Core 2 Duo Build Project: 2007

[USLatin]

pfista, do you play COD2? if so we should get on the same server so I can see what you are really made of, lol
BTW, you know that the NB will get super hot when you OC right? you might want to buy a $25 NB cooler though you might be able to get an EVERCOOL for $8 or simply get a powerfull 40mm fan and affiz it to the heatsink... (the big silver heat sink) this would also happen with the DS3 if you went that way... which makes me wonder if Kholi did anything about his NB... if he didn't his system might shut down on him often...

If you want to be able to place a fan on the side panel then get the Zalaman 110 like pfista, I prefer the extra few degrees off on the CPU, but the side fan will do wonders for the rest...

Neal, here is the list I think you should look at... it gives you plenty of $$ left-over for the video card even a monitor or something else if you needed...

The PSU is a combo... super cheap, but I don't know it... it seems it will be plenty of juice, but ask Shaw if you want to be 100%

 

[Kholi]

Hey Kiddies. Didn't forget about this thread, everyone's builds look niiiiccee. Update on mines:

Got some PM's asking advice and what my spend is so far on my rig so I thought I'd update here:

1) Sapphire Radeon X1950XT 512mb GDD3 - 239.99
2) 2 x 1gb G.Skill DDR2- 800 HZ ram for a total of 4gigs - 109.99
3) 2 x 80mm Mascool Case Fans - 3.58
4) Evercool EC4010 40mm Case Fans - 11.50
5) Gateway FPD2485W - 550.00
6) Apple Pro keyboard - 40.00
7) 2 x SilenX 120mm Case Fans - 43.00
8) Enzotech Ultra-X HSF - 65.00

So so far my totals look like:

287.69
1822.03
550.00
40.00
43.00
65.00
35.00
2,843 (est.)

- 150.00 for the fact that I'm sending back my GeForce card next week.

So a'round'about 2,750.00 so far.

My current OC status is 3.0ghz and DDR2-1000, completely stable. Temps are 44c-47c on load, which means I'm pretty darned cool for a Quad Core at my clock.

There are two different readings: iTaT which reads 58c/56c and SpeedFan which reads 44c/45c on my cores. It was confirmed by Intel that TaT only reads tJunction CPUs with 85 right. If your tJunction is 100, subtract about 15c from iTaT's thermal rating and that's what you're at.

Happens to be about right, because SpeedFan is reading 15c less than CoreTEmp which means my temperatures are amazing.

Going to search for a 3.2ghz overclock soon, upgrading the other 22" to a 24" as well.

Also got Final Cut Studio 2 in the mail today, so installing! Excitement!!!

 

[Neal Buconjic]

Thanks, Latin!

This is the basic info I wanted to know for a solid foundation. Any additional memory coolers or such that newegg carries that you might recommend before I order?

Shaw - as Latin mentioned - as you're the resident PSU guru, can you give the thumbs up to the PSU that Latin listed?

 

[USLatin]

no need for the RAM cooling, especially if you get the Antec 900 and move one of the HDD bays with fan to the top... but if you want to have something there like me I got the EVERCOOL crab (found on newegg for like $20)... just take off the stupid little eyeballs, lol

Kholi, dude!!! Sweet! then it was just a matter of finding the right temp read... awsome. Super cool temps!!!

Guys consider getting the same cooler that Kholi has! Especially with the A900 case...


WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU WAITING FOR TO BUMP IT UP TO 3.2GHz ?!?!?!?
Come on! Get with it, chop chop!

 

[dillont]

Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude!

I need to know how FCS2 works for you

I'm flying out to Dallas on Sunday, returning Wednesday, and will commence ordering parts at that time.

I'm about 90% sure I've decided to buy a Mac Pro (quad) as well as build my own .... and if the one I build on my own can do everything as the Mac Pro - then I'll sell it. I'm just wondering how to xfer the FCS installation after it becoming registered on the Mac Pro. Hmmm

YAY!

 

[USLatin]

It will only once you run 64-bit (XP64 or Vista) and if you are using software that uses it... but if you can afford a new Quad Pro and want OSX only then why not just go that way... might not be as upgradeable but you'll be flying with no worries from day one... buy Gateway LCDs though

 

[pfista]

Yeah, whenever I get my new computer I'll play you. Or CS if you like.

And I don't know what NB is. I looked up the evercool, and now I know those are for the cases. Do I have to buy like 3 fans for the antec or does it come with them?

 

[Neal Buconjic]

Just wanted to resurrect this thread to get an update on everyone's systems.

Kholi - have you tweaked yours to the max? Is it meeting expectation?
Dillont - have you ordered and built yours yet? If so, how'd it turn out?

 

[USLatin]

Hey pfista super late but:

the Antec comes with four fans... two 120mm intakes one 120mm exhaust and one 200mm exhaust...

NB is North Bridge which is the second most important chip in a MotherBoard... among other important stuff it controlls the flow of info between the CPU and RAM which happens all the time at mind boggling speeds... they get hot when you OC your system and keeping it cool is just as important as keeping the CPU cool... BTW if you want to play COD2 with me better bring some game cause I am getting good! since it is the only game I have lol


Kholi just got a new MoBo I think... and he is getting nice speeds on his CPU but having a bit of a thermal issue... right?

I am having trouble with cooling my NB so i am upgrading to a real cooler... I might have crapped my OC potential by running too much voltage for too long without proper cooling... so I might RMA this board... which sucks cause I don't want to re-build now and again when the Quads get cheap... and I don't want to be without my computer cause I am still editing "A Walk in the Dark" a 15min 1080p short... check out some screen grabs here:

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=100980

 

[pfista]

Well, I am officially done building my computer. First I got the case last Wednesday, so I couldn't really do anything but look at it. Thursday I got all of the computer parts, except for the 2 lcds. So I called my dad and he was like OK you should wait till I get home, cause you might blow your powersupply or fry a chip. But of course, I was willing to take the risk, and it wasn't very hard. I got it together in a couple of hours and I had to goto work in about 30 min. I might as well just fire it up and see if it works! So I turned it on, and it shut off after about a second. So I was like ... uh. And I turned it on again. Same thing. So I went to work and when I got back later I was reading the mobo manual and I had forgotten to plug in this 4 pin power plug, and suprisingly, if this wasn't plugged in it wouldn't boot.

So then I tried overclocking it, and I have gotten it to 3.2, but I still don't really know if i'm doing it right. Here's a screenshot of some stuff.



So yeah, it's working pretty awesome. But now it just sucks cause quicktime isn't compatible with x64. So I'm trying to find a way around that. If anyone knows of a good alternative let me know. Because the first thing I did was goto the HD apple trailers and see how well they played. I still love it none the less.

-Pfista

 

[Kholi]

Hey people's. I DID get another Motherboard and I'm already about to RMA it. While I was able to hit 3.6ghz on the new board, the temp issues are KILLING me.

So, I'm ordering anew again.

Glad to see people got their systems going!

For extra fun info:

I rendered out 700 frames in Cinema 4D three different times and the results were this-

G5 Dual Core w/5.5gigs of ram - 2 hours and 7 minutes
Q6600 w/4gigs of ram @ 2.4ghz - 41 minutes
Q6600 w/4gigs of ram @ 3.0ghz - 31 minutes

That's ten minute shaved from such a slight overclock! Can't wait to get a stable 3.6ghz!

Pfista - I'd go back to XP for now. Seems as though Vista's compatibility is just awful at the moment.

 

[Drew Ott]

Wow. 3.6?

I'm having terrible troubles overclocking my E4300. Apparently Intel started building the E4300 worse once they realized how much of a bargain it was. I'm having no problem with temps (my temps are great) but it seems like each time I tweak the BIOS, it won't run.

 

[Kholi]

Really? I've read a lot abotu the E4300 as I wanted to buy one as an intermediate between my current Quad Core and the upcoming QX6850 (getting that end of July!) and it's all been bad on temps!

However, I've also seen really high clocks. 3.2ghz+. I'm thinking of skipping the current Q6600 onto Ebay mid-july or early July and getting an E4300, E2160, Or even as low as a P4 as not to incur more wallet damage upgrading.

What's your current E4300 clock at?

 

[pfista]

Pfista - I'd go back to XP for now. Seems as though Vista's compatibility is just awful at the moment.

Well, it's not vista its just windows xp professional 64 bit, but yeah. Actually, now that I think about doing that its really annoying because first I installed xp home, then I installed all my software, then decided to goto x64, and now I realize I should probably be back to xp home. But I don't want to have to reinstall everything again. Isn't vegas coming out with a 64 bit version by the end of this year though? 64 bit compatibility can only increase with time.... right?

 

[ugafan]

Wow. 3.6?

I'm having terrible troubles overclocking my E4300. Apparently Intel started building the E4300 worse once they realized how much of a bargain it was. I'm having no problem with temps (my temps are great) but it seems like each time I tweak the BIOS, it won't run.

what speed ram do you have? are you leaving that the same speed or are you increasing it to match the front side bus? have you tried increasing the voltage of the cpu?

 

[ugafan]

However, I've also seen really high clocks. 3.2ghz+. I'm thinking of skipping the current Q6600 onto Ebay mid-july or early July and getting an E4300, E2160, Or even as low as a P4 as not to incur more wallet damage upgrading.

this is surprising to me. didn't you start out with an e6300 and then make all of these upgrades to get the q6600? i've been trying to hold out till the q6600 drops in price, but from what you're saying, it doesn't seem like it's worth it. is your current computer a lot faster than your previous one?

 

[Kholi]

this is surprising to me. didn't you start out with an e6300 and then make all of these upgrades to get the q6600? i've been trying to hold out till the q6600 drops in price, but from what you're saying, it doesn't seem like it's worth it. is your current computer a lot faster than your previous one?

My home PC smashes any other PC (Mac included) that I've come across. And I keep climbing higher with the overclock and in performance. My DDR has reached 1000 stable on all four gigs. Just loving it to be honest.

And you're right! I did start my build with an E6300 and ended up at Quad Core and MUCH MORE than I initially planned on. Quad is worth it if you do the work that can take advantage of it. I proved that to myself by simply playing with renders.

However, I'm about to upgrade again. LoL.

Actually, downgrading to E4300 momentarily, then going back up to brand new QX6850 on release date. Plus new motherboard and Higher Speed DDR2 kit.

Get a Quad if you can afford it, you wont' regret it!

 

[USLatin]

Kholi... get an E6600 they are $200 right now and you'll get a 3.5GHz... the E6300 is as low as you should go and you'll get at least a 3.15GHz but the 66 is only a few bucks more... Quad time isn't too far up ahead anymore... soon enough I'll be getting one too... but no QX... anything with an X is not worth the cash... look at what I got our of my 6300! it is a better buy than most chips if you look at car to OC ratios...

Pfista, you seem to be doing fine!!! Sweet clock!!! What MoBo did u get again? what are your voltages?

I got my 4GB to 1100MHz stable BTW Kholi... ehem... now that is the advantage of going ASUS... so what was the deal with ur Gigabyte MoBo? just temps?

hey Ugafan... when r u building? After Q3 prices hit?

 

[USLatin]

Oh! Pfista.... Vegas 8.0 is rumored (strongly) to be a 64-bit iteration of the much acclaimed NLE which kicks FCP's arse any day... lol

So 8.0 will take advantage of your chip MUCH better than 7.0 does... expect a big preview performance boost... but I'd probably look at Vista cause XP-64 is basically no longer being actively supported by Microcrap due to Vista being 64-bit... for now stick to your XP-32 bit version which will support everything you own... I had problems with XP-64 with about 6 different things...

please post your MoBo, voltages and all else! cause as far as I can remember you got an ASUS 650i right?

 

[Kholi]

Kholi... get an E6600 they are $200 right now and you'll get a 3.5GHz... the E6300 is as low as you should go and you'll get at least a 3.15GHz but the 66 is only a few bucks more... Quad time isn't too far up ahead anymore... soon enough I'll be getting one too... but no QX... anything with an X is not worth the cash... look at what I got our of my 6300! it is a better buy than most chips if you look at car to OC ratios...

Pfista, you seem to be doing fine!!! Sweet clock!!! What MoBo did u get again? what are your voltages?

I got my 4GB to 1100MHz stable BTW Kholi... ehem... now that is the advantage of going ASUS... so what was the deal with ur Gigabyte MoBo? just temps?

hey Ugafan... when r u building? After Q3 prices hit?

The P35 Temps were annoying as hell so I traded out. That was the problem for me. I'm going to go for a Gigabyte P35C DDR3/2 board or the regular DS3R.

Trying to decide on a 2gb DDr3 set right now.

And nah, I'm fine with an E4300. It's until I get the QX6850 which has G0 Stepping. Saying that it's not worth it is too early to judge, as Coolaler got a sample and was able to hit 4.2ghz with no trouble. Of course it all remains to be seen!

There might be G0 Revision Q6600's July 27th. Then and only then do I think it MAY not be worth it but you have to guarantee yourself that you'll get a G0 Q6600 anyway. Because the price drop is NOT the new Revision Q6600's.