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My first SFF

M

morris_man

n00b
Joined
Jun 26, 2007
Messages
18
I've been looking to build a new gaming pc for the past 6 months and after reading the forums for the past few months and looking at some of the nice setups you guys have I’ve decided to go down the SFF route :)

Below are the parts that I’m thinking of getting at the moment. I’m dead set on the case because I love the looks and because I think I will look nice and tidy on my desk.

Silverstone SG01B-W
Intel Core 2 Duo E6850
Asus P5E-VM HDMI
4GB (4x1GB) Ballistix Tracer DDR2 PC2-6400
EVGA GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB
Western Digital 320GB HDD
Asus DVD RW SATA Lightscribe ReWriter
Corsair HX 620W

The only thing I’m not really sure of at the moment is an aftermarket HSF as I was thinking of getting a zalman 8700 but after reading that it might hit into the north bridge cooler I’m in need of a replacement.

I would love it if you guys could suggest a suitable replacement. I’m not too fond of passive coolers but if one can keep the CPU cool with some small overclocking and still look good in the case then that will be fine.

Looking forward to some feedback so I can buy the parts and build this pc :)
 
I wouldn't bother with the E6850. It's simply not worth the price. The E6750 costs $190 and has a clock rate of 2.66Ghz. The E6850 costs $280 and has a clock rate of 3.0Ghz. So all that you're getting for an extra $100 over a E6750 is 333Mhz. An extra 333Mhz is not worth $100. So I recommend dropping down to the E6750 or switching over to the Q6600. Future games will take advantage of quad-cores.

Will you be overclocking? If so, go for a 2x2 GB set of DDR2 800 RAM instead. You'll have a much harder time overclocking with 4 sticks of RAM than with 2 sticks of RAM.
 
I think 4x1GB sticks are actually better for overclocking for two reasons a) these are Ballistix (Micron D9 chips) and b) lower density -> lower temps -> more room for overclocking. I'm not aware of any 2GB D9 modules but let me know if you know of one.
However I would get the non-Tracer version Ballistix as the Tracer LED's are kind of pointless and require an extra .1V. Frys.com has them for $50 a set. (Link)

agreed about the E6750 vs E6850 though. I would also pass on the Q6600, as Penryn will be out in Q1 2008.
 
Blahman said:
I think 4x1GB sticks are actually better for overclocking for two reasons a) these are Ballistix (Micron D9 chips) and b) lower density -> lower temps -> more room for overclocking. I'm not aware of any 2GB D9 modules but let me know if you know of one.
However I would get the non-Tracer version Ballistix as the Tracer LED's are kind of pointless and require an extra .1V. Frys.com has them for $50 a set. (Link)

agreed about the E6750 vs E6850 though. I would also pass on the Q6600, as Penryn will be out in Q1 2008.
Click to expand...

I think this quote explains why I think 4x1GB modules are not a good choice for overclocking:
Entroper from Tech Report.com said:
Think of it this way: Roll two dice. The number on each die represents the maximum speed that a stick of RAM will run at, so you can overclock to the lowest die number. Now roll four dice. You're more likely to have a low die holding you back with four dice than you are with two.
Click to expand...

Though maybe the Micron D9s might offset that a bit.
 
That seems like voodoo to me. The chances of getting a dud are the same whether you buy 1 or 1000. These are matched sets pre-stressed, tested and binned by Crucial. All I know for sure is traditionally, overclockers have always preferred 4 lower density modules over 2 higher density ones. If expandability is more of a concern than overclocking then by all means go for the 2x2GB so you can later upgrade to 8GB. But given the choice (and considering how cheap memory is right now), I would rather go with the lower density, higher quality chips.
 
Ok so I think I will change the CPU to a E6750 after what you guys have said but I really want to stick with the ballistix tracers as they look so damned good. I saw a guy’s pc at the last LAN that I went to (i32) and I decided then that my next pc would have to have them.

Oh and any suggestions for a suitable HSF?
 
Ok its all built, ran into hardly any problems while putting it together. Havnt done any overclocking yet but i found a weird issue where its reporting the processor to be at 14 degrees and this is no doubt off quite a bit (using a zalman 8700-nt, which just about fit :) )

So any ideas what up with it reporting such a low temp?

I was going to get a e6750 but my dad bought me a e6850 for xmas so i'm not complaining :p

Will post some pics in a bit, it looks awesome :).
 
morris_man said:
Ok its all built, ran into hardly any problems while putting it together. Havnt done any overclocking yet but i found a weird issue where its reporting the processor to be at 14 degrees and this is no doubt off quite a bit (using a zalman 8700-nt, which just about fit :) )

So any ideas what up with it reporting such a low temp?

Will post some pics in a bit, it looks awesome :).
Click to expand...

looking foward to the pictures!!!

As far as the temp reporting, is this in the bios or a software?
I would suggest you download CoreTemp for the best temp readings, although, no temperature readings are 100% accurate, including the mobo sensor itself... :cool: ;):)
 
Right just put speed fan on running at stock speeds and its showing the cpu to be at 60 degrees is thats the core the fan. If this is right then its far too hot for idle on stock settings and this 8700 should be doing better than a stock heatsink.


Any ideas what wrong or if a bios update or something will fix the temp displays on everything else as i dont think the fan is speeding up as its not detecting the heat.

oh and on the bottom right it task bar icon it says that the cpu is at 34 degrees which sounds normal but i dont know which one is right and wtf at 125 degrees on the aux :eek:
 
This look better?

coretempxg5.jpg
 
yup those coretemps look much more realistic. you could also try Everest.
 
Ok, took a few pics though the quality is pretty dire as i used my phone (buying a camera is next on the list)

I love the looks of this pc and these pics dont even compare to how cool it looks in rl :)


Front:


Left side:


Left with the cathodes on:


Right w/flash:


Right:


My setup:


My setup, while dark (mm glowy):




Wish i could of taken some better quality pics. I think i will tidy up the wiring a bit then try steal a camera from my sister and get some better ones.

The cpu idles at about 38-40 and it goes to 60-63 while in Cod4 (checked the logs from coretemp) and i havnt seen it go higher than this. I'm guessing it wouldnt be much higher than this with prime.
 
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