Yet another "help with a build" thread!

kaimera

So I'm giving some serious consideration to a pure gaming rig for myself! Maybe sell the current laptop and pick up a *nix netbook as well.

I'm actually starting from scratch so I have no parts to salvage etc etc.

anyway, specced out the following on komplett.

I realise I left out the dvd-burner so add on another ~25e for that.

    * 332085 Antec Nine Hundred black miditower, Side panel window (Without PSU)
    * 378060 Club3D Radeon HD 4870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express, DVI/VGA, HDCP, HDMI
    * 327672 Corsair Powersupply 620W Black, ATX/EPS, 120mm Fan, 8xSATA, SLI, WxHxL 150x86x150
    * 338074 Corsair TWIN2X 6400 DDR2, 4096MB CL5, Kit w/two matched CM2X2048-6400 Dimm's
    * 344771 Intel Core™ 2 Duo E8500 3.16GHz, Socket LGA775, 6MB, 1333Mhz, BOXED w/fan
    * 342251 Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard, Refresh, LCD, USB, US Layout
    * 307658 Logitech MX518 Optical Mouse, USB, PS/2
    * 343970 MSI P7N SLI Platinum, nForce-750i SLI, Socket-775, ATX, DDR2, 3xPCI-Ex(2.0)16
    * 343985 OCZ Freeze Extreme Thermal Compound, 3 gram
    * 347570 Samsung 22" LCD Syncmaster 2253BW, 1680x1050, VGA/DVI, 2ms, 8000:1
    * 331024 Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB SATA2 16MB 7200RPM
    * 334407 Zalman CNPS7500-CuLed CPU-Cooler Socket 775/754/939/940/AM2

^^total incl. delivery is 1290e

Comments etc ?

Like I said, only gaming. I have a laptop for my music/mp3 player and for watching movies in bed and all the other menial tasks.

It's a work in progress, I mean I can wait it out a bit for newer hw to come out [within reason]

AlmightyCushion

Nice case and psu. Ram looks good too. You could save a few quid and get the e8400 instead of the e8500 and it should overclock just as well. Seeing as you have an ati card an sli motherboard is a waste. You should get an x48 crossfire board instead. Do you really need a keyboard with a screen on it, I don't know about you but I'd never look at it.

kaimera

Completely forgot to change the mobo...first draft of the rig had the 260 in instead of the 4870.

The kb is minor enough, I can change it as long as it's something I like

I dont plan on OC-ing much if any. The zalman should let me push up the speed a bit without too much fuss. the e8400 seems grand, didnt notice it when I was speccing.

bandit197

I have that case and am very happy with it. Great airflow and easy to work with. I also have same kb. Its handy to have fraps running on the kb screen or core temp during games. Also has a pop3 mail notifier. The keys are very responsive. Lots of programable keys for gaming too.

kaimera

hmm..those x48 mobos on komplett are a tad on the expensive side for me.

Any other recommendation?

AlmightyCushion

Try looking for a p45 or p35 motherboard. Gigabyte boards are generally quite good overclockers and well priced.

kaimera

[php]
* 332085 Antec Nine Hundred black miditower, Side panel window (Without PSU)
* 378060 Club3D Radeon HD 4870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express, DVI/VGA, HDCP, HDMI
* 327672 Corsair Powersupply 620W Black, ATX/EPS, 120mm Fan, 8xSATA, SLI, WxHxL 150x86x150
* 338074 Corsair TWIN2X 6400 DDR2, 4096MB CL5, Kit w/two matched CM2X2048-6400 Dimm's
* 361825 Gigabyte GA-EP45T-DS3, P45, Socket-775, ATX, 2xGbLAN, DDR3, 2xPCI-Ex(2.0)x16
* 344771 Intel Core™ 2 Duo E8500 3.16GHz, Socket LGA775, 6MB, 1333Mhz, BOXED w/fan
* 342251 Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard, Refresh, LCD, USB, US Layout
* 307658 Logitech MX518 Optical Mouse, USB, PS/2
* 343985 OCZ Freeze Extreme Thermal Compound, 3 gram
* 347570 Samsung 22" LCD Syncmaster 2253BW, 1680x1050, VGA/DVI, 2ms, 8000:1
* 345401 Sony NEC Optiarc DVD±RW burner AD-7203S, LabelFlash, Multirecorder(Ram), SATA, Bl
* 331024 Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB SATA2 16MB 7200RPM
* 334407 Zalman CNPS7500-CuLed CPU-Cooler Socket 775/754/939/940/AM2
[/php]

Added a gigabyte p45 mobo & sony dvd-r.

I have some time to mull over pieces and prices but it's nice to have a solid idea in mind when I do go to buy.

AlmightyCushion

I'd still go with the e8400 or q6600 (if you want to go with a quad) over the e8500. Also that was my 900th thanks, thanks.

kaimera

well from a purely gaming perspective, the e84/500 would be better than the quad no?

and the 8400 is the 45nm tech; save ~€20 so yeah for .16 less cpu speed.

AlmightyCushion

Yeah they are clocked higher but there isn't a game on the market that needs a core 2 clocked higher than 2.4Ghz so the q6600 would be grand. I thought the price difference was a lot more than €20 between the 8400 and 8500 so it's not like you're losing much by getting the 8500 but you could clock the 8400 to 3.16 (and higher if you like) easily.

TerrorFirmer

I'd stick with just the E8400 it's fine. When it comes to purely games - which you've said is the sole intention - there's little to seperate CPU's past the 60-70 euro bracket in a lot of games. Toms Hardware did a CPU test on Call of Duty 4, a low end X2 processor was practically within 5% of CPU's three times as expensive at all times. Granted not all games are like that but most of them are - personally I'm opting for the E5200 in my new build, 70 euro and at stock, fast enough for any game. It's the GPU that'll bottleneck. An E8400 is ever way faster then any game actually needs. I bought a Q6600 about a year ago and it was probably my worst purchase ever in hindsight. The highlight of using it was filling in my Guru3D profile. I used to use an E2160 for a long time, 1.8Ghz, 1mb l2 cache - overclocked like a dream, used to play Crysis, Call of Duty 4, the works. Never a bother. Just an example. Don't buy into the hype around a lot of processors, cpu's themselves are taking leaps and bounds but system requirements for a change aren't - at least not in that regard anyway. Don't even bother with overclocking. With any core 2 cpu beyond 2.4/2.5ghz, oc'ing is not really needed. Let alone a 3Ghz one. You could save some money by forgetting the Zalman and using the stock cooler. It's always been a good cooler, especially now with the 45nm cpu's that's even more true. I always use it in fact. It's not loud, it does it's job well, it can sustain decent overclocking. In fact the only time I'd go against it would be for 1) Quad overclocking and 2) someone who wants a deathly silent machine.

Which brings me onto what does matter. The GPU. I see you've picked out the 1Gb Club3D one - check out this, much cheaper and overclocked out of the box with a better cooling system to boot. Yes, it's only the 512mb variant - but you're only gaming at 1680x1050. 1Gb of video memory isn't necessary, a faster clock speed will win out at that resolution.

Hard Drive, few quid extra for a 750Gb 32mb Spinpoint.

Not really sure on the mobo. I'm a bit out of the loop in that regard. I usually buy cheap (not crap, just cheap). Especially if you're not overclocking or using Sli/Crossfire why waste money on an expensive board. People always do this. In fact even a 50 euro Gigabyte board will be rock solid and a fairly good overclocker as well. Cheap does not mean poor. This is the board I've choosen for my new build, nice and tidy, and with onboard 7100 while I wait for my card/times when my card might break, etc. Course if you'd a pile of PCI card that board would be rubbish. The 4870 would block one of those slots (I'm getting one as well incidentally). But I've no need for any PCI cards, I always use onboard sound, which is very good these days and negligible towards draining CPU time unlike the onboard of years ago. Just an example. I had the P35 DS3L and I did not like it. Good overclocker but crossfire flat out refused to work for me, even though I had a good supply, both lanes worked fine independently, etc.

Well, that's all really. Looks like a good build in general. But just consider those little savings could add up to a 24" monitor for the same price.

PogMoThoin

I think its pointless buying a dual core with quads being as cheap as they are, no more monitoring startup items or waiting that extra minute to get fully in2 windows after booting as there's always cpu power there. Take it from me, I've 2 gaming pc's, one with a dual core the other a quad, quad FTW

kaimera

gah! dual v quad now I really don't know!!

thanks for the advice guys;

@TF, I have a spare 250gig WD hdd lying around the house atm I can put in so for now the 500 is plenty. I already have 3*500 externals in use with my laptop.

The only reason I went for the 1gig 4870 is the review I read is that the extra RAM was worth it so I didn't consider the 512 version.

Gotta boards builders tho, you guys rock

Yarnhall

Small thing, 32bit or 64 bit OS?

If running 32bit you'll only be able to see max of 3Gig RAM (probably less) with that 4870*1G card.

kaimera

64bit vista.

Got a copy here I can use.

kaimera

that gainward 4870 is just €9 cheaper so the 1gig version is better value for money no?

Made some adjustments

* 332085 Antec Nine Hundred black miditower, Side panel window (Without PSU)
* 378060 Club3D Radeon HD 4870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express, DVI/VGA, HDCP, HDMI
* 327672 Corsair Powersupply 620W Black, ATX/EPS, 120mm Fan, 8xSATA, SLI, WxHxL 150x86x150
* 338074 Corsair TWIN2X 6400 DDR2, 4096MB CL5, Kit w/two matched CM2X2048-6400 Dimm's
* 344772 Intel Core™ 2 Duo E8400 3.0GHz, Socket LGA775, 6MB, 1333Mhz BOXED w/fan
* 351344 Intel(r) DP35DP, P35, Socket-775, ATX DDR2, 1333MHz, GbLAN, PCI-Ex16
* 342251 Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard, Refresh, LCD, USB, US Layout
* 307658 Logitech MX518 Optical Mouse, USB, PS/2
* 343985 OCZ Freeze Extreme Thermal Compound, 3 gram
* 347570 Samsung 22" LCD Syncmaster 2253BW, 1680x1050, VGA/DVI, 2ms, 8000:1
* 345401 Sony NEC Optiarc DVD±RW burner AD-7203S, LabelFlash, Multirecorder(Ram), SATA, Bl
* 331024 Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB SATA2 16MB 7200RPM
* 334407 Zalman CNPS7500-CuLed CPU-Cooler Socket 775/754/939/940/AM2

1220 incl delivery.

Forgot to add, I dont need speakers cos I have the medusa headset with amp that I've been itching to test with proper 5.1 audio

PogMoThoin

That Zalman isn't a great cooler, had one before, it is very silent tho if thats what Your looking for, but not really up to any overclocking if You ever plan to push that pc

kaimera

hmm...I'm not hugely into OC-ing but a bit without going to much hassle I'd 'possibly' try.

At a later date when I want to upgrade again, *maybe* oc-ing might be an option instead of an upgrade ya know?

I'm used to an old p4 that sounds like a hoover at this stage in it's life and a laptop that does get a bit loud under heavy load so some quietness would be nice!

kaimera

* 332085 Antec Nine Hundred black miditower, Side panel window (Without PSU)
* 378060 Club3D Radeon HD 4870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express, DVI/VGA, HDCP, HDMI
* 327672 Corsair Powersupply 620W Black, ATX/EPS, 120mm Fan, 8xSATA, SLI, WxHxL 150x86x150
* 338074 Corsair TWIN2X 6400 DDR2, 4096MB CL5, Kit w/two matched CM2X2048-6400 Dimm's
* 344772 Intel Core™ 2 Duo E8400 3.0GHz, Socket LGA775, 6MB, 1333Mhz BOXED w/fan
* 351344 Intel(r) DP35DP, P35, Socket-775, ATX DDR2, 1333MHz, GbLAN, PCI-Ex16
* 342251 Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard, Refresh, LCD, USB, US Layout
* 307658 Logitech MX518 Optical Mouse, USB, PS/2
* 343985 OCZ Freeze Extreme Thermal Compound, 3 gram
* 347570 Samsung 22" LCD Syncmaster 2253BW, 1680x1050, VGA/DVI, 2ms, 8000:1
* 345401 Sony NEC Optiarc DVD±RW burner AD-7203S, LabelFlash, Multirecorder(Ram), SATA, Bl
* 331024 Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB SATA2 16MB 7200RPM
* 320110 Zalman CNPS9500 AT Ultra Quiet CPU Cooler, Socket 775

The downside to building...if you have time you keep chopping and changing.

The whole dual v quad thing annoys me

So I went fo'sho this time with the e8400. I can easily upgrade to a better multi-core at a later date when the dual core is struggling.

Is there any benefit to going to 1066 RAM over the 800 stuff I have currently?

The zalman I went back to my orig choice, the flower-y type! The case is big enough for it yes? Will it be good enough for some oc-ing or can you recommend a better cpu fan?

TerrorFirmer

All looks great except for the board - wierd choice. I would just get something like this - solid reliable and a good overclocker, wouldn't be very keen on the Intel board - can only imagine it'd be a bit sparse but someone else might know a little more on it.

I would just stick with 800mhz ram. Unless the 1066mhz ram happened to be cheaper.

Any cpu fan is fine for mild overclocking, even the stock one. I've had 1Ghz overclocks on the stock one. It only really matters if you really want to push the cpu a decent length, or if you're really intensive about temperatures (I'm not, once they're within safe limits). Noise comes into it as well - but again keep in mind you have 0% to gain in games from overclocking an E8400. It'd only be for benchmarks and the like you'd notice any increase....what's your preference in choosing a 3rd party cooler, temperatures or silence? Someone else will give you a better answer on this one as I usually use the stock cooler or the Artic Freezer Pro. Cheap, basic but does a very good job at a low price. I know you might think 'well in the future, when games demand more, I might need to overclock' - consider the current state of games. Core 2 CPU's that came out 2 years ago are still more then adequate for the latest games, even at stock speeds (E6600 upwards). Don't worry about that angle of it.

kaimera

tbh, I've come from a hoover of a p4 in its current state so a bit of silence and decent cooling is the main reason for the zalman. [the p4 that I might just take up to DUB with me and see what it can do with new fan/heatsink at a later date]

I've had the 3rd party fans recommended by a few friends as well.

hmm..komplett dont seem to have artic fans? or am I just retarded?

perhaps this cooler would be sufficient? http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=338133

ffs, teh club3d 4870 has disappeared from my shopping list and when i search the product number it doesnt let me buy. Arse.

this card instead -> https://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=368359 512mb gainward 4870

Anti

Do not skimp on a cpu hsf, especially with a piece of **** like that akasa one. To be honest komplett have a terrible seclection of coolers, so stick with the zalman one above if you dont plan on overclocking.

TerrorFirmer

I wouldn't call the Akasa a piece of **** at all, I've used two of them and found them excellent with dual cores. Look at the reviews on Komplett even, all completely positive, and Komplett do allow negative reviews, they're all over the place. I'm not saying it's a brilliant cooler but it's definitely a good one and much better then the stock one. I still use mine to this day and will probably use it in my new build as well since I'm going back to a dual core. I remember even before I bought it I had the same attitude towards it but I googled some reviews, one of which on a professional site recommended it, and were pleasantly surprised themselves. I see there's also an OCZ Vanquisher for a fiver less, same thing really.

The 4870 is fine, at that resolution the 512mb is more then enough and it's overclocked out of the box as well with a good cooling solution, can't loose out considering it's also the cheapest 4870 on Komplett.

kaimera

thanks guys

Peteee

Just as an aside the keyboard is US layout, which means the small return key and mixed up @ and " letters.

kaimera

yep, copped that too

kaimera

My biggest problem right now is delivery

As a result of work, I cant guarantee I'll be home to a) be able to pick up the gear at the PUD and b) cos I'd go an post, I wont have a definite day when it would arrive and the damn post pick up place is miles away.

boo.

kaimera

Seems the e8400 needs a bios update to work?

I see a thread on the komplett board about it and there's a review of the cpu that mentions it as well...

the q6600 maybe...

I hate double.guessing -.-

Anti

yeah the cooler isnt as **** as i made out. but its gonna have a tough time cooling a e8400/e8500 or a quad. Its fine for the e 21xx/e4xxx as they pump out no heat at all.

kaimera

So with the release of the i7 cpu, I'm glad I didn't build a few weeks back!

* 332085 Antec Nine Hundred black miditower, Side panel window (Without PSU)
* 327672 Corsair Powersupply 620W Black, ATX/EPS, 120mm Fan, 8xSATA, SLI, WxHxL 150x86x150
* 340915 Crucial DDR3 1066MHz 4GB KIT, CL7, Kit w/two matched DDR3 2GB, 240pin
* 368359 Gainward Radeon HD 4870 512MB GDDR5, PCI-Express 2.0, DVI/HDMI/DisplayPort "G
* 391447 Intel Core™ i7 Quad Processor i7-920 4,8GT/sec, 8MB, Boxed
* 342251 Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard, Refresh, LCD, USB, US Layout
* 307658 Logitech MX518 Optical Mouse, USB, PS/2
* 387362 MSI X58 Platinum, X58, Socket-1366, DDR3 ,ATX, SLI&CrossFireX, 2xPCI-Ex(2.0)x16
* 343985 OCZ Freeze Extreme Thermal Compound, 3 gram
* 345401 Sony NEC Optiarc DVD±RW burner AD-7203S, LabelFlash, Multirecorder(Ram), SATA, Bl
* 331024 Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB SATA2 16MB 7200RPM

Entry level 920 cpu, x58 mobo & ddr3 and price incl. delivery comes to ~1400.

Not bad for the performance boost it's supposed to give.

Only thing is, komplett dont have any coolers for the new chip yet

youcancallmeal

Your probably better off getting three sticks of ram to make the most of the tri-channel set up on the new 1366 boards? Komplett aren't selling triple packs yet but others are so I'd say its only a matter of time before they do.

kaimera

Just ordered the above build + the 22" moniter.

the 1gig 4870 wasn't in stock so went with the 512 OCd gainward card instead.

couldnt push the budget to get 3*2gig sticks of ram but at a later date I'll pick up another stick.

thanks guys. just wait for the parts to arrive so I can ask for halp¬!!

leninbenjamin

kaimera wrote: »

Just ordered the above build + the 22" moniter.

the 1gig 4870 wasn't in stock so went with the 512 OCd gainward card instead.

couldnt push the budget to get 3*2gig sticks of ram but at a later date I'll pick up another stick.

thanks guys. just wait for the parts to arrive so I can ask for halp¬!!

give us some feedback on the i7 too when you get it up and running. I'm hearing mixed reports about them so far, be nice to hear from someone who actually has one.

Anti

Dont forget a build log too

kaimera

Will do guys.

Not sure when I'm home yet; supposed to be out of here by Sunday but might be off somewhere else before I'm back in DUB.

the_syco

kaimera wrote: »

My biggest problem right now is delivery

(dunno where you live, but...) Komplett pick-up place in Blachardstown is open on Saturdays until 3pm.

=-=

You checked here for memory? Found them good for memory, and shipping is free, within Ireland/UK, me thinks.

kaimera

the_syco wrote: »

(dunno where you live, but...) Komplett pick-up place in Blachardstown is open on Saturdays until 3pm.

=-=

You checked here for memory? Found them good for memory, and shipping is free, within Ireland/UK, me thinks.

I don't drive

Anyway, order is on it's way as of today; getting it delivered to a friends work address so should be grand.

s4m.com/memoryc.com I'll look at after I get it up and running.

kaimera

c'est arrive!!

Parts arrived today; initial pics when I get a chance to take them off the cam.

kaimera

Finally.

Stupid cabling was a nightmare; seems very messy BUT it is working.

Couldnt find my vista business key so just did an ultimate install to make sure I could load the OS onto it. Works a charm.

Currently re.installing x64 vista business at the minute.

Case is mint; running two of the fans - the 200mm top and the back rear exhaust fan.

i7 hs is huge! as is the 4870...2 frickin' power connections?!!

http://picasaweb.google.com/kaimera/PCBuild

I'll update with the latter pics when I can.

thanks guys

kaimera

prime95 I left running last night, still running when I left for work this morning.

I have the i7 running @ 145*20, up from 130 stock; temps are still very cool but I want to stress it for another while to be sure.

Just waiting on 3dmark06 to download and I'll throw up some results later.

Crysis/Warhead, Far Cry2 do look very very good tho at high res. FC2 struggles a little bit on the ultra settings but very high detail is perfect.

kaimera

On my p95 results; I didn't have round off checking enabled when I ran it last night but in the results log for p95 it has everything as passed.

Should I just run it again?

kaimera

3Dmark06 results



No idea if they are good or bad

TerrorFirmer

Would have thought you could get higher then that no problem. I beat that score in the past with a Q6600 and a single 8800GTS.

It's not a bad score or anything mind, just thought it'd be higher.

edit: looking around it seems to be the norm. Never mind!

PogMoThoin

Post a compare link, I score 1000 points higher with an oc'd q6600, compare is in my sig.

TerrorFirmer

Found my score, but I did have the Q6600@3.2 and pushing the clocks any higher on the GTS crapped out.



Haven't run 3dmark on my current machine but probably dismal by comparison. Roll on Christmas...

kaimera

Seems to be my SM2 scores are lower for some reason.

I am benching at 1680*1050 screen res tho; would it make that much of a difference?

PogMoThoin

kaimera wrote: »

Seems to be my SM2 scores are lower for some reason.

I am benching at 1680*1050 screen res tho; would it make that much of a difference?

Yes, use default 1280x1024

kaimera

PogMoThoin wrote: »

Yes, use default 1280x1024

I got 156xx or so when I ran it this morning @ 1280*1024.

SM2 score still was low however

Also, Prime95 crapped out again on me with a unexpected error message.

I'll drop the fsb back to stock and run it again and I'll post up the results log also.

[edit]

Running the 8.11 11/12/2008 Catalyst drivers

Is the AMD Overdrive worth using or am I better just to tweak the bios settings and leave it at that?

3ghz or maybe 3.2 would be fine and dandy and it seems like I have sufficient cooling in the case to push the 920 to that.

kaimera

according to this -> http://www.overclock.net/intel-cpus/395974-prime95-crashes-large-ffts.html

p95 failing is a sw problem and no fault of my system.

I'm running x64 business.

I'll double check what the last test it ran when I get home to see the result log.

kaimera

Attached are the Prime95 32/64 bit result files.

x64 version died as well last night on me. I do hope it is the software.

Also attached is the 3dMarkVantage results and a 3dMark06 result @ 1280*1024

TerrorFirmer

yahoo my old q6600/8800gts is unbeaten