Q6600 Almost dead, time for new build

[mikecLA]

Had this baby running @ 3.6 on air for awhile now and it crapped out yesterday. I was able to resuscitate the box by bringing all the settings back to stock and have no desire to mess with it anymore with LGA2011 around the corner. I was going to jump on the LGA2011 bandwagon anyway, so this is my excuse to do it sooner. Going to order everything this week, then a mobo and cpu when released.

The biggest concerns are case & PSU -- I will be using it for video capture via my black magic intensity card (so it is close to the camera, so no open sides to the case with lights showing through or loud noise).

I did fine capturing to a raid array on the Q6600 with the Intel Raid controller built on to the Asus deluxe board, but may want to step it up in this build to a separate controller card, if that's advised.

I have a GTX 470 card that can be reused, but may not want to if there is a better card that runs cooler, quieter, and is Premier Pro CS5 Mercury Playback compatible.

CPU cooling can either be the best you can get on air, or simple liquid (like an H100). Nothing complex that requires case mods, so a case that can handle stock anything would be great, and big enough to work in.

So, I need: case, psu, ram, video card (if advised), raid controller card (if advised), cooling, SSD, hard drives.

I have an external QNAP NAS for backup, so the internal drives will be RAID0

And for good measure:

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Live video capture, rendering, photoshop, web browsing, asp/database programming, 4 VMWare windows running, No gaming.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Up to 3K for everything but the mobo & cpu

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Los Angeles CA USA

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
Case, Fans (if not supplied with the case or upgrades are recommended), PSU, CPU Cooling, Ram (preferably 32G at least), maybe video card, maybe raid card, SSD for OS and programs, drives for raid.

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
2 Dell U2410's, maybe the GTX 470

6) Will you be overclocking?
Yes, but not to extremes. machine needs to run 24/7.

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
2 24" 1920x1200

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Within 7 days for everything but the mobo & CPU. Will by those when LGA2011 is released. Can wait till LGA2011 on some of the components if better stuff is going to be released about the same time LGA2011 arrives.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? etc.
TBD, unless anyone knows now based on previews.So far, the ROG IV looks to be the best.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Yes, Windows 7 64bit

 

[Dangman]

How much storage do you need for the hard drives? Just to be clear: the hard drives will be placed ins a RAID 0 array correct? If so, no need for a seperate controller card.

Case wise, I recommend any of these cases:
$70 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K58 ATX Case
$80 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K56W ATX Case
$90 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K56 ATX Case
$90 - Cooler Master CM690 II Advance ATX Case
$90 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K7B ATX Case
$100 - Cooler Master CM690 II Advance nVidia Edition ATX Case
$100 - Cooler Master HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$100 - Corsair Carbide Series 400R ATX Case
$100 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K58W ATX Case
$100 - Lian Li PC-7B Plus II ATX Case
$110 - Lian Li PC-60FN ATX Case
$125 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001WT White Full Tower ATX Case
$125 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001BK Black Full Tower ATX Case
$125 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-002OR Black Finish w/Orange Trim Full Tower ATX Case
$130 - Corsair Carbide Series 500R ATX Case
$130 - Fractal Design Define R3 White ATX Case
$130 - Fractal Design Define R3 Black ATX Case
$130 - Fractal Design Define R3 Silver Arrow ATX Case
$130 - Fractal Design Define R3 Titanium Grey ATX Case
$140 - Antec Performance One Series P183 V3 ATX Case
$140 - Cooler Master HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$140 - Lian Li PC-9F ATX Case
$140 - Silverstone RV03B-W ATX case
$160 - Corsair Graphite Series 600TM ATX Case
$160 - Silverstone RV02B-W ATX case
$170 - Corsair Special Edition White Graphite Series 600T ATX Case
$178 - Silverstone RV02B-EW ATX case
$190 - Corsair Obsidian Series 650D ATX Case
$230 - Silverstone FT02B ATX Case
$270 - Corsair Obsidian Series 800D CC800DW Full Tower ATX Case

 

[Deleted member 88227]

Well it seems you wont even be able to use the setup until LGA 2011 comes out, so it's best to wait and buy everything then. Hard drive prices right now are extremely high and are expected to go back down in 6 months, so if you wait for LGA 2011 to come out, there is a chance that at least the hard drives will be cheaper. Also a lot can happen with the hardware we recommend between now and then, as far a prices and newer/better products that come out. Which is why we recommend you to buy everything at once when doing a build.

With that being said, I'd wait until you're ready to buy the CPU/MB to buy everything else.

 

[mikecLA]

Well, after reading the not-so-glowing reviews on SB-E last night, I'm rethinking this decision and wondering if I should just build a 2600k or 2700k system now, then use this as my home computer or a second station when SB-E is available on IVY at a later time.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Power Consumption on the 3960X seems to suck, performance with the exception of encoding is not much better than the 2600K, and it seems like it will be more of an effort to OC the SB-E than the 2600k. I don't do that much video encoding, so If I have to wait a little longer than I would on a 2600k vs a 3960X for the few times I need to do it, than so be it. It seems like they rushed this to production and all of the perks just aren't there yet for the price premium.

Assuming that's a valid reason to go with the existing 2600k (or the new 2700k), I would need to keep the following in mind:

--Mobo with Intel on board RAID0 config,

--Raid drives: Need at least 1TB but the determining factor should be speed and reliability. I haven't researched 2600K mobo's, so I don't know how many ports are SATA III or II and what drive combos I should get. Would like to do at least 3 on the faster ports in a RAID0 conifg.

--CPU: Is the 2700K worth the extra $ or go with the 2600k?

--CPU cooling: Something that can run 24/7 with no worries, possibly an H100, or do I need to stick to HSF to run 24/7?

--Case: Same as original post, needs to be quiet and solid panel, something that can hold the CPU Cooler with no mods. Might as well plan the case around an SB-E Ivy build too, I can always take the 2600K, put it on air, and throw it into a cheaper case when I build the next box.

--Graphics Card: Still willing to buy a newer one, as I can stick the GTX470 back in this machine when I build an SB-E IVY next year. What would run quieter & cooler than the 470? Still needs to be able to take advantage of Mercury Playback.

I don't really want to hold off too much longer. Been waiting to pull the trigger this morning on LGA2011, but even if it can be found online, it doesn't seem to be worth it. I need to spend some $$$ before they get re-allocated to others (Xmas gifts).

 

[Dangman]

The 2700K isn't worth it over the 2600K at the moment. The H100 is a fine HSF.

As for the mobo and RAID 0 with three drives plan, do note that with current Intel chipsets, most Intel mobos only come with two SATA 6.0GB/s ports. Any additional SATA 6.0GB/s ports are often provided by slower SATA 6.0GB/s controllers. AFAIK, you wouldn't be able to combine the Intel SATA 6.0GB/s ports with other controller ports in a RAID 0 array anyway. With that said, hard drives do not benefit from SATA 6.0GB/s ports anyway.

So mobo wise, from what you've said so far, this mobo should be fine:
$145 - MSI P67A-GD55 Intel P67 ATX Motherboard

Hard drive wise, I recommend these:
$156 - Hitachi Desktar 7K1000.D HDS721010DLE630 1TB SATA 6.0Gb/s Hard Drive

GPU wise, the GTX 560 does use a lot less power than the GTX 570 (40W or so less).

 

[mikecLA]

The 2700K isn't worth it over the 2600K at the moment. The H100 is a fine HSF.

As for the mobo and RAID 0 with three drives plan, do note that with current Intel chipsets, most Intel mobos only come with two SATA 6.0GB/s ports. Any additional SATA 6.0GB/s ports are often provided by slower SATA 6.0GB/s controllers. AFAIK, you wouldn't be able to combine the Intel SATA 6.0GB/s ports with other controller ports in a RAID 0 array anyway. With that said, hard drives do not benefit from SATA 6.0GB/s ports anyway.

So mobo wise, from what you've said so far, this mobo should be fine:
$145 - MSI P67A-GD55 Intel P67 ATX Motherboard

Hard drive wise, I recommend these:
$156 - Hitachi Desktar 7K1000.D HDS721010DLE630 1TB SATA 6.0Gb/s Hard Drive

GPU wise, the GTX 560 does use a lot less power than the GTX 570 (40W or so less).

Thanks Danny,

Just a few more questions before I pull the trigger:

How does the GTX 560 compare to the GTX 470 that I already have, performance wise, heat, and noise?

On the hard drives, are you implying I should go with 2 drives on the faster SATA Port or perhaps using the older ports and going with 3 or 4? I would think a combo of more drives over the slower ports would give me much faster access times than just 2 drives on the faster port. This was one of the reasons I was waiting on LGA2011 -- I was going to put in a separate controller card, but didn't want to do it with the PCI lane limitation on 1155.

That begs one more question:
Is it worth waiting a few more days to see what reviews pop up on the 3930K?

2600+mobo would be around $465
3960x+mobo(sabertooth) would be $1853
3930k+sabertooth = $939

For a $474 difference, I would be willing to do the 3930k instead, which would give me the extra PCI lanes, but once again, I don't want to be building a space heater, which is why I shot down the 3960X. And, does anyone know, if I went LGA2011, when IVY comes out, is it going to require a mobo swap or will I just be able to replace the cpu?

EDIT: Forgot to ask about an SSD for the OS and programs. From what I've read on the forums, I presume Crucial M4 is the current favorite?
Thanks again

 

[Dangman]

How does the GTX 560 compare to the GTX 470 that I already have, performance wise, heat, and noise?

IN terms of heat. In terms of noise and heat, can't really say as that's largely dependent on which card you choose. With that said, the stock GT 560 runs about 7 degress cooler and is about 9 dBA lower than the stock GTX 470.

On the hard drives, are you implying I should go with 2 drives on the faster SATA Port or perhaps using the older ports and going with 3 or 4?

I meant the latter.

That begs one more question:
Is it worth waiting a few more days to see what reviews pop up on the 3930K?

Wait if you can.

And, does anyone know, if I went LGA2011, when IVY comes out, is it going to require a mobo swap or will I just be able to replace the cpu?

AFAIK, there haven't been plans for Ivy Bridge yet on LGA 2011.