New PC Build

Dhekhanur · Post by **Dhekhanur** » Sun Oct 04, 2009 10:21 am

Hi thinking of buying this setup. Please feel free to suggest alternatives or better without huge price jumps (budget around 2000-2500â‚¬

Case: Antec P183
CPU: Intel Core i7 920
Motherboard: ASUS P6T Deluxe V2
GPU: ASUS GeForce GTX 285
Audio: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium - Fatal1ty Professional
Memory: Corsair Dominator 6GB (3 x 2GB)
Heatsink: Prolima Megahalems
CPU Fan: Scythe S-Flex SFF21D
PSU: Antec Signature 650
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 1 TB x2
DVD-RW: OPTI 7670S DVDRW 8X SLOT-IN BLACK SATA

thanks in advance
Dhek

hybrid2d4x4 · Post by **hybrid2d4x4** » Sun Oct 04, 2009 11:15 am

I'd recommend against the Creative sound card. I have an X-Fi and Creative is horrendous for providing functional drivers. Also they use really cheap capacitors, and you may get random pops and crackles. Read up on the issues with X-Fi cards before you waste your money.

Also, since you're getting a P183, why not get the PSU specifically designed for it: http://www.silentpcreview.com/Antec_CP-850 (and save some money while you're at it)

Also, why the 920 and x58 platform? The newer 870 + P55 platform should cost less and give you slightly better performance and considerably better power consumption. http://anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdo ... i=3641&p=1 The only reason i can think of for going with the x58 is the hex-cores coming next year, but those will supposedly be >$1k cpus.

Also, consider the ATI 5870/50 as an alternative to the GTX285 if the prices in your country are scaled similarly as in the US. Even the 5850 beats the 285 and supposedly costs less. The 5870 should be a bit more than the 285 but blows it out of the water according to Anandtech.

RoGuE · Post by **RoGuE** » Sun Oct 04, 2009 12:42 pm

isn't the 870 almost twice as expensive as an i7 920? and also, what makes you think its faster? If you are going by the stock clock speed, well thats one thing, but if you consider the 920 is very easily overclockable, you could pull a cool 3.0ghz without breaking a sweat.

Dhek, the build looks great IMO. The only two things I would change are the PSU and your cpu fan. For the fan, I would buy a slipstream before an s-flex. The slipstreams are such a nice smooth sound, smoother than the s-flex series in my opinion. And as for the psu, im a corsair guy myself: Corsair 650TX

hybrid2d4x4 · Post by **hybrid2d4x4** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 10:51 am

Whoops, got my #s mixed up. I meant the 860 which costs only US$10 more than the 920. The link I posted above RE: cpus show the 860 consistently beating the 920 at stock speeds. Also, I'm assuming that 3GHz OC is a typo since pretty much any 45nm cpu will be able to hit those speeds with ease.

RoGuE · Post by **RoGuE** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 11:08 am

yeah i meant 4.0, but then again, I see no reason the 860 couldn't do that either..

hmmmmm i haven't really looked into the i5's that much, maybe I should

JVM · Post by **JVM** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 3:53 pm

For the sound card, ASUS makes a few PCI-E cards that don't crackle and pop like Creative cards. My ASUS Xonar DX serves me well, but there are other models in the line that may interest you.

1 TB x 2? Do you really need that much space? SSD drives will in the not to distant future be up to 320GB.

I have used both the Scythe SFlex"D" and Slipstream "L" and the Slipstream is quieter, comparing both at 12 volts around 800 rpm.

I don't know anything about that Antec PSU, so I can't say whether it is or is not quieter than the Enermax MODU+82 625 Watts model.

Dhekhanur · Post by **Dhekhanur** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 10:11 pm

First of all thank you for your replies. I have made the following changes after examining the options:

GPU: ASUS GeForce GTX 285x2 (SLI)
Audio: ASUS Xonar D2X
CPU Fan: Slipstream 1200rpm running at 1000rpm
PSU: Antec CP-850
Fan Controller: Kaze Server

The next change I made even before your post because I really did not need 2TB (or 1TB in RAID1 which was my original idea). Instead I'm now focusing on speed rather than massive storage.

As for SSD yes I did check them out but at the moment 300GB SSD in however big chunks is still twice as expensive and while I do not need upwards of 1TB more than 126 GB would be nice. So therefore I chose HDD.

HDD: WD VelociRaptor (300 GB)

The CPU (and since the CPU in question need different Sockets the MB as well) however I didn't change since I now added SLI and therefore the X58 has an advantage.

thank you for your time
Dhek

RoGuE · Post by **RoGuE** » Tue Oct 06, 2009 11:59 am

Dhekhanur wrote:
As for SSD yes I did check them out but at the moment 300GB SSD in however big chunks is still twice as expensive and while I do not need upwards of 1TB more than 126 GB would be nice. So therefore I chose HDD.

HDD: WD VelociRaptor (300 GB)

The CPU (and since the CPU in question need different Sockets the MB as well) however I didn't change since I now added SLI and therefore the X58 has an advantage.

Whoa whoa whao..back up there, speedy!

These days, one does not buy a SSD for all their storage needs! Given the cost/storage ratio is still way to large, SSD's are used as OS drives in 99% of end-user's rigs. What this means is, you put your OS, and a few of your commonly used applications on the drive (this could require as little as 32gb if you are conservative with your applications). THEN, for the rest of your programs, games, and mass media storage etc, you place ALLLLLLLLLLLLL of that on a nice 1tb or even 500gb HARD DRIVE.

With this setup you will see incredibly fast boot times, and increibly fast load times on the apps you deam important enough to be put on ur ssd, and for the rest, you see normal load times (but who cares since you dont access it 24/7 and it doesn't affect your computers "snappyness" if you will).

Second of all, this is SPCR, and i should probably give you a little warning on how an SLI setup should be avoided....with a single high end card, you can almost match the preformance of 2 less expensive cards, and make your computer A LOT QUIETER, and for less money typically. SLI/crossfire should really stay in the "gamer" market, and IMO shouldn't be in an SPCR based computer. I mean, if you don't care about it being quiet..well thats another thing, but then again, why would you be on this site? lol In general, it's much much harder to "silence" two graphics cards than it is to silence one, high end card. And the one card should be cheaper...

EDIT: taking a second look at your current setup, you should know that in no way shape or form will you be able to make that thing quiet. it's just not realistic. Start thinking about cutting the heat, and I would recommend starting at the second GPU u got in there....

Dhekhanur · Post by **Dhekhanur** » Tue Oct 06, 2009 12:22 pm

RoGuE,

Once again thank you for your time. While I do not need inaudible PCs (nor is it as a "HTPC"/gaming rig possible with air cooling as far as I know), but less noise is always better. That was my primary reason for posting here as opposed to whatever overclocking community I first found.

As to SLI at first look it seemed like a good idea, but yes I definitely do not want to have to run those fans at high enough rpm to cool 2 GPUs.

To the SSD thing thanks for the tip I should've seen it myself. I belive I'll be getting some kind of SSD in addition to a HDD.

which brings me to:

Case: Antec P183
CPU: Intel Core i7 920
Motherboard: ASUS P6T Deluxe V2
GPU: ASUS GeForce GTX 285
Audio: ASUS Xonar D2X
Memory: Corsair Core i7 Dominator 6GB (3x2GB) Kit DDR3 RAM
Heatsink: Prolima Megahalems (Black)
Fan: Scythe Slipstream 1200rpm (@800-1000 rpm depending on need) x3 (optional places as well as CPU)
PSU: Antec CP-850
HDD: WD VelociRaptor (300 GB) (removing the flashy hs and suspend mounting it)
SSD: G.Skill 64GB SSD 2.5''
DVD+-RW: LG 22x DVD+/-RW, IDE (GH22NP20)
Fan Controller: Kaze Server

RoGuE · Post by **RoGuE** » Tue Oct 06, 2009 2:22 pm

good! glad I could help.

the build is lookin much better, but I would probably advise against the velosiraptor.

Here's why:

Have you ever heard about how the outer edge of a drive platter provides faster transfer speeds versus the inner edge? Its true. And if you're smart about it, you can take advantage of this using much less expensive drives (and quieter to boot). There are a ton of resources online that will suggest the best ways to take advantage of this, but in short it's this. I would recommend getting a nice, quiet, 7200 rpm samsung or WD drive. Go for a 1TB drive..it will work the best. Then, make a, sayyyy 200gb partition on the FIRST part of the drive. Use this partition for all your leftover applications that your SSD will not hold. Then for the rest of the drive, partition it as you will. Place all "storage" stuff on the second half of the drive as access time is irrelevant and will not matter for music/movies/etc.

Now what you have is a VERY snappy partition for other apps/games/ whatever. I said it once and i'll say it again, storage data DOES NOT NEED TO BE ON A RAPTOR!!! You wont notice a difference in performance AT ALL. And the cost/storage ratio is drastically higher on the raptor versus a nice, QUIET 1TB drive.

I'll try not to keep jamming this down your throat anymore..i just wanna help you out so you can make the best use of your money. Im sure everyone else here will back me up on this suggestion by the way..

Dhekhanur · Post by **Dhekhanur** » Tue Oct 06, 2009 8:56 pm

First of all, thanks, I really appreciate you trying to give me the best bang for buck while maintaining relative silence.

The reason I kept the raptor after your last post was this review http://www.silentpcreview.com/article844-page1.html as it praises the raptor as one of the most quiet HDDs tested (Well if you remove the HS). But as you said I do not need "speed advantage" it offers now that I have a SSD for important stuff.

Actually after carelly reviewing the test results I have to agree that the Western Digital Caviar Green Power or Samsung F1 are superior drives at least in noise (and obviously capacity) while having half the price tag. Perhaps heat-wise it is different but heat with HDDs especially in the Antec P-series is not that important since I assume the heat will be at least on a similar scale.

All that remains now, I believe, is to start buying the parts since I'm satisfied with this build.

RoGuE · Post by **RoGuE** » Tue Oct 06, 2009 9:28 pm

yeah it looks good. Glad I could help. It just pained me to see the path you were heading down because if I could go back in time a year, I would have LOVED to have someone tell me what I said above.

U live and u learn I guess..not to mention technology is changing super fast, so its hard to stay on the ball. The fact is, the velocirapters are yesterday's deisre, and now the trend is strongly moving towards SSDs. Have fun buying all ur parts :D