New Conroe build. Advice on a future proof setup.

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giovonti

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Oct 9, 2006
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Hi everyone. I've built 3 computers but I consider myself fairly new to hardware. I've been reading a lot of [H] threads for the past few months as I've been dying to build a new rig for myself and I've wanted to see what those in the know were saying.
My plan is to build a completely new machine using the e6600. The only thing I'll keep from my old machine is my wireless card, cd-rw and dvd/dvd-r drives.

My main concern is building something that is future proof, particularly in regards to the motherboard and processor so that when the dx10 cards come along I can just throw one of those in no problem. I've never oc'd but I'd like to leave that option open, but I'd like to just be able to do it on air. I'd like to leave the option open for sli or crossfire but what I've read about current boards not supporting a full 16 lanes for each slot has concerned me. Though I don't typically use my pc for gaming I'm a digital artist by trade so I need a lot of power for maya, 3ds max, and photoshop. Also I need firewire support for video editing.

My biggest hang up right now is the motherboard. I'm tempted by the P5W DH Deluxe but I'm wondering if I should wait for the Nforce 680i boards as I'm more fond of sli than crossfire. I also like all the bells and whistles on the asus boards:)

Here's what I'm look'n at so far for my parts:

Antec Performance I P180B Mid Tower
Corsair HX520w ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 520W Power Supply
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
Crucial Technology Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
Western Digital Raptor WD740ADFD 74GB 10,000 RPM 16MB Cache Serial ATA150 Hard Drive
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
Scythe SCNJ-1000P

So, I'm missing the motherboard and graphics card. For the gfx card I'm mainly just looking for something cheap but decent to get me by until dx10 cards. Also for the motherboard I need to have at least two pci slots for my wireless card and so that I can drop a soundcard in there.
Any and all advice you guys have is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for looking at this stuff.
 
no such thing as future proof. but quad core is going to be $1000 at least for a while so 6600 looks good. most 975 boards will run sli (mine does) without problem. most of the high end asus board now have built in wireless. 680 is supposed to arrive sometime in december, but rd/rs600 was supposed to arrive in august, etc,etc. asus makes a very nice 975 board (little pricey) p5w64 ws pro, the ws meaning work station that they call the wall street quad. this board has 4 16 lane pcie slot, 2 pci slots, 8 sata ports, built in wireless, heat-pipe cooling, support for quad core, etc, etc. goes for around $40- $50 more that the p5w-dh and from what i read/hear it is well worth it.

http://www.xpcgear.com/p5w64wspro.html

your other stuff looks fine, but i dont know about the crucial ram, it would be worth your while to do a little more research on it. try the xs xtreme bandwidth forum or intel forum.
good luck.
 
i would go with the gigabyte DS-3 with a bios upgrade it supports quads"s - unless you need two pci'e the 965p is a new chip than the 975 and is more future proof.in fact the replacement for the 975x is going to be based on the 965p--running DDR-3.

some people like to spend $$$ on system upgrades --but DDR3 isn't that far off so i tend to be lean twards "bang-for buck" type upgrades . that in mind--consider getting a 6400 instead of the 6600--big $$$ savings --the 8x multi is perfect for overclocking with the DS-3 or asus p5b and like the 6300 series it puts the nb-straps in the right place .


i don't see much benifit for quads untill vista + -dx10 and slew of new new programs are written and that's going to take alot more time than people think .

the rest of your build looks good.

you might want to check the specs of your PSU ? :cool:
 
vanilla_guerilla said:
no such thing as future proof. but quad core is going to be $1000 at least for a while so 6600 looks good. most 975 boards will run sli (mine does) without problem. most of the high end asus board now have built in wireless. 680 is supposed to arrive sometime in december, but rd/rs600 was supposed to arrive in august, etc,etc. asus makes a very nice 975 board (little pricey) p5w64 ws pro, the ws meaning work station that they call the wall street quad. this board has 4 16 lane pcie slot, 2 pci slots, 8 sata ports, built in wireless, heat-pipe cooling, support for quad core, etc, etc. goes for around $40- $50 more that the p5w-dh and from what i read/hear it is well worth it.

http://www.xpcgear.com/p5w64wspro.html

your other stuff looks fine, but i dont know about the crucial ram, it would be worth your while to do a little more research on it. try the xs xtreme bandwidth forum or intel forum.
good luck.
Click to expand...

The P5W64-WS Professional does not have 4 x16 PCIe slots with 16 lanes each. It works in an X8,X8,X4,X8 configuration or X16,X0,X4,X0 (slots 1-4 consecutively). It is a great board to be sure, but people need to be aware of what they are getting into before they buy one.

i975x boards do not run SLi without hacked drivers or the ULi patch. Plus, the hacked drivers are a no go on the 7950GT and the 7950GX2's. nVidia could release drivers tomorrow that break the ULi patch. We just don't know.

Additionally, there really is no such thing as future proofing your computers. I hear that term on the internet and in forums and I automatically roll my eyes when I read it. It simply doesn't happen. You never know what tomorrows technology will be.

JSF35rhino said:
i would go with the gigabyte DS-3 with a bios upgrade it supports quads"s - unless you need two pci'e the 965p is a new chip than the 975 and is more future proof.in fact the replacement for the 975x is going to be based on the 965p--running DDR-3.

some people like to spend $$$ on system upgrades --but DDR3 isn't that far off so i tend to be lean twards "bang-for buck" type upgrades . that in mind--consider getting a 6400 instead of the 6600--big $$$ savings --the 8x multi is perfect for overclocking with the DS-3 or asus p5b and like the 6300 series it puts the nb-straps in the right place .


i don't see much benifit for quads untill vista + -dx10 and slew of new new programs are written and that's going to take alot more time than people think .

the rest of your build looks good.

you might want to check the specs of your PSU ? :cool:
Click to expand...

How is the P965 Express more "future proof" than the i975x? So what if the i975x is old? It is still quite capable. There is nothing revolutionary about the P965 Express chipset compared to the P965 Express. It simply overclocks better. It has fewer PCIe lanes, and really the only advantage it has is the newer ICH8 series south bridge. Which really only adds support for two more SATA devices.

Plus, the design of a DDR3 compatible chipset could probably only loosely be based on the P965 Express chipset. The memory controller will need to be almost, if not completely redesigned to work with the new memory. The PCIe compatibility of course will be the same, but if you want to get technical, the i925X and older chipsets are where that design came into play, so the new DDR3 chipsets will share about as much in comon with P965 Express as they do with i915 Express chipsets or any other PCIe chipset.

The DDR3 chipset might use the existing ICH8/ICH8R/ICH8DH south bridges, but they might also design a completely new ICH9 south bridge or something along those lines. Again, we do not know. We haven't enough information. Therefore since you've stated that DDR3 is around the corner, and P965 Express doesn't support DDR3 memory, then it is no more future proof than the i975x.

This brings me back to my original point, you can not future proof something when it comes to technology. We really don't know what's coming or what's just around the corner. We can make an educated guess, and we can even sometimes intelligently speculate, but the fact is we really don't know all that much. Even when you are in the industry, you don't always have the complete picture of what the next big thing will be.
 
Dan said it best.

I think maybe the best choice is not to try and "future proof" your system, but make a plan for what your current needs are, and what the near term hardware upgrades may be, and then buy the parts that make the most sense for what you want to do with it.

As far as your current chices on hardware, I think you have it pretty much right. I would probably go with a Silverstone 500 Watt unit over the power supply you currently list, and there are alot of arguements both ways about the Crucial Ram. I like it. Alot of folks are really happy with Corsair (and should be).

Another thought you might take into conssideration is if you will be moving to VISTA. if so, you could easily make use of a full 4 gb of ram. That might give a little more thought to what you want to use.

I have worked with 3 really nice boards of late, the Abit AW9D max, the Asus P5W DH Deluxe, and the Asus P5W64 WS Pro. All of them are well beyond any other boards I have ever used ( I am a convert from the AMD camp), but I personally love the P5W64 WS Pro. Having the ability to run Crosfire with an Areca raid card is just outright crazy. And FAST!

Well, I don't think you are going to go wrong any direction you go with the 975 boards. They are just phenomenal performers.

And you could always get a bad axe...
 
You're doing the same exact thing I am. I ordered all the parts for a new system (conroe) except video card and optical drives. I bought an intel board with integrated graphics to get me by until DX10 cards come out.
 
yea a 965p running ddr 2 is just as obsolete as a 975x running ddr 2 . but if you go with a 965p you'll end up with a extra $100 or so in your pocket . at this point i don't see any point to get the 975x other than crossfire /sli --which in itself might become OBE in it's own time .

so if you want to go the high dollar road go right ahead--i'm sure your favorite online e-tailer will be happy--
 
JSF35rhino said:
yea a 965p running ddr 2 is just as obsolete as a 975x running ddr 2 . but if you go with a 965p you'll end up with a extra $100 or so in your pocket . at this point i don't see any point to get the 975x other than crossfire /sli --which in itself might become OBE in it's own time .

so if you want to go the high dollar road go right ahead--i'm sure your favorite online e-tailer will be happy--
Click to expand...

Not necessarily. The P5B Deluxe WiFi/AP is about $219 and the P5W DH Deluxe costs around $250 or $260. That isnt' necessarily $100 extra in your pocket.
 
Thanks for the great info guys. Ya I suppose I can't be sure that anything I put together will be "future proof", I'm mainly just trying to make the best educated guess i can so that I don't order this stuff then next week the next big thing comes out that changes everything. But I know that in a way, that's how it is with this stuff.

But I'm thinking now about some G.Skillz memory. From what I've been reading it's the bomb, it's good for o.c.ing and that it works good with asus boards.

I can't seem to find an in stock Sythe Ninja so i'm thinking i might go with the Infinity.

Do you guys see a big advantage in going with a p5w64ws pro over a p5w HD Dlx?

Also if I'm only going to do some light o.c.ing if at all, would the e6400 be that comparable to the speeds i could get from a e6600?

Thanks again guys.
 
If you do alot of processor intensive video encoding and graphics work I think you would benefit from the e6600 more. Both chips should do some nice overclocks provided the cooling is sufficient, You will also want to re-apply the thermal paste to the northbridge and southbridge heatsinks as the stuff that Asus uses is just bad. Any good CPU heatsink these days will do a good job for 24/7 use. I would not get overly upset if you have to adjust your plans to make sure one fits (or is available). I would bet there are at least 2 dozen heatsinks out there that pretty much run neck and neck with one another in terms of performance.

Gskill ram is good stuff. Make sure you research which sticks to get. Some of them don't overclock so well, and others do. I can't give you exact module numbers, but you might post in the memory forum, or over at Extreme Overclockers for more on that. I think you would find that the crucial Ballistix will overclock nicely. I am not sure where it has gotten the less than admirable rep I see around of late.

If you don't see yourself going to a RAID card or other item on the PCIe slots, the P5W DH Deluxe should do just fine. It is a really nice board, with some interesting additions in the package. Onbaord WiFi, good BIOS settings, and tons of features. I re-itterate the need to reset the chipset heatsinks and use some Artic Silver 5. Shame on me to say that, since I have been using up a tube of Artic Silver 3 on the chipsets and AS5 on the processors in the last couple of systems I have built. It is a very easy procedure, and you need nothing more than a set of needle nose pliars to collapse the barbs on the legs, and a razor blade to spread the thermal paste. Isopropal alcohol and some Q tips will remove the old thermal pad/paste. I used my thumbnail to pull most of the pad material off the northbridge prior to using alcohol. The higher the purity the better (less residue).

You look to be building a good system that should last you for awhile. Good luck.
 
Dan_D said:
Not necessarily. The P5B Deluxe WiFi/AP is about $219 and the P5W DH Deluxe costs around $250 or $260. That isnt' necessarily $100 extra in your pocket.
Click to expand...


there is no reason to get a gold plated 965p either-- stick with a ds-3 @ $144 or a s-3 for $116 or so . :cool:
 
giovonti said:
Thanks for the great info guys. Ya I suppose I can't be sure that anything I put together will be "future proof", I'm mainly just trying to make the best educated guess i can so that I don't order this stuff then next week the next big thing comes out that changes everything. But I know that in a way, that's how it is with this stuff.

But I'm thinking now about some G.Skillz memory. From what I've been reading it's the bomb, it's good for o.c.ing and that it works good with asus boards.

I can't seem to find an in stock Sythe Ninja so i'm thinking i might go with the Infinity.

Do you guys see a big advantage in going with a p5w64ws pro over a p5w HD Dlx?

Also if I'm only going to do some light o.c.ing if at all, would the e6400 be that comparable to the speeds i could get from a e6600?

Thanks again guys.
Click to expand...

I've got the P5W DH and I like it alot. The layout is good, and the feature set is excellent. The P5W64-WS is also excellent, but I didn't feel that it was worth the extra $50.00. Especially since the PCIe arrangement wouldn't do me any good. x8,x8,x4,x8 or x16,x0,x4,x0 are the two configurations it allows. So while you have 4 x16 PCIe slots to work with, they aren't really x16 slots at all in terms of bandwidth. I didn't need four PCIe devices and there are a couple extra x1 slots on the P5W DH, so I went with that. The wireless is useless to me but the remote is kind of cool. Don't know that I will continue to use it as time goes on, but it is pretty cool.
 
i have 6600/p5w-dh/g.skill hz for a few months now (well have only had the cpu since 8/17) and its a fantastic combo. personally i have had no issues. for the apps you are running, you may find the extra l2 cache useful. you can dump your wireless card, also. when i said the the 975 boards will run sli no problem, i was of the opinion the modified drivers werent exactly a problem. there are sets of modified drivers around, and now there is a patch that will modify any nvidia drivers to run sli on this board (uli patch?) buy your ram quick, the price is going up nearly every day. the good patriot pc5300 ram was $179 about 3 or 4 weeks ago, now its $250. i got my g.skill in july for $229, now its $300 (on sale). that psu is actually a rebadged tagan or seasonic (topower?) all of which are great psus. that psu will hold you for a while. jonny guru gave it a great review, but his site seems to be gone now.
good luck.
 
JSF35rhino said:
there is no reason to get a gold plated 965p either-- stick with a ds-3 @ $144 or a s-3 for $116 or so . :cool:
Click to expand...

Some people like the extra features that the P5B has over the DS3. I, for example, need a firewire port which the DS3 does not have. And no, I don't want to waste a PCI slot on an add in card.
 
Zwitterion said:
You're doing the same exact thing I am. I ordered all the parts for a new system (conroe) except video card and optical drives. I bought an intel board with integrated graphics to get me by until DX10 cards come out.
Click to expand...

There is always the eVGA step up program ;)
 
[LYL]Homer said:
With future SLI or Crossfire isn't a little bigger PSU on order?
Click to expand...

I'd agree. If you were running just one hard drive, one optical drive, and 7900GTX's or 7950GX2's, or hell even X1950XTX's I'd say you might be ok, but if you are going to have more than two drives in there, or you are thinking about ever getting two G80 GPU's in SLi you'll need more than that 520Watt to do the job.

Actually, you'll need nearly 600watts alone for a dual 8800GTX setup. Each card is powered by two 6 pin molex connectors meaning that each card could theoretically pull up to 300watts. That's over 100% of what that 520Watt PSU can do at max output. You'd need at least 800watts according to nVidia's estimates.

I may be either running dual 750's in the near future or grabbing a 1KW PC Power & Cooling unit to do the job. Remember, if you plan on SLi or Crossfire you should really look into some of these new PSU's that have one large 12v rail instead of multiple rails. A discussion was had on this subject in the PSU section of the forum. Basically 4 16 or 18A rails may not be enough on a specific rail and therefore would leave your devices short of power on that given rail. One single massive rail with 60Amps or more would be more logical. The new PC Power & Cooling PSU's are being made this way with SLi and Crossfire in mind. My Silencer 750 is that way and a new 1KW model with a single rail is due out soon.
 
Ya, I guess it is true that I need to look to a psu with some more juice. However the case I'm looking to get does have a strange layout so I picked my original psu on hearing that the length of the cords was well suited to the case.
However I'll definately look into those more powerfull psu's. Thanks for the advice.

As far as the Mobo goes, I'm wondering if i should wait for a board that has two PCIe slots that support 16 lanes each for SLi/Crossfire. Has anyone heard of when a board like that will be available?
 
giovonti said:
Ya, I guess it is true that I need to look to a psu with some more juice. However the case I'm looking to get does have a strange layout so I picked my original psu on hearing that the length of the cords was well suited to the case.
However I'll definately look into those more powerfull psu's. Thanks for the advice.

As far as the Mobo goes, I'm wondering if i should wait for a board that has two PCIe slots that support 16 lanes each for SLi/Crossfire. Has anyone heard of when a board like that will be available?
Click to expand...

You don't need that. The video cards don't even use the full x8 lanes worth of bandwidth much less x16 lanes. Hell the P965 Express based motherboards with a secondary x4 slot actually perform fine in Crossfire so I wouldn't worry about it.
 
Right on. I was just looking in the power supply forum and it seems like if future gfx cards running sli/crossfire required more power I could add a Fortron Booster3 300W GPU PSU to supplement the Corsairs PSU i was looking at. Then I wouldn't need to spend $500 on one of the 1KW PC Power & Cooling units.
 
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