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Forums > Hardware Forum

building a new PC, good call, bad call? (20 comments)

( Forum: HW)

Posted by im a tree @ 20:36 CDT, 3 September 2008 - iMsg

nb: keeping old soundcard (soundblaster) and old gfx (7950 GT)

Aiming to push my Q6600 to 3.4Ghz, and still be capable for the 4780HD when I decide to upgrade. I did some calculations and, if I did it right I think 650W should be ok for the time being...

With my current GFX I got a value of ~450W, and with a 4780HD I got ~540W, and this is at PEAK load so it will usually be much less than that.

This is all theory though, something which completely ignores the degradation that happens as PSU's age... thats why in say 1-2 years time I'm not sure if my PSU would handle it all so well, and why I'm thinking of going 750W TX.

Thoughts?

If I mucked anything else up or you have recommendations now would be the time to tell me.

Corsair 650W TX Series PSU - 120mm Fan, 80+% Efficiency, Single +12V Rail
Ł59.94
http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?pro...su-650txuk

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 Stepping (2.4GHz 1066MHz) Socket 775 L2 8MB Cache (2x4MB (4MB per core pair) Retail Boxed Processor
Ł123.36
http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?pro...80562q6600

Scythe Mugen (Infinity) Socket 478, 754, 940, 775, 939 & AM2 CPU Cooler
Ł33.10
http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?pro...gory_id=98

Corsair 2GB Kit (2x1GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 XMS2 Memory Non-ECC Unbuffered CL4(4-4-4-12) E.P.P. Technology Heat Spreader Lifetime Warranty
Ł33.76
http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?pro...048-6400c4

Asus P5Q PRO P45 Socket 775 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard
Ł93.35
http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?pro...ory_id=251

Coolermaster Elite 330 Black Mid Tower Case - No PSU
Ł29.99
http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?pro...gory_id=52

Akasa 12cm Silent Fan (18dB - 1400RPM)
Ł3.36
http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?pro...turer_id=0

ccl total: Ł376.86

1€ = Ł0.81591
Ł1 = 1.22551€

Ł376.86 = 461.84€
Ł376.86 GBP = $668.27

ty :)

Edited by meez at 13:22 CDT, 4 September 2008 - 4330 Hits

<< prev HW thread || next HW thread >>

<< Comment #1 @ 20:39 CDT, 3 September 2008 >>

By

lolograde '

How much is that in US$? Like ... $30,000? Sucky deal if you ask me.

Edited by lolograde at 20:40 CDT, 3 September 2008

<< Comment #2 @ 20:48 CDT, 3 September 2008 >>

By

im a tree - Reply to #1

Ł376.86 GBP = $668.27
huh, for some reason your currency got strong

anyway, I think for UK prices these aren't so bad, pc components are more expensive over here

that said, if someone from the UK can offer up significantly better prices, let me know :)

Edited by meez at 20:50 CDT, 3 September 2008

<< Comment #3 @ 21:02 CDT, 3 September 2008 >>

By

f0cus - Reply to #2

2 comments come to mind at first. One, Corsair make quality PSU's, so unless you're gonna Crossfire some 4870x2's or SLI some GTX 280's, that's plenty of psu for a long time. This isn't the case for all brands, but Corsair is one of the good ones.
Also, I'd vote skimping somewhere else on the rig and go with a 45nm process CPU. That 65nm Q6600 is simply not going to give the bang for the buck that the 45nm's are giving right now on the low-mid range.
As in, a 3.2 ghz 45nm qcore will actually outperform a 3.6ghz 65 nm.
I don't know how much encoding you'll be doing, but I don't do any. Multi-tasking is about the most demanding thing, and with the high increase in clock speed vs the lower impact of the slightly higher L2cache and 2 other cores.
I'd recommend the e8400. In actual gaming benchmarks it will run circles around even a g0 quad in anything but SupCom.

:)

Oh, and good lord. You're gonna feel that upgrade from the 7950 whenever you do. I loved that card, still have it in the AMD build, 'cause I haven't transferred the 8800 gt into there yet, but man... World's apart. (not that it's a bad gpu, it's awesome.)

Edited by focus at 21:06 CDT, 3 September 2008

<< Comment #4 @ 21:49 CDT, 3 September 2008 >>

By

cumrag - Reply to #3

well, if he's gonna switch to the dual core, he should get the e8500 instead. the prices are close atm.

Edited by comrade at 21:50 CDT, 3 September 2008

<< Comment #7 @ 07:52 CDT, 4 September 2008 >>

By

im a tree - Reply to #3

Q6600 oc'd to 3.4ghz + 4780HD = 540W... on a 650W psu. I dunno I'm just paranoid that in a couple of years my PSU's "failure over time" will not be able to handle my components :E

Regarding the 45nm vs 65nm thing, I'll look at some benchmarks... it's just... well the only games I really play are Q3 engine and older, thats why I figured it would be best to just go quad.

I have had doubt nagging in my mind for a while though, about going E8200/400 instead....

mrhmm... It's a hard decision :/

<< Comment #5 @ 22:15 CDT, 3 September 2008 >>

By

vedic

I'd just wait for prices to come down in a few months since it's overkill for everything on the market right now. =/

<< Comment #6 @ 07:46 CDT, 4 September 2008 >>

By

im a tree - Reply to #5

Thats... pretty much the case whenever you buy components...

<< Comment #8 @ 08:46 CDT, 4 September 2008 >>

By

vedic - Reply to #6

The current market of games does not justify the purchase at this point, though. If you're going to get something that is going to eat through things anyway, why not wait until there's something worth playing?

<< Comment #9 @ 09:01 CDT, 4 September 2008 >>

By

im a tree - Reply to #8

90% of the games I play are Q3 engine and older, and I don't forsee any games being released in the future that I even want to play, nevermind demand 125 fps either and won't be built to be scalable anyway (eg, gw2, sc2)

Edited by meez at 09:01 CDT, 4 September 2008

<< Comment #10 @ 12:06 CDT, 4 September 2008 >>

By

Jamerio :

I would try and look on Aria.co.uk, thye're very good, as are scan.
I'm sure I seen q6600 for like under 115-117 all in.

I would also go with the Tuniq tower 120 for CPU coolling as I know it works well and is cheaper.
Lastly, I would also go with quad core if you're going to overclock it. BTW, my hd4850 is running on a crappy 300 watt oem PSU, so I reckon you could quite easily make do with a lower PSU, but your choice.

You'll probably want a fan controller for the 4870 too (Its a 4 pin) as the catalyst drivers do not have them built in yet without a hack. Or in my case just cut the blue wire and let it blast full pelt:)

I don't see a hard drive on there, but go for a spinpoint f1 as your main system drive if you fo get one.

Edited by Jamerio at 12:10 CDT, 4 September 2008

<< Comment #11 @ 12:24 CDT, 4 September 2008 >>

By

im a tree - Reply to #10

Regarding the tuniq: http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?art...amp;page=5 - but also I can't seem to find it anywhere, and I don't want to be ordering parts from five different retailers.

Keeping my old drives, 250+500 and soon another 500. (Just sata)

Thanks for the advice I guess.

What do you know about ram? I've been looking at http://ramlist.i4memory.com/ddr2/ to try and find out which oem is the best option, but I'll probably have to buy my ram elsewhere than CCL, because the ram on http://www.cclonline.com/product-listings.asp...perpage=99 doesn't seem to be too great.

I was tempted to get 2GB OCZ Platinum Revision 2 as it is ProMOS which is apparently reliable but I'm not sure yet, currently trying to find some benchmarks/reviews of it. The downside is the 4-4-4-15 timing I guess over the 4-4-4-12 timing I was getting with corsair, but after looking at the list of their IC's I've decided not to take corsair.

:(

edit: for the sake of completeness, I should mention I'm probably going Antec 900 now over the Coolermaster.

Edited by meez at 12:25 CDT, 4 September 2008

<< Comment #13 @ 13:41 CDT, 4 September 2008 >>

By

Jamerio : - Reply to #11

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-101-OK

I ordered a few of them and they working great, had it next day delivery 10am. All working great.
SO I would say its safe to get that ram, or just get the whole bundle if you want an easy life. Its only worth obsessing over little things when you're approaching 4 ghz and you're not going anywhere near there so save yourself the hassle.

Good read here too.
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/247622-11...ge-formula

I use overclocked machines for rendeing, lot of the time they are on DAYS at a time at 100% load, temp and reliability are flawless.

That's why I get pissed at people who go for dual core and advise it, you simply get more benefits with an overcloked quad core and its cheaper too. PLus you got future engine support multi tasking. no brainer.

Edited by Jamerio at 13:45 CDT, 4 September 2008

<< Comment #14 @ 14:09 CDT, 4 September 2008 >>

By

im a tree - Reply to #13

Hmmm true. As I understand it (which might not be that well), optimal performance is 1:1 cpu:ram?

Reason for that OCZ ram is the IC (ProMOS) and still being relatively cheap. I thought about investing in 1066fsb ram too but I'm not sure if there is any point.

Q: What is an average overclocking IC?

A: Promos and MicronD9GCT are good but not great like MicronD9GMH/GKX. Some people like Promos because you can get highly binned promos that clock very well. Promos are voltage friendly and don't die at all really.

Edited by meez at 15:15 CDT, 4 September 2008

<< Comment #17 @ 17:09 CDT, 9 September 2008 >>

By

Jamerio : - Reply to #14

Your Order:

1 x Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz 95W G0 Stepping (Retail 775) @ 119.79GBP

1 x 500GB Samsung Spinpoint F1 502IJ SATA2 7200RPM 16MB cache @ 45.77GBP

1 x Asrock 4CORE1600TWINS-P35 P35/ICH9 Socket 775 Motherboard @ 53.80GBP

1 x GeIL 2GB PC2-6400 C4 Black Dragon (2x1GB) @ 25.79GBP

1 x Estar 2 Midi Tower ATX Black 500W - @ 28.00GBP

1 x Arctic Silver V Compound @ 4.41GBP
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Order Total (inc.VAT inc. Shipping): 288.67GBP

I just placed an order for another q6600 pc of above spec from aria.co.uk as they seem to be pretty cheap, first time I used them so hope they work out!!!

Ram I got was 30+ for 2 gig 800 mhz, but they have daily specials so got it for 26 (i got last one!). http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Mem...ctId=29674
Should do me find I think, it only used as render box and will be happy at 3 ghz OC as they gonna be under full load for 6-7 days on end so will ramp up fan speed to max on std cooller should be fine.

I got 4 of these puppies now and I hammer the shit out of them and I'm talking 100% load across 4 cores for 6-7 days without a break, if they survive me they will survive any gamer so long as you don't do stupid overclocks and voltages I think you will be happy with a similar specification.

Edited by Jamerio at 17:12 CDT, 9 September 2008

<< Comment #18 @ 17:20 CDT, 9 September 2008 >>

By

cumrag - Reply to #17

stress testing for 6-7 days is overkill

<< Comment #19 @ 17:49 CDT, 9 September 2008 >>

By

Jamerio : - Reply to #18

It's not a stress test, its 3D rendering many frames of animation.

If anyone knows of a program to schedule CPU usage, like somehow throttle it it to a single core at a specfied time for a certain amount of time pls let me know.

P.S.
Putin is Putin in gonna' ban South Park.

Edited by Jamerio at 05:37 CDT, 10 September 2008

<< Comment #20 @ 12:59 CDT, 10 September 2008 >>

By

im a tree - Reply to #17

Heh, my 100% loads will never come from gaming, since 95% of the games I play only support one core :)

Thanks for the advice, what kind of temps do you expect to get with stock cooler btw? Noticed the aftermarket thermal paste too, I'm guessing Scythe/Thermalright don't skimp on the paste though, so I should be ok :E

<< Comment #12 @ 12:35 CDT, 4 September 2008 >>

By

a hule?

p45 is not a very good choice. maybe, wait for the nextgen intel chipset.

upd: but... the price is allright, so disregard my post please:)

Edited by a hule? at 12:42 CDT, 4 September 2008

<< Comment #15 @ 16:16 CDT, 5 September 2008 >>

By

Lunatic

Was about to buy a new system myself, but decided to wait for the much anticipated Nehalem (Core i7) platform this October.
Find it too much money to put into a platform that soon will be outdated, leaving upgrade possibilities to a minimum.

Edited by Lunatic at 16:20 CDT, 5 September 2008

<< Comment #16 @ 17:55 CDT, 5 September 2008 >>

By

im a tree - Reply to #15

This setup should last me 3-4 years anyway, plus I don't have the money to buy new tech :(

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