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Thoughts on New C2D System Components

S

sd

Golden Member
System is mainly for casual email and web surfing, and I'm also gonna get back into gaming(boughtan x-box 360, but never use it). Looking for some advice/thoughts on what I'm about to order. Please let me know if you see any issues with compatibility. Appreciate the input.

1. E6600 or E6700 - waiting for price drop in a few weeks.

2. Stacker 830case link

3. EVGA 680i A1 evga link

4. Raptor 150GBraptor link

5. Corsair PSUPSU Link

6. Samsung 226BWMonitor Link

7. Corsair XMS PC28500Memory Link

8. EVGA 8800GTS 640MBVideo Card Link

9. Vista Ultimate RetailOS Link


CPU cooler is still undetermined, but looking into the TuniqLink

The biggest thing I question is if I need Vista Ultimate, and then if I should bother with 64-bit. The XP pro I have is bootleg, so I need a new OS. Doesn't seem to make sense to buy XP at this point.

Please let me know what you think. Thanks.

 
Good but I would go ahead with the OEM version of Vista since its MUCH cheaper. The retail version has both 32 and 64 bit. The OEM you have to order one or the other, and I would go ahead and go with 64 myself. I haven't had to many issues with it except for old business software.
The Tuniq is great, and you could also check out Anandtechs reviews of the new coolers to which they have done a great job on.
 
Assuming you plan to overclock, off the top of my head:

2) That's a very expensive case. Would you be happy with Antec P180 for $80? It's a good case.

3) Why 680i chipset? Do you plan to SLi anyway? You can save some $ and get Asus P5N-E SLi (650 chipset). Since you'll be running E6600 or a cpu with a higher multiplier, there is less importance for 500FSB overclocks which is what 680 is made for (unless you really need dual gigabit lan, etc.)

There are also good overclocking boards like Gigabyte DS3 rev 3.3 for $130 on 965 chipset.

4) If you want one of the fastest performers, the raptor is good. But for the same amount of $ you can get a 500gb Seagate 7200.10 or a similar drive. Or you can buy 2x400GB at $100 a piece and RAID them.

5) OCZ PowerXStream 600 watts is $120 and is just as good. But if you insist on Corsair, this 520 watt model for $90 seems like a better deal to me.

6) Serious overkill on the ram. 680/650 chipsets can run independently of memory speed. Even then PC6400 alone will let you clock E6600 to 3600FSB at 1:1. Plus DDR2-800 overclocks too. This corsair with 4-4-4 timings is great value - $130 Corsair PC6400 CL4

For cooling the Tuniq Tower is a great cooler (in the top 3). Others to consider are:

1) Thermalright Ultra 120 (top 3)
2) Thermaltake Big Typhoon
3) Scythe Ninja B or Scythe Infinity

If you choose to make some savings I suggested you could:

1) decide to splurge on a Westinghouse 37 inch lcd monitor
2) upgrade graphics to 8800GTX (or wait for ATI's HD2900 series)
3) save the $ on better things.
 
Chadder007 - Thanks for the heads up. Can I get this if I'm not a "system builder"?

RussianSensation - Thank you much for the feedback;
2. Yes, it is steep, but I really like the wavemaster I have that is gonna house my current system, so I figure I'd stay with Cooler Master. The P180 I keep seeing it for $130(not a big deal price wise). I like the size of the stacker. Not sure I like the PSU on the bottom with the P180.

3. This is the component that I've done the most agonizing over. Every time I think I have a MB picked out, I read some bad reviews from users. Great questions. Most likely won't SLi, but I thought why not have the option. Not even sure what I would use Dual gigabit Lan for to be honest. I literally have been going back and forth between the P965, 650i, and the 680i. I guess I thought the 680i had some future proof to it, if theres such a thing with computers. I want to O/C and I keep reading that the 680i has lots of tweak features, which I honestly don't know if I need or not.

4. I have a NAS, so I don't need a lot of storage. Just thought I would get 1 fast 150ish GB drive. Would I notice any performance drop off going with a Seagate SATA 3.0 GB over the Raptor?

5. I keep reading that a good PSU is key for O/Cing stability, and I figured I'd go a bit higher. I want modular for sure though.

6. Wasn't sure if this was overkill or not. I'll back it down to the 6400.

Sounds like a good idea to save a few bucks and go to the GTX.

 
Vista *bad* - no gaming.

Also Raptors are a waste of money. They may be 10,000RPM but they're actually only a fraction faster than the much bigger, cheaper, 7200 drives.
 
I have a hard time believing there's a noticeable speed difference between a Raptor and a 7200rpm drive. I mean how often do you sit there waiting for something to write or read from the hard drive?
The placebo effect might be very nice though.
 
The 650i and 680i are quite comparable. However, the 680i "officially" supports a 1333Mhz FSB speed, whereas the 650i (to my knowledge) does not. This might mean very little, or it can mean that when Peryn chips come out early next year, the 680i boards will support them while the 650i boards won't. As far as OC potential is concerned, both boards are excellent. I have an evga 680i A1 board and it's been superb. (Easily the best MoBo I've ever owned.) I highly recommend it.

Cases are subjective, and everyone has their own valid opinion. I personally would agree that the Stacker is overpriced. The price of an 830 puts you into Silverstone and high-end Lian Li land, and those manufactures produce the best cases money can buy. Compared to a Silverstone TJ-07 or 09, the Stacker feels cheap and flimsy, and actually comes with less equipment inside (such as fans.) The Antec P-182 is getting rave reviews, but my problem with Antecs is that they are a dime-a-dozen and can be cramped inside. Still, I think a P-182 is a better option than a 830. CoolerMaster, in many people's opinion, is not the manufacturer it once was.

Lastly, I highly recommend the Tuniq, as it is truly among the best air coolers money can buy. Thanks to mine, my E6600 is 3.6Ghz stable with temps idling in the mid 30s and load (Orthos Small FFT) in the mid 50s.

Good luck with the build.

Mark.
 
thanks guys!

With regards to the hard drive, should I just get one theselink

The Silverstone's look nice, but I'm not sure I like the PSU on the bottom. It looks like a long way to go for the 8-pin ATX 12V power connector.
 
Originally posted by: Atheus
Vista *bad* - no gaming.

Also Raptors are a waste of money. They may be 10,000RPM but they're actually only a fraction faster than the much bigger, cheaper, 7200 drives.
Click to expand...

Vista is bad for gaming? I've read that for newer games, which I'll be playing, there are no issues at all. Not the case?
 
Vista is just "iffy" because the drivers are not 100% there yet, in terms of gaming. Most game are fine by now but you might want to do a dual boot.

The five star ratings on all the Raptors at Newegg should tell you something. I have two in a RAID array and it easily made a much much bigger difference in day-to-day Windows performance than going to a new CPU and 2GB of RAM. There are some benchmarks that show newer 7200rpm drives being just as fast but the access times in Raptors still much better. It's definitely a luxury item but I think most people who have them will tell you it was worth the purchase.
 
There is a good reason why many high-end cases place the PSU at the bottom: airflow. With the PSU at the top, there is less room for hot air to move from the processor to the exhaust fans and out of the system. Maintaining a consistent, cool temperature for your processor is vital for a stable system, and the more air that can be exhausted from it, the better. Instead of a PSU mount, the Silverstone includes mountings for two 120-mm top fans which can reduce your processor's temperature by a good measure.

I personally look for the PSU to be mounted on the bottom when reviewing cases to purchase. It's a more efficient design. Buying a a PSU with cables that can reach all components is not a problem. I have the Silverstone Zeus 850 Watt model and it was painless to setup.

As for Vista: I've no idea where you read that new games have no issues, because nothing could be further from the truth. Granted, 95% of issues are related to Vista drivers for graphics and sound cards, but when running Vista, one is required to run Vista drivers. Lets see: Creative sound card drivers are complete crap. Thanks to them, BF2142 crashes on many people's machines while loading a new map. nVidia is still having a hard time coming out with stable drivers. Supreme Commander crashes randomly with 101.41 and C&C 3 crashes w/o fail with 101.70. STALKER requires that you hack the EXE in order for you to actually save a game, and FSX, is well, near unplayable.

I use Vista for gaming and it's passable, and it will get better (hopefully sooner than later.) However, if you're not up for playing detective every time a game doesn't work properly, and if you're not sure as to what steps to take when something goes wrong, you'll be much happier if you stick to XP or use a dual boot setup.

Good luck,

Mark.
 
Originally posted by: theYipster
There is a good reason why many high-end cases place the PSU at the bottom: airflow. With the PSU at the top, there is less room for hot air to move from the processor to the exhaust fans and out of the system. Maintaining a consistent, cool temperature for your processor is vital for a stable system, and the more air that can be exhausted from it, the better. Instead of a PSU mount, the Silverstone includes mountings for two 120-mm top fans which can reduce your processor's temperature by a good measure.

I personally look for the PSU to be mounted on the bottom when reviewing cases to purchase. It's a more efficient design. Buying a a PSU with cables that can reach all components is not a problem. I have the Silverstone Zeus 850 Watt model and it was painless to setup.

As for Vista: I've no idea where you read that new games have no issues, because nothing could be further from the truth. Granted, 95% of issues are related to Vista drivers for graphics and sound cards, but when running Vista, one is required to run Vista drivers. Lets see: Creative sound card drivers are complete crap. Thanks to them, BF2142 crashes on many people's machines while loading a new map. nVidia is still having a hard time coming out with stable drivers. Supreme Commander crashes randomly with 101.41 and C&C 3 crashes w/o fail with 101.70. STALKER requires that you hack the EXE in order for you to actually save a game, and FSX, is well, near unplayable.

I use Vista for gaming and it's passable, and it will get better (hopefully sooner than later.) However, if you're not up for playing detective every time a game doesn't work properly, and if you're not sure as to what steps to take when something goes wrong, you'll be much happier if you stick to XP or use a dual boot setup.

Good luck,

Mark.
Click to expand...

ok, ya sold me on the Silverstone. I like TJ-09 in Black. If I go modular on the PSU, ya think I'm ok with regards to cord lengths?

I believe what your saying on the vista thing, I just happened to read a bunch of threads on this forum of people running games with no issues.
 
The state of Vista's hardware drivers is such that everyone is having different experiences. No one hardware and software setup is alike, and the variability of these two factors play a huge role in how stable Vista is on any particular machine. My hardware and software setup has lead to a Vista experience that is better than many. I can get SLI running on my machine while many others can't. The performance I see in games on my system is slightly better than most of what I've been reading from others (but it's still not as good as with XP.) On the other hand, I too have problems. As mentioned, Supreme Commander and C&C still crash on my machine, and this is with the latest leaked Forceware drivers. The Creative driver is particularly horrendous. In order to get more than 30% of the functionality that shipped with the card to work, I needed to find and download an alternative, unofficial driver and software pack form a guy in China (youpax.)

This is just my experience, and I can guarantee that you'll have a different one. I can also guarantee that for now, and for the next few months at the least (if not a year or longer,) XP will provide a vastly superior gaming experience, with faster performance on nearly all games, and with far, far fewer headaches. For better or worse, I have other reasons to run Vista besides gaming. If you're looking at the OS squarely from a gaming perspective, I strongly suggest you stay away. Vista will only be advantageous for gaming when DX-10 games come out, as they'll require Vista for improved graphics and performance. However, the first DX-10 game is still some time away.

Good luck,

Mark.
 
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