My very first build - need your advice

[Neo7891]

Hey there,

I'm planning on building my first o/c system for gaming. After many hours
of reading reviews and searchin forums this is my first setup.
Since I'm still fairly new to overclocking I'd appreciate your advice.
My setup so far:

Motherboard: ASUS Maximus II Formula (P45) (or maybe P5QDeluxe instead?)
CPU: Core 2 Duo E8500 (E0 Stepping)
Case: Antec 1200
PSU: Corsair TX650W
Graphics Card: XFX GTX 260 666M Black Edition 896MB
DDR2: Corsair XMS2 Dominator DIMM Kit 4GB PC2-8500U (DDR2-1066)
HDD(changed): 2x WD Cavier Black WD6401AALS for Raid0 (before: 2x Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 320GB)
CPU-Fan: Scythe Ultra Kaze 2000RPM
Heatsink: Thermalright Ultra 120 eXtreme True Black
BR-Drive: LG GGC H20L

Thanks for your help!

 

[grndragon57]

Looks good. Just so you know the Ultra Kaze is a great fan for airflow, but they are quite loud at full RPM.

 

[DavidJa]

have you already considered wd 640's instead of those 320's

 

[Neo7891]

I'm fine with the Ultra Kaze beeing a little louder than the S-Flex as long
as it keeps my E8500 cool
Do you think it would make sense to add two fans to the TRU120 Extreme?
Concerning the HDDs I did consider getting the Barracuda 750GB version with 32MB Cache,
but in the following benchmark charts the 320GB did better than the 750GB ver. :
http://www.tomshardware.com/de/charts/35-festplatten-charts/benchmarks,24.html
That made me choose two smaller ones. Do you think that makes sense, considering
those results?
Hadn't thought about the WD Cavier before though. Looking up some test results for the
Cavier Black version they seem to have about the same performance.

 

[PWatterson]

I'm fine with the Ultra Kaze beeing a little louder than the S-Flex as long
as it keeps my E8500 cool
Do you think it would make sense to add two fans to the TRU120 Extreme?
Concerning the HDDs I did consider getting the Barracuda 750GB version with 32MB Cache,
but in the following benchmark charts the 320GB did better than the 750GB ver. :
http://www.tomshardware.com/de/charts/35-festplatten-charts/benchmarks,24.html
That made me choose two smaller ones. Do you think that makes sense, considering
those results?
Hadn't thought about the WD Cavier before though. Looking up some test results for the
Cavier Black version they seem to have about the same performance.

If you want higher capacity, go for the 640gb hard drives. They have a very efficient design consisting of two 320gb platters.

 

[Neo7891]

Since I already got a Seagate Sata2 1.5TB external drive,
capacity wasn't as important as performance when choosing
the HDDs. The wd raptors were a little too pricey though.
That's why I chose the 320's.

 

[Cuiiey]

i wouldn't swap your Maximus II formula for a P5Q deluxe as they are both p45 chipsets and have very little variations in testing. The Maximus II formula also has a good looking heat sink and pipes. 2 fans would help cool better although space might be an issue, my friend had a antec 900 that was so tight for space that he had to mount his TRUE with 2 fans horizontally so his top 20cm fan took out all the hot air but since you have a 1200 then you should be fine The 320gb hdd will always out perform the current 750gb hdds cause unlike the 320 having only one platter, the 750gb has 3 250gb ones . If you plan to buy WD, don't get tricked into buying their Caviar Green drives. all of them are 5400rpm. Is your E8500 O/C at all?

 

[Cant.Touch.This]

The Antec Twelve Hundred you chose, I have a friend that has it - very roomy inside for all your parts and for cooling, makes the insides look small. But if you wanted to save a bit more money the RC-690 that I have is great for cooling and still has enough space to hide all your wire clutter to improve airflow with support for 140mm fans on the side panel and top. Here is the link for some of the mods people did to their case:

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1234744

And for the TRUE push-pull fan setup (I believe that's what you're asking), some people got like 2°C better on full load. Most suggested lapping for better results, which is up to you.

As for the motherboard, the heatsinks on it does look pretty secure and looks promising for heat transfer. A little search came up with this:

ASUS' Republic of Gamers motherboards have sported a PCI Express 1x 'SupremeFX' card for some time now, but the Maximus II Formula sees something of an overhaul in this department, being as it is the first to feature SupremeFX X-Fi functionality.

Now, this particular branding might lead you to believe that this offering sports Creative's X-Fi processor... But you'd be wrong. What we actually have here is, in fact, an early supporter of Creative's new SoundBlaster X-Fi MB technology, which in essence uses the hardware codec of another audio processor (in this case Analog Devices' AD1988B chip) coupled with software CPU utilisation to offer up much of the functionality of Creative's current X-Fi sound cards. This means that you get access to EAX functionality up to EAX 4.0 (meaning no EAX 5.0 support), as well as other features such as 3D CMSS and Crystalizer for improving sound quality.

Onboard sound has never been better than with the SupremeFX X-Fi add-in sound card on this motherboard. Not only does this offer the ADI SupremeFX High Definition Audio CODEC, it also supports the Creative Labs X-Fi sound features that are missing from other integrated sound solutions. The ASUS Maximus II Formula supports EAX4.0 which means that the X-Fi features are limited to Gaming mode due to the lack of the EMU20K1 chip on the card.

So it's not a 'real' X-Fi but it's better than the integrated solution. Based on the quote, it's lacking 'Entertainment Mode' and 'Audio Creation Mode", listening to music on Gaming Mode isn't that great even tweaked as much as possible. But this just me, I'm picky with sound .

 

[DavidJa]

heres some info on the 640's WD6400AAKS vs WD6401AALS
you can see these are excellent performing drives.
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=584967

 

[Neo7891]

First of all thanks for the many responses.
@Cuiiey Yeah, I'll probably just go with the MIIF since I could really use the X-FI card as well. And I really think it lookts great . I'm just a little concerned about the NB overheating problems i read about :/. Think u missunderstood me with the E8500, didn't get any of the hardware in my setup yet. Right now I'm running a Athlon 2600+ on an MS-6590 board. So the new pc will be quite an improvement over my old one.

@Cant.Touch.This The RC-690 looks like a good alternative. I was planning on going for a full tower case though since I'm not going to switch cases for a while after this purchase, and I don't wanna run into any problems with space in the near future. Also I kind of miss the window on the side .
I will probably just go for one Ultra Kaze for now. When lapping, how high is the risk of damaging ne parts? I got some 1500 grit sandpaper i could use for that.
The sound card that comes with the MIIF should event for music be an improvement over an Audigy SE right? Thats what I'm using right now. If so, I'm fine with that.

@DavidJa The cavier black really does get some great results in raid0 setup. Just checked on their prices and found out I could get 2 640's for just 125% of what the 2 320's would cost me. That would be at least same performance + double size. So I'll go with the WD6401AALS's. Thanks for the advice

 

[Cant.Touch.This]

Lapping the TRUE, I thought was fairly easier than I expected it to be since all I did was read on how it was done then went to checking videos of how people did it. (It's not lapping the heatsink but to give you an idea.)

I went out to my local hardware store to buy some glass (9''x11'' for $2) and the kit I bought from Easy PC Kits since the store didn't have the ones I wanted in stock - I chose the "Heat Sink Lapping Kit (without Glass)". The instructions that were included were helpful, I just followed it word for word. Looking back at it I should've waited for the store to restock, would've been cheaper.

 

[Neo7891]

Nice tutorial. Depending on how flat my TRUE will be i might try lapping it as well. Looks fairly easy. I won't try that on my cpu though, that's too risky for me. I'll probably order my new system within the next two days or so. Can't wait to set it all up