Intel Q9650 + Gigabyte EP45-UD3P + Radeon HD 4870 X2 + Coolermaster CM 690

[aenagy]

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.
Gaming (Crysis junkie), Virtualization (VMware Workstation/Server), browsing, Office (Word, Excel).

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread
Max C$2000

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.
Canada


4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc, etc, etc, you get the picture.
Leaning a little to Intel + AMD, but am flexible.

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
No

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.
Yes (several)

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
Default speed. No OC.

8. WHEN do you plan to build it?
1Q2009

Parts List:

Coolermaster CM 690 Mid Tower Black ATX Case 5X5.25 5X3.5INT No PS Front USB Sound Firewire & eSATA $84.99

Coolink Gfxchilla 4 Heatpipe VGA Cooler 2X80MM & RAM Sinks $25.57

Corsair TX750W 750W ATX 12V 60A 24PIN ATX Power Supply Active PFC 120MM Fan *IR-$10* $133.01

Gigabyte EP45-UD3P ATX LGA775 P45 DDR2 2PCI-E SATA2 RAID HD Sound 2GLAN 1394A CrossFireX Motherboard $158.99

Gigabyte Radeon HD 4870 X2 750MHZ 2GB 3.6GHZ DDR5 PCI-E Dual DVI-I HDCP HDTV Out Video Card $581.27

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650 Quad Core Processor LGA775 3.0GHZ Yorkfield 1333FSB 12MB Retail Box $407.49

Heavy Duty Shipping Box $5.99

VIP Membership Fee Per Year $50.00

OCZ Reaper Hpc Edition PC2-8500 DDR2 4GB 2X2GB DDR2-1066 CL5-5-5-15 Dual

Channel EPP Memor *IR-$45* $89.99

PC Assembly and Testing (PRE-CONFIG OS If Purchased) $50.00

Samsung SH-S223F/BEBN 22X Speedplus DVD+-RW SATA DVD Writer OEM $26.94

Xigmatek ACK-I7361 Crossbow Mounting Kit LGA1336 775 for HDT-S963 HDT-S1283 RS-S1283 $19.99

Xigmatek HDT-S1283 Direct Touch 3 Heatpipe Heatsink AM2 LGA775 S754 S939 S940 W 120MM PWM Fan $37.95

Total: C$1672.18 (after price match), C$1872.58 (before price match)

(No points for guessing where I got the descriptions or pricing.)


My questions/concerns:

1) Even though I am not doing any overclocking I would still like the non-stock cooling to extend the life of the CPU and GPU.

2) Will the cooling fit in the case (Coolermaster CM 690)?

3) Even though I will be doing a fair amount of virtualization I don't feel ready to go to Intel Core i7, yet. Opinions?

BTW, I find that HWC (HardwareCanucks) is really good spot for research. Well done.

And before I forget, thanks for your feedback.

[cadaveca]

GPU cooler works with 4870x2? I do not beleive so...

I have CM 690(4 of 'em, actually), that will work just fine.

Otherwise, they are building it for you, so that takes care of ALOT. I'd recommend against this choice, but I understand wanting to as well...you aren't going to overclock, and if they build it, any issues in that regard are up to them...


That said, if you are not going to overclock, forget the aftermarket cooling, period. It's NOT needed for stock. Spend the cash on some HDDs.

[CanadaRox]

If you have no plans on overclocking, I'd suggest stepping the motherboard down to a lower end model to save some money. You could also step the memory down to PC2-6400 (DDR2-800) without any noticeable performance drop, but with that instant rebate it might be worthwhile just keeping the faster RAM.

For your specific questions:
3) Even though I will be doing a fair amount of virtualization I don't feel ready to go to Intel Core i7, yet. Opinions?

1) First off, as cadaveca said, that GPU heatsink isn't compatible with your current GPU. I personally would keep the CPU heatsink you added just to help the system run a little quieter, but for the GPU if it sounds anything like my 4870 (non-X2), I would probably leave the stock cooling as it only gets loud under extreme load and at idle it is fairly quiet.

2) I don't have any experience with the CM 690, but I do know it is a fairly common case and lots of people have used large tower coolers with them so you should have no issues with that heatsink and that case.

3) I agree with your choice to stay with a Core 2 Quad because i7 still costs a fair amount more and doesn't offer a huge performance increase. I think the main benifit of i7 for VM's would be the additional cores, but I think the Q9650 should be plenty unless you are running a lot of VM's using substancial core power. Someone else with a little more VM experience will probably be able to give you a better opinion for this though.

[ImmaPC]

Personally, I think that if you have $2 grand to spend on a new computer, you may as well go i7. Even if it doesn't have such a large performance increase as you expected, it's still a very viable option for a new build nowadays.

[Silvgearx]

Try These

Coolermaster CM 690 Mid Tower Black ATX Case 5X5.25 5X3.5INT No PS Front USB Sound Firewire & eSATA $84.99

Corsair TX750W 750W ATX 12V 60A 24PIN ATX Power Supply Active PFC 120MM Fan $125

Gigabyte EP45-UD3P ATX LGA775 P45 DDR2 2PCI-E SATA2 RAID HD Sound 2GLAN 1394A CrossFireX Motherboard $158.99

XFX Radeon HD 4870 X2 750MHZ 2GB 3.6GHZ GDDR5 2XDVI PCI-E Video Card $640

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650 Quad Core Processor LGA775 3.0GHZ Yorkfield 1333FSB 12MB Retail Box $407.49

Heavy Duty Shipping Box $5.99

VIP Membership Fee Per Year $50.00

Mushkin XP PC2-8000 Redline 4GB 2X2GB DDR2-1000 CL5-5-5-12 240PIN Dual Channel Memory Kit $66

PC Assembly and Testing (PRE-CONFIG OS If Purchased) $50.00

Samsung SH-S223F/BEBN 22X Speedplus DVD+-RW SATA DVD Writer OEM $26.94

Thermalright LGA775 BOLT-THRU Kit for Ultra 90/120 & HR-01 Retail Box $10

Xigmatek HDT-S1283 Direct Touch 3 Heatpipe Heatsink AM2 LGA775 S754 S939 S940 W 120MM PWM Fan $37.95

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Why XFX 4870x2? It comes with Double life time warranty so you dont have to worry about an add on cooler.

mushkin redlines? because they require low volts to work at 1000mhz. My buddy has a Gigabyte g31 board with OCZ platiums. They dont work that good untill i when to the bios and +.02 V

And just a personal opinions, i wont bother with the VIP or the heavy duty. When i order all my parts, they all came with nicely packed boxes.

PC Assembly and Testing $50 + recycling fees too . build it yourself at no cost and screw the VIP for an extra hard drive?

Or you can take a look at the P5Q Pro for FREE SHIPPING FOR ENTIRE ORDER . that will save you about $40 shipping fee

[aenagy]

I should have mentioned that this config was based on the Intel Value Midrange configuration in a recent Anandtech guide (AnandTech: System Buyers Guide: $1000 to $2000). I up'ed the CPU and GPU in my posting.


cadaveca, CanadaRox, ImmaPC:

Finding a suitable after market cooler for the 4870X2 has been difficult. It was not clear to me that installing the Coolink Gfxchilla would void the warranty. For the same reason I am staying away from the Intel i7 until the there is better after market coolers. In both cases I just want something that will keep my system cool while blasting away those nasty space aliens.


CanadaRox:

I do expect to do some heavy duty virtualization. One of the projects I want to take on is installing ESX Server 3.5 in VMware Workstation 6 for a learning lab, and I don't want to go bare metal for ESX Server yet (waiting for VI4 to be released in 2Q2009). This in addition to things like a MCSE lab and possibly playing with Cisco router simulators/emulators (Cisco 7200 Simulator - IPFlow Netflow Collector). The real Cisco hardware will come at at latter time.


5ILVgeARX:

As for things like assembly, VIP and HD shipping: I don't dig hardware, I'm just a plug-it-in-and-turn-it-on kinda guy. In the past I have had to return a shipment because of a damaged shipping box and dealing with slow RMAs (if they happen) is frustrating.

Thanks for the heads up on the XFX 4870 X2.

Will the Thermalright bolt-thru kit work with the Xigmatek HDT-S1283?

Is the Mushkin PC2-8000 Redline faster than the OCZ Reaper PC2-8500 at normal (not-OC) speed?


All:

Does the 4870 X2 (let's assume the XFX as recommended by 5ILVgeARX) not *need* after market cooling, or that any after market cooling would void the warranty? Any recommendations on cooling for the XFX 4870 X2?


Many thanks to everyone.

[JD]

As per the Mushkin DDR2-1000 vs OCZ DDR2-1066, since you aren't OC'ing, there's no point in either. You'd be fine with DDR2-800 or even DDR2-667. It's such a minimal gain in performance between them if you aren't rasing the FSB of the CPU.

If you're concerned about heat, maybe grab a HAF 932 or Antec 1200 (both full towers) or the Antec 900 or CM590 (mid towers). They all have better front intake options than the CM690 which should keep cooler air flowing through the case.

AFAIK there's no aftermarket air-coolers for the HD4870X2 and I doubt there ever will be. The stock one should be fine. Only other choice is watercooling which is rather expensive and definitely not something for you IMO.

Xigmatek sells their own bolt-thru kit as well if you want to be ensured compatibility, espeically since NCIX is building it, they might be fussy. And I see you had that originally so might as well just keep it.

I guess you haven't shopped at NCIX much? Because you can get VIP for 500 points I believe. And the shipping box is pointless I think. Many people don't even get it when they order.

Might be wiser to get a HD4870 1GB or 260GTX 216 if you aren't doing a ton of gaming or running high resolutions. Also since the HD4870X2 uses Crossfire internally, not all games support it so some games will run slower than others. Up to you though.

[Silvgearx]

Well, even without overclocking, a higher rated ram is a wiser choice, i think i read somewhere that higher ram mhz can shorten compress + extract + encoding times and gives better FSP in gaming. And beside those i prefer lower voltage (energy saving) parts.

Why? lower heat = less fans needed for cooling(less noise) + utilities bills + longer life

And your probably one of those people that only upgrade in 5-10 years or so , i have a friend who's just like you , i might be wrong about you tho

[aenagy]

Thanks for the feedback on the memory. As I think about it, memory response plays heavily in virtualization. I just might go for the faster memory. Another thought came back to me: will the cooling fins on the memory interfere with the Xigmatek HDT-S1283 on the Gigabyte EP45-UD3P? Are there other recommendations for air cooling a Q9650?

I am going to stick with the 4870X2 for now. As mentioned in the original post, I am a Crysis junkie.

BTW, I try to upgrade every three years or so . My Athlon64 4000+/X1950 system is getting long in the tooth. Crysis chugs, especially in the snow.

I do all my PC shopping at NCIX, so I am a little confused about the reference to 500 points. What's this about?


I think the full-tower cases are overkill for air cooled systems. I have heard mixed opinions about the Antec 900. I will look into the CM590. The concern I have is decent air flow and cable management. Lights, windows and other doo-dads don't interest me. Any thoughts on the Antec P182 as an option?


Thanks again for your help.

[crazyhorsejohnny]

Drop the heavy duty box and the VIP membership and use that extra cash to get the HAF. The best air cooling case there is. And quiet too.