Critique my Nehalem system

[haysdb]

• Case: Antec p182 (or Cooler Master Cosmos)
• Power Supply: Enermax Modu82+ 525w (or Corsair 520HX)
• CPU: Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem
• CPU cooler: Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme 1366 RT or HR-01 Plus with a "1366 Bolt-through kit" and a Scythe fan.
• Motherboard: Asus P6T (not Deluxe)
• Memory: Corsair Dominator 3x1GB (or OCZ)
• Video card: Asus EN9600GT Silent
• Hard drive: Western Digital Caviar Black 640 GB (the 300 GB VelociRaptor is a bit to rich for my blood)
• Optical drive: LG DVD burner (possibly Blu-ray drive, but I'll probably do that later)

None of the following is all that important, it's just me rambling on.

This is not my first build, but it's only maybe my 3rd, the last one a Northwood 2.4 ago (about 6 years I think). Just FYI.

I will probably play around with overclocking, because I can, but I won't be trying to set any records. I built my current system, which is now about 6 years old, with the same idea and ended up setting everything back to stock, but it has run 24x7 since (I've run Folding at Home constantly for almost all of that time) and it has never given me a bit of trouble. I don't mind spending a bit more for the peace of mind that my hardware is capable of more than I'm asking it to do. Whether the cost is $1200 or $1300 isn't a big deal.

I don't even BEGIN to "need" this kind of machine, but I figure my current machine has lasted 6 years, and I will probably keep my next one at least that long, so I might as well do it up right. I tend not to "upgrade" except to maybe add memory or a new video card.

From what I have read, memory beyond about 2 GB doesn't result in a performance increase. I'll put in however much makes sense, but I don't see the point in putting in more than I'll need for the next couple of years, so I'm going with 3x1GB. I'm open to convincing arguments for a 3x2GB kit.

The Caviar "Black" isn't the one typically recommended for a quiet system, but I'm pushing for the best HD performance I can get short of spending $230 on a VelociRaptor. I don't need that kind of capacity in my boot drive, but based on my research the 640 GB Caviar Black is one of the top performing drives around and should still be relatively quiet because it's only two platters. If I have to I'll stick in it in a case. The boot drive won't be my only storage. I have an external 750 GB drive which is nearly full of stuff copied off my Tivo and I will probably build some kind of media server to expand on that.

I don't need a case the size of the p182, inasmuch as I don't plan on stuffing it with storage, but I haven't found anything smaller that's attractive, quiet, and accommodates a full ATX board. The Cosmos is even bigger, but I kind of like the look. Actually, I'd hate the look except it serves a functional purpose. Now, the 1100 "Race Car" case is a bit over the top IMO, but the 1000 is OK.

I'm not a gamer so I don't need a 9600 GT graphics card, but I think it's cool looking and I'm not up enough on GPUs to know what else to pick that would be appropriate. But it only costs $100, so it's not like I'm going to save a boatload of money by picking a different card.

I slightly prefer the Enermax PSU to the Corsair because it's a bit more efficient and I can monitor the fan speed. It's not a LOT more expensive than the Corsair. I expect 525W will be PLENTY.

[haysdb]

What is the difference between the A6T Deluxe and the non-deluxe?

With the p182 case, should the HSF be mounted to blow toward the back fan or toward the top fan? It seems to me that blowing straight up would do a better job of getting rid of the heat. OTOH, my cat might decide to lay on top which would trap the heat inside, so maybe I'll play it safe and leave it blowing toward the back.

I'm a bit concerned about not having any air blowing across the motherboard or on the graphics card. Comments? Suggestions?

[Olle P]

What is the difference between the A6T Deluxe and the non-deluxe?

The de Luxe edition adds a remote display/controller fro the mobo.

Cheers
Olle

[haysdb]

A couple of changes:

• Case: SilverStone FT-01B
• Power Supply: Enermax Modu82+ 625w
• Motherboard: ???

I've started ordering parts. The Asus video card arrived today. It's a cool looking card. I went with the Thermalright 120 eXtreme 1366 RT cpu cooler. I'm sure the Noctua is just as good and it's a lot less expensive, but I just had a higher comfort level with the Thermalright.

I like the EVGA X58 board but I have misgivings about the actively cooled Northbridge. I haven't read anything that indicated the little fan was a screamer, but if everyone is using an actively cooled video card, they'd never hear the NB fan.

[ekerazha]

Why did you change the case?

[relitz]

If you want a smaller case that still takes an ATX board and has a clean look, maybe you should look into getting the Lian Li A05B, unless you've already ordered the case.

[haysdb]

That Lian Li case is similar to the case I have now, which is a Lian Li something or other, but with a traditional layout of PSU on top and 80mm fans. They managed to cut 2.5" off the height through clever packaging, placing the PSU in the front of the case. That's something I would have never thought of doing.

I was not aware of the Silverstone case when I was debating between the P182 and Cosmos cases. The P182 was a bit bigger than I wanted and the Cosmos was a LOT bigger than I wanted, but they came the closest to satisfying my criteria. The FT-01 comes closer still and I just like it the best. It has a few warts, but so do the other two. I had to pick which warts I had to look at every day.

Something else that I think played a factor were the pictures of the P183. It incorporates some features I would want, in particular shifting the HDD cages back just enough that fans can be placed in front, but would in turn force me to accept a case I personally find unattractive. In my opinion, assuming that's really what the new P183 will look like, they Aztec'ed it. Not choosing the P182 is my silent protest over what they did to it.

[haysdb]

Things have kind of stalled. I decided I wanted the Asus P6T Deluxe and have been waiting...and waiting...and waiting for the V2 board. I really wish I knew WHY there even IS a V2 board, but that's a subject for a different thread. But you know, if there's a version 1.0 and a version 2.0 of anything, I want the version 2. It's automatically "better," right?

I did order memory. $140 (after rebate) for 6GB of Mushkin "blue" was too good to pass up so I jumped on that. I was going with some fast 1600 MHz memory (Corsair Dominator) but it finally sunk in that I'd need a pretty stout over-clock to run my memory at 1600. At say 3.4 GHz, 1333 memory is enough and the Mushkin blue, rated at 9-9-9-24 @1600 will run at 7-7-7-20 @1333 according to one review I read. And in any case, that 1% improvement in performance is not something I'll miss, and definitely not worth the additional $90 to me.

So I have DECIDED on everything, and I'm just waiting to order the cpu, hard drive, and optical drive until I order the motherboard.

Curiously I configured a system from one of the "quiet" companies today, just to see how much it would have cost to just buy one assembled, and their component selection was identical to mine with only three minor differences: (1) They use a full tower Silverstone case vs. my mid-tower FT01. (2) They use an 800W Zalman PSU. I'm using a 625W Enermax. (3) They use a different CPU cooler. Big woop, I have a Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme and a Sythe Mugen to choose from. I'll put either of those up against their Nexus FLC3000. They wanted over $3000 for the same system I'm building for $1400. Nice markup. Of course, with all the time I have spent and will spend, that still values my time at about 50 cents an hour!

[haysdb]

Good question. I'm glad you asked.

When I found out how valuable a fast GPU is for folding, I decided to add a second card. The good passive VGA coolers (AC Twin Turbo, Thermalright T-rad2, Scythe Musashi) all end up requiring 3 slots, and the P6T Deluxe is unique (or very nearly so) in being able to accommodate two 3-slot graphics cards AND still leave a PCI-e x4 slot open for...whatever down the road - without blocking the cooling of either of the two video cards.

The plain p6T, IF there were two-slot cards that could be used 3-across, shoulder to shoulder, i.e. tri-SLI but just not run in SLI mode, and not run loud and/or hot, would be a great board, but with two 3-slot cards, it's tri-SLI-friendly slot arrangement becomes less than optimal.

And this is stupid but it just irks me that the regular P6T has only two motherboard headers for chassis fans. That means I'd have to run one of the three directly to the PSU, with a 3-pin to 4-pin adapter, and plug in a modular cable just for that fan because I don't think I'll need 12V for anything else. The cable mess is big enough without dipshit stuff like that.

[Gedd]

Things have kind of stalled. I decided I wanted the Asus P6T Deluxe and have been waiting...and waiting...and waiting for the V2 board. I really wish I knew WHY there even IS a V2 board, but that's a subject for a different thread. But you know, if there's a version 1.0 and a version 2.0 of anything, I want the version 2. It's automatically "better," right?

I'm far from an expert on the topic, but I came across several posts on this subject. When I first looked at the P6T Deluxe, one of the things that popped out to me was the SAS controller, which I'd never use. Apparently a lot of people felt the same way and let Asus know about it. So the V2 board is supposed to drop the SAS controller for a couple more SATA ports and be a little bit cheaper.

Whether or not there are any "fixes" which would make it better than the V1 board is anyone's guess.

[haysdb]

Two things:

1. The SAS ports were backwards compatible with SATA, so in effect they were SATA ports already.
2. The pictures I have seen of the V2 board, including those on Asus' own website, shows an empty space where the SAS ports used to be, and the specs confirm that there are now "just" 6 SATA ports. That's enough for me, but in the arms race it is less than about any other board in the $300 price range. The vanilla P6T has 8.

There are explanations for the existence of the V2 board that would be simple, logical, and reasonable, but Asus has offered none except the subterfuge of claiming it's customer demand that caused them to drop the SAS ports. That just doesn't pass the sniff test.

Here's an example of an explanation that I would find simple, logical, and reasonable:

The SAS ports were causing us a bit of a support headache so we decided to drop the SAS chip from that board in order to reduce costs, increase our profit margins, and eliminate a burden on our overwhelmed support staff.

Fat chance but if they said that, I would feel comforted that I wouldn't be missing out on anything and would order a P6T Deluxe today.

[haysdb]

Not that anyone really cares, but here is the updated list of components for my system:

• Case: Silverstone Fortress FT01B
• PSU: Enermax Modu82+ 625w
• CPU: Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem
• CPU cooler: Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme 1366 RT or Scythe Mugen (I have both)
• Mobo: Asus P6T Deluxe V2
• RAM: Mushkin 6GB HP3-12800
• VGA: Asus EN9600GT Silent
• HDD: Western Digital Caviar SE-16 640 GB
• DVD: Pioneer DVR-216DBK DVD burner

Everything is in hand or on order except the motherboard and i7 processor.

[FartingBob]

Should be a very quick system!

[clubhouse]

Two things:

1. The SAS ports were backwards compatible with SATA, so in effect they were SATA ports already.
2. The pictures I have seen of the V2 board, including those on Asus' own website, shows an empty space where the SAS ports used to be, and the specs confirm that there are now "just" 6 SATA ports. That's enough for me, but in the arms race it is less than about any other board in the $300 price range. The vanilla P6T has 8.

There are explanations for the existence of the V2 board that would be simple, logical, and reasonable, but Asus has offered none except the subterfuge of claiming it's customer demand that caused them to drop the SAS ports. That just doesn't pass the sniff test.

Too bad they are dropping the SAS ports in the v2 because I was planing on building a system very similar to yours, but I would use 2xSAS 15000rpm hard drives in RAID0.

I think I'm gonna have to use a P6T WS Pro...

[clubhouse]

Not that anyone really cares, but here is the updated list of components for my system:

• Case: Silverstone Fortress FT01B
• PSU: Enermax Modu82+ 625w
• CPU: Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem
• CPU cooler: Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme 1366 RT or Scythe Mugen (I have both)
• Mobo: Asus P6T Deluxe V2
• RAM: Mushkin 6GB HP3-12800
• VGA: Asus EN9600GT Silent
• HDD: Western Digital Caviar SE-16 640 GB
• DVD: Pioneer DVR-216DBK DVD burner

So far this is the system I'm thinking of building myself:

• Case: Antec P182
• PSU: Silverstone Nightjar ST45NF fanless
• CPU: Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem
• CPU cooler: Scythe Mugen v2
• Mobo: Asus P6T or P6T WS Pro depending on hard drive decision
• RAM: Corsair 6GB (3x2GB) XMS3 DDR3 PC3-10666 (1333)
• VGA: Asus HD4350 Silent (native HDMI output)
• HDD: big question mark. I'm dying to get 2 SAS 15000rpm hard drives and install them in RAID0, but I read their noise is too loud. So I'm also considering getting a PCIe RAID card, probably the Dell PERC 5 with 256Mb RAM, then I might connect 2 VelociRaptor 150 GB to it, in RAID0.
• DVD: Lite-On DVD-RW

[haysdb]

Intel just lowered prices on their Solid State Drives. Still way too rich for my blood, but for those with the resources to consider a pair of VelociRaptors, the new prices might be tempting.