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New rig in the making


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Heya guys

I'm finally getting myself a new rig built and I'd just like some suggestions and input on the parts I've selected.

New parts:

Case: iCute JET XL

Power supply: Antec True 550W EPS12V

CPU: Intel Pentium 4 640 3.2 GHz (800MHz FSB 2mb cache) Processor LGA775 w/Intel Cooler

Motherboard: ASUS P5AD2-DELUXE LGA775 P4 I925X

Memory: 2 x 1024MB CORSAIR VALUE SELECT TWIN PACK PC-4200 240-PIN DDR2

Videocard: LEADTEK GEFORCE 6800GT 256MB PCI-X16 VIDEO CARD

This to be coupled up with my excisting 17" monitor, harddrives and optical drives.

Anyone have any input on the system in question or see any problems with the config?

Snow

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the only change i would sugest is in the gcard. if your mobo supports PCI-E i would go the ati X800XT. other than that she looks as sweet as.........noh i wont finish that line

cheers......

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Fair enough that the case might not be the prettiest one around but it does do the job, wife's oldest kid has the identical case for his system and it run's perfectly. Got pretty darn good cooling straight from the factory aswell, 1 12cm fan and 3 8cm fans. Planning to run the system with the stock intel cpu fan to start off with just to see how warm it runs, if it's to warm for my liking I'll invest in some new fan + heatsink and swap the side mounted 8cm fan out for a 12cm one :devil:

@Deks: Wasn't there some reported problems with the latest ATI cards and VBS1?

@NYR: the PSU that I have picked is PCI E compatible according to ANTEC's website, besides I can't find the Truepower 2 at the sites I"ll be buying from.

Anyways, my thinking from last night has changed somewhat...was thinking more about getting more bang for the buck now instead of a few months down the track. When I picked the system I had to chose inbetween the extra 1gig of ram or picking a 6800Ultra instead of the 6800GT, the difference in price inbetween the graphics cards are just about identical to the price of 1gig of ram.

I've come to realise now though that I'm most likely better off just getting the 1 gig of ram and picking the faster 6800Ultra card...getting the extra 1 gig of RAM would be heaps cheaper and easier to explain to the wife in 4 months time than getting a new videocard would be :whistle:

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i havent heard of any probs with the ati cards. dan runs an X800XL PCI-E in his with very good results. dont get me wrong, i dont hate nvidia cards, just after having both, i feel the ati provide better results. alot of reviews i read show ati

ahead of nvidia on most fronts.

as for the ram V gcard, i agree with going the better card over more ram. a gig of ram is sufficient for nearly anything you through at it. and as for vbs performance, i believe the gcard to be more benificial than ram, especially when you have a gig on tap.

cheers......

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Dunno where I've heared that but after posting I checked up the VBS1 forums and it seems there are plenty of ppl running high end ATI cards without any problems.

As far as the Nvidia Vs ATI thing...I've been an a faithful Nvidia man apart from the odd flings with other cards in the past..things like Cyrix (??), Matrox Millenium and a Vodoo Banshee...gosh those were the days :rofl:

And I'm sure I can sell a $200 RAM upgrade in a few months to the wife just that little bit easier than a $900 videocard upgrade :whistle:;)

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Yeah, upgrading vid cards is WAY more expensive than upping ram.

The system looks VERY good man! Wish I had a 6800Ultra... but that's WAY to expensive for a 16-year-old(For all you Aussies, no I haven't graduated HS yet, we do that @ 17-18 down here.) that only get's paid 5.80 an hour with a part-time job.

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As far as the Nvidia Vs ATI thing...I've been an a faithful Nvidia man apart from the odd flings with other cards in the past..things like Cyrix (??), Matrox Millenium and a Vodoo Banshee...gosh those were the days :rofl:

ATI vs NVIDIA = Much ado about nothing. Some games run better on ATI some better on NVIDIA and it will be that way from now on. If you've had good luck with NVIDIA stay with them as both cards you mentioned are top notch cards.
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Case: iCute JET XL

Power supply: Antec True 550W EPS12V

CPU: Intel Pentium 4 640 3.2 GHz (800MHz FSB 2mb cache) Processor LGA775 w/Intel Cooler

Motherboard: ASUS P5AD2-DELUXE LGA775 P4 I925X

Memory: 2 x 1024MB CORSAIR VALUE SELECT TWIN PACK PC-4200 240-PIN DDR2

Videocard: LEADTEK GEFORCE 6800GT 256MB PCI-X16 VIDEO CARD

Here are my humble suggestions :P

Case: Do you know if the iCute case is made of aluminum or steel? If you are spending that much on a case, I would get an aluminum one as it can make a diff of a few degrees in your CPU and GPU

PSU: You won't go wrong with Antec at 550W

Mobo: If you're getting a GF6800U, have you thought about getting a mobo that supports SLI? Nvidia has announced their nForce4 Intel Edition. I don't think it's out in stores yet, but should be soon. Reviews:

http://www.slizone.com/content/slizone/reviews.html

RAM: If you're not interested in SLI, you should consider getting a Intel 915 board which supports DDR1. DDR1 is much cheaper and runs at much lower latencies (2-2-2-5) which DDR2 cannot match. The benefits of the faster 925X chipset are pretty much negated by the higher latency DDR2 RAM. There is low latency DDR2 RAM now but you will pay a premium.

Vid Card: Can't go wrong with a 6800U. Just remember it takes up 2 slots and can be a bit noisy. You might as well make sure you get a SLI certified card too.

Also, you have to decide if it's worth paying the extra $100 for a 6800U to get ~10 fps more than a 6800GT in most newer games at hi-res, especially since the same price will get you the new Nvidia G70 chip by the fall.

With such a powerful rig, I'd go with the DDR1 and 6800GT and use the money you save to upgrade your 17" monitor to a 20" LCD or 21" flat CRT :thumbsup:

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Well..the first order has been sent, only containing the case and powersupply. Just waiting for confirmation and to see the money's been taken out of my visa card before I order the rest.

@CR6: Like the way you assume I know anything about modern components...lol If we were talking parts for a 486 or similar I'd probably know what you are talking about but I've unfortunately fallen way behind in the curve here :wall:

This rig will mainly be used for 3D work and the occational game of VBS1, just a shame really that I can't afford getting myself a Quadro card but that expence I can't justify. And as for SLI, I most likely won't be able to afford another upgrade for a couple of years so buying SLI components when I most likely won't be able to utilise it feels like a waste.

The 6800U instead of the 6800GT is mostly because I want to get an as powerful card as I can now...that way I can't second guess myself a few months down the track and it should hold up pretty well for the applications I put it through for atleast 2 years.

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Finally got the last shippment of stuff for the new rig :devil: Just got to get the courage up to start putting this thing together now :unsure: Always afriad I'm going to plugg something in wrong and fry the whole thing :(

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Always afriad I'm going to plugg something in wrong and fry the whole thingĀ  :(

The biggest danger in building your computer is static electricity, so don't worry as long as you

1) Don't work on carpet

2) Unplug your case

3) If you want to be extra careful, use an anti-static wrist band

Have fun and enjoy the process of building your own system! :thumbsup:

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It's finally up and running! :rocky:

After some headaches with getting the RAID interface to accept my IDE drives I've finally got it working. So far just the onboard sound that doesn't want to accept it's drivers but I'll have to feddle more with that tomorrow.

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Sound issue fixed :rocky: Was just a matter of downloading the latest drivers from the ASUS website and use them instead of the drivers supplied on the installation cd.

Looks like I got a slightly different mobo than the one I originally had picked though, an upgraded version of it :D

I ordered: ASUS P5AD2-DELUXE LGA775 P4 I925X

And got :ASUS P5AD2-E-DELUXE LGA775 P4 I925XE

Just alittle suprised with how cool this system runs, fair enough it's pretty cool ambient temps here now but it sits comfortably at around 37 C at idle and highest recorded temp while testing has been 52C. That's just a fraction warmer than my old P4 1.8 system ran :blink:

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I ordered: ASUS P5AD2-DELUXE LGA775 P4 I925X

And got :ASUS P5AD2-E-DELUXE LGA775 P4 I925XE

Just alittle suprised with how cool this system runs, fair enough it's pretty cool ambient temps here now but it sits comfortably at around 37 C at idle and highest recorded temp while testing has been 52C. That's just a fraction warmer than my old P4 1.8 system ranĀ  :blink:

Very nice. You currently have Intel's top of the line chipset: the i925XE chipset supports a 1066MHz frontside bus that the latest P4 Extreme Edition uses. However, with the 600 series CPU you have, it runs at the regular 800MHz FSB.

I am happy to hear about the decent temps on the latest P4 CPUs. For the longest time, Intel's Northwood P4's ran cooler and quiter than AMD's Athlon XP offerings. When the new P4 Prescott cores first came out they ran hot and noisy, and the roles were reversed and Athlon 64's ran much cooler in comparison.

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I have to say I'm quite pleased with it aswell mate! This thing doesn't have the nice smooth temp curve the old rig had though (temps varied up and down fairly slowly on that) but instead sits nice and cool at idle and then just jumps into mid 40's as soon as the cpu has to work alittle harder. Same thing when the load dies out, the temps drops dramaticly down to idle values again.

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