I think Mark said his Frozen Nehi uses 620W at full draw. So I think I'll be fine for now.

Agreed, you're fine with 650w for a long time, and I don't know if 750w gets you to that magic 2nd card anyway. As long as the designers took no shortcuts (I guess some supplies skimp on the 6pin PCIe connectors or share the amps, I don't know enough about it though to say).

You should be able to run a couple of GTX 260s off a 750w PSU, but probably not a couple of dual GPU cards, like the GTX 295. But what the 750 will really get you over the 650 is (usually) either 4 6pin connectors for the 2 cards, or 2 6pin and 2 6+2 pin connectors, so you don't have to use any adapters if you do decide to put in a second GPU. Prices down there are astounding, so you have to decide if it's worth it for you, but I would think that the price diff. for a 750 wouldn't be too bad over the 650.

-Dave

If his vid card choice remains the 260, he should be fine with the 650w PSU. If he were to change his mind and upgrade to a 295, he would probably still make it, although then I would recommend a 750w PC Power and Cooling Silencer.

My i7 920/Ultra 120 rig, with GTX295, both heavily OC'd....draws around 540w from the mains, as shown on the Killawatt. Within the range of a 650w PSU, but I prefer a bit more headroom. and most PSU's are more efficient when not pushed to their limits. And that rig has a RAC of a bit over 37,000 right now.

I have a core 2 rig sporting a 260 running pretty tight......it's RAC is around 19,500.....so I would expect a 920 with a 260 to end up in about the same range, as I don't suspect Luke will be pushing the OC's quite as far on either the CPU or GPU.

Well the used 850w Corsair psu I bought and repaired(a wire in a pci-e cable got too close to a fan when the last owner had It) was a pretty sweet deal, I'd have liked to get a 650w Corsair instead, But for about $90.00 total I couldn't beat the price and 70A is pretty danged good no matter what.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

2 x 3000rpm fans might be pretty loud.
Are they PWM so the mobo can control them? You might also consider getting a "2-fan-to-1-mobo-connector" splitter.
I assume the HDD is a 1TB WD 7200rpm "Black" model.

Just to be clear, my comment wasn't about running a single card, it was about future-proofing it so that he can pop in a second card... A 650w PSU should be fine for any single card, but if 6 months down the road he wants to pop in another card, it's short money to have the capacity/connections on hand.

-Dave

Agreed.....
But Luke knows what he wants to build and his budget. So I have offered him answers to his questions and suggestions, but I won't second guess him too much.

It should be a fine rig when he has it assembled.

And I suspect he may have a few more questions along the way.......LOL.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

Okay, I received the monitors this morning (2 large brown Dell boxes) and the case about an hour ago (1 huge box!). I'll post some pictures over the weekend.

Thanks for all the input folks. I'll try to answer the questions below.

MarkJ said: Out of interest why the dual monitor setup? Also why a sound card when the P6T has it built in?

Something has always appealed to me about dual monitors. W7 has better multi-mon support than previous versions. Plus this means I can watch House on one screen an be productive on the other screen!
Hmm. I must have overlooked that the motherboard has built in sound. Would the quality be any good compared to what I have listed now?

Skildude said: I wondered why so cheap a sound card when you are putting such a platinum coated PC together. BTW I'd have waited until the Q1 2010 to see the new AMDs.

A completely different opinion to the one above, hmm. I don't need great sound since I'm not much of an audiophile. My laptop doesn't even have a subwoofer.
Anyway, I don't have the money to splash out on top components across the range. Just the cooling and perhaps the case. I've never been an AMD boy, historically I have found you can OC harder on Intel chipsets and CPU's. And AMD is still behind the race at the moment.

Tombew said:2 x 3000rpm fans might be pretty loud.
Are they PWM so the mobo can control them? You might also consider getting a "2-fan-to-1-mobo-connector" splitter.
I assume the HDD is a 1TB WD 7200rpm "Black" model.

Where did I say I was buying two 3000rpm fans? I'm only buying one 3000rpm fan and that is to cool the CPU. Yeah, it will be a little noisy. But you can't subdue the overwhelming power of 133cfm!
I have in my list "Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB 7200 rpm". LOL. I choose green edition because it is cheaper.

Concerning the Power Supply & the Graphics cards
GPU's appear to be the most expensive component of a computer nowadays. I definitely don't have money to splash out on anything more than a single 260. And I wouldn't call them 'underpowered' like someone here did. They are perfectly fine for everyday browsing, gaming and crunching. Perhaps in the future I will upgrade to a 3xx Fermi (which again, I'm not going to wait on, and wouldn't have the money for) or add a 2nd GPU, but not now.

Power Supply. I will check out the prices for the 750W model instead of the 650W. Last time I checked it was quite a bit more expensive than the one I'm buying now. But if I can't afford it, I'm more than happy to stick with the 650W model.

Concerning Overclocking
For starters I will apply a modest OC, and then perhaps ramp it up to a larger figure. And yes Mark, I'll probably need alot more help in the coming month!

Thanks for all the tips, if you have any more comments, please post!

- Luke.

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- Luke.

Best luck, Luke, on your journey.........


If you fail, you know I will sometimes be here to help.

Meow.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

And if Mark isn't around, I'm sure there will be a few that may try and be of some help Luke.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

All items are from New Zealand, I'd prefer to order from USA, because the base prices would probably be cheaper, but the shipping prices kill it.
- Luke.

Have you looked at services like myus.com? The shipping is often cheaper than amazon etc. Not suitable for heavy or voluminous items though.

Well, I have finally got around to taking some pictures of my case and monitors.

Received the case via Courier Post 2 days ago. Unboxed it, and is sitting under a sheet for now. I had a bit of trouble getting the side window off (due to the peculiar mechanisms involved), but I did get it eventually.


I also had some time to take a look at the monitors. Alot larger than I expected!
Both images compared to my laptop.


Tomorrow, I will order the Power Supply and the mobo/RAM/CPU combo.

- Luke.

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- Luke.

Meow!!
The kitties love the smell of new hardware in the morning.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

As I am ordering the Power Supply tomorrow, I have decided to go with the Antec TruePower New 750W PSU. 100W more than planned. Can anyone here tell me if it is a modular PSU (i.e. removable cables)? Because I would really like to have as little clutter as possible.

- Luke.

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- Luke.

As I am ordering the Power Supply tomorrow, I have decided to go with the Antec TruePower New 750W PSU. 100W more than planned. Can anyone here tell me if it is a modular PSU (i.e. removable cables)? Because I would really like to have as little clutter as possible.

- Luke.

It is partly/mostly modular. Antec call it a "Hybrid Cable Management System". The marketing blab says the "important/mandatory" cables are built into the PSU, while the "optional" ones are modular. Probably means that there is an extra cable or two built into that PSU over which you may find with a more modular PSU like the Corsair HX750.

As I am ordering the Power Supply tomorrow, I have decided to go with the Antec TruePower New 750W PSU. 100W more than planned. Can anyone here tell me if it is a modular PSU (i.e. removable cables)? Because I would really like to have as little clutter as possible.

- Luke.

It is partly/mostly modular. Antec call it a "Hybrid Cable Management System". The marketing blab says the "important/mandatory" cables are built into the PSU, while the "optional" ones are modular. Probably means that there is an extra cable or two built into that PSU over which you may find with a more modular PSU like the Corsair HX750.

OMG. The dream PSU. It is 2 years more warranty than the Antec and it's efficiency is better. However, it is 30mm larger in length. Can it still fit in the NZXT Lexa Blackline case?

If it can. That is the baby I'm buying...

- Luke.

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- Luke.

OMG. The dream PSU. It is 2 years more warranty than the Antec and it's efficiency is better. However, it is 30mm larger in length. Can it still fit in the NZXT Lexa Blackline case?

If it can. That is the baby I'm buying...

- Luke.

The 30mm will not be an issue...

As I am ordering the Power Supply tomorrow, I have decided to go with the Antec TruePower New 750W PSU. 100W more than planned. Can anyone here tell me if it is a modular PSU (i.e. removable cables)? Because I would really like to have as little clutter as possible.

- Luke.

It is partly/mostly modular. Antec call it a "Hybrid Cable Management System". The marketing blab says the "important/mandatory" cables are built into the PSU, while the "optional" ones are modular. Probably means that there is an extra cable or two built into that PSU over which you may find with a more modular PSU like the Corsair HX750.

OMG. The dream PSU. It is 2 years more warranty than the Antec and it's efficiency is better. However, it is 30mm larger in length. Can it still fit in the NZXT Lexa Blackline case?

If it can. That is the baby I'm buying...

- Luke.

This one uses nearly the same case as My 850w Corsair(It's 180mm vs My 850's 160mm), It's the Corsair HX 750w psu, the main cables are attached permanently and the other cables are modular, To Me this is the best combo and It has a single 12v rail with 62A on It.


Corsair HX 750 Review @ Hardware Secrets

As to Warranties, This place Here(215.99au) says the psu is for 7 years or here(212.00 inc.GST[au(says:Warranty: lifetime manufacturer warranty)]).

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Hi Luke, glad it seems to be going well at the moment.

Not sure about the intel versions, but the later Asus AMD boards allow you to save at least 2 profiles in the Bios.

If it allows it, and a careful inspection of the Bios will show it, then I would get all the parameters set for a normal CPU/computer combo, then save a profile.

Then as you start your overclocking journey, then you can use one of the other profiles to save your stable overclocked settings. And as you improve your settings, you will always have a stable overclock to go back to!

Also, I'm guessing that the board has the 'Asus CPR' on it. This allows you to go back to the default settings if you get too crazy and the motherboard won't boot. What you normally need to do is to switch off the computer if it won't boot, then cut the mains power to the motherboard for a few seconds. Reconnect the power, switch it back on and it should be back to the factory defaults. Not ideal, I know, but at least you can revive an otherwise dead motherboard.

Anybody out there have the Asus P6T Deluxe and can confirm or deny my supposition?

regards, Gizbar.

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A proud GPU User Server Donor!

Anybody out there have the Asus P6T Deluxe and can confirm or deny my supposition?

regards, Gizbar.

Not got the P6T, but all my Asus P5 series boards (Intel) have had the same features you describe so it is a good bet for the P6T.

The profiles are brilliant - I use them exactly as you have suggested to Luke - and the CPR has saved my bacon on a number of occasions.

F.

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I'm not sure why Intel in it's infinite wisdom created two completely different sockets in the same product demographic.

They are actually different products, although they have very similar model numbers.
One is a Dual memory channel product, the other is a Tripple memory channel product.

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Grant
Darwin NT

.... most PSU's are more efficient when not pushed to their limits.

Actually power supplies are more efficient when running near their rated capacity. They're least efficient at lower loads.

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Grant
Darwin NT

Can anyone here tell me if it is a modular PSU (i.e. removable cables)? Because I would really like to have as little clutter as possible.

I personally don't like "modular" PSUs. After 15+ years repairing electronics has resulted in the opinion that the more plugs & sockets you have, the more points of failure you have.

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Grant
Darwin NT

I have finally ordered the RAM/CPU/Motherboard combo. With a $30 special deal as well, all up, that is $1299 for the combo.

I will not be ordering the PSU today, since, about a minute after I completed the purchase, I received a call from my bank's fraud protection service, and they asked me whether I had made the purchase! Wow, was that quick!

And so I asked him to check how much I had left on my credit card before I purchased the PSU, I am $600 away from maxing out my bill!

So it will have to wait until early december, before I order anything else, but it is only 3 days away anyway.

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- Luke.