New Spec

hairball

So...this is where I'm at with the new beast:


Lian Li PC 65b black midi case

Seasonic S12600W PSU

Zalman cp9500 cpu cooler

NEC dvd RW

Seagate 7200.9 sata 300 160 gig HD

that's all the little stuff outta the way, now for the really expensive stuff.
Possibly not going SLI...still haven't decided yet, even if I do I won't be gettin' the scond card for a good bit yet.
Graphics is gonna be a 7800 gtx(whichever make), ram probably ocz or crucial, and processor, well....how do you folks feel about the FX-57??

Dooom

Looks good alright, although I'd recommend an Enermax PSU - just a personal preference though.
I wouldnt' go for the FX-57, they're still ridculously overpriced and a bit pointless to be honest. I'd say go for a X2 if you can, bit of future proofing (well, only a bit. But they're damn good CPU's).
Also, I'd suggest you check out a different cooler for the CPU. There's nothing wrong with it, but there's better ones available for less money. Don't have time to post links but I will later on when I get the chance.
I didn't think those Seagate's where out till late November? And are you sure 160gig will be enough?

Just some things for you to think about! I'll post up some links etc later on.

hairball

well the coolers already here but I'm happy with that tbh...so far the benches with it have been phenomenal...anyways any links to anything you might think useful would e appreciated thnks

also, intresting article here:
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2565

regarding AMDs future plans and how not very forthcoming without it they are.
Bit of a bummer fr me and many others I'm sure, because naturally ,spending so much money I want the best possible upgrade path I can get for my money.
Right now it seems that whatever I go with I'm gonna end up having to upgrade my mobo, ram and cpu much sooner than I'd like,
There is a mobo ,the asrock 939 dual ,that has upgradeability to m2 via a plug in card ,but performance of the board is a little down on your average nforce4 mobo...so sacrifice sli and performance for upgradeability(when actually all you'd be saving on is the cost of a new mobo) or just go full tilt with whats avialable now and wait til m2 is past the guinea pig stage...or just wait(not really an option:))

BadCharlie

The PSU is very good. You must have been looking at the Custom PC Mag ?

hairball

no:), but I'd read reviews on it and had a tip from someone who had read it....the reviews finally convinced me to return the one i'd got.
Substance over style is the key...tho' the lian li case is a beaut

gline

personnally i went with the fx55 over the fx57, as you can pick a 55 up a lot cheaper and they overclock pretty similarly.

hairball

now I'm thinking of an x2:P

hairball

actually...any1 know what the stry is with DFI mobos and x2 processors...are any of them compatible or not??

WizZard

Yeah, I've run an X2 on a DFI Lanparty SLI-DR - no bother once BIOS is 623 or above

gline

sorry i know this is a bit OT, but what is the NB cooling on dfi's like? Is it better to buy a seperate NB hsf and rip off the stock one? or are the stock ones pretty good even with heavily oc'd cpus (high fsb)(using phase-change)???

hairball

as far as I know the stocks are pretty good...just ordered an nf4 sli dr:)

DemonOfTheFall

As far as I know the stock DFI NB heatsink is notorious for its awkward placement (right underneath the first PCI-E slot). But it cools fine, the problem is if u want to replace it.

hairball

hopefully I won't wanna then:)

hairball

so just added a dfi nf4 sli dr to me list of bits and pieces....now all I need is the stuff that makes it do nice pretty things

Dman_15

the DFi chipset cooler cools well but is horribly placed from a modding point of view, as you cant fit anything big or passive to it. I'm sure theres a performance reason for it being where it is.
It is noisy and if your going for a quiet pc, will need to be replaced. I'm working on modifying a heatsink for it as we speak and will post pics when done.

nip over to www.dfi-street.com
hundreds of threads on what works best with this mobo

hairball

nice one, that'd be great...I reckon I'll post some myself when I do start to build...along with any probs i might encounter

WizZard

The Zalman NB47J fits the DFI with just slight modding in single card config.
In SLI however very few passive solutions will work. The Vantec IceBerg GPU cooler can be modified to fit in it's place, and it's supposed to be much quieter than the stock fan, however it's not passive.

In SLI you'll need good airflow over a passive heatsink on the chipset as it will get much hotter than in single card mode.

DFI have just brought out a new version with double space between the two SLI slots, allowing for more aftermarket cooling options, but I've heard reports (from a supplier) that it's not going to be available in Europe (DFI LanParty SLI-DR Expert).

hairball

yeh saw that mobo on their site while I was planning my order, but, as you say, doesn't seem to be available to euro peoples..I looked all over for it

po0k

Replace the TIM on the stock DFI NB HSF with something better like Arctic Silver 5 or AS Ceramique

hairball

actually..another question..tho I reckon I've asked before....here's the spec:



dfi nf4 sli lanparty dr mobo

cnp 9500 zalman cpu cooler

seasonic s12 600w psu

seagate sata 3.0 drives

7800 gtx graphics

ocz patinum ram...2 gigs

quetion is...what processor...was planning on saving money on amds higher end prices by oc' ing but is it worth putting anything under an x2 4400 in a brand new machine??

WizZard

The new Seagate drives are no supposed to be the best - check out the Anandtech review.

Go for an X2 4400+ - excellent processor. Well worth the money. You can OC to 4800+ speeds quite easily and perhaps higher.

hairball

yeh..I saw the review on anandtech but others rate them ok...I don't think they were the leap in technology people wanted..but, they're faster than sata 150..that's ok for me right now..its just to get the computer up and running...I'll get some more drives(prob a raptor , and transfer the os onto that) eventually

hairball

also the lower capacity drives(such as the one I just bought have a different disk configuration than the higher capacity models...I don't know if this will make a difference or not...but I'll certainly post my findings when the time comes

DemonOfTheFall

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=873523 excellent guide for picking a HDD. Seems to be pretty up to date...

hairball

yeh , doesn't mention mine tho...7200.9

Mac daddy

WizZard wrote:

The new Seagate drives are no supposed to be the best - check out the Anandtech review.

Go for an X2 4400+ - excellent processor. Well worth the money. You can OC to 4800+ speeds quite easily and perhaps higher.

25% price drop on the X2 according to various sites including the register

hairball

mobo arrived today...the DFI boys think of everything eh??

hairball

finally took delivery of my lian li case today.
Man, its sweet

rabbitinlights

Post a few pics.

hairball

yup..I'll throw some up later...working right now

hairball

sorry for lack of pics..just haven't the time at the mo'...but I'll take a nice pic of everything when I have it all:)

Just about to take deleivery of a razer copperhead mouse ,func pad, saitek eclipse keyboard and some arctic silver...still waiting on my PSU...should be here before the end of the week...still putting off buying the processor because I want an x2 4800 and at the mo' prices are ropping every week...so.... just a little longer methinks...oh and I need to sort a monitor as well cos my gfs' won't handle this machine

hairball

so just ordered me ram...went with ocz 2gig pc 4000 plat EB.
thanks for the suggestions lads

hairball

well, for the person who wanted pics of the case, here's a couple of admittedly not very good quality pics...but maybe they'll give you some Idea of what its like.
what I will say is ,that its possibly the best case I've ever worked with..the build quality's eautiful, everything comes apart and goes back togehter really well, and the whole thing just has a lovely cleean simple look about it.
again sorry for pic quality, but taken under bad lighting with my phone

hairball

so in the end I went single core, and I went with a 4000, for two reasons, one ,and most obviously, the price.
Two, I really just don't do that much multi tasking at the mo...yep I work in graphic design, but not while I play games..and paying 800 euros (or more) for a cpu is a load of ****e imo.
So anyways ,almost there, just gotta go look for grafix card now

Col_Loki

I might be a little late with this but what about the S939 opterons? They have 1mb cache and overclock extremely well!!

http://www.overclockers.com/tips00866/

Also have a look at overclockers.com forums for examples on how the chips are preforming overclocking wise.

hairball

yup, a wee bit late, but tanks anyways..I'm happy enpugh to go with what I have, just gotta get me a graphics card now and sit back and wait for the post:)...I'll let you know how it all works out

hairball

so slotted the card earlier...now all I need is ram..and I can boot up test and finish the build

hairball

and so with the ordering of some mushkin high performance pc 4000 black, the buid is almost at an end

hairball

so, finishing the build off tomorrow, got ram on the way from shop4memory, looking forward to taking it for its first test drive, will post some benches when its all up and running

hairball

So, Here's The New Addition..just Dumping Windows On Now