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Buck's Setup and Build

post #1 of 132
3/30/08 at 9:58pm
Thread Starter 
For those of you that frequent the Desktop Section, I'm sure you've read at one point or another that I've been working on a new PC build for quite some time. It's indeed been a labor of love, as the more I researched new components, the more I read newer components were on the horizon. Patience, not being one of my stronger personality characteristics, was absolutely necessary.

My ideal goal: To build a Socket 775 PC with the best components I could, and as "future-proof" as possible ( I am not a fan of that phrase by the way).

With that, here are the components I ended up with:

Power Supply
SILENCER® 750 QUAD

Motherboard
ASUS Rampage Formula (X48)

Processors (several)
Intel E6750
Intel Q6600
Intel Q9450
(And more to come)

RAM
OCZ Reaper HPC PC2-8500 2x2GB
OCZ Reaper HPC PC2-9200 2x1GB (will be used for extreme OC)

Video Card
EVGA G92 8800GTS 512

Sound Card
Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum Fatal1ty Champion Series

AM Cooling
Zalman CNPS9700LED

Hard Drive 1 (OS, Apps) WD SE16 320GB
Hard Drive 2 (Games, Storage) Samsung Spinpoint F1 750GB
Hard Drive 3 (Backup) Samsung Spinpoint F1 1TB

Optical Drive
Samsung SH-S203B $34

Case
Antec P182

Operating System
Vista Ultimate 32-bit


You're probably wondering about all of the processors I have listed. The E6750 was outright given to me by a close friend. As far as the quads are concerned...one of the local retail stores here in the ATL was essentially giving away Q6600s and had the Q9450s cheaper than anywhere on the net. I couldn't pass these deals up. I'll be starting out with the E6750 on the initial setup and testing, then move on to the quads. And one more thing...I'll also pick up the QX9650 somtime this summer, at which point I'm hoping the rename to Q9650 takes place along with a swift price reduction.


Pics! I took a few pics today as I began assembly. Please keep in mind that I am not finished. This post will be updated as I progess.


Front panel of the case:



And a pic of the front panel open, with the Creative controller and optical drive installed (don't worry, the Blu-Ray drive is coming too ).



Here is a shot of the case with the left side panel removed to give you an idea of how cables are managed with the P182. This would be the before pic...



The after pic...



Here are a couple of shots of the Antec's compartment separator.




Rear before and after pics (the item hanging down in the second pic is the LCD poster)




The P182's upper hard drive cage will not be used in my particular build as it's not necessary (the upper hd cage must be removed in order to create room for larger video cards).

* Note the small accessory box mounted on the upper hd cage




The lower hd cage has space for 4 hard drives. This is just prior to installing the 750GB F1



One of my memory sticks:



The front interior of the case - with the Scythe 110CFM main intake fan



What a mess!



A closeup of the Zalman 9700LED cooler



Starting to get there...



More detail....



That's all I have for now. The video card should be here within the week. As soon as it arrives, I'll get this thing running and hope to be able to describe some of the advanced BIOS features this board offers...as well as finish up some of the wiring aesthetics.

Buck

You can find larger pictures here.
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post #2 of 132
3/30/08 at 10:44pm
Nice thread Buck, great work

I love that case, thats the one I have my eye on due to low noise, and the same PSU too
Still window shopping motherboards, but your build & therefore this thread is really interesting for me

Cheers
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post #3 of 132
3/30/08 at 11:06pm
its looking good. i have the same case and heatsink and i love em both.

keep up the good work!
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post #4 of 132
3/30/08 at 11:50pm
Oooooh zat is really sexy buck,,,Good work man!
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post #5 of 132
3/31/08 at 12:05am
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post #6 of 132
3/31/08 at 12:23am
oh man i've been waiting for this!
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post #7 of 132
3/31/08 at 12:26am
Nice to see it goin together Buck .
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post #8 of 132
3/31/08 at 12:28am
so now im the only one who needs a new build
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post #9 of 132
3/31/08 at 1:09am
Looking good! Glad to see the CNPS9700 LED fits.



Zoid
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post #10 of 132
3/31/08 at 7:36am
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the positive responses guys. The P182 is indeed a nice case, but can, at times, get a little tight, especially for someone with large hands. I had to use a long set of needle-nose pliers to plug in some of the fans and the lcd poster. And this thing is HEAVY.

The ribbon cable for the front panel sound controller was a bit of a pain while sleeving. I didn't go to the extent GBQ did here, I just folded the cable in half and inched it on. The end result was essentially the same.

There is one thing about this board I can honestly say I don't like...the PCI/PCI-e slot arrangement. I had to use the upper PCI slot for the sound card - it just wouldn't fit in the lower slot. For that matter, if it had fit, I would be unable to place an additional video card in the lower PCi-e slot.

I ended up assembling the PC in our breakfast area due to lighting...the rest of our house is pretty dark.
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post #11 of 132
3/31/08 at 11:33am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Buck47 View Post
The P182 is indeed a nice case, but can, at times, get a little tight, especially for someone with large hands.
lol true, I scratched up my knuckles a few times myself.
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post #12 of 132
3/31/08 at 12:01pm
Thread Starter 
As did I, but only on the CPU cooler. The case didn't have any sharp edges...that my knuckles found anyway.
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post #13 of 132
4/1/08 at 4:31am
Great looking build Buck.

The case is awesome (have one myself, as you know). I'm waiting for eVGA to come out with the 9800 GTX so I can cash in my Step-Up from my 8800 GT.

Here in a few months as well, I'll be upgrading to a quad-core Penryn (either the Core 2 Quad Q9450 or Q9550).

I still absolutely HATE the layout of these recent motherboards (the only one that was decent was the DFI that I bought, which still kicks ass, and strangely got even better with the most recent BIOS update). No idea what these design people are thinking nowadays.
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post #14 of 132
4/1/08 at 7:40am
you gonna upgrade to a Blu-ray writer Buck?

and Sound Blaster? I thought we were all boycotting Creative.
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post #15 of 132
4/1/08 at 9:04am
Thread Starter 
I originally posted I was going to get the 9800GTX....might not happen now.

Probably a GTS or a GDDR4 HD3870 until R700 or GT200 come out.
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post #16 of 132
4/1/08 at 9:14am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve@NBF View Post
you gonna upgrade to a Blu-ray writer Buck?

and Sound Blaster? I thought we were all boycotting Creative.
Not going for a Blu-Ray writer right now. Most likely just a reader to play HD until writer speeds get a serious bump, and prices come way down...including BR media.

I've had the X-Fi for a while now, but it's never been used. If I have problems with it, I'll can it.

The whole Creative issue was brought on by Creative essentially forcing consumers either buy a Vista-capable driver for the Audigy cards for $9 or buy a X-Fi card to work with Vista.

There are still problems with the Vista drivers - but I can't condemn until I've tested them out.

More to follow here for sure.
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post #17 of 132
4/1/08 at 9:17am
You're gonna be waiting a long time for those blu-ray prices to come down then. There are reports we aren't going to see x6 write speeds until the end of the year, and x12 speed until 2010. You posted the news about it. http://www.notebookforums.com/thread214499.html

This technology is moving so slowly and I have way too much information to backup. I'm probably gonna be buying a writer soon and most people who need one should too.
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post #18 of 132
4/1/08 at 9:37am
Thread Starter 
You must have alota pR0n to backup
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post #19 of 132
4/1/08 at 9:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Buck47 View Post
You must have alota pR0n to backup
Actually its all legit stuff. Movies, TV shows, MP3... etc...
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post #20 of 132
4/1/08 at 1:05pm
Thread Starter 
OK it's OFFICIAL - I now have the EVGA 8800GTS 512 to use until the newer cards this summer. I coundn't stomach the $100 price premium for the 9800GTX. It is only 10% faster than a stock-clocked G92 GTS, and also boasts tri-sli capability.
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