The Ordered Spec and the Thank You's UPDATED 23/04

Okily Dokily, I have finally orded my new rig, I just wanted to share the final (ordered) spec and then thank everyone who helped me out and gave advice

Spec:
ORDERED
CPU: Q6600
RAM: 2x 2gb OCZ 9200 Flex XLC
Mobo: Striker Extreme
HDD's: 150GB Raptor (Enterprise), 2 x 400gb Spinpoints (16mb cache)
GFX: BFG 8800GTX OC
PSU: HX620
Case: Silver CM Staker 830 Evo (Ordered but out of stock!)
Opticals: 2 x 18x18 DVD RW
TV: Nova - T 500
Cooling: Freezer 7 Pro, CM Crossflow, Extra HDD module inc 120mm fan.
Mouse: Logitech G5
Surround Sound: Logitech Z5400

ORDER 2: (next month or so due to money being spent on a holiday)
Monitor: BenQ FP241WZ
USB Flash: 8GB Voyager GT
OS: Vista Ultimate Upgrade
Sound Card: (to be added when available) one of the new Asus Cards

Thanks:

Obviously there is thanks to everyone who has given me advice and input on various questions I have raised over the past 4 months or so but special thanks must go to the following users:

BBQ, Highland3r, Section 8, Trig, Bindi, zr_ox, Bluephoenix, DougEdey and ....god I can't spell it but its Kurmanji or something like that lol.

There are of course others so don't take it personally if I haven't mentioned you, so many people helped I can't remember them all

UPDATE: Everything in this colour has been updated

 

awesome, be sure to post your benchmark score
and post us a pic

 

sweet....drools

 

i might do a construction progress series of pics. The Q6600 is on pre order at the reduced price so will be dispatched on the 23rd of April

 

Glad to be of assistance.....That's one sweet rig you got there

 

hey goose,

one thing to check is the HDD fan for crushed wires.

on my CMS 830 and one of my P180s both had a fan with a crushed + wire, meaning that the comp didn't want to start, and it took me forever to find out why.

now after 2 crushed wires out of 4 cases, I just save myself the hassle and check them beforehand.

Good luck on the build (and hopefully no DOA parts or posting in the 'things you've broken' thread)

 

Hey blue, just want to check, are you reffering to crushed fan wires? (I guess they would be shorting out?).

 

yep, and the positive was grounding out.

no damage will result, just a lot of panic when all the components seem to be dead.

 

LOL i'll keep an eye out for that. How did you solve the problem, replace the fan or just sort the wiring out?!

 

replaced the fan, the wires were crushed almost completely flat, with the positive core contacting the case metal.

 

hmmmm I'll look out for that

 

I dont know if you already know, but with some motherboards you have to have like 2gb of RAM installed when installing Vista some BIOS related issues(you install the other RAM after install) and btw nice rig man.

 

I have heard of those issues cheers culley, I hadn't heard of that solution though, NICE!

 

ill be interested to see what MEM and FSB BDW's you get with that rig as its similar to mine.
i believe there is a MS fix for the 4gb vista ram instal issue, but as suggested just instal with 2gb.
dont want to scare you but its taken taken me 3 sets of flex9200 2 motherboards 2 PSU, and a graphics card.
stay clear of BIOS updates untill they have been validated by others.
bios 0803 caused me so much greif.
also there have been a lot of problems with flex memory not being matched pairs, be sure to check yours when it comes.

 

How can you tell if it is a matched pair and what difference does it make?

The bios updating was something I was going to ask about after I have it setup to see if it causes any issues.

Installing with 2GB and then adding the other 2GB after install means it is all recognised? Or is the patch required to be installed once vista is installed but before the addition 2GB is slotted in?

 

I wouldn't worry too much about matched pairs anymore, RAM is now more thoroughly checked on Vista as it uses all the RAM.

 

Cool dougey

EDIT: Done a quick update on the spec, I am going for the HX620 now and the Freezer 7 Pro as it is now back in stock. If you are wondering why I haven't actually ordered, I typed my credit details in wrong lol luckily it has let me make these changes so I am happy about that.

 

However, matched pairs usually have consecutive serial numbers.

 

the issues with flex 9200 is that if u check in CPUz etc, you might see different timings for each memory stick, as i did once, also if u look with spd tool u may see differences, they should be i dentical.
additionally a matched pair are both tested together to there rated speed. IMHO some of the etailers are selling chhep flex that is suspect, and one etailer i spoke to saisd they were getting dodgy pairs from there distributer.
this is what i have found with many issues so far with flex.

flash to the latest bios or at least 1002 before u start most of my early issues were caused by flaky bioses
PS only update the asus bios with a good old flopy, there have been doesens of failed bios flashes with windows on the asus board, and i think asuus have removed the feature now.

ps get a better cooler if u are going to overclock the q6600 at all, such as a ultra120 and a 1200 S-flex fan. as i have

 

thats around £3400 if i'm right.Too much money to be put in pc nowadays.
You could save 200£ only by buying cheaper gainward 8800 gtx,same refers to ocz memory - £446 on 4gig memory when ddr3 is around the corner when you could go with 200£ ocz 6400 c4 4gig.I would also choose 2x raid 0 74gig raptors over 150 one - much much faster in raid 0.I would also choose razer copperhead mice ,goes very well with their razer exactmat.I'd also drop the 24" and get dual 20's or 22 for same price.for £2200 you would end up with pretty much same system.anyway that would be my choice and as its not all i can say is have fun with the rig,i hope you watercool it soon too.