New pc.....thoughts please

[stubbie 21]

This is what I am currently considering;

 

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8500

MB: Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3R

Video: Gigabyte Radeon HD4870

PSU: Thermaltake Toughpower 750watt

RAM: 2 x Corsair 2GB KIT Twin 6400C4(total 4gig)

Hard drives: 2 x 320gig Seagate Barracuda 7200.10

Case: Antec 900 Gaming case

 

With a couple of extra cooling fans and Artic Silver and incidentals it will cost about $1400 USD

 

One day down the track I am thinking of adding another HD4870 in Crossfire.

 

Any comments would be most welcome

 

stubbs

Edited August 10, 2008 by gogoblender

[Obsession 0]

Sounds like a gaming machine.. only thing I don't get is why would you buy two 320gb hd's instead of one bigger? like 1Tt hd.. atleast in some Finnish netsite Seagate DiamondMax 22 (1 Tt, 7200 RPM) costs about 125€, Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 (750 Gt, 7200rpm) cost about 100€ and two of 320gb's cost about 100€, so you would get a lot more space for less money if buying one bigger hd.

 

or are you planning to use the otherone as safe back-up hd if you need to install OS again for some reason?

[berkley 0]

lol nice speed and 4GB or RAM will get you everything and the HD thing again thats kinda weird were they cheap if you buy 2?

[stubbie 21]

or are you planning to use the otherone as safe back-up hd if you need to install OS again for some reason?

 

Exactly.

I currently have one spare Seagate 320gig hard drive from another pc.

I found it to be very quiet and pretty good speed wise, that's why I was going to stick with that model.

I intend to use it for a backup of my OS with programs installed.

 

So I will only be purchasing one new hard drive.

I might get a larger one, but larger hard drives just mean more time defraging

 

One question please.

I am mainly unsure that the items I have picked are all compatible, in so much as can you see a bottleneck or under/over kill on any parts.

I don't intend to overclock.

I might add another HD4870 and perhaps change to DDR3 for an upgrade some time later on, but that's all.

I only use my pc's basically for gaming.

 

Thanks

stubbs

[Obsession 0]

One question please.

I am mainly unsure that the items I have picked are all compatible, in so much as can you see a bottleneck or under/over kill on any parts.

MB seems to be socket 775, p45 chipset so CPU should be compatible, also it says on the MB's specs that it has support for that type of RAM up to 8gig's so don't see a reason why wouldn't these parts fit together. Also that power is more than enought for the system as somewhere read that 4870 has recomended power of 500w or higher. So basicly you could take smaller power, but then again if you later add the second graphics card it could be good thing to have that bigger power.

 

Overall your computer looks like it's going to be a really good for several years even whitout any updates. Bit expensive, but surely will be able to play all games whit full graphics settings.

Edited August 10, 2008 by Obsession

[stubbie 21]

Overall your computer looks like it's going to be a really good for several years even without any updates. Bit expensive, but surely will be able to play all games whit full graphics settings.

 

I realise that by shopping around and getting the stuff online from various places that I might save a couple of hundred dollars.

But the shop I am buying the parts from is well established (in business for over 10 years) and is within a 15 minute drive.

If I have any problem with something or need to return faulty stuff its comforting to have them so close and accessible. That's worth the extra money imho

(While I am building this pc myself I am not as computer literate as I would like to be)

 

And thanks for the thumbs up on the compatibility obsession......I now feel much more confident.

 

stubbs

Edited August 10, 2008 by stubbie

[trd 0]

looks like a sweet machine that should make you happy. too bad dealers don't have compatibility checkers before you hit the 'order' button.

 

on the game machine we got the 9yr old, I just went with the bundled deals they suggested, figured they would work. if I upgraded a part, I would stick to exact same specs on say memory, just larger than what was suggested in the combo. whole system turned out surprising well. saved a few bucks just going with 2gig of ram.

 

is that a crossfire card and a crossfire psu? I only ask because I almost purchased one that didn't have right output for the vid card.

Edited August 11, 2008 by trd

[Zinsho 0]

The main warning I'd give you is about your RAM.

 

If you're running a 32-bit OS (which is more than likely unless you specifically choose to get Vista/XP 64-bit) you will have a maximum of 4gb memory. This includes Video Memory and any other cache (I think). You'd be best to google the 4gb ram limit to get the specifics of why and such but essentially your videocard fits into that 4gb.

 

I recently upgraded my machine with another 2gb of RAM

E6600@3.0gHz, EVGA 680i, nVidia 8800gtx, 2x (now 3x) Seagate Barracuda 320.0 GB).

I had had 2gb of Corsair DDR2-800 4-4-4-12 and added another 2gb of DD2-800 5-5-5-15. In Vista the total memory (RAM) is listed at 2813mb (of my actual 4gb). So be warned, you won't use it all unless you're in a 64-bit system.

[stubbie 21]

trd,

Its certainly a crossfire video card but a debatable crossfire psu.

Debatable because the "certified" psu is a 1200watt beast that I simply cannot afford (its like $400+)...... but at the same time I have seen an online review of 2xHD4870's in crossfire powered by the 750watt PSU.

So, it might be a gamble and it would be something I will go into more research when and if I go to crossfire.

 

and Zinsho, thanks for the info on the RAM.

I had heard of the limitations of 4gig on a 32bit (which I will have as this pc is sticking with XPpro 32bit).

After some googling I have found that these days running RAM in dual channel is not the performance wonder it once was.

So I am now only buying 2gig and adding 1gig that I already have spare.

So I will end up with 3gig running at single channel.

When the pc is built I will do some benchmarking myself and see what performance is like with different configurations.

 

And a bit of an update.

The MB I was originally going to buy is really not suitable for crossfire.

I found this out for myself on the net, even the salesman I asked for advice didn't pick up on it.

Seems the MB I chose will only run crossfire in 8x speed and not the 16x speed its capable of!

So I have picked a Gigabyte GA-X48-DS4 instead.

See, its things like that, that make choosing computer components so hard.

If I had gone with my original MB, I would have lost a substantial amount of my performance gain with crossfire.

And its only an extra $30.

 

The saga continues.....

 

stubbs

Edited August 11, 2008 by stubbie

[gogoblender 3,069]

Another great comp building thread! I love reading these things. It's amazing how different all of our configurations are, and how we're all tacking from different directions. Stubbie, your comp sounds good, you've got the basics covered. It's true, almost four gigs is the max for a 32 bit system. But if your system is 64 bit compatible at the same time, consider having two versions of xp on your system. One thirty two and the other sixty four which you can then dual boot. Apparently it could be something to get going, but after reading a good number of other stories on the net with peeps that have this going, the kind of flexibility it gives you is pretty good. Since you're handy with comps, you should be able to get this going by using your old OS (32 bit, right?) and maybe get a second OS 64 bit cheap?

 

 

gogo

[stubbie 21]

you should be able to get this going by using your old OS (32 bit, right?) and maybe get a second OS 64 bit cheap?

 

Hummmmm, never thought of that idea gogo

 

Looks like I have to do a bit of hurried searching on the net about this.

Though the bank balance is looking rather fragile atm, I don't know if I can get a cheap 64bit version "cheap" enough

 

stubbs

[trd 0]

can check on newegg to see if the psu is xfire compatible. the one I used, a raidmax, was fairly explicit in stating that it was xfire compatible, which can be found on their specifications page. it is a 600w, which is fine for the kid as I don't intend to upgrade to 2x video cards for him. plus the blue led's match everything, particularly good when I can look from the living room to see if he has left it on yet again.

Edited August 13, 2008 by trd

[Timotheus 416]

Xfire/SLi capable?

The PSU doesn't really need to be capable. Being Xfire/Sli capable merely means the PSU will have 2 PCI-e connectors.

It's still a matter of amps and watts, not of the connections, since graphic cards will come with adapter cables to get 2 regular 4pin Molex's to pci-e 6pin...

[stubbie 21]

Xfire/SLi capable?

The PSU doesn't really need to be capable. Being Xfire/Sli capable merely means the PSU will have 2 PCI-e connectors.

It's still a matter of amps and watts, not of the connections, since graphic cards will come with adapter cables to get 2 regular 4pin Molex's to pci-e 6pin...

 

So do you see any problems with this one that I'm getting Timotheus?

 

thanks

stubbs

[Timotheus 416]

ATI Radeon HD 4870 System Requirements

 

* PCI Express® based PC is required with one X16 lane graphics slot available on the motherboard

* 500 Watt or greater power supply with two 75W 6-pin PCI Express® power connectors recommended (600 Watt and four 6-pin connectors for ATI CrossFireX™ technology in dual mode)

 

Well, it has the 2 connectors it needs to power the 4870 with, along with the amps and watts. But for Crossfire... The watts are OK, don't worry about those. But I'm not sure on the amp department, can't find any solid info on the amp requirement of a dual 4870 setup. It *seems* to be around 40 amps here but not sure. I do see the Corsair TX 750 being recommended quite a lot. It has 60 AMPS, 4 more than the lowest value found on the Toughpower's site, not that much more. I think you will be OK with the Toughpower, but to be sure I'd check if you can find the Corsair and pic that instead. Their reputation is very good; it's because their PSU's are too.

[stubbie 21]

It *seems* to be around 40 amps here but not sure. I do see the Corsair TX 750 being recommended quite a lot. It has 60 AMPS, 4 more than the lowest value found on the Toughpower's site, not that much more. I think you will be OK with the Toughpower, but to be sure I'd check if you can find the Corsair and pic that instead. Their reputation is very good; it's because their PSU's are too.

 

Thanks for that site mate.

Very good reading, I'm still going through it all.

 

Unfortunately I had already placed my order and I will be getting the Thermaltake.

After reading up on it I think that by using a HD4850 instead of a HD4870 as my second card when/if I do go crossfire that the 750watt will be okay.

 

thanks for the info

stubbs

[Timotheus 416]

Meh still think you will be OK, though anyway, best of luck with your new puppy and be sure to show it off

[stubbie 21]

Houston....we have a problem.

 

Okay, the story goes like this,

Ring up supplier on Thursday afternoon to see if all the parts have arrived. Yep he says except the hard drive, and he has no idea when it will arrive.

So I spend a couple of hours on the net searching for one local (I want to assemble the pc this weekend........sick of waiting )

Finally I found one about 40km's away......and $6 cheaper (cool...that will pay for the petrol)

So Friday morning I ring my original supplier and tell him I will be in later to pick up everything. I asked him to just recheck that he has all my stuff.

He checks and says yep....except for the hard drive (I knew that I said) AND the video card!

I says...you didn't say that yesterday!......oh he says that was another another salesman and he was mistaken

Okay so when are you getting one?........I don't know, he says. Maybe next week!!

 

Need to cut story short:............... so I ended up getting a HIS brand card from my hard drive supplier instead.

Never heard of this brand before but searching on the net found that they seem to have a good name.

 

So get all the bits finally and here they are:

and here's a close up of the video card:

This card has some real serious cooling on it, and it weighs 800 grams according to our kitchen scales!

It looks very well made and I'm happy with the choice.

 

But here lies the problem..........see the two black 6 pin connectors at the back of the card.

Well this is standard for a HD4870 card.

But guess what?!...the Thermaltake Toughpower PSU only has two 6 pin connectors.

That's fine for one card........but Crossfire two of these cards you need four 6 pin connectors.

 

So after a lot of frantic Googling I come to the following conclusion.

I think I can use the Thermaltake PSU if I use some adaptors for the cabling but I an not happy about that.

Reason...that doesn't give me dedicated power from a 12V rail to the second card. It will have to share the load from what I can work out.

Now this may or may not be a problem.

 

Either way I am going back to the shop with the PSU this morning and see what they say (I havent even unpacked the PSU as I am just so confused now) .........meanwhile I cannot do anything with all my new goodies as I cant start building anything without a PSU.

 

Sorry for the very long post.

 

The main reason is to make others aware that when you Crossfire some cards you may require more than you realise.

 

Will report back later.

 

stubbs

[stubbie 21]

Ended up getting an Antec 850watt PSU.

 

It was all they had in stock that had the 4 x 6 pin arrangement so I bought it.

To be honest I was getting fed up with all the running around so I was at the stage I would accept anything

 

So straight back home and start putting things together.

 

If anyone has assembled an Intel based pc lately then they probably understand me when I say that the standard CPU fan mounting is the absolute pitts!

It has four little plastic spreader clips that fit into 4 holes about 4mm dia on the MB.

The problem is that you really have to push down hard to make the clips fit into place. I had about six goes at it till I got it right.

And each time I had to remove the fan to try again it took the processor with it due to the Artic Silver having such a good gluing affect.!

 

Well anyways after the hassle of mounting the cpu I was concerned that I may have damaged the cpu pins on the MB.

So I decided to just assemble all the bits and pieces as quickly as I could to see if the computer would work.

 

I'm happy to report that on first turn on nothing blew up and I was able to go to the BIOS screen

I'm not all that pc savy but I believe that if I can get that far that it means the cpu is working 9please advise if thats not the case). That was my main concern after the problems I had with mounting.

 

Here's a pic of the "neatly" laid out wiring I have atm.

 

 

(a little question...the cpu frequency is showing 2.33ghz when the cpu I bought is 3.16ghz......is that okay?)

 

My next job is now to try and rewire everything to allow a bit of air flow...............I think it might take a month or so

 

stubbs

[stubbie 21]

Little weenie update........

seems that the 2.33ghz showing in the BIOS was just a BIOS setting.

Did a quick adjustment and my 3.16ghz is showing

 

And btw,,,,,,,,this rig is super quiet, though I will admit its only got as far as the BIOS screen

 

I have done some re-wiring and the cables look a lot better than before

 

2am in the morning now...better go to bed.......looking forward to tomorrow and installing windoze and see what this baby can do.

 

stubbs

[Timotheus 416]

Good to see you're up and running stubbs HIS and Antec: both good choices, you won't regret them. Have fun

[stubbie 21]

Finally got the system in a proper working order.

 

Final specs;

Case: Antec 900 Gaming Case with extra 120mm side Antec Tricool fan (total 5 fans)

CPU: Intel Core2Duo E8500 3.16Ghz

Video: 1x HIS ATI HD4870 512meg (intend to upgrade to two cards when prices come down)

PSU: Antec 850watt Truepower Quattro

MB: Gigabyte X48-DS4

RAM: 4gig Corsair 6400C4 latency 4-4-4-12

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 1x500gig

other Drives: 1xPioneer and 1xLG DVD-R's and 1xFloppy drive (I just cant give them up... yet

Audio: Using onboard Realtek ALC889A (considering to add Creative X-Fi Xtreme)

OS: Windoze XP Pro SP2

 

Cost for the above was $1230 US

(perhaps cheaper if I had bought parts from different suppliers but the convenience and reputation of this supplier won out in the end)

 

other stuff I already had:

Extra Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 1x320gig

Monitor: LG 22" Flatron W2252TQ 1680x1050

Speakers: Logitech X-530 5.1 surround

Mouse: Logitech G9

Keyboard: Logitech G15 R2

 

 

Nothing is overclocked.

3DMark Benchmarks;

2006-12604

2005-18919

2003-49853

Quite acceptable results

 

This rig is quiet beyond all my hopes.

My computer room is very small so pc noise is a major factor for me.

The Antec 900 is a wonderfully quiet box and all case fans are currently able to be set at low speed, though admittedly that's at an ambient of only 22°C.

Even so, there is still a lot of air being blown out at the low setting.

I will probably have to set all the fans to medium speed setting as summer approaches but even at that speed the noise is still what I call acceptable.

 

Main reason for posting all this is to show other ppl that may be considering building a pc what parts do end up actually working together.

Some of my choices may be not the best but I have tried to build this with as much knowledge that was available to me.

Some ppl will poopoo Intel against AMD, others the same against nVidea and ATI.

 

It can become very confusing.

 

I wanted to build a pc that would handle the current range of games with good frame rates but also play my old games.

I wanted to build a pc that would be able to greatly upgrade its graphics capability in a year or so without breaking the bank.

I wanted to have at least a doubling of performance from the last pc I built 4 years ago that at the time was at the high end of gaming performance.

 

I have done all that and more with this rig.

 

Thank you all for your help and comments. All was taken aboard and appreciated

 

stubbs

Edited August 21, 2008 by stubbie

[Obsession 0]

If anyone has assembled an Intel based pc lately then they probably understand me when I say that the standard CPU fan mounting is the absolute pitts!

It has four little plastic spreader clips that fit into 4 holes about 4mm dia on the MB.

The problem is that you really have to push down hard to make the clips fit into place. I had about six goes at it till I got it right.

And each time I had to remove the fan to try again it took the processor with it due to the Artic Silver having such a good gluing affect.!

I know what you mean. It's horrible to install.. I think I had to do it about 10 times to get it right and I think it's not still perfectly. That's why I bought new Zalman cnps7700-ALCu 120mm fan whit different mount system, but it's been few months and it's still in the package soooo lazy.

[stubbie 21]

I think I had to do it about 10 times to get it right and I think it's not still perfectly.

 

That's how I feel too, I'm just not sure that it is sitting right and making good contact with the processor.

 

Maybe that's why the cpu fan is so quiet

 

stubbs

[Timotheus 416]

Well the easy way to find out is to test your temps...