Core 2 Duo Build Project: 2007

K

Kholi

Section Moderator
UPDATED: APRIL 29, 2007

And so here I go trying to get the best bang for my buck. Need a machine that'll run what I need it to run, when I need it to run. Unfortunately, Mac hardware is too expensive, so I'll be changing up my workflow more n'likely.

Here are the NewEgg sheets!! I'll probably order on Monday, and take the weekend to review my parts selections.

GOAL:
To run HVX200 HYDRA System flawlessly (amongst other things)
Q6600 Core 2 Quad 2.4GhZ CPU Overclocked -> 3.0ghz or 3.2ghz Stable
G.Skill DDR2 800 Overclocked -> DDR2 1000 Stable


ADDITIONALS NOT LISTED:

24" GATEWAY FPD2485W HDCP 1080P LCD: 550.00
MICROSOFT LASER WIRELESS MOUSE: 35.00 ( I love these, sorry. LoL) - PURCHASED

GRAND TOTAL: 2300.00 (est.)

COMING SOON:
 __ENZOTECH FAN: 75.00 - PURCHASED
__Blu Ray Dual Layer writer: 200.00 (Whenever the prices drop and speeds increase)
__PCI -> PCMCIA 2-Slot (P2 Card Reader) 40.00
__1394b Controller Card (unknown)
__NORTHBRIDGE COOLING: 10.00
__KAMA BAY + FAN: 30.00
__2GB DDR2 G.Skill Micron: 155.00 (for 4gb DDR2 total)
__250gb Stripped/Mirrored (2 x 250gb Seagate 7200.10) eSata Thecus N050GX RAID setup: 290.00

TOTALS: 795.00 (est.)

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My choice of motherboard was based on the success that other OC'ers were having with the DS3. And, Gigabyte is pretty much right up there with Asus boards. Also, it does have Gigabit Ethernet support over PCI-Express slots, which you can see are being filled by Firewire, Gigabit Ethernet, and PCMCIA slot cards (for direct plug-in of P2 media cards).

I'm hoping to overclock components to:
E6420 Stable Overclock to 3.5ghz or 3.7ghz
G-Skill DDR2 800 Stable Overclock to 1000

And in the very near future, dual-booting XP PRO SP2 and Vista 64-bit, with an upgrade of 2gb of DDR2 Ram for a total of 4gb's in the box.

External storage, for now, will be an Inclosure based on the idea that-- until Blu Ray burners and blank media are cheaper-- I can purchase 250gb Internals to store on. They run like 70.00 on NewEgg, not bad.

I'm open to possible replacement parts if you guys have any to share!
 
I've got the same case, I really like it but it is a tad small for everything I've got jammed in there.

That external enclosure seems a bit pricey. :huh:

The only other thing that I can think of is that I like my work drive to be smaller than my others, not bigger.
 
I'm going to run XP and Vista 64 (And something else that I'm not allowed to discuss here.) Which was the purpose for having two different internals as opposed to a single 500gb Samsung drive.

The external inclosure is actually "okay" for the money, considering it's internal interface and external interface. I'm basically paying for the FW800/400 Privledges in one shell. I was actually very surprised to see the scarce amounts of external inclosures that included both Fw800 and Fw400; this is what I ended up going for even though it's a tad pricey for an inclosure.

I'm glad someone else has my case! How are the fans inside of it? Are they loud? Choppy? Lots of dust?

Edit: You've actually got a great point on the storage drive. I could probably break down the 500 and get two more 250gigs for the external. Just leave one in the box for later. Hmmmm!
 
They run pretty quiet, but my case gets sooo damn hot becuase my processor runs really hot, and I've got a lot of beefy components in there.

Point of interest: the front of the case is a metalic mesh, which is super cool for ventilation puposes. But if you have a cat that likes to rub up on the front of the case (like I do) be prepared to have to clean kitty hair off the front every once in a while.
 
No kitty cat's. Thanks for the report on the case. I was actually a bit worried about the fan sizes and dust, but I haven't seen anything negative on them yet. And the smaller ATX form factor is a plus. Those Antec 900's seem... large... to me.
 
Yeah, it is nice and compact. The other great thing is that their tool-less design is actually pretty nice. Usually when cases use that I'm worried about components falling out, but theirs has worked so far.
 
Also have the same case and love it.

I like how the mesh has a filter behind it, keeps the inside pretty dust free.

you do know the core 2 duo retail comes with a pretty decent cooler right?
 
_I love my Antec 900 because of the cooling setup especially for the HDDs... Cases help temps of all your components and won't get outdated, but that is a nice case too. You would definitely appreciate a full tower when you are putting it together and breaking it down... Mid-Towers are crammed... I am waiting on these clear 6" SATA cables to replace the red long ones that came with my MoBo so as to not disrupt air flow. So untill I get those I am slacking on my cable management:

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_Get a better cooler... you'll be able to get lower temp which will allow you to lower the Vcore which will add life, plus the 775 CUPs are going to be around for a long time... Also the better it coole the slower the fan will spin which will make it quieter, also something like a Zalaman 110mm or a Tuniq Tower 1200 should hold their value very well even after the bigger heat pipes come out... I am running an E6300 at 3.15 with a 1.3Vcore (after Vdroop/real) and I only get 49C maximum with 26C ambient temperature after hours of editing... Duos and I believe Quads also are rated at 61C so it is a very nice place to be...
Core 2 Quads are 775's so once four core previews is fully supported you'll have a 16GHz CPU which will cut 4k ok I suspect and should definitely handle 2k very well...

_Newegg has 320GB Seagate 7200.10 for $80 and if set up properly they get 133MB/s average read so buy as many as you want.

_If you want to use Magic Bullet or other GPU intensive softie look at the 8800GTS 320MB from EVGA wich are $270 at the Egg.

_Nice PSU... don't change it, cause bad PSUs will limit your OC potential.

_Logitech G15 keyboards are called "gaming keyboards" but they are back lit, they allow for a constant temp and voltage monitoring LCD setup when using Everest or other LCD applets which are easily found for free on the www and they have three sets of six "G keys" which can be programmed with complex macros for shortcuts... Egg has it for $75

_Artic Silver or bust. Good choice... Expect an additional 3-5C drop from your initial seating temps after a bake in period of about 200hs or less if editing with CPU at 90% for hours.. the 200hs mark is for gaming wich would run at about 60% and much cooler.

_Get a little EVERCOOL memory cooler from the Egg for $20... Then up the DDR voltage to 1.3V which I believe would be +0.4 or +0.5 in the DS3's BIOS... then if you get the DS3 you will have your RAM linked to your FSB so you won't have as much control to squeeze more out of your RAM then again it should work out just fine with a E6420 cause you'll probably be running upwards of a 450FSP which would give you a 900MHz memory speed... ideally:

500 FSB (3.5-ish) with a Vcore of 1.325 after bake in with a Tuniq cooler
(I run 1.3V on a 6300 which is 0.025V less than spec which is 12hs+ Orthos stable)

Your ram would be running at 1000MHz which will allow for 4-4-4-12 with 1.3V
(you won't have an option to use T1 with the DS3 wish you could get id only at 950MHz)

_I had a DS3 and it was wonderfully... but do not expect to get more than 90MB/s transfer out of your single on-board RAID... also you won't be able to use an IDE optical if you enable the on-board RAID. I would spend a bit more and get a P5N32-E SLI because the difference will be less than what you'd have to pay to get a PCI-E RAID controller that would match the capabilities of the 680i NVIDIA south bridge which acts as a RAID controller... also you will gain much more access to your RAM OC controls... then again the DS3 is a more basic board and not so complicated to OC... and with your HZ ram you won't be limited by the memory speed... then again you won't be able to choose it... I found that I got faster Super-Pi calculation times with 4-4-4-12-1T at 950MHz than with 4-4-4-12-2T at 1100MHz (both ran stable with 1.3V)

To keep in mind... by about September you'll be able to get a Quad for $250...

You WILL be able to OC to 3.15GHz with a 450FSB, and you WILL be able to get at least 3.2GHz.. you SHOULD be able to get 475FSB, you MIGHT get 500FSB...

... if you want more help I'll charge you. :happy: but you already owe me, lol.
 
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Looks pretty tight. Make sure that pcmcia bus slot is 32 bit and will be compatible for p2 cards. Looks a little cheap to be 32 bit. Spec-comm has a nice one you might check out.

I have those exact seagate's. Had 'em since October, running in an eSATA enclosure. Working like a charm. They are my editing drives. Running in a Raid 0 right now.

My personal opinion: It looks like you are planning on editing off of the external drive(s) right? If so, I would recommend getting an eSATA enclosure so you can take advantage of the full throughput of those drives. An eSATA enclosure will run you more, but it comes with the pci card for desktops (I didn't need it. I have a laptop) that has two eSATA ports. You can stick two HDD's in there and run them in a RAID 0. I have a Thecus 2050, I think. No software required. You just press the buttons in a funky manner when you first power it up, and select whether you want raid 1 or 0 on the back of the enclosure. It also has usb2 ports. Good thing is you can always get another enclosure and two more hdd's and use the other port on the pci eSATA card. Then if you want to temporarily shelve those HDD's, or upgrade to larger ones, just get 'em, pop 'em in the enclosure, set up the raid and go. With my laptop, I could have a total of 4 drives in two enclosures. I use the expresscard slot for an eSATA adapter. Has two ports and software of it's own that has various different raid configurations.

Make sense? I'm running EDIUS on my core duo laptop, and editing off of those Seagates you have listed in my thecus enclosure in a raid 0. I have put 4,5,6 streams of 720pn on the timeline w/ transitions, color correction, etc, etc. It's always been realtime.

So, what NLE are you going to be editing with?

Later,
Jason
 
Thanks for the tips, Latin. All nice!

A lot of these same things were said on Overclock.net as well. So I'm glad that it's consistant and I can go there to make sure I'm up to speed.

I'm gonna follow up in this thread as I move through the build.

Speaking of which: UPDATE ON PARTS LIST AT TOP

Changes--
Higher Class Tier 2 PSU: PC P&C 610Watt (670 really)
Micron G.SKill Ram to OC to 1000
2 x 250 gb HDDs
1 x 320 gb HDDs
Logitech G15 Keyboard (Nice Keyboard, thanks Latin)
Microsoft Portable Wireless Mouse (My favorite mouse. Had like 4 so far.)

Added--
Kama Front Fan
Antec Replacement Fan for Kama fan



Current total: Est: 1550.00 w/shipping + tax
 
My Overclock.net name is USlatin... look my up, lol

don't change the RAM... the "HZ" is the one you picked...
give me a link if you want me to double check.

make sure you re-read the DS3 vs. ASUS P5N32-E SLI points wich might run you about $300 in London

but you can't go wrong if you pay about $130 for the DS3 (unless you want the RAID0 capabilities of the 680i South Bridge)
 
Awesome!

Awesome!

I so want to know how this turns out for you. I have the same issues with the cost of mac hardware ... Spent quite a bit of time researching over at OSx86 project site.

How soon do you anticipate you'll begin installing hardware and OS's? I am chomping at the bit to do something like this too.

Peace
 
Here are my thoughts:

- In all honesty your PSU is way overkill. There is no way you will need 49 amps on the 12v rail for that system - even heavily overclocked. Crap, throw in an 8800 GTX and you STILL won't need that much power. A high quality 450 watt with 34 amps on the 12v would be more than enough for that setup. Gamers and overclockers have a tendency to go way too extreme with their PSUs because they don't seem to understand electricity... Why does it even matter? Well that's a LOT more heat that will be dumped into your system needlessly and will affect component life and overclocking. Headroom is one thing - way too much is another.

- Are all the add-in PCI cards necessary? It seems like you should be able to buy a much better motherboard with many of those things built in for the price of the cards and mobo....

- Memory coolers are somewhat irrelevant. Yes, I really am saying that. So long as you have enough airflow memory hardly ever gets hot even overclocked. I suppose that all depends on your system though.
 
hey that is me... only i don't game, well maybe a bit but I haven't bought a game in ages so there is no point in playing old games on a fast video card, but I am seriously considering getting one of the newer ones just cause it will look great on my 24" Dell and I am considering getting a GTX at the end of my 90 days of the EVGA step-up though I haven't installed Magic Bullet yet and I have no clue if it will be overkill or not... But I AM the guy that doesn't understand electricity... right here... hello :)

I always regret not looking into it and learning about it...

Shawn, I got an Antec True Power 650W... <Link was that dumb? I got it for only $100 with a sale that was going on ($30 less) but it was more about not knowing how to pick one and wanting to place the order already, so I just picked one hoping it would be good enough... Should I look at the amps on the 12V rail?

It said this: 12V1@19A,+12V2@19A,+12V3@19A,- 12V@0.8A,

And it also said this: "Three 12V output circuits provide added system stability
Accurate power rating allows TruePower Trio to deliver its full rated power"
So it will only be 19 amps each which won't be "too much" right?

About the RAM, if he OC's to 3.15GHz wich is 450FSB he will be running his memory at 900MHz wich he can achieve with 1.2V and there will be no temp diference at all, but if he gets his 500FSB he will be at 1000MHz... I hope he gets to 475FSB wich will put his RAM at 950MHz where the G.Skill HZ's can pull of 4-4-4-12-1T but since the DS3 doesn't let you switch to 1T he will be at the much looser 2T... wich means he might get there with 1.25V or maybe even 1.2V.
If he goes with a different MoBo like the ASUS 680i MoBos he will gain complete control over his memory being able to get all the speed they offer regardless of what his chip allows him to reach. I pushed my RAM to the highest possible Memtest86+ 12hs stable speed and timings that got me the best SuperPi times wich is 4-4-4-12-1T at 950MHz achieved with 1.3V. One of my memory sticks got hot... Only very warm really, but that is hot if you know how cold memory runs... so I got a little cooler to make sure there would be some vertical airflow because the only stick getting enough airflow was the one getting hit by the air flowing from the front of the case. I doubt it is necessary to prevent the memory from reaching those "very warm" temperatures, but I felt uneasy about the difference in temps between the sticks. $20 made me forget about it since they are both the same.

I use my computer as much as you guys probably do if not more... also I can sit for very long sessions, as many of us can and need to... so I over did my system... because I need to feel safe... I can't afford to replace my computer, and I can't afford to worry about it. Also I will get two more HZs once Vegas 8.0 comes out so I want these to be able to keep up with the fresh ones, most likely all the way to my DDR3 upgrade, and all along pushing 1.3V.

Had I been able to get a temperature reading from my memory it might have been deferent, knowing the temps might have given me enough peace of mind.

Hey, $20...
 
Ramsey - Thanks for the eSata advice. I couldn't see the rest of your post last night, something was up with the boards. I am actually planning to build a raid setup as you described within the next few months. For now, I'll actually edit off of the internal HDD's and back-up to Dual Layer DVD and External HDD. I found an eSata Raid enclosure that seems reasonably priced as well. So I totally agree with you.

Edit: Ramsey- Final Cut Studio 2, Adobe Premiere Production premium as my secondary.

Apps to be run: (List Edit)

Cinema 4D
Maya
Lightwave 3D
Softimage XSi
Syntheyes
Boujou
After Effects
Final Cut Studio 2
Adobe Production Premium
Adobe Design Premium
Counter Strike: Source
Counter Strike: 1.6

Hey... I still play 1.6 more than anything else. It's fun.

Dillont - I'll be ordering the hardware today. I expect to recieve it all by the middle of next week and I'll be slapping it all together at the same time. I would like to be solved on my OSx86 Project (can not discuss here), XP, and Vista 64-bit tri-booting by Sunday. So let's say by next Sunday I should have a report on the goodies that you're looking at.

Shaw -

1) The PSU is actually going to work well for future upgrades which include: Blu Ray Burner, 2 gig's of Micron DDR2 800 OC'd 1000, Native Quad Core (September's time frame), and powering 2 more internal drives, which I hope to sit in at least two more 500gb 7200RPM drives. That should explain more about why I chose a higher wattage PSU. As well, I changed to PC P&C for quality.

2) Yes, the PCI cards are necessary. Forward planning for HYDRA, I'll need a Gigabit Ethernet controller. Also, for my SPECIFIC project... The Gigabyte DS3 is pretty much proven. I don't have time to experiment in this area, as I'm already pushing it holding off my build this long. Otherwise, I agree that I could simply purchase a board with all of that present. Especially the Gigabit Ethernet controller as that's just an extra slot and kinda saddens me. I am considering dropping the PCMCIA Slot, which is for transferring files from the HVX's P2 Media. However, the Firewire controller is a must-have.

3) I agree with the memory cooler and might not invest in that. Though it is just 20.00. I'm researching running a 9:10 spreader in anticipation of the G.Skill's OClock. Also, the KAMA fan, + the 2 case fans (80mm, 120mm) Should be adequate heat for the Overclock anyway.

EDit for SHaw: 8800GTX just dropped in price. And it sucks that I can't go ahead and invest in a DirectX10 card. Reason being is that my specific project does not have drivers available. That being said, another reason to go with the higher-wattage PSU is because as soon as I can upgrade to an 8800 series GeForce or even a new Radeon-- when they drop-- I am going to.

Thanks for all the advice!! Glad others are interested in the same thing.
 
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Personally, I would keep the pcmcia card. Your transfers will be much, much quicker. Even though you are kind of shooting yourself in the foot (in my opinion) by not being able to take full advantage of the p2 workflow by using premiere (or any nle that doesn't have proper p2 support). But, I hear the new Raylight kicks ass. And, you can work from the card with Raylight, and write back to the card, so I think that pcmcia card should be a must have. It will allow you to take full advantage of some of the features that Raylight is giving you to get you closer to working with p2 the way it was meant to be.
 
I know. Both of my Primary NLE's are heavily lacking in MXF/P2 support. I'm just appaled at the lack of upgrades/fixes for both. I don't own Edius Broadcast, though, so I'm kinda out of luck on that one.

There's a PCMCIA slot or two floating around with TWO slots instead of one. So, as a last change to the list in that area, I'm going to find one of those and slap it in.

The good (and bad) thing about the Gigabit Controller is that I don't need it right now. I can have it sitting until Hydra comes around or just order it then. Otherwise, I have no use for it really.

Where did you get your Thecus raid enclosure?
 
Newegg, I think. It was like 150 bucks. There are others, but I was getting a bunch of stuff from newegg for my comp. stuff, so I just got that one. Works fine. Has a fan. Drives stay cool. It's quiet. Reliable, so far (knock on wood, again).

Jason
 
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