Derek's Upgrade Thread

[kcnychief]

Very good info AZ, I will review that before I make my decision. I'm planning to slap it all together Tuesday of next week, so I will probably have to decide by Friday.

 

[kcnychief]

FINALLY get to START putting this together today. Will post some pictures and final component listing whenever I finish

 

[madmatt]

About time.

 

[kcnychief]

Each and every thing about this SEXEH computer is simply amazing.

Fast, blazing, amazing

A few minor glitches here and there, which once I work through I will post more info about them and the PC

Vista scores my CPU at 4.8, RAM at 5.2, everything else at 5.9

 

[NetRyder]

Vista scores my CPU at 4.8, RAM at 5.2, everything else at 5.9

4.8 for a Core 2 Duo @ 2.66GHz is surprising.
My Opteron 165 (stock 1.80, overclocked to 2.63) gets a 5.1

 

[kcnychief]

You know what else is surprising? My CPU runs consistently between 165-175 degrees F!

That is what I get for trying the stock HSF

Zalman is on the way, going to use the PC as little as possible until Tuesday when it arrives

 

[Vanquished]

You know what else is surprising? My CPU runs consistently between 165-175 degrees F!

That is what I get for trying the stock HSF

Zalman is on the way, going to use the PC as little as possible until Tuesday when it arrives

wouldn't that be a lot?
my processor runs at 42 degrees celsius at the very maximum, and i only have fans in the case

 

[kcnychief]

Yes, that is a lot.

That's what I get for going with stock HSF

 

[madmatt]

Pictures. Without. Worthless. Is. Thread. This.

 

[Vanquished]

Pictures. Without. Worthless. Is. Thread. This.

no no:

serutcip tuohtiw sselhtrow si daerht siht

 

[LeeJend]

Someone else is running a thread about very high CPU temps with the quad core 6700. I think it was 60 C idle to 90C under load and you're getting 76 deg C.

That is just not right with a stock cooler. Intels thermal specifications call for 68 deg C max and the core 2 duo E6700 only has a TDP of 65W, the extreme is 75W.

I wonder what is going on???

 

[kcnychief]

I would suspect it's the contact between the CPU itself and the HSF. It's not even a thermal pad, it almost looks like a type of metallic goo.

Regardless, I have a Zalman on the way, due to the "rockness" of Newegg it will be here Monday

Just sucks that I have so much to do and I really don't want to risk running my PC for too long at a time

 

[David_L6]

Regardless, I have a Zalman on the way, due to the "rockness" of Newegg it will be here Monday.

I hope you ordered a Zalman CPNS9700. I switched from a 9500 to a 9700 and am now running 8° C cooler with all settings the same and at a lower fan speed. The 9500 was running 50° C fully loaded and the fan running wide open. The 9700 is running 42° C fully loaded and the fan is running a little less than full speed (3/4 full speed maybe...). By fully loaded I mean that it is running World Community Grid and both cores are running 100% and the CPU is overclocked to 3.4GHz. Other than the heatsink the only difference is the thermal paste. I used Arctic Silver 5 with the 9500 and Arctic Silver Ceramique with the 9700 (because I couldn't find my tube of AS5!).

 

[kcnychief]

This bad boy is on the way -

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835118019

Along with some AS5

 

[David_L6]

I'm planning to slap it all together Tuesday of next week, so I will probably have to decide by Friday.

C'mon... c'mon.... What's the hold up? It's Tuesday - AGAIN.

FINALLY get to START putting this together today. Will post some pictures and final component listing whenever I finish

We're still waiting...... :sleeping:

This bad boy is on the way -

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835118019

Along with some AS5

I bought this one because it has the 4 pin connector and speed is controlled through the motherboard. Other than that I think they are about the same. I believe that you'll like it. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835118020

 

[kcnychief]

Unfortunately it's on hold temporarily - I need to find some time to take everything apart, remove the components from the motherboard, remove the motherboard from the tray, install the backplate, put everything back together, and then I'll be set

It's been off for the better part of a week, been using my work laptop primarily - then again haven't been home too much either

In the midst of rolling out a new web app that is the largest IT project ever for my company, spending over 4 years on it is up near 8 million

 

[kcnychief]

OK, well none of the stuff in this thread ended up panning out due to some other financial constraints, and have been running on a Dell XPS400 for most of the year. I want/need to make an upgrade to do some business needs, and threw the following together. Welcoming opinions and/or suggestions for a comporable component in each area that would be around the same cost, as I'm trying to keep that down. My plan is to replace the XPS400 with this tower, that's why I don't have speakers, a monitor, or a keyboard/mouse included because I'll be keeping what I have for those.

I guess the areas I would be looking for feedback on would be the video card, since I know I don't game but I want rock solid graphics performance and probably DX10? But I see that as an area I could probably shave a little bit. I am going to get two NAS devices as one will be used for storage and the other for backup, but I suppose I could save a few bucks and have the second drive be internal. If I do that though, when the sync occurs the PC has to be on. So I figure over the course of the year with power consumption and all, it makes sense to have both be external.

COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black Computer Case $79.99

Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Processor $279.99

Intel BOXDP35DPM ATX Intel Motherboard $109.99

Western Digital Raptor 150GB 3.5" Serial ATA150 Hard Drive $169.99

Kingston 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Memory $49.99

SAMSUNG 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S203B $39.99

PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610 EPS12V 610W Continuous @ 40°C Power Supply $118.99

EVGA GeForce 8800GT Superclocked 512-P3-N802-A1 Video Card $289.99

LACIE 301138U Ethernet Disk mini $363.98 (I would get 2 at $181.99 each)

D-Link DGL-4100 GamerLounge Broadband Gigabit Gaming Router $129.99

Grand Total: $1,660.88

-edit-

A few other details. I have a strong need for gigabit, which is why I picked that switch. I don't need wireless as the only wireless device I have is a laptop for work and I hardly use it at home. I have a WRT54G that I will keep and use for wifi whenever I do use that. I didn't see a point in getting a more expensive, potentially problematic "draft" wireless router with 4 gigabit ports (was bummed I couldn't find a reasonable 8 port.)

I'm sure someone will say why not go quad core for the same price? I thought about it, but for the same price as well you can get dual core and roughly a 600mhz increase (2.4 quad to 3.0 dual). Applications/Programs won't benefit, and as previously stated I don't game so I would benefit less. For my needs, I think clock speed is more of an investment if I'm going to spend that much loot for the CPU.

Maybe I can go down a little bit on the PSU but that is a good deal atm, I think it's like an $80 savings so it's worth it!

 

[Steevo]

If you don't mind overclocking I built my work PC for less and have it clocked at 3.2Ghz and it still stays really cool. I could go to 3.8 with another memory divider.



http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116063 (these can reach well over 3.0Ghz with just a minor cooling upgrade)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813127030 Very flexible board with two gig ports, e-sata and HD audio built in.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146118 I used these in a couple C2D builds and they overclock and you can still tighten the timings, plus with a bit more voltage the still run cool.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835887002 Quiet, and excellent cooling for the $$$$$. I have used these and for air there isn't much better for the money.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148151 I have a spare 400 at home and used a few of these in builds, the perpendicular recording increases the speed or reads and writes beyond that of what a Raptor can do, plus a huge amount of capacity.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256027 Energy efficient, quiet, stable, and best bang for the buck.



I am a ATI guy, so I could say that a HD3870 512MB card is the way to go, but in terms of $$ for performance right now the 8800GT is a bit better deal. the 3870 does have a few features for other people, like the UVD, and a true onboard HD audio, plus HDMI output. But this will be up to you as performance is almost identical.

Don't buy a SATA CD drive unless you really have a need for less cabling. Everyone I have head of that has them has issues. And unless you want to force all drives attached to that controller to a IDE compatability mode, or add the drivers to your windows installation for the interface you are stuck. This also limits using certain types of bootable CD's and in some cases the drive being available at all in safe mode. Some have had issues with restore mode of Windows unless you keep your original slipstreamed disk handy.

 

[kcnychief]

Never really tried overclocking, probably something I won't consider for this build either. I actually was looking at that PSU, but with the $80 off I don't think I can go wrong with the one I picked out.

Good point on the SATA Optical drives, I think I'll avoid those. I'm on the fence about the stock HSF, kinda mixed reviews about the quality of the cooling for the one that comes with the CPU. Most complaints are about people who just have trouble mounting it, but the temps seem OK.

 

[Steevo]

Overclocking is easy, and with the tools provided by the motherboard manufacturers, and those provided by the 1337 that do OC everything you have little worry about damaging hardware.


You get top notch performance out of lower cost hardware. In this case most people can hit 2.8Ghz on that chip with no core voltage increase, and with a small increase you should be able to reach 3.0+Ghz and only a medium increase in temps. If you DON'T overclock, it is a waste to buy anything but the stock cooler, especially with the heatpipe tech that you were looking at. it does little until you stress it.


The only downside to mounting either heatsink/fan that you selected, or the one I suggested is the sheer size of the cooler. But that allows for harder working hardware to stay cool.


Overclock, just do it.