Typical!!

[Admiral Huddy]

I spend half my time sorting out other peoples PCs, come home last night and my main rig is emitting a series of BIOS beeps!!

Into the workshop ( oh it's so handy ) and it turns out that the B-channel memory has developed a fault.

I can get over this by sticking both sticks into the same channel. I'll loose dual channel but not sure if this is going to be a problem. Interestingly, the memory now shows as 333MHz not 400Mhz in the POST.

It seems the motherboard is still under warrantee according to ASUS - 3 years but they say contact the supplier. That's going to be interesting. I'm sure scan won't be interested in a obsolete board?? Not sure how this is going to be handled. Anyway, I'm waiting for a call back. Maybe this is a good time for an upgrade.. the system is 2 years old now.. but the upgrade is costly..

I was thinking of this: although it's cheaper with scan :D

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v16/hardhuddy/Misc%202007/sys3.jpg

[MarcLister]

Pfft if Asus say Scan have to deal with the warranty, Scan have to deal with it. I was in Scan's warehouse/shop on Monday to get me a new PSU. I got the 520W version of the PSU you're looking at. Very nice. ;)

As for RAM could you not stretch to 4Gb? I've heard/read that Vista "comes alive" when you have 4Gb of RAM, like XP with 2Gb.

Good choice of HDD, I have one in my IcyBox enclosure. Do you really need Vista Ultimate or is it for your e-penis score? I was going to get Vista Ultimate but I think I'll just get Home Premium when I ditch XP.

And you want an SLI motherboard? For my next PC, whenever that is, I won't bother with SLI. I don't game nearly enough to justify it.

[Zirax]

I was looking at that quad core! As said opt for 4gb ram really. Its not needed at the moment but it will be a matter of time. I would also get a second hdd to put into raid. Even on my system there is a real difference in load times when one hdd is running (general windows load/response and map load times).

That lot is crying out to be water cooled and cranked to silly speeds. Some people have gotten 3.4ghz out of that chip.

[Admiral Huddy]

SLi for future options. I have a gtx at the moment.. But mobo suggestions please.

I've picked 2GB at the moment with an option to add a further 2Gb later.. My buget on this is 1K, so can't push it too much.

[MarcLister]

Ah OK. Buying 2Gb RAM now and 2Gb later would work.

This looks like your motherboard. http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=505256. About £12-13 cheaper. And if I am not mistaken then the RAM you've chosen is too fast for your mobo. Unless you plan to underclock it and get better timings that way?

The mobo says "DDR2 533/667/800" so http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=402849 would work OK I think but the 1066 you've chosen might not.

And I suppose you want a 24 inch monitor for future gaming possibilities? If you get SLI running then you'd want a monitor to show it all off?

[Admiral Huddy]

Yes I plan on OCing.. and possibly changing the divider too so the RAM is working faster than the FSB.

Good point about the Corsair PC2-6400s I have a couple of 512MB sticks floating around :)

I've included the sumsang 24".. The GTX I've got should handle that nicely on it's own without SLi.. I think..

[Admiral Huddy]

I've written a report to scan, and they have raised an RMA.. The board gets sent back to ASUS and replaced.

I think I'll sell it all to buy new tbh..

not bad since I've had the thing 2 years yesterday :)

[semi-pro waster]

I'm perhaps a bit late with this but I'd agree with Mark, PC6400 is easily enough (3.6ghz would be possible without running the Ram out of specification if your chip/cooling were up to it). SLi is generally not worth it to me, simply buy the fastest single graphics card around at the time and replace/sell off what you have to recoup costs.

Although that website design makes me cry I'd probably go for something like this if buying. 4x1gb is about £60 cheaper than 2x2gb but obviously offers less potential for expansion. :)

Gigabyte GA P35-DS3P, iP35 Express, S 775, PCI-E x16, DDR2 1066/533/667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX £74.49 £87.53

LN18937
24" Samsung SM-245B Black Widescreen LCD, 1920x1200, 3000:1, 400 cd/m2, 5 ms, VESA £273.39 £321.23

LN18576
4GB (4x1GB) CorsairXMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 5-5-5-18, DHX £133.79 £157.20

LN15215
620W Corsair HX Series Modular SLi PSU, ATX, EPS 12V, whisper quiet, 5 year warranty £76.99 £90.46

LN17162
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 64Bit 1Pk OEM (DVD) £94.89 £111.50

LN19488
Intel Core 2 Quad-Core Q6600 G0 SLACR, 95W, S775, 2.40 GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 8MB Cache, Retail £145.49 £170.95

LN16546
500 Gb Samsung HD501LJ Spinpoint T, SATA300, 7200 rpm, 16MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ £54.89 £64.50

If you change any quantities, please re-calculate your basket
Scan Finance - Buy Now Pay Jul 2008
Pay £101.63 deposit and then NO payments for 9 months, then settle the balance and pay NO interest.

Scan Finance - More Sense Than Money


Net Total £853.93

Carriage £11.01

V.A.T. £151.36

TOTAL £1,016.30

[Admiral Huddy]

Thanks Semi.. :)

Any reason for going for the Gigabyte.. The ABIT P35 looks a good bet too.

Also, is there any real benefit of Vista Ultimate over the Premium?

[semi-pro waster]

Gigabyte because it is cheap and they tend to overclock well, the P35 boards are all pretty good though.

Ultimate offers you remote desktop and a few other features that Premium doesn't, I suppose it might be handy for your business although the general rule is "if you have to ask you probably don't need it". :)

[Admiral Huddy]

good point :) I knew it had the remote desktop but wasn't sure what else.

[MarcLister]

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/editions/choose.mspx

:)

[Admiral Huddy]

What CPU cooler would you recommend with that Q6600?

[MarcLister]

I can't be bothered to post the links to the other place twice, so needless to say just go back to that thread in the other place. ;)

[Admiral Huddy]

??

Are you talking about the special deals on GEil 6400 and the Sammy 24" TFT?.. This makes the whole package a lot less than Scan.. for a change. :)

[MarcLister]

Nah. I'm talking about the cooler for a Q6600 thread you've posted in.

[semi-pro waster]

Tuniq Tower, Noctua NH-U12F or the Thermalright U120+fan (most expensive option) are all good choices and amongst the best air coolers. Remember you might need thermal paste with any of them if you don't already have some. :)

[Robert]

I have just got a Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme and a Q6600 G0. It's sitting happily at 3.2 (my motherboard is a gigabyte P965 DS3 and is holding it back).

[Feek]

Noctua NH-U12F

I've got one of these and it's good. I changed the supplied fan for one with a bit more throughput though.

[Admiral Huddy]

I've just gone for the Artic Cooler 7.. Reading some of the reports and reviews it won't come anywhere near as good as the Tuniq tower, but it still 10oc cooler than stock, half the cost and near slient. I'll see how that goes. I'm going to be running at stock for a week, then gradually up the speeds.

[Mark]

My E6600 is using one of those, and I achieved a 20% overclock without any problem at all. Think I'll be going for a Noctua next time though (don't like the U120 - it's too insecure for my liking).

[Robert]

I've just gone for the Artic Cooler 7.. Reading some of the reports and reviews it won't come anywhere near as good as the Tuniq tower, but it still 10oc cooler than stock, half the cost and near slient. I'll see how that goes. I'm going to be running at stock for a week, then gradually up the speeds.

I don't think you'll get far with the AF7 Pro and the quad. I reckon 2.8 max, if that.