Whole new system advice - Q6600 based - Help please :)

Adam_D200

Adam_D200

Adam_D200

Associate
Joined
22 Dec 2006
Posts
431
Location
Essex, UK
Hi Guys,

I would appreciate your thoughts/suggestions on the following. My pc is ancient and I need something that will handle modern games and also be good for general use and a bit of video crunching. I have decided to go for the Q6600 G0 cpu and 4GB of ram with Vista 64 home premium. My current case is a watercooled Akasa Eclipse however I am removing the water setup and going back to air as it would be insufficient at cooling the new stuff. The case will be reused and the top blow holes retained to suck hot air out (or should I use them to push more cold air in perhaps?) :cool:

My main problem is whether to get a P35 mobo or X38, something tells me it would be wise to get a X38 so that I have PCI E 2.0 and also crossfire x capability for the future - I also want a raid 0 configuration and gigabit lan and to be able to clock the cpu to 3.6 Ghz.

GPU and RAM are also open to suggestion, should I get a GTS or a 3870x2. The Gskill ram seems to give plenty of room for overclocking too :)

The zalman was chosen as it will help cool the motherboard components and also looks tasty hehe. :D I also hear that the auzentech sound card is highly regarded and works under vista 64.

With regards to the psu I have had a trusty enermax 350w for ~4 years now and its solid as a rock, the OCZ I bough blew up and left a sour taste - I like the idea of the large quiet fan and generous output of the enermax :)


Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £144.99
(£170.36) £144.99
(£170.36)
Enermax Infiniti 720W EIN720AWT ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU £107.99
(£126.89) £107.99
(£126.89)
Samsung SpinPoint T 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD501LJ) £56.99
(£66.96) £113.98
(£133.92)
Auzentech X-Fi Prelude 7.1 Sound Card - Retail £105.99
(£124.54) £105.99
(£124.54)
Samsung SH-S203PRSMN 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer Lightscribe ReWriter (Beige/Black/Silver) - Retail £19.99
(£23.49) £19.99
(£23.49)
G.Skill 4GB DDR2 PQ PC2-8000C5 (2x2GB) CAS5 Dual Channel Kit (F2-8000CL5D-4GBPQ) £79.99
(£93.99) £79.99
(£93.99)
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - 1Pk (66I-00788) £59.99
(£70.49) £59.99
(£70.49)
BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £173.99
(£204.44) £173.99
(£204.44)
Zalman CNPS9700-NT nVidia Tritium CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/LGA775) £37.99
(£44.64) £37.99
(£44.64)
Abit IX38 QuadGT Intel X38 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £134.99
(£158.61) £134.99
(£158.61)
Sub Total : £979.89
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £173.40
Total : £1,164.24
 
i would switch the PSU for a Corsair HX 620W, its all you will ever need and it will save you some cash, very good PSU

also unless you want to use crossfire, as you have a GTS in that list, get a P35 chipset, if you want to look at SLI you will want a nForce chipset
 
Last edited:
drop the memory to the 6400 version should be all you need for the quad.

as crazy mentioned corsair 520/620w will be enough for what you need, also if you're going x38 then better to go for the x2 3870 for crossfire later if wanted, or change to the ABIT IP35 pro and keep the gts.

change the samsung drives to the western digital aaks.

cooler wise maybe have a look at the tuniq as it seems pretty well liked around here.
 
mp260767 said:
drop the memory to the 6400 version should be all you need for the quad.

as crazy mentioned corsair 520/620w will be enough for what you need, also if you're going x38 then better to go for the x2 3870 for crossfire later if wanted, or change to the ABIT IP35 pro and keep the gts.

change the samsung drives to the western digital aaks.

cooler wise maybe have a look at the tuniq as it seems pretty well liked around here.
Click to expand...

I had previously thought about the corsair 620w it does seem to be a quality psu, does it have all the pci express 2.0 connectors I might require? Its a fair chunk cheaper too as you say!

I think I would preffer the pci express 2.0 option with the X38 for future gpu's, should I consider the Asus P5E over the Quad GT? I only need to get the q6600 to 3.6 ghz.

I like the idea of the possiblity of crossfiring a pair of x3870x2's later, would be a beasty :D

Hmmm maybe a pair of raptors in raid 0 might be a good idea too?
 
IMO if you want to go down the crossfire root, start off with one x3870X2 and then add one later, if you get a crossfire board and a GTS, you will need to sell you GTS.

if your a nvidia fan, then look at the nForce7 chipset, I was looking to go down this root, in oder to chuck in a second graphics card in say 1/2 a year time, but i really don't see the need for it, P35 is more stable and i know people have some issues with crossfire and nForce bored.

Raptors in raid 0 rock, i personally like the 74GB flavor
 
Yeah I wouldn't buy two x3870x2's at this point in time, anything will be a huge upgrade from a x800 xt pe!

I think I would rather stick with the intel chipsets tbh, whats a difference between the 74gb and 150 raptors... how noisy can they be :D
 
Last edited:
Updated basket following some of your comments, do you think the psu will cope with a second x3870 in the future, also do all x38 chipsets support crossfire x with a driver update?

Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £144.99
(£170.36) £144.99
(£170.36)
Auzentech X-Fi Prelude 7.1 Sound Card - Retail £105.99
(£124.54) £105.99
(£124.54)
Samsung SH-S203PRSMN 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer Lightscribe ReWriter (Beige/Black/Silver) - Retail £19.99
(£23.49) £19.99
(£23.49)
G.Skill 4GB DDR2 PQ PC2-8000C5 (2x2GB) CAS5 Dual Channel Kit (F2-8000CL5D-4GBPQ) £79.99
(£93.99) £79.99
(£93.99)
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - 1Pk (66I-00788) £59.99
(£70.49) £59.99
(£70.49)
Zalman CNPS9700-NT nVidia Tritium CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/LGA775) £37.99
(£44.64) £37.99
(£44.64)
Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-620HXUK) £74.99
(£88.11) £74.99
(£88.11)
Asus P5E Intel X38 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £126.99
(£149.21) £126.99
(£149.21)
Asus ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 1024MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail £244.99
(£287.86) £244.99
(£287.86)
Western Digital Raptor X 150GB 10000RPM SATA 16MB Cache - OEM (WD1500AHFD) £104.99
(£123.36) £209.98
(£246.72)
Sub Total : £1,105.89
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £195.45
Total : £1,312.29
 
Adam_D200 said:
whats a difference between the 74gb and 150 raptors... how noisy can they be :D
Click to expand...

errrr....

one is 74GB and one is 150GB... and 50 quid if you have two and raid them. i get about 125GB (not on my computer and its out of action at the mo so cant check) I have a 500GB drive for my storage, and many invest in 2 more for some raid 5 action. but i don't see myself using more 125GB for OS/programs/games.

the key is that you should never save anything you don't want to lose on a raid0 setup, so your not going to use a lot of space

as for noise, if they are doing random read wright, i.e. windows indexing they are surprisingly noisy. but when I'm actually using my PC i don't notice it
 
LOL I really should have read that post before submitting it, I should have asked - apart from size what difference is there :)

I use a QNAP 209 NAS (2 x samsung 500gb drives in a RAID 1 mirrored config)and gigabit networking through a Dlink DIR 655 router to keep all my important files so the risk of losing important data is pretty slim if I go raid 0 on this pc.

I will have another look at reviews of the tuniq, I wouldn't buy the 120 since so many people complain about the (perhaps intentionally) dished base, the zalman has good reviews and the finish is often praised in the ones I read. (and I'm a sucker for its looks and how it can help to cool the motherboard ancilleries).

AD :)
 
Bump - any more thoughts :) Hope to order monday :)

I'm trying to find out about the 8 pin psu connector I might need for the 3870x2 can anyone explain what this is and if the corsair psu has one (is it a case of buying an adaptor somewhere?)
 
Last edited:
Adam_D200 said:
Bump - any more thoughts :) Hope to order monday :)

I'm trying to find out about the 8 pin psu connector I might need for the 3870x2 can anyone explain what this is and if the corsair psu has one (is it a case of buying an adaptor somewhere?)
Click to expand...

the corsair 620w had an 8 pin PSU connector, in fact it has two. it has a relay good set of power cables that come with it 2.
 
Is that the motherboard 8 pin connector or the pci express 6+2 (to give 8 pins) sorry for the confusion - everything is different with respect to cables since I built this pc!
 
Thanks for your help guys! Just ordered (after much stress and hassle with this new credit card authentication process).

Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail 1 £144.99
Auzentech X-Fi Prelude 7.1 Sound Card - Retail 1 £105.99
Samsung SH-S203PRSMN 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer Lightscribe ReWriter (Beige/Black/Silver) - Retail 1 £19.99
G.Skill 4GB DDR2 PQ PC2-8000C5 (2x2GB) CAS5 Dual Channel Kit (F2-8000CL5D-4GBPQ) 1 £79.99
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - 1Pk (66I-00788) 1 £59.99
Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-620HXUK) 1 £74.99
Asus P5E Intel X38 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard 1 £126.99
Asus ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 1024MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail 1 £244.99
Western Digital Raptor 150GB 10000RPM SATA 16MB Cache - OEM (WD1500ADFD)


Had to source a cooler elsewhere as it was out of stock :( Still I can't wait to get it and build this bad boy :D woo hoo! Snuck a pair of raptors in there in the end and went with the ati super dooper card for future 2 x 3870x2 (will probably be able to heat the room with that lot!).
 
hey guys had a good just wondering is the Zalman CNPS9700-NT nVidia good with evga 780i and will this fit into the cm 832 case???

thanks
 
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