Advice on C2D 6600 build

reefshark888 · Post by **reefshark888** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 1:28 am

Hi,

I'm currently in the process of gathering parts for building a C2D e6600 system. I'd like some advice and comments if possible on the below system and especially from a cooling perspective.

I used to have an antec sonata I, and I've just recently replaced this with an Antec P150 (the detailed review here helped immensely). All I can say is wow... the difference between the sonata and p150 in terms of noise with my current setup is amazing. The suspended drive mounting systems is excellent. I've still got a stock noisy AMD xp cpu fan and nvidia 6600 stock GPU fan, even with these stock fans it's much quieter.

This site has been a tremendous assistance, it's a pity I didn't discover it earlier.

Iâ€™m in the process of gathering parts. This system I'm looking at building:

CPU: e6600 C2D
I'm not sure whether the ninja cooler is a great idea (due to the weight and in a tower PC). I'm looking at the SI-120, SI-128 or XP-120 Thermalright with a Nexus 120mm fan. I'm not entirely sure of the differences between these heatsinks, which one is newer or better optimised. Do you think this would be quiet and sufficient cooling for the above CPU? Does anyone have any views on the Thermalright MST-9775 ? Is there any successful passive cooling setups people are running with a similar setup to this ?

RAM: G.SKILL DDR2 Ram G.SKILL 2GB Kit (2x1024MB) F2-6400PHU2-2GBNR 5-5-5-15

MB: Asus MotherBoard Intel S775 Core 2 ASUS P5W DH Deluxe

Video: PCI-e (ATI) GeCube X1900XTX 512MB GDDR3 or Powercolor X1900XT
Still not sure what to do here, I don't know if there are any passive cooling solutions available for this type of card in Australia.

Intake Fan: I'm currently using a Glacialtech 92mm running at 1600rpm, although I'm not sure whether the nexus 92mm is better? I believe it is ball bearing and may have longer durability.

Exhaust Fan: Also looking at replacing the stock Antec 120mm with a Nexus 120mm ?

I should mention I'm primarily using the PC for gaming, and intend for it to be as quiet as possible.

I'm in Australia and there only seems to be one supplier of nexus fans, I'm considering placing an order soon.

Thanks everyone for your comments and advice.

Cheers,

Reef

moritz · Post by **moritz** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 4:17 am

Some thoughts to geth this thread started.

CPU: Note that the C2Ds are excellent overclockers. You could save some bucks by going with a 6400 or 6300 and running it at 6600 speeds. (The 6600 does have more cache. Check the link for game benchmarks.)

CPU Cooling: Any of the heatsinks you mention should be able to cool the CPU when running active. (Although I don't know if they're socket compatible.) They were all designed to cool much hotter CPUs. Passive cooling should be very possible, too, I'm pretty sure I read about somebody doing that with a Ninja. I'm actually wondering if the (much cheaper, and lighter) Scythe Katana will be able to passively cool a C2D.

RAM: Sounds like expensive RAM. Waste of money if you ask me. Also, if I recall correctly, PC2-5300 RAM is more suited to the C2D, because it runs synchronous to the CPU/FSB. I don't think there is a point to buying faster RAM unless you're overclocking by a large amount. There's another thread in the CPU forum going into a bit of detail about this.

MB: I think this is a popular C2D mainboard. Personally, I'll probably go for a 965 chipset, but that's just me. Does anybody know the specific up/downsides of both chipsets? Is the 965 just cheaper?

Post by **MikeC** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 6:40 am

moritz wrote:MB: I think this is a popular C2D mainboard. Personally, I'll probably go for a 965 chipset, but that's just me. Does anybody know the specific up/downsides of both chipsets? Is the 965 just cheaper?

I believe this board has better BIOS options for Vcore. The 975 chipset has been around a bit longer, so it may be more mature -- ie BIOS versions in mbs that use it are less buggy?

moritz wrote:CPU Cooling: Any of the heatsinks you mention should be able to cool the CPU when running active. (Although I don't know if they're socket compatible.) They were all designed to cool much hotter CPUs. Passive cooling should be very possible, too, I'm pretty sure I read about somebody doing that with a Ninja. I'm actually wondering if the (much cheaper, and lighter) Scythe Katana will be able to passively cool a C2D.

I doubt a Scythe Katana can passively cool a C2D -- not without case airflow that would bring overall noise to the same level as with a CPU fan -- in which case, why not just go for the added security of a fan on the HS?

Also, there's no problem running a Ninja in a tower /midtower setup. It's heavy but much of the weight is in the base. If you're that concerned, it's easy to rig up something like a ziptie support for the end of the HS.

moritz · Post by **moritz** » Sun Aug 20, 2006 6:50 am

MikeC wrote:I believe this board has better BIOS options for Vcore. The 975 chipset has been around a bit longer, so it may be more mature -- ie BIOS versions in mbs that use it are less buggy?

If I recall correctly, the 965 was designed with the Core 2 Duo in mind and is based on the 65 nm process. Maybe it could possibly use less power because of that? I know that some 975 boards don't work with the C2D, because Intel was nice enough to make a minor change in the requirements for the new CPU, I think wrt a power saving feature. Clearly the ASUS works, though, and I guess most other 975 mainboards are fixed either by a BIOS update or a PCB revision. Don't take my word on any of this though, the probability that I mixed something up is fairly high.

reefshark888 · Post by **reefshark888** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 5:09 am

Thanks all for the replies. I've ordered a ninja with some nexus fans.

cmthomson · Post by **cmthomson** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 11:20 am

You won't go wrong with that set of components, although the Ninja is overkill and an XP-120 is entirely adequate, much smaller, and cools the NB if the fan is blowing up. Connecting the power around a Ninja will likely cost you some knuckle skin.

I've read some amazing hype about the 965 being better for C2D than the 975, but I think it's BS. The 965 doesn't let you adjust the DRAM parameters on any of the motherboards I've looked at, and of course lacks Crossfire/SLI (for those who care). Plus Anandtech and other performance reviews show no difference when run in the same configuration.

jackylman · Post by **jackylman** » Mon Aug 21, 2006 11:30 am

moritz wrote:
MikeC wrote:I believe this board has better BIOS options for Vcore. The 975 chipset has been around a bit longer, so it may be more mature -- ie BIOS versions in mbs that use it are less buggy?
If I recall correctly, the 965 was designed with the Core 2 Duo in mind and is based on the 65 nm process. Maybe it could possibly use less power because of that? I know that some 975 boards don't work with the C2D, because Intel was nice enough to make a minor change in the requirements for the new CPU, I think wrt a power saving feature. Clearly the ASUS works, though, and I guess most other 975 mainboards are fixed either by a BIOS update or a PCB revision.

Intel changed the VRM for Conroe, so only a revision of a board would make it compatible, not a BIOS update. The 975X boards generally have more features and are geared for OC'ing. The downside is the cost.

If I was buying a Conroe today, I would get a 965X board because they don't have as many unnecessary bells and whistles and they support the ICH8 Southbridge.

reefshark888 · Post by **reefshark888** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 8:14 am

Well I've just managed to get one of the pcs together, and without the cover I'm very impressed. I can barely notice the PC is even on (until the x1900xtx jet engine winds up for POST haha).

The Ninja in combination with the nexus CPU, exhaust and intake fans in this case are amazing. I've also got fanmate 2s hooked up as well.

CPU was running around 23 degrees C at bootup. Impressive.

Oh, and I managed to convince my Wife to connect the 4 pin power plug next to the ninja (she has really small hands and offered to do it). The ninja install was more straightforward than I expected.

Thanks again all for this awesome website and forums, which I've learnt so much. I didn't even know the nexus or ninja exist before I came here.

Cheers,

Reef

vitaminc · Post by **vitaminc** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 8:31 am

try one of the arctic cooling hsf for your x1900xt to shut that broken jet engine off.

http://www.arctic-cooling.com/vga2.php?idx=90

And if its not too late, change ur RAM to HZ instead of NR. HZ overclocks much much much better.

RPost · Post by **RPost** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 8:35 am

I would suggest a Zalman VF900 for your x1900xtx if you have good airflow in your case, it's nice and quiet (compared to the jet engine).

reefshark888 · Post by **reefshark888** » Sat Aug 26, 2006 5:40 am

Ok, I bought a zalman vf900. I also experimented with the fan speeds using the bios control (not using the fan mate). Then I decided to make up an adapter from the standard MB fan connector to the video card fan connector. Now the ATI card is controlling the fan. It works great and temps are good.

cmthomson · Post by **cmthomson** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 10:48 am

I'm taking back my comment about the Ninja being overkill. The XP-120 is fine if you're running stock or close to it, but I had to go back to a Ninja when I cranked up my 6600 to 345 MHz FSB (which needed vCore of 1.45v). At this voltage and speed, the CPU is consuming 50% more power than at stock.

reefshark888 · Post by **reefshark888** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 10:53 pm

Well after running these new machines, I removed the video fan control for the zalman and ran it back as standard. I've found the temps much lower. Using the stock fan speed (without the fan mate) the x1900xtx is running at 39degC idle and peaks at around 73degC during a long oblivion session. I was using riva tuner as a monitoring tool. Ambient temp is 22degC

This is at least 10 degrees cooler than stock, and at least 15 degrees cooler under load at the peak. With the Zalman running at 2500 RPM in standard form with the above setup, it's not really that noticeable.

Hard drive is running at 35 deg C (seagate 7200).

I did also notice a noise difference between the nexus 92mm front intake fan and the Glacialtech 92mm. I'm going to experiment running two 92mm intake fans and see if this changes the video or MB temps.

I may install the fan mate for the video card and experiement with temps and fan speeds.

All in all the PC is almost not noticable, super quiet and super fast.