My next Monster PC

Pentium

Pentium

Pentium

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Joined
26 Jan 2008
Posts
29
Location
London
Alright guys ... I'm not an impatient person at all, but I just cannot wait any longer. Seriously ... the time has come now, in fuckt uhm, in fact it is now by far overdue.

The CPU Yorkfield Q9450 45nm might come out sometimes in March - sorry, too late for me.

The CPU .......... Wolfdale E9200 45nm is now in stock at GRLMPFH .......... £ ???.??

The CPU Cooler ..... Zalman CNPS8700-NT ... It has failed the test in Tom's Hardware Cooler test Feb 2008, but it has a 4-Pin PWM fan ..... £ 32.89

The PC Case .......... Lian Li PC-A05A in silver ... there's no other alternative .......... £ 77.54

The Case Fan .......... Noctua NF-S12 1200 RPM .......... £ ??.?? x 2 = £ ??.??

The Memory .......... GeIL 2x2GB PC-6400C5 800MHz Black Dragon .......... £ 58.74

The Graphics Card .......... OcUK GeForce 8800 GT 1024MB .......... shut up ... £ 176.24

The VGA Cooler .......... Zalman VF900-Cu .......... £ ??.??

The Motherboard .......... Asus P5E-VM HDMI .......... the best mATX there is ... £ ??.??

The Northbridge Cooler .......... Noctua NC-U6 Dual Heatpipe Cooler .......... £ ??.??

The Power Supply .......... Corsair HX520W .......... £ ??.??

The Hard Drive .......... Samsung HD753LJ Spinpoint F1 .......... 750GB .......... £ ??.??


I will order CPU, Motherboard, HD, PS, VGA & NB Cooler and Case Fans from GRLMPFH and PC Case, CPU Cooler, Memory and Graphics Card from Overclockers.co.uk soon.

Any comments ? :)


I hope the E8200 is good enough bang for bucks.
If I don't have to, I won't overclock to avoid heat & noise issues.
Of course I will experiment around.

The chosen CPU cooler looks good in my eyes. It has been hard to chose cause there are so many.

No negotiation about the PC Case. That's my favourite. (Yes, it's not perfect)

The Memory is basic but have you seen how awesome the LED Dragon eyes look ?

I doubt that there is much difference between the many graphics cards on the market. Just different vendors. Probably a matter of taste really.

Having read so many reviews, the VGA cooler seems to be a reliable and efficient performer.

Because I want an mATX (I know the PC case has enough space for full ATX) the Asus one is the best, even if I have a few points to complain about.

And I have chosen this NB cooler because the one which comes on the motherboard is ever so ugly.

Power Supply, hmm ... there are not many modular ones on the market.

And regarding the Hard Drive, I have read that the Samsung 750GB has only 3 platters, I wonder if the 500GB version has only 2 ?
It would mean less noise & heat.
But I wished SSD would be more affordable. I'd go for the 64GB version ... absolutely silent, quick and energy efficient.
 
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Don't get the 1Gb 8800GT it's actually slower than the 512Mb version by 1 or 2 frames in games. If you have the money go for the 8800GTS 512Mb instead.

mATX is not well known for overclocking although the last mATX I used was ages ago so can't comment on the modern mATX. Any specific reason for wanting a mATX?

Also the NB cooler is a bit unnecessary since you won't see it anyway without a windowed side panel. Cooling wise the stock is sufficient most of the time provided you have good case air flow.
 
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Done & Done :D

Sorry ... should have known better, hihi ...

... well, I have tried to be more wise and thought if the PC games don't utilize the 1 Gig not yet, they might do in the future ???
Why the hell do they bring it out in the first place ???
I don't like the chuncky GTS ... there wouldbe no space for my wireless card anymore :(

This particular mATX motherboard has received excellent grades in overclocking. And I prefer SFF over full ATX because small impresses me - big doesn't. Well, that's pretty shallow I know ... but I'm an "eye person" and if it isn't designed smart - I just don't like it.
Had a look at the full ATX ones, but I don't need more than two PCI slots ... one for the graphics card and maybe one for the wireless one.

Maybe I will save the NB cooler.
Just thought once I order the stuff, I should order everything at once to save shipping cost.

Well, I haven't read any opinions about the CPU yet.
 
That case has no side window so what's the point in having something small the impresses you if you can't see it?
 
Alright, here is a link about an hardware test of the mATX motherboard Asus P5E-VM HDMI.

According to all the information I have gathered, I cannot see any advantage of a full ATX over this mATX.
Again: I do not need more than 1 or 2 expansion sockets. Everything else is just a dust catcher.

Now, if you know your hardware - what in particular is better on for example the Abit P35 over this one then ?

The next generations of mATX boards are not comparable with the old reputation anymore. Asus, Abit & Gigabyte have cool designs which questions the need for full ATX in the future for those who don't need expansion slots.

Proof me wrong. ;)


I have become very uncertain regarding the graphics card now, will have to do more research about what's on the market in this segment.

The other feedback I have received the most about was the CPU cooler.
Despite the good reputation of Zalman and most reviews leaning towards the 8000 and 9000 series - most people don't like them at all.
I heard that the noise can become as loud as a vacuum cleaner when the fan is on high speed. That sucks of course.

Either I just gamble and buy it or go for the the Scythe Ninja Minior the Thermalright SI 128 with a Noctua fan ?
Have you seen the Scythe Ninja Cu ? That is a MONSTER !!
The size as well as the weight - over one kilo without fan ! ... pure copper.
The downside is a test result (compared with the best of the best) wasn't as expected but maybe the expectations were far too high.
It still performed very good, but it couldn't win the crown - that's all.
Maybe other test conditions would have resulted more to its advantage.

Can't believe the choice of the cooler is so difficult.
Wished I could have a look & feel of a few different models before I buy ... that would be just awesome !
 
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You are buying a case that can comfortably fit a full size ATX board and you want it to be small and impressive yet you are also talking about getting a monster of a heatsink. You don't want to get the much better gfx card (the GTS) because you are concerned it'll block the expansion slots, yet you want a tiny board that is creating this problem in the first place. You seem to be enjoying hindering yourself from the outset.
My opinion and I don't care particularly either way is get a full size ATX board and get a GTS, you may not need the expansion slots now, but if you do later you and your insanely small mATX are going to look kinda silly. Also as pointed out you have no side panel so it's not going to matter. Also get the Geil ull PC6400 it is awesome and is £15 cheaper. You want it to look good and with a big gfx card on a board designed to use integrated gfx as mATX are it's going to look ridiculous as it's going to be considerably bigger than the board.

Also CPU heatsink wise go for a tuniq tower or a thermalright ultra.
 
matx boards are generally more expensive than the equivalent full atx, and are more cramped making it harder to fit hardware, sometimes making graphics cards/cpu coolers unfittable.
 
485Mhz FSB is very impressive for a mATX board but full ATX P35/X38 will do 500Mhz+ (which you definately need to overclock that E8200 so you're not doing yourself any favour) easily while costing the same/less. And since that case will fit a full ATX nicely it will be ugly IMO having a mATX in there leaving slots unocupied at the top. And as said once the side panel is closed you can't see anything inside anyway unless you will be puttng your case on the desk with the side off all the time. Always go for the best bang for buck hardware IMO.

If you want it small get a micro ATX case like this Antec one.

Tuniq Tower, Noctua NH-U12F, and the Thermalright Ultra 120 are much better cpu coolers for similar price.
 
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@ WaterproofBob

I feel ya :) ... now I realize - can you imagine how R I D I C U L O U S it must look to put a 110mm x 110mm x 150mm on a 244mm x 244mm mATX board ?
A picture of it would make you laugh out loud, honest !

To go the other way would mean ... underclocking & passive cooling ?
Interesting thought ... but will the performance still be ok ?
All the overclockers will get goose bumps only by the thought of it, haha.

Well, regarding the Graphics card ... as I said I will have to research more. Have you actually read the review of this mATX one ? What if I do not use more than 1 expansion slot ? (Not before, not now and not later) ... what if the overclock potential of the mATX is as good as the big ones ?

Having seen some very interesting moddings of this case, I seriously plan to cut a circle or a square into the side panel. With amber or blue light - looks just awesome !!

The Tuniq Tower 120 looks good to me and the Thermalright Ultra 120 is ugly like bitch but is considered as one of the best CPU coolers on the market.

Desicions desicions ... :confused:
 
@ shaffaaf27

"shaffaaf27 has no contact information" ... ???

Besides this, YES I WANT THE Yorkfield Q9450 !!!
It's not that I would like it ... I WANT IT !!! ;)

But Intel is slow like a pregnant snail and so I have to wait until I can get rid of my hard earned money to buy this 45nm piece of art.


@ MattU

Yes, it looks good to me. Will check some reviews when I get the time.
Thank you
 
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