Opinions on system components?

DogSoldier

OK! I'm about ready to order the parts for my new system. I'll be dealing with NCIX for most of the parts, TigerDirect for the HSF. Take a look and if you see any incompatibilities, PLEASE, say something! Keep in mind these are Canadian prices.

From NCIX - http://www.ncix.com/

Antec Performance TX1050B SOHO ATX Tower Case Black 4X5.25 2X3.5 4X3.5INT 500W ATX12V 2.0
$152.11

ASUS P5B Deluxe / WIFI-AP ATX LGA775 Conroe 965P DDR2 PCI-E16 3PCI-E1 3PCI 8 SATA2 Sound Motherboard
$253.08

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Dual Core Processor LGA775 Conroe 2.40GHZ 1066FSB 4MB Retail
$372.98

Arctic Silver 5 HIGH-DENSITY Polysynthetic Silver Thermal Compound 3.5 Gram
$12.47

G.SKILL F2-6400PHU2-2GBHZ PC2-6400 2GB 2X1GB DDR2-800 CL4-4-4-12 240PIN Dual Channel Memory Kit
$313.51

Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB SATA2 7200RPM 16MB 8.9MS Hard Drive 3 Year MFR Warranty
$74.99

Western Digital Raptor 150GB SATA 10KRPM 16MB NCQ 5YR MFR Warranty Hard Drive
$294.12

Liteon LH-20A1S DVD+RW 20X8X16 DVD-RW 20X6X16 DL 8X 2MB SATA DVD Writer Black Beige Retail Box
$47.99

Sony Black 1.44MB 3.5IN Floppy Drive
$9.38

EVGA E-GEFORCE 8800 GTS 576MHZ 320MB 1.7GHZ GDDR3 PCI-E Dual DVI-I HDTV HDCP DIRECTX10 Video Card
$349.98

Silverstone FP33-B Black Aluminum 3.5 Drive Bay 3 Port Fan Controller
$28.38

2x Zalman ZM-F1 80MM Case Fan 1700/3000RPM 3PIN 20/34DBA W/ Quiet Mode Adapter
$7.98

Silverstone 120MM FM121 Case Fan White 800-2500RPM 17-39.5DBA MAX. 110CFM
$19.50

Scythe Mini Kaze HTPC Silent Mini Fan 40MM 3500RPM 4.1CFM 14DBA 2 Pin W/ 3 Pin Adaptor
$4.25

Microsoft Windows XP Professional OEM
$176.35

NCIX Heavy Duty Shipping Box
$5.99

Thermalright ULTRA-120 Extreme 6 Heatpipe Cooler LGA775 S939 S940 S754
$64.50

Thrax

I would, personally, stay away from TEC coolers and stick with a quality HSF like the Scythe Ninja or the Thermalright Ultra-120. They're hell on the power bill, can potentially cause condensation, and sap precious PSU load from other components.

Otherwise, you've assembled one hell of a system. I have no quibbles.

primesuspect

That's what keebs and I use at work. They FLY through this stuff, Archie.. You'll love it.

lemonlime

Looks like a pretty sweet setup. I'd agree with Thrax, stick with a high-end air cooler like the Thermalright Ultra-120. Enjoy! we want pics!

edcentric

And use the Scythe fans on that U-120, quiet and move a lot of air.

What settings do you plan on running? Going to overclock?
You might want to look at the memory.

DogSoldier

Thanks guys, I re-thought the Chilltec. I'll get the Thermalright Ultra 120 instead. But rather than the Scythe fan, I'll get another Silverstone. I have a Silverstone 80mm in my current machine and I'm very satisfied with it. So that's why I'm going Silverstone for the 120's

Yeah edcentric, I'm planning on overclocking. Do you recommend some other RAM, rather than the G-Skill?

edcentric

Look here
http://anandtech.com/memory/showdoc.aspx?i=2916&p=7
I believe that this was done in a P5W mobo.

DogSoldier

That's pretty fast aight... but a lil out of my price range.

edit// I thought the G.Skill would work with the P5B (I originally had my heart set on a P5W DH) but it looks a lil hit or miss. Thanks for the heads up edcentric. I got this instead:

Mushkin XP2 PC2-6400 2GB 2X1GB DDR2-800 CL 4-4-3-10 240PIN DIMM Dual Channel Memory Kit

Orders been placed. I'll use this thread for pics...

DogSoldier

And here's my new computer!




Well, not quite... I'm still waiting for the fan controller, video card, ultra-120, and another hard drive. I'm also getting a dremel for some slight fan/case modifications. But I have verything I need (Neighbours loaning me a vid card) to put it together and see what it can do stock.

Garg

Ah, there's nothing like a the sight of a pile of brand new geek toys
Have fun with your new system!

Let us know how your Lite-On drive works. Mine's been kind of a pain, but has been working better since I moved to a new mobo and started using different burning software.

DogSoldier

OK, I started last night but got sidetracked by other issues.. Now I'm back looking at it and going step by step through the manual. I'm concerned about building this thing outside the case. I have the mobo sitting on it's box and I plan on putting the HDD and Floppy in the case, then hooking up the peripheral power cables, then the psu cable to the mobo, then the power cord to the wall, then turning it on. Anyone see a problem with any of this?

mmonnin

Not at all. I've ran a computer with no case for years.

DogSoldier

OK, I have everything in the case and Folding. The computer is very fast, at least 100% faster than the one in my sig. I had it overclocked to 3.2 with the stock HSF but it wouldn't run Orthos stable. I'm waiting for my Thermalright 120 eXtreme to get here before I really let it loose, so right now it's mildly overclocked to 2.7Ghz:

edcentric

I wouldn't have put it in the case, you will have to take it out to mount the 120U.
Now you need to start folding the windowsSMP core.

DogSoldier

OK... just an update. I received the remaining components yesterday, that is.. the Nexus fan controller, WD2500KS HDD and Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme. I sanded off (Or rather, melted off - with the Dremel drum sander attachment) the screw housings on a Silverstone FM121 in order to use it on the new HSF. I broke the system down, and following the instructions here: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=106563 removed the heatsinks on the NB and SB, peeled off the housing on the NB HS, cleaned the Asus thermal pad off the HS's and chips, applied AS5, re-secured the heatsinks and installed a Scythe mini-kaze 40mm on the NB. The Ultra-120 was a bit of a pain. I first applied a nice thin, even coat of AS5 on the CPU. The new eXtreme 775 mounting bracket is hinged, so you narrow it to fit over the HS base and between the heatpipe trees, then widen it fit it over the backplate holes. The most frustrating part was fitting the spring-loaded screws. I slipped a couple of times trying to get them to thread, LOL.. after a lot of swearing and much needed smoke breaks, I finally got all 4 screws securing the HSF. Even with the pressure of the spring loaded screws, the HSF will slide around on the CPU, which I suppose, helps with setting the AS5 but it's still a lil worrisome. I attached the new SATA HD and fan controller, then fired it up. Everything ran smooth and 4 of my fans (back 120mm, CPU 120mm, 2x80mm Front) are now adjustable. Below is what it all looked like once I finished this stage:

DogSoldier

I then put it all back in the case. Just a note for anyone thinking about getting an Thermalright Ultra-120. The thing is tall, so If you have a fan mounted over the CPU, inside the side cover, you may have to remount it on the outside, which was the case (no pun intended) with my Antec TX1050B. Now, with everything in place, I'm able to overclock... I had been using x9 ever since I got the system but it wouldn't run Orthos with any stability, no matter the FSB. So I tried x8 and have had good results, the weird thing is, XP still thinks it's running at x9.. take a look at the screenie below:

Thrax

Those are some amazing temperatures. What is the ambient temperature of the room? I can't come close to that in my home, open case or otherwise.

DogSoldier

Ambient is 25.

Thrax

I wonder if the eXtreme-120 is really that much better than the plain 120. I have 100+ CFM moving across my 120, and open-case temps still aren't that good. Maybe I need to lap.

DogSoldier

Thrax, just going by anandtech, it's a -1 degree improvement. What fans do you have and how are they placed. I can't get by 3.1 - 3.2Ghz stable with Orthos. I don't want to bump up the vCore so early. My memory is at 2.25 and NB is 2.4 and bumping either of those up doen't improve stability. Memory is at SPD and real loose.

mmonnin

Yeah it shouldn't be all that much of a difference from what I see. Altho I noticed that that CPU is not completely flat, like the middle of the edge are rounded and have sharper edges at the corner if I remember. I thought that was quite odd, esp for cooling.

On your screenshot I see Temps of 42 on one and 39/35 on another also 3.4GHz on Orthos and Windows, and 3040 on other apps. I guess that is windows reading it at 9x.

I have mine at 3.1 with the stock cooler at about 57-58C or I saw 62C at the warmest time of the day with ambient of 24C. My eXtreme arrived via UPS today, just need to get it from the front office tomorrow. I should be able to get the temps down quite a bit with OC some more.

The new version of the eXtreme does twist. If you read Anandtech's second review of it of a retail version they mention it twists too.

Thrax

I have 4 thermaltake smartfan-IIs in my computer. 1 inhale, 2 exhaust, 1 on the CPU. Intake and CPU run at full speed, exhaust on about 75% RPMs. It's a prodigious amount of air. The CPU fan blows across the u-120, straight into the exhale.

Right now I'm in the mid-50s full load, at a much lower voltage on the same CPU speed. Time to tinker.

DogSoldier

Hey Hey!.. The PSU on my new computer went boom.. So I went and got a new one, hooked it up and my computer still wouldn't boot. Turns out my RAM wasn't seated properly. In my efforts to make sure it was snug and secure, I like.. pushed down on the RAM with a force approaching 3.5 million PSI and broke the heatsink on one of them.. LOL The heatsinks on Mushkin ram are rather flimsy in comparison to OCZ.. anyways. I finally got both sticks back in, ran Memtest and no errors, which really ****in surprised me. Before the PSU went south, I was getting BSODs like crazy, so I'm now running a Disk check to make sure nothings been corrupted. So if dissapear, consider this post...

BTW, Gargolye.. that Liteon DVD works just fine using Nero, no problems whatsoever burning CDs or DVDs.