time for a new system...

[mbentley]

well, that time has come again... it's time to start researching a new system for me i haven't bought a new system in at least 2+ years now so i am a bit out of the loop on things... basically i am looking for a system to replace my dual-xeon box (found in my sig). it's not really all that bad of a system; it still runs well but one of the main reasons for me to upgrade is that because the dual-xeon system is going to be come my new server and my server has seen better days... it has to work way too hard to just keep up... anyway, enough of that junk. here is what i have tossed together so far:

newegg wishlist link: https://secure.newegg.com/NewVersio...WishListNumber=5758311&WishListTitle=core2duo

case - Antec P182 Gun Metal Black 0.8mm cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower

psu - FSP Group (Fortron Source) FX600-GLN V2.2/EPS12V 600W

mobo - ASUS P5K PREMIUM/WIFI-AP LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel

cpu - Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 Conroe 3.0GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6850

ram - PNY XLR8 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model D22GX85XL-5

video - ASUS EN8800GTS/HTDP/640M GeForce 8800GTS 640MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported

hard drives - 2 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s

optical drive - LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner With 12X DVD-RAM Write Black SATA Model LH-20A1S


with the hard drives, i plan on running them in a raid0 configuration. before anyone goes off on some rant about "what if one drive dies?!?!?" i have a ghost server here at my house that i make sure to keep up to date images on.

i don't really see a need to go to 4 gb of ram just yet... 2 gigs of ram is going to be plenty. i don't really want to have to run a 64 bit os if i really don't have to however that is something that can be decided when i actually get the system. i'm not that worried about it cause i have multiple copies of most microsoft operating systems (yay for school/work's licensing agreement with microsoft!)

the things that i really wasn't all that sure about were the motherboard and the actual hard drives themselves. i do know that i am going to run raid0 on 2 sata 3.0gb/s drives. i have heard good things about the perpendicular recording drives... anybody have any other thoughts on those? 640 gigs of space is going to be ridiculous

and before anybody goes recommending a cpu cooler, i am not going to overclock this system as i really don't see a need to right now. the whole point is that this system is going to be fast @ stock speeds...

feel free to chime in about the video card... like i said, i have been out of the market for computer hardware for quite a while...

i already have speakers, kb, mouse, monitors... am i missing something here??

any input would be greatly appreciated!

 

[ffzen]

Fx600-gln is a pretty solid psu, as i have one.

But, the hx620 is modular and has 5 yr warranty compared with 2 yr
on the fx600 and not modular. $110 AR @clubit .

Prices are close to each other.

 

[ratbuddy]

My 2 stupid cents would be either go to an E6750 and save a few bucks, or get a Q6600 for around the same money - E6850 is kinda a waste.. otherwise, looks good..

 

[White_Pawn]

G0 Q6600 or G0 X3220. Quadcore FTW!

I also agree with going with the Corsair 620HX.

You don't really need 1066ram, but that would be your choice. There are some good DDR-800 crucials that would serve you just fine.

If you don't need the fully loaded mobo, you can also consider the gigabyte P35-DS3R.

 

[mbentley]

G0 Q6600 or G0 X3220. Quadcore FTW!

I also agree with going with the Corsair 620HX.

You don't really need 1066ram, but that would be your choice. There are some good DDR-800 crucials that would serve you just fine.

If you don't need the fully loaded mobo, you can also consider the gigabyte P35-DS3R.

the one thing that i am curious about with the quad core processors is how much of a difference that i will actually notice performance wise in terms of the clock speeds since a q6600 is 2.4 vs an e6850 at 3.0...

 

[mbentley]

the one thing that i am curious about with the quad core processors is how much of a difference that i will actually notice performance wise in terms of the clock speeds since a q6600 is 2.4 vs an e6850 at 3.0...

after doing some research, i've found that i might actually be able to overclock the q6600 to 3.0 by just upping the fsb without any other sort of changes... sounds pretty promising (maybe too good to be true), but i figured it wouldn't hurt to possibly try...

i've decided to swap out the e6850 for a q6600 to go a little more future proof. here are the rest of my changes:

cpu - Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80562Q6600

hsf - ASUS V-60 92mm Vapo Bearing CPU Cooler
i've heard the stock cooler is a bit loud and if i end up trying to hit 3.0, i'll need a better cooler. (and of course i bought some more as5 since i'm totally out...)

video card - MSI NX8800GTS-T2D640E-HD OC GeForce 8800GTS 640MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported
other video card was out of stock... not a real big deal to me but i plan on ordering soon.

 

[mbentley]

i decided to go ahead and order this beast
we'll see how it goes...

 

[mbentley]

and here are a few quick pics i took very early in the morning...

 

[yellowhello]

That's looks great! Congrats on the new system!