"Rate my Rig" thread

[Dave]

I'm planning to get a laptop for college from System76. Here are the specs I'm thinking of:

Gazelle Performance Link to product page

Display: 14” Widescreen WXGA (1280X800)
Graphics: nVidia GeForce GO 7300 with 128MB VRAM
Sound: Intel High Definition Audio
Networking: 10/100/1000 (LAN)
Wireless: Intel 802.11 abg
Card Reader: 4 in 1 Card Reader
Expansion: PCMCIA 2.1 supports one Type II
Ports: VGA, 4x USB 2.0, Mic In, Headphone Out, FireWire 1394B, S-Video
Webcam: Integrated 1.3 Megapixel Camera
Battery: 6 Cell Lithium Ion
Battery Life: 3 Hours
Dimensions: 13.15" x 9.9" x 1.4" (W x D x H)
Weight: 5.5 lbs

--

Operating System Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn) Linux
Processor - Intel Core 2 Duo Core 2 Duo T7200 2.0GHz 4MB 667FSB
Memory 1 GB DDR2 667 MHz
Hard Drive 80 GB 7200 RPM SATA
CD/DVD Drive CD-RW / DVD-RW (Dual Layer)
Port Replicator - System76 Port Bar
Hardware Warranty 3 Yr. Ltd. Warranty and Technical Support

The first section is the stuff that comes with that model and cannot be changed, the second section contains the options that I chose.

My absolute budget cap is $2000, but the current layout at $1,600-ish fits more what I was planning to pay.

Two questions:
1) Does this setup look good? I don't want to forget anything.
2) When would be a good time to purchase this? I can wait until mid-August, when I go off to college to get this.

Background info: This will be my main system. I do have an old full tower that a friend gave to me (500MHz proc, 768 MB RAM, 2 HDD approx 20 GB each, etc) that could be used as a backup computer (I plan turn it into a networked storage server for myself). I plan to get a 17" monitor, mouse and keyboard for the docking bar.

[Uraniun235]

Bigger hard drives aren't cost effective yet. They cost too much per GB. Might as well just grab another 500 GB drive. Which case are you getting, BTW?

When I checked about a month ago it looked like 400GB was the sweet spot for GB/$.

[Beowulf]

Dave, are you planning on gaming with that system? I'll note my fiancee bought a laptop end of last year with generally similar or better specs from Dell for the same amount of cash.

Bigger hard drives aren't cost effective yet. They cost too much per GB. Might as well just grab another 500 GB drive. Which case are you getting, BTW?

When I checked about a month ago it looked like 400GB was the sweet spot for GB/$.

When I bought my HDD a month ago, 400GB was the sweet spot. However, 500 GB isn't too far outside that spot, price wise. I think it was $20 more or so.

[Alan Bolte]

So, the cooling system on my video card is a joke. I've underclocked the card to stop it from overheating whenever I try to play a game, but I'd like to get full performance out of it. I don't really know where to go from here.

[Beowulf]

So, the cooling system on my video card is a joke. I've underclocked the card to stop it from overheating whenever I try to play a game, but I'd like to get full performance out of it. I don't really know where to go from here.

Three solutions:

1. Improve air flow inside the case. This may mean replacing the case.
   Replace the heat sink on the video card. This is warranty voiding, and may necessitate option 3 anyway.
   Replace the whole video card.

[phongn]

So, the cooling system on my video card is a joke. I've underclocked the card to stop it from overheating whenever I try to play a game, but I'd like to get full performance out of it. I don't really know where to go from here.

If the fan is clogged with dusty, get some canned air and clean it out. You may also need to improve you case cooling - the hot air might not have anywhere to go.

Failing that, Zalman makes some good GPU coolers - but be warned, they take up an extra slot.

[Arthur_Tuxedo]

Cooling a 6600 GT adequately shouldn't require any drastic measures. They're not exactly scorchers.

[Alan Bolte]

Yeah, I didn't think so, and I can't really get a new video card without replacing the motherboard, and quite possibly the processor besides. So either the cooling solution is inadequate, or I need to improve airflow. I'm gonna turn this thing off and take some photos.

Damn, imageshack is slow recently.

[Dave]

Beowulf: I plan to do some Linux (Open Source) gaming on the laptop, as well as other graphics and CPU intensive things. I'm tired of dealing with Windows and I want to ditch it completely.

Also, I'm not very interested in Dell for moral reasons (proprietary tinkering with hardware, etc.) despite their cozying up with Ubuntu. Maybe if you spot some serious deal, I'd be interested.

Finally, I support small businesses more than I support big mega-corporations.

[Beowulf]

http://www.gotapex.com/ has coupons for Dell every so often (well, there's always one there, it just isn't always useful). I've seen 25% off coupons.

[Crazy Immortal Samurai]

Alright, I think I got everything I need. Here's the stuff I'm gonna buy.
Antec P182 case
GeForce 8800 gts 320MB
Seasonic S12 550W
Patriot eXtreme performance 2GB SDRAM DDR2 800
Intel BOXD975XBX2KR LGA 775
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4GHz
Seagate 7200 RPM 500 GB
Lite-on SATA 20X DVD+R
Mitsumi 1.44 MB USB card reader with floppy drive

What do you guys think? Should I add anything else?

[Beowulf]

Dual HDDs so you can RAID 1 them.

[Crazy Immortal Samurai]

Alright, everything's ordered. It should be delivered sometime tomorrow.

[Crazy Immortal Samurai]

The case Jus arrived, and damn, is this thing huge. Am I really gonna need all that space?

[Alan Bolte]

So...is there something I can do to improve airflow, or do I need to buy something? Keep in mind that I don't even know how much cooling I need, the crash point is somewhere between 80 and 90 degrees Celsius, and there's no telling how hot it could get if it didn't crash. Clearly I need to get it cooled to 80 or below at peak, so I'm figuring bare minimum ten degrees cooling. Probably too much for a simple PCI fan.

[Crazy Immortal Samurai]

I got a problem. I got the computer built, and I tried to install windows, but it's not reading the hard drive, and when it does, it only reads 18Gb. how do I fix this?

[Ace Pace]

I got a problem. I got the computer built, and I tried to install windows, but it's not reading the hard drive, and when it does, it only reads 18Gb. how do I fix this?

What version of Windows are you trying to install? Whats the reported size in the BIOS?

[Datana]

I'm planning on constructing a new system sometime in the next few months, as my current system (an Athlon XP 3000+) is bogging down with the amount of multitasking I'm doing with it (usually a calculation on a dataset in R (which can take several hours at 100% CPU usage, significantly longer if I'm doing anything else), multiple browser windows (each with ten tabs open apiece), an e-mail client, Word, Excel, and a media player). I've tried adding RAM (going from 1 to 2 GB), but that is proving to be only somewhat effective (it's not paging like crazy anymore, but is still lagging behind my keystrokes).

My current usage pattern trends towards having many windows open across multiple monitors (getting a second monitor was probably one of the best purchases I've ever made). I do a lot of classwork and computation, but like to be able to game every so often at LAN parties, so a half-decent gaming video card is going to be part of the package. I'm willing to wait a few months if something much better in terms of CPU or GPU is due down the pipeline soon.

I'm currently thinking of the following components:

- Core 2 Duo E6750 (2.66 GHz)
- 2 GB RAM
- 2x 500 GB hard drives (probably Seagate) in a RAID configuration
- GeForce 8600 GTS (are any available with two DVI ports?)
- DVD+R writer (probably Lite-On)

I am not up to date on recent motherboards and PSUs, however, so would like some input on that front. I know that no one's attempted anything like the Soundstorm function on my current system's Asus A7N8X Deluxe since then, but is the integrated sound on any motherboards good enough for gaming and multi-speaker output, or is a separate soundcard still necessary for things like AC3? What manufacturers and models are good for the current generation of chips?

Finally, does anyone have a recommendation on a case? I'd prefer something quiet and light. I'm leaning towards a Lian Li due to ease of installation and swapout of parts, but wonder if there is something that doesn't look quite as plain and industrial.

[Uraniun235]

I hope by RAID that you mean a mirrored set and not a striped set.

I'm pretty sure this is actually the optimal time to upgrade: Intel recently released a price cut on their processors.

You might consider bumping up to an 8800GTS for ~$120 more than an 8600GTS with the same amount of memory; however if you still want that 8600, the one I linked to has two DVI ports.

In the meantime, you might consider setting the programs you do your computations in to a lower priority in Task Manager; that way, they'll still use as much processing time as is available, but other programs you use will have priority over the computations and thus should be more responsive.



As for power supplies, this article was released in January:

Today, we obtained the failure rate of power supplies recorded by a major French e-commerce. These statistics include products in shops since the first April 2006. At least 100 units of each product listed below have been sold. Statistics per brand are based on a minimum sample of 500 units:

Fortron: 0.7%
Hiper: 1.2%
Seasonic: 1.4%
Thermaltake: 1.6%
Tagan: 2.8%
Enermax: 3.0%
Antec: 9.5%

Fortron comes first in the list followed by Hiper and Seasonic. Thermaltake is next and is the last manufacturer to have acceptable failure rates. Tagan, Enermax and most of all Antec are above the limit. For Antec, the SmartPower 2.0 range including the 500, 350 and 400 Watts versions has very high failure rates: respectively 21.6%, 18.1% and 17.3%. Not a single product has a rate below 2% and the best one is the Neo HE 430 watts at 2.6%.

For Fortron, the figures are a bit more disparate from 0% for the most reliable model to 1.5% for the "least" reliable. Hiper's rates oscillate from 0.4% and 3.8%. The two models above 2% are the modular R 580 watts. For Seasonic, the leading products S12-500 and 600 are respectively at 1.8% and 0.9%.

Thermaltake's rates vary from 0% to 2.5% except for the Silent Power 680 Watts which is at 6.6%. Tagan's figures are relatively stable from 2.3% to 3.3%. Finally, Enermax' rates oscillate from 1.8 to 5.1% (Liberty EL620AWT).

And as for cases, I just saw this one recommended over at SH/SC.

[Datana]

I hope by RAID that you mean a mirrored set and not a striped set.

Of course. I currently perform weekly automated backups to another hard drive and will continue the process on the new one; I'm not about to risk my data any more than I have to, and RAID mirroring would add another layer of redundancy, which is what I'm after.

I'm pretty sure this is actually the optimal time to upgrade: Intel recently released a price cut on their processors.

You might consider bumping up to an 8800GTS for ~$120 more than an 8600GTS with the same amount of memory; however if you still want that 8600, the one I linked to has two DVI ports.

I'm not committed to the 8600 GTS; it simply seemed like the sweet spot between price and performance. I'll see how the budget for parts pans out -- if I have another $100 or so after ordering everything else, I'll get the 8800 GTS.

In the meantime, you might consider setting the programs you do your computations in to a lower priority in Task Manager; that way, they'll still use as much processing time as is available, but other programs you use will have priority over the computations and thus should be more responsive.

I'll try that. Currently, I've been going with the opposite tactic of raising priority on things I have immediate use for, but this still results in sluggish performance.

And as for cases, I just saw this one recommended over at SH/SC.

SH/SC? In any case, that's quite a bit cheaper than even the cheapest Lian Li (a plus), as well as being along the lines of what I'm looking for; I'll definitely put it on the watch list. After some looking around, the NZXT Hush also looks close to the type I'm after, apart from the gaudy lighted fans -- the muffled interior would greatly help the noise, though internal temps would suffer a bit due to the low-speed fans.

Any mobo recommendations? I'm leaning towards the Asus P5N32-E or the MSI P6N. Both would require me to purchase a separate sound card, however, as both have lousy integrated audio.

[Beowulf]

The 8600 isn't the sweet spot. You'd almost be better off getting a 7950GT. I'm a big fan of the Antec P150. Note that it comes PSUless, so you'll need to get one of those too. I've heard good things about the P182/P180 as well, as far as quietness goes. The only downsides to the P180 is the size and the location of the PSU makes it a bit difficult to get the wire to the MB.

[Arthur_Tuxedo]

The 8600 GTS isn't a bad card, but for roughly the same price you can get an X1950 XT, which is a much better performer. No DX10 support, but I can pretty much guarantee that by the time games actually fail to include a DX9 path, the 8600 GTS won't be able to run them anyway. The best deal in the video card market is the 8800 GTS 320 at ~280. It's pricier, sure, but almost triple the performance of the 8600 GTS. You get one of those and you can look forward to max settings at most resolutions for some time to come. Performance is pretty much identical to the 640 MB version at all resolutions up to and including 1680 x 1050 for more than $100 less.

For processor, I'd personally go with the Q6600. I know dual-core might be all that's really needed for the next couple of years, but I just can't say no to quad-core when it's so cheap. DVD encoding would be a snap with that.

My friend has the Coolermaster case mentioned and he's completely satisfied with it. You certainly can't beat it on price, and the reviews on Newegg are almost all 5 stars.

[Datana]

Okay, after hearing suggestions, this is what I'm thinking of. My system is starting to look an awful lot like Crazy Immortal Samurai's.

Case: Either an Antec P182 (the P150 has the features, but it looks a bit flimsy in the photos I've seen of it) or a Cooler Master Centurion 532 (I preferred its location for front ports over that of the Centurion 5, as I keep my computer near the floor). The Antec Nine Hundred might also be an option due to the convenient port location, though reports are that it's fairly noisy due to the large number of fans.
PSU: Fortron Source AX500-A ATX12V

Mobo: Asus P5N32-E (is the i680 version significantly better than the i650?)
CPU: Either Intel Core 2 Duo 6750 or Quad Q6600 (the cost of a Q6600 has been pingponging lately -- I'm not sure I can grab one at a decent price)
RAM: 2 GB PC-6400

Hard drives: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3500630AS 500 GB HD (x2)
Floppy drive
DVD+R: Lite-On LH-20A1S

GPU: nVidia 8800GTS
Sound card: Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic (the Xtreme series are the only cards in their current lineup that support more than basic stereo SPDIF output)

[Beowulf]

I have a P150. It's not flimsy at all. It's a very solid steel case.

[Datana]

I have a P150. It's not flimsy at all. It's a very solid steel case.

Okay, that sounds much better. Most photos make it out to look like significant portions of the case are plastic, which seemed at odds with the price. How does it look in person?