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[bardel]

Finally ordered all the bits for my new HTPC, 2 of the 3 parcels are here already today, 1 more to come hopefully today or tomorrow.

Will keep you updated on the build as it happens (hopefully this weekend)

Case and PSU
Silverstone LaScala LC16m
430w Seasonic S12-430 aPFC PSU

Mobo / CPU / Ram
Asus P5WD2 Premium
Intel Pentium D 830 3.0GHz Socket LGA775, 2MB (Dual Core)
Crucial DDR2 PC5300 512MB

Drives
Samsung SpinPoint P120S 250GB SATA2
Pioneer DVR-110 Black 5X RAM+16x16

Graphics
128Mb Gigabyte PCI-E GF6600GT
Terratec Cinergy 2400iDT (Dual Tuner - PCI Express) - Due in 16th Dec

Peripherals
AC Ryan Multi Card Reader 3.5" Black
Gyration Ultra Suite RF Keyboard & Mouse


Thanks for all your info on here to help me find what I needed!

Sounds very nice! Presumably you will be using the on-board sound?

It may help others decide on which route to take, if you could give an idea of the total cost?

[bardel]

Yes I will be using the onboard sound, hopefully it will be sufficient, else I'll have to spend even more money

Good point about the prices, but it's not good for the wallet...

Case and PSU
Silverstone LaScala LC16m - £179.19
430w Seasonic S12-430 aPFC PSU - £60.50

Mobo / CPU / Ram
Asus P5WD2 Premium - £149
Intel Pentium D 830 3.0GHz Socket LGA775, 2MB (Dual Core) - £225
Crucial DDR2 PC5300 512MB - £49

Drives
Samsung SpinPoint P120S 250GB SATA2 - £79.95
Pioneer DVR-110 Black 5X RAM+16x16 - £31.81

Graphics
128Mb Gigabyte PCI-E GF6600GT - £112.17
Terratec Cinergy 2400iDT (Dual Tuner - PCI Express) - Due in 16th Dec - £78.72

Peripherals
AC Ryan Multi Card Reader 3.5" Black - £15
Gyration Ultra Suite RF Keyboard & Mouse - £72.93

So I think that comes out at £1085.72 by the time you add carriage on from 3 companies

[bardel]

And on top of this you have software costs too:

I already have XP MCE edition, but I still need to pay for bits and bobs probably, like the Nvidea codec, powerstrip etc... I'll add these on as I find it necessary to buy them.

[dejongj]

Nice spec....But don't forget the silent fans, cpu hsf and a second 512Mb stick...With that spec you owe it to yourself to go up to 1Gb and run the board properly in DDR2. And you will also end up getting another TV card whilst waiting for the Terratec ;-) I am guessing of-course but I've been there and done that and keep my fingers crossed that the 3-card hack works....

I would be interesting to see how the D830 overclocks...I've got my D820 running at 3.4Ghz...Not bad for a £164 processor.....3.5Ghz was too much....Hopefully yours can go that little bit further....

[bardel]

Well the case fans should be quiet anyway and the psu is quiet also. Will try the retail cpu fan first as my unit will be in the understairs cupboard along with the rest of my hifi rack and gear so may not be a problem... If it is I will get another once I've worked out how much room there is in the case.

Must admit, I was thinking I should've bought two chips for the memory after I ordered it, oh well, I'll probably stick them on the the order with the fan

LOL about the Terratec, you may well be right, heres to keeping fingers crossed... Skunkpipe any update on the delivery date of the Terratec?

Will let you know how I get on if I try overclocking it, will see what the CPU usage is like first though.

Cheers

[Skunkpipe]

Still looking to be with me on the 16th.

Saying that this is the 4th or 5th date I've been given, so don't get your hopes up....

[dejongj]

I've got the LC16M too...The casefans are quiet, but not that quiet that you can't hear them...However as you will place it in a cupboard it probably doesn't matter, likewise with the CPU cooler...

It does leave me wonder though...Why would you get such a nice case and then stick it away in a cupboard? You could have gotten a nice beige one for £10 ;-) Exaturation of-course....

Your CPU utlisation should be next to nothing, mine was next to nothing and on ffdshow with lancoz scaling it only tops 30% at the most....

[bardel]

Oh well, we shall see then.

Well I have bought such a nice case because it is just that... a nice case. There is always the possibility that the hifi rack will come out of the cupboard one day (or maybe if we move) and the same applies to my nice glass hifi rack really, it matches my tv rack, but lives under the cupboard!!!

Looking forward to building this little lot now, just waiting for the last parcel which the tracking website says is out for delivery today! :D

[bardel]

Well,

I've screwed everything together and it all looks good so far.

The case is very easy to work with and am very please with it thus far.

The media card reader isnt really great in the connections department. In fact, all of the usb pins are on individual connectors which is a complete pain in the butt to connect up.

The mobo seems to have excellent features, including the ability to boot from usb devices such as the card readers. The mobo can also be tricked into thinking that these mobo devices are either floppy drives or hard drives too.

The heatsinks on the graphics card seem to be a bit unweildy so you need plenty of room around it ideally.

The DVD drive worked a treat in the case sitting behind the panel with no need to dismantle the DVD player facia in any way to use it. Perhaps the only critisism of the case that I have is that the 3.5" drive bay flap whilst made of the same material as the facia of the case has a somewhat cheap feel to opening / closing action.

The Seasonic PSU seems to have loads of connectors most of which I havent used. Just a question here, the mobo has a socket like a power connector on the back of an IDE drive which is marked as EZ Plug and is used to help stabilise the voltage on the board apparently. I haven't plugged anything into this as Im not entirely sure if this requires a special supply or just one of the normal connectors from the PSU?

So then, I fire it up and all looks good... It made a pleasing change to discover that all of the parts I have purchased seem to be in full working order, something I don't always seem to be blessed with!

However, I have a problem, and it's a tad annoying... The CPU (and to some degree the mobo) are running too hot. The CPU is running around 60C and has crept up to 70C before I shut it down and this without me actually running anything so the processor isn't being taxed in any way... Im a little surprised that this is happening as the CPU is a retail boxed edition so comes with the Intel heat sink and fan which is by no means small) and I dont understand why it doesnt have the capacity to keep the CPU cool? The only thing I can think of is that it's not making decent contact with the chip surface but I followed the installation instructions and you can really do anything wrong on this front as you only have to push down the clips in each corner?

The mobo is also running at 40C and has gone slightly above that on one occassion. The case has two exhaust fans on the back along with the CPU fan. What sort of speed should these be running at so that I can check this?

I could add a case fan over the vent next to the processor to assist with this, but I was a little surprised that this would be necessary rather than optional.

I'll stick some piccy's up in a moment with the progress so far.

Cheers

Barry

[bardel]

The delivery man commeth...

Overall Case shot with Mobo fitted

Removable Drive caddies, very easy to work with and fit together very well

Some nice tidy wires.

And the CPU Area, complete with heatsink from Northbridge (I think) and also the GT6600 goes in the blue PCIe slot next to it, so quite a lot of heatsinks in one area.

[dejongj]

Did you use thermal paste when you put the heatsink/fan on the CPU? Although the processor can easily take it, it is way to high...With my D820 I'm idleing in stock at 29 degrees and overclocked to 3.4Ghz at 32Degrees...

Your motherboard is passively cooled if I am not mistaken, so that temperature seems correct...A little high but then again the passively cooling is not guided out like on the AW8-MAX....

On the processor, did you install the bracket underneath the motherboard as is required for that socket?

And yes I hate those individual connectors as well, until you find out that some of the integrated ones have their pins wrong, then you learn to love it

[bardel]

Hiya,

no paste supplie or mentioned in the Intel retail pack... there is what looks like a square pad of what could be paste fixed to the underside of the heatsink?

Also, no bracket that you mention supplied or mentioned in the cpu or mobo installation instructions...

Can you give me any more info on these?

Thanks

[dejongj]

Does the square pad have a seal on it that you could peal off? It could be pre-applied past that you need to release. That definitely suggests the cause of the high temperatures...It would be bad if they didn't supplied it with the retail pack...Definitely go get some...If you can't wait for an internet delivery, PC World or Maplin should sell it....

I got the heatsink in the following link http://www.zalman.co.kr/product/cool...D_775_eng.html
On the top-right picture you can see the bracket underneath the motherboard. I though this was normal for a socket 775. I've never even bothered installing the Intel HSF as I wanted the quiet route...Hope this helps...

But the thermal paste is the first thing to get sorted...I really wouldn't run it without it....

[Werner]

60 is pretty normal for an 830 running wiht a stock heatsink/fan combo, 70 should be ok too, but i would keep an eye on it if it rises any higher. You ownt do damage to the cpu, as it has protection circuits built into it to cope with excessive temperatures (either by throttling, and if the high temp persists it can initiate a shutdown) but this will only happen around the 90 or 95 mark.

The 830 cpu supports EIST (intel enhanced speedstep technology) so if it isnt busy it should be able to lower it's own clock speed to keep the heat output down. See if you have this as a bios option and enable it...get something like cpuz to monitor the cpu speed whilst in windows and if it is functioning you should see it oscillate continuously.

P.S. the stock heatsink fan combo is a tad bit too loud, even at 1200rpm. Spend some money on an aftermarket cooler, probably run you anywhere between £30 and £50, but well worth it.

The stock cooler is FINE and is designed for that cpu, assuming your case has adequate ventilation etc yada yada yada...if you suffer overheating with a stock fan then you have issues somewhere else which need sorting. The stock fan comes with some thermal compound on it, there is no tab or anything that needs to be removed, this isnt a 1998 athlon heatsink.