Summerish Upgrade

**Duke3d87** · 07-20-2008, 02:59 PM

I got a hold of a Q6600 which will be thoroughly out of date once Nehalem comes out, but being that the Core 2 is like 20% faster than my opteron, and the Q has 2x as many cores and will clock 400+ MHz faster than my 2.6 GHz Opteron, it should be good (next planned upgrade will be around Nehalem-C or Sandybridge).

So, the theme of this build is CHEAP

CPU: Q6600 (have already)

Motherboard: Asus P45 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131297)

RAM: Crucial Ballistix 2x1 GB (DDR2-800) - already have ($10)

Cooling: Thermalright Ultra-120

FANS: might pick up 3 of the mid speed scythes.

HD: 3x250 GB WD RE2 (RAID 0) - have

Video: X1950 Pro (already have)

PSU: Antec Solution Series 500 W (already have)

Audio: X-Fi Fatal1ty Professional Champion Series (or something like that - already have).

So essentially, the only things that will change from the current is the Board, CPU and the ram.

Any critiques?

I know a better PSU will be recommended, but with the Overclocked opteron, i draw 275 W peak.

**WhiteBoy88** · 07-20-2008, 04:49 PM

Looks pretty solid for a budget upgrade.

**Duke3d87** · 07-20-2008, 05:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WhiteBoy88

Looks pretty solid for a budget upgrade.

My friend is giving me a 680i so i might add more ram or get a TV tuner or something like that. I haven't really decided yet.

**Duke3d87** · 07-22-2008, 05:04 PM

so as an update.

WD said that i should RMA my drives.

They tend to power cycle a lot when i'm testing them which is bad. They said that it has to do with the internal PSU of the HDD.

Thank God i have my parents eSATA drive so i can just move it.

I don't know, but i might have to go seagate next time around.

But i'm going to try a 4 drive raid with the RMAed ones and see if it's worth it.

**Duke3d87** · 08-18-2008, 05:46 PM

update:

Got the parts...

left CPU with Ultra-120 idle no fan...hit 88 C ouch anyone? Still works fine though.

I have it at 3 GHz (9*333) and might oc it more later if i feel like it.

It's 63 C Load with Ultra-120 in 85 F room so that's not bad.

Still burning in...it's been like 5 min.

I tried installing the "preview" vista as that was the only os i had until i found my HD full of os images.

Blazin Trav · 08-19-2008, 08:40 AM

When you can new video card but looks solid. Keep up the good work man.

**Duke3d87** · 08-19-2008, 08:55 AM

already got one 8800 GS for high 60s from newegg

EDIT: i tried for 8x400 but it didn't work on stock voltage.

Since i more or less want this to be quiet, i'm sticking with 9*333 (for now)

It's been prime stable for 5 hours now, and it's linpack stable (which says a lot).

I actually undervolted it to 1.23ish Volts down from 1.4 (VID = 1.25 V). This board has pretty bad vdroop.

It's at 54 C in an 86 F room, which is about 9 C cooler then yesterday.

**Duke3d87** · 08-22-2008, 06:02 PM

Update: went back to xp. eVGA doesn't support server on motherboard OR video card.

XP only sees 2.75 GB of ram, but that's fine with me.

because i fold on the video card, i decided to push it farther:

http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/ah66h/

730/1800/2010 (effective)

vs. stock of 550/1375/1600

it's been 20 min stable on ATI tool.

This card is amazing.

There is a little dot on the screen during ATI tool testing, but it says that it's ok.

I think it's a heat related thing. When i crank the fan up, it goes away. I doubt F@H really cares about that so i'm going to say it's ok.

Blazin Trav · 09-07-2008, 11:21 PM

Looks good, will update you on my rig when I get it up and running soon. How expensive are quads now? I am still with Dual Core stuff.