Thinking of a new SFF F@H PC

[ilya]

New GPU3 WUs have been tanking my production pretty heavily, been wanting to get a new build for better production. SFF is the primary concern, see my comment under mobo for what exactly I want.
I'll also be doing some light gaming, but honestly the games I'm going to run won't require much so that shouldn't be a factor in the decision. I also don't have much of a budget, but I'm looking to keep this under $1000 (w/o GPU/peripherals) after taxes atm.Everything will be PMed at NCIX.

I'm still iffy on the platform as Intel still has better power consumption/folding performance. I might consider a complete platform change if someone knows/can find something that fits.

Mobo: Gigabyte 880GMA UD2H
Beleive it or not this is the ONLY matx board with USB3, a PS2 port, 8pin CPU power, and the exact expansion slot layout that I want. (one PCI-E 1x on top with a PCI-E 16x under it for a GPU)

CPU: AMD 1090T
Overclocking on a SFF board is going to be limited, I'd like a processor with an unlocked multiplier to make things easy, or a processor that's easy to overclock without 20 power phases.

RAM: GSKILL 2x4GB DDR3-1600
Not sure if I'll need 1600 RAM, would 1333 be good enough for overclocking? Don't plan on messing with timings/speeds a lot since it's going to be limited by the SFF board.

HDD: WD BLACK 1TB
Going to want a new HDD, wanna keep the old one in my previous build.

GPU: I plan on bringing over my GTX470.

PSU: Been scratching my brains out on this one.
Seasonic x560 $20 MIR at NCIX.
If I get the x560 I'll be bringing over my old x750 and putting the x560 in my old system, pretty cost effective.
AX750 $20 MIR at NCIX
Tempting, 7 year warranty instead of the regular 5 from Seasonic, not to mention Corsair's legendary CS.
X750 $30 MIR at NCIX
The price on this... I'm pretty confident with the MIR as I have done Seasonic MIRs before, get them quick and get them every time. Only thing is I prefer Corsair CS over Seasonic.

Case: Silverstone FT03 ~$150(guesstimate)
I know, it's not out yet and it might not be out for a while, but that's the case I want. ME WANT BADLY. I'll be using a random mobo tray I have lying around until this comes out.
On a side note it was due Q4 2010, but it looks like Silverstone's entire "03" series has been delayed until after CES 2011.

CPU Cooler: I'm a little annoyed by this. ALL my current HSFs don't have AM3 mounting hardware. I really wanted to use my Prolimatech Megahalems, but NCIX isn't stocking the AM3 bracket anymore and I simply can't find it available anymore anywhere in Canada.

Ideas? Comments? Bah, just blab out anything I could use some random stuff to bounce off of.

[YoungMan]

How much CS could you possibly need with a PSU?
I prefer Seasonic much more than Corsair. The Corsair price premium is not worth it. The Seasonic units are slightly better too.
If price becomes a concern, then the x560 it is. Otherwise the x750 if you've got extra money to spend.

That case looks pretty unique, in that you can fit a rather large cooler in there. I highly recommend the Hyper 212 as the 1st choice for any system, and compare others to it. For the price/performance, you don't get any better than that. Not saying it's bad and has faults because it's cheap. But it's unbelievably good for it's price.

The price between 1333 and 1600 RAM is generally neglible. So might as well just get the higher speed.

[zoob]

Originally Posted by ilya

PSU: Been scratching my brains out on this one.

Get this!
Seasonic X750 $140.74
Agile Electronics - Buy Mfgs Part-#:R-X-750-A online in Canada
PM @ NCIX and get the $30 USD MIR

[4DoorGTZ]

I'm also pieceing together a SFF folding rig, leftover cpu from my laptop upgrade, mobo and a couple 470's from the HWC for sale forum. Decided on the Lan Gear "da box" and am on the waiting list when they get enough made. I have a few psu's around just have to figure out which is best suited for this. Only other thing I think I'll have to buy is a cpu cooler and some ram. I'm thinking I can possible carry this SFF folding box with me on the road, thus keeping an eye on it and not adding to the heat issues in my condo.

[_dangtx_]

Buy Intel [BX80605X3440] Intel Xeon X3440 Quad Core Processor LGA1156 2.53GHZ 8MB L3 Cache 95W Retail Box

any chance you may consider that? finding s imilarly priced board as with the amd build wont be as easy, but with ht on and a bit of clocking it should output nicely.

so Buy Gigabyte [GA-P55M-UD2] Gigabyte P55M-UD2 mATX LGA1156 P55 DDR3 2PCI-E 2PCI SATA2 RAID Sound GLAN Motherboard with its 2 properly spaced pci-e slots should prove interesting :)

thats a hell of a psu, kinda expensive though. not too much choice in compact stuff.

[ilya]

Originally Posted by YoungMan

How much CS could you possibly need with a PSU?
I prefer Seasonic much more than Corsair. The Corsair price premium is not worth it. The Seasonic units are slightly better too.
If price becomes a concern, then the x560 it is. Otherwise the x750 if you've got extra money to spend.

The AX750 is basically a revised version of the X750, they fixed a few minor ripple and boot issues with the X750. The Corsair comes with a 7 year warranty instead of the Seasonic 5 year. I've also dealt with both CS departments, Seasonic isn't bad, but they aren't great either. That being said you do have a good point about the Corsair price premium, and I think it might come off my shortlist.

Originally Posted by _dangtx_

Buy Intel [BX80605X3440] Intel Xeon X3440 Quad Core Processor LGA1156 2.53GHZ 8MB L3 Cache 95W Retail Box

any chance you may consider that? finding s imilarly priced board as with the amd build wont be as easy, but with ht on and a bit of clocking it should output nicely.

so Buy Gigabyte [GA-P55M-UD2] Gigabyte P55M-UD2 mATX LGA1156 P55 DDR3 2PCI-E 2PCI SATA2 RAID Sound GLAN Motherboard with its 2 properly spaced pci-e slots should prove interesting :)

thats a hell of a psu, kinda expensive though. not too much choice in compact stuff.

That's actually a pretty nice idea, I'd assume those Xeons should get some decent clocks fairly easily.
I'm probably going to go with this board or the H57 version. Looks like they both have a decent amount of power phases. I'm just hoping I'm not going to have huge O/C issues like Lowfat did with a similar board. The only difference between the two seem to be 8pin vs 4pin CPU power.

Thing is though, I'd want to put a PCI-E 1x soundcard in the bottom slot, as well as USB3. Do you think that would rob my PCI-E lanes from the 470 too much? I'm still going to be gaming, just nothing like Metro 2033/Crysis.

[_dangtx_]

yup. but h5x are meant for dual cores, they wont give you mad clocks with a quad. i think lowfat had a thread with h55+xeon and he couldnt past 3.4 stable,on h55.

[zoob]

Yeah it's a problem with the overclocked quads triggering over current protection (OCP).

I had a quick chat with miahallen and he said his i7 860 hit OCP much sooner than an i5 750.