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New/first SFF Build

G

Grannygrinder

n00b
Joined
Nov 30, 2007
Messages
4
Hey guys.

New to the forums here, and I'm currently in the process of building my first small form factor computer. Going for a fairly powerful gaming rig, but I definitely didn't want a large case anymore....so here I am with small form factor.

If you guys could let me know what you think of the parts that I've compiled I'd appreciate it. Here we go:

Case: Silverstone SG01-BW Aluminum small form factor case w/acrylic window
Power Supply:Silverstone ST75F 750Watt Modular ATX power supply w/Silverstone SST-PP03 Modular Short Cable Set
CPU:Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3.0GHz
Motherboard: Asus P5k-VM Intel G33 MicroAtx Motherboard
CPU Cooler: Silverstone NT05-Lite
Memory: 2GB Corsair Dominator DDR2 1066 memory
Video Card: EVGA GeForce 8800GT KO 512MB
DVD Drive:Samsung Black 20X DVD+4 SATA DVD Burner
Hard Drive: (2) Western Digital SE16 250GB SATA Drives
Soundcard: ????
Keyboard:Saitek PZ30AU USB Keyboard
Mouse:Logitech G5 7-button USB Mouse
OS: Microsoft Windows XP Pro SP2

Should I go with a third party sound card ( Creative XFi) or stick with the onboard stuff? I have usually gone with third party, but being a SFF case I am not sure if I should. Also, 2GB or 4GB of memory. I know that Windows XP won't use all 4GB....but RAM is pretty cheap at the moment.

What do you guys think?
 
Looks fine but the psu is way more than you need. A Corsair HX620w is pretty much top end even if you are OCing. The Corsair HX520w would be more than enough too. Everything else is just a matter of preferences for brand and model. What you have chosen is fine.

Seperate sound card or onboard/integrated? That depends on two things. Are you planning to OC and how serious are you about sound/music quality? if you plan to OC or really into sound quality then get a seperate sound card. The X-FI XtremeMusic is best but hard to find now. The XtremeGamer replaces it and its pretty good. Stay away from the 'Fatal1ty' brand. Other than having a better sound quality the addition of a seperate sound card will allow you to get a higher OC on your mobo. Onboard/integrated sound holds alot of mobos back when it comes to OCing. So for max OC potential get a seperate sound card.
 
I would disagree with Skott because the Silverstone Short Cable set would cause a lot less clutter inside the case. It would make the build much easier.

I do agree though that it would be better to go for a third party sound card.

As for 2gb vs 4gb, it is totally up to you. If you see that your system is under a lot of load then upgrade to 4gb.
 
I have used the ST60F with the short cable set in the same case.

Although the PSU has larger dimensions and it is a bit tight to the optical drive, it really does allow for a pretty slick wiring job.

Stick with onboard audio.

get the 4 GB of RAM, Like you said its cheap enough now so go for it.
 
I recommend getting either the E6750 for around $100 less or the Q6600 for the same price. All the E6850 offers over the E6750 is an extra 333Mhz and they both OC about the same. Does that sound like the E6850 is worth the extra $100? As for the Q6600, in the future there will be more games that'll take advantage of quad-cores. Actually there are three games that I know of that takes advantage of quad cores:
- Crysis
- Supreme Commander
- Unreal Tournament

So get either the E6750 or Q6600 G0 Stepping since it runs cooler than previous steppings of the Q6600:
Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 CPU - $189
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 Stepping CPU - $277

I concur with getting 4GB of RAM. The Dominator RAM are way overpriced and do not warrant their higher prices since there are cheaper RAM out there that can OC or perform as well or better than the Dominators.

If you're going with the Q6600 and are planning to OC, all you need is DDR2 800 RAM:
G.SKILL F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ 2 x 2GB DDR2 800 RAM - $110

If you're going with the E6750 and are planning on crazy high overclocks like around 3.8Ghz to 4.0Ghz, then all you need is DDR2 1000 RAM:
G.SKILL F2-8000CL5D-4GBPQ 2 x 2GB DDR2 1000 RAM - $130

Though if you're going for a modest OC, then the DDR2 800 RAM mentioned above is a good choice.
 
Hmm interesting.

Well th reason I went with the ST75F was because the short cable kit is compatible with it, and I'm kind of a stickler when it comes to cable management (and I expect it would be even worse in a SFF case). Plus I got it at the time where there was a rebate that made it almost the same price as the ST60F. Kind of a no-brainer.

I've already ordered the Corsair Dominator memory (the rebate made it too good to pass up). The reason I went with this ram is becaus ethe motherboard supports PC1066 RAM. Should I not have done this and just ran with PC800?

And in regards to the CPU, I had been thinking of the Quad Core but I had heard from different sources that FSB speed at the moment is more important than more cores. Since the FSB of that CPU is 1333, I thought that would be the way to go. Are GHz numbers no longer important? I am currently running on an AMD FX60...and I was kind of disappointed with the performance. Also, I rarely, if ever, overclock my hardware (bad experience in the past....ruined components...ate a lot of money)...if I am not overclocking is the E6850 a better idea along with the 1066 memory?

Also, I do care about audio quality. If I don't stick with the onboard audio I have an Audigy 2ZS. Is there a huge difference in audio quality between the two?

Also, and this might be for another forum, I am torn between XP and Vista. I hear that game performance in XP is better, but that there are a lot of good things in Vista as well. Then I hear horror stories about how even updating drivers in Vista will lock you out of your computer. Any thoughts?

Arrgh....so many questions.
 
If you want short cable psu get the 500w model. Seriously, the 700w is overkill but that just my opinion. I'm not trying to talk you out of anything. Hence the reason I didnt suggest a E6750 or a Q6600 instead of the E6850. Now if you want to talk price vs performance then yeah the E6750 or the Q6600 is more favorable to the E6850. But if you are not nor want to get into OCing and really want a 3GHz cpu then nothing wrong with a E6850 if the extra cost doesnt bother you.

Quad or dual core? Thats a good question and is dependent on some things. What are you going to do with it? As far as gaming only goes... Dualcore is still King. Quadcore lovers hate to hear me say things like that but its true. Only a couple games actually utilize quadcores and they dont use them all that effectively either. I expect this to change next year when more games come out and the developers learn to take better advantage of quads. The newer quads will also be a much better product too. Thats why I usually tell people dualcore now and quadcore next year as far as gaming only goes. A lot of people will disagree with me but thats cool.

Now as far as other nongaming use goes a Quadcore does have some advantages. If you are into photo editing, CAD or you are one of those types that wants to download and burn songs, or rip and burn while at the same time as gaming then this is where I'd say Q6600 over the E6750. The quads excel at all those heavy numerous multitasking applications.

Also be aware that the Q6600 runs hotter than the dualcores. This shouldnt alarm you but just be aware of this when choosing a case and a hsf. You need a SFF case that'll cool properly and allow you to fit a good hsf on the Q6600 if you decide to OC. If you want to OC a Q6600 you'll want something better than the retail hsf.

Now if you plan on using VISTA instead of XP then choice of sound card can be different. X-Fi has had alot of problems working with VISTA. I've heard this has been fixed now but I have also heard its still buggy. There's a another unit people have been saying is better with VISTA. EUX or something like that. I'm sure someone here can tell you the correct name. Personally, I dont feel VISTA is good enough yet so I been sticking to XP Pro.
 
If you're not overclocking, all you really need is DDR2 667 RAM with the E6850 or DDR2 533 RAM with the Q6600.

So the 1066RAM was pretty much a bad buy especially since you weren't planning on OCing. DDR2 667 is all you need for stock performance. Remember that the actual speed of RAM is half the stated speed, for example, DDR2 1066 has a actual speed of 533Mhz. Remember that the FSB of an Intel CPU is always quad-pumped, so the actual FSB of an Intel CPU is the stated FSB divided by 4. For example, the E6850 has a 1333Mhz FSB but when divided by 4, you get the actual FSB speed, which is 333Mhz.

With the C2D systems, there is very little if any improvement from having faster RAM, having the FSB and RAM at anything other than a 1:1 ratio and having RAM faster than the FSB. By 1:1 ratio, I mean that the FSB and RAM are in sync with one another. So to keep things in sync for a 333Mhz FSB CPU, you need 333Mhz RAM actual or DDR2 667 RAM.

As for whether or not the 1333Mhz FSB is better than a 1066Mhz FSB, it's been shown that's very little improvement from the faster FSB unless you do a lot of Photoshop work:
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/intel/showdoc.aspx?i=3012&p=2

Ghz are not as important these days. It now depends on the architecture and efficiency of the CPU. Consider this: a 1.83Ghz E6300 can outperform a 3.4Ghz Pentium D. A 2.2ghz E4500 is a little bit faster than a 2.6Ghz Athlon X2 5000+.

AS for whether to go for a quad-core, answer this question: How often do you upgrade? If you only ugprade every 3-5 years, go for a quad-core. Less than that, a dual core will suffice. But don't go with the E6850 for reasons I have already stated above: $100 price increase BUT only a 333Mhz clock speed increase.
 
So here's a question:

If I go with the Q6600 (Quad Core) can I achieve a 3.0GHz overclock with the NT06Lite CPU cooler? I am looking for a small system that isn't all that noisy.

Also, if I go with the Q6600 and grab the G.SKILL F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ 2 x 2GB DDR2 800 RAM, would I encounter any slow down on the system? Or would I even need to look at systems requirements on games for a while? I hate doing that....
 
Haven't had any experience with the NT06Lite CPU cooler. So I can't vouch on how well it can keep the Q6600 cool. Do remember though that the Q6600 runs a bit hotter than dual cores C2Ds. So you might want to spring for a better cooling HSF.

No you will not experience any slow down with the system with the 4GB G.Skill set and Q6600. Since you're going for a quad-core and 4GB of RAM, I doubt you'll have to look at system requirements for a game anytime soon.

Though do remember that in order to use all 4GB of RAM you will need a 64bit OS like Vista 64Bit. There is a 64bit Windows XP BUT Vista 64bit is actually better supported than XP 64bit.

Without a 64bi OS, you can only use about 3 to 3.25GB of RAM.
 
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