New system purchase - comments and critique needed please

[ericdo]

Hello all

Log time lurker here. Serious thanks to this board. Some great info coming from some knowledgeable people

Finally getting my act together. Desperately need a new PC.

The days of big, bold and noisy cases (Lian Li PC90 with 6 case fans) are over!

My kitlist is below along with requirements and Probable Purchase and cost in GBP

New Hardware
Case black - quiet Antec P180B - Black £71.07
Power Supply Quiet – Lots of SATA connections. Min 6. Modular Corsair 620 - £86.52
CPU C2D. No overclocking required. Good value v performance E6600 £189.90
RAM 2GB (2x 1GB) OCZ (OCZ2P800R22GK) 2GB Kit (2x1GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 CL 4-4-4-15 PLATINUM XTC (LIFETIME WARRANTY) £121.19
Motherboard ideally 8 SATA. 6 HDDs and 2 DVD, Plenty USB, fan control, 1000Mbps, fanless - NB Fans have died twice in the past Asus P5B Deluxe WIFI Socket 775 Core 2 Duo P965 FSB1066 DDR2 SATA Audio ATX £123.00
graphics card Fanless. No gaming. Some video and TV use. Must run 2 monitors at 1600x1200 - i.e. 3200x1200 512MB XFX 7600GS PCI-E(x16) Mem 533MHz GPU 400MHz 12Pipes Dual DVI/HDTV SLi Passive Cooling £78.73
DVD Burner SATA Lightscribe Liteon??
DVD Black SATA 16x Liteon SATA DVD-RW Black £23.44
Cooler Fanless if possible scythe ninja version 3 ninja revB £26.97
TV Tuner Terratec Cinergy 2400i DT £54.00
Total £774.83

Existing Hardware
HDDs 2x Seagate 750GB, 2x HGST 250GB


Notes
I’m aware that the 620W Corsair is overkill but I love the 8 SATA power connection. Eventually I want everything to be SATA
I’m not planning on buying any more HDDs. The ones I have must do.
I don’t have a tight budget, but I don’t want to waste money

Some questions that I have are
1. I have not bought RAM in a few years. I seem to remember that CAS 2 or 3 was good. Is the OCZ mentioned above OK?
2. Been reading about some problems with the P5Bs and speedfan. Is this something to worry about? To me the ideal is to have a systems automatically manage it's own fan speed depending on temperature experienced. If I can't get speedfan to work, is the ASUS hardware monitoring OK?
3. If a graphics card is listed as dual dual link – does it mean that each of the ports can sustain 1600x1200. I think it will? Am I correct in saying that a 512MB card is better for my dual screen setup than a 256MB card that runs a little faster?
4. I have not found a SATA Lightscribe burner that I want yet. HP do one, but I’ll stay away. Will wait for a while until the Liteon or Samsung available. I would have preferred a slot loading DVD. Has anyone seen an SATA slot loader?
5. Is the Ninja 3 Rev B Compatible with the P5B? Seems on the Scythe site if there are problems touching capacitors, it must be turned 90 degrees. Can someone please confirm that the Ninja will fit and that I can run it fanless on the E6600.
6. Does anyone have a view on SATA cable lengths from the mobo to the bottom HDD tray? Do you think straight ones are better than the 90 degree angled connectors for this setup?

Are there any other comments or suggestions on my setup?

My plan is to build it using stock coolers first, and then do some research on how to make the case fans quieter, consider removing fan grills, and see if I really need the mid case fan below (I suspect I will given the number of HDDs). Is it worth getting some acoustiplugs or replacement fans now?

Cheers

Eric

[sitalchauhan]

I remember reading somewhere that that OCZ platinum XTC memory has incompatability problems with the P5B motherboard. Have a search around and you will probably find some more info if my memory serves me correct.

Also, they have since released a revision 2 of the memory (not sure if incompatability fixed though). It is called the "OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC2-6400 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2". You can purchase it here:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showprodu ... =MY-072-OC

Personally, I would get the E6300 and with the money saved, get the P5W-DH Deluxe which works perfect with speedfan and has no incompatabilties with OCZ memory.

[ericdo]

Thanks - Had a quick look at the P5W - looks good. Especially from a speedfan and OCZ point of view. I do have some concern over the reduced SATA connectors and use of SIL chipset. Do you think it is better to have all SATA devices on a single chip?

The extra £8 on the mobo won't break the bank so I'll stick with the E6600.

Will do some further research today on memory and mobo compatability

Cheers

[sitalchauhan]

Personally, I would rather go for a Seasonic M12-600 OR 500W PSU as it has 8 sata connections (same as the corsair), which i think is more than enough, and also runs MUCH quieter than the corsair hx. I believe that the corsair will be the loudest component in your system, unless your hard drives are particularly noisy. Here is a url to the seasonic:

http://www.seasonicusa.com/m12.htm

The P5W-DH has 6 sata connections. You have 6 sata components (4 HD's and 2 optical drives) so there is no shortage problem at all. However, I am not sure if it is really necessary for you to run all 4 of the hard drives internally unless you are contantly accessing them all. I would run 1/2 of them externally though an eSATA hard drive enclosure so that there are less internally, therefore reducing temperatures in the case, and there would be no loss in speed with the HD as it is using eSATA which runs the same speed as SATA. Also, eSATA is hotswappable so you can plug it in and out when u like.

It does not matter whether all of your sata devices are on different chips or all on the same chip. It has no difference at all (unless of course you want to run RAID. I am not sure as I have never run a RAID setup, but I think to run HDs in RAID it is better to keep them on the same chipset).

Here is a picture of the location and number of each of the components on the P5W-DH which you may find useful:

http://www.sitalchauhan.pwp.blueyonder. ... Layout.JPG

I am building a very similar system to yours but with a few extras such as monitors and stuff so it costs a bit more, but without the extras I think the main base unit is about the same price budget as yours. I have been doing research for a LONG time (years infact) so I think I have got the best components currently available for my needs. The only real difference between mine and your needs are that you do not play games, so you only needs to get 7600GT passive card.

I have already recieved the Windowed P180B from KustomPCs and I can say it is perfect! The window is way better than I expected. It is even better than I would have expected if it was manufactured straight from Antec, which is saying something! However, I know quite a few people dont like windows here because they claim that they let some sound leak through, but personally for me I cannot tell the difference, my pc still runs in almost silence. Here is the URL:

http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/info_1007.html

MAIN BASE UNIT:

• Antec P180B Windowed (From KustomPCs)
  Asus P5W DH Deluxe WiFi (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
  Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail
  Scythe Ninja Plus Rev.B Heatpipe CPU Cooler (478/754/939/940/AM2/LGA755)
  Seasonic M12 Modular 600W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply
  OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC2-6400 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 (OCZ2P800R22GK)
  BFG GeForce 8800 GTX OC 768MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
  Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB 5000AAKS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM
  Samsung SH-W183 18x18 DVD±RW Serial ATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM
  NEC AD7170S Serial ATA 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM
  Sony Floppy Drive - Black

EXTRAS:

• 2x Sunbeam Rheobus Black
  Saitek Eclipse 2 Illuminated Keyboard - Blue/Red/Purple
  Samsung SM226BW 22" Widescreen Monitor
  5x Yate Loon D12SL-12
  5x Akasa SATA II Day Glo Blue UV 45cm
  Akasa Rounded Floppy UV Day-Glo 0.45m Blue
  Logitech G7 Carbon Special Edition
  Ratpadz XT
  Logitech X-530
  Arctic Silver 5
  ArtiClean

If you have any questions about anything at all, ask I and I will try my best.

I see that you are in the UK like myself. In my opinion and with past experiences, the best companies to purchase from are Scan and KustomPCs as they have excellent customer service and 100% hastle-free returns and RMAs. OverclockersUK are also very good as they have a very large range of components.

I am importing the Yate Loons from jabtech in the usa, as the fans are extremely cheap in the US and their shipping charges are also very low. I will be getting the fans from the US for about £3.60 each (including shipping), which is WAY cheaper than from ordering within the UK (almost half the price). The yate loon fans are the same as the nexus fans, but the nexus fans are basically the yate loons running at 7V. I am going to use the sunbeam rheobus to run the yate loons at 5v, which is exactly the same as running a nexus at 7V. You could use speedfan to do the exact same thing by reducing their rpm.

I am also importing my RatpadzXT direct from Ratpadz as I have used one of these mousepads before and they are superb. Their shipping is very reasonable. It is going to cost me £15 in total including postage to the UK.

Sital

[ericdo]

Sital

Thanks for great advice!

I've had a good think today about what the aims of this system are. Previously I've always bought super high end expensive stuff, just to have it depreciate by the time it's shipped.
My aims for this system are to build a good stable system that is as quiet as possible. My study is next to my 9 month old's room, and I want to focus on silence..

So today while mulling this over I decided that I would change to the 500W Corsair. Energy efficient, cheaper, and I can always use power adapters and cable it real tidy. So that is kinda in line with your suggestion to go to the Seasonic M12 500. There is a £30 difference on ebuyer though. So the Corsair it is. Also the Corsair just pips the M12 in the recommended PSU list

When I saw your sig this AM I saw a windowed P180. I had seen them at Kustom PC, and wondered if you got yours there.. My Old Lian Li is a massive windowed tower with neon light inside....So I thought about it for half a second, but again it does not fit with what I want out of this PC. Also I’m not going to show mine off. It’s going to be hidden under a desk – not worth the extra £50 or so. I would be very interested to see a pic of yours once it’s all built.

For the motherboard. I reckon I’m going to stick with the PB5 Deluxe and buy memory that is Asus tested on their QVL. Worried about warnings on the ASUS site that earlier version of the P5W board need a BIOS upgrade to run C2D. This will give me the extra SATA port too.
Hoping to find one without Wi-Fi otherwise I will disable it. Some progress has been made on getting speedfan to work on the P5B. If I have no joy, I will get some in line resistors.

Memory. Going off the ASUS List I am going for Corsair Twin2X2048-6400C4. There are a number of positive compatibility reports with both the P5B and E6600. Thanks for pointing the OCZ problem out.

Are you getting a card reader? I saw this on ebuyer and think it will do the trick. I am not going to get a floppy.

Artic Silver - Good Point!!!

Suppliers – I am buying most of my components from Scan and ebuyer. Where are you getting the Ninja from? I can’t work out from Scan site if they are selling the RevB.

The only component I am still undecided on is the video card. Despite my promises not to waste money, something is drawing me to the XFX 512Mb fanless 7950GT. It is 194.80 at Scan. Another part of me wants to get the 7600 fanless and wait to see if the 8600s come in a fanless version.... must decide soon though. I want to get building this weekend.

Let me know how your build goes

Eric

[~El~Jefe~]

it is very obvious that regardless of the power you need for a new system, a corsair 620 is the best option if its affordable. It is quieter than a seasonic whatever. so why not? some low low watters are decent but his system is going to kick up some power here and there. it will cause a low watter psu to ramp up and ruin a good setup.

I just bought the 620 for a system that needs like 250 watts max. Why? eh, why not. 5 year warranty, modular, quietest and when I get a r600 ati card it will run it perfectly without getting loud.

the best psu for him is what I have in this rig, a phantom 350 fanless. but, its not really around anymore it appears. it has a pci-e cable in it to run a mid-higher end card that needs the extra juice. It doesnt have the headroom for sli setups though or for like a new r600 ati card. 620 is where it is at. The packaging and build of it is amazing. Comes with canvas bag for modular cables, lots of bling... was thoroughly impressed!

Liteon SUX.

plextor 760a or 760sa if you dare the sata optical route (some board imcompatibility if you ever hit the raid hd button.)

So far, nothing anecdotally is quieter. it has plextools which can tweak the drive to the bare minimum slow speeds and is smooth running in general. I have been talking to clubcdfreaks people and this is the best advice I have for a dvdrw/combo cd drive.

that cpu is cutting edge. it's a sweet assed chip.

[SockToy]

Just a note that the P5b fan control sucks. IF you want control you'll want a bay controller.