OmegaRED

Finally got the rest of my parts ordered. I should have it all put together by next week. What you think?

I tried to build a computer with overclocking and silence in mind (two things which don't go together ):

Intel Quad Core Q6600 (plan to overclock as high as possible)
EVGA 750i FTW Motherboard
EVGA 260GTX Superclocked (will probably Step Up to the X2 model or SLI 260's)
Mushkin PC2-8000 Redline 4gig 2x2gig kit DDR2-1000
2x500gig Seagate 7200.11 in RAID 0
PC Power & Cooling Quad Silencer 750
OCZ Vendetta 2 Triple Heatpipe Heatsink 120MM fan
Samsung 2443 24" Monitor 1920x1200
Antec P-182 case (black)


Only part I didn't order yet is the case, I'll get that locally and have it assembled at the same place. I would consider a different case as long as it is quiet and cool.

Can't wait to play some GTAIV on this baby

__________________

kris23

looking pretty good, though i dunno how good the 750i is for overclocking..

i wouldn't get my hopes up for anything over 3.2Ghz though...

as for case, i can recommend no other than the CM 690 chassis, i have recently built a system with that case and that thing is just amazing, it has all the space you could need for your future GTX 295.

the fan under the motherboard tray on the 690 case has shown me how hot a motherboard can really get, its hot, very hot.

the HDDs are very good but you may want to consider the WD Caviar Blacks are just as good minus the loud seek noise, they're cool running too!

also dont forget the OCZ Freeze Compound and the SATA Disk drive.

good luck!

__________________

BlueMak

Wouldn't it be better to go for another CPU? I am not talking about the i7 in case they are too expensive, but the series Q9xxx.

__________________
The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others(Bertrand Russell)"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil,You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." - Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis
This is slavery, not to speak one's thought. [Euripides-The Phoenician Women (c.411-409 B.C.)] http://www.macedonia.info/FALLACIESANDFACTS.htm Sic semper tyrannis.

mike2h

lookin good omega! think u r going to be a happy camper
how come u r not building yourself? not your cup of tea?

__________________

mkk

It will be great fun to game on that system. I would make some minor changes here and there but I'm sure you'll be enjoying it. Try running the Antec case fans on their low setting, where they are still spinning fast and a bit too noisy for my taste but will cool fine at least. After tweaking the overclock for a while you might want to make it even less noisy and changing out the fans is a likely maneuver then.

__________________
Playing Dragon Age, might forget everything else.

Just Learnin'

I run the 7200.11 Seagate drives and they are the quietest I've ever had.

kris23

dont really think its worth it, OCed Q6600 is pretty good and a Q9550 isnt all that great even when OCed, besides 750i barely supports 45nm cpus at stock

__________________

Zardon

get the energy efficient Q6600, they run cooler and overclock better.

Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail

Partizan

Not to mention, Q6600s are alot cheaper

__________________

Lelisevis

With regards the hdd's I'd go for the Samsung Spinpoint F1's. Nothing compares on sound, performance or heat. They murder my WD's and Maxtors.

Other than that it looks like a pretty neat setup.

__________________
Im not dead

blibbax

The Q8200 overclocks better than the Q6600 and has comparable performance, but there's not a lot in it.

Looks like a nice system, and not too excessive for the wallet either. Have fun!

__________________

Vikingod

I've currently got my Q6600 G0 up to 3.0ghz, but have had it up to 3.2ghz. And this in on an $80 P35 motherboard with a cooler you can buy for $14 right now.

__________________

Mac Daddy

Looking good overall have fun

__________________
"My mom said the only reason men are alive is for lawn care and vehicle maintenance." - Tim Allen

Judas

your seagate 7200.11's have loud seek noise?

__________________

nicnik

sure about that? i would think it's the other way around.

__________________

OldBuzzard

QFT!

I have the CM 690, and I doubt that there is any other mid-tower that can compare to it in regards to cooling/silence/space. It has all the room you will ever need to install even the longest video cards. Even with my 3870 x2 there is 2+" of clearance between it and the HDDs.

As for the fan behind the MB, if you decide to install one, you do need to be careful, as there isn't enough room for a standard 80mm fan. If you decide to put one there, it WILL need to be one of the 15mm low profile ones. Since you specified QUIET, this one would seem to fill the bill.
Newegg.com - SilenX IXP-52-11 80mm Case Fan - Case Fans

For me, the only thing that keeps the CM 690 from being absolutely perfect is the location of the USB/Firewire/Mic/headphone panel. I would have preferred to have them on the front panel as opposed to on the top of the case, as I have my EXOS2 sitting there and I can't use them. But, since I have an X-Fi Plat. with the 5.25" panel for my headset, and 4 USB ports on the base of my FW900 monitior, I don't really miss those anyway

__________________
When looking for a reason as to why things go wrong, never rule out sheer STUPIDITY

Judas

agree old buzzard... the CM690 with the usb/audio ports where they are mean for a bit of messy cabling and it's just not easily accessible... if they were to move them down near the bottom just below where the main front fan is..... it would be pretty much perfect

__________________

OmegaRED

The thing is, I already ordered the Q6600 and I none of the sites I use list an energy efficient model. I did look at the CM690 and read a great deal of positive things about it. I will look into it further once I have to decide on the case.

When it comes to computers I can install and fix just about any of my computer problems but I've always stayed away from installing my mb/cpu/psu because if there's any screwups in the install it often results in damage. It's so much easier to pay $50 bucks and have a computer store assemble it for me. I know, I know, this isn't quite in the spirit of DriverHeaven but I've read way too many posts from guys who spent hours troubleshooting and RMA'ing parts all because they made an error during installation...I want none of that

__________________

mike2h

lol, know what u mean. & $50 is a good price.

__________________

kris23

lol for an energy efficient Q6600 im assuming Z meant the SLACR G0 model, thats actually the most recent revision of Q6600 and the only one on the market thats still being produced. if you are going to a store to get a Q6600 then look at the box label to see if it says SLACR on it

__________________

kris23

yea the seek noise is a little loud, it seems normal since ive already been through 4 of them just to make sure its not an issue....

so pretty much im guessing its normal because i dont think ill be getting 4 bad drives in a row...

at any rate the caviar blacks are pretty nice, silent, even in those plastic drive racks of the 690.

havent benched them myself but they are shown to be an equivalent to the 7200.11s

__________________

lepel

The antec p182 is one very nice case. I have one myself, and I absolutely love it. It looks very classy, and the materials are just beautiful (so is the build quality). You don't have a side window to look at your hardware though, if you're into that thing.

The only issue I really had was fitting in my PC Power and Cooling 750W psu, but maybe that was clumsy me.

The rest of your specs are very nice as well. Gj

blibbax

I have snapped the retention bracket from my PCI-E slot . Gfx still holds in fine with screws at the back though. In fairness, this mobo in now on its fourth GPU.

__________________

RobertBruce

I'll be curious to know how your RAID setup works. I have the same board and it wont even boot when I tried RAID 0 with the same drives as you got.

swimtech

I can definitely vouch for the SLACR G0 Q6600 - nicely settled now at 3.2Ghz with the Freezer 7 cooler - would be noisier and hotter with the stock cooler. Runs everything I throw at it, and mine had a high VID (1.325) - but still easy as pie to OC stable on my mainboard. A good mainboard can help - I'm with Kris about the Nvidia chipset boards - I think a P45 Intel chipset board of good quality will serve you better overall. Solid regulation helps stability. Since you've already ordered though, just consider a move across if your board doesn't work out well for you.

I've benched the Samsung F1 320G and Caviar 640G drives together in my machine. The WD Caviar benches ever so slightly faster overall - can't tell a difference in performance though in any realistic way - they're virtually identical. The Samsung runs a little cooler and quieter, but mine is smaller than my WD, so. The Seagate 7200.11's are about the same too, better on throughput for large files especially - been their forte for years now...

__________________
It's not so much getting your way that matters or not - what matters is how you go about getting it.

Mac Daddy

Nope the Wolfdale series O/C's much better than the Q6600 some have the x11 multiplier... I should get my buddy GenRage on here to show you what he did with his 8200 .. CRAZY

__________________
"My mom said the only reason men are alive is for lawn care and vehicle maintenance." - Tim Allen

kris23

he means that the Q8200 is a poor OCer and the Q6600 is a better OCer

to elaborate, the Q6600 has a multiplier of 9 i believe

while the Q8200 has a multiplier of about 7

raise the FSB and the Q6600 is the absolute winner

__________________

Mac Daddy

Alrighty then lets see all the Q6600 CPU's O/Ced to over 3.2G stable on this thread

The E8600 Wolfdale has a multiplier of x11 as seen on this thread:
Current Prime95 (Anyone use?)

And Chai on TechARP is running his E8200 over 4G undervolted ....

Quad core CPU's simply don't O/C as well as Duos Bro !

__________________
"My mom said the only reason men are alive is for lawn care and vehicle maintenance." - Tim Allen

kris23

and when were we talking about dual cores? thats pretty much comparing oranges to orange slices...

were talking about the Q8200 not the E8200. of course dual-cores OC better than Quads, why else do we see so many of them over 3GHz stock and for low prices

if you want, you can ask ChaosMinionX to see his 4.0GHz Q6600 scores

__________________

Zardon

Im not really sure there is much more worth in dual core even at higher clocks. Games like GTA4 are already showing the additional power of a Quad. Im sure many will argue GTA4 isn't the best coding job, but im confident this will happen more in 2009 and onwards. Even older games like supreme commander showed huge gains with a Quad. This isn't even taking into consideration the benefits in a windows multitasking environment.