My new computer and an update

[Zach Wegner]

Since I asked for advice a while back on building a new computer, I thought I'd show everyone here what it's like.

Here are the parts:



The parts:

• Core2Quad Q6600 G0 stepping - $276
• LiteOn DVD burner - $32
• ATI Sapphire cheap video card - $20
• Gigabyte P35-DS3L Mobo - $90
• NEC OEM Floppy drive - $7
• Seagate 250G SATA HD - $70
• GSkill 2G RAM (1 stick) - $45
• (Not pictured)Antec EarthWatts 500W power supply - $70
• Antec P180 case - $90

...which comes out to a bit over 700 with shipping. Well worth it, and some things can be skipped or replaced with old components.
A couple building pics:

The motherboard with CPU and heatsink. Both of these are pretty tough to install. For the CPU, it might just be a defective motherboard (I doubt it though), but I've heard that the stock heatsinks are hard to put on. Believe me, they are.

The P180 case. I got this on advice from Charles Roberson. It is really solid, very big, very cool, and very quiet. Looks really nice too. The gigantic size makes it easier to build; there's a lot of stuff going on inside there. I didn't take a picture with the power supply in, but that just added a bunch more cables.


Here's my old G4, the poor little thing. It mysteriously died while I was building the new box. I think it died of a broken heart, after so many years of faithful service...

Anyways... I've had this machine for a while now, but I'm just now getting the chance to make this post. I'm running NetBSD 4.0 with KDE. It takes a while to get everything configured the way I like it, but I like to be involved in the OS and know exactly what's being installed, etc. It just gets kind of annoying when there are things that don't work at all...

And about ZCT progress:
I'm very sorry for not fulfilling my scheduled release date. I've been super busy, working over 40 hours a week and being a full time student, plus having a girlfriend to entertain... etc. I'm also applying for the Google Summer of Code, so, uh, I guess I'm crazy/stupid.

The other problem is that NetBSD does not have HFS+ filesystem support, which is what my old harddrive uses. So I was stuck with a slightly old backup of the ZCT sources, with several fixed bugs back in place. Debugging DTS is not fun, especially the second time, so I've been kind of slow in working it out. But I am making progress.

It is very nice having a quad. Just as a comparison, using my old dual 1.25 GHz, I'd get around 250 kNPS in the start position, and now running with 4 procs, it's just under 2M. Pretty exciting for me!

So it will come. Thank you for your patience.

[M ANSARI]

Good for you. Your next step is to get yourself a nice Swiftech Apex watercooling setup ... and release the beast inside your Q6600. If you are impressed now ... you will be ecstatic then

[Martin Thoresen]

Nice setup, very similar to mine!

Why on earth did you get a floppy drive?

[Zach Wegner]

A few reasons:

-It's 7 dollars
-I have some old things on floppies that I haven't been able to use for a long time because my Mac didn't have a drive
-I like to play around with OSes, and with a floppy drive I can make install disks very quickly. This coincides with the Google project I'm looking into, which is customizing the NetBSD install program. I can have my main machine running and just copy disks over and over while I use a crappy little PC I have to test.

[El Gringo]

Hi zach,

What a pitty for that f$$cking standaard cooler.
For a few dollars more (let's say 50) you could buy a 'good' cooler and overclock your Q6600 at 3Ghz instead off 2.4Ghz !

here's my config :
Gygabyte Mobo : P35-DSL3
2Gyg Corsair memory
Q6600 @ 3Ghz
Zalman 9700 All copper cooler(an old one but still a top 5 cooler)

Run's day and night. silent,smooth AND FAST.

Johan Havegheer
CEGT team

[Zach Wegner]

Hi zach,

What a pitty for that f$$cking standaard cooler.
For a few dollars more (let's say 50) you could buy a 'good' cooler and overclock your Q6600 at 3Ghz instead off 2.4Ghz !

here's my config :
Gygabyte Mobo : P35-DSL3
2Gyg Corsair memory
Q6600 @ 3Ghz
Zalman 9700 All copper cooler(an old one but still a top 5 cooler)

Run's day and night. silent,smooth AND FAST.

Johan Havegheer
CEGT team

I agree it sucks, I was planning on getting a nice cooler at some point when I have the time to install it. I don't think I'll go I'll the way with water cooling (yet). I think I was looking at a Zalman, Charles Roberson also gave me a pointer for one (quite possibly that same one).

[Marc Lacrosse]

I agree it sucks, I was planning on getting a nice cooler at some point when I have the time to install it. I don't think I'll go I'll the way with water cooling (yet). I think I was looking at a Zalman, Charles Roberson also gave me a pointer for one (quite possibly that same one).

Do not worry too much about installing some water-cooling sytem. There are solutions with a good compromise between ease of installation and efficiency in some ready-made kits for beginners.

I am very happy with one of them : the Corsair Nautilus 500 one.

It is really easy to install. They claim that it takes less than ten minutes. As I was very cautious I managed to do it in a little less than one hour. For example you do not need to take away any cable or part for installing as you do not need to access the rear side of your motherboard.

This thing works very well : I have my Q6600 running 24/24 for more than five months with it at 3750 Mhz without any problem. I fear you could never reach this speed on air. I was able to go a little higher in my initial tests (3900) but then the system was not stable.

For hardware matters, do not fear to ask Majd Ansari (here or at Rybka's forum) and Phil Harris (only at rybka I fear) : they are real experts and are always ready to help for overclocking and hardware choosing and tuning .

Marc

A little test here :
http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.aspx ... 333&pgno=9

[Martin Thoresen]

Zach,

As I said I bought almost the same equipment as you.

RAM: Crucial Ballistix PC2-8500
CPU: Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0
MAINBOARD: Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3
VIDEOCARD: Gigabyte GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB Fan-less, Heatpipes
CASE: Antec P182
PSU: Antec Phantom 500
CASE FANS: 4x Noctua NF-S12-800, 120mm Fan, 800RPM 8 dBA
CPU COOLER: Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme
CPU FAN: Noctua NF-S12-800, 120mm Fan, 800RPM 8 dBA

This CPU has been running 3401 MHz since last October when I bought the items, and has been 100% stable so far. So if you get a better CPU fan you should be able to push it above 3 GHz.

Here is a desktop picture:

[beachknight]

Hi Martin,

I plan buying or building a quad in few months.

How many bucks did you spend for this system?

Best,

[Martin Thoresen]

Hi Martin,

I plan buying or building a quad in few months.

How many bucks did you spend for this system?

Best,

Hmm I think I paid about 10.000 NOK back in October 2007. The fans weren't cheap, the memory sticks weren't cheap and the PSU wasn't cheap, but in general I think the prices has come down since then. I was using harddrives from my old computer so I didn't have to buy that.