Another SG01 spec check (gaming). :)

[Curunen]

As per the title, I'm looking to build a sff desktop, and I'm pretty much set on the SG01-e for the case (prefer the alu- should be lighter than the sg02 or sg01-f. Also I like the shoebox form factor).
Uses will be gaming (I like nice visuals), multitasking (I like the machine to keep up with my thought process, instead of me having to wait for it ), and general entertainment. Also quiet operation is a must. And stability!

After doing a bit of research, I'm looking at the following:

Mobo: Gigabyte GA-G33M-DS2R

CPU: E8400. Of course, I'd like a quad but I'd prefer to save money- I don't feel I need the power of the quad.

RAM: Corsair XMS Dominator 4GB (2x2GB). Any other recommendations? I'm not really up to date with the ram available right now.

PSU: Enermax Modu 82+ 525W. Though I'll probably get this from a competitor unless it comes back in stock soon.

CPU Heatsink: Silverstone NT06-E. I like the look of the thermalright SI128 SE, but it's listed as being 91.5mm high so I suppose that's a nono.

Hard drive: I've already got one of these in an external enclosure, storing my files. To save money, I can just partition this one for the os, though I'd like to keep it as an external backup. Any recommendations here? I'm only looking to use one hard drive in any case, as I'll be removing the hard drive enclosure in the SG01 to make room for the graphics card. So I'll be mounting this in one of the 5.25 bays. About that, what internal enclosure is good (silent, and preferably hotswappable so I can remove the hard drive when transporting the case)? Maybe this? I may add more drives in the future, once I decide on a way to fit them in with a long graphics card.

Graphics card: [EDIT: No need for anything yet. I'll stick a 6600gt in, or use integrated]

Optical drive: SATA or IDE? I really don't know what to get here. I've noticed reports of issues with SATA if using AHCI, but please feel free to enlighten me, heh.

Sound card: I've got an X-Fi XtremeMusic I can salvage from another desktop (soon to be my brother's), so I'll probably use that and get a cheaper one to replace it in that machine.

Cooling: 2 x 80mm fans to replace the stock ones in the case (I won't need to replace the hard drive one, as it won't be there). I don't want to be spending silly amounts here. I may attach other fans internally in any suitable locations.

Mouse: I've got my razer copperhead to use for now.

Keyboard: I've got a saitek eclipse II from the other desktop, which I could use, but it's a little bulky and doesn't handle many simultaneous keypresses well.

Monitor: I have a samsung 226bw from the other machine, but it is a little bulky to carry easily (to and from uni etc...). Maybe a descent 20"?

Headphones/Speakers: I've got sennheiser hd595s, and Aego M 2.1 speakers (though the speakers aren't carried around often).

Accessories: I love the look of the Sugo Pack for carrying this thing though I'll buy this elsewhere. Anyone else have this bag? Can you fit KB mouse and headphones in here comfortably as well? Or just KB and mouse- I can fit the headphones in a backpack. Once I've decided on the monitor, I'll look into a carrying solution for that.

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I won't be overclocking until I've got some descent starting temps in the case, though that shouldn't be a problem at this time of year (it is coming up for Winter after all), so I'd like some descent headroom to do so. Nothing extreme- just mild and stable.

Phew, that's all I can think of at the moment.
Any advice is appreciated.

 

[Curunen]

^
Nice to hear that about the icy box. I don't really know of any alternative products to it, and as it's readily available it seems a good option (oh just checked- it's out of stock in ocuk :/ ).

Anyway, I'm quite unsure on getting the gigabyte ds2r. No doubt it's great, but it's a little old and I'd like to go for one of the newer g45/g43 boards.
Trouble is, I keep reading nothing but bad reviews about them.
I've looked at the DFI lanparty jr p45, but one- I will not be using crossfire, two- the bios offer far more than I will be needing (I'm not looking to push components to the max, just a healthy overclock for a little more performance), and three- it's expensive (though I can stretch that far, I'd prefer not to).
The intel DG45ID has a nice layout, but from the reviews it is heavily limited in bios, as well as a few other niggles (which I can't remember off the top of my head).
Which leaves four asus boards:
p5q-em (g45)
p5q-vm (g45)
p5ql-em (g43)
p5ql-cm (g43)

As far as I know, the only difference between the p5q-em and vm is the em has an hdmi interface (which doesn't really matter as I will be using a dedicated video card anyway).
The p5ql-em has my favourite layout of the four- angled sata ports, and an esata port on the rear, as well as a better looking northbridge heatsink. The problem here is I can't find much user feedback on it anywhere.
Out of the p5ql-em and p5ql-cm, I prefer the em, as the cm only has displayport instead of hdmi, but with no esata or internal angled sata ports, and only 2 ram slots! The cm does have 2 pci slots, whereas the em has 2 pcie x1 slots.

It's strange that the g43 p5ql-em seems to have better features than the g45 p5q-em.

So I'm having a little trouble deciding here, though I'll probably take the plunge for something soon, and see how we get on.



PS: regarding the op, I said I'd be using an 8800gtx... Scratch that- it'll be staying in the other pc. I've got a spare 6600gt and 6800 at home, so I'll stick in one of them until I decide on a suitable replacement.

 

[Curunen]

Hey, I just read through your first specs of what you wanted and I thought I would point out to you that you won't be able to get an x-fi and a HR-03 into a sugo. I know you said now that you're keeping your 8800gtx in another rig now, so it probably doesn't matter, but a HR-03 in there is probably asking a lot. (you might be able to fit it facing towards the CPU, but again its tight)

I don't know whether you've seen this build, but it's quite impressive (and fortuitous in some places). But yeah, it doesn't matter so much now as I won't be using the 8800.

Think the E8400 would be a very good idea, I've got a Q6600 and if I was buying a CPU now, i'd get the E8400 instead, most of the games I play don't work fully with quads yet and most of the time it is only using like 5% during the day. Plus a high clock rate is better than multiple cores for SupCom

Thanks, I'm pretty much set on the E8400 then.
Out of the E8400/8500/8600, I'm assuming it's best to go for the E8400 and clock it up a bit. The E8600 is near £200 so a bit beyond what I want to spend on a cpu, but there's barely £20 between the E8400 and E8500.

Just had a thought, I know it might not be ideal in any way, but could you not mount a 2.5" drive above your graphics card to the metal riser just infront of where the fan is mounted at the back? I know you wouldn't be able to remove it when moving the case - but do you really need to do that unless you are planning on dropping it? and I'd be more worried about the GFX card. It would then be well out of the way and leave you more room.
Just an idea, never heard of anyone doing before, but just thought of it.

Now that's very cool. I might be tempted to try it once I've got the basic stuff up and running.

As for cooling you might want to look at the Coolermaster Gemini II as per these images: SFF gallery page 9 have a look from thread number 267 onwards

That's a pretty decent heatsink. I just wonder if there would be problems removing thre ram with the heatsink in place. There may be enough clearance for ram with low profile heat spreaders, so if I go for that ocz kit on this week only it should be ok.

As for Ram. if you're not trying to overclock like mad then you'd be fine with PC6400 and a good latency. Have a look at some of the memory thats on offer this week. If you aren't worried about very low latencys then the OCZ is brilliant value, otherwise look at the kingston hyperX or OCZ sli edition - with 5-4-4-15 timings you can't go wrong. Saves you £20 on the PC8500 that you may well never use to their full potential.

I got the Sg02 I think, its the same layout as the sg01 but about £30 cheaper. Its a great cheap case, worth considering I feel.

with the sg02 and some cheaper ram (the 4gb kit ocz is £37 this week!!!!, I just bought it and there great) You could save money or blow some more on a decent mainboard.

Yes that ram looks very nice, and unbeatable price.

if you really like the look of the Sugo, go for the Silverstone Sugo SG01B-F
its been remade so you can use longer cards with the hdd cage on the other side

Yewen, said ocuk will be stocking them as soon as they get there hands on some.

http://www.silverstonetek.com/products/p_photo.php?pno=SG01-F&area=usa

there is a cheaper version as well called SG02B-F same as the sugo 02 but remade so you
can use longer gfx cards

I prefer the fascia of the SG01 over the SG02. Also, I'm not too keen on the SG01-F or SG02-F as I'd like aluminium over steel.
Has anyone experienced any bad resonance problems with the alu sugos? Otherwise my favourite is the SG01-E.

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Thanks for the replies so far, much appreciated.

 

[Curunen]

:0 Oh, I didn't know that about the cover being steel.
Yes, I agree the F has better design; apart from the fact that you can't remove the hard drive enclosure at all in the F (as far as I know).

 

[Curunen]

Hmm, looks like it's screwed in from the underside though I may be mistaken.

 

[Curunen]

Right, so far I'm looking at the following:

SG01B-Evo
E8400
ASUS P5QL-EM
OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C5 Dual Channel Vista Gold Series DDR2
GTX260?
Coolermaster Gemini II
Enermax Modu 82+ 525W
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Need:

80mm fan x2
Hard drive for OS (Vista 64 ultimate)
Sound Card?
Optical drive (SATA or IDE?). Prefer silver.
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Questions:

1) I'm concerned with the weight of the coolermaster Gemini II (820g). I don't want to put too much stress on the motherboard.

2) I like the layout of the P5QL-EM best out of all the ASUS g45/g43 boards. As I won't be overclocking heavily, I don't think the reported problems (FSB wall at 430Mhz, and some problems with using 4 sticks of memory) should affect me. Any thoughts?

3) Onboard sound for gaming? If not, what dedicated sound card would be a good choice (NB: speakers=Aego M 2.1, headphones=sennheiser HD595)?

4) Does the GTX 260 run cooler/quieter than the 4870? Also, I may be able to live with integrated graphics until nvidia release their new cards next month- will this significantly lower the current prices on the GTX 260?

5) As stated in the OP, I have a WD caviar blue 640GB in an external enclosure, currently storing all my music/pictures/files etc... I'd prefer not to partition this and use it as the OS drive, so what suggestions for an OS drive?
Nothing extreme like the 300GB velociraptor- that's too pricey for me.
I'm also looking at this for the OS drive, instead of this. Or would I be better off just using an adapter such as this?
Maybe I could buy a large 1TB drive to replace the current 640GB in the external enclosure, and partition the 640GB in two halves (half for OS and apps, half for music/pictures/files for easy access from OS).
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That's all I can think of right now. Must get to bed!

 

[Curunen]

<snip>
The onboard graphics question is entirely upto you.... can you live without gaming for a while?
<snip>[/URL]

lol, I haven't been gaming since July.
I'll probably leave ordering the graphics card until I've built everything else.

Hmm, the 2.5" hard drive appeals to me. I think I'm going to go ahead and order the case, then I'll have a better view on how to fill the space (hey it rhymes!).

 

[Curunen]

Davey D: Thanks for the input.

Right, case should be with me tomorrow morning (fingers crossed- I paid enough for delivery, but then I needed to make sure there would be someone in the house at the time).
SG01B-Evo (from a competitor as OcUK are out of stock...).
So hopefully things should be in order and I can get a clearer idea of the kit to put in it.

 

[Curunen]

Okay, got it!
Turned up yesterday morning, and I must say I'm very satisfied with it.
Unfortunately I have very few tools with me (they're all at home), and I realised you need a nice long screwdriver to comfortably get at some of the screws in this case...
Anyway I managed to carefully unscrew some of the awkward ones (not quite vertically) with my stubby crosshead driver, and thankfully they've not been 'screwed' up ( ). I'll leave it alone until I can find something decent- there's a B&Q down the road. I'll probably go on the weekend.

So hard drive cage is out. Front panel cables are out (though I put the pcb with the ports back- it looks less bare).

Ah, I'll have to cut this post short or I'll be late for a class.