First build in 3+ years, need final evaluation/input

[Harb]

So I've spent the past month combing the [H] forums and other sites trying to piece together the best PC I could for a given amount of money, and I think I'm finally done.

Parts:

Case: COOLER MASTER Centurion 590 RC-590
Lots of airflow, tasteful design, roomy interior. More fan mounting areas than you can shake a stick at. What's not to like?

PSU: CORSAIR 750W
It's well priced, received good reviews, and should be more than enough to power the big video card and handful of drives/HDD's.

Motherboard: ASUS P5Q Pro
Supposedly a very stable motherboard and a solid overclocker. Doesn't have a bunch of features I won't need and is reasonably priced. Chipset heatsinks look to be easy to put fans on for help in overclocking (some other P5Q boards have oddly shaped sinks that would be hard to stick fans on).

CPU: Intel Core 2 Q9550 Yorkfield 2.83GHz Quad Core Processor
As it stands right now, this is the chip I've got lined up for the build. However, I'm really considering other chips. See further in the post for alternatives/reasoning.

Memory: G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Desktop Memory
Received very good reviews and isn't terribly expensive. I realize that 1066 might be overkill for this build, but the difference between this and say, DDR2 800, is only ~25$ for the cheapest decent 800 I could get, and I think that the peace of mind that this memory will do whatever I can ask of it is worth the 15-25$ I'd end up saving.

Video Card: VisionTek Radeon HD 4870 X2
What else is there to say? The only other place I would look is the new Asus ENGTX280 TOP, and while it is considerably cheaper, I've been an ATI fan for a long time and the 4870x2 seems to be better than the new "uber" OC'd 280.

Hard Drive 1: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F1 HD753LJ 750GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
Big capacity at a good price point. I was told early on during my build research that I should invest in a fast HDD, and Samsung F1's seem to be among the fastest ones out there until you break into the 10,000 RPM Raptors and such, which come at a price premium that I'm not willing to pay. This will be my primary HDD with my OS, programs, games, etc etc installed on it.

Hard Drive 2: Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD3200KS 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
I already own and use this HDD; I just felt that I'd add it for the sake of completeness; may as well list everything that's going into the system just in case, as this post is a meant as an 'evaluate this system' post, right? This drive will be used for the same purpose as it's currently used; it will store my music library as well as movies and be used to back up any important data in the event of a primary drive failure.

Optical Drive: SAMSUNG 22X DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S223F - OEM
It's...an optical drive! Not much here; I could actually cannibalize my current box and take the optical drive out of it, but I'd rather keep my current system mostly complete and have an all-SATA setup in the new box for better cable management.

OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 English NA Upgrade DVD (Will be using Vista 64)
I've always been a fan of progress, but not a fan of progress just for progress's sake, so I have yet to budge from XP SP2. However, with the 4 gigs system memory and the 2 gigs video memory, it's clear that I need a 64-bit OS if I want to do this right, and I may as well make the jump to Vista too.

CPU Heatsink: Thermalright Ultra-120 CPU Cooling Heatsink
How are sex in a canoe and a TRUE120 similar? They're both f****** close to water (or so I'm told). I'm plan on doing a decent amount of overclocking on this system, and I don't want to get a water setup, so I'm going to get the best of the best for air CPU cooling. Note that I'll probably be getting the "extreme" version (what the difference between this one and the "extreme" is, I don't know, other than that Newegg seems to hate Thermalright and won't stock their products and other sites seem to mostly have the extreme in stock).

Thermal Compound: Arctic Cooling MX-2
I obviously considered getting AS5, but I have heard very good things about MX-2 as well, and I figure that there can't really be THAT big of a difference anyway, other than that this isn't conductive and has no curing time.

CPU Fan: Scythe SY1225SL12SH 120mm "Slipstream" Case Fan
I've heard great things about Scythe fan, and this seems to be a very good option. I'm not terribly concerned about noise; this was never intended to be a "silent" build. However, if there are better options out there, I'm all ears.

Case Fans: COOLER MASTER R4-S2S-124K-GP 120mm Case Fan 4-Pack
I realize that at 13$ for 4, these fans probably aren't terribly good. I'm fine with that though; as long as they move air and don't catch fire immediately, I'm ok with them for the time being. I don't know how my fan setup will work with any clearance issues with the TRUE 120, so I don't want to drop 8$ per fan on a bunch of fans that I might not even be able to use.

Chipset fans: 2x EVERCOOL EC4010 40mm Case Fan
For 3$ each, this seems like a decent way to help keep the north and south bridge temps under control.

Or everything conveniently listed in a Newegg public wishlist


This system will be used for 'general computing' stuff, as well as a decent amount of gaming on a 1080p monitor (1920x1080). I plan to overclock the system as much as I can within reason, which was a major factor in choosing the case, motherboard, and CPU heatsink/fan. Now, about my indecision on CPU. I was originally going to get a quad from the get-go, simply because they're newer and supposedly better at multitasking. However, I do no video encoding, which is where these chips supposedly shine. The main reason I wanted a quad is because I'm sick of my current system chugging along whenever I'm trying to open programs and such; I want a very smooth and seamless computing experience. However, I'm wondering if I can't get that same experience with an overclocked E8500. Going with that chip would save me a pretty penny, and I could always sell it down the road and get a Q9550 likely for cheaper than it currently is if I decided I REALLY want a quad. What do you think?

Anyway, there you have it. I'm trying to keep this build around $1500. Any input would be very welcome. If there are any parts I should substitute in here, remove, or add, I'm all ears. Keep in mind that once this is built, there probably won't be many changes made other than possibly the CPU as stated above, so I hope to have a system that will run strong for 2+ years. I hope to be ordering this system by the end of next week, and building it early the week after.

Thanks!

 

[Rydawg5143]

-WHat res are you gaming at? anything under 30" and the x2 is too much
-Get a 8600 chip and call it a day.

 

[Harb]

Sorry, I forgot to mention that.
I'll be gaming on a 37" 1080p monitor (1920x1080).

On the 8600; is there really a big difference between that and the 8500? If I'm going to go with a dual core to save money, I may as well get the 8500 and save a bunch of money rather than get an 8600 and get a marginal performance bump.

*edit again*

Oh, I also forgot to add in the first post: What are the chances that this memory won't work with the motherboard? I checked the Asus QVL thing, and it gave a very narrow range of memory. I've heard mixed responses on the QVL and memory compabability issue. Am I likely going to be ok, or should I adhere to their specs 100%?

 

[Rydawg5143]

-it will work
-nice monitor
- I would say the 8600 caus eyou will 100% get EO stepping which is better for overclocking and stays cooler. Though yeah for the money....... Then again you were going to buy a quad for 330...

 

[engiNURD]

Save $25 and only "lose" 66Mhz:

$80 - G.Skill 4GB(2x2GB) DDR2-1000 F2-8000CL5D-4GBPQ

66Mhz is NOT worth $25.

For PURE gaming, a faster clocked dual core will outperform a lower clocked quadcore; however, at the resolution you'll be gaming on, the difference is negligible, so stick with a quad if you want this system to last longer than 3yrs. If you can find the Q9450 for $280 (microcenter), then its a pretty good deal.

 

[Dangman]

I recommend going with the Q9450 to save $50 for the loss of only 166Mz clock speed from the Q9550:
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 CPU - $280

However, for your needs, the E8400 is actually enough for about 1 to 2 years. The 8500 is not worth the extra $20 IMO. And neither is the E8600 worth an extra $100 over the E8400.

 

[Harb]

After some horribly rudimentary maths from my newbish overclocking understanding, I see where the 1066 memory would be useless.

Here's my reasoning, let me know if I'm correct:

The E8500 runs at 333mhz fsb and a 9.5 multiplier, hence the 3.16ghz clockspeed. Even if I somehow manage to get a golden chip and motherboard and heatsink, I'd have to push it to 500mhz fsb to require anything faster than the DDR2-1000, and I'd have to go even further than that to need the 1066, correct?

So yeah, anything above 1000 does seem sort of ridiculous right now.

Also, I think I'll probably go with the 8500. While the 166.5 mhz may not warrant 20$, I do want to overclock this as much as I can, so down the road the 9.5 multiplier will come in handy. I simply can't justify the price premium of the 8600, as much as I'd like to. The more and more I read about quads, I don't really see the point of getting one given my light-to-moderate multitasking (WoW, iTunes, firefox is my typical 'multitasking' load) and the fact that I never ever edit/encode video. I can always sell the 8500 and put the cash towards a bigger chip later on if I need more power.

 

[Dangman]

The E8500 runs at 333mhz fsb and a 9.5 multiplier, hence the 3.16ghz clockspeed. Even if I somehow manage to get a golden chip and motherboard and heatsink, I'd have to push it to 500mhz fsb to require anything faster than the DDR2-1000, and I'd have to go even further than that to need the 1066, correct?

So yeah, anything above 1000 does seem sort of ridiculous right now.

Correct.