Critique my next build

[Quiksilver]

It's high time for me to build a new system. My current system is only about 6 month's old (since i built it) but, i would like to hand this one down to my parent's and build a new core 2 duo system. However, there is a few question's i am curious about.

First Question:
As in this build i plan on trying to keep the tempatures as low as possible. So would it be feasible to set up a goal of Under 28 degree's centigrade for ambient case tempatures?

Second Question:
Has the performance and driver support for Window's XP 64 bit addition got any better, because i haven't seen any new/updated reviews of it since it's release. Also how well does it support older games like, soldier of fortune II ( I have alot of friends with POS computer who still play this)

Third Question:
Has anyone here seen a review of the Creative Soundblaster X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatality Professional Series card yet? I noticed it appeared on the market about last month ro so, and it doesn't have the fron't bay option the orignal fatality x-fi had (which i don't need) and i was curious on a peformance gains of that compared to the Xtrememusic and the platinum series.

Fourth Question:
In the case i plan on using, it comes with 90mm mount's, is it possible to squeeze a 92mm fan into it without having to do too much modding (if none at all)?

With my question's done said, i think it would be a good time to list the spec's of the computer i would love to build.

Case: Thermaltake Armor w/25cm Fan
Power Supply: Enermax Liberty 620W
Motherboard: Asus P5W DH Deluxe /Wifi-Ap
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6700
Video Card: eVGA 7950GT KO Superclock
Sound Card: Creative Soundblaster X-Fi XtrmeGamer Fatality Professional
Memory: OCZ Platinum Rev. 2 (2x 1GB) DDR2 800
Hard Drive 1: Western Digital Raptor 16MB Cache 36.7GB
Hard Drive 2: Western Digital Raptor X 150GB
Optical Drives: 2x Samsung SH-S182M
Floppy Drive: Samsung SFD321B
Heatsink: Noctua NH-U12F
Heatsink Fan: SilenX IXP-74-14
120mm Fans: 2x SilenX IXP-76-18
92mm Fans: 2x SilenX IXP-64-14
Thermal Paste: Artic Silver 5
Round IDE Cable: Ac Ryan Roundcable2-FX
Round Floppy Cable: Generic 24" Round Cable
Operating System: That depend's on my previous question. Otherwise Windows XP Professional w/SP2
Keyboard: Hiper Clavier Aluminum Keyboard
Mouse: Razer Copperheat Anarchy Red
Monitor: Samsung 940BX
Speakers: Logitech Z-5500

 

[pkme2]

The major components are WOW!
Nothing more need to be said. :thumbsup:

 

[w00t]

looks like a decent build

I'd recommend looking into some other ram i've heard that stuff is pretty ******
also ditch those raptors they are loud,hot and aren't much faster than a 7,200 drive get more space
why do you have two dvd-rw drives?
fatality is probably more than the regular get the xtrememusic save your money
look into different HS tuniq tower 120, skythe ninja...
silentx fans aren't silent if you want a quiet fan look into nexus silent x lies on specs badly
just get Windows XP Pro unless you run 64bit apps it's not going to help by the way AMD64's are supposed to be better at 64bit anyways than core duo 2's
that keyboard is pretty expensive
idk how u feel about widescreen but there is some 20'' good lcd's for around $300.

other than that the system looks pretty good btw why not go with a E6600?

 

[Corporate Thug]

That P5W is waaaaay overpriced.


this is a better PSU

 

[Ayah]

Don't buy SilenX. Their products are all misspeced.

Personally, I would suggest the Antec P180 with Yale Loon 120mm at 5 or 7 volts.
I would say that you shouldn't bother with Raptors and go with 7200.10s.

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: Ayah
Don't buy SilenX. Their products are all misspeced.

Personally, I would suggest the Antec P180 with Yale Loon 120mm at 5 or 7 volts.
I would say that you shouldn't bother with Raptors and go with 7200.10s.

agreed! cant beet yate loons and they are pretty cheap at times.

 

[Quiksilver]

I thought about going with the antec P180, but it looks abit harder to take care of the cables as i plan too in the armor case, besides i like the case window, the 25CM fan, and the ability to have a floppy drive sit between the power buttons.

About the raptors, i found hundred's of mixed review saying that their quiet and well worth the money, and other timers i hear the exact opposite. Besides the 36Gb will have the OS, Drivers, and Anti-virus on it. The 150 will be for games and apps. that's it. I also don't really need 200 + GB's or storage. I have a 250GB seagate in this current computer and i'm barely using 60 GB's of it. I might consider the .10 drives though sames they are cheaper

Also, about the p5w being overpriced, it probably is, but i haven't shopper around fopr parts cheaper, it's just newegg was quickest.

Now about these SilenX fans being mis-Spec'd, could you elaborate about how much? because i've known someone who has the 120mm case fans (not my heatsink fan listed) and they much quiter than my current and are do about 10 more CFM than my current Aerocool one.

All i really looking for is a 120mm fan that can do Greater than 80CFM @ less than 30 decibels.
about the Yale Loon fan's, you got a link to them?

 

[Howard]

Why not just get a 74GB Raptor /w 16MB of cache as the primary drive, and a 400GB for storage? It would certainly be cheaper.

What do you need the "XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Professional" sound card for?

The 7900GTO has a core clock faster than that of the 7950GT KO Superclocked and is $66 (not including the rebate on the 7950GT) cheaper. I'm sure you can OC the memory to make up for the memory clock deficit, tangible or not.

DDR2-800 memory is pointless unless you plan to OC the E6700 to around 4.0GHz or beyond, which is highly unlikely.

 

[Quiksilver]

Originally posted by: Howard
Why not just get a 74GB Raptor /w 16MB of cache as the primary drive, and a 400GB for storage? It would certainly be cheaper.

What do you need the "XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Professional" sound card for?

The 7900GTO has a core clock faster than that of the 7950GT KO Superclocked and is $66 (not including the rebate on the 7950GT) cheaper. I'm sure you can OC the memory to make up for the memory clock deficit, tangible or not.

DDR2-800 memory is pointless unless you plan to OC the E6700 to around 4.0GHz or beyond, which is highly unlikely.

As i will be using the 36GB raptor for nothing more than the OS, Drivers, And Anti-Virus, which won't eat up a whole lot of space, so i don't see the point in getting the 74GB raptor.

Also, the 400GB VS 150GB raptor, yes it does offer more space, but i will never use up that much space, and if anything i'm looking for performance, and according to this review the raptor remains onto in most of the tests.

The XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Professional (Must you make it correct ) is just for a comparison, as i have not yet seen a hardware review of it comparing the previous version of the fatal1ty card, the Xtrememusic, and platinum editons. So i thought i'd take my chances.

Anway i forgot the aswer someone's question about the why not use a E6600, this question is actually kind of easy. I want maximum performance but i don't want to spend $900 on a processor and i don't play on overclocking, so instead i jsut choose the item that would put me the closest to the X6800.

Now i gotta edit my post, lol.

About the 7900GTO. Altough it does have higher everything; except memory bandwidth (when comparing the cards at www.gpureview.com) This is actually i matter of personal preference, because i don't like how gigantic it is. If you ask my the industry is heading in the wrong direction with everything new they make, it's always like 1/3 faster but twice the size, which to me is they need to make it so they can achieve that 1/3 faster but half the size of the previous generation.

Also, your the second person to mention to me that going with DDR2 -800 will be a waste unless i plan to OC, but are there any benchmarks comparing a system that uses stock DDR800 to say a Stock DDR667 system, and have minimal performance gains, if any.

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: QuiksilverX1
Now about these SilenX fans being mis-Spec'd, could you elaborate about how much? because i've known someone who has the 120mm case fans (not my heatsink fan listed) and they much quiter than my current and are do about 10 more CFM than my current Aerocool one.

How do you know they flow 10 more CFM?

All i really looking for is a 120mm fan that can do Greater than 80CFM @ less than 30 decibels.

Impossible.

about the Yale Loon fan's, you got a link to them?

http://www.jab-tech.com/product.php?productid=3009

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: QuiksilverX1

Originally posted by: Howard
Why not just get a 74GB Raptor /w 16MB of cache as the primary drive, and a 400GB for storage? It would certainly be cheaper.

What do you need the "XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Professional" sound card for?

As i will be using the 36GB raptor for nothing more than the OS, Drivers, And Anti-Virus, which won't eat up a whole lot of space, so i don't see the point in getting the 74GB raptor.

OK, then get a 36GB Raptor.

Also, the 400GB VS 150GB raptor, yes it does offer more space, but i will never use up that much space, and if anything i'm looking for performance, and according to this review the raptor remains onto in most of the tests.

If you don't need the space then get a 120GB or 250GB model. Why does your storage drive have to be super-fast? Are you paying for this rig with your own money, or you parent's money?

The XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Professional (Must you make it correct )

Yes. Obviously the name is important, otherwise it wouldn't be so long, eh?

I want maximum performance but i don't want to spend $900 on a processor and i don't play (sic) on overclocking

I assume you meant plan. That's all well and good, but don't forget that OCing is the way to the highest performance/cost ratio.

Anyway, see for yourself the difference between the E6700 and E6600 in games:

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2795&p=14

 

[Quiksilver]

Originally posted by: Howard

Originally posted by: QuiksilverX1
Now about these SilenX fans being mis-Spec'd, could you elaborate about how much? because i've known someone who has the 120mm case fans (not my heatsink fan listed) and they much quiter than my current and are do about 10 more CFM than my current Aerocool one.

How do you know they flow 10 more CFM?

All i really looking for is a 120mm fan that can do Greater than 80CFM @ less than 30 decibels.

Impossible.

about the Yale Loon fan's, you got a link to them?

http://www.jab-tech.com/product.php?productid=3009

It's amazing what you can measure in a research lab.

Now. I don't think it's impossible to achieve 80CFM + @ less than 30 dB with the right design and dc motor.

...I had a glance on those YL's and frankly they don't look too impressive.

and the answer your other question.

I'll be paying with this out of my own money, not my parent's.

Eg. my budget constraint are less than $4500 USD (including shipping)

Also, the difference between the E6600 and E6700 is on average 5 Fps. lol, small difference. Hmm... Maybe i will downgrade. not sure.

 

[Howard]

With all that said, might I suggest this build:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 - $315
ASUS P5B-E - $158
Corsair VS 2x1GB DDR2-667 1.8V - $215
Creative X-Fi XtremeMusic - $107
Western Digital Raptor 36GB WD360ADFD - $105
Samsung Spinpoint P 250GB SP2504C - $70
Samsung SH-S182M - $32
Mitsumi multi-reader - $19
Sub-total from newegg.com - $1021
Shipping from newegg.com - $20-$25 for UPS 3 Day

Antec P180B - $114
eVGA 7900GTO 512MB - $250
Sub-total from chiefvalue.com - $364
Shipping from chiefvalue.com - $20-$25 for UPS Ground

Sunbeam Rheobus fan controller - $11
Scythe Infinity - $45
Yate Loon D12SL-12 - $3.75 x 2/3
Sub-total from jab-tech.com - $63-67
Shipping from jab-tech.com - $?

Dell 2007WFP - $272 after 20% coupon (get one from ebay for $1)
Shipping - $?

Add your own keyboard/mouse/speakers

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: QuiksilverX1
It's amazing what you can measure in a research lab.

What is that supposed to mean?

Now. I don't think it's impossible to achieve 80CFM + @ less than 30 dB with the right design and dc motor.

I'll mail you $5 CAD if you can find a 120mm fan that does 80+ CFM @ less than 30dB sound output at 1m, on axis (in an anechoic chamber or not) INDEPENDENTLY VERIFIED by a trustworthy tester such as SPCR or equivalent.

Also, the difference between the E6600 and E6700 is on average 5 Fps. lol, small difference. Hmm... Maybe i will downgrade. not sure.

Maybe? You must have a pretty good job.

 

[Quiksilver]

Grr.. Can't find fan's under 30 dba @ 80 CFM or Higher, other than that silenX fans, which are at 10 - 15% noise/cfm difference.

I thought i had a pair found, by Coolink, but after looking at theire website and comparing data between them, that had a specification differnce, CFM (cubic feet/ minute) and CMH (Cubic Meters/Hour) And after quick check, it was only about 50 CFM >_>

What i don't understand is, i see all these silenX fans rated so high yet i don't see a single half decent review of them.

 

[dBTelos]

For Howards build (which he left a PSU out of), I would suggest a Corsair HX520W for SLi. If no SLi (ever), then a 460W Masscool Nextherm.

-dB

 

[Quiksilver]

You know, about my psu, all i want is dual 12V rails + modular @ high amperage on both rail's with support for atleats on pci-e card. How is the corsair psu anyway? same goes for the mushkin psu. (of which, why are memory manufacutres going into psu's?)

Also, how did you get that Main rig and 2nd Rig sig's. So i don't have to have mine all just a block fo text

 

[dBTelos]

Seasonic makes Corsair supplies, so Corsair doesn't actually make them. And those links are system builds, you can add them from the links in my sig. The Mushkin PSUs arn't made by such a high quality manufactuer, I forget which one it is though. The Corsair is much better, I would go for it.

-dB

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: dBTelos
For Howards build (which he left a PSU out of), I would suggest a Corsair HX520W for SLi. If no SLi (ever), then a 460W Masscool Nextherm.

-dB

lol sh1t I was going to put one in at the end when I could calculate load but I guess I forgot. The rig I picked out is actually quite lean, requiring ~19A by my rough estimate. Seeing as the motherboard won't allow SLI (the P5W DH doesn't, either), any 400W+ supply with one PCIe connector would do just fine. The P180 certainly plays well with a modular supply, and the quietest one for this build is likely to be the M12-700 since its fan doesn't speed up until past 18A on the 12V rail(s). Not sure how the M12-600 responds to heat.

 

[dBTelos]

Sarcastic?

 

[Quiksilver]

Thanks. Now i got my sig the way i wanted it

I think tomorrow I will list my updated rig Too lazy to do it now.

 

[dBTelos]

Np.

-dB

 

[Quiksilver]

Well after carefully going through my original build, and looking at some of the suggestions i got, i've deciided to change a few things.

This Would Be My Updated BuildI bolded the changes)

Case: Thermaltake Armor w/25cm Fan

Power Supply: Seasonic M12 SS-500W

Motherboard: Asus P5W DH Deluxe /Wifi-Ap

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600

Video Card: XFX 7950GX2

Sound Card: Creative Soundblaster X-Fi XtrmeGamer Fatality Professional

Memory: OCZ Platinum Rev. 2 (2x 1GB) DDR2 800

Hard Drive 1: Western Digital Raptor 16MB Cache 36.7GB

Hard Drive 2: Seagate 320GB 7200.10

Optical Drives: 2x Samsung SH-S182M

Floppy Drive: Mitsumi Card Reader + Floppy Drive

Heatsink: Noctua NH-U12F

Heatsink Fan: SilenX IXP-76-18

120mm Fans: 2x SilenX IXP-76-18

92mm Fans: <a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.frozencpu.com/products/4273/fan-234/SilenX_92x92x25mm_-_14dBA_-_42CFM_iXtrema_Pro_Fan_IXP-64-14.html?tl=g36c15s550">2x SilenX
IXP-64-14</a>

Thermal Paste: Artic Silver 5

Round IDE Cable: Ac Ryan Roundcable2-FX

Round Floppy Cable: Generic 24" Round Cable

Operating System: That depend's on my previous question. Otherwise Windows XP Professional w/SP2

Keyboard:Wolf King Timberwolf FPS Keyboard

Mouse: Razer Copperhead Anarchy Red

Monitor: Samsung 940BX

Speakers: Logitech Z-5500