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Finally Decided!

Post Date: 2008-05-25
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tksuther View Drop Down
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Posts: 45 		  Quote tksuther Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Topic: Finally Decided!
    Posted: 25 May 2008 at 8:56am
I figured out a way to fit a larger case in my workspace and finally decided on a spec.  Placing my order this weekend.  Thanks for everyone's help!

Case: Digital Storm 950Si (Black Anodized Aluminum Finish)
Power Supply: 750W Corsair HX (Dual SLI Compatible) (Silent Edition)
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 2.66GHz (1333MHz FSB) (12MB Cache)
Motherboard: nVidia 780i Core 2 Quad (nForce 780i SLI)
Memory: 4GB DDR2 Corsair at 1066MHz Dominator DHX (Extreme-Performance)
Floppy / Card: Digital Media Card Reader (Black)
Hard Drive 1: 320GB Western Digital (16MB Cache) (7200 RPM) (SATA)
Hard Drive 2: 320GB Western Digital (16MB Cache) (7200 RPM) (SATA)
Raid Option: - No Thanks
Hard Drive 3: - No Thanks
Optical Drive 1: DVD±R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 20x / CD-Writer 48x) (LightScribe Edition)
Optical Drive 2: - No Thanks
Network Card: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Video Card: nVidia GeForce 9800GTX 512MB
TV Tuner: - No Thanks
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer (Recommended)
Physics Card: - No Thanks
Cooling: Air Cooled Stage 2 (Silent Artic Cooling Heat-sink Upgrade (Copper Heatpipes)
Case Lighting: - No Thanks
Round Cables: - No Thanks
User Manual: Personalized Platinum Digital Storm Binder (Includes Paperwork/Benchmarks/CDs
/Manuals)
Overclock Processor: Yes, Overclock the processor as much as possible with complete stability
Overclock Video Card: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s)
Overclock Memory: Yes, Overclock memory timings (Includes Corsair Dominator Airflow Fan Upgrade)
Tweak Windows: - No Thanks, Please do not tweak the services on the operating system
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium (64-Bit Edition) (For Enthusiasts)
Restore Kit: Digital Storm Specialized Recovery System (DVD Image Based)
Protection: - No Thanks
Office: - No Thanks
Benchmarking: - No Thanks
Pre-Install Game: - No Thanks
LCD Display: - No Thanks
Surge Shield: - No Thanks
Speakers: - No Thanks
Keyboard: - No Thanks
Mouse: - No Thanks my keyboard comes with a mouse
Warranty: 3 Year Platinum Care Extended Parts & Labor Warranty
Support: Lifetime Toll-Free Platinum Care Technical Support
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Aich Shaoden View Drop Down
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Posts: 128 		  Quote Aich Shaoden Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 25 May 2008 at 9:01am
You going to raid 0 those HDDs? cuz the option wasn't selected.
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tksuther View Drop Down
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Posts: 45 		  Quote tksuther Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 25 May 2008 at 9:04am
Not planning to raid.  Just want a separate drive primarily for photos.  Guess I could though to improve performance.  Does it make a noticeable difference?


Edited by tksuther - 25 May 2008 at 9:11am
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Aich Shaoden View Drop Down
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Posts: 128 		  Quote Aich Shaoden Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 25 May 2008 at 9:18am
Can't speak from personal experience, but it does increase read/write seek times, especially on larger files from the research I have done.
I'm going to get it for mine. Plus its a free upgrade and will have the same space capacity. For data I would defentialy have a seperate drive but there is also NAS(Network Attached Storage) or even a external HDD options.
 
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!ender_ View Drop Down
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Posts: 4219 		  Quote !ender_ Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 25 May 2008 at 2:07pm
unless you have a strong attachment to the 950 design, id go for 850, in my opinion, its better for cooling, vis-a-vis a better/safer overclock
 
also overclocking all that stuff stage 3 cooling may be a better option
 
i wouldnt use raid settings, imo the difference is negligable


Edited by !ender_ - 25 May 2008 at 2:08pm
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Tyler Lowe View Drop Down
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Posts: 0 		  Quote Tyler Lowe Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 25 May 2008 at 3:27pm
Looks great tksuther Thumbs%20Up.

Glad you were able to keep the styling you wanted from the 750i while gaining the cooling performance of a high end case.

The only thing I would do is go to an 850W power supply. I think the extra power is advisable if you are at all entertaining the possibility of moving up to SLI in the future. For most cards it wouldn't matter, but it's one of those things you'd rather not have to think about at all IMO.
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tksuther View Drop Down
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Posts: 45 		  Quote tksuther Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 26 May 2008 at 10:17am
About stage 3 cooling.......... the TJ09 (950i) comes with an exhaust fan and a mid-section fan.  Two top fans and one fan between the HDD are optional.  If I order stage 3 cooling, are one or more of these fans added or are the existing fans simply replaced with Zalman fans?  In any case, I think stage 2 is probably good enough.  I also discovered Vista 64 bit will likely be a problem with many of my applications including Office XP Small Business (2002).  This brings me back to XP and 2GB RAM.  Tyler - I don't see an 850W power supply option, the next step up from 750W is 1000W.  Is 850 a special request?

Edited by tksuther - 26 May 2008 at 12:36pm
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!ender_ View Drop Down
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Posts: 4219 		  Quote !ender_ Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 26 May 2008 at 12:12pm
64 bit vista supposedly has problems with a program released in 2002?
id say dropping to 2gb ram total *ever* over that is shooting yourself in the foot.
 
there are plenty of workarounds to get what you need on a 64bit os, its the future ( i believe microsoft is only doing 64 from here out )
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tksuther View Drop Down
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Posts: 45 		  Quote tksuther Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 26 May 2008 at 12:30pm
According to DSO I don't need 4GB RAM with XP.  They said the max it utilizes is 2.6GB.  I suppose I could just go for Vista 64 and deal with the fallout but I'd like to avoid all the potential problems with programs not working smoothly.  I'm curious as to the general consensus of Vista 64 users that came from XP (SP2). 
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Tyler Lowe View Drop Down
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Posts: 0 		  Quote Tyler Lowe Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 26 May 2008 at 2:22pm
Looks like they decided to remove the 850W PSU from the configuration options Shocked. Well, it becomes a question of 1000W on not in that case. That is a much tougher decision IMO, since if you won't use it, it's shooting yourself in the wallet. The PSU won't run efficiently unless it's pushed to above 40% use in most cases. If you'll be upgrading to SLI and you're certain of this, I would do the 1000W. If not, stick with the 750W IMO.
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tksuther View Drop Down
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Posts: 45 		  Quote tksuther Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 26 May 2008 at 3:24pm
Originally posted by tksuther

About stage 3 cooling.......... the TJ09 (950i) comes with an exhaust fan and a mid-section fan.  Two top fans and one fan between the HDD are optional.  If I order stage 3 cooling, are one or more of these fans added or are the existing fans simply replaced with Zalman fans?  In any case, I think stage 2 is probably good enough.  I also discovered Vista 64 bit will likely be a problem with many of my applications including Office XP Small Business (2002).  This brings me back to XP and 2GB RAM.  Tyler - I don't see an 850W power supply option, the next step up from 750W is 1000W.  Is 850 a special request?


Does anyone know the difference between stage 2 and stage 3 cooling on the 950i case?
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gdhart View Drop Down
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Posts: 131 		  Quote gdhart Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 26 May 2008 at 4:54pm
The one drawback to RAID-0 is that it has a higher likelyhood of failing and when it does you may loose all data on both drives as half of each file is stored one each drive. 
 
I initially had a RAID-0 with 2x500 GB drives.  4 weeks ago one of the two drives failed.  I was fortunate in that a Data Recovery company was able to get the files off of the two drives.
 
I'm now moving to a single 500 GB drive for my system drive and a 2x500 GB disks RAID-1 to store my important documents, pictures, and movies that I do not want to risk losing.  The RAID-1 is a redundant RAID in that all files are copied to both drives, if one fails, you just place a new drive in and it will rebuild the RAID-1 from the good drive.  So for about $125 more I could have saved myself time and money and had a safer method for my important files if I had DS do it in the first place.
850W PSU/Pro Case
Q6600-G0 2.7GHz
nVidia 680i A1 Revision
4GB 800MHz XMS2
1x500 GB WD, 2x500GB WD RAID-1
2x500GB Ext
nVidia GeForce 8800GTX 768MB
ATI TV Wonder 650
Air Cooled Stage 3
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tksuther View Drop Down
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Posts: 45 		  Quote tksuther Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 26 May 2008 at 5:12pm
Originally posted by gdhart

The one drawback to RAID-0 is that it has a higher likelyhood of failing and when it does you may loose all data on both drives as half of each file is stored one each drive. 
 
I initially had a RAID-0 with 2x500 GB drives.  4 weeks ago one of the two drives failed.  I was fortunate in that a Data Recovery company was able to get the files off of the two drives.
 
I'm now moving to a single 500 GB drive for my system drive and a 2x500 GB disks RAID-1 to store my important documents, pictures, and movies that I do not want to risk losing.  The RAID-1 is a redundant RAID in that all files are copied to both drives, if one fails, you just place a new drive in and it will rebuild the RAID-1 from the good drive.  So for about $125 more I could have saved myself time and money and had a safer method for my important files if I had DS do it in the first place.


Great suggestion - thanks!
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!ender_ View Drop Down
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Posts: 4219 		  Quote !ender_ Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 26 May 2008 at 7:07pm
Originally posted by tksuther

Does anyone know the difference between stage 2 and stage 3 cooling on the 950i case?
 
stage 2 is nothing more than a processor heatsink, the artic cooler 7 to be exact, stage 3 means that every place on your case that will hold a fan will be fitted with a higher-than-stock preformance fan, in the case of the 850i, this means a processor heatsink and 7 high cfm zalmans for the single price of stage 3 cooling.
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tksuther View Drop Down
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Posts: 45 		  Quote tksuther Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 26 May 2008 at 7:09pm
Thanks !ender.  Definitely seems worth the up-charge.
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brian View Drop Down
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Posts: 505 		  Quote brian Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 27 May 2008 at 7:35am
hey isnt the ram already OCd? what would 1066 OCd be?
i think you can take that option off to OC the ram. tis already.
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!ender_ View Drop Down
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Posts: 4219 		  Quote !ender_ Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 27 May 2008 at 9:16am
Originally posted by brian

hey isnt the ram already OCd? what would 1066 OCd be?
i think you can take that option off to OC the ram. tis already.
 
i know what your thinking brian, the difference is that ram rated at 1066 is factory overclocked, which means it met every needed standard at that speed, this does not mean it will not overclock better.
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