Spec Check and PSU recommendation.

Sweetloaf

Sweetloaf

Sweetloaf

Soldato
Joined
5 Mar 2004
Posts
6,399
Location
Southport
In a week or so I'm going to be doing an overhaul from:

Opteron 180
MSI K8N Sli Platinum
9600GT
2Gb Geil Ultra
480W Tagan

To the following:

75695701mv0.jpg


It's mainly for Music production and obviously a bit of gaming, any thoughts, issues or recommendations on the above? I'm not going to upgrade again for at least a year, maybe even two so moving to a more recent socket doesn't really bother me, I've considered both the Phenom II and i7 but came to the conclusion that they just aren't necessary for me. What is GO stepping on the CPU? I'm hoping to ramp it up to at least 3Ghz regardless of if I need to or not.

I'm sticking with XP Home so realise that the RAM is a little OTT for that but it's the cheapest way to obtain 3Gb from what I can see.

I've heard good stuff about Corsair and Seasonic but I've no idea what the other brands are like, noise level is vital to me. How do the PSUs below compare? Modular would be nice but I have an Akasa Eclipse so I have room for a small pony in there, it's not essential.

psuxl6.jpg


Cheers all!:cool:

Oh, and anyone using that monitor?
 
Last edited:
For the PSU, something like the Corsair HX520W or Gigabyte Odin GT/Pro 550W is more than enough for the specs you are chosing. And these are also modular.

The G0 stepping for the Q6600 CPU means that it runs on less power usage and so better temperatures compared to the older B3 stepping model of the same CPU.

For the RAM, the Corsair 4GB DDR2 XMS2 PC2-6400C5 is more than enough and will save you some money. You don't need PC2-8500 RAM unless you are going for some really high overclocks, like over 3.4Ghz with that CPU. I have the same CPU and RAM and it manages the standard 3.2Ghz barrier easily.

With some of the little savings, perhaps you could go for a 24" monitor? A friend of mine has the T240 monitor and I can say that it is amazing and up to high quality standards typical for Samsung.

No need for a DVD-RW drive, or you already will be using one?
 
Phatjayunoi said:
No need for a DVD-RW drive, or you already will be using one?
Click to expand...

Cheer, I'm not initially going for really high clock speeds but When I come to upgrade in a year or two I tend to go for a little more extreme overclocking and squeeze the last drops out of my hardware, I figured it's best to get the higher speed RAM now. I'll look into my options though, I have no idea with Intel chips how FSB speed relates to RAM these days, I assumed chip 1066, mobo, 1066, RAM 1066.

And yeah, I've got DVD-RW, Case KB etc etc :)

As for the PSU, my Tagan 480W has seen me through my last 4 years worth of systems, you think a good 550W is enough for while?
 
550W will last you plenty, and if anything, even the 480W will do fine, its just nice to have a little bit of headroom just incase, like if you have more hard drives etc.

Well with the Core 2 Duo/Quad CPUs, the FSB is quad pumped i.e. FSB 1066 = 4x266Mhz, FSB 1333 = 4x333Mhz in the BIOS. As for RAM, its still double i.e. 1066Mhz RAM = 2x533. Its kinda hard for me to explain in detail right now, but yes, things are a little different than the old days. You can easily have a read about in the other areas of the forum about this.

I just noticed the motherboard you are choosing. For like £9 more, you could go for the "Pro" version. It has better layout, especially for the 24-pin motherboard power connection.
 
Little above 300W peak draw at stock, for overclocking let's throw 50W more to start with.
From listed PSUs I would take Seasonic made Corsair TX650.
While that PC P&C is also Seasonic made higher speed 80mm fan is noisy.
OCZ uses varying quality builds/OEMs so better to give money to consistent quality brand. Zalman's dense heatpipe heatsink seems to worsen cooling at low airflow.
CM again doesn't have that good history in PSU quietness, and also has artificial current limiters in 12V.


Phatjayunoi said:
The G0 stepping for the Q6600 CPU means that it runs on less power usage and so better temperatures compared to the older B3 stepping model of the same CPU.
Click to expand...
Pretty much completely irrelevant difference considering by today's standard high power consumption of old 65nm CPUs.
 
if your not a harcore gamer and maybe upgrade in a year again i would ditch the gtx280 and go with a 4850 and save the cash, my reasons have nothing to do with ati/nvdia camp but the gfx card war is just starting with again with both camps fighting which imo has not happened for a while, also the £ should be stronger in year so should be able to pick up a nice card and not get shafted for it :D
 
The graphics card may be put on hold actually. I often get carried away :)

I've had ATI cards in the past and they have always been unreliable, that is not to say that all ATI cards are unreliable, just once, twice, three times bitten.

My 9600GT has a HDMI out as well as 2 x DVIs (handy for outputting to my telly) so I may hang onto it for now and see what's lurking around the corner from NVidia.

That said, the 280GTX is damn cheap.....actually, what the hell am I saying?, it's bloody expensive, but cheaper than the rest :D
 
i went from a 8800 gts to a gtx 280 and am not overly impressed for £230 imo save your cash mate the war is coming, + plus even if in 2 months 4 months you get ichy fingers a new card only takes minutes to pop inot a build its not like taken apart again :p
 
BigBruiserAl said:
i went from a 8800 gts to a gtx 280 and am not overly impressed for £230 imo save your cash mate the war is coming, + plus even if in 2 months 4 months you get ichy fingers a new card only takes minutes to pop inot a build its not like taken apart again :p
Click to expand...

I hear you:)

9600Gt isn't that different form an 8800GTS so I guess the difference isn't going to be too vast. I want it to blow my head of when I see it in action :) Is that asking too much?

The 9600GT should cope with WoW at 1680 x 1050 which is really all I play at the minute.

Any more thoughts on that monitor? or an alternative?
 
From the list, I'd say the PC Power & Cooling psu.
I've heard manay a good things about this psu. Only thing is it's not modular but if you don't mind then that's the one to get. Runs coolest and quietest and can perform well above its spec'd wattage without problems.
 
To ease my decision, OcUK have put up the price of the 280 by about £25 overnight. Bummer because I'd just started looking at larger screens which would mean going up to 1920 x 1200 and needing that card.

I've also found a Seasonic 600W modular for around £80.
 
Last edited:
the zalman PSU gets my vote, they are quality and very silent. Although I don't think your mobo support dual video cards, so you don't need that much power, a corsair 520 modular or Zalman 500w should be ample: use this to check pwr you will really need http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

personally i would get a noctua, tuniq or TRUE HSF. some are pretty competitive in price to the alaska, and they are probably the best HSF in the market

also may want to change the screen for an extra £10 to a Viewsonic VX2260wm 22" Widescreen True HD LCD Monitor - Glossy Black

PS
- may want to double check ram compatibility with mobo, I have heard of issues with Asus and OCZ, not sure if this applies in this case
- also ditch 280gtx and get a branded evga 260 gtx with better 10 y warranty EVGA GeForce GTX 260 "Core 216 55nm" 896MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (896-P3-1255-AR)
- NB may want to check connectors on Seasonic m12, great PSU, but I think they don't have 8pin GPU connectors, which means daisy chains of molex
 
Last edited:
lunarwolf said:
personally i would get a noctua, tuniq or TRUE HSF. some are pretty competitive in price to the alaska, and they are probably the best HSF in the market

also may want to change the screen for an extra £10 to a Viewsonic VX2260wm 22" Widescreen True HD LCD Monitor - Glossy Black
Click to expand...

Ta, I'll check the RAM.

I've played around with various CPU coolers in the past and have come to the conclusion that the more expensive ones are overrated in terms of temperature drops, I've always hit a hardware wall before I've hit a real heat issue or simply managed to overclock to a moderate and acceptable level with reasonably priced cooling.

It was between the AKASA and the Freezer 7, apparently the AKASA is quiter and it seems to do a better job.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2008/09/07/akasa-blue-aurora/4

I've got two Noctua 120mm fans in my case and they are great but a £40 CPU cooler is too much in my opinion I'd usually put the extra £20 or so towards a faster chip.

I have looked at the Viewsonic, the problem being that 1920 x 1080 would mean a better graphics card and also there are 24" screens at that res for around the same price. Is there anything wrong with that Samsung that anyone is aware of?
 
it's on pre-order so no idea if any1 had issues, but Sammy make quality displays, so I don't forsee any. The viewsonic just seemed to have more in terms of connectivity, ie HDMI, and a 260 gtx should be fine for that display
 
Last edited:
lunarwolf said:
it's on pre-order so no idea if any1 had issues, but Sammy make quality displays, so I don't forsee any. The viewsonic just seemed to have more in terms of connectivity, ie HDMI
Click to expand...

Gotcha :)

DVI should be fine, I've got a 37" LCD TV on the wall next to my PC for films and consoles anyway. I don't like gaming on it though, I prefer gaming at my desk on the PC. :)
 
Sweetloaf said:
I have looked at the Viewsonic, the problem being that 1920 x 1080 would mean a better graphics card and also there are 24" screens at that res for around the same price.
Click to expand...
For computer use 1920x1080 is useless resolution. In every day use 120 pixels more vertical resolution is lot more usefull than overhyped "Full HD" low screen stamp unless you have good monitor for work.
And for games which don't run well enough at full resolution graphic cards can do interpolation to monitor's native resolution without performance penalty.

Sweetloaf said:
I've also found a Seasonic 600W modular for around £80.
Click to expand...
Seasonic M12 is very good.
That PC P&C is built around same design and like all Seasonics M12 doesn't give a damn to what cables you connect 12V load.


lunarwolf said:
the zalman PSU gets my vote, they are quality and very silent.
Click to expand...
Not so high quality. FSP Epsilon isn't the best platform around and also electrolytes are only standard caps unlike in all except low end (Antec Neo HE, Earthwatts, Truepower Trio) Seasonic made PSUs. And neither it is that quiet.
The unit performed quietly only at <150W load, and would most likely be amongst the loudest components in a typical "quiet" system...
In the end, if the ZM600-HP is used in a system where the CPU fan, hard drives and/or graphics card are loud, then yes, you could call this PSU "ultra-quiet". If silence is your goal, there are several other PSUs even in this high power category that are better choices.
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article688-page5.html
use this to check pwr you will really need http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp
Click to expand...
And that's exactly the calculator to avoid.
This is only calculator giving consistently realistic values:
http://web.aanet.com.au/SnooP/psucalc.php
 
don't know waht you on about, that calculator is a handy tool to estimate wattage consumption. these are estimates, and when i did the calculations the difference was like 15w, so not really a big deal. my point was a corsair 520 or zalman would even be enough

the viewsonic is a fine display, and usefull for many who connect their console to it directly

zalman are good psu, won't even bother linking the countless positive reviews on them, anyway the gfx card will be louder than that psu. I also own a m12 700 seasonic which is great, but not having the proper connections for new gfx card is a bit of a hastle. and zalman are pretty damn good for VFM imo

anyway we all have our opinions no need to slate others

PS there are many other brands that seasonic and PC P&C that make quality PSU : enermax, corsair and bequiet (how appropriate that should be the last brand ;))
 
Last edited:
I found the monitor locally for £190, being impatient I thought sod it, I want it now, nipped out and they only had the display model left, they knocked £20 off the price and I got to check it for dead pixels :)

Awesome screen, bit of backlight bleed on a pure black screen but the image is so crisp (coming from a 19" CRT) that I really don't care.

I only have a 17" LG TFT to compare it to but it's light years ahead.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom