New System advice

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wizzackr

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
May 5, 2000
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Just a quick question. I am about to put together a C2D system for some work I occasionally do at home. Here is what I've come up with after reading around - any major screw-ups in this, or good to go? Thanks a lot in advance, guys,
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Intel Core 2 Duo E6400
Thermaltake BigTyp 120 VX
Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C4
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3

2 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 250GB 16MB SATA II
NEC ND-4571

Antec TruePower Trio TP3-650, 650W ATX 2.2 (probably overpowered by a big shot - maybe NeoHE 550W instead?)
ATI FireGL V5200, 256MB DDR, 2x DVI, TV-out, PCIe
DELL 2007FP​
 
DS3 is fine, if it isn't DOA or die shortly there after, otherwise the p5b-e or p5b deluxe would work nicely.
I would go for Thermalright Ultra-120 heatsink if you can. they're one of the best these days
and for the PSU, the sunbeam NUUO 550w is very good as well, no ripples if i recall.

nothing major, just some petites comments
 
Thanks a lot for the input, blank, I will check pricing/availability of the parts you listed right now (here in EU that is). Greatly appreciated!
 
I too will vote for the p5b-e. I had a gigabyte 945s-3 and after 3 weeks started having problems. I have since then picked up a 945 Asus and my E6400 is as fast as it should be. Didn't seen to run as fast on the gig.
gwarren007
 
ok, looked into it. Swapped the DS3 against the p5b-e, but cannot get hold of either the sunbeam. PSU-wise I think I'll go with the NeoHE 550W, so finally I'll get rid of all that cable clutter :D
Thanks for the input, guys!
 
I bought a watt meter a while ago and it was a big eye opener.

The C2D is very energy efficient. With a single X1600XT graphics card and a fully overclocked C2D the draw while running a 3D game maxed out at about 230 watts.

While running Prime on both cores at 3300 MHz my power meter was showing a draw of only 170 watts and I think at idle it was down to about 130 watts.

The 965 boards are also more efficient than the older 975 boards.
http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/07/14/core2_duo_knocks_out_athlon_64/page3.html

650 watt power supplies are definitely overkill these days, even for an SLI setup but people keep buying them because everyone knows, bigger must be better. :)

The Asus P5B-E seems to have less memory issues compared to the DS3. My DS3 was dead and wouldn't post when I first tried to start it up. The memory needed more voltage but I couldn't post so I couldn't get into the bios. Once I went back to the store and got some low voltage Micron modules everything was fine. 3300 MHz from an E6300 was very fine on the DS3!

No matter what power supply you choose, you'll be happy with your new system.
 
unclewebb said:
650 watt power supplies are definitely overkill these days, even for an SLI setup but people keep buying them because everyone knows, bigger must be better. :)
Click to expand...

Well... Remember that a 7900GTX will use about 1.5x the power of that X1600XT, if not more. 2 of them, will be about the power of 4-5 X1600XT's.

Additionally, watts arn't everything. It's Amps that really count (at least on the 12v line). You could have a million watts on your 3.3v and 5v lines, but if your 12v line can only supply 10A you're gonna get screwed!
 
Arcygenical said:
Well... Remember that a 7900GTX will use about 1.5x the power of that X1600XT, if not more. 2 of them, will be about the power of 4-5 X1600XT's.
Click to expand...
Not sure where you're getting your numbers from but over at Anandtech their X1600XT uses the same power as a 7900GS at full load. I can't imagine how a 7900GTX is going to use 50% more power than a 7900GS but don't be afraid to post a link to some info to show me I'm wrong.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2864&p=12

Even if one XT card needs 50% more power how are 2 cards going to need 4-5X as much power? 1.5 X 2 cards = 3 not 4 or 5.

Over at Tom's Hardware an Intel X6800 running at 3.68 GHz combined with an X1900XTX needed 264 watts at full load.
http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/08/02/thg_tuning_test/page4.html

Even with a pair of high end video cards in SLI it would be hard to use more than 350 watts with a new Conroe system and besides, wizzackr who started this thread is only using one video card.

Additionally, watts aren't everything. It's Amps that really count (at least on the 12v line). You could have a million watts on your 3.3v and 5v lines, but if your 12v line can only supply 10A you're gonna get screwed!
Click to expand...
Now that I can agree with.
 
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