First build ,some questions.

311

Hi ,I can't get it out of my head lately ,that I need to build my own machine.

I've got advice on graphics cards at the graphics forum ,but for building my own machine ,I was thinkig a few things myself.

First of all ,I want a machine that is fairly quiet at idle.
I was looking at a crosair 620 psu ,mainly because it's suppose to be quiet at idle and should power a machine without too much work,I think?

I don't really know what case to buy ,it would be balance of looks and noise.
Pricewise ,I don't mind forking out for a good case or motherboard.

CPU wise ,I would be more concerned about running a cool cpu. If it's possible to buy an intel chip that is powerful ,but runs realitively cool.

I'd like to get the X2900 card and hopefully crossfire it ,after a while.


How could I put this together ,without making much noise??. I won't venture into water cooling .especially a first build.

Thanks for reading

christophicus

I would imagine a 2900 xt would make quite bit of noise, especially in crossfire.

As for a psu, i havent really heardanythng about corsair psu's, i'd imagine seasonic and tagen would be better bts.


Also if you want to crossfire 2 2900xt's you are going to need at leas 800 wats.

papu

a decent psu is necessary

http://ati.amd.com/online/certifiedpsu/index.html

heres a list of certified to give you an idea

311

I'll forget about crossfire so ,I'll probably leave the graphics until the last order then .

I'm not building a machine in one go ,I was going to get a case,psu and motherboard first.
Then study the board and read up on it ,have an idea of whats what ,then maybe order a cpu,memory and fan etc.

311

The 620 has 2 pci-e power connectors ,says it's nvidia sli ready here
http://www.corsairmemory.com/products/hx.aspx

christophicus

It is, Ati uses crossfire not sli, and there is no where near enough wattage in hat psu for 2 2900's

311

I notice from ati ,crossfire looks like one card does the movement calculations and the other card does the drawing.

What does sli do ? ,do they share the load equally ?

Myxomatosis

_Brian_ wrote:

I notice from ati ,crossfire looks like one card does the movement calculations and the other card does the drawing.

What does sli do ? ,do they share the load equally ?

Crossfire and SLi are a total waste of money. Even if you have money to throw at your new build I'd stay well clear of them. They're only a gimmick used by Ati and Nvidia to drain even more money from they're customers.

311

And thats the end of sli/crossfire so

I'm not looking to throw money away ,just a machine thats a pure buzz for games ,music and all that jazz.

The dell I have at the moment is grand for photos and web use ,it's quite and does what it's told.:)
My first pc was an olivetti 286 ,then gateway 386,dell PIII ,dell 8200 ,siemens laptop ,now dell e520.

I've never really had the best at any stage. Always mediocre.

Anti

Myxomatosis wrote:

Crossfire and SLi are a total waste of money. Even if you have money to throw at your new build I'd stay well clear of them. They're only a gimmick used by Ati and Nvidia to drain even more money from they're customers.

I would have to agree. I have used sli since it was first created. And i honestly never really saw much benefit. IT is a good way to go if you are on a budget and you can pick up 2 cards on the cheap. but one high end card is a better solution.

Also if you want a intel cpu to run cool, forget about quad cores and stick to a dual core. Something like a E6420. And upgrade from the standard cooler that comes with it to a afetrmarket one.

311

I spotted this cooler on corsair ,I wasn't going to touch water cooling ,but it looks really easy to install:)
Would the fan on this be noisy itself ?
http://www.corsairmemory.com/systembuild/report.aspx?report_id=12490

pgleeson

That Corsair HX620 you are considering has gotten rave reviews and looks to be a good performer for single 8800 GPUs(needs the two pcie power connectors on the hx620 anyway). I bought one myself but I'm just finishing the build so I'll let you know what I think of it in a few days.

311

Nice one pgleeson ,hope all goes well:)

Anti

All in one water units are generally a pile of crap. Noisy and poor performers. If you really want to watercool there are much better options. A double rad. A Cpu block. A all in one pump/res and some tubing. Maybe 30 mins of fitting. And you can mount it inside the case.

311

I am definite about the 620 psu ,unless of course pgleeson has some problems ,I doubt it though.

I've noticed people here go for the gigabyte boards ,or did I pick up on that wrong?? I don't know where to buy my case ,peats have a wavemaster case that looks really nice. http://www.peats.com/cgi-bin/test_new/catalog.cgi?view_product=1&id=9620&sid=14&cid=122&scid=539

Anti

The wavemaster is a okay case. but dince you are going for high end hardware you will need a case that has good airflow. The wavemaster does not, as it only has 2 80mm intake fans and 1 80m fan at the back to expell air. You should really look for a case with a 120mm fan at the front and one at the back for good air circulation.

The pcu you have chosen will be fine too.

311

Sorry ,this case looks very ease to access .
http://www.thermaltake.com/product/Chassis/midtower/armorjr/vc3000swa.asp
A bit concerned it looks a bit industrial though:(

Anti

Not a bad case at all that one. Nice and small too. You should have no problems with it.

Cuddlesworth

Anti wrote:

Not a bad case at all that one. Nice and small too. You should have no problems with it.

Which one? The thermaltake is badly build, prone to rattleing and annoying noise leakage(like a Stacker). This is from personal experiance. Not too sure about the Coolermaster Mystic though.

Anti

Are you on about the armor jr ?

Its gotten great reviews. No first hand experience with it.

Cuddlesworth

Yes, both the armour jr, and armour. Cheap tacky thermaltake case's, badly built with shortcuts taken everywhere. And to top it off the doors are completly pointless.

I have learned to take nearly every Internet review I have seen as a opinon, nothing else. Too many sites, and too many reviewers just write what they think the company who gave them the product wants to hear. And the ones that don't, don't get any review samples.

311

I'll spend a while picking out a couple that I think are good ,see what you think of them.

I'm not mad on the armor junior ,it's a bit old skool looking. I'm trying to get something quiet ,thanks for the replies.

Anti

Antec p180 is a great case.

Its all personal tase though at the end of the day. Just pick whatever you think is good.

311

Anti wrote:

Antec p180 is a great case.

Its all personal tase though at the end of the day. Just pick whatever you think is good.

Thanks ,I'll check it out .
The mystic case is not on the cards really ,reading reviews it says that the 8800GTS/X won't fit:o

311

Ok ,I found one I'd be happy with .
With this one I can install everything on the motherboard and then just slot it into the case. sounds easy peasy:)

http://hardwarelogic.com/news/63/ARTICLE/1361/2007-03-13.html

awhir

li lans are great cases man.

you will be very happy.

311

Good stuff ,so thats the case and psu out of the way.

I'll be back in a month or so when I have them ,thanks for all the help folks!:)

311

last question ,I promise !!!!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813127004
Is this board ok ?