What I have planned

[Fiesta 0]

Right. So I felt it necessary to put on a true show of power to you guys via a mid-May build; it will consist of the following (from the monitor down to the operating system is what I already have):

• CPU: Intel Core i7 920 (D0 Stepping)
• CPU Cooler: Xigmatek Thor's Hammer HDT-S126384
• Cooler Paste: OCZ Freeze Extreme
• Cooler Fan: Sanyo Denki San Ace 9G1212H101
• Motherboard: Foxconn X58 Blood Rage
• Video Card: XFX GeForce GTS 250 Core Edition 512MB GS250XYDFC
• Memory: 3GB (1GBx3) DDR3 Triple Channel Kit 1600MHz Corsair Dominator TR3X3G1600C8D
• Hard Drive: OCZ Vertex 60GB boot + Seagate 640GB & 1.5TB storage
• Optical Drive: Asus DRW-22B1LT + LG GH22LS30
• Power Supply: Antec Signature SG-850
• Display: Samsung LN-S2351W
• Case: Cooler Master ATCS 840 w/black interior powder coat
• Case fans: Cooler Master standard 230mm fans (180mm actual blade length), one up front and two in top, one 120mm fan in the rear; will replace the top 2 black 230mm fans with a pair of red LED ones from the Cooler Master online store.*
• Sound Card: Asus Xonar DX
• Speakers: Logitech Z-2300
• Headphones: Centrios 3312003
• Mouse: Logitech MX-518 (1800 DPI)
• Mouse pad: Ideazon Fragmat
• Game pad: Ideazon FANG (don't actually have yet, birthday gift probably)
• Keyboard: Logitech Illuminated 920-000914
• Operating System: Windows XP Pro SP3 32-bit (will switch to dual-boot on XP Pro 32-bit and Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit)

 

To give you a hint, this is what my current parts are like inside the case; I'll get around to posting my current specs in the sticky sometime. The case is an absolute monster, and other than substantially more expensive Silverstone, Lian-Li, Mountain Mods, and Soldam cases, it has no equal in build quality. I'll hide the SATA cables later, by the way. I just wanted the system working since I just got the case back from the shop that did the powder coating Monday.

 

*Will use birthday money to load down the empty internal 120mm fan mounts with Scythe S-Flex SFF21F-s; they're very good fans for an amazingly low cost; the only reason I'm using San Aces for the CPU cooler instead of these is because San Aces have god-like static pressure, undervolt like champs without making extraneous noise, and tend to perform above-spec when mounted to turbulence-prone applications like tower coolers and water radiators.

 

Good luck beating this build, though I realize the monitor is SEVERELY resolution-limited so I can't truly test the system's potential until I upgrade that. But as for the system itself, it's the most power-balanced, stable, and probably quiet build that 1,800 dollars can buy, and when I'm able to, I'll get the side panel window from the Cooler Master store so I can show off the goods with the system running. Oh yes, there will be plenty of pics when I do this.

Edited March 26, 2009 by Fiesta
Fixed bulleted list

[Malevolence 6]

Lucky you. That is a kick a** system. But I suggest having 4GB ram or more for futureproofing... as you intend to get windows 7 64 bit.

Edited February 13, 2009 by Malevolence

[Luk3us 63]

As ^ said, go for hte 4gb worth of ram.

[Fiesta 0]

I'll bump it to 6GB later, but right now I'm sticking to 3 as I've yet to find a stressful use for even 2GB.

[Malevolence 6]

We were suggesting 4gb and you just replied that you have the intention of upgrading 6gb. :haha:

 

Another rich dude on the loose, I feel like crying.

 

If only I have a good rig...

Edited February 14, 2009 by Malevolence

[Nmenth 291]

Another rich dude on the loose, I feel like crying.

it's the most power-balanced, stable, and probably quiet build that 1,800 dollars can buy

$1800 isn't that much... I mean, it's not nothing, but not really deserving of a 'rich dude' label.

[Luk3us 63]

So you know when your using XP you won't be able to use your entire allocation of ram. So it'll only be useful when using Vista.

[Alphabear 11]

We were suggesting 4gb and you just replied that you have the intention of upgrading 6gb. :haha:

 

Another rich dude on the loose, I feel like crying.

 

Its an x58 board, thus 3GB and 6GB are much more common. Besides 3GB is more than enough for XP 32bit, Vista is the memory hog. Getting more ram for the sake of "future proofing" is an absolute waste of money when you can easily go out and get another 3GB stick later on when it will be actually useful, and you will have saved money with the price drop.

[Fiesta 0]

So you know when your using XP you won't be able to use your entire allocation of ram. So it'll only be useful when using Vista.

 

Right. By the time I decide to move to 6 gigs, I'll probably have dumped Windows XP, anyway.

 

I'm not really "rich", by the way, I mean DDR3 has gotten really cheap now, though still not nearly as cheap as DDR2. But seriously, Dominator RAM used to be affordable in the meth-addled dreams of a mad scientist, but that particular module set is only 130 bucks. For 1600MHz 8-8-8-24 timings, that's incredible.

 

Its an x58 board, thus 3GB and 6GB are much more common. Besides 3GB is more than enough for XP 32bit, Vista is the memory hog. Getting more ram for the sake of "future proofing" is an absolute waste of money when you can easily go out and get another 3GB stick later on when it will be actually useful, and you will have saved money with the price drop.

 

The Blood Rage uses 3 DIMM slots instead of 6, so it'll just be 3x2 GB. The reason Foxconn uses "only" 3 is because the memory controller will only be burdened by one RAM channel set, which provides quite a bit of headroom when overclocking the RAM. The Blood Rage has already shattered the RAM overclock world record using simple A-Data RAM, and Corsair is soon releasing even higher end Dominator GT sets that run at 2GHz, 7-7-7-20 timings, and 1.65 volts. Plug that into the Blood Rage and you may just rival the LHC in doomsday capabilities... or at least so the tin-hats say. For voltage stability, the Blood Rage uses the same 3-phase digital PWM as the Asus Rampage II Extreme. For CPU power, it uses a 14-phase hybrid PWM setup, where the analog units are clocked as high as digital ones. This may not be quite as good as the Rampage II Extreme, but the fact of the matter is that overclocking potential on the Core i7 GREATLY depends on the quality of the memory controller. For some reason, units with lot codes 3836, 3837, and 3841 on Core i7 CPUs have much better overclocking potential than other Core i7s. If you get the right CPU, you can easily push it over 4GHz on air, 5GHz on a good water cooling system. Get a unit outside the mentioned lot numbers, and you may struggle to POST past 3.6GHz no matter how good your cooling is.

 

$1800 isn't that much... I mean, it's not nothing, but not really deserving of a 'rich dude' label.

 

Well, if you add up what the peripherals and monitor cost, then the figure on what was spent on the whole will exceed 2500. But I'm perfectly fine with that, because spending more on high quality peripherals now matters a LOT more than one would think. My headset for example, a 32 dollar analog Logitech Precision Gaming Headset, has the highest quality microphone I've ever worked with. The people that I speak to Skype with and play games with tend to choose to spend less on their peripherals now instead of saving for better ones a little later, and consequently 80% of people I speak to either complain about how they need better speakers, or how they want a keyboard that works right/is quieter, or have to adjust their mic or kill something in the background so I can hear them, whereas my premium-priced and -built Logitech keyboard, mouse, speakers, and webcam all perform past expectations, and I have proper noise cancelling and high mic sensitivity. I'm frequently asked, in fact, to turn my mic down on Skype because it loves my Xonar DX and microphone so much. But that's just an example.

Edited February 14, 2009 by Fiesta

[Nmenth 291]

the figure on what was spent on the whole will exceed 2500.

Whatever, riches are all relative anyway.

[Fiesta 0]

Well, about 600 of that was for the monitor, and that was a Christmas present from 2 years ago, along with this year's presents, the case and the sound card, and the speakers, which was my main birthday gift last year. So out of my own money, on the whole for the system, I'll have spent about 2000.

[Nmenth 291]

on the whole for the system, I'll have spent about 2000.

Stop changing your numbers... wealth is still, and always will be, relative...

[Fiesta 0]

Well that's the last time I'll quote pricing until I actually order it, so I won't "change" anything else like that.

[Inferno 22]

Stop changing your numbers... wealth is still, and always will be, relative...

2000 still is too much to spend on a computer

[Fiesta 0]

Not when it's a Core i7 system. I'm putting a good amount of money into each component so I get the most out of the system. Because I know that 1800 dollars could get something like a Core 2 Quad Q9450 system with a decent P45 board and HD4870X2 graphics and whatnot, but I want more CPU muscle than that. I'm not straining my graphics NEARLY as much as my CPU, and Core i7 stuff remains somewhat out of reach for the lower-end mainstream segments for the price. So I'm gonna put money into new CPU tech now, and ultra-high-end graphics later.

[Fiesta 0]

Double-post-bumpage! Beh. So I swapped a crapload of things around and added a few building accessories to make the job easier and cleaner, and going 64-bit XP Pro so I can use 6GB of RAM. I know I said I wouldn't be using all of it, but solid state disks require a nice amount of RAM to keep going at their natural pace, and I noted how stable 64-bit XP is today compared to its early days. I also found out I'll only be spending less than a week's vacation for both Oklahoma and Texas, so I decided to make the plans to order on the 2nd week of May, after my college semester ends. Thus, we end up at the following configuration, which will be what I have a month from now.

 

 

Again, I already have the monitor, sound card, case, mouse, keyboard, and headphones. I'll also get a fan controller + a pair of fans for the back of the hard drive cage (to move air over the video card area) and another, higher airflow fan for the bottom intake. I haven't decided which fans will go in these spots yet, but ones that will likely be in the mix are this, this, this, this, this, and this. For the CPU cooler, I'll either use this or this, since San Aces are nearly unmatched in undervolting (as in on a fan controller) and noise, but EBM.Papst is like one of those hyper-high-quality "underground" brands that nobody ever talks about, but if you ever get one of their products you'll find it impossible to be disappointed. Undervolted, a Papst fan will beat a similarly-rated Yate Loon, so that's why I'm in a rut between that and the San Ace fan. Don't even suggest Scythe's Slipstream or Ultra Kaze fans, by the way. Both are extremely over-hyped, achieve nowhere near their rated airflow, and some have made clicking/grinding sounds when undervolted. They're also built with low-quality Chinese sleeve bearings, which are nowhere near as good as the Japanese-made bearings in the fans I linked to, and airflow can suffer horribly when they're mounted horizontally.

Edited April 16, 2009 by Fiesta

[Malevolence 6]

You are using Foxconn Blood Rage mobo, nice colour themed motherboard but I find it strange that it has 3 ram slots where other generic/extreme mobos have 6. I guess its cheaper than the rest? Great choice for picking the D0 stepping of the i7 920 series. And that Cooler master ATCS 840 casing is a great choice, a full Tower casing with a removable motherboard tray and big fans.

 

Do double check that your Thor's Hammer (with 2 extra external fans if you request?) may interfere with the nearest ram slot?

 

As for the 120mm fans, Zalman F3 fans or Xigmatek XLF1253 ftw. I heard that the Kaze fans are powerful and expensive, as for Yate Loon it's cheap but brittle. Never pick those cheap Cooler Master "silent" fans, many folks complained that they are not as silent as indicated/advertised.

Edited April 17, 2009 by Malevolence

[Fiesta 0]

You are using Foxconn Blood Rage mobo, nice colour themed motherboard but I find it strange that it has 3 ram slots where other generic/extreme mobos have 6. I guess its cheaper than the rest?

 

The main thing is, having a single triple channel arrangement is a much lighter load on the CPU's integrated memory controller, allowing for lower temperatures and higher overclocks; an abundance of modules creates stability issues under overclocking as well, so I'll stick to 3 DIMMs and only 3. Not like 6GB is a small amount of RAM to work with, either; bearing this, I saw no need at all to choose one of the boards with 6 slots; the latter 3 slots would just stay unused and that didn't make sense to me to have DIMM slots I wouldn't ever need. Plus, as you said, the color scheme is great, and it would contrast VERY well with the anodized powder coat I have inside.

 

And that Cooler master ATCS 840 casing is a great choice, a full Tower casing with a removable motherboard tray and big fans.

 

Yes. I just now completed the order for 2 of the Panaflos for the back of the hard drive cage and one of the S-Flex Gs for the bottom intake, and a Rheobus to control them. Later on I'll decide on whether to use the San Ace or the Papst for the Hammer; both have such phenomenal static pressure, even when undervolted, that when a user at Overclock.net tested to see if a second San Ace in a push-pull configuration on his Thermalright Ultra Extreme 120 (which was lapped and pressure-modded) would improve temperatures, well, there was NO performance change from one fan whatsoever. None. It's just that good.

 

Do double check that your Thor's Hammer (with 2 extra external fans if you request?) may interfere with the nearest ram slot?

 

Way ahead of you (Pic is from Xbitlabs):

 

 

That's a P6T Deluxe, and I already checked the difference between the boards in space between socket and DIMM slots (in this case the orange slots on the P6T); it's less than a 5cm difference and that's exactly how I'll have the Hammer oriented, as I want the hot air going up toward the huge fans instead of back toward the weaker 120mm fan. Even if it protrudes over the DIMM slots, it won't matter as Mushkin's heat spreaders, even the Redline ones, have a VERY low profile. It'll be fine.

 

As for the 120mm fans, Zalman F3 fans or Xigmatek XLF1253 ftw. I heard that the Kaze fans are powerful and expensive, as for Yate Loon it's cheap but brittle. Never pick those cheap Cooler Master "silent" fans, many folks complained that they are not as silent as indicated/advertised.

 

Xigmatek's ratings aren't that accurate, but I do like what I see in test results of Zalman's fans. Nevertheless, all the fans I linked to have a very reasonable and realistic balance between noise and airflow, and I've confirmed most if not all of them to have little-to-no extraneous noise when undervolted (either via fan controller or a modified molex connection); they also last a long time.

Edited April 18, 2009 by Fiesta

[Malevolence 6]

You haven't received your new rig yet?

[Fiesta 0]

No, I'm waiting until the college semester ends in the second week of May to order. I won't have enough money until that time, anyway (had to take some out to shop for other birthdays).

[Malevolence 6]

No, I'm waiting until the college semester ends in the second week of May to order. I won't have enough money until that time, anyway (had to take some out to shop for other birthdays).

 

Where did you get the money from? Your parents or job?

[Fiesta 0]

About 500 of it was money accumulated from past birthdays and Christmases, the rest was from my job.