Q6600 Build -- Your quick thoughts?

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doodler85

Member
Jul 3, 2003
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www.walrusinacanoe.com
Hey guys,

This build was based on an E6600 system that I was going to build until I heard about the upcoming price cuts. Could you please recommend any changes... or give it a thumbs up to purchase on the 22nd?

The goal is to build a multimedia system for ~$1500. I am also going to do a stable overclock (although I've never done it before), nothing dramatic. I just want to get the most performance for my money with minimal risk.

I am a multimedia designer/developer so I need the 4 gb of ram. I realize that XP will not quite utilize all of it, but I also intend on upgrading to 64-bit vista once it becomes more stable.

https://secure.newegg.com/NewV...hDetail.asp?ID=5206832

Thanks!

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COOLER MASTER Centurion 534 RC-534-KKN2-GP Black Aluminum & Mesh bezel / SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

EVGA 640-P2-N821-AR GeForce 8800GTS 640MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card

ENERMAX Liberty ELT500AWT ATX12V 500W Power Supply - Retail

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80562Q6600

2x ---------
G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400PHU2-2GBHZ

2x (RAID 0) -----
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

SAMSUNG 18X DVD±R DVD Burner With 12X DVD-RAM Write, LightScribe Technology Black SATA Model SH-S183L

Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound

ZALMAN 9700 LED 110mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler
 
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masteraleph

Senior member
Oct 20, 2002
363
0
71
Personally, I'm very much NOT a fan of RAID-0; too much increased risk of failure without the appreciable speed gains. That's really up to you though. They're nice HDDs, but I don't like the risk.

If you don't already own the X-Fi, wait for the new Auzentech card.


Otherwise, looks pretty good to me.
 
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Sinn707

Senior member
Mar 8, 2007
210
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0
You should get GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3R with the newest P35 chipset instead of that mb get Corsair 520HX instead of the Enermax for less. Lastly, if you are are spending 59.99 on Zalman, you should consider getting a Tuniq 120 Tower instead, according to these test reults, it cools slightly better. Just fyi. Rest looks fine, good luck.

P.s - I'm not a raid fan at all, but it's a personal choice.
 
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Ruger22C

Golden Member
Sep 22, 2006
1,079
4
81
IMO if you're going that high-end: Get the fatal1ty version (XRAM) of the X-Fi card. Do NOT get Vista if you want to keep your precious EAX.
Check into the rosewill 500(550?)w psu, just give it a thought. You didn't post prices, but I bet it's cheaper and has better reviews.
Also, consider buying a Raptor hard drive, since you're going high-end.
 
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Sinn707

Senior member
Mar 8, 2007
210
0
0
Originally posted by: doodler85
Are you sure the Tuniq 120 would fit in the case? that's what I was primarily paranoid about.

Also, what's the overclockability like on the Q6600? Is it even worth doing?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

100%. I installed one into Centurion 5 myself this weekend. I just double checked the dimensions of Centurion 534 with Centurion 5 and they are the same.
 
bob4432

bob4432

Lifer
Sep 6, 2003
11,717
44
91
Originally posted by: Ruger22C
IMO if you're going that high-end: Get the fatal1ty version (XRAM) of the X-Fi card. Do NOT get Vista if you want to keep your precious EAX.
Check into the rosewill 500(550?)w psu, just give it a thought. You didn't post prices, but I bet it's cheaper and has better reviews.
Also, consider buying a Raptor hard drive, since you're going high-end.
Click to expand...

you are suggesting a rosewill psu over a enermax? why would you do that? now the suggestion by sinn707 for a corsair 520HX is a good one, but not a rosewill...:confused:

op - unless you have more than 640GB of backup room don't go the raid0 - if you lose 1 drive to anything you are f*cked. you would be better of getting a single 750GB hdd, just don't raid0 unless you can backup daily at the very least

also if you are a developer and need the rig for work, it is usually frowned upon to o/c a work/mission critical rig, as it would be to go w/ raid0. think of the amount of time lost if either one of these corrupt your setup. depending on how much you make, an o/c issue or a raid failure could cost you the price of the rig quickly. best to stay stock speeds and not raid0 on mission critical equipment
 
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Ruger22C

Golden Member
Sep 22, 2006
1,079
4
81
Well Bob, when I was shopping.. it was the cheapest one I could find that had good reviews.. What does enermax cost? Like I said, he didn't post the prices.
 
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doodler85

Member
Jul 3, 2003
176
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0
www.walrusinacanoe.com
Hey, thanks for the response Bob.

I may not do the RAID0 in retrospect. However, I have all of my files automatically backed up every night, so the loss would not be catastrophic. I just need a lot of space and I'd like some speed to go with it, but if RAID0 is really not as fast as it's made out to be, then there's no point.

For speed's sake, what do you think of putting apps and the OS on one HDD and my common files on the other? I know I'd never use 320 gb for apps, but it's very reasonably priced. I'm currently on a 320 gb RAID0 and it's almost full. Lasted me over four years too, no problems (knock on wood).

As for OC'ing, if I had good cooling on the CPU wouldn't it be OK? I mean doesn't intel essentially underclock everything below the highest-end C2D's (and quads) anyway? I wouldn't be pushing anything extreme.

Thanks again!
 
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Ruger22C

Golden Member
Sep 22, 2006
1,079
4
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"For speed's sake, what do you think of putting apps and the OS on one HDD and my common files on the other? I know I'd never use 320 gb for apps, but it's very reasonably priced. I'm currently on a 320 gb RAID0 and it's almost full. Lasted me over four years too, no problems (knock on wood)."


This will usually work. But, if you are installing the APP's through two seperate or seperate installations of an OS, they will not be in the registry of the one and therefore won't work. That's only with a minimial amount I think, most will work.
I'm not sure if it'll be faster, depending HOW you do it. But, it would be neater. Easier to locate files. :D

I.E. You put game X on drive C, which has XP. You boot to drive D, which also has XP. Drive D will not let the game X run, becuase it is not in the registry.
 
bob4432

bob4432

Lifer
Sep 6, 2003
11,717
44
91
ruger22c - wtf are you saying? every response i see from you makes no sense, and then you take my response and put an i.e. i them? wtf. go learn and contribute and not take other people's answers as your own. f*ck

op - raid0 is faster in certain situations but the risk must be necessary. having the os and apps on one drive and then possibly another drive or raid0 array w/the data on it may work if the backup is good. it also needs to benefit you and in all reality the only time raid0 benefits is if you are working on very large files, but i still would probably still go single drives.

you say your data is backed up, but think, if you do go the raid0 setup if your entire os was gone. do you have images or just files backe up?

my personal setup is to use one drive as a os/app/game drive (in my case a 36GB 15k scsi drive) and my data drive is seperate (300GB 15k scsi drive) and then there is a 120GB pata drive in there because it was just sitting on the table. this works for me very well but my data drive has a pci bus limited str and burst of 97MB/s which is usually quite a bit higher than pata/sata drives, although they seem to be closing in.

as for o/cing, on any mission critical machine i never o/c just because it is mission critical. especially if it is going to be a mild o/c, is the small amounts of time really worth it? i don't see the need unless you are going to get a mad o/c to really make a difference and at that point i would just opt for a faster cpu. the kentsfield is a rather warm running cpu anyway and has 4 cores, i honestly think you would be fine and i wouldn't o/c it.

and i will come back in a bit to make sure what i wrote made sense as i just took some meds that kind of f*ck me up, so if something doesn't sound right, i will be back to rectify it :)
 
bob4432

bob4432

Lifer
Sep 6, 2003
11,717
44
91
Originally posted by: doodler85
I just ... sort of figured that less stuff on the drive would reduce HDD seek time and in general just be "neater". Of course that could be entirely mental, since I'm kind of OCD :)
Click to expand...

that is true as most of the data will be in the inner portions of the hdd. defragging your drives on a regular basis is a good idea. my home server is on auto defrag w/ diskeeper, my laptop is set the same way and my rig gets defragged at least 1x week, keeps it all nice and tight :)
 
bob4432

bob4432

Lifer
Sep 6, 2003
11,717
44
91
Originally posted by: Ruger22C
Well Bob, when I was shopping.. it was the cheapest one I could find that had good reviews.. What does enermax cost? Like I said, he didn't post the prices.
Click to expand...

i hardly doubt that as enermax, fsp, silverstone and quite a few others have always had good quality psus at prices across the board. you may not have known about them or more worried about the W, but they were out there, trust me on this.
 
D

doodler85

Member
Jul 3, 2003
176
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www.walrusinacanoe.com
THanks again bob! OK, here's a question. For the money, would you say that the Q6600 is unbeatable for production (and the occasional game)? I mean how does a stock Q6600 compare to an OC'd E6600? Or another cheaper Core2? I saw some benchmarks comparing the quads vs stock Core2's, but their OC capabilities are quite different.

If OC'ing isn't worth it I'll save $60 on a new cooler, so no complaints there :)

And if my current PC died... I'm not sure exactly how depressed I'd be. I've been intending to format this thing for like 2.5 years now :D
 
bob4432

bob4432

Lifer
Sep 6, 2003
11,717
44
91
Originally posted by: doodler85
THanks again bob! OK, here's a question. For the money, would you say that the Q6600 is unbeatable for production (and the occasional game)? I mean how does a stock Q6600 compare to an OC'd E6600? Or another cheaper Core2? I saw some benchmarks comparing the quads vs stock Core2's, but their OC capabilities are quite different.

If OC'ing isn't worth it I'll save $60 on a new cooler, so no complaints there :)

And if my current PC died... I'm not sure exactly how depressed I'd be. I've been intending to format this thing for like 2.5 years now :D
Click to expand...

if the software will take advantage of all the cores then the more speed you get, so make sure your software is able to take full advantage of 4 cores. for the occasional game you are fine even if it only takes advantage of 1 core as a 2.4GHz machine today, even single core runs like a raped ape :)

also, being that the q6600s do run hot anyways, i would get a better than stock cooler for reliabilty sake. i know i am a bit overly cautious in certain areas but i haven't run stock coolers in years, always something copper and a larger fan, like 92mm or so and that is good. thermalright is usually always a safe bet.
 
D

doodler85

Member
Jul 3, 2003
176
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www.walrusinacanoe.com
I see, thanks!

The software I'm running tends to be (all at the same time) Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, Dreamweaver, with sound editing (Audacity) often open as well as a photo manager and Thunderbird. My flash files, especially, tend to get huge and so do the Photoshop ones. I also do After Effects from time to time.

If you are worried about cooling without OC'ing, could you recommend a cheaper (and less bulky) cooler than the Tuniq tower? I also have worries about that thing in the long run because I've heard it's very heavy.
 
bob4432

bob4432

Lifer
Sep 6, 2003
11,717
44
91
bob4432

bob4432

Lifer
Sep 6, 2003
11,717
44
91
Originally posted by: doodler85
I see, thanks!

The software I'm running tends to be (all at the same time) Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, Dreamweaver, with sound editing (Audacity) often open as well as a photo manager and Thunderbird. My flash files, especially, tend to get huge and so do the Photoshop ones. I also do After Effects from time to time.

If you are worried about cooling without OC'ing, could you recommend a cheaper (and less bulky) cooler than the Tuniq tower? I also have worries about that thing in the long run because I've heard it's very heavy.
Click to expand...

if i were you i would use what others use for o/cing, just don't o/c. the tuniq tower is one, but there are a couple thermalright ones that are up there too.

as far as weight i really wouldn't worry much about it. these heavy heatsinks usually have good attaching mechanisms or they wouldn't be "the top" as people would have liked them but complained about their retention mechanism and the company would rather redesign the mechanism instead of losing out on $$$ because of it. i would go w/ one of the thermalrights, they have been around a long time.

and for what you are doing, the 4 core cpu is the best way to go given the budget as you are using multiple smt/smp aware apps at the same time.

i know i can get my rig which is just a x2 4200 w/ 2GB pc3200 and a x1800xt and the hdds i described above pushed pretty hard using just photoshop and illustrator on medium sized files, which i use quite often, so you using all those on large files, the 4 cores will be nice :) hell, i even contemplated a rig similiar to what you are building on the 22nd but just don't do enough work on it to justify it. but if i needed stuff done quick, i would be all over it :)

i assume you are waiting for the 22nd? you also might want to modify your original thread to reflect the programs you will be using and the different component setup so others can make suggestions that may or may not be better :) have fun w/ 'er
 
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Ruger22C

Golden Member
Sep 22, 2006
1,079
4
81
Originally posted by: bob4432
Originally posted by: Ruger22C
Where did I take your answer, Bob?
Click to expand...

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2073713&enterthread=y
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Bob, I didn't "steal" your answer. In fact, I had never even READ your answer in that thread. You never stated it here. I would be willing to bet, that almost everything you have said - has been said somewhere else on this forum before. Does that mean you are stealing other people's answers? It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out my games didn't work because of the registry.
 
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Ruger22C

Golden Member
Sep 22, 2006
1,079
4
81
I did not say that make only 1 PSU. Show me an enermax near that same power level, with a price close to the rosewill.
 
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