[CrazyIvan007]

Well, just finished ordering all the parts for my new build from TigerDirect.com.

I checked the prices at other sites, such as NewEgg and ZipZoomFly (both of which I have ordered from in the past, all 3 companies are good). Prices were negligible, up and down...so I just saved a hastle and ordered all parts from the one vendor, TigerDirect.

Let me know what ya'll think of this setup:

Ultra Aluminus Tower
(2) 120mm Case Fans
(1) Expansion Slot Fan
Power Up 800W PSU
AMD Phenom X4 9950 2.6Ghz Agena Processor (came with free 2GB thumbdrive)
OCZ XTC 4096MB PC8000 (2x2GB)
Corsair Dominator RAM Fan
MSI K9A2 Platinum Mobo
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB SATA-300 32MB, 7200rpm
Thermaltake Hard Drive Cooler
Samsung DVDRW SATA drive
Sapphire 4850 1GB PCIe 2.0 Video Card

I got this all for a total of $1234.87

What do ya'll think?

Thanks.

~CrazyIvan007

Edited by CrazyIvan007, 22 August 2008 - 10:25 AM.

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Well, you tell me what do you think? Is it running good? Got some pics to post?

The only thing I'd worry about is the "Power Up" PSU, I can't even find a home page for that manufacturer. I eventually found a shiny blue-looking unit on Tigerdirect, is that the one you have? It looks cheap and shiny, so I sure hope it holds out for you, although I'm not holding my breath...

How do you find the hard drive cooler, also? I'd like to see a pic of this in action. Some before and after temperatures would be interesting, too, as my hard drives rarely run over 35C, which is fine.

Also, how do you find that motherboard? I remember seeing a picture of it a while ago, and I liked the look of the passive cooling heatpipes.

Did you have any drama putting the build together?

Troy

[Troy]

Well, you tell me what do you think? Is it running good? Got some pics to post?

The only thing I'd worry about is the "Power Up" PSU, I can't even find a home page for that manufacturer. I eventually found a shiny blue-looking unit on Tigerdirect, is that the one you have? It looks cheap and shiny, so I sure hope it holds out for you, although I'm not holding my breath...

How do you find the hard drive cooler, also? I'd like to see a pic of this in action. Some before and after temperatures would be interesting, too, as my hard drives rarely run over 35C, which is fine.

Also, how do you find that motherboard? I remember seeing a picture of it a while ago, and I liked the look of the passive cooling heatpipes.

Did you have any drama putting the build together?

Troy

[CrazyIvan007]

I just ordered the stuff on Friday. I haven't gotten it yet.

I did order the case, RAM, case fans and PSU last week, I do have those.

I got everything from TigerDirect, so pics can be found there, but here ya go:

Motherboard:
http://www.msicomput.......um&class=mb
http://www.tigerdire...p?Sku=M452-6000


HD Cooler
http://www.thermalta...x...139&ID=1591
http://www.tigerdire...p?Sku=T925-1210

I haven't really had any issues in the past putting a PC together, so I don't forsee any problems with this.

Yes, it is the Shiny blue PSU from TigerDirect that you saw. I powered it up and it seems to run fine. We shall see.

[Troy]

When you get everything together and built, then take some pics and upload them.

That's what I meant, but I didn't actually specify, sorry. Anybody can look up photos from the manufacturer, I'd like to see what it all looks like in "real-time".

Troy

[CrazyIvan007]

Well here are some pics of the case, PSU and the LED GPU fan from Spectrum/Vantec. That LED fan is pretty cool, variable speed and maximum of 29.some cfm. It was running when I took the picture... I didn't realize my camera had high-speed abilities...no blur at 4000RPM on those little fans...heh:

















I love the removeable motherboard tray...thats awesome.

Edited by CrazyIvan007, 23 August 2008 - 06:25 PM.

[Troy]

Looks nice, although three thoughts popped into my head:

1) That case, it looks like a server case! Of course, they come down to personal preference, but I'm guessing you like that one?

2) I like those blue fans, they look great.

3) That PSU doesn't look very good quality at all, the cables look extremely small and flimsy, that's what gives it away. My cables are solid (making it very difficult to initially route all the wires), very high-quality. I'm using an Antec True Power Trio 650W. My only regret is that it isn't modular.

Troy

[CrazyIvan007]

Looks nice, although three thoughts popped into my head:

1) That case, it looks like a server case! Of course, they come down to personal preference, but I'm guessing you like that one?

2) I like those blue fans, they look great.

3) That PSU doesn't look very good quality at all, the cables look extremely small and flimsy, that's what gives it away. My cables are solid (making it very difficult to initially route all the wires), very high-quality. I'm using an Antec True Power Trio 650W. My only regret is that it isn't modular.

Troy

Yea, it is a server case, but can be found under "Builder's Case" at some sites. It is sized between a mid tower and a full tower. It is the new Ultra Aluminus case. Only $70 at TigerDirect. I like the modularity to it.

Yea, the blue fan is cool. I am a bit torn however...I don't feel like I have enough ventilation through the case. It only has (2) 120mm fans. One sucking in from the front and one blowing out the back. On my current rig, I have 2 fans on front, 2 exhaust fans, a 5.25" drive fan and a side-panel fan. They are all (Less the 5.25" bay fan which is 2x 35mm) 80mm fans with high-specs on their cfm. So, I don't know what to do. I tried to find some more 5.25" drive bay fans, but Ultra does not make them anymore, and they were the only manufacturer which did. I don't really want to use the one from my old rig, as I will be using THAT one for my media computer, as it has about 2TB of drive space. On top of that, the old 5.25" drive bay fan has been recycled for a few builds over the last couple years and it has a lot of dust accumulation. This new one is for gaming and I kinda want everything new, ya know? lol

The PSU, I am having reservations about. But, I don't see where you see the wires...I didn't have any pictures of the PSU wires there. The wires you do see are extensions off of the fans, as all 3 fans are plugged together right now with their in/out plugs, then stretched across the case. I'll give them their own plugs, but just did it that way for now to make sure the fans worked ok. The cables for the PSU are the flat, silver, flex cables. But, I wish I had looked things over a bit more when I was browsing for PSU's, as I have found better ones which are modular for the same price. Not 800W, but at least 700w and some 750w. I'm gonna probably buy a different one and return this one for store credit, get myself a Battery Backup... This one is made in China, but so are Ultra's products....so, who knows.

Edited by CrazyIvan007, 23 August 2008 - 06:15 PM.

[Troy]

The PSU, I am having reservations about. But, I don't see where you see the wires...I didn't have any pictures of the PSU wires there.

Counting from the top toward the bottom, the 7th and 8th pictures show the PSU. I would be worried about it also.

Don't forget, while the Ultra case might be fine, Ultra PSUs are poor quality, and not something I'll ever recommend.

And I have 2x 120mm fans in my case right now, and it runs great temperature-wise. One sucking air in from the front (over the hard drives and onto the *notoriously hot* 8800GT video card), and one venting air out the back. My Antec PSU also has a really nice fan built in to help keep it cool, so overall my system runs very nice. The graphics card can get a bit hot under full load (gaming) in the summer, but nothing close to the recommended max settings.

And just for your information, I'm using the Thermaltake Matrix case, which has a full mesh-grill on the front for really good airflow.

Troy

[CrazyIvan007]

And just for your information, I'm using the Thermaltake Matrix case, which has a full mesh-grill on the front for really good airflow.

Troy

That's an interesting case...not that it is bad, but it reminds me of 70's shag wall carpeting...

[stettybet0]

the *notoriously hot* 8800GT video card

Brand? I know EVGA released a BIOS fix for this. Yet another reason why I'll always recommend EVGA.

As for the build itself, I especially like the GPU choice. I agree though that the PSU leaves a bit to be desired. And I would have gone with Intel, considering how they completely own the performance crown.

A question I have about the case is do you have to open the front "grill" to access the optical drives? It's hard to tell from the pictures. If so, I could see that getting pretty annoying.

[CrazyIvan007]

the *notoriously hot* 8800GT video card

Brand? I know EVGA released a BIOS fix for this. Yet another reason why I'll always recommend EVGA.

As for the build itself, I especially like the GPU choice. I agree though that the PSU leaves a bit to be desired. And I would have gone with Intel, considering how they completely own the performance crown.

A question I have about the case is do you have to open the front "grill" to access the optical drives? It's hard to tell from the pictures. If so, I could see that getting pretty annoying.

I like EVGA. Good company, and they offer extensive amounts of information covering almost each and every aspect of their products. I have an EVGA SLI Nforce4 board in my PC now. I had an EVGA 7800 GT before I upgraded to my XFX 8600GTS.

Anyhow...the front has 2 doors. There is one big door which is the full height of the case. This one is opened for installation of drives only.

The second door is only a small, light door on the upper half of the case which opens to access the drives on a regular basis, such as many cases are nowdays. I like being able to close & cover up the optical drives, it keeps dust from accumulating in the cracks and openings of the USB plugs, DVD drives, etc...

The little flat panels above the USB/Audio ports in photo 2 below can be unscrewed from inside and removed, exposing optical drives.

Edited by CrazyIvan007, 23 August 2008 - 11:13 PM.

[Troy]

Brand?

Why, Gainward, of course... Just like it says in my profile.

And it's not that bad, now that I've adjusted the fan speeds. I was just saying that, because it is a single profile high-performance card, and it can get quite warm.

[CrazyIvan007]

HOLY GAZONKA!!!

OK, so I got everything together and it runs "smoother than an android's bottom..." (Yea, where is that line from? Anyone know?)

I didn't get the new video card, because TigerDirect was doing inventory and said it may be a few more days before I get it, but I told them to cancel that order, and I might look at buying a different video card. For now, I am using my old card, it is a BFG 256MB 8600GTS.

Anyway...So I got all the new drivers installed, all new stuff setup and installed a couple of my games... Battlefield 2, Oblivion....

Then I went into BIOS and OC'd the FSB 3%, just to start.

Went into each game and I can set graphics at maximum on both. Granted, they are each a couple of years old, but I have never been able to do that on any game.

Temps are running under 50*C on all fronts, and most of them are under 40*C.

I didn't take any pictures last night, but I will get some tonight.

I might write up a more conclusive report later, but my first experience with this new build is AWESOME!

I am still looking for a different power supply, but right now, the one I have seems to do very well. I really prefer a Modular one though...

P.S. I installed PC WIZARD 2008, and I have Everest Ultimate 2007, but they both have a couple errors with my system, seemingly because they don't recognize some of the featuers. Does anyone have a good suggestion for a monitoring software?

Edited by CrazyIvan007, 29 August 2008 - 08:31 AM.

[charge06]

i just got that case a few days ago. i just transferred my mobo and all the other stuff from my old case, and it runs about 5-7 degrees cooler now.


I was gonna build the new comp with this later, thats why i put old stuff in. but today i decided to order the new stuff now.

That case
is awesome