Critique my new (proposed) system! (high end)

[germs]

The hardware (which I plan to overclock):

Motherboard: P5E3 PREMIUM/WIFI-AP @n LGA 775 DDR3 Intel X48 ATX Intel http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131276

RAM: 4 gigs total, so 2x G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 [7-7-7-18 timing] (PC3 10600) 1.65V Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231178

CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 Yorkfield 2.66GHz 12MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W Quad-Core http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...5042&Tpk=q9450

Hard drives: An old 250 gig for backup and 3x Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3750330AS 750GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148298

DVD drive: ASUS ASUS Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 14X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16827135156

Graphics card: Nvidia 8800 Ultra (which I already own, but will replace the stock cooler eventually with something else) Link for those interested: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130346

Case: SILVERSTONE TJ10-BW Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811163089

Heatsink: I wanted a Thermalright ultra 120 extreme, but I think it is just too heavy for my mobo to handle, considering this computer will be taken on about 10+ flights every year. However, (based on this really old Anandtech article http://www.anandtech.com/casecooling...spx?i=3005&p=6), after looking several of the highest rated heatsinks they were all (expectedly) very heavy. A problem, because I am aiming this system at quietness.

So I really need a little advice on this one, though I know I'm going to overclock and attach as many 120mm fans as I can to the heatsink.

OS: Windows XP Pro 64 bit

Thermal paste: Arctic silver 5, which I have as well.

I have a few other concerns however... Most of the stuff I'm buying is listed as retail, rather than OEM (like the motherboard), does that matter?

Also, I'm having a hard time deciding what fans to get. I've heard great things about Scythe fans, and because I'm trying to make this case as quiet as possible, they seem to be a good choice for both 80mm and 120mm.

And finally, is this a smart build? Feedback about anything is appriciated. I know some of the stuff is overpriced (ie TJ10), but I'm willing to pay.

Thanks!

[blkhogan]

Missing something? No power supply listed Going to get a little heavy traveling with that bad boy. That Silverstone case is a nice one, but weighs almost 30lbs empty

[Wile E]

Get this for a cooler. Outperforms the TRUE. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835233003

[germs]

Oops, forgot to list the PSU. Knew I was forgetting something...

PSU: Thermaltake Toughpower W0172RU 850W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply 100 - 240 V CB, CE, FCC, TUV, cUL http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817153062

Hopefully it has enough amps. Not sure where/how to check that. Looking into that heatsink now...

[germs]

Checked out the heatsink, it is 600g, which is higher than the 500g limit I read on anandtech. It seems that all heatsinks weight over 500g though, so I assume I have to pick one. Like I said though, this will be a case that gets mvoed around a lot, so I'm hoping I wont break my $370 motherboard.

Anyone have any real sucess suspending it via wires or some such thing?

By the way, what is the TRUE?

[trog100]

the 45nm chip might run cooler than u think.. there might not be any need for the biggest baddest heaviest cooler u can imagine.. or tons of fans..

trog

ps.. also a lower flatter type cooler will put less stress on the mobo than a taller tower type one..

[jonmcc33]

Originally Posted by germs

...considering this computer will be taken on about 10+ flights every year.

Spare yourself the misery. Get a laptop.

[KBD]

600g cooler should be fine, just move your case carefully. If you want a lighter alternative consider a Zalman 9500, its around 525g, i own this cooler its not the baddest but does the job and i move my case to clean it and its fine. Also, there is the Thermalright Ultima-90 at 460g, but you have to buy a 120mm/92mm fan for it which adds around 100-120g more to the weight, but this thing is a great performer coming close to it's bigger brother the Ultra 120 in terms of coolling.

Congrats on the case, BTW. I have the similar TJ-09BW and its awesome, though wire management is it's only drawback.

Good luck.

Edit: didn't see that you are going to take this on a planee with you 10 times a year. Get a a much smaller case like Thermaltake lanbox or a small mi-tower. TJ-10 is too big for that.

Edit 2: the 7200.11 gets beat by Samsung F1 and WD Se16, Velociraptor is on the way as well, if you gonna stick to your high end build specs get one of those & run em in raid 0

[farlex85]

No the se16s are actually faster, and the egg has 640gb version for $99 right now. But yeah the veloci would be sick, $600 on hdds though..........

[KBD]

You mean WD Se16 is faster than Samsung F1 or they are equal performers?

I'm waiting for velociraptor to drop their prices a bit and then i'll grab a couple

[farlex85]

Originally Posted by KBD

You mean WD Se16 is faster than Samsung F1 or they are equal performers?

I'm waiting for velociraptor to drop their prices a bit and then i'll grab a couple

I mean that 640gb se16 is faster than samsung F1s or barracuda 7200.11s. Yeah, I don't know how much those velocis will come down though. They are roughly the same price as the raptor x in $/gigabyte, actually a little less. So........

[exodusprime1337]

why would you take a desktop pc on a plane like that, i can almost guarentee you that they thow your pc on the ground like 8 times the first time you fly and destroy that pc. Get a laptop.

[farlex85]

Originally Posted by exodusprime1337

why would you take a desktop pc on a plane like that, i can almost guarentee you that they thow your pc on the ground like 8 times the first time you fly and destroy that pc. Get a laptop.

What??!! So he should buy a laptop from a local retailer that costs way more for less performance instead of buying parts that have to be shipped? And do you think those laptops are not also shipped on a plane sometimes? Thats not very good logic (unless you were just joking)......

[KBD]

I think he is saying to get a lappy to take with him on the plane to use during flight, not to check it in. Though i haven't flown for years and don't know how things work with airflights these days.

[farlex85]

Originally Posted by KBD

I think he is saying to get a lappy to take with him on the plane to use during flight, not to check it in. Though i haven't flown for years and don't know how things work with airflights these days.

Huh, I didn't see anything about a plane from the op, that makes sense though.

[freaksavior]

Originally Posted by germs

Oops, forgot to list the PSU. Knew I was forgetting something...

PSU: Thermaltake Toughpower W0172RU 850W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply 100 - 240 V CB, CE, FCC, TUV, cUL http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817153062

Hopefully it has enough amps. Not sure where/how to check that. Looking into that heatsink now...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...256022&bop=And

get one of those. either 64a (2 x 35a rails) or one 70a rail for the other.

The thermaltake has 62a

[Namslas90]

Originally Posted by farlex85

Huh, I didn't see anything about a plane from the op, that makes sense though.

Excerpt from original post;

Originally Posted by germs

...considering this computer will be taken on about 10+ flights every year...

Might want to think about running a bead of hotglue or silicon adhesive connecting the cards and Ram to the sockets (etc), to reduce the possability of vibrations during flight operations from shaking things loose.

This is a common practice used by some "pre-built" computer companies to verify claims against warranty, but would probably be a good choice in this situation.

You could also use adhesive to help secure a Motherboard with an overly heavy cooler to the motherboard tray.

Not sure how much space you will have available on these flight, but may want to look into a HTPC or "shuttle" type case so the motherboard is laying down to reduce the chances of vibrations causing issues/problems.

[germs]

"Edit 2: the 7200.11 gets beat by Samsung F1 and WD Se16, Velociraptor is on the way as well, if you gonna stick to your high end build specs get one of those & run em in raid 0"

Do you have the numbers on that (would be interested in the exact performance differences)? I was just curious, I heard that HDD cache only makes a difference when gaming, which I will be doing about half the time. The F1 and 7200.11 have 32mb Caches, as opposed to the WDs 16mb.

Also, after looking into raid 0, I heard a lot of people say that it actually slows down a lot of things, and as a result it would be better to have HDDs for different types of files (OS, games, applications, ect). Made sense because the spindles could all be reading different things at different times.

Also, 640GB isn't something I'd go for at this time, only 750GB models. Is the 750GB equivalent as fast?

"http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...256022&bop=And

"get one of those. either 64a (2 x 35a rails) or one 70a rail for the other.

"The thermaltake has 62a"

Thanks. I am definately going with the single rail PSU you posted. My only concern is that I live about half a mile from the ocean (~900m or so)... will that cause the modular cable connections to corrode or some such thing?

I was thinking: with a Thermalright ultra 120 extreme (790g without the fan, probably around 910g with it), couldn't I just suspend it via copper wiring from the top of my case? I have a very handy uncle that could help me get the job done right; I don't mind some wire krazy glued to the top of my case (inside).

And for the flight, a southwest representative told me that I can put anything in the compartment above the seats, as long as it fits. I hope she is correct.

[Wile E]

Originally Posted by germs

"Edit 2: the 7200.11 gets beat by Samsung F1 and WD Se16, Velociraptor is on the way as well, if you gonna stick to your high end build specs get one of those & run em in raid 0"

Do you have the numbers on that (would be interested in the exact performance differences)? I was just curious, I heard that HDD cache only makes a difference when gaming, which I will be doing about half the time. The F1 and 7200.11 have 32mb Caches, as opposed to the WDs 16mb.

Also, after looking into raid 0, I heard a lot of people say that it actually slows down a lot of things, and as a result it would be better to have HDDs for different types of files (OS, games, applications, ect). Made sense because the spindles could all be reading different things at different times.

Also, 640GB isn't something I'd go for at this time, only 750GB models. Is the 750GB equivalent as fast?

"http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...256022&bop=And

"get one of those. either 64a (2 x 35a rails) or one 70a rail for the other.

"The thermaltake has 62a"

Thanks. I am definately going with the single rail PSU you posted. My only concern is that I live about half a mile from the ocean (~900m or so)... will that cause the modular cable connections to corrode or some such thing?

I was thinking: with a Thermalright ultra 120 extreme (790g without the fan, probably around 910g with it), couldn't I just suspend it via copper wiring from the top of my case? I have a very handy uncle that could help me get the job done right; I don't mind some wire krazy glued to the top of my case (inside).

And for the flight, a southwest representative told me that I can put anything in the compartment above the seats, as long as it fits. I hope she is correct.

The TRUE is an acronym for the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme. The Xigmatech cooler I posted beats it easily. Even the 92mm version of the Xigmatech cooler matches the TRUE. As for weight, it weighs in at 466g with the fan. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835233014

I wouldn't worry about corrosion on the modular cables. They're only as likely to corrode as your wall sockets, for example.

[germs]

Originally Posted by Wile E

The TRUE is an acronym for the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme. The Xigmatech cooler I posted beats it easily. Even the 92mm version of the Xigmatech cooler matches the TRUE. As for weight, it weighs in at 466g with the fan. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835233014

I wouldn't worry about corrosion on the modular cables. They're only as likely to corrode as your wall sockets, for example.

Sounds pretty good. The only problem is that I can't find a site that does a comparison between the two. Where did you manage to find info on them (comparitavely)?

I was thinking though, even with the TRUE, and a 120mm scythe fan, I could avoid damage to the motherboard by attaching a copper plate or two to the side window of the case to support it, right? Put into position/mounted when the motherboard is in the case horizontally, then set to stand up at all other times, or by a metal plate similar to how some new cases have supports for graphics cards (just maccguyvered to my needs). Is this a good idea? Like I said, my uncle is extremely handy, and something like this shouldn't be too hard for us to do.

Also, thanks for the clarification on the cables.

[DrPepper]

If I was taking my pc on a flight I would dissemble it and reassemble when it arrived. E.g leave the psu, cpu mobo in the case then the gpu, HDD's cpu coolers as luggage you can carry on the plane.

[germs]

Thats what I wanted to do, but the problem is that socket 775 CPUs only support 20 removals before they are liable to break, around 50 for SATA connectors. And because I would have to reapply the thermal paste each time, it would result in differing amounts of thermal performance each time, not to mention the 200+ hours runtime that arctic silver needs ion order to reach its full potential, so overclocking would be affected. I'm hoping to just store it above my seat on the plane.

[DrPepper]

hmm your idea is better than mine.

[Morgoth]

i would say a waist of money since you wont be using full bandwith of ddr at 1333 with fsb..
wait for bloomfield and get that.
and you could get 3x1 / 3x2gb for trichannel

[germs]

Originally Posted by Morgoth

i would say a waist of money since you wont be using full bandwith of ddr at 1333 with fsb..
wait for bloomfield and get that.
and you could get 3x1 / 3x2gb for trichannel

Can't wait, because this will be for my birthday (partly at least). Sorry, but what do you mean by the ddr bit? I don't know eneough to understand the shorthand version.

Also, does that motherboard support tri cannel? Would be nice because then I wouldn't need xp 64 bit, but 4 gigs of ram would surely outperform 3, even if they are dual channeled as opposed to one set of tri canneled, correct?