Dream Machine

[SpFiota]

Well, I've decided to build myself the ultimate computer. I used to be on the cutting edge of technology, but that was during high school some six years ago before I discovered girls. And now I'm trying to forget them. Anyway, I have a couple questions and I wanted to run this build by some folks with experience before I shell out the bucks only to find out something isn't compatable.

Okay, let's get started.

Processor: Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 Conroe 2.93GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557X6800

Motherboard: ASUS P5ND2-SLI Socket T (LGA 775) NVIDIA nForce 4 SLI Intel Edition ATX Intel Motherboard

Ram: CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X2048-6400C4

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 ST3808110AS 80GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

Graphics Card: MSI NX7950GX2-T2D1GE Geforce 7950GX2 1GB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Dual GPU Video Card

Power Supply: FSP Group (Fortron Source) FX700-GLN ATX12V/ EPS12V 700W Quad. SLi Power Supply




I'm going to salvage the sound card from my old computer. Am I missing any crucial parts?

Anyway, I have a couple questions. Is a 700watt power supply enough? Currently I'm just getting one graphics card and hard drive, but I intend to get another 7950GX2 and I may even get another hard drive down the road.

Also, what about cases? Will most cases fit that, how should I go about picking one? I intend to buy all these parts from newegg if possible.

And lastly, I'm curious about Windows Media Center PCs. What constitutes one? Do I just need Windows Media Center XP and a good computer? I'm planning to hook the computer up to my LCD television and if possible I'd like to run a sort of Picture in Picture mode with television going in one window and my computer itself running in another. Is that possible?

Sorry for all the questions. This got a little longer than I'd orignially intended. Thanks in advance for the help.

EDIT: One more thing crossed my mind: cooling. What sort of fans do you think this beast needs, what about thermal grease?

[helmgt01]

Well, I've decided to build myself the ultimate computer. Processor: Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 Conroe 2.93GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557X6800 Motherboard: ASUS P5ND2-SLI Socket T (LGA 775) NVIDIA nForce 4 SLI Intel Edition ATX Intel Motherboard Graphics Card: MSI NX7950GX2-T2D1GE Geforce 7950GX2 1GB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Dual GPU Video Card

Save money buy the 6400 or 6300 and OverClock it to 6800 speeds http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets...px?i=2802&p=11

DO NOT USE THE nForce MOBO!!!
Change your Mobo to Asus P5WDH Deluxe http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131025,

or the Intel 'Bad Axe' http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813121016

As for graphics cards, personally I'm still sold on the ATI x1900xtx over any card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102037

[doubledragon5]

What about a case? 700 watt is far more than you'll use.. You can find a nice case with a strong psu.. I have a Antec Lifestyle Sonata II with a 450w smart power 2.0 powersupply.. It is only $99 dollars....

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by SpFiota Okay, let's get started. Processor: Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 Conroe 2.93GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557X6800

You're actually willing to spend almost $1000 on just the processor?

Originally Posted by SpFiota Motherboard: ASUS P5ND2-SLI Socket T (LGA 775) NVIDIA nForce 4 SLI Intel Edition ATX Intel Motherboard

I'd stick with a Intel based motherboard, like the ASUS P5B, for stability reasons.

Originally Posted by SpFiota Ram: CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X2048-6400C4

That RAM should work fine.

Originally Posted by SpFiota Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 ST3808110AS 80GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

Only a 80GB HDD for the ultimate computer? Why not get something bigger?

Originally Posted by SpFiota Graphics Card: MSI NX7950GX2-T2D1GE Geforce 7950GX2 1GB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Dual GPU Video Card

I'm not a gamer and can't comment on this video card.

Originally Posted by SpFiota Power Supply: FSP Group (Fortron Source) FX700-GLN ATX12V/ EPS12V 700W Quad. SLi Power Supply

FSP makes excellent power supplies but you don't need 700 watts. A 550 watt PSU will be more than enough for this rig.

Originally Posted by SpFiota I'm going to salvage the sound card from my old computer. Am I missing any crucial parts?

Optical drives?

Originally Posted by SpFiota Anyway, I have a couple questions. Is a 700watt power supply enough? Currently I'm just getting one graphics card and hard drive, but I intend to get another 7950GX2 and I may even get another hard drive down the road.

See answer above.

Originally Posted by SpFiota Also, what about cases? Will most cases fit that, how should I go about picking one? I intend to buy all these parts from newegg if possible.

As long as both the case and motherboard follow the ATX form factor they'll fit together nicely.

Originally Posted by SpFiota And lastly, I'm curious about Windows Media Center PCs. What constitutes one? Do I just need Windows Media Center XP and a good computer? I'm planning to hook the computer up to my LCD television and if possible I'd like to run a sort of Picture in Picture mode with television going in one window and my computer itself running in another. Is that possible?

I really haven't heard anything good about Windows Media Center XP.

Originally Posted by SpFiota EDIT: One more thing crossed my mind: cooling. What sort of fans do you think this beast needs, what about thermal grease?

No need to get crazy with the fans. Conroe processors don't run that hot. Just install at least 1 exhaust fan and you should be fine. And the retail processor will come with a heatsink that already has a thermal pad on it...you won't need thermal compound.

Cricket

[SpFiota]

Oh yeah, I'm getting a DVD burner. Forgot to mention that.

I'll swap motherboards too.

In regards to the graphics card, why would you pick the ATI x1900xt? It's a 512mb card, right? The one I've selected is a gigabyte card. Maybe I'm mistaken, but I would assume that means I get more bang for my buck. Plus I intend to install a second one for sh!ts and giggles as my dad would say.

As for the hard drive, I picked 80 gigs because I intend to install two eventually in RAID format.
So a couple of you have commented on the processor. I wasn't really considering price. I've always wanted the meanest, fastest, nastiest computer, so I basically went through and picked the most powerful components. How much of a difference is there between this processor and one a step down? Anything noticeable?
(EDIT: I took a look at some of the slower processors. A 6700 is nearly 400 bucks cheaper. A 6600, 600 bucks cheaper. A 6400, 750 bucks less. Suppose I get a 6400 or a 6600. How big a difference is it going to be? How long before it isn't cutting edge? The way I look at it is if I get that processor when it starts to chug along I can easily afford to get a replacement. Whereas with a 1000 dollar processor I'm going to want to hold on to that long after it no longer competes. Keep in mind I want to run the best games at the highest settings for a while to come. And if I go with, say, the 6600 I could afford two graphics cards right off the bat and a pair of RAID HDs...)

Final question. Those processors have 2.4ghz, 2.9ghz something in that ballpark. When I was into computers the higher the gigahertz the better. Now, though, it seems that doesn't matter. What's up with that? The computer I'm on now, a relatively inexpensive laptop, has a 2.4gig processor, yet I'm sure it's much, much slower than those dual core processors.

Thanks again for all your input, guys. This is a big investment and I've totally lost touch with technology.

EDIT: Okay... one more question. Sorry if I'm being a pain. I was looking through hard drives again and I came across this: Western Digital Raptor WD360ADFD 36.7GB 10,000 RPM 16MB Cache Serial ATA150 Hard Drive. It's the least expensive of the 10,000RPM drives. If I got two of them in RAID format how exactly would that work. I get 73gigs of space, plus each drive works on a separate process simultaneously, right? So it would spead things up?

[dogdude16]

10,000 k drives are semi loud and put out some good heat, if you are in to over clocking then get
the E6600 and overclock but u dont want to mess with over clocking and money is not an issue then get the extreme edition . lite on dvd burners are good they come with nero burning software even with the oems.
you probably will want more than 70 gigs of hard drive space but just make sure u get a 16mb buffer for best performence

[SpFiota]

Yeah, this is the DVD burner I've been looking at. LITE-ON 16X DVD±R DVD Burner Black ATAPI/E-IDE Model SHW-160P6S-04. I'm going to salvage the CD-drive from my old computer as well so I can copy discs if the need arises. Noise isn't too big a deal. I had an Alienware a couple years back and that thing was deafening. I got used to it, plus I have a set of high-end headphones I use in place of speakers, anyway, so I won't even hear it.

As for space, I currently have a 100gig drive and I'm only using half. I'm looking at speed before space. Plus if down the road I start running low on space I'll just get an external drive and load it up with all my garbage. Thanks for the input.

[seanarmenta]

Originally Posted by SpFiota Oh yeah, I'm getting a DVD burner. Forgot to mention that. I'll swap motherboards too. In regards to the graphics card, why would you pick the ATI x1900xt? It's a 512mb card, right? The one I've selected is a gigabyte card. Maybe I'm mistaken, but I would assume that means I get more bang for my buck. Plus I intend to install a second one for sh!ts and giggles as my dad would say. As for the hard drive, I picked 80 gigs because I intend to install two eventually in RAID format. So a couple of you have commented on the processor. I wasn't really considering price. I've always wanted the meanest, fastest, nastiest computer, so I basically went through and picked the most powerful components. How much of a difference is there between this processor and one a step down? Anything noticeable? (EDIT: I took a look at some of the slower processors. A 6700 is nearly 400 bucks cheaper. A 6600, 600 bucks cheaper. A 6400, 750 bucks less. Suppose I get a 6400 or a 6600. How big a difference is it going to be? How long before it isn't cutting edge? The way I look at it is if I get that processor when it starts to chug along I can easily afford to get a replacement. Whereas with a 1000 dollar processor I'm going to want to hold on to that long after it no longer competes. Keep in mind I want to run the best games at the highest settings for a while to come. And if I go with, say, the 6600 I could afford two graphics cards right off the bat and a pair of RAID HDs...) Final question. Those processors have 2.4ghz, 2.9ghz something in that ballpark. When I was into computers the higher the gigahertz the better. Now, though, it seems that doesn't matter. What's up with that? The computer I'm on now, a relatively inexpensive laptop, has a 2.4gig processor, yet I'm sure it's much, much slower than those dual core processors. Thanks again for all your input, guys. This is a big investment and I've totally lost touch with technology. EDIT: Okay... one more question. Sorry if I'm being a pain. I was looking through hard drives again and I came across this: Western Digital Raptor WD360ADFD 36.7GB 10,000 RPM 16MB Cache Serial ATA150 Hard Drive. It's the least expensive of the 10,000RPM drives. If I got two of them in RAID format how exactly would that work. I get 73gigs of space, plus each drive works on a separate process simultaneously, right? So it would spead things up?

you're better off just using one 150GB raptor for your system drive, as opposed to two of them in even a RAID 0 array, as the performance boost would be barely noticeable. we're talking maybe 5% over just using a single drive. not worth the expense or risk of a RAID 0 failure. i have the 150 raptor and it's not at all noisy. my fans are noisier than the drive. it does get warm, but with adequate cooling in your case it wouldn't even be an issue.

[glc]

The Seagate 7200.10 drives are just about as fast as Raptors - and don't use RAID, this is unneccesary complication and doesn't really gain you much in the real world.

The E6600 is the most bang for the buck. It has twice the cache of the E6300 and E6400.

If you really want SLI, wait for the new generation of SLI boards for Intel, they will be here real soon. The NF4 boards for Intel are pretty lousy. Otherwise, get an Asus P5WDH and plan on Crossfire if you really want dual cards.

If you plan on SLI with 2 of those 7950GX2's, you need a certified power supply from the TOP group - http://www.slizone.com/object/slizon..._powersupplies - even that big Fortron is not certified, if I were spending that kind of dough on a system I'd probably get a PC Power & Cooling beast. Crossfire requires a pretty hefty PSU too.

Get a roomy, well-constructed case without a PSU. Again, for that kind of dough, I'd be looking at Lian-Li.

[helmgt01]

Originally Posted by SpFiota In regards to the graphics card, why would you pick the ATI x1900xt? It's a 512mb card, right? The one I've selected is a gigabyte card. Maybe I'm mistaken, but I would assume that means I get more bang for my buck. Plus I intend to install a second one for sh!ts and giggles as my dad would say.

See these gaming benchmarks using Oblivion-only the most demanding game available-for x1900xt and x1900xtx vs.geforce 7950 gx2 (both single and crossfire/sli modes...)

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2821&p=8

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/...iew/page12.asp

and here's a general review:
http://xtreview.com/review136.htm

Oh, and , if I remember right, the sys mem on vpu isn't the most important number.

[flanzig1]

Newegg has pretty good search parameters when looking for a case. You can search by price/brand/size/color/case material/etc.

[Mr.Ferrari]

Originally Posted by glc If you plan on SLI with 2 of those 7950GX2's, you need a certified power supply from the TOP group - http://www.slizone.com/object/slizon..._powersupplies - even that big Fortron is not certified, if I were spending that kind of dough on a system I'd probably get a PC Power & Cooling beast.

Hmm that seems kinda fishy. For some reason they certify the OCZ Gamextreme but they dont certify the fsp? Kinda odd as they are exact same psu's .

[doubledragon5]

That case your looking at has more than enough room for extra hd in the future.. You won't need to get an external, which I hear are more money wise.. WinXP Media Center I bought and returned to new egg, cause it failed to load properly after two tries.. I though at first that I had an upgrade version, but nothing on the disk or package said so...

[SpFiota]

Hm. Yeah, if those benchmarks are to be believed the ATI blows my cards away. I may have to consider that.

In regards to processors, what's the general consensus on AMDs? The only motherboard I can get now with SLI is pretty crappy from what I can tell, but there are a few better options with AMD-based motherboards.

[helmgt01]

Originally Posted by SpFiota Hm. Yeah, if those benchmarks are to be believed the ATI blows my cards away. I may have to consider that.

The Anandtech benchmark is definitely a trustworthy one...the other two I cannot say one way or the other.

[Mr.Ferrari]

The X1950XTX would be a good choice. Currently the most high performance card on the market. And cheaper then the 7950GX2. Also if you ever feel the need in the future, you can crossfire them easily on a intel 975x board.

[SpFiota]

Okay, so if I go with the ATI 100-435843 Radeon X1950XTX 512MB GDDR4 PCI Express x16 CrossFire Video Cards what mobo do I need? I'm unfamiliar with Crossfire. I know for the GeForce cards I'd need something SLI compatible.

P.S. Here's the case I picked: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129021 Take a look at the shot in the dark. Ain't she purdy?

[Mr.Ferrari]

Theres really no equivalent..AMD Fx62 might come close..

[helmgt01]

Originally Posted by SpFiota Okay, so if I go with the ATI 100-435843 Radeon X1950XTX 512MB GDDR4 PCI Express x16 CrossFire Video Cards what mobo do I need? I'm unfamiliar with Crossfire. I know for the GeForce cards I'd need something SLI compatible.

See the above links I posted for Intel Bad Axe, and P5WDH (both are crossfire)

And see the above CPU benchmark on pg 1 for this quote "and with some overclocking both of the slowest Core 2 processors are essentially out of reach of the fastest AM2 offerings."

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by SpFiota What about the processor? How do AMD's stack up? I know a little about intel, but AMD was pretty new when I gave up fooling with these things. Seems half say it's great, the other half says it's awful.

AMD processors are very good...it's the support chipset and motherboard that determines just how well the CPU will actually perform.

Originally Posted by SpFiota What would be the AMD equivalent to a dual core E6600?

I don't think AMD has anything equivalent at the moment.

Originally Posted by SpFiota P.S. Here's the case I picked: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129021 Take a look at the shot in the dark. Ain't she purdy?

Case choice is very subjective. What you find attractive, others may not. Personally, I wouldn't use that case for my own use. And a steel case without a power supply for $150? Ouch! I'd rather get a Lian Li.

Cricket

[dogdude16]

can u post an updated spec list so we can see what you chose

[SpFiota]

Okay, major problem here. I ordered the computer, got it in today. Anyway, I'm installing stuff left and right. Gets time for the video cards, so I plop those suckers in.... and realize I have two XTX1950X Radeon Crossfire READY cards. Apparently I need one of those and one Crossfire Edition card. This totally threw me off. I scoured Newegg and I don't see the Crossfire Edition on their site. This is bad. Really bad. I opened both boxes I don't think I can return one to get the right card. Is there anything I can do or am I totally screwed?

[Mr.Ferrari]

Wait, you bought crossfire right NOW? You need a single crossfire capable card and the second xfire edition. Those wont be out for another month.

I highly suggest you take your refund rma to newegg asap.

[glc]

Return one card and use a single card till the master Crossfire card is out.

[SpFiota]

Yeah, that's what I'll do. Apparently I can make a return, so I guess it's not that bad.

[whubbard]

It seems to me that money is not much of an issue for you, so I might add that you might want to stick with the X6800. Yes you can overclock the X6600 to the same speeds, but first off, it voids the warranty, and second, if you are going to overclock (and money isn't an issue) you should overclock the X6800...its such a beautiful thing!!

ps. I have spent much time debating between the X1950XTX and the 7950GX2, and have realized that the X1950XTX is not only cheaper, but it runs faster. Also when you crossfire two of them, it is AMAZING. When you Quad the 7950GX2 its nothing too special.

~Hope this helps~

EDIT: I'm sorry, didn't realize you had bought the computer!

[Alaron]

whubbard: It looks like SpFiota already ordered his parts.