New Year, New PC

Post by **TheCatt** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 8:56 am

I'm rebuilding the family server PC. This year, it will not only house all our main files (photos, videos, music, etc), but will also house all our TV tuners. I've bought a refurbed Linksys Media Extender that is supposed to replace our Media Center PC in the living room. Thus we can have 1 fewer always on PC, while still getting the Tivo-y MCE goodness in our living room.

Specs:
CPU: Intel Core 2 E6400 (2.13Ghz)
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-956P-S3
Video: BFG 7600GT
Mem: Corsair 2x512MB PC2 6400 (5-5-5-15)
HD: 4x500GB storage; 1x300GB primary (all SATA2)
TV: 2xHauppauge 500 MCE (4 tuners)
OS: Windows MCE

This will also be my first over-clocking project. Many, many people have already over-clocked the Intel 6400 using this EXACT same memory/mobo combo, and have achieved 3.2Ghz with stability and cool CPU temps. That makes this chip perform better than the $510 Intel E6700. We'll see.

I plan to build this Friday, so will update then as to how the overclocking, Media Center stuff, etc, goes.

Post by **GORDON** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 11:32 am

Make sure it's Vista ready.

That's important.

Post by **TheCatt** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 11:48 am

Good one!

Post by **Vince** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 5:14 pm

I built one as well. Went w/ a 6600 Dual core. Figured I'd bump up to the 4 mb cache over the 2 of the 6300 and 6400. Currently at 2 GB Memory w/ a single 250 GB SATA, though I'm thinking as cheap as the 250 GB SATA's are I may bump it up to three of those drives and raid them.

Also running a 7600 (GS) video card.

Kept my Pentium 4 machine just as a media machine and using my new one for gaming (though currently I'm only running NWN2 on it).

System board is an MSI P965 Neo. Aspire case with all the pretty blue lights. May take pictures to post later.

HP lightscribe DVD writer. Backlit laser etched keyboard (blue to match the case). Thinking I'll also break down within a couple of months and buy a 19" LCD monitor w/ a =< 5 ms response time.

Post by **TheCatt** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 1:26 pm

The 4MB is nice, but the perf gains of OCing were nice on the 63/64. Still at 1GB RAM... when did that stuff become so expensive?

I haven't decided what to do for the gaming machine yet. It will most likely get built this spring. I like the server setup, though the graphics card would obviously have to change.

Post by **Vince** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 8:17 pm

Can you not overclock the 66? Not that I'm looking to do so at this stage, but was curious.

Memory was expensive! What is it now? DDR2 or some such? Ended up going with some Kingston Memory I found at a reasonable price at Circuit City. They were $125 per 1 GB w/ a mail-in rebate of $25.

Post by **TheCatt** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 9:38 pm

You certainly can. The same guy who took the 6400 up 1Ghz took a 6600 from 2.4Ghz to 3.6Ghz. But to do it, he spent $100 extra on the CPU, $100 extra on the mobo, and $300 extra (!!!!) on the RAM to get better timings.

The 6400 was just the best bang for the buck for my ~$800 budget.

Post by **Vince** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 10:48 pm

I know my system board has an overclock utility program where it incrementally ups the clock speed a bit at a time until the system reboots itself. Then it sets it back a couple of notches and lets it roll from there.

Like I said, not something I feel a need to do at this point (it's so much faster than my ol' 4D was anyhow)

Post by **TheCatt** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 4:31 pm

Well, managed to do a test-fit of all the new hardware, plugged up and running in less than 10 minutes.

If only installing it into the case, screws, etc didn't take so damned long.

Post by **TheCatt** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 5:22 pm

Dammit.

One of the sticks of RAM is bad.

NewEgg wants me to send it back before sending me a new one... fuckers.

Post by **GORDON** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 6:35 pm

Yea, no hot swaps from newegg, I've noticed.

Post by **TheCatt** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 7:29 pm

I decided to go ahead and do the build with 1 stick for now. The upgrade to 3.2Ghz was amazingly painless. It was very, very easy. So far no issues, knock on wood.

CPU temps went from 38 C to 45 C at idle (stock cooler).

I decided I'll buy the same RAM from TigerDirect (assuming they have it at the store here), then send in the defective RAM, and have 2GB on the server with no downtime.

Post by **TheCatt** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 9:08 pm

CPU hit 50 C at 100% CPU for a while, still with stock cooler. Will upgrade the cooler tomorrow when I do the real install.

woot.

Post by **TheCatt** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 1:25 pm

GORDON wrote:Yea, no hot swaps from newegg, I've noticed.

Guess what. They do. But you have to make a new order, so it's like paying for shipping again.

Although, shipping is free on the item, so it's OK.

Post by **GORDON** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 4:26 pm

Hmmmmmmmm.

I seem to remember having more trouble than that on my last bad mobo............. but I don't remember all the details any more/

I think....... that mobo was "no refund, exchange only," but then they were out of stock. Sound right.

Post by **Cakedaddy** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 10:31 pm

So what's the status of your build Catt? I'm shopping so Supreme Commander runs better. After hitting Tom's Hardware, I'm leaning towards the 6300 due to price and OC ability. Just curious how you are making out with your OCing.

Post by **TheCatt** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 10:55 pm

I ran it OC'd to 3.2Ghz for a week, no problems whatsoever. I used a $40 cooler that someone recommended, and did the job. There is some software I recommend for testing out OC builds, and will link to them later (or when reminded).

I un-OC'd since it's a 24-hour server and doesn't really need it. Was mainly trying to figure out if I built another workstation how hard the OCing would be(which I had planned to do this month, but am currently holding off for other reasons).

I'm a fan. And it really wasn't hard to do with all the references out there on the web for the 6300/6400.