Newbie With a HB i7 System

[Maverick_i7]

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to stop in and say thanks for all the information! Last week I was on mandatory shut-down from work ("capital preservation" :lol: ) and I decided it was time to replace my '99 Compaq Presario (800Mhz, 256MB RAM, 16GB HD) so I could take on some freelance work. With much help from my fellow car enthusiasts from LegacyGT.com I was convinced I could spec and build the system myself. Of course, as I dug into it I realized there was a lot more to building a computer than I thought and tom's hardware became a huge resource, one which I spent many hours searching through.

My goals for this build were pretty relaxed:

- General web-surfing and light office work
- Great expandability or "futureproof-ness" (if I can get 10yrs out of a Compaq... 10yrs out of this should be no problem)
- Great for Solidworks (CAD) and light gaming
- Reasonable cost

Until I started considering a homebuilt PC I had only priced out systems from Dell, HP, Xi, etc... so my bar was set relatively low for performance/$. Here's what I ended up with:

Asus P6T Deluxe (non-OC)
Core i7 920 - 2.66GHz
6GB (3x2GB) Corsair DDR3 RAM @ 1333MHz
PNY nVidia Quadro FX1700 512MB RAM
300GB 10,000RPM WD VelociRaptor System HD
1TB 7,200RPM WD Caviar Black Data HD
Samsun 22X DVD+/-R Burner w/ LightScribe
Linksys WMP54G Wireless Card
Coolermaster V8 CPU Cooler
Noctua NF-P12 Fans (x2)
Hiper Anubis Mid ATX Case
Corsair CMPSU-750TX 750W Power Supply
Vista Ultimate x64
Dell 2408FPW 24" Widescreen Monitor (1920x1200)

As of this past Tuesday everything is up and running great! I am still making some tweaks to BIOS/startup to get overhead and background programs to a minimum. I don't really know anything about overclocking or software (I'm a mechanical guy) but with all the info here I'm sure I'll learn quick.

Thanks again for everyone informative posts!

 

[Proximon]

Those side panel latches are pretty neat And it's a good sized case.

Looks like you'll be set for years.

 

[sassan]

Hi Maverick_i7 , I'm planning on getting the same PSU as you and I was wondering if there is electrical noise from that? Does it make a humming noise?

Also where did you buy your CPU cooler?

Overall looks awsome!

 

[Proximon]

The 750TX is fairly quiet. No humming but some fan noise. I can recommend quieter units if you really need, but don't hijack the thread, send a PM or make a new thread.

 

[Helloworld_98]

Damn, I didn't know the V8 was so big

 

[Maverick_i7]

Thanks guys. I am loving how quick this new machine is... However, true to my automotive "modding" personality I am already trying to think of ways to make it faster (e.g. Tim Taylor's "More Power!"). Maybe two 64GB SSD's in RAID0 for a boot disk? :lol:

Sassan, no noise that I can detect, but I'm a noobie with this stuff. It is supposed to be quiet in sound and in power delivery. Also, I bought the coolermaster V8 from Newegg for ~$70. It was a bit of a splurge but cooling is one of those mechanical things that I can wrap my head around and really obsess about.

The loudest part of my system by far is the Velociraptor HD. Since the computer is on my desk I can hear all the little clicks of the HD unless I'm playing music.

 

[Helloworld_98]

IMO you should've got 3 640GB caviar black's instead of the velociraptor since the read/write speeds are about the same.

 

[Maverick_i7]

Live and learn I suppose...

The 1TB drive for files and data is more than enough storage, and the 300GB VRaptor is probably overkill for a boot drive but I plan on installing some pretty big programs (Solidworks, COSMOS, PShop, Illustrator, etc).

I wish solidworks approved of the GTX285 cards... I love the idea of 2x the Palit GTX285 2GB video cards in Quad SLi.

I've heard about softmodding the geforce to quadro status but I wasn't really willing to risk it since I'm a noob and I need the machine to be reliable for freelance jobs.

 

[Maverick_i7]

Okay, quick question.

My coworker recently updated his HB system with a GTX265 card. He uses his computer for gaming (WoW) and Solidworks on the side. He says he can run solidworks fine even though it's a GeForce card and not Quadro.

I am left wondering if it's worth having the FX1700 Quadro (512MB RAM) for solidworks if 1) I don't need 11/10 CAD performance for my freelancing and 2) it cost ~$420.

My question to the members of Tom's Hardware is, Should I:

1. Keep the FX1700... if so, why?

2. Go for a GTX285 (~$350) and put it in SLI when 285 prices come down a bit more? My rationale here is the 285 seems to be a better performer than the fx1700 and cheaper...

or 3. Go for broke with a GTX295 and be satisfied with the Dual-SLI built in to one card? (Not sure if my system could handle quad-SLI)

Amazon will give me up to 30 days to return my FX1700 so let's hash this out...

Thanks!

 

[sassan]

If you get two 260's with 216 cores in SLI it will perform exactly and semilar to the 295 just to let you know might save you some money.

Also the Gtx 285 is Gtx 280 but with a smaller chip, so performance wise their semilar but the 285 could run with less power.

 

[Maverick_i7]

I guess what I really need to know is how my fx1700 stacks up to these options and how running Solidworks will be affected by the difference. Will do some searching....

 

[Maverick_i7]

By the way, I downloaded CPU-Z and took some screenshots. Does this jive with my hardware? I was surprised to see the clock running 2788MHz... is that typical?

I also can't tell what speed my RAM is running at... if it's the 534.6 does it get x3 because it's triple channel? That would be ~1600MHz... What is the NB Frequency?

As far as I know I'm not using any power-saving or overclocking software/settings

 

[Proximon]

No your RAM is running at basically 1066.

Your bus speed is 133.6. Multiply that times 4 and you have you current DRAM frequency. Or multiply it by 8 for your speed.

 

[foolycooly]

your proc is running at 2.788 because of intel's speedstep option. It bumps your cpu multiplier to 21x.

Also, going back to your earlier comment about making it faster...are you planning on overclocking? IMO it's kind of a sin to have the v8 and such a nice setup and not put at least a mild overclock on it...it's pretty straightforward

 

[Maverick_i7]

I am becoming more and more open to the idea!

1. Need to find out how to get my RAM at the speed it's supposed to be (at least).
2. Resolve video card dilemma...
3. Get some actual software (HL2, Crysis, Solidworks, in that order :lol: )
4. Learn how to overclock

What else?

 

[Jack64]

You are in the same delima I am Maverick....Got this nice I7 system and I'm kinda scared to OC it....I'll screw something up. I do have the GTX 295, but I just game with mine...COD4 is what I am playing now at 1920X1200...it's nice, but I don't do autocad or stuff like that, there is a review of this stuff on here http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2342736,00.asp
Don't know if it will answer your question though.

 

[Maverick_i7]

Question: Would it be feasible to keep my FX1700 for solidworks and add a 285/295 to the system down the line? My thinking is that I could somehow set up the hardware profiles so that for gaming and everyday use the GeForce card would be used, and I could connect to the DVI-1 port on my monitor.

Then, for Solidworks the computer would only use the quadro card and output to my DVI-2 port on the monitor. It would be as simple as toggling between inputs... unless I am missing something?

Also, since they're both nvidia, there shouldn't be any driver conflicts, right?

The reason I ask is because I am finding that people using non-quadro cards with Solidworks report problems with multi-window performance and certain graphics options. On the other hand, it kinda sucks being limited in terms of gaming capability even though I have a more expensive card than most GTX285 options out there.

 

[Jack64]

I thought the drivers were different, seems I read somewhere that the drivers for the graphic cards like the fx series were optimized for that kind of work hence that is why they are alot faster at rendering that kind of stuff, and the mainstream cards like the GTX series drivers were optimized for other stuff, therefore they were handicapped in the intense graphic work like autocad and stuff. I know I read it on the internet when they were testing these card against each other and explaining the whys and whatnots about them, it has to do with the drivers and what they were optimized for. As far as having both in your system at the same time and picking which one you use for what application...WOW, I haven't a clue, but I bet someone on here with knowlege about that will let ya know, but it would be AWESOME to be able to do that.

 

[Maverick_i7]

Based on what I've read on the nvidia forums it does not seem possible...

Unfortunately I have to decide which is more important to me with this build, fun and games or the ability to do freelance work. I think I will be sticking with the Quadro and hopefully can make some money to build another computer in a few years for real gaming stuff.

 

[Maverick_i7]

Posted up some questions regarding OC/system performance here: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/251463-29-learning

 

[cjl]

A gaming card will run CAD, but it would be noticeably slower than the Quadro. If you want good gaming with mild amounts of CAD on the side, it would work fine, but for any decent amount of CAD work, you made the right choice.

 

[Maverick_i7]

Good to know... the trouble I have is defining the line between "mild amounts of CAD on the side" and any "decent amount of CAD work"...

The CAD is definitely mild and on the side... (fewer than 200 features and <50 parts/assembly) but for Realview/Rendering, surface modeling, and other apps like Photoshop/Illustrator I feel like I need the juice. This is my personal computer so it's not like I have to do CAD day-in and day-out... GAH

 

[Proximon]

Two cards might not play well.... on the same system.

But, what if you were running two separate OSes? Disable the opposite card for each OS, and install only the driver for the operating card.

 

[Maverick_i7]

That is kinda what I was thinking originally. I think my left-brain is trying to pound a square peg into a round hole...

The most sensible thing to do is probably decide which card will better compromise between my daily use of the computer (80%) and my freelancing (20%). I have a feeling it will be the Geforce.

 

[Maverick_i7]

So I have an old IDE HD from my last computer... it still has a bunch of info on it that I would like to access, but I already parted out the PC and am stuck with just the drive(s). Does anyone know if I can hook up the HD to run off the IDE connection on my Mobo even though I'm using a SATA drive? If so, would I need to set the jumper to slave or anything?