Am I building a barbeque..?

[RobinH]

I'm looking to build the following spec:

Mobo: Asus P5N32 SLI Premium
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
PSU: Corsair HX620 620 Watt
Case: Nexus Breeze Silent
RAM: Corsair TwinX 2GB Kit (2x1GB) PC2-6400 800MHz Dual Channel (will increase to 4Gb when funds permit)
Graphics: GeForce 8800GTS 320MB driving a BenQ FP241W monitor @ 1920x1200
Disk: 2 x Samsung Spin Point SATAII NCQ 500GB fitted internally in 5.25" bays using Nexus Drive-a-Way enclosures
Optical: Sony AW-G170AB2
Other bits from my old rig: 2 x Freecom 500Gb external USB drives, Pinnacle 350i DVB/TV card and a Creative SoundBlaster X-FI Xtreme Music

I've used a Nexus Breeze case before and it's beautifully made and whisper quiet, but that was a fairly modest AMD XP2800 system with a 6600 card. My concern is that the Nexus case only has a single 120mm intake fan at the bottom plus the PSU exhaust fan, with no other vents to speak of so I could end up barbequing the graphics card, CPU and disk drives! The alternative is the Antec P180 case which has three fans + the PSU one, although I'm not too keen on the wiring issues with having the PSU at the bottom of the case. I really am looking for a quiet case though, but I don't want to go down the water cooling route.

Was going to use a Hiper 600W PSU but have been seeing reports about them dying too often. The Nexus case comes with its own 500W PSU but I understand that at least a 600W PSU is recommended for a 8800GTS setup.

I'm only looking to use the Creative X-FI card as it's lying around and I figure it would have the edge on the built-in sound on the Asus mobo, not sure if that's correct tho.

Any other thoughts on whether this is well matched setup? I'm looking to use it as a solid games machine plus as a high-end database machine [SQL Server, Helium MM etc.] running Vista Ultimate (when the bugs are worked out!) that will last me 2-3 years.

 

[RobinH]

PS - Actually I'm thinking of swapping the Corsair memory for the OCZ equivalent (OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC2-6400 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2-800) as it's nearly half the price and seems to have got good reviews.

 

[hp7909]

As long as you have intake & outake for the air then it should be fine. Also don't forget that the C2D's are 65nm, meaning they run much cooler

Single card 8800GTS system requires minimum 425W PCI-Express (meaning ATX 2.xx) compatible PSU. The gotcha being...

a combined 12V current rating of 28A or more

To find out more, check the side sticker on PSU like the one below.



Nothing comes close to X-FI ATM. But onboard sound these days (especially on expensive mobos) is also quite good

 

[Cold Fusion]

The Corsair has 3 18A rails under 12v so you should be fine with 620W, however i would suggest you upgrade your GTS to the 640mb version as your running a high resolution. The 320mb will run games at that resolution but the frame rates will drop a lot.

 

[warren_1979]

Get a GTX mate

 

[RobinH]

The 500W PSU that comes with the Nexus case has the following spec (which is mostly double-dutch to me!)

I see 28A quoted, but that's at +5V (?). Certainly the Corsair HX620 sounds like a safe bet as you say.

I had originally planned to run games at a lower res and just use 1920x1200 for the desktop, but as I'd save around £60 by going for OCZ rather than Corsair for system memory, that would cover the extra £55 that the 640Mb 8800GTS card costs (I love it when a plan comes together )

Would love to get the 8800GTX but the cheapest I can find is another £100 or so on top of the 640Mb GTS card, and with the Mrs. plundering my PC fund for her holiday money, I'd have to eat string soaked in gravy for a month!

 

[hp7909]

What you should be looking at is +12V1DC & +12V2DC. Combine this & you've got 31A/372W (Amps*12) which is enough for a 8800GTS.

But for a 500W PSU that's not good performance/rating. I'm NOT saying that it won't work, but it's poor compared to my (cheap-ish but reputable) 400W PSU above!