Twisted Raven Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 Hi everyone, I had previously planned on building a big honking powerful quad based machine around either a Bad Axe 2 or P35 board in addition to picking up the new Mac Pro once it's released (hopefully Jan.15th), however, due to my holiday spending budget this year (going over as usual) I think I'd like to build a nice Ewok sized system which can have the option to decently upgrade or break apart to use some of the parts in a future more powerful machine. Also, I don't mind getting down and dirty with terminal commands to get everything working as long as everything is stable, and shutdown and restart work. With all that said, hop on your speederbikes and watch out for the trees, here we go: MOTHERBOARD This is pretty much the who's who list of Micro ATX boards from everything I've read so far. Top Choices (Quad Support) Gigabyte GA-G33M-DS2R LGA 775 Intel G33 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail ASUS P5K-VM LGA 775 Intel G33 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail Alternate Choices (C2D Support) Gigabyte GA-945GCMX-S2 LGA 775 Intel 945GC Micro ATX Intel Motherboard ASUS P5B-VM LGA 775 Intel G965 Express Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail BIOSTAR I945G-M7 V2.X LGA 775 Intel 945G Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail The Asus P5K-VM and Gigabyte GA-G33M-DS2R support Quad processors which will be the route I take unless there is a major stability problem with either, which would mean I'd drop down to one of the non-quad boards. Even though I won't buy a Quad to start with, I'd like that option for later. With a higher FSB for both these boards, would that mean I'd need to jump up to at least an E6xxx series CPU? Also, I'm not sure about the overclocking abilities of these boards although do I really want to do that in that Thermaltake case? (only looking at pushing the E4500 to whatever I can with stock cooler without creating a heat meltdown within the case) Are these two rock solid stable with Leopard? CPU Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 Allendale 2.2GHz 2M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Retail (or E6xxx cheapest model which is compatible with the Quad boards listed above) CASE Thermaltake VF1000BWS Black Aluminum Front Panel/ SECC Chassis MicroATX Desktop Computer Case - Retail The nice handle will allow me to put it outside the main room (for audio recording with condenser mics if the case fans are too loud) and ferry the entire machine around more easily if need be. If I end up hating it I can always latch a long chain to it and wield it God of War style. Lookout mythological zombie creatures! PSU Corsair CMPSU-620HX ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 620W Power Supply - Retail Enough power for the future, which will look like either Back to the Future 2, or the Apple 1984 commercial. RAM Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail Crucial Ballistix Tracer 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail DRIVES (3 to start) - HD 1 (Leopard) / HD 2 (Data) / HD 3 (Windows) Western Digital Caviar SE WD1600AAJS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM OPTICAL Pioneer DVR-112DBK (Already have this so functioning IDE would be nice but not required, I can snag the SATA version if needed. Not a dealbreaker.) GPU Will use onboard for now unless I need to pick up either a cheap NVIDIA based 7 series and possibly down the road an 8800GTS. I think that about covers it minus the pack of plastic confetti filled mini champagne bottle party favor poppers I'll pick up down at Wally World to shoot over my head once I get it all built. (Now say that several times fast!) Any thoughts, suggestions, feedback and/or general tomato tossing is always welcome. Thanks in advance for the help, TR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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