A part of a part's list, and its concerns
I am thinking of getting the following components:
Corsair TX 650w PSU
E8400 CPU
Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R BOARD
2 STORAGE drives - 1TB WD Green, Black, Samsung, or 1.5TB Seagate
...along with some other things for a total system build. The idea is to have an energy efficient system that is WAY faster than my Northwood P4, that is also more silent. I would like to try H2O cooling, but probably won't need it for this one.
Any opinions on the Corsair 520, 550, and 650w psus for comparison? I want to go as cheap as possible, both initial cost-wise and long term efficiency running, and quietness is nice, too. I also favor single rails. But modularness is nice as well. This will be powering a low-med wattage, but more a medium oomph powered new computer, as I won't be into multiple GPUS and what not, and I know E8400 systems can run under 100w idle.
I have considered E8400, E8500 (not much more money), and the E8600 (much more money). Should I still consider them, such as for a moderate or free overclock I will not resist?
I like the value and capacity of the 1.5TB drive, but not its user reviews or higher platter count. I like the Green for quietness, cheapness, and coolness/energy savings. I like the Samsung for the same reasons, and less platters. I don't like the Black price being the same as the 1.5TB model. Again, I want 2 storage drives. 2.5" Raptors will probably at sometime be paired up with these guys, so keep that in mind on any opinion.
Corsair TX 650w PSU
E8400 CPU
Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R BOARD
2 STORAGE drives - 1TB WD Green, Black, Samsung, or 1.5TB Seagate
...along with some other things for a total system build. The idea is to have an energy efficient system that is WAY faster than my Northwood P4, that is also more silent. I would like to try H2O cooling, but probably won't need it for this one.
Any opinions on the Corsair 520, 550, and 650w psus for comparison? I want to go as cheap as possible, both initial cost-wise and long term efficiency running, and quietness is nice, too. I also favor single rails. But modularness is nice as well. This will be powering a low-med wattage, but more a medium oomph powered new computer, as I won't be into multiple GPUS and what not, and I know E8400 systems can run under 100w idle.
I have considered E8400, E8500 (not much more money), and the E8600 (much more money). Should I still consider them, such as for a moderate or free overclock I will not resist?
I like the value and capacity of the 1.5TB drive, but not its user reviews or higher platter count. I like the Green for quietness, cheapness, and coolness/energy savings. I like the Samsung for the same reasons, and less platters. I don't like the Black price being the same as the 1.5TB model. Again, I want 2 storage drives. 2.5" Raptors will probably at sometime be paired up with these guys, so keep that in mind on any opinion.
0
Comments
2) How long do you plan to own the system before upgrading again?
3) For HD, how much data will you REALLY be needing to store and how important will it be?
On the processor, either E8400 or E8500 generally overclock about the same and the newer E0 steppings tend to need less voltage for an overclock and tend to run cooler. But from what I've seen, the E8500 doesn't give much more overclock than an E8400 so shop by price. For cooling I would suggest a high end heatsink such as a TRUE, Xigmatec S1283 or Vendetta 2.
I don't have experience with that particular Gigabyte board, but do own 3 Intel Gigabyte boards (2-P35 and 1-X38). I've been pretty well satisfied with the boards. Another board you might want to look at is the Asus P5Q Pro. I recently bought one and it's a nice board for the price. They do have a rep for being kind of picky about the ram, but mine will run D9 based ram just fine as well as the OCZ 4 gig DDR2-800 kit that is listed in the memory QVL.
If you want water cooling, that's your choice, however, it certainly is not necessary just to obtain the goal of quiet system. Assuming you have a case with good ventilation and low RPM 120mm fans, you can easily meet your goals. You would though, need a CPU heatsink with a low-flow 120mm fan and a quiet hard drive. This also assumes that you wouldn't be overclocking. Well, yes, you'd also want a PSU that is fairly quiet. All the Corsairs that Mudd and I mentioned are very low noise. BTW, I'm also a fan of OCZ PSUs.
Just for reference: My system 1 in my signature has two video cards - 8800GT & 9800GT - running full load (Folding@Home) and a Q6600 overclocked by 1.2GHz running full load. The machine has several fans, two hard drives, an optical drive, and several cold cathode lights (yes, I like bling!). According to the UPS monitor to which it is connected, that system draws 415 Watts at full load. I could probably run it off of a Corsair 550VX or equivalent quality OCZ PSU at 550-600 Watts.
You mentioned two priorities and one interest, respectively quiet, cheap, and water cooling. Cheap and water cooling probably shouldn't be in the same sentence.
When looking for power supplies, use the "Marketplace" tab at the top of the page. Also check out Buy.com, Amazon, and Newegg. Buy.com has excellent Corsair prices sometimes.
For a CPU coolers that perform very well and can be configured for low noise with 120mm fans, my choices are similar Muddocktor's: Xigmatec S1283, Vendetta 2, or Sunbeamtech Core Contact Freezer. I would avoid the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme. Many of them have defective bases that require a lot time to buff down to a flat state. Additionally, that model costs considerably more than the other high perfomance heatsinks we mentioned and you must buy the fan separately. I do run two of the TRUEs, and they are excellent performers, but mine required lots of time and hard work to get them performing well.
He also mentioned that he wanted it to consume the least amount of power. While I'm not trying to downplay the Q6600 here, for power consumption the E8400 would be the way to go..
And no mention of the E8600, would you say a rip off and just get the E8400 or E8500 because of the close cheaper price. E8400 is $150+tax at Microcenter, $165 at newegg, and the E8500 is $187 online. The E8600 is $269, big difference, but still not extraordinarily higher like in the upper hundreds like some bail-out-the-auto-industry-extreme-edition. You know what, I'm going to apologize I even mentioned it silly me. I will either get the E8500 online or E8400 at the store. I think the old stepping is pretty much out of distribution now right? Either way, at the store I can actually look at the box, which is nice.
With the watercooling, that is just something I always wanted to try, even before my first build, and it has a good chance of not happening. I realize it would hike the total price up. In any case, that is a later-on project.
I will look into a heatsink, too. I did use the stock E8400 on a friend's build and although about half the size I was used to, it seemed to do the job well enough. It's quieter than my stock 2.8C fan.
I plan on using the system primarily for about 3 years I hope, and owning it longer as a secondary machine. I hope to upgrade sooner than 5+ years like I'm doing now.
/bullzisnipr, I have my mind set on dual core. The quad could almost be used as a furnace down south, compared to the dual core.
I haven't bought anything from OCZ, but feel confident in both memory and the psus they make. I may actually buy their memory, or Corsair, depending on price and specs when it is that time shortly. I think their psus are cheaper, which is nice.