Hardware FAQ - discussion thread

[FireFlower]

I have to say that Corsair Liquid cooler is really good. Well eventough it won't beat full sized water cooling systems but it will beat air cooled competitors nicely.

Well guess I have to post here my rig too...

• Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 3.2GHz
• NorthQ 3340WLA Extreme CPU cooler
• Asus TOP 8800GT 512MB @ 750MHz ; 1000 MHz
• Coolink GFXChilla GPU cooler
• 4 x 2GB Pqi 800MHz DDR2
• Asus P5E X38
• Corsair TX750 power supply unit
• Western Digital Caviar 500GB with 16MB memory (OS)
• Samsung F1 SpinPoint 1TB (external HDD, eSata)
• Iomega 1TB storage (external HDD, USB 2.0)
• Zalman GS1000 case
  
  Not maybe so important but...
• LG 20x LG-DVD RW DL SecuRom
• Asus SupremeFX II sound card
• LaCie USB 2.0 PCI card
• 2x 120mm GlacialTech fans
• 2x 120mm Zalman fans
• Aerocool FP-01 multifunction panel (USB port, eSata port, card reader, external heat sensors, fan controller)

[FireFlower]

I'm planning to update the thread FAQ soon, so I hope you will write here things that you want to know, should be added or mentioned.

A preliminary list of changes:

• Windows 7 + free RC version (version differences will be pointed out)
• Adding Ubuntu linux distro
• HD 5750, 5770 and HD5890 ("HD5870x2") and current situation
• USA prices for all products (and UK prices?), General EU prices based on germany prices (currently based on finnish prices, that are way higher than in other countries)
• AMD Phenom II 965BE C3 stepping (lower power consumption)
• New good PC case choices? (any suggestions?)
• Updating power supply info
• Fixing errors (If you found typos or grammar errors, please post them here with quote, so they can be fixed)
• Planned update day: 20 or 21 November 2009

[JZavala]

Case:
Lian Li PC-V1000
CPU:
Core 2 Quad Q9300 2.5ghz @ 3.23ghz lapped
Motherboard:
Asus Maximus Formula X48 chipset
Ram
4gb OCZ Reaper 1066mhz
4gb Corsair XMS2 1066mhz
Graphics cards:
2x AMD/ATi Radeon 4870 512mb at 800mhz core and 900mhz(factory) ram(CF)
Soundcard:
AMD/ATi Radeon 4870 7.1 HDMI audio
Hard drives:
2x 1.5TB Seagate sata
2X 750gb Western Digital sata
1X 1tb Seagate sata
1x 500GB Seagate IDE
Optical Drives:
PIONEER DVD-RWDVR-108
LG HL-DT-ST BDDVDRW GGC-H20L
Monitors:
Hanns-G 28" 1920x1200
Samsung Syncmaster 997DF 19in 1600x1200 CRT
Input Devices
Microsoft Natural 4000
Logitech G5
Speakers/Receiver:
Onkyo TX-SR606
Onkyo 7.1 1300w RMS speakers.
fans:
3x Panasonic Panaflo 120mm fans rated at 115cfm
CPU Cooler:
Lapped Thermalright ultra 120 extreme
PSU:
PC Power & Cooling 750w with 60 amps on the 12v rail.
Other Cards:
ATI Theater 550 Pro
hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1200 i think it was.

laptop is a standard Asus F3JP with a 1680x1050 resolution screen at 15.4 inches.

picture of the innards of my desktop.

inside.(very big images, 10.2mp dslr)

desk setup. most recent picture i have.

fyi, the 5870 doesnt perform up to what even i expected. i was expecting much more with the specs ati put out. its a little faster than a 295 and a little slower than two 285's in SLI. and now TSMC is having yield issues with the 40nm and 55nm fabs for the 5800 and 4800 series's. which is why the prices have gone up considerably since launch of the 5800's.(was around 370, is now ~400usd or more)

[FireFlower]

Please put pictures behind spoiler tag... 3800x2600 resolution pictures don't even fit into 30" screen

And 1300W RMS speakers? Holy shit, even 20W RMS computer speakers make enough noise to blow up your eardrums... Somehow I think 1300W value is wrong or with extra digit. 130W RMS would sound more correct.

[JZavala]

1300W would be the maximum sustainable wattage. peak wattage would probably be 1500-1600. the speakers that is. the amp in the receiver is only around 800-900w RMS. my old receiver could power the speakers to the maximum, but not this one. that one had around 130-150w per channel. rms. lets just say, i live in wisconsin, my room is 12x12x12 or so, and my room is about 5-10F hotter than the rest of the house. the house is around 70F, my room hovers around 80F. lol.

edit: yes, it really is LOUD. max is 80 on the reciver, i keep it around 20-30. thats loud enough for most music and youtube watching. only when a movie is really quiet, will i bring it up to 40, and then its obscenely loud for anything else. its not a computer speaker system, its a home theater system designed for large rooms or something of the like. has something like a 100-200w powered sub, most people dont add a 7.1 home theater system into a 12x12x12 room hooked up to a computer.

[FireFlower]

Originally Posted by FireFlower

I'm planning to update the thread FAQ soon, so I hope you will write here things that you want to know, should be added or mentioned.

A preliminary list of changes:

• Windows 7 + free RC version (version differences will be pointed out)
• Adding Ubuntu linux distro
• HD 5750, 5770 and HD5890 ("HD5870x2") and current situation
• USA prices for all products (and UK prices?), General EU prices based on germany prices (currently based on finnish prices, that are way higher than in other countries)
• AMD Phenom II 965BE C3 stepping (lower power consumption)
• New good PC case choices? (any suggestions?)
• Updating power supply info
• Fixing errors (If you found typos or grammar errors, please post them here with quote, so they can be fixed)
• Planned update day: 20 or 21 November 2009

Anyway back to the main topic for now. Hopefully you can give me ideas to update the Hardware FAQ thread that. Also I still need a very good and up to date system rig building tutorial: Great text with pictures or a very good video. (Both would be awesome).

[FireFlower]

The update will happen during sunday and monday. Sorry for forgotting to update it as it was planned but I have been a bit busy lately. [Human Error]

You can now post final requests for FAQ and after that they will go straight into next planned update request file.

Quick link to the thread: Hardware FAQ