Building a new machine, Need some advise/suggestions please

[Buzzdog]

Hello everyone

Well, Santa Clause stopped by early for me and gave me the foundation to build a new system

My goals for the system are to hit over 3+GHz. High memory bandwidth scores. Target FSB is at 185+. FOLD LIKE MAD!!!!! Have a modded case that performs as well as look good.

The components that are either on order, or have already been decided.

Prometia Topless PIV cooler. (Order placed, waiting on customs to release it for shipping)

Directron 201T Aluminum Computer Mid-tower Case w/ 2 Transparent Side Covers & Top Window (Order placed waiting for delivery)

Directron SF201-1 Aluminum Computer Mid-tower Case (Will be ordered tonight. Will cut this case down to house the prometia system. Going this route to match the top case)

Gigabyte GA-8INXP Motherboard (Waiting for it to hit resellers. Going with this board based on a number of factors. In early tests against other GB motherboards. The Gigabyte was able to hit higher FSB. I have a Gigabyte board, and it has proved to be quality built and reliable. It has a raid controller built in. I plan on adding the optional power card for more stable system voltages. It goes nice with my mod scheme.)

2 sticks of 512Mb CorsairXMS PC3200-cas2 memory (Previous experience with this memory sealed the deal on this one. I have a stick right now that does 220MHZ at cas2.)

2 Western Digital 80Gb Special Edition hard drives in a raid-0. (Have not ordered yet. Choosing these for the 8Mb cache on each drive. I love the performance of a striped raid.)

Guillemot Hercules Fortissimo III 7.1 Soundcard (This seems to be a good soundcard. It will allow me to use my Klipsche 5.1 speakers with it. It supports up to 7.1 suround. It also has the digital output. It will also fits into the finished look with the mod.)

ALBATRON GeForce 4 TI4200P TURBO (This card has some very nice DDR onboard. It is going to be a hold over until the GeforceFX hits. I am waiting for them to be available to compare them against the ATI9700. This card also support AGP8. It is affordable. It also fits in with my mod scheme.)

Antec True Power 550 ( I have been pleased with Antec True Power PSU's in the past. Some may say that 550 watts is over kill, but look at my CPU cooling )

Have not nailed down what I will go with as far as optical drive. Been kicking around between a combo CD-R/DVD player or a DVD-R/CD-R.

Processor, this is where I need some advice and suggestions. Since my goal is to hit the stratosphere FSB, I am planning on a c1 with either 17x multi or 18x multi. 2.4b c1's are available now. 1.8 oem c1's have been seen. I have not heard of a 2.26 yet. I am torn on this right now. I think with the prometia I should be good with the 18 muliplier. So do I pick up a 2.4b c1 now or wait for 1.8 c1s to hit. I realize that there is still alot of luck that has to come my way to hit 185+ fsb. This system is a far way from being complete, I am still waiting on the motherboard to be released. I will have alot of time also integrating the prometia into it new home and modding the case.

I am looking for suggestions/comments/advise on my future system. I am planning on this to hold me over until the prescotts come out in 03-04. The only upgrade to this system as far as component wise would be the video card in spring/early summer of next year.

Depending on how tight my budget becomes and the availablity of overtime at work. I am planning on integrating water cooling the GPU/Northbridge/Hard drives.

Thanks in advance,

Buzzdog

 

[BaldHeadedDork]

Wait.

Oh yeah, great rig specs. This is going to be a mother of a system. But if you want to hit 185FSB, you're going to need every break you can get. Wait until you can get a C1 with a 17 multiplier like the 2.26.


BHD

 

[Buzzdog]

BaldHeadedDork,

I think that is what I may do. I might just throw in my old 2.26. It does 165fsb on air cooling right now. My 1.8a ceiling is at 150fsb, does not matter what voltage I throw at it. I might be selling one of my systems to a buddy to help finance the new monstrocity. I fear that this beast will take on a life of its own during this whole process. The hardest part is maitaining patience. I have the vision for the final project. Been trying to do my homework. It was a hard decision on choosing what case to go with, it was between a LianLi and the Directron. I went with the Directron because it had all of the widows installed already. I do plan on documenting the entire process with digital photos. I will take these photos and set up a web page with a diary of it all. I am being very ambitious. I plan on spending a great deal of time on the case. I look at the case as being my major investment, but hopefully I will get 3-4 years use out of it and will be able to upgrade the system components when prescott hits. Stay tuned!!!

Buzzdog

 

[BaldHeadedDork]

Cool, I look forward to the pics.

I was going to add, it might also pay to wait a bit on the hard drives. All of the majors have next-generation drives due for retail production between now and January 01. The eight gig cache is becoming standard, and Maxtor and IBM have some new platter technologies that look very promising. Also, platter density is going up to 60GB per platter (from 40 today) across the board.


BHD

 

[heydre]

FWIW

Hey Buzz,

Real quick:

Check out these links:

http://www.digit-life.com/sound.html
(cards with better performance)

http://www.tech-report.com/reviews/2002q2/soundcards/index.x?pg=1

http://www.sospubs.co.uk/sos/Apr02/articles/terratecdmx6.asp
(another opinion)

*if u like audigy 2 be careful to check out any sound sputtering/choppiness issues that occurred for a variety of reasons on prior Creative cards- don't think it has any probs though)

For DVD/CD

http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Articles/Specific.asp?ArticleHeadline=Pioneer+DVR-A05&index=0
(as far as I know the least troublesome DVD-r/CD-r- have checked out new Sony dru500 but heard nothing but issues with it)


P.S. Get the Antec with blue led in the fan..looks tight

Good luck

 

[batboy]

Pretty awesome system, but personally I've never been impressed with Gigabyte mobos. You might look into Abit or Asus a little before making your final decision.

 

[Buzzdog]

heydre,

Thanks for the links to reviews, they were very helpful. The Hurcules card did fairly well in those reviews. The phillips card looked really nice, but I think I might still stick with my original choice for sound cards. All of the components I choose have to fit in with my vision of a completed system, including the finished mods. I think you might know where I am going with it based on your recomendation of PSU

batboy,

I own a Gigabyte and Abit motherboard. I love my Abit IT7, it is a great solid board. I have limited experience with Asus boards, but I have no doubt that they are good performers. I have been pleased with my Gigabyte board. I realise that my board has it limitations, but the new GA-8INXP board seems to address alot of them. The 8INXP will give PCI/AGP locks as well as nice voltage features for vrimm/vcore/agpv. It has a raid controller built in. I have been pleased with the promice controller on my other Gigabyte board. In benchmark tests it outperformed the Highpoint controller on the IT-7 board. The 8INXP will only go up to 200MHz fsb, but I find it highly unlikely that I will be lucky enough to find a northwood that will go to that point. I have read many reviews and tests of the new Granitbay chipsets. The Gigabyte has done very well so far compared to the other boards out now. Also the Gigabyte fits into my end vision for the finished mod. If anyone is familiar with the choices I have made for motherboard and cards for this system, it should be very apparent on where I am going with all of this.


On a side note, iceepc just called today. Seemed there was a problem with the zipcode I entered when I ordered the system, and they have to confirm it. The good news is, the prometia has been released from customs and they expect to be shipping them out from NJ with in the next week. Hopefully that means that I should recieve it in 2-3 weeks. I hope to have all of the case componets in, minus water cooling gear, before Christmas. The way it is looking I wont have the funds for the water cooling set up until approximately feb-march when I get my tax return in. I may try to pick up different components for the water system as I go and just hold off on the blocks until the GeforceFX hits.

Once again, thanks for all of the info guys, I know there is no way I could have even contemplated doing something like this with out the people in these forums as a foundation.

Buzzdog,

 

[skitZo`]

Wow freakin awesome system man youre gonna build there. Have fun oclocking it and do post your results.

Once again, thanks for all of the info guys, I know there is no way I could have even contemplated doing something like this with out the people in these forums as a foundation.

Ive been in your shoes man ppl here in this forum are really really helpfull

 

[batboy]

All righty then, sounds like you've done your homework. If you do get the Gigabyte mobo, let us know how it works out for you. Like I said earlier, sounds like an awesome rig. I currently have an Antec True Power 550 watt power supply and I really love it. Good luck.