamber (If you recall I went with the P182SE case)? What's a good place to buy them?

Also, what do you think about what heatless said about the Q9450 having SSE4 support? Do you think the performance boost is significant enough to warrant an extra $100 bucks or so?
 
As far as CPU coolers go, I went with a Xigmatek RS1283 and it looks to be doing its job. I wanted the lighted fan but you could go with the S1283 without the fan. The Ultra 120 is huge so you need to be sure it will fit in your case. The top of the RS1283 only an inch from my case side and I had to take the side fan over the CPU off.

redscorpion2sw7.jpg
 
heatlesssun said:
As far as CPU coolers go, I went with a Xigmatek RS1283 and it looks to be doing its job. I wanted the lighted fan but you could go with the S1283 without the fan. The Ultra 120 is huge so you need to be sure it will fit in your case. The top of the RS1283 only an inch from my case side and I had to take the side fan over the CPU off.
Click to expand...

Well the case I have is a P182SE, so I'm not sure of the clearance yet, because I haven't bought the rest of the stuff to put it in yet :p
 
I don't think its going to fit. Your case is 8.1" wide, the Ultra 120 is 6.2" high. Go with the S1283, its one of the best coolers out there and its a little smaller and it will fit in your case no problems.
 
I wouldn't pay for the Ultra 120 Extreme unless you are willing to lap it. The Xigmatech seems to work better "out of the box" and costs a lot less.

The Ultra 120 Extreme /will/ fit in a P180/P182 without any issue, however.
 
silent-circuit said:
I wouldn't pay for the Ultra 120 Extreme unless you are willing to lap it. The Xigmatech seems to work better "out of the box" and costs a lot less.

The Ultra 120 Extreme /will/ fit in a P180/P182 without any issue, however.
Click to expand...

Honestly I don't have the tools to lap it nor the patience. :p So the Xigmatech would be a better choice then?
 
Yes, I'd say so. It cools nearly as well or possibly even better -- reports conflict -- but it costs less than half as much once you add the cost of a fan to the Ultra 120 Extreme, and it's smaller and lighter as well. (Not that that would be difficult...)
 
silent-circuit said:
Yes, I'd say so. It cools nearly as well or possibly even better -- reports conflict -- but it costs less than half as much once you add the cost of a fan to the Ultra 120 Extreme, and it's smaller and lighter as well. (Not that that would be difficult...)
Click to expand...

Okay cool. Maybe I'll go with one of those, then. So where is a good place to pick one of those up and some Yate Loons? I'll need 3 to replace the Tricools, and I'll need what, 2 more 120's? 1 for the front intake and another for the chamber?
 
P182... same fan positions as my P180 had. Hmm. Top, rear, front middle, bottom middle chamber. Then you can fit a thin fan (have to order it special) in the front of the bottom harddrive cage if you're willing to modify the case a bit. So 4 if you stick to the usual mounting points, and a 5th (thin) if you want to add more cooling for the HDDs.
 
When talking about the best coolers of which the Ultra 120 and Xigmatek S1284 are, there only a few degrees difference the benchmarks, they just are that much different in performance. I stand corrected with the Ultra 120 in a P180/182 case. I actually have a P180 with a Athlon X2 4800+ A8N32-SLI I built 2.5 years ago. Nice cases.
 
silent-circuit said:
P182... same fan positions as my P180 had. Hmm. Top, rear, front middle, bottom middle chamber. Then you can fit a thin fan (have to order it special) in the front of the bottom harddrive cage if you're willing to modify the case a bit. So 4 if you stick to the usual mounting points, and a 5th (thin) if you want to add more cooling for the HDDs.
Click to expand...

Okay, so 4 mid speed Yate Loon 120mms? What's a good place to pick them up? Aren't they hard to find? And I heard that you can get a "slim" 120mm and it will fit in the front with no modding. I forgot where I read it though. :p It was on here somewhere though.
 
You still have to mod it to get it in there, I'm pretty sure.

I'd get the Yates from JabTech or Petra's Tech Shop.
 
silent-circuit said:
You still have to mod it to get it in there, I'm pretty sure.

I'd get the Yates from JabTech or Petra's Tech Shop.
Click to expand...

Possibly. Like I said, I could have sworn I read it here somewhere that someone did it with a "slim" Yate Loon or something, but I can't find it. If I do, I'll let you know.

I was looking at JabTech. I've never bought from them before, but I've heard their name thrown around. Good place? They have them for $3.50 a piece. I can deal with that. 4x120mm medium speeds and a fan controller. The Yate Loon's can be undervolted, correct? I'm so dumb when it comes to fans. I usually have them either hooked up to a molex directly and have them on high speed all the time, or I have them hooked up to a 3 pin or 4 pin mobo connector and let the machine control how fast they spin. :p
 
Yes, you can undervolt them no problem -- they'll run down to ~5v, but 7v or a little higher is probably where you want them.
 
silent-circuit said:
Yes, you can undervolt them no problem -- they'll run down to ~5v, but 7v or a little higher is probably where you want them.
Click to expand...

The controller would regulate that, correct? So if I get something like this, I would just plug all the fans into it and then control the speeds from the panel. It's as easy as that?
 
Yeah -- there are plenty. Matrix Orbital makes a few. Scythe makes a few (KazeMaster series). Sunbeam makes a few, but they're more basic. Look around and pick something you like the look of.
 
silent-circuit said:
Yeah -- there are plenty. Matrix Orbital makes a few. Scythe makes a few (KazeMaster series). Sunbeam makes a few, but they're more basic. Look around and pick something you like the look of.
Click to expand...

They'll all work with any fan as well, correct? I've never used a controller before. I do hear amazing things about the Yate Loons, so I will definitely pick them up. Matrix Orbital I've heard of before. They have programmable ones, correct? With cool LCDs that you use software to customize.

Damn silent, at this rate, I'm going to have to brand your nick on the side of my machine. "Endorsed by Silent-Circuit" because of all your help. Haha. Thank you.
 
I'll make you a sticker or something. ;)

In all seriousness, don't worry about it. I enjoy this -- I'd consider making a career out of it, but I don't have the startup capital.

(...and yes, all fans should work with all controllers -- I know the Yates will, as they should have 3 pin fan connectors and standard 4 pin molex connectors as well.)
 
Haha sweet. How about a case badge, like "Powered by silent-ciruit" haha

And thanks. It's tough trying to find the right components for the right needs. Like heatless said, I'm going over this build with a fine toothed comb.

So how do you hook the fans up, using one or the other? Or do the controllers have both connections and you use both? As I said, I've never used a controller before, so excuse my noobishness. The only fans I've used had one or the other. The ones with the 3 pin connectors I would hook up to my mobo and they would be controlled in the BIOS. The others with molex connectors were hooked up to the PSU and were always on high.
 
Generally controllers use a single molex connection from the PSU for power, then you connect fans, usually via a 3 pin header (like a motherboard fan header). Most controllers will come with molex to 3 pin adapters in case your fans don't have the right plugs.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top