Next rig, what do ya think?

[alexkerhead]

These are the specs I have picked out through research to be perfect for me.
Motherboard

CPU

RAM

video cards, two of these

Case

Cooling, elcheapo setup

PSU

Hard Drive

How does this setup look, I am saving for it right now?

[Rondog]

Are you dead-set sure you want Intel?

See if you can get a different motherboard too. There are 2x SATA connectors in the centre. And buy a 40mm fan for the Northbridge too.

[GrahamGarside]

I have heard an X2 is due out soon around the $350 price point which would be far far better than a dual core intel, plus you'll save some money on the motherboard as well

And I would suggest making the stretch to a 200GB 7200.8 or maxtor 10, as well as the extra storage you get a faster drive by about 15-25% and in the case of the maxtor much quieter

[Rondog]

Yes, but I think, "I think", they would not be 2x1mb L2 cache. Would you notice much performance change?

[GrahamGarside]

nope, there is about 8% differance even in the best case scenario between 512kb and 1mb L2, in games the differance is practically one existant, in fact a sempron 2600+ overclocked to 2.4ghz will give a 3500+ a run for it's money.

[Aedan]

Originally Posted by GrahamGarside

And I would suggest making the stretch to a 200GB 7200.8 or maxtor 10, as well as the extra storage you get a faster drive by about 15-25% and in the case of the maxtor much quieter

The 7200.7 drives are some of the quietest drives out there. Admittedly, not as quiet as their older brother, the Barracuda ATA V, though. They turn out less than 40dB SPL at 18mm, which makes them very quiet indeed. As far as performance goes, they're not going to set the world on fire however.

[GrahamGarside]

Their idle spin speed is quiet yes but a lack of aam makes their head chatter quite audible, I've a maxtor 10 and 2 7200.7's and the maxtor 10 is far quieter during drive access and they are about the same whilest idle

Performance is fairly close on all them of, I get an average read speed of about 50mb/s on my 7200.7 and 60mb/s on my maxtor 10

The 7200.8 is the faster drive of all 3, with peak speeds to rival a raptor drive

[tiamat63]

Well since it sounds like your set on Intel...I'm only going to say, your PSU, although decent, really should support a little higher wattage. If I was going to use a power hungry Pentium D and SLI, I would want at least 500watts.

Remember another thing too...anything below the "Extreme Edition"( aka Rip off)... does not support HT. So your pretty much removing the only thing Intel has on AMD.

[GrahamGarside]

Good point, I very much doubt that psu is up to the task of a dual core intel and dual 6800 system, you're looking at around 350-400W from the 12V lines, which means two lines with around 16-18A on and also that the combined maximum is up to that.

[alexkerhead]

You guys should know me well enough to know that I dont care much for amd products.
On the up side, I might be the only one left on earth with an intel chip(extreme exageration)
Seperah and Graham, I am going to take your advice, and invest in either a redundant psu, or a 500-600watt high quality psu. thanks, I dont even know why I thaught a 450watt would handle all that stuff I will be putting on it..
I changed the PSU to a modular 500watt ultra.
Graham, I need a reliable hdd, and seagates have never given me any trouble.
I did however, upgrade the HDD I am getting to the 7200.8.
Noise will not be an issue, I am not picky like that, my current computer runs 62Db. This one I predict will run around 40Db, so a nice improvement.
Motherboard has 6x sataII

[GrahamGarside]

A 600W enermax noisetaker would do it. The 485W may even copebut I couldn't guarantee it.

I am curious though, why the beef with amd? Is there any particular reason for favoring a Pentium-D over an X2?

[alexkerhead]

Well, first off, I dont play games, besides the pentium1 games like icy tower and stuff like that.
It is hard to explain to an AMD supporter like yourself(no pun intended)
I love how fluent my desktop works, and since I have test driven the intel pentium d system, I love how snappy and quick it runs.
anyone who uses intel uses them becuase of this reason.
Plus, the added reason, amd is a very childish company.
Right now they are asking for handouts with their lawsuit, just a few of the little silly reasons I choose not to switch.
I hope this helps.

[GrahamGarside]

I do agree, HT does give the P4 a moer responsive feel than an A64 on the desktop, but the dual cores loose this so are on level ground with X2's except hotter and less performance.

I wouldn't really class my self as a supporter of any company. For me I feel the current AMD chips are the superior option. But if intel wakes up, drops netburst and provides affordable Pentium-M chips that would be where my money went.

[danrok]

Originally Posted by alexkerhead

Plus, the added reason, amd is a very childish company.
Right now they are asking for handouts with their lawsuit

Probably more a case of AMD being under pressure from its shareholders to grab what it can when the opportunity is there. It's all normal practice these days in large corps.

[Pitch]

I'd be interested to see how well these's P4 800's perform. And similerly how much heat they pump out. One Prescott core is enough, but two?

I know my X2 runs hot enough if I used air or water cooling on it.

But.. Judging by the way you've gone for SLi, I will take a stab and assume this will be a gaming machine. If so, I'd more than certainly recomend a P4 6XX processor.

The Smithfield Core get's smashed in most game tests by it's older brother. Also with second core and effectivly double the heat, thermal throttling is going to really hamper performance, and unless you have some serious cooling or a complete lack of respect for technology (*Glances at the dead hardware in the corner*) then i'd leave it on.

However, if it's not primarily for gaming then I can speak bucketloads for the boost I got from dual cores in all sorts of media applications. I would also drop the Sli option. You can always add another card in at a later date should you need to.

But whichever you choose, you'll have a Damn nice system at the end.

Feel free to PM me as I had long think about whether dual core was really for me.

[SteveI]

Originally Posted by alexkerhead

....
I love how fluent my desktop works, and since I have test driven the intel pentium d system, I love how snappy and quick it runs.
anyone who uses intel uses them becuase of this reason.....

Fits for me...
When dual cores become reasonable, I'll probably go back to AMD.

[SteveI]

Originally Posted by Pitch

I'd be interested to see how well these's P4 800's perform. And similerly how much heat they pump out. One Prescott core is enough, but two?.....

Prescotts run hot, no doubt about it. However, when all the negative press came out on the original prescotts, I had one... It ran so damn hot I returned it. In December I tried again. Newer revision, at the same speed and voltage, I saw about 8-10c drop in temp. The lastest revision for prescott has made a lot of progress on temps.... Maybe still to hot for some, it was a good enough improvement for me and I suspect the dual cores take advantage of this.

[Gizmo]

They probably have some additional improvements in the thermal area for the dual core chips, but I suspect heat is the reason that only the dual core Exscream Editions have HT.

I agree with Graham though, when Intel finally starts hitting the market with P-M based cores for the desktop, and dual cores along with that, it's going to put some serious pressure on AMD to improve their tech again. The P-M is a very nice product.

As for the responsiveness of dual-core or HT Intels as opposed to single-core AMDs, there's no arguing that. My dual-CPU PIII box is every bit as responsive as my single CPU Athlon rig, running at over twice the clock speed. The only time I really notice a slowdown is when I am doing something that is CPU intensive; then the difference in CPU speed is noticable. HOWEVER, since only the Exscream Edition is HT on the dual-core front, the Intel advantage is effectively negated there.

But that is neither here nor there. Alex likes his Intels, and it's really hard to make an argument that it is a bad choice. As long as he is happy with his purchase, that is the bottom line.

[tiamat63]

Alex...

Try going with something like this. Like ive said, I've hit my highest overclocks and had best stabilty with my Abit board and Thermaltake PSU....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817153021

I know the the price and wattage may seem high...but look at it like this.
You can feel free to drop in more fans, a raid setup, etc.. and not have too worry about your PSU keeping up.

[tiamat63]

Another thing I failed to point out. Remember in the long run that setup
(mainly your Pentium D) is very power inefficient. So the year round cost of running it will be somewhat noticable.