Hex
16th August 2007, 19:46
Well, at Yega's request I'm gonna lay out my rig, part by part, with my reckoning on each component. There will be pictures of the rig added at such time as I can be bothered to upload them! So, without further ado....
First thing to discuss would be the case, an Antec P182. There are many reviews out there which explain in ample terms just how awesome a case this is, and in many ways I agree thoroughly. It's a spacious case compared to many others, with space for enough optical drives and HDDs to satisfy all but the most storage obsessed user - my rig has 3 HDDs and 2 DVD drives accommodated quite comfortably, with space for more should I ever want them. I have two major complaints about the case - the first is the obscene weight of the thing, just under 15kg when empty, it's not exactly light. The second complaint I have is that despite being a large case, it can still get a bit cramped when you've got tons of bits and pieces in there - most notably I had some trouble getting my PSU into the case. This is partly due to the fact that it is longer than a standard ATX PSU (so much for standards eh?) but even once I got my PSU into the case, I ended up having to remove the case's cable tidies in order to actually get all the cabling through from the PSU compartment into the main part of the case. My one regret with this build was not buying a modular PSU, as the extra cables are a real PITA. One last complaint about the case is that while it features 3 layer dampening in the sides, and is billed as a silent case, the fans are actually somewhat noisy. If you are serious about building a silent machine, I'd recommend you buy this case, but strip the 3 bundled fans out and replace them with silent fans. Nonetheless, gripes aside I would give this case a hearty 9/10.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/CA-070-AN_400.jpg
As it cropped up in the case discussion, next component would be the PSU, a Tagan Dual Engine 700W. This PSU is excellent in nearly every respect - as far as I can tell it is silent, and it certainly does a more than adequate job of powering the rig, with more than enough cables to power anything and everything you could possibly throw at it, including an SLI setup (it's an SLI certified PSU). A few minor complaints would be that it's longer than the ATX standard, and it's not modular, but then if you really want modularity I guess you pay the extra for the feature - Tagan make modular PSUs for a bit more money. Overall I would rate this 9.5/10, an excellent PSU.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/CA-014-TG_400.jpg
Next up is the motherboard, an Asus Striker Extreme. At around £200, this is an expensive board, and really reserved for enthusiasts, and rich enthusiasts at that. Asus offer other boards with nearly all the features of this one for close to half the price, so if you're on a budget, don't bother with this. If however (like me) you have money to burn, I can't recommend this board highly enough. Ignore any horror stories you may have read on the Asus forums - the early revisions of this board suffered problems but it has been well and truly tweaked, leaving us with a solid as rock board. It has all the features you could really ever want from an nVidia chipset board; it's SLi capable, has more than enough expansion slots (3xPCI-E, 2xPCI, 3 USB headers, 1 Firewire Header, 1 IDE and 6 SATA), supports DDR2 up to 800Mhz and CPUs up to 1333 FSB including Quad core, so one way and another it's as upgradeable as a motherboard ever really can be.
The BIOS is not only full of features but very friendly and well organised - no dubious options or bad English translations to be found here. I had no trouble at all setting the machine up with the correct RAM timings and other settings, and while I've yet to try the CPU OCing options they look both friendly and extensive. If you really want to you can also OC the RAM from the BIOS.
I have a few minor complaints about the board. Firstly, the bundled sound card (a riser card rather than the standard onboard chip) is shit. I tried it out before buying an X-Fi to replace it, but don't even bother, the sound quality is pisch and it gets a shocking level of hum, leave this in the box and use a proper card instead. Secondly, the heatpipe arrangement around the CPU socket makes it somewhat difficult to fit a large aftermarket heatsink, but the cooling it achieves for the board is arguably worth it. Thirdly the single IDE slot is rather badly positioned right next to the 24pin ATX power in connection. The only real problem I got with the board was that the IDE wouldn't recognise any drives I connected to it - whether this was a faulty cable or a faulty slot on the board I don't know, as I decided just to ditch IDE entirely and use SATA for all 5 drives.
Overall, my score for the board has to be split. If you factor price into the equation, I can't legitimately give this more than about 7/10, as it really is pretty expensive. However if you ignore the price, the boards features and the wonderful BIOS bring this as close to a 10/10 as you can get. I guess you can decide for yourself whether you can justify spending £200 on a mobo.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/MB-208-AS_400.jpg
Next up, the CPU, an Intel Core2Duo E6600 @ 2.4Ghz. Not much to say here, it's a CPU, it's easily installed into the socket and it works. I'm highly impressed by the machine's ability to multi-task under windows (you really can take the piss with the number of open applications and it won't even flinch). I thoroughly recommend any of the C2D range, pick the fastest chip you can afford and enjoy!
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/CP-128-IN_400.jpg
And so we come to the heatsink, a ThermalRight Ultra 120 eXtreme. I've lost count of the number of times I've said this now, but nonetheless, I shall reiterate - This thing is a BITCH to fit. The instructions are somewhat vague, and the setup is relatively complicated - you have a backplate that sits behind the motherboard. You then have the main heatsink which sits on top of the CPU. You have a cross-shaped bar which goes through the heatpipes of the main piece and attaches through holes in the motherboard to the backplate. This attachment is achieved through the use of 4 spring-loaded screws, which is where the fun starts - you have to push down on them pretty damn hard to get them to actually go into the screw holes. To further complicate matters, the heatsink needs a 120mm fan attached to it, which is achieved by hooking it on with two bits of wire. All in all this took my about 20 mins to fit, and I had to take the mobo out of the case to manage it.
So, the big question, was it worth it? I have to say yes - this thing cools like nothing else (except maybe the Tuniq Tower 120). My C2D is running at it's factory clock of 2.4Ghz, and the cores idle at 30 degrees. That's barely above room temperature, and it's also cooler than the mobo which runs at more like 40. On full load, neither core is in excess of 43 degrees or so. Being as the C2Ds will run happily at 60 or so (probs even higher) this heatsink should allow for a pretty meaty overclock without endangering the stability of your system in the slightest. Verdict - 9/10 - hassle, but worth it.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/HS-039-TR_400.jpg
When choosing RAM for this system Sid recommended that I go for the Geil DDR2 800Mhz PC6400 Ultra Low Latency 2x1Gb Kit. Hats off to you Sid, this stuff is great! The 2Gb kit cost me just over £50, a ludicrously low price considering what the likes of Crucial charge for similar kits. It comes with a lifetime guarantee, and it also comes with a helpful piece of card indicating the optimal 4-4-4-12-2T timings and the optimal voltage for the chips. I've got them running at said timings in a dual channel configuration and I couldn't be happier - if I ever feel the need to step the machine up to 4Gb I'm gonna plump for another kit exactly the same. 10/10, Fantastic.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/MY-058-GL_400.jpg
As in any system, the graphics are worth splurging on, and being as my budget was pretty high anyway I spent £270 on a BFGTech GeForce 8800 GTS OC2 640MB. The card is no trouble at all to install and pisses all over anything I've had the chance to throw at it yet - the source video test comes close to 300fps with everything maxed out when running at 1280x1024, and even in widescreen 1680x1050 never dips below 100fps. This card should be able to handle anything you can throw at it for now, and while I don't know if the DX10 performance is any good, I'm reasonably confident that the card should last a good wee while. Probably not the best value for money, so I'll give this 8/10.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/GX-043-BG_400.jpg
As mentioned earlier, the bundled sound that came with the Mobo was a pile of shit. So I replaced it with a Creative SoundBlaster Xtreme X-Fi: Gamer Edition. This is slightly off the top wack X-FI model, the only discernable difference being that it lacks the 64MB XRAM present on the more expensive models. It's also about £40 cheaper, and the XRAM isn't good for much except ber high quality sound in a handful of games. I've got the card hooked up to a pair of Gale 40W speakers via a Cambridge Audio Azur 340A SE amplifier, and the sound quality both for games and music is absolutely impeccable. I can't fault this card or the software that comes with it in the slightest, if you've got a good set of speakers or headphones I thoroughly recommend the X-FI range. The card is also half size, so while you have to supply your own half size bracket it is compatible with the smaller cases. 10/10 for this.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/SC-045-CL_400.jpg
I'm not gonna go into any detail about the drives I've used - I slapped 2 500Gb Western Digital SATA HDDs in, which I'm very happy with, along with a Liteon DVD-RW DL (a steal at £30 inc Nero) and a Samsung SATA DVD-ROM (again a steal at £10). So yeah, pics will be up when I can be bothered to take some, until then throw any questions my way and I'll do my best to answer them.
First thing to discuss would be the case, an Antec P182. There are many reviews out there which explain in ample terms just how awesome a case this is, and in many ways I agree thoroughly. It's a spacious case compared to many others, with space for enough optical drives and HDDs to satisfy all but the most storage obsessed user - my rig has 3 HDDs and 2 DVD drives accommodated quite comfortably, with space for more should I ever want them. I have two major complaints about the case - the first is the obscene weight of the thing, just under 15kg when empty, it's not exactly light. The second complaint I have is that despite being a large case, it can still get a bit cramped when you've got tons of bits and pieces in there - most notably I had some trouble getting my PSU into the case. This is partly due to the fact that it is longer than a standard ATX PSU (so much for standards eh?) but even once I got my PSU into the case, I ended up having to remove the case's cable tidies in order to actually get all the cabling through from the PSU compartment into the main part of the case. My one regret with this build was not buying a modular PSU, as the extra cables are a real PITA. One last complaint about the case is that while it features 3 layer dampening in the sides, and is billed as a silent case, the fans are actually somewhat noisy. If you are serious about building a silent machine, I'd recommend you buy this case, but strip the 3 bundled fans out and replace them with silent fans. Nonetheless, gripes aside I would give this case a hearty 9/10.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/CA-070-AN_400.jpg
As it cropped up in the case discussion, next component would be the PSU, a Tagan Dual Engine 700W. This PSU is excellent in nearly every respect - as far as I can tell it is silent, and it certainly does a more than adequate job of powering the rig, with more than enough cables to power anything and everything you could possibly throw at it, including an SLI setup (it's an SLI certified PSU). A few minor complaints would be that it's longer than the ATX standard, and it's not modular, but then if you really want modularity I guess you pay the extra for the feature - Tagan make modular PSUs for a bit more money. Overall I would rate this 9.5/10, an excellent PSU.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/CA-014-TG_400.jpg
Next up is the motherboard, an Asus Striker Extreme. At around £200, this is an expensive board, and really reserved for enthusiasts, and rich enthusiasts at that. Asus offer other boards with nearly all the features of this one for close to half the price, so if you're on a budget, don't bother with this. If however (like me) you have money to burn, I can't recommend this board highly enough. Ignore any horror stories you may have read on the Asus forums - the early revisions of this board suffered problems but it has been well and truly tweaked, leaving us with a solid as rock board. It has all the features you could really ever want from an nVidia chipset board; it's SLi capable, has more than enough expansion slots (3xPCI-E, 2xPCI, 3 USB headers, 1 Firewire Header, 1 IDE and 6 SATA), supports DDR2 up to 800Mhz and CPUs up to 1333 FSB including Quad core, so one way and another it's as upgradeable as a motherboard ever really can be.
The BIOS is not only full of features but very friendly and well organised - no dubious options or bad English translations to be found here. I had no trouble at all setting the machine up with the correct RAM timings and other settings, and while I've yet to try the CPU OCing options they look both friendly and extensive. If you really want to you can also OC the RAM from the BIOS.
I have a few minor complaints about the board. Firstly, the bundled sound card (a riser card rather than the standard onboard chip) is shit. I tried it out before buying an X-Fi to replace it, but don't even bother, the sound quality is pisch and it gets a shocking level of hum, leave this in the box and use a proper card instead. Secondly, the heatpipe arrangement around the CPU socket makes it somewhat difficult to fit a large aftermarket heatsink, but the cooling it achieves for the board is arguably worth it. Thirdly the single IDE slot is rather badly positioned right next to the 24pin ATX power in connection. The only real problem I got with the board was that the IDE wouldn't recognise any drives I connected to it - whether this was a faulty cable or a faulty slot on the board I don't know, as I decided just to ditch IDE entirely and use SATA for all 5 drives.
Overall, my score for the board has to be split. If you factor price into the equation, I can't legitimately give this more than about 7/10, as it really is pretty expensive. However if you ignore the price, the boards features and the wonderful BIOS bring this as close to a 10/10 as you can get. I guess you can decide for yourself whether you can justify spending £200 on a mobo.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/MB-208-AS_400.jpg
Next up, the CPU, an Intel Core2Duo E6600 @ 2.4Ghz. Not much to say here, it's a CPU, it's easily installed into the socket and it works. I'm highly impressed by the machine's ability to multi-task under windows (you really can take the piss with the number of open applications and it won't even flinch). I thoroughly recommend any of the C2D range, pick the fastest chip you can afford and enjoy!
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/CP-128-IN_400.jpg
And so we come to the heatsink, a ThermalRight Ultra 120 eXtreme. I've lost count of the number of times I've said this now, but nonetheless, I shall reiterate - This thing is a BITCH to fit. The instructions are somewhat vague, and the setup is relatively complicated - you have a backplate that sits behind the motherboard. You then have the main heatsink which sits on top of the CPU. You have a cross-shaped bar which goes through the heatpipes of the main piece and attaches through holes in the motherboard to the backplate. This attachment is achieved through the use of 4 spring-loaded screws, which is where the fun starts - you have to push down on them pretty damn hard to get them to actually go into the screw holes. To further complicate matters, the heatsink needs a 120mm fan attached to it, which is achieved by hooking it on with two bits of wire. All in all this took my about 20 mins to fit, and I had to take the mobo out of the case to manage it.
So, the big question, was it worth it? I have to say yes - this thing cools like nothing else (except maybe the Tuniq Tower 120). My C2D is running at it's factory clock of 2.4Ghz, and the cores idle at 30 degrees. That's barely above room temperature, and it's also cooler than the mobo which runs at more like 40. On full load, neither core is in excess of 43 degrees or so. Being as the C2Ds will run happily at 60 or so (probs even higher) this heatsink should allow for a pretty meaty overclock without endangering the stability of your system in the slightest. Verdict - 9/10 - hassle, but worth it.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/HS-039-TR_400.jpg
When choosing RAM for this system Sid recommended that I go for the Geil DDR2 800Mhz PC6400 Ultra Low Latency 2x1Gb Kit. Hats off to you Sid, this stuff is great! The 2Gb kit cost me just over £50, a ludicrously low price considering what the likes of Crucial charge for similar kits. It comes with a lifetime guarantee, and it also comes with a helpful piece of card indicating the optimal 4-4-4-12-2T timings and the optimal voltage for the chips. I've got them running at said timings in a dual channel configuration and I couldn't be happier - if I ever feel the need to step the machine up to 4Gb I'm gonna plump for another kit exactly the same. 10/10, Fantastic.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/MY-058-GL_400.jpg
As in any system, the graphics are worth splurging on, and being as my budget was pretty high anyway I spent £270 on a BFGTech GeForce 8800 GTS OC2 640MB. The card is no trouble at all to install and pisses all over anything I've had the chance to throw at it yet - the source video test comes close to 300fps with everything maxed out when running at 1280x1024, and even in widescreen 1680x1050 never dips below 100fps. This card should be able to handle anything you can throw at it for now, and while I don't know if the DX10 performance is any good, I'm reasonably confident that the card should last a good wee while. Probably not the best value for money, so I'll give this 8/10.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/GX-043-BG_400.jpg
As mentioned earlier, the bundled sound that came with the Mobo was a pile of shit. So I replaced it with a Creative SoundBlaster Xtreme X-Fi: Gamer Edition. This is slightly off the top wack X-FI model, the only discernable difference being that it lacks the 64MB XRAM present on the more expensive models. It's also about £40 cheaper, and the XRAM isn't good for much except ber high quality sound in a handful of games. I've got the card hooked up to a pair of Gale 40W speakers via a Cambridge Audio Azur 340A SE amplifier, and the sound quality both for games and music is absolutely impeccable. I can't fault this card or the software that comes with it in the slightest, if you've got a good set of speakers or headphones I thoroughly recommend the X-FI range. The card is also half size, so while you have to supply your own half size bracket it is compatible with the smaller cases. 10/10 for this.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/pimg/SC-045-CL_400.jpg
I'm not gonna go into any detail about the drives I've used - I slapped 2 500Gb Western Digital SATA HDDs in, which I'm very happy with, along with a Liteon DVD-RW DL (a steal at £30 inc Nero) and a Samsung SATA DVD-ROM (again a steal at £10). So yeah, pics will be up when I can be bothered to take some, until then throw any questions my way and I'll do my best to answer them.