My Rig... optimised for 'Club Penguin'

[POX]

This is my gaming PC. Occasionally I get to use it.

CPU Q6600

Motherboard P5Q3 Deluxe WiFi-AP@n

Graphics Card 6950 @ 6970 bios

Memory Crucial Ballistix Elite 8GB

Cooling Antec Khuler 920

Power Supply Coolermaster Silent Pro 1200W

Sound Card 5.1 integrated

HDD 2 x Raptor 32GB Raid 0 Boot, + 1 x 2TB Storage

Monitor iiyama PLE2607WS

Operating System Windows 7 Enterprise

It was a real pleasure to work with the Antec P280 after struggling to get some airflow in the old Lian Li. It was about 2/3 of the size and extremely cramped. Its worth noting however that there is very little room for a 2x120 rad in the roof if you want push pull and even one fan + rad depth would need a slim rad to avoid the VRM heatsink on this board. When I was considering modding the khuler with a 2x120 rad I considered putting 2 fans outside the case on top but decided it would be counter productive from a noise POV. I might give some sort of 2x120 rad a go if I get bored enough waiting for Haswell. The rubber grommets on the cable access slots are not particularly resiliant and a few of the rubber tabs have come off. This pic also shows the airflow to the front fans round the side of the front door.

The 2 roof fans and the secondary front fan next to the back of the graphics card are the antec ones that came with the case. All 3 are powered from the PSU and switched to low speed. The secondary front fan just helps the air from the front intake get to the graphics card and the roof extract fans are on slow to maintain positive pressure in the case. Again against instruction, the khuler blows in, which has allowed me to drop the khuler fan speed whilst maintaining reasonable water temps. I do need to get a filter for the outside of the khuler as the rad cacks up nicely every couple of weeks, but blowing in helps maintain the positive pressure and gets nice fresh air through the rad.

The P5Q3 Deluxe supports DDR3. I don't know that it makes much difference speed wise it makes a shit load of difference to the price of the ram. Which is nice. The MB heatsinks ran very hot in the Lian Li and required a shonky bodged fan blowing at them, but the P280 has comparatively good airflow and the MB heatsinks are just warm to the touch. I had to get an extender for the main PSU connector in order to make it neat(ish). as you can see, I've gone back to running the original Antec fans on the khuler atm and to be honest they only ramp up to audible in extremis and whilst significantly quieter, the Vipers left me feeling that there was a lack of headroom as they had to be run at nearly full to get eonugh cfm through the rad.

Nothing to see here really, just a better shot of the layout.

The confidence inspiring bios switch, without which I would probably not have flashed to 6970. I havent done any further overclocking of this card as it now runs quite warm, but I am considering an arctic accelero extreme plus 2. Im waiting to see a decent review. hint hint.

Front - The 2 USB3 sockets are not connected to anything sadly. Check out my 'amazing' desk modding skillz... the case is sitting on the removed shelf that used to be at the height of the 2 hex bolts on the desk legs. Believe it or not I was a theatre wood butcher for a while though you wouldn't guess it from this mess.

I originally bought these 2 Antec Vipers for the Khuler rad but through a process of trial, error and cheapness ended up with these in the front of the case. I clean the filter every 2 weeks as my house seems to be very dusty.

Realistically, the next thing I intend to do is get a couple of PCIe SATA3 cards and a couple of 120GB SSDs and try to raid 0 them as a boot drive replacement for the 2 32GB raptors raid 0 I'm using atm, and an additional 2TB storage drive, plus possibly a Arctic Accelero Xtreme Plus 2 if I can find a decent review.

Good times.

 

[tinytomlogan]

Remember raid means no TRIM with SSD's unless the drives have a hardware based garbage collection.

Really would faff about with SATA3 cards and raid you wont get full speed at all.

TBH dude Id be saving your money towards an upgrade of the mobo and CPU first.... Even used it will make a huge difference,

Then add a quick SSD and youll be flying!

 

[POX]

That was quick on the post approval

thanks Tom, and that is just the kind of usefull advice I need so thanks again.

Ive got the cash for a new MB/CPU and the SSD but ppl keep telling me that im not going to see a great deal of difference going from a Q6600 to an i5/i7 in terms of gaming.

I just wish there was an effective way of adding SATA 3 to my current system to help me hold off for Haswell.

 

[stockholm1984]

Wow, so I'm not the only one still chugging along with a Q6600. I've got a 6Gb/s SSD from Crucial running with it and, while it's nice and snappy at loading some things, I agree with Tom in saying you'd be best saving the cash on the RAID plans and get new MB and CPU. Unlike me you've already got a HSF and RAM that'll work with the current generation of processors so that'll save you some of the large outlay as well. Look forward to see what you come up with!

 

[stockholm1984]

Btw, I'm using a 6Gb/s adaptor that runs through a PCI-e slot and because of the connection I can only use 5Gb/s out of the full 6Gb/s anyway.

 

[POX]

Thanks for sharing your experience

Ive been looking at PCIe SATA3 and im aware of the 5GB/s limit of most of the controller cards which is why I was thinking of getting 2, as they are fairly cheap, but It seems from your post and Tom's that I am going to have a ball-ache going down that road. I wasnt aware that TRIM doesn't work in raid and I just thought '2 sata3 cards = 10GB/s in raid0', and that the SSDs would migrate ok to my new MB when I upgrade.

I know it would be much less complicated to just bite the bullet and upgrade my MB and CPU but I just cant rustle up much enthusiasm for an Ivy CPU.

I just feel like i've missed out on the sandybridge overclocking party and I'm a bit mardy about it. I guess I'll get over it. There is no guarantee that Haswell will overclock super-tastic.

Half the problem is that I have enough money right now to do a decent upgrade but I've just spent too long being skint and now I'm shy of wasting money.

I guess I will wait and see if I walk into the impulse purchase lamp-post. I kind of hope I do

 

[POX]

MSI Z77 GD65 + 2500K + 256GB Vertex 4 + a legitimate copy of Windows 7 (first time for everything) delivered today. I shall go to the ball. (I think i've been in theatre too long)

 

[pickyantivirus]

MSI Z77 GD65 + 2500K + 256GB Vertex 4 + a legitimate copy of Windows 7 (first time for everything) delivered today. I shall go to the ball. (I think i've been in theatre too long)

You WILL see a huge difference in performance, I went from the Q6600 to the i7 2600k. What a difference, SB eats the Q6600 alive. Good choice in motherboard, it's the one I nearly got instead of my ASUS P8Z77-V and the 2500k is still a great processor and easily beats older Intel and new AMD CPUs. My only niggle is that I hate OCZ with a passion and my experience with their equipment has not been good at all. But I hope everything goes very well and you get the system running well.

Regards,

Ryan

 

[POX]

Thanks Ryan. I know I took a bit of a gamble with the OCZ SSD but on paper it looks really good. Time will tell I suppose.

I moved the P5Q back into the little lian li last night so I would have a working PC while I consider my options for the new one.

I have been trying to work out how to get enough rad for the CPU and a couple of 6970s in the P280 and I think that even with a hacksaw Its going to be a compromise on rad size.

I thought about having a 2x120 in the roof and a 2x120 in the lower drivebay (chopped out) but everyone keeps telling me that I realy need a minimum of 5x120 for a quiet 24/7 OC.

I thought about having the 2x120 in the roof and a 3x120 outside attached to the back and was put off by a) having rad outside case and

the messy loop it would make.

Im still thinking about what to do but Im leaning towards just accepting having 1 rad outside the case but going with a 3 x 240 or something like that, and looking at it as an opportunity to neaten the loop a lot and get away with less fan speed on the bigger rad. Also it will make for easy filter cleaning on the PC with less airflow through it required and easier to get to the rad for cleaning.

Off to look at big rads

 

[dipzy]

Great build there mate, i've got the same case for my folding rig and its pretty good in terms of cable management and airflow

 

[pickyantivirus]

Thanks Ryan. I know I took a bit of a gamble with the OCZ SSD but on paper it looks really good. Time will tell I suppose.

I moved the P5Q back into the little lian li last night so I would have a working PC while I consider my options for the new one.

I have been trying to work out how to get enough rad for the CPU and a couple of 6970s in the P280 and I think that even with a hacksaw Its going to be a compromise on rad size.

I thought about having a 2x120 in the roof and a 2x120 in the lower drivebay (chopped out) but everyone keeps telling me that I realy need a minimum of 5x120 for a quiet 24/7 OC.

I thought about having the 2x120 in the roof and a 3x120 outside attached to the back and was put off by a) having rad outside case and

the messy loop it would make.

Im still thinking about what to do but Im leaning towards just accepting having 1 rad outside the case but going with a 3 x 240 or something like that, and looking at it as an opportunity to neaten the loop a lot and get away with less fan speed on the bigger rad. Also it will make for easy filter cleaning on the PC with less airflow through it required and easier to get to the rad for cleaning.

Off to look at big rads

Good idea tbh mate, I won't recommend anything water cooling wise as I have no personal experience in it, thats the WCers field. But as for having one outside the case, I wouldn't have though you will notice it much if you have a desk you can screw it to or something.

 

[garih]

after doing some research it would appear that ocz have increased there reliability with the vertex4 series

 

[POX]

This should probably go in the build section but it kind of follows on in the vein of the thread....
Ready for leak testing when I can find some appropriate fluid.
I am concerned that I have knackered one of the graphics cards attaching the block. Hopefully, if it goes it wont take the MB with it.
There is currently no lighting in the case apart from some MB LEDs presumably, so I will probably get a couple of LED strips for top and bottom

Sorry for the crappy phone cam.
The main MB power is an extension and not connected btw.

 

[VengeanceUK]

MSI Z77 GD65 + 2500K + 256GB Vertex 4 + a legitimate copy of Windows 7 (first time for everything) delivered today. I shall go to the ball. (I think i've been in theatre too long)

the gd65 is a great piece of kit, just make sure you run live update 5 as the driver disk supplied is massively out of date lol
apart from that, clicking the oc genie button guarantees 4.2Ghz right out of the starting blocks at under 1.2v (well on my 3770k anyways, but can't see the 2500k lagging that far behind)