New System Time - Feedback on Choices & Alternatives please!

[TeaLeaf]

I am about to order a new system and am looking at this:

CPU:  Intel QX6700  or XE6800 (not decided which, might go for XE6800 as it is the quicker for today's software and Quadro will not yield benefits until next year)
RAM: 2 x 1GB of DDR2 – Corsair or OCZ dual channel ready and able to take a wee bit of overclock when I crank up the FSB!
GPU:  BFG 8800GTX
PSU: Corsair HX620W
Mobo: Asus 680i Striker Extreme
Case: Gigabyte 3DAurora GZ-FSCA1-AT Black Aluminum Tower Case - Hi End
CPU cooler: Noctua NH-U12F
HDDs: 2 x 250GB SATA drives (Western Digital) configured to RAID 0, plus 2 x 250GB for additional storage.

I want unlocked multiplier hence not going for a lower level CPU and I want to avoid the noise of Raptor 10krpm drives so will be staying with yee olde worlde HDDs.  I hope to add some water cooling not long after its arrival, but that's a secondary consideration.

Before I part with some hard earned cash and ask Norm to start the build process, has anyone got any feedback or comments?

Finally, I am now starting to research a good 22-24" LCD widescreen monitor.  Anyone got any good recommendations?  Ideally I am looking for one that runs HD resolution native or better.

Thanks in advance for the help!


TL.

[GhostMjr]

One point that i wish i had pointed out to Sadako before he bought his parts is that asus has no uk based support. It has an email address yes but it takes anything up to 2 months for a reply. Their only telephone support based in the uk is notebook support. All other support is provided from a Thailand call centre number. Therefore all support is reliant on your  retailer, which  from personal experience was a shambles known as overclockers.co.uk

[lionheart]

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTIzNCw4LCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

"The ASUS Striker Core 2 Duo motherboard is overpriced and underperforms compared to the eVGA and BFGTech 680i solutions in the marketplace based on NVIDIA’s reference 680i motherboard design. There is no way we can advise you look to the ASUS Striker as a Core 2 Duo enthusiast solution. Simply put the ASUS Striker strikes out."

[TeaLeaf]

Hmm, wierd as the eVGA is notoriously flakey according to reviews and that the ASUS was preferred to the eVGA for that reason alone.  Not seen one that said anything other than Striker is too expensive (which it is), but it does everything else well, including o/c the FSB immediately to high levels and is 8 phase design.  I know both mobos were buggy early on in the BIOS life, but the reviews seem to indicate that has changed.  The other thing I am trying to factor in is the eVGA was the first 680i out there and hence the reviews tend ot get the comment 'it's better than anything else' - because nothing else was there to compare it with.  The Striker price is not the concern, the performance is..... I just want to make sure I get a good solid and fully featured board.

Not seen the BFG one on sale in the UK yet - anyone got a link?

TL.

Good ASUS reviews
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2006/11/23/asus_striker_extreme_preview/7.html
http://www.nforcershq.com/article7075.html
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=122469
http://www.motherboards.org/reviews/motherboards/1674_8.html

Good eVGA reviews:
http://it-review.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=696&Itemid=91&limit=1&limitstart=11
http://sg.vr-zone.com/index.php?i=4215&s=20

[Dingo]

Finally, I am now starting to research a good 22-24" LCD widescreen monitor. Anyone got any good recommendations? Ideally I am looking for one that runs HD resolution native or better.
TL.

Go for the Viewsonic VP range (which I believe they still do in a 23") TL......awesome monitors!!

[Gorion]

bfg 680i http://www.bfgtech.com/nForce680i_motherboard.html

true, no one in the uk has it in stock atm, but you could tell them to get you one, theyre on the bfg dealers site for a reason

Finally, I am now starting to research a good 22-24" LCD widescreen monitor. Anyone got any good recommendations? Ideally I am looking for one that runs HD resolution native or better.

i was looking at this myself  http://www1.euro.dell.com:80/content/products/productdetails.aspx/lcd24_59234?c=ed&l=en&s=bsd    

A03 Revision

the thing that keeps me stuck is the deadpixel policy by dell... 6 dead pixels or 3 in a very close formation near the centre to change... and not to mention the 16ms b to w

[Gorion]

regarding overclockable ram, check out dominators from corsair

and the cpu, get the quadcore, you can still multitask from what ive read in some reviews, like virus scanning and playing etc (it actually pwns the E6800 in most of the benchmarks, and when it looses, its just a marginal 5-10 fps (on around 70fps+))

and how about an 850w for the psu? that vga card is a juice sucker

[Bob]

HDDs: 2 x 250GB SATA drives (Western Digital) configured to RAID 0, plus 2 x 250GB for additional storage.

I'm just wondering what your thoughts behind this hard drive setup is :g:
The only advantage RAID 0 gives you, is increased (reading) speed, but than you also have the case that you have twice the chance for a failure.

If you're going for that many disks, I'd perhaps instead concider buying one of Western Digital's Rapor disks (10k rpm, which you get up to 150GB I think) and use that as a system drive, and than have 3x250GB (or more of 'em if you find that neccesary) and run 'em with RAID 5.

[suicidal_monkey]

also I've heard you should try make sure you're getting hardware raid which might require a separate card as a lot of the motherboard-supported raid is basically offloading to the cpu, which may not be as advantageous as you were hoping it would be...


I second raid 5 (or something as advanced) or if you can lose more space you could go for 0+1 or 1+0 or whatever

...unless you're planning to only have replaceable stuff like programs on the raid 0 drives and keep all important stuff on backed up drives.

[TeaLeaf]

Re the raptors, they make one hell of a racket.  They're perfect in the a server room as nobody can hear jack anyway, but in an office..... :blink:  Anyway, I'm going to put watercooling on this one for the peace and quiet, so that's why raptors are out.

The hardware raid is something I had not thought about but is a good idea, I'll take a peek at some raid controller cards.  I have had a motherboiard raid controller fail before and I recall the separate cards are easier to deal with rebuilding the arrays.  The market for PCIe raid controllers is a small one though!

The theory for raid 0 is to get pure speed for the OS and the programs (without the noise of a 10krpm drive), the other disks are simply to be used as storage for data with backups being taken onto my 1.6TB RAID 5 NAS box.

Monitors I'm looking into and I've added the Dell to the list.

Many thanks all, keep the suggestions coming!

TL.

[suicidal_monkey]

I seem to recall that tomshardware or andantech or someone did a review of hard drive speeds with and without raid setups. Western Digital 16Mb RE drives did well I seem to recall. The RE stands for raid edition, so hopefully that means longer life under pressure

[TeaLeaf]

Thanks I'll seek out the RE review.

Re the monitor I founds this useful page on how to avoid buying a duff Dell 2407WFP.  Current stock I am sure will not be the original version, so is probably fine!

Forgot to mention that Dominator is under consideration.

TL.

[Bob]

i was looking at this myself  http://www1.euro.dell.com:80/content/products/productdetails.aspx/lcd24_59234?c=ed&l=en&s=bsd    

I have a Dell 2407WFP TCO99 myself (have had it since August), and I can't say anything else than that I'm very happy with it.  I have played lots of WoW on it, and also some CS:S (not too much though), and I can't say that I have noticed anything particular bad with it.  But I can add that I don't have good eyes for those kind of details like some couple extra ms lag, minor bluring on text etc.

The theory for raid 0 is to get pure speed for the OS and the programs (without the noise of a 10krpm drive), the other disks are simply to be used as storage for data with backups being taken onto my 1.6TB RAID 5 NAS box.

I speed is an issue, and at the same time avoiding the extra sound, than RAID 0 is probably a good sollution, but than I would, like SM, reccomend you to look into hardware raid.
But also, if the disks are only meant to house OS and other programs, I'd say 2x250GB is kind of a bit too much - you shouldn't need more than 2x100GB for that kind of stuff, and even that would be a bit too much if you ask me :narnar:

[Gorion]

Thanks I'll seek out the RE review.

Re the monitor I founds this useful page on how to avoid buying a duff Dell 2407WFP.  Current stock I am sure will not be the original version, so is probably fine!

TL.

forget the dell 24" m8, they bloody suck according to the dell forums (even the A03 revision)   http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=dim_monitor&message.id=64176&view=by_date_ascending&page=1

on another side note, check this out..  http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1066372&page=1&pp=20

will have to dig some stuff first, but over here, gamers go BenQ

direct link: http://www.benq.com/products/LCD/?product=839&page=specifications


regardin the raptors and the noise, there are these rubbery pads that reduce noise http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CM-001-AF

[Gandalf]

For the motherboard, have you looked at DFI? http://eu.dfi.com.tw/Product/xx_product_lput_us.jsp?PAGE_TYPE=US&CATEGORY_TYPE=LP%20UT&INDEX_TYPE=MB&SITE=UK

I've had one for around a year now and it is rock solid. As well as a thriving mod community these are the most overclockable boards out there with many custom bioses available.