"Hands untied" build.

[rudis]

So the other day my coursemate was telling me she had left her fiance and that she's moving to another apartment. Also she added that shes buying an iMac. I tried not make an agonizing scream about Mac's price/performance ratio. After a few hours of red wine she agreed that Mac's are prolly not the bestest..est computing solution if you are gaming and want to listen to multichannel audio. So she agreed to give me a chance to configure a rig for her within a budget of about 3200$ (talk about economical crysis!). I must tell you guys that in my country pc hardware ir about 20-40% more expensive than at the egg and there probably isn't that much of a choice in manufacturers.

First she's a style freak (MAC MAC MAC!!) and after rather exhausting disputes about the case we settled at Lian Li PC-7F. In my opinion this case looks nice, has sufficient airflow for a not-enthusiast system and is quite functional. My main worry is- will the HD4870X2 stay in there? Also heres the rest of the system specs, i'll comment on some things I have doubts about.

Giga Byte GA-EP45-DS3R (no heavy OC'ing intended)
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 (please advice about max stable OC on stock cooling)
Corsair TWIN2X4096-6400C5 (I don't really think these need any tweaking)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1.5TB SATAII 32MB (maybe two 750'ies in RAID?)
Club3D Radeon HD4870x2 (is it THAT loud when fan is tweaked to high RPM's?)
Chieftec 1000W, PFC, 80+, 140MM FAN (I could be overshooting here, I also have 700W OCZ in mind as alternative.)
LITE ON Blu-Ray ROM/DVD/CD
Creative Sound Blaster X-FI TITANIUM - FATAL1TY PROFESSIONAL
Giga Byte GN-WS30N-RH 300MBPS
OS OEM Windows Vista Home Premium English 64bit
LITE ON DVDRW, Lightscribe, RAM, Retail
Benq v2400w (well, at anandtech epic LCD thread they say it's good)
Lian Li PC-7F Black (the "will it fit'n'cool nicely" problem)
Logitech CORDLESS MX3200 RUS

The only future upgrades I see coming could be another HDD (is it ever enough?) and maybe some RAM sticks. I don't really think this system will see a quad X-fire in any future. I also [wish that I] could end up assembling this rig so if someone has an idea of any specific stuff related to these parts that deviates from the standard assembly tool kit- feel free to advice.

If this rig won't see daylight in lets say two months then maybe I could end up tinkering with an i7 and probably plaguing these forums with some need-help topics.

Thanks in advance guys!

P.S. I should get more closely acquainted with that girl. This should be the ultimate pickup line.

Ooh, baby! Let me feel that sizzling hot pair of your... RV770 graphics processing cores! I think they need some manly cooling!

[geokilla]

Change the RAM to something that's DDR800 with 4-4-4-12 timings instead. It'll be easier for you to overclock.

Does your friend really need the 4870X2?

No need for a 1000W power supply. A Corsair HX620 is more than enough.

Does she need a Blu-Ray Burner? If not, save the money and get a LG or Samsung DVD-Writer. And one DVD Burner should be enough unless she copies DVDs a lot.

I'd suggest that you wait on the sound card. Most of the time, a good integrated sound card is more than enough.

A Core i7 might be pretty expensive, and it supports DDR3 only, which is very expensive compared to DDR2.

P.S. Who's the girl? LOL

[pwcmed]

Dido on what geokilla said.

4870 X2 is a little over kill.

Why not a Q9650

[stopthekilling77]

Why not a Q9650

because it's like $550 on newegg here in USA, and he's got a 20-40% markup where he's at.
i WOULD however recommend purchasing a 45nm quad-core versus the Q6600, as they will overclock better and produce less heat, but if you need the 8Mb cache, then i can sort of understand going for the hotter, older chip.

[rudis]

First thing first that is NOT a blu-ray burner it just reads all formats so I added a second drive for cd/dvd burning.

And about the HX620- I'm a fan of that PSU (after the HD4870X2 CF "incident") but in Latvia its kinda hard to get those. Theres only one retailer who sells those and they are not sure whether it's in stock. Also I'm trying to stick to one retailer so theres no hassle about the delivery and warranty. I think i'll stick with one of OCZ PSU's.

Isn't the fabled Q6600 overclocers best friend? Maybe i'll look into some aftermarket cooling (Zalman?) and try my luck to get it as high as I can without touching the v-core. As for the 45nm- maybe ill get the Q9550 after I drop the sound card off the list.

I chose the HD4870X2 because I wanted to make the system as futureproof (laugh on!) as I could. Maybe a nVidia flagship could be a better choice because of the lack of multi-GPU issues? Still I heard the mighty ATi fire-dragon is holding something up its sleeve bacause of that small unused pipeline.

[pwcmed]

I read a review were Q8200 was at the same level as the Q6600. I don't know if it's available in England. I'm building something similar for someone that does basic web design and surfs the internet and I got him a HD 4650. The way I figured is that if needs it we can upgrade it then.

That is a pretty sweet looking case. Sharp!!

[rudis]

The girl wants the rig to be really powerful for gaming so I don't think the HD4650 is really an option. As I said- i'll drop the sound card off the list and get the Q9550 also some decent air cooling (Big Typhoon) and try pushing it to the limit at stock v-core.

[Skippman]

So the other day my coursemate was telling me she had left her fiance and that she's moving to another apartment.

After a few hours of red wine


P.S. I should get more closely acquainted with that girl. This should be the ultimate pickup line.

This thread is worthless without pics.

[Sporg]

I have to agree with Skippman, we need some pics here!

[rudis]

Okaay... And how would you actually know that it's me and her? It isn't like you could get a cpu-z validation for that stuff. I think i'll post some pics about building that beastly rig. But I can't guarantee that the owner of the computer will agree for a photoshoot. But still- how could you know that it's her and that it is me? Not some random dude with a girl...

[Sporg]

Fair enough, then get some pics of her holding some of the parts. Babes~n~geek~gear

[Skippman]

Can't say as it really matters. Just seemed like the thing to say at the time. :D

[Alathald]

We're very trusting on LR

I think it was intended more as a joke anyway...

[Sporg]

Either way, pics of the build would be fun, that is a pretty cool case.

[Skippman]

Pics of builds are ALWAYS welcome. The more idea's the better!

It's all the fun of a LAN without the hastle of dragging gear.

[DMB2000uk]

Way to derail a thread guys

Rudis, do you want any more advice/clarification on parts, or are you now happy to go with what you have chosen?

Dan

[rudis]

My final decision is:

Giga Byte GA-EP45-DS3R
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550
Corsair TWIN2X4096-6400C5
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1.5TB SATAII 32MB
Club3D Radeon HD4870x2
OCZ 700W GameXStream
LITE ON Blu-Ray ROM/DVD/CD
Giga Byte GN-WS30N-RH 300MBPS
OS OEM Windows Vista Home Premium English 64bit
LITE ON DVDRW, Lightscribe, RAM, Retail
Benq v2400w
Lian Li PC-7F Black
Logitech CORDLESS MX3200 RUS

AND there will be pics. Still i'm not sure when she will decide to make the purchase.

[Skippman]

Never heard of Club3D. Is that a refrence board?

[DMB2000uk]

They're more of a European based brand, and I do believe their x2 implementation is reference design.

Dan

[rudis]

Yup, it's a reference design. Anyhow I haven't seen any X2's with a non reference cooling. Any ideas on aftermarket cooling? I saw a rather "innovative" cooling mod for that card but I wouldn't like to experiment with such expensive piece of hardware. There was some word about CoolIT designing liquid cooling for HD48XX X2 cards, but after the first anouncements everything went silent.