Highly Recommended Q6600 based custom build

S

Syprik

After vetting a series of different components, have finally landed on a winning combination. Strongly recommended for those "Do it Yourself" types seeking rock solid stability and power. Hope the component list below will help generate ideas where to start looking.

High performance/cost ratio: ~$950 plus cost of LCD's. I'm rather anal, vetted components for a great deal of time, been building my own systems since the late 90's. Extensively stress tested(Prime95,Memtest,etc) and is bulletproof at 3.2GHz (I throttle it back to 3.0 for trading, however). Use caution when looking at current Asus motherboards. For years I have been an Asus die-hard given their inherent stability, but the last year has shown a significant decline in quality. I am not alone with this sentiment. Abit/Gigabyte have come out with real winners for P35 chipset. X38 chipset still too immature for my taste.


03/2008 Trading System Build

Processor: Intel Quad Core Q6600 G0 SLACR @ 3.2GHz OverClock ($199)
www.microcenter.com

Motherboard: ABIT IP35 PRO ($135)
http://www.newegg.com/product/produ...N82E16813127030

Memory: 2 x 1GB G.SKILL DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual ($45)
http://www.newegg.com/product/produ...N82E16820231098

CPU Cooler: Tuniq Tower 120 ($40)
http://www.newegg.com/product/produ...N82E16835154001

Video Cards: 2 x eVGA 8600 GT PCI-e x16 (2 x $60)
http://www.newegg.com/product/produ...N82E16814130085

Hard Drive: WD Raptor 150GB WD1500ADFD 10,000rpm 16mb SATA ($159)
www.microcenter.com

20x DVD Samsung SATA Burner ($30)
http://www.newegg.com/product/produ...N82E16827151154

Antec P182/P180 Case ($100)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16811129025

Power Supply: Corsair HX620 ($115)
http://www.buy.com/prod/corsair-620.../203270718.html
Made by Seasonic. Very high quality, server-grade components.

XP Pro SP2 ($0)

System powers (3) 24" Samsung LCD's. System is virtually dead silent. Reviews on Newegg associated with each component speak for themselves.

Extremely satisfied. Smoothly runs more charts in Multicharts than I know what to do with. CPU load is roughly 1/7th compared to my retired AMD 64 3000+ running same trading platform.
 
Thanks for the configuration, more food for thought.

Is x38 is really that less stable than P35? Isn't the throughput better on the x38?
 
Quote from lwlee:

Thanks for the configuration, more food for thought.

Is x38 is really that less stable than P35? Isn't the throughput better on the x38?
More...
X38 is the new chip set.
P35 is the more popular chip set at the moment. It is also the better price performer.

X38 runs hot... very hot.
i.e. it consumes more power than the P35 chips.

Unless you have matching components (and requirements) that can take advantage of its throughput, for most people... I don't think it would make a difference.

http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=689

...the only real difference is in the PCI Express x16 graphics card interface.

The biggest improvement is that the X38 chipset properly supports Crossfire technology. Whereas the P35 chipset runs the primary card in x16 mode and the secondary card was limited to x4 bandwidth, the X38 allows both graphics cards to receive full x16 PCIe bandwidth. The X38 chipset does this using the PCI Express 2.0 standard, allowing for complete support of two graphics cards.
More...
 
Quote from NickelPincher:

fyi for those looking to build, buy.com has a similar case on sale today for $59.99 after rebate with free shipping. there are some out there that think this case is even better.

Antec Nine Hundred Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

http://www.buy.com/prod/antec-nine-...-tower-computer-case/q/loc/101/202997579.html
More...

I believe that model does not have any sound dampering material. The P182 has three layers of sound dampering matieral.
 
I am going to drill a hole in the wall for the cables and put my computers in the next room.

I found that no amount of insulation is quiet enough for me.

;-)
 
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