New Build with a Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800

Psycopat

Memory is fine for the x6800 and ill assume it works with kentsfield but not sure...
case looks good, plenty of room.

awhir

im am selling a cm stacker (by far the most popular case on this forums)

you should look inta it.

PogMoThoin

Pls read what i said bout Thermaltake cases here: http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054992205
Kandalf is the same as the armour only with a different front. Be prepared to modify it to stop the front rattling. I also cut out the mesh from behind the exhaust fan & changed all fans.

All else is fine. Good choices.
What gpu? No onboard graphics, so you need Pci-e gpu.

Snake Plisken

Hey Dempsey the VSP isn't available to us plebs yet! Stacker Case is the way to go, excellent case for future upgrades (watercooling, second power supply etc). Let me know if you get hit with the import duties and how much they are?

Cheers

Snake

Dempsey

Thanks for your input lads.

I'm going to look at more cases, as I'm concerned about the rattling. What are screwless design's like, are they compatible with all parts?

I havent picked a GPU yet, im still looking at parts, i'm just posting here once I've made my selection.

If you have any sort of advice, please post it. I'm open to any suggestion.

I'm a little worried about Seagate, just about every hard drive I've used in the past has been Western Digital and I think they are solid even though i've had one raptor fail on me in the past. So how reliable are these .10's?

gline

L31mr0d wrote:

Really? I have a few friends that work over at intel in Leixlip and they never mentioned that deal. Are only certain employees given this discount? Sorry if its OT

yeh this is true from what i heard from a husband of an intel worker who works here...they get great deals

Dempsey

Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 €500

Seasonic S12 Powersupply 600W €160
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=314759

ASUS P5W DH Deluxe Digital Home Series €237.99
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=321774

ZALMAN ZM CNPS9500 LED - processor cooler €62
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=312473

2Gb DDR2 PC-6400 Platinum XTC Series Dual Channel kit - OCZ €278
http://www.shop4memory.com/products/ddr2.asp

Thermaltake Kandalf Black, Aluminium Front, Super tower (Without PSU) €175
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=310552

4 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB SATA2 16MB 7200RPM €420.08
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=320709BenQ

BenQ DVD±RW burner DW1655, 16x, Dual, LightScribe, Black, OEM €48
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=316659

LG DVD Drive, GDR-8164RBB, 16x52, Black OEM €20.50
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=119228

Current Total

€1901.57

I'm still wondering if I really need a DVD-ROM Drive...

Still looking at GFX Cards, I would like a Geforce 7950GT2 or Radeon X1950XTX but I'm worried that I would not get value for money on them.

Still Looking for:
1. SATA2 RAID 5 Controller (Do I really need one? Do I really need RAID 5? Should I just use RAID 0?)
2. Graphics Gard (Looking for High Performance but value for money aswell)
3. Sound Card?? (Is the onboard sound good enough)

Which is the better chipset P965 or i975X. I thought I read on Tom's hardware somewhere that the 965 is actually newer or something??

PogMoThoin

Didnt mean to put you off about the case. Its a fine case with great airflow, very light, loadsa space & looks deadly. The "rattle" is easy sort out, 2mins is all it takes. I just cut an ordinary sticky fixer in half & stuck it behind the hinge. Don't even know if kandalf will rattle as the front is different. I changed the fans for ones that were just as noisy but had higher cfm & i turn them down when not needed. I'd also class myself as an extreme oc'er & i'm always pushing silicon to extreme temps (must invest in some good w/cing) which is why i cut the mesh behind the exhaust fan, added an extra 120mm fan in front & removed the black dust guard in the front bezels.
The case is probably fine for your needs, I'm just picky
Pog

Edit: its not the hd cage that rattles its the 2 doors (armour). It's these hinges that rattle, Look:

I screwed all 51/2" drives in place, it just says screwless, you can still screw them. Also the fans aren't that noisy, my psu is louder, but you can't control them with a controller cos they have a different connection (4pin hd dongle & single controller wire). The kandalf will probably meet your needs perfectly. I'm happy with my armour.

Psycopat

graphix ati 1800xt 256 mb from overclockers about 120 stg i think

Dempsey

Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 €500

Seasonic S12 Powersupply 600W €160
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=314759

ASUS P5W DH Deluxe Digital Home Series €237.99
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=321774

ZALMAN ZM CNPS9500 LED - processor cooler €62
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=312473

2Gb DDR2 PC-6400 Platinum XTC Series Dual Channel kit - OCZ €278
http://www.shop4memory.com/products/ddr2.asp

HIS ATI Radeon X1900 XT-X ICEQ 3 SILENT Heatpipe 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO €369
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/X1900_Series.html#aGX_2d052_2dHT

Akasa Eclipse 62 Aluminium Case & Window €145
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Akasa_Cases.html#aBU_2d000_2dAK

4 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB SATA2 16MB 7200RPM €420.08
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=320709BenQ

BenQ DVD±RW burner DW1655, 16x, Dual, LightScribe, Black, OEM €48
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=316659

LG DVD Drive, GDR-8164RBB, 16x52, Black OEM €20.50
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=119228

Total:
€2240.57

My wallet is starting to cry

I'm still trying to make my mind up, looking at reviews at stuff. These are the front runners. So any advice is good advice

DemonOfTheFall

The graphics card is a waste of money really, I got an X1900XT from overclockers for 80 euro less than that a few weeks ago.

Your RAM is also a waste of money, I got a GeiL kit that runs the same speeds for 60 euro less from overclockers aswell. Besides, RAM running at those MHz and those timings is just a waste of money, theres no real performance increase.

You could drop to a 500Watt powersupply to save 40 euro aswel if you wanted.

If you got 2x NEC DVD-RW drives instead of the BenQ and the LG youd have an extra burner for the same price.

BKtje

Besides, RAM running at those MHz and those timings is just a waste of money, theres no real performance increase.

Unless you plan to overclock the fsb cos then you want the extra freedom.
A 500w seasonic would probably power that seeing as the cpu takes a lot less than other cpu's. That said, psu's are one thing i'd never skimp on.

PogMoThoin

There's little or no difference in ram until you oc. Timings make no difference with intel. Read this: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/memory/display/core2duo-memory-guide.html
At stock there's no difference between 533Mhz, 667Mhz or 800Mhz, its only when you oc that there is then a slight difference. Faster ram will give you headroom when you oc, but you got unlocked multi & don't need to push the fsb as much as you can up the multiplier.

Must i say it again................ gskill pc6400 hz. No probs for that ram to hit well over 1000mhz. I can't get my ocz (what your intending to buy) faster than 900ish. Trust me

DemonOfTheFall

Yeah, but he is already getting a motherboard with dividers lower than 1:1.

Even without lower dividers who needs CL4 PC6400 ? you could get CL5 for 80 quid less.

even some decent PC-5300 which might manage PC-6400 would do him fine.

DDR-800 = 400 Mhz FSB. Thats 3.6 Ghz if we're talking about an E6600!

PogMoThoin

DemonOfTheFall wrote:

Yeah, but he is already getting a motherboard with dividers lower than 1:1.

Even without lower dividers who needs CL4 PC6400 ? you could get CL5 for 80 quid less.

even some decent PC-5300 which might manage PC-6400 would do him fine.

DDR-800 = 400 Mhz FSB. Thats 3.6 Ghz if we're talking about an E6600!

:rolleyes: Quite right

Dempsey

DemonOfTheFall wrote:

Yeah, but he is already getting a motherboard with dividers lower than 1:1.

Even without lower dividers who needs CL4 PC6400 ? you could get CL5 for 80 quid less.

even some decent PC-5300 which might manage PC-6400 would do him fine.

DDR-800 = 400 Mhz FSB. Thats 3.6 Ghz if we're talking about an E6600!

Could you make a recommendation?

DemonOfTheFall

Sorry, maybe I was a bit rash slating the price of that RAM. It seems to have skyrocketed in the last 3 weeks since I ordered my rig.

I got GeiL PC-6400 CAS-4 2Gig kit for about 225 euro from Overclockers then. It seems that you are looking at the 275+ range for that kind of RAM these days.

OcUk are doing an X1800XT for 195 euro and a X1900XT 256Meg for about 250 Euro though. If you're trying to cut costs a bit on your build you wouldnt lose much going to the x1900xt and putting the 120 euro you save away for your next upgrade.

Dempsey

My next upgrade will be along way away I reckon.

Is 512Mb on a GFX worth that much in performance?

I'm just looking for 2Gb of DDR2 RAM that will overclock a small bit for me.

Yes I would love to keep the costs down. Also Ignore special offers, I dunno if I'll get my orders in this week. Should I?

BigEejit

I can also recommend overclockers ...
I got an abit ab9 pro, 2GB Geil PC6400 ram, 150GB raptor, e6600, OCZ 600watt psu and a 7900GS next day (although i do live in the UK now) ... didnt have to RMA anything though ... when I next get the chance to sneak purchases past the wife I'll get a new cooler for the cpu (to overclock a bit better) and a few more bits and bobs

Dempsey

Whats OCUK's delivery charge for irish customers now?

DemonOfTheFall

I'd still keep my eye on the special offers if I were you, they last longer than a week quite frequently. It's not that bad even if an offer you were watching runs out because chances are that they'll have a very similar one next week anyway.

The 256 vs. 512 depends a lot on the settings and the game. It can make absolutely no difference on most settings, but some, EG Ultra quality in Q4 and D3 will be crippled by a lack of memory.

Overclockers have been very good to me with my build despite being very slow to ship it. The external hard drive enclosure I ordered was missing the SATA cable and the SATA power adapter so they shipped me a whole new one, no questions asked. Now I have one that will work with IDE and when my new one arrives I'll have one that works with SATA

It remains to be seen how quickly they'll deal with my X1900 RMA though, I'll let you know when I hear back from them.

DemonOfTheFall

Well I can definitely vouch for overclockers.

I posted my x1900 at 16:50 on Wednesday, they received it at 9:00 this morning, my new card was in the post at 13:00 today.

If that's not good fast service then I have no idea what is!

Raiser

Dempsey wrote:

Whats OCUK's delivery charge for irish customers now?

Am interested too folks if anyone can answer this one ?

Also can anyone post links to other good suppliers apart form Komplett - Love Komplett, but find myself a bit stuck when they are out of stock - eg. EVERY ASUS MBoard right now

DemonOfTheFall

I paid £22 for delivery of a 20" TFT and all the other parts of a computer, except for case which I got separately. Their shipping calculator barfed when I had the case in the same order, didn't know what to do with the huge total weight. It just told me to email them and ask them to put it through manually. Instead I ordered the case from komplett because I was in a hurry

Dempsey

Fair annoying that some of the parts that I want are only available on one site and/or out of stock etc. on the other.

Snake Plisken

Dempsey,

Did you get the processor yet? Did you get stung for much from Customs?

Snake

P.S. shop4memory give Intel employees discount on ram (think its 10%, to a max of 20 Euros), its also handy that you can drop over to Celbridge to pick it up in person.

Dempsey

Yea, it arrived last thursday, very quick delivery. Its on the table gathering dust, I must change that

Snake Plisken

Did you get hit with customs duty?

Dempsey

Snake Plisken wrote:

Did you get hit with customs duty?

Sorry, forgot to answer that question. No Custom's Duty:D

So its actually €405 for a X6800

awhir

Dempsey wrote:

Sorry, forgot to answer that question. No Custom's Duty:D

So its actually €405 for a X6800

hmm so its on your kitechen table

can i have your address for no reason