Check my Spec

[snowbhoy]

Hey guys,

Wonder if anyone could check my spec and tell me what they think, and what I'm missing. First time builder so don't hesitate to point out the bleeding obvious :)

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 S775, 2.40Ghz, 1066Mhz FSB, Conroe Core, 4M Cache

GX-112-SP Sapphire ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)

Asus P5W DH Deluxe WiFi (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard

GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB ST3320620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM

Tagan 580W TG580-U15 ATX2.01 Easycon SLi Compliant Modular Silent PSU

Also think I need

CD-078-SA Samsung SH-S182D 18x18 DVD±RW ReWriter (Black)
SC-043-CL Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music - OEM
BU-000-AK Akasa Eclipse 62 Aluminium Case & Window
BB-001-AK Akasa All-In-One 21 Function Panel (Black) (Does this control the fans too?)
FG-024-AK Akasa AK-183-L2B Amber Ultra Quiet 120mm Fan (How many do I need?)

Do I also need extra CPU coolers, cables etc? I have a 18.1" LCD max 1280 x 1024

[miceri]

Looks aright:

First time builder...
We all were once. :)

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 S775, 2.40Ghz, 1066Mhz FSB, Conroe Core, 4M Cache
GX-112-SP Sapphire ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)
Asus P5W DH Deluxe WiFi (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB ST3320620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM
If quite is your thing consider the Samsung Spinpoint series...

Tagan 580W TG580-U15 ATX2.01 Easycon SLi Compliant Modular Silent PSU

Also think I need

CD-078-SA Samsung SH-S182D 18x18 DVD±RW ReWriter (Black)
SC-043-CL Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music - OEM
BU-000-AK Akasa Eclipse 62 Aluminium Case & Window
BB-001-AK Akasa All-In-One 21 Function Panel (Black) (Does this control the fans too?)

Yes, 2 system fans, connected in series to the 2 onboard controllers. I'm not sure if you connect further fans (i.e. Nice big 120mm front intake) to this unit. Do you really heav 21 different formats you need to read?

FG-024-AK Akasa AK-183-L2B Amber Ultra Quiet 120mm Fan (How many do I need?)

Recommended systems fans 1) Exhaust, 2) CPU, 3) Intake. After that you going for additional cooling (excluding the GPU fans). Example, Fan placed on top of case (cut hole), and another on the side pulling more air out off the CPU. But when you reach this level of jumbo jetness I recommend water cooling...


Do I also need extra CPU coolers, cables etc? I have a 18.1" LCD max 1280 x 1024

[snowbhoy]

Thanks for looking.

Looks aright:
If quite is your thing consider the Samsung Spinpoint series...


I'll check them out, thx


Yes, 2 system fans, connected in series to the 2 onboard controllers. I'm not sure if you connect further fans (i.e. Nice big 120mm front intake) to this unit. Do you really heav 21 different formats you need to read?


Probably not but it's pretty cheap (£26) so I figured why not use it if it does that job also.


Recommended systems fans 1) Exhaust, 2) CPU, 3) Intake. After that you going for additional cooling (excluding the GPU fans). Example, Fan placed on top of case (cut hole), and another on the side pulling more air out off the CPU. But when you reach this level of jumbo jetness I recommend water cooling...

LOL @ jumbo jetness. Bit confused with fans - you think I need to buy three fans, one for exhaust/CPU/intake? Guessing you mean intake & exhaust in series ... or is that something different?

[miceri]

1 on the front sucking in air, 1 on the back pushing out air. CPU air is directed into this 'flow'.

I have a Zalman controller, it nice to be able to balance ALL internal fans, you can get better results this way.

I also use 'Speedfan' prog for my system fans, maybe you should investigate this, you can then use you HW fan controller for additional fans (i.e Front Sucker!)

[apolloa]

Looks pretty good to me, also take a look at the Sharkoon Silent Eagle 1000 and Thermaltake A2330 Silent Wheel 120mmm fans. That case is nice big and cool. The Akasa fan control pro AK-FC-03 also seems better to me unless you need your card readers. I would use just 2 120mm fans in that case as it all it takes. Also take a look at the Antec P180 case.

[JNMaster]

CPU Cooler: Either the Zalman CNPS9500 AT (http://www.zalman.co.kr/eng/product/view.asp?idx=193&pr_name=cnps) or the Zalman CNPS9500 LED (http://www.zalman.co.kr/eng/product/view.asp?idx=165&pr_name=cnps)
I can't fault them as a cooler, awesome temps at so little noise, I have the LED version on my 2nd rig, you can buy it for around £40 inc. VAT & PnP, worth every penny. I currently use the Zalman Reserator 1 watercooling kit (You can get the Reserator 1Plus for around £175 or the newly released Reserator 2 for £230), dead silent and great temps, I wouldn't recommend watercooling for your first pc build though. (P4 Northwood 3.4Ghz Idle @ 19C, Load @ 29C, No Noise)

Thermal Goop: I would say Arctic Silver 5 but the supplied Zalman compound with the above coolers does the job just fine, so no extra spending is required with the above coolers.

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 S775, 2.40Ghz, 1066Mhz FSB, Conroe Core, 4M Cache
>The Intel Kentsfield Quad core will be released in a few months which will bring prices down on the dual cores or you could buy the quad core, which I will be doing when they come out. :)
Last time I checked the Kentsfield came with an 8Mb Cache, rumored to have a 1333MHz FSB too, due for a January 2007 release, possibly sooner, with 2 months to spare for Supreme Commander (http://www.supremecommander.com/). :grin:

As for PSU's, I have the Enermax 620Watt Liberty Modular series, granted it's £20 more than the Tagan but again, I can't fault it.

What was your reason for choosing a Seagate drive?
Eitherway i've and my friends have had nothing but bad expiriences with them and so DON'T recommend them, I've nothing but WD drives in all of my pc's now, Fast and quiet.

Can't fault ASUS boards, I've got em in my pc's, pretty much bulletproof, even the Bios Flash's go well. :)

BU-000-AK Akasa Eclipse 62 Aluminium Case & Window
>Have you considered Lian-Li cases? Granted a tad pricey but they look the part and are very user friendly. Still, if your happy with the case then that's all that matters.

Sapphire ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)
>Now the X1950XTX has been released the above card should go down in price so maybe you could get the X1900XTX instead for the same price?

RE: Top Blow-Hole Fan = Not needed for your current spec, I'd agree with 'miceri' if your system was dual GPU or even Quad GPU, fully loaded with DVD Drives and lots of HDD's, but considering you will only have minimal components inside the case then I think it would be a waste of time to install a top blow-hole, not to mention the stress of punching a hole in your brand new case, for a first time builder I don't recommend this.

If you get one of the Zalman CPU coolers that I've mentioned above then you will only need 1 intake and 1 exhaust fan (so 2 all in all), the CPU cooler will exhaust the hot air directly into the main 120mm exhaust fan and not push it into the PSU fan therefore making it work harder because of the heat and in turn cranking up the fan.

As for cables, if you are using the Generic DVI/VGA cable then I'd recommend an upgrade to a High Quality Gold Plated cable, around £30 ish for a 2m DVI, I did when I brought my Dell 2405FPW TFT and I immediately could tell the difference between the Generic cable and the Profigold uprated one.

Sorry if I have spent too much of your money, they are simply my recommendations, you don't have to take them, just don't rush into a pc build, research a little.


J.

[snowbhoy]

Some great advice there guys.

I'm going to research on the suggested fans and price compare - water cooling does sound like overkill for what I will be using it for (Mainly gaming, I can use my old machine and shove it in the loft as a big storage server, noise and performance not an issue up there).

With the CPU I'm going to take a plunge sooner rather than later, I need a new box in the near future and don't want to put it off till next year. On the Seagate I just read some glowing reports on them, but opinion seemes split on the WD also. No preference personally at all.

On the graphics card - how quickly would you think prices would drop and by how much (What's the advatage with the xtx vs xt?).

[apolloa]

I agree do NOT go down the watercooling router for your first build, you can alway's add it in later.
Also use Arctic Silver paste it's the best, I've also seen Western Digital drives fail lot's of times but not many Seagates. You do get a 5 year warranty on a Seagate though and Seagate DO honor it. Also look at the Samsung Spinpoint T.
Regards to the X1900XTX, isn't it the same as the 1900XT but clocked faster? In which case you can make the 1900XT the same speed.

[Games Guru]

As for cables, if you are using the Generic DVI/VGA cable then I'd recommend an upgrade to a High Quality Gold Plated cable, around £30 ish for a 2m DVI, I did when I brought my Dell 2405FPW TFT and I immediately could tell the difference between the Generic cable and the Profigold uprated one.

There is no way there could be a difference in quality between a standard and gold plated cable. It is a digital signal, conductivity has nothing to do with it.

With analogue signals, quality can degrade, and a gold cable, which has a greater conductivity, could lead to a less degraded picture.

With a digital signal, it is either on or off, you can't get half a signal.

[JNMaster]

There is no way there could be a difference in quality between a standard and gold plated cable. It is a digital signal, conductivity has nothing to do with it.

With analogue signals, quality can degrade, and a gold cable, which has a greater conductivity, could lead to a less degraded picture.

With a digital signal, it is either on or off, you can't get half a signal.

Odd that, as with the generic cable I got from Dell the signal was distorted and faded colours, yet as soon as I hooked up a High Quality Profigold Goldplated DVI-D - DVI-D cable all issues we're resolved. Of course this could have been put down to a borxed generic cable in the first place.

RE: Graphics Card. As the 1950XTX has only just been released I'd imagine it will be at least 2-4 weeks before we seen any hit UK stores and for prices of the 1900XTX to fall so you could just get the XT and clock it to the XTX spec with a decent cooler.
If you say Noise isn't a problem then crank the Zalman cooler (if you decide to buy it that is) to Full for improved temps, don't stick with the Retail Intel cooler though, you should see at least an 8C Drop in temp with the Zalman compared to the Intel cooler.

At the end of the day it's your choice for the HDD, if you don't get a problem with the Seagate then Congrats on a good one, but if you do then don't say you weren’t warned. I've personally never had a WD drive fail on me yet over the past 3 years, just remember to cool them to improve the longevity of the drive, my drives are in the bottom section of my Lian-Li V2100B+ Case cooled by a 120mm intake fan followed by 2x 80mm exhaust fans on low rpm.

What supplier you using for your parts?
Stay clear of Overcl0cker$ and Dab$. Scan & Tekheads have never given me any problems over the past few years, Prompt and Professional service, never had any dud's either. :-)

[snowbhoy]

I was going to split it between advancetek and microdirect. Price checked on about 20 different suppliers and they're the best prices I could find. No idea what they're like.

[meansizzler]

Hmmmm I think the Akasa Eclipse is UGLY, but that's my Opinion, I have a Coolermaster Ammo, and it's a great case has a side air vent so if you get that then get a Thermalright SI-120 CPU Coooler and a Akasa Amber 120MM Fan for it and 1 Akasa 120MM for Exhaust, then you will have a pretty quiet system...case also has a Top Air Vent, great cooling, noisest part will be graphics card, Recommend getting Zalman VF-900 Cooler for it, will still make noise but not as much as stock cooler...

[apolloa]

That coolermaster ammo look horrible. This is nice:
http://www.coolermaster-europe.com/index.php?LT=uk&Language_s=15&url_place=product&p_serial=RC-631&other_title=%2BRC-631%2BMystique%20631