The Ultimate Dream Computer

whoa! ur CPU is ancient...1.2GHz...thats slow u should upgrade ur whole pc...

 

@GTR35
The E6600 is the best overclocking CPU I've ever had, it runs 24/7 at 3.6 GHZ without any issues.


With a CPU like the E6600, the limitations come from what motherboard you put it on and what memory you run with it.

Most people find it hard to part with £150+ for a motherboard, but if you consider the extra you get out of a CPU then it works out a very cheap way to increase CPU speed, compared to buying a higher spec'd CPU.

Obviously depending on what version of Core 2 people get, then the greater the dependence on the max FSB capable from motherboards, as mine has a 9X multiplier, the E6300 a 7X, E6400 has 8X etc...

My board easily does 400 FSB which gives me the 3.6GHZ CPU speed, and DDR800 at 1:1 which is the ideal setup.
A glitch in the BIOS means I have to use memory timings enabled via SPD, which limits the memory slightly, but I get around this with memset, which is used to set the timings via Windows when the system is booted.

My CPU will clock to 4.1+ but the memory starts to get errors which make the system unstable, so I haven't been able to push it any higher.

Not all E6600's will overclock as well as mine, and some may well overclock better, it's luck of the draw when buying as some batches are far better than others, I was extra lucky as mine came off eBay so I could have received anything in terms of quality.
But the fact remains that generally the Core 2 CPU are about as good as it gets in overclocking, and added to the already proven stock performance, this makes them £4£ about the best value CPU you can get.

Another issue people have is the memory they use, they expect to buy DDR533 and run it at DDR800+ without any issues, that is more luck of the draw for it to do that, or they start using memory dividers and wonder why the system isn't as stable as they thought it would be.

I like the look of the EVGA board and after that the Abit IN9, I have decided to give the Striker a miss due to price and layout.
Also the reviews I have seen have it behind the EVGA in performance, so I can't see where the extra £30-60 (outlet depending) is coming from.
I’ll still hold on until I’ve seen more end users feeding back what they are really capable of, rather than take too much notice of the stuff that’s been printed so far.

 

@rudsta

best bet is to have a look on ebay.

to be honest though your not going to get one cheap as they are in limited numbers now.

you might be better to upgrade your mobo and cpu to a 939 system, that way you could use the rest of your kit. asrock do a line of mobos that have pcie and agp on them which might be worth a look.

 

@BigDK

thnx for the info...if u hav time would u mind looking up if eVGA 680i mobo is good enough to overclock E6600 to 3.6GHZ or even higher...by the way i'm a mobo n00b...and when ur overclocking ur CPU...does higher ram makes it beta to oc or not

 

The reviews I've seen for the 680i from EVGA show it will easily OC the E6600 to 3.6GHz

Higher clocked RAM just makes the whole thing easier to do.

All you need to look for is what FSB the mobo will give you, the higher it is the easier it is to OC.

But there are still plenty of things to tweak to get any board very high and stable, it's just a fact of life that a BIOS will be awkward about certain settings, so it needs a lot of playing about to find what works best.

Ideally I would like to get an FSB of 500, then I can run my CPU at X7 for 3.5 or X8 for 4.0GHz and run the memory divider at 1:1 with some DDR1000 memory. (I've got some PC8500 Dominator memory on order).
As that's currently unlikely, it'll mean I can just tighten up the timings at a lower speed.

I'm not convinced at all so far by the 680i chipset boards, it'll be several BIOS updates in the future that the full potential will be clear.

At present there is not enough gain to swap out my board, so it's time to sit back and wait.

 

ya its old but runs like its a 2.0ghz
i play games like
axis & allies NO lag
allied force 4.0 NO lag
ive also played a madden 07 demo no prob
but i am thinking about replacing my MOBO but its hard to find 1 with the ram i have SDR at 233mhz so ive looked

socket A and socket 462 are the same just the difference between intel and AMD

 

@BigDK

i'm getting the eVga 680i early next month, i'll let ya know how well it performs, if you remember, we have an ALMOST identical setup in regards to cpu/mobo/memory, your watercooling setup is admittedly better than my own LOL (my figures for OC' are on par with your own, with my best being a few mhz over 4.0ghz-but nowhere considered stable, i currently run it @3.75ghz 24/7 Prime stable- won't boot @4.1ghz or above)

i'm upgrading my memory as well, i'm importing G.Skill's high end 2gb kit from Taiwan pc2-8500 CL 4-4-4-5 @1066mhz thru a hookup i have over here in the States i'm currently using Corsair's pc2-6400 C4s. (non-dominator series, just the regular XMS TWIN2X2048-6400C4)

i'll let ya know how far i can take it all, our interest in the high-end market of pcs is very refreshing for me to find someone with similar interests; but since we ARE in the "ultimate dream computer" thread, no holds barred here as for most, a "dream computer" of sorts would entail "high-end" would it not? regardless of COST...hehe, we can all DREAM right?

i'm looking at 4.0ghz stable with the memory upgrade and the new mobo (speculation on the mobo part of it, but i know the memory upgrade will push me past my current limitations)

happy holidays all, good luck w/ everyone's "ultimate dream computer" wishes, i hope they come true for you guys this year~

docTY

 

hi Ken great to see you

Well the Lian Li V1000 case is going Bye Bye lol. it just will not run cool enough ,heres what i am getting soon

http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=15900#

 

Hi Doc,

Nice to talk again !

It's good to hear someone I trust getting a board I'm interested in, at least I can rely on the info coming back on how it performs.

I'm sure it will perform as well 'at least' as the P5WDH, and hopefully it will enable a further increase in performance.

As said before, not all my focus is on performance, I do have issues when running the 3 Raptors in a Raid at over 400FSB I get intermittent errors with the drive on port one failing, and even an increase in the voltage via the vMCH mod makes no difference to that.

I’ve now gone back to 2 drives Raid0 ports 3 and 4, port 1 has a single drive with WinXP 64 on it.

I actually wrote to Corsair about the lack of memory in the UK, they did write back promising it was all getting back to normal around now (no explanation why there had been no memory for so long though).

My memory is showing as ‘in stock in 1-2 days’, but it's been saying that for 2-3 days, so I have no real idea when it's turning up.

I nearly put an order in for the Dell 3007WFP TFT but saw a report on Hexus stating that there were issues with it having differentiating brightness levels on each side of the screen.
That was back in February, so I need to see if that issue has been corrected yet.
I do a lot of work in Visio on A0 scale drawings, so having the extra real estate to work with would make life a whole lot easier.
Waiting to hear back from Dell at the moment before moving ahead on that one.

P.S. I thought you may appreciate my new sig.

 

damn i love this case...is this case a full or mid...and how much does it cost...

 

@aabbccdd

thanks for the kind words, as mentioned in my own TY thread, i drop by here once in a long while just to see how things are going (due to time constraints from work that i can't control) . i'm still "up to my ears" in media and such, but have focused my free time in building high-end comps and overclocking i suppose with time, one's hobbies/focus changes, and with that i delve deeper into a market with which i'm, dare i say, MORE interested in~ you know as well as i do that not much is happening in the world of Taiyo Yuden right now, i can only elaborate so much on that topic~

btw, that Antec case is VERY NICE, i personally like the way it looks aesthetically and wouldn't mind having that in my house one day the airflow characteristics seem VERY good, let me know how it works out for you after your purchase, i'd like to know your ACTUAL experience with it and if it does in fact drop your temps noticeably compared to that of your Lian Li

@BigDK

i appreciate the fact that you trust me when it comes to components and builds, i happen to regard you very "high on my list" and in esteem when it comes to a reputable reference when it comes to EXPERIENCE and knowledge about the "high-end" market of pc components we all have our own "preferences" when it comes to choosing components for our builds, however, without EXPERIENCE in the field, and actual "hands-on" with said components, a person's OPINION means absolutely nothing to me and is completely worthless. i could care less as to what ONE website says about it giving it rave reviews vs. that of another who bashes it. if you haven't used the product YOURSELF as a comparison, all the spec sheets in the world are dribble in making your point valid, as stated in MY OWN sig.; "Its better to be quiet and appear stupid, then to open your mouth and remove all doubt."

people become so confrontational when an OPINION of a product they happen to use and like is brought up; if it's not in accord with their own OPINION of said product, they become all defensive as if they were a paid sponsor...quite sad really...but as is life...

anyways, before i untap my inner psyche and become immensely more profound, i would just like to say that i agree with your approach when searching for specific components...i don't know why there is a shortage of memory from Corsair over in the UK (or was a shortage); i know you guys pay a considerable premium over us here in the U.S. when it comes to certain parts, i suppose it has something to do with supply and demand for the high-end parts that enthusiasts gobble up quickly regardless of price. i know it is much easier to obtain the high-end Corsair products here compared to you over across the pond, but likewise with my own upgrade in memory, the G.Skills that i have ordered are NOT available ANYWHERE here in the U.S., but i have found a few resellers/online retailers over in Germany and the UK that do carry and stock them, it's like a reversal of position for us in that regards. i do hope Corsair will deliver the Dominator kit to you in a reasonable amount of time, it's difficult to discern as to WHY there has been a delay, but what can you do right? i'm thinking along the lines that Corsair over in the UK has had a difficult time finding the GOOD Micron chips to produce the high-end memory, i'm sure there are plenty of the C5s everywhere for the PC2-6400s, but the higher speed + tight timings sticks are much harder to get; when you start paying MORE for your memory compared to that of your actual cpu, that's when things start to get interesting (this is what i've done in my case and i'm sure it holds true with the Corsair Ds you have ordered as well)

as to the Dell 30"er, i'm currently running dual 24" widescreen Dells, the specs & resolution of the 30" is higher than the 24" and 20" little brothers, i don't know how much truth is in the whole 2 different brightness levels on each side of the screen, has it been reported this is a manufacturer's defect on Dell's part (actually, the manufacturer that Dell buys the panels from and then slaps' their name and logo on)? or has this problem been apparent since the 30" was released to the general market? i have used nothing but Dell lcds for the last 3-4 years, going from a 19"-24" 6 LCDS later they all work "good enough" for MY needs, i don't do much graphical design work, so i'm sure your standards for a suitable screen is much higher than my own. i'm not a "gamer" either, but i'm very excessive when it comes to vid. cards and overall screen size @high resolutions. (hence my reason to try out the new evga 680i mobo, i happen to be a proponent of Nvidia's SLI and use it on my AMD system currently, the fact that this new mobo will cater to what I want, was reason enough for me to buy it; as good as the P5W-DH is, i used a Crossfire setup on it briefly for about a month, with a 1900xtx + crossfire sister equivalent, i was NOT impressed seriously.) i'm a bit "behind" when it comes to having the "latest and greatest" video cards at this point, as i DO NOT have dual 8800gtx's YET lol, but will try my dual 7900gtx setup once i get the board~

btw, i've had to upgrade my OCZ GameXStream 700w power supply as well, don't get me wrong, it's a great psu that i highly recommend to anyone thinking about building a fairly high-end system, it's quite efficient at 80%+, but with the increasing demands for video cards along with all the optical drives and overclocking i've done, i've moved on up to the Enermax Galaxy 1000w monster! lol. better safe than sorry.

i only had 2 drives set up on RAID, never tried more than that, so i can't comment on how the P5W handles a heftier RAID setup experience is a good teacher, but in this particular case, i am a student w/ RAID

good luck w/ your new Corsair Dominators (when they are back in stock and they finally ship them out to you), i almost pulled the trigger and got some myself a few weeks ago, but i took the time to compare with other high-end memory sticks and decided to give G.Skill a try~ i'm uncertain at this point whether or not the eVga will even post w/ these new sticks since it's a new platform/chipset and i'm sure the BIOS revision is not nearly as mature as it was on the Asus. also, the G.Skills @ 4-4-4-5/1066mhz requires 2.4v and i believe by default the EvGa mobo is set @1.8v, only time will tell...i can always put my Corsair in there to boot and then make the voltage adjustments in the BIOS once i POST.

have a good day all, sorry, went on my typical verbose run here.

docTY

 

GTR35, its a Mid Tower , newegg.com has it for 139.00 and a saw it somewhere for 119.00 but can't remember. its a great case and will run cool with all thoughs fans. they list it as a gaming case

 

@aabbccdd,

you can actually get it for about $100 shipped to you from here

http://store.pagecomputers.com/store/productlink.asp?product_id=1129487

as to the reliability of this store, this is actually the PC-shop i go to locally if i need to pick up a part immediately for my builds, it's located about 10 min. away from me here in Los Angeles~ it's def. NOT a "fly-by-night" operation and the physical store itself is well stocked and offer VERY competitive pricing considering it's a store operated locally for me~

bear in mind, i do not know if the same owners that run the brick and mortar store run their online website as i know their "in-store" inventory varies from what they have in their warehouse that is setup for shipping across the country i had actually wanted to pick up another mobo that was a very good price from their online website and to save on shipping, was meaning to drive to the store to pick it up; they did not have it in stock at the store, however, it was available from their online website. the reason i chose to go with another online retailer was because i get charged tax here in CA, so, after doing the math, it was about $15 cheaper from a place in Ohio due to NO tax shipping to CA.

with that said, i HAVE purchased components in store and the customer service there was friendly, helpful, and quite courteous to me. i found everything i needed far cheaper than what some of the other online retailers/local brick & mortar stores had the same components going for. if the kind of service i received IN-STORE is any indication of how they deal with customers online, i don't see ANY reason NOT to buy from them personally. you would be far-fetched to find ANY online retailer with better pricing for this Antec Nine Hundred case ($81.54) yes, the shipping is kind of steep @ approx. $21 for me in CA, but considering the weight of this bad boy coming in at 36lbs, to me it's reasonable if i do decide to try this case out in the future, i could simply drive and pick it up for all of $87 including tax~ makes it even more tempting to me at this point for an early X-mas present to myself LOL.

docTY

 

Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811156058
Power Supply: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817152026
Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131568
CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103002
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231032 X2 yes 2 sets of 2
HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148167 X2
CD-ROMs:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827131365
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827106043
Video: dunno yet so many to choose from
Cooling:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835118223
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835888105 only 1 will fit


now tell me that wouldnt be sweet
btw i hate liquid cooling one of my friends pipes got a leak because the cpu's heat sink BURNT a hole through it so...

 

Ken thats a damn good price thanks for the link my local PC shop wants 159.00 for it lol

 

@rudsta816

It always amazes me to hear such tales as the one you describe, it seems that is always a new way to cock things up.

You shouldn’t base your opinion about water-cooling on the incident you described.

I can hardly imagine how anyone could manage to get a water pipe to touch the CPU heat sink, basic common sense when installing should prevent anything like that happening, and then to have it running so hot that it melted the pipe is a joke; most tubing has an operating temperature up to 75C or 165F.

Maybe you should ignore what was obviously a total cock-up made by your mate and use the feedback of others that know what their doing.

Water-cooling is not an option for the less technically able people out there, but that doesn’t stop some of them blundering ahead anyway.

There is also nothing wrong at all with air cooling, it’s effective, easy and cheap to install, easy to maintain afterwards. (There have also been plenty of people that have cocked AC up as well).

Some people out there should just never open up a PC case I suppose.

 

BigDK,
I'll second that!!

 

ya i agree too...ok i hav a question...is it beta to buy the computer parts one at a time(buy graphics card now...next month the cpu...etc)...or buy the whole pc...cause i dont get any pocket money and i dont work...the only way to save money is on my B-day and Xmas...which one would be the best option...

 

How long is a piece of string?

You get what you can afford!

 

hmm...that helps...ok i'll do that...i hav bout $200 = R1400 in south africa...ok thnx...anyway...