Lanbox Q6600 8800GTX build

[Ducman69]

Looking to try out SFF for a change, but wanted to run this by you all first. BTW, I picked the Lanbox Lite only because I can't find the Lanbox HT anywhere (Texas), and Thermaltake won't respond to any of my emails. Ugh. Anyone have any idea when we might get one? \

NEW BUILD PLANZ
Thermaltake LANBOX Lite VF6000BNS - $80
Corsair HX620 - $126
ThermalTake A2413-01 7" flipout LCD Monitor - $350

ASUS P5K-VM - $125
Core 2 Duo Q6600 G0 Stepping - ~$280
Scythe S-FLEX SFF21F 120mm Case Fan - $15
Thermalright XP-120 CPU Cooling Heatsink - $50
Thermalright LGA775 RM Retention Bracket - $5

EVGA 768-P2-N831-AR GeForce 8800GTX 768MB - $486
ATI TV Wonder 650 PCI HDTV Tuner Card - $120
4x1GB OCZ PC2-6400 - $145

Western Digital WD Caviar SE16 750GB - $200
Samsung DVDRW SH-S183L SATA - $40
Vantec 60mm Stealth Pro (3rd fan) - $7

How about that, mo betta?

OLD (vetoed) BUILD PLANZ
Thermaltake LANBOX Lite VF6000BNS - $80
ENERMAX Liberty ELT500AWT ATX12V 500W - $110
ThermalTake A2413-01 7" flipout LCD Monitor - $350

ASUS P5K-VM - $125
Core 2 Duo Q6600 - ~$280
Thermaltake Blue Orb II - $45

EVGA 768-P2-N831-AR GeForce 8800GTX 768MB - $520
AVerMedia AverTV M780 PCIe TV TUner - $90
4x1GB Ballistix 240-pin DIMM, DDR2 PC2-5300 - $200

Barracuda 7200.11 1TB Harddrive - $400
Samsung DVDRW SH-S183L SATA - $40
Vantec 60mm Stealth Pro (3rd fan) - $7

Running Vista 64 bit in order to use all 4GB of RAM. I'm worried about putting a GTX and quad-core into such a small case though. Is this simply too much heat? Is there a better SFF case for those components, or should I be swapping in a e6850 and GTS instead to lower the thermal load?

Appreciate any/all advice!!!

 

[TWO515TY]

Personally, I think your build is a little ridiculous IMO. I'd never spend so much money on just one computer. But that's just my opinion, if you like to spend on $2000 on extremely high end parts, then go for it

1. The biggest and most important thing you need to ask yourself about that quad core is "Do I actually need it?" I see you've listed an 8800 GTX which means that you'll be doing some gaming. Right now, Quad cores aren't very useful for gaming, and they're certainly not worth the heat issues you're going to have with that setup. That Blue Orb will get eaten up by the heat on that Quad. Even beastly coolers like the Tuniq and the Ultra 120 can't keep quads cool, there's no way a Blue Orb will hold up. If anything, you'd be better off starting with an XP-120 and a 120MM fan. Even better yet, dump the quad and get an E6850 instead..

2. The GTX should be ok as far as heat goes, but do realize that with the Lanbox series, you have to remove the HDD cage to get the GTX to fit. A GTS will fit without modifications though.

3.A 1TB harddrive....do you really need that much porn? If you go for the GTX, then you can only have 1HDD and I guess if you really want 1TB then this would be the way to go, but if you get a GTS or any smaller video card, you can use the HDD cage and get 2x 500GB instead, and it'd cost about half the price of the 1TB drive.

 

[RoBo]

I would be very worried about the heat.

 

[Ducman69]

That Blue Orb will get eaten up by the heat on that Quad. Even beastly coolers like the Tuniq and the Ultra 120 can't keep quads cool, there's no way a Blue Orb will hold up. If anything, you'd be better off starting with an XP-120 and a 120MM fan. Even better yet, dump the quad and get an E6850 instead..

Well they were the same price on July 22nd prices, and the games that I think would actually tax any recent CPU will take advantage of quad-cores such as Crysis, Supreme Commander, and Alan Wake... probably a few others. Good to know about the XP-120, if that offers superior cooling, but if consensus is that the quads really are too hot for this case then I'll go with the E6850 dual.

The GTX should be ok as far as heat goes, but do realize that with the Lanbox series, you have to remove the HDD cage to get the GTX to fit. A GTS will fit without modifications though.1TB harddrive....do you really need that much porn?

Yeah, I knew about the cage, otherwise I'd go with 2x500gb Barracuda 7200.10s... but I just don't like the cage there, seems like it blocks the intake fan. Is that not a problem with cooling? And yes, asian girls may be small, but HD quality movies of them are HUGE!

 

[th3 godfather]

And yes, asian girls may be small, but HD quality movies of them are HUGE!

lmfao, that made my day

 

[eu_phorix]

I have to agree with TWOfifty on this one. You're going to be generating way too much heat with this setup. Will it work? Yes. Will it be hot and loud? You bet. Are there slightly more conservative setups that would give you comparable performance in the real world: Yep.

I'd go dual core, not quad, and overclock it a bit, it'll be faster than quad for gaming.

I wouldn't go with a TB drive, use an adapter and mount the 2nd drive in the optical bay if need to, but 2 drives are much better than 1 big one. (Even if no raid, just having O/S and page/application files split between drives can help a lot). The only consideration here would be airflow to the drive in the bay.

I personally think an 8800GTX is still more than what's needed. I have an 8800GTS 640MB in my lanbox, and it is enough for what I want to game with, and I've saved enough in comparison to a GTX, that when the next gen cards come out later next year, I won't feel like I wasted money on it when I replace it.

Good luck with 64-bit....in my opinion there's still a lot of work to do on it.

 

[MisterJesseJames]

The Lanbox HT is only available over at Europe and other countries... I doubt they will have the Lanbox HT available in the US. There maybe one or two companies overseas that will ship it to you, but the delivery cost will be expensive unless you really need that particular case. The only difference between the Lanbox Lite and the Lanbox HT is that the HT has an VFD/LCD display. You can probably modify the Lanbox Lite to have an VFD/LCD display.

Here's some suggestion for the parts (as well as save a few bucks):

Get the Corsair 520HX instead of the Enermax Liberty. You can get it at Buy.com for $99.99 + free shipping. It also comes with a $10 rebate as well as an additional $10 off if you use Google checkout and if you are their first time customer. ($79.99)
http://www.buy.com/prod/corsair-520w-sli-certified-modular-atx-power-supply/q/loc/101/203270716.html

Get the OCZ PC2-6400 instead of the Crucial Ballistix PC2-5400. You can order a 2GB stick at Zipzoomfly for $116.90 - $45.00 rebate = $71.90 with free shipping. The rebate is good for one person per address so to get an additional 2GB, have a relative or one of your friends who lives in a different address to order the additional 2GB stick for you. ($143.80)
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=85264

You can also get the Samsung DVD-RW drive for $10 cheaper + free shipping at Zipzoomfly as well.
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10005221

In terms of heat within the case, the power supply should be able to exhaust some of the heat around the processor unless you are planning to overclock it. If the additional 60mm fan is not enough to get rid of the heat around the video card, then you can add a slot cooler near the video card.

For the 1TB hard drive, personally I rather put a 150GB WD Raptor in there for my application and OS and use an USB hard drive for storage. Usually 300-400 GB is sufficient to store stuff in, because you can archive whatever stuff by burning it in the disc.
Because if an event that your 1TB hard drive ever goes bad due to mechanical failure (defects, lightning strike, etc.), you can kiss that $400 hard drive good-bye as well as the precciioouuss porn within it.
(Oh btw, warranty does not come with recovery of your porn)

 

[sleepeeg3]

Lol at the asian porn. Nice.

Personally, I think your build is a little ridiculous IMO. I'd never spend so much money on just one computer.

I would! Don't listen to him!

...but this...

ThermalTake A2413-01 7" flipout LCD Monitor - $350

What the heck - why? Totally unnecessary. Buy another 8800GTX or something. eVGA might end up making a SLI board...

I totally agree with everything the guy above me said. You might step it up to the 620w Corsair PSU, I don't know how much more expensive it is, but for an 8800GTX and a quad, you will probably need it.

I wouldn't waste money on 4GB. The claims Vista will need it are false. Actual usage is around 600MB, which is only about 150MB more than XP is using now. Even RAM hungry games barely peak over 1GB.

1TB? Massive overkill. If you want performance, go with the Raptors. The Seagate perpendicular drives are actually relatively slow. However, the new Hitachi 1TB drive is very close to the Raptor's performance.: http://www.storagereview.com/php/be...&numDrives=1&devID_0=309&devID_1=348&devCnt=2

I have found the LGs to be the quietest drives: http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10005425

 

[Mons]

Well they were the same price on July 22nd prices, and the games that I think would actually tax any recent CPU will take advantage of quad-cores such as Crysis, Supreme Commander, and Alan Wake... probably a few others. Good to know about the XP-120, if that offers superior cooling, but if consensus is that the quads really are too hot for this case then I'll go with the E6850 dual.

Yeah, I knew about the cage, otherwise I'd go with 2x500gb Barracuda 7200.10s... but I just don't like the cage there, seems like it blocks the intake fan. Is that not a problem with cooling? And yes, asian girls may be small, but HD quality movies of them are HUGE!

I am also considering a SFF box (sg01e or lanbox lite) with a q6600 (post 7/22) + GTS. Is a quad core too hot for a SFF box?

 

[Ducman69]

Dangit.. so the HT is really not comin' to the US, eh? They think Americans don't like home theaters? That front face looks so cool.

Regarding the thermaltake flipout LCD... its a TOUCHSCREEN flipout LCD... cmon, how awesome is that!

With the RAM, I was under the impression that Vista uses pretty hardcore superfetching, where it will preload as much as possible into memory, and not forget it after a reboot. So if you feed it 4GB, it'll actually use it, unlike XP. Sounds good on the OCZ PC2-6400 though. I just picked the other as in the motherboard thread peeps seemed to think it was a good OC'er. Vista was supposed to run faster in 64bit, and the creators of Crysis said it would get a 10-15% performance increase in that environment as well... dunno if its BS or not. I have extra licenses of XP sitting around, so can install that on a partition.

In terms of heat within the case, the power supply should be able to exhaust some of the heat around the processor unless you are planning to overclock it. If the additional 60mm fan is not enough to get rid of the heat around the video card, then you can add a slot cooler near the video card.

I guess I could get that XP120 and invert the fan then, as otherwise it seems to me the powersupply being just 100mm above the CPU would compete with the CPU fan. I thought about the slot cooler, but with the 8800 bringing the double-deuce slot action along with a TV-tuner, there's no room is there?

OK, thanks a bunch guys, the more info the better! Alright, well I'm overbudget with the LCD neways, and more importantly over the toaster oven heat bugdet it appears. Modified the list in the first post.

Oh btw, the intended use for this is in the kitchen connected to my Dell monitor that I use as a TV and for PC use, but I work nights where we have dead time from around 12-2AM, so would get some gaming action on and want to bring it to work. Hence the SFF! I like the handle on the Lanbox, but not the clear sides or the rounded front face so much. Figured I'd just find some kind of small bag for it.

 

[Skott]

My feeling is this... Is the Quadcore hot? Yeah, thats a proven fact. Hotter than a dual core anyway. Is a Quadcore too hot for a SFF? No, I do not think its 'too hot'. Just make sure you get a case with really good cooling and get the right hsf to go with it and you will be okay. OCing may be limited by temps though. Depends on case and setup. Seriously, some people are making it sound like you are going to get a meltdown if you put a quadcore in a SFF case. Thats not true.

 

[Ducman69]

Or actually, what if I used the same components posted above but put them in a Silverstone SG03 case with an NT06 Lite vampiring the hotness into the powersupply (probably kill the efficiency of the PS though I'm guessing)?

With two 120mm fans, do you all think this would offer superior cooling to allow for the quad and GTX? I'm not necessarily married to the Lanbox lite, and could toss her aside like the dirty pirate hooker she is if need be.

 

[MisterJesseJames]

Or actually, what if I used the same components posted above but put them in a Silverstone SG03 case with an NT06 Lite vampiring the hotness into the powersupply (probably kill the efficiency of the PS though I'm guessing)?

With two 120mm fans, do you all think this would offer superior cooling to allow for the quad and GTX? I'm not necessarily married to the Lanbox lite, and could toss her aside like the dirty pirate hooker she is if need be.

The SG03 looks like a nice case with great airflow, especially with the 2 120mm fan in the front to cool everything inside your case... should be adequate with the quad core. If you intend to overclock, you better put some high performance fan in there... you will sacrifice silence for performance.

The only downside to it is no 7" touchscreen monitor ... but at least that will save you $350 on your budget.

 

[TWO515TY]

I'm not gonna lie...I'm usually pretty good about making sure things I put in my build serve some function and aren't just a waste of money, but I'm pretty intrigued by that LCD touchscreen too. If I got one I'd have no real use for it, but it'd still be pretty damn cool.

Also, I'm pretty sure you can use any 7" single DIN LCD screen, it doesn't have to be the Thermaltake one.

 

[Ducman69]

Well the touchscreen for me would serve in the following situations:
1) I could use the SFF as a large (but powerful) AC power laptop, using the touchscreen as both keyboard and mouse.
2) While hooked up to the kitchen TV, can do a little work on the touchscreen while displaying TV on the 20".
3) For gaming, I'd use it as a second display, such as a 7" map to the left of my main monitor in multi-monitor games such as Supreme Commander (which is getting a huge update this year).

So theres some use to it, but if it means I'm going to burn myself on the case or sacrifice performance, then I may go with the SG03 if it offers superior cooling. Plus, the only thing I don't like about the touchscreen, is that I'd have to run a cable from outside the case back inside the case, but thats not TOO big a deal, just may look a little tacky. I didn't realize there were other foldout touchscreen 7" displays out, got linky links pleez? ^-^

Back to the SG03 though, so is consensus that it would be a much cooler running case than the Thermaltake Lanbox? Should I go with the same powersupply, or best to get something with a strong fan if using it with the NT06 Lite? I'd like to keep the noise down if possible.

 

[Skott]

I havent seen or heard of any qualitive tests showing which case runs cooler but on paper I would think the SG03 would do a better job. Thats just a guess though on my part. Maybe Dworley or someone that has both cases could chime in on that subject.

 

[eu_phorix]

Just wanted to let you know that a XP-120 will fit, with a fan, and there's still a little room. You're correct that using a fan is best (power supply can't pull enough), and reverse orientation so Fan will blow air up into powersupply, and powersupply will exhaust. (Might search for the corsair PS fan mod someone posted about...put a faster fan in PS if need it). My Enermax liberty does just fine, and I'm using a fast scythe 120 fan on the heatsink (it's very quiet though).

More details in my build post:
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1166883

Oh yeah, and I like the changes you made...looks like a much more realistic build, and you'll likely still get awesome performance. (About the only thing I don't care for in my build currently is the RaptorX. Honestly, the thing is crazy loud..I appreciate the speed of the raptors, but had I known it'd be this loud in the case, I'd been better served by going with 2 250's in RAID 0 or something like you're doing).

Nice Build

 

[Ducman69]

SANDURZ: "She gone from suck to blow!"

Updated the build to switch from the Blue Orb II sucking air down to the XP-120 blowing air up to the powersupply mounted down. Now that the power supply is having to cool not only itself but swallow the entire thermal load from the CPU, what do you think about this DUAL fan PS?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151029 (they make a 600 and 700 watt version too)
SeaSonic M12 SS-500HM ATX12V / EPS12V 500W Power Supply - $125

--Modular
--120mm fan + 60mm fan (pulling air in from case)
--Up to 85% efficient
--Approvals: UL, CE, CB, TUV, FCC

Yay or nay?

 

[shmitty]

check out Jonny Guru's site for all your power supply questions I would link it but what I remember it being they have blocked as a personnel's site here at work....

 

[Zoogle]

M12 is a good power supply but the second 60mm fan makes it a bit noisier than other Seasonics. I saw someone post the Corsair HX620/520 and I would second that suggestion as they are FINE power supplies (I've got a 520 in my P180). Other than that, I would really think hard on that touchscreen LCD. It's a cool little gadget but $350 buys a lot of nice hardware.

If you're seriously worried about temps, I would consider putting some work into doing some ducting to drive airflow to problem spots. XP-120 is good but make sure it fits on the board and that you won't have any clearance problems. I don't remember but I think the XP-120 became the SI-120 or the other way around...

With your HD choices, I'd probably look into the newer T166 series by Samsung. They are reportedly a bit faster and quieter than the Seagates as well as drawing less power and generating less heat. Lastly, consider a 2x2GB set of RAM instead of 4x1GB. The load on the memory power circuitry will be a little lower and you might find a set that can run at 1T instead of 2T.

All in all, a decent set up. I wish I had as much money as you to splurge at once... A college student can only do so much these days...

 

[TWO515TY]

If you're seriously worried about temps, I would consider putting some work into doing some ducting to drive airflow to problem spots. XP-120 is good but make sure it fits on the board and that you won't have any clearance problems. I don't remember but I think the XP-120 became the SI-120 or the other way around... /QUOTE]

The XP-120 was replaced with the SI-120, but the SI-120 won't fit in most mATX cases, at least not with a fan. It's already 90mm tall by itself, whch is about the limit for most mATX cases.

 

[Zoogle]

Ah, thanks for the correction, I was fuzzy on the details.

 

[SEALTeamSix]

Since you're looking for advice, I'll give my $.02:

1)The Processor

E6750 = E6850 with a lower multi, and $55 less
For your purposes, the E6750 will be identical to the E6850

If you don't need the absolutely most cutting edge, you can get an E6420 for $180 or so...
That's another $45 less, or $100 less than an E6850

Don't forget that E6420's are still great processors and overclock VERY well...

2) The RAM

Also, if it were me getting RAM, I would get 2x2gb instead of 4x1gb. 8gb isn't out of the question (providing you have a 64-bit OS), and 4x1gb doesn't allow 8gb. Honestly, if I were putting a new mid/high end build together, I would get 8gb and let it fly.

3) Hard Drive(s)

I would get one or two 500gb hard drives, instead of 250gb drives. 500gb drives offer better performance than 250gb drives, slightly better price / gig, have better storage capacity, take up less room, use less power, etc... I would drop in a WD500AAKS or some other similarly fast drive.

4) PSU

I'm not hip to the space requirements for your case and the particulars of each PSU, but I do know that you could pick up a quality modular 500W PSU for less than $125. For $30, I picked up a very reliable, well-reviewed 480W Antec TruePower 2. For ~$125, you could get a 750W ToughPower PSU. There are deals on PSUs to be had without skimping on quality - you just have to look for them. The PSU section has a thread on this. I'll bet you could save another $50 on your PSU.

5) 7" LCD

Do you really need it? Would you use it? Really??? $350 could buy you a nice 22" LCD + a nice speaker setup, or 3/4 of a 24" LCD. It could also pay 1/2 or more of a month's worth of rent. Or that 8gb of RAM I spoke of earlier. Or 350 Junior Bacon Cheeseburgers... All I'm saying is that $350 is a lot of clams that could go toward a lot of things.

Anyway, that's my advice - I hope it helps.

 

[sleepeeg3]

Regarding the thermaltake flipout LCD... its a TOUCHSCREEN flipout LCD... cmon, how awesome is that!

Ya they are going to be in 100% of new cars in the near future and many ATMs already have them so the novelty will wear off fast. Plus here is another difference – they are used! It's like MS Surface - total gimmick.

Well the touchscreen for me would serve in the following situations:
1) I could use the SFF as a large (but powerful) AC power laptop, using the touchscreen as both keyboard and mouse.
2) While hooked up to the kitchen TV, can do a little work on the touchscreen while displaying TV on the 20".
3) For gaming, I'd use it as a second display, such as a 7" map to the left of my main monitor in multi-monitor games such as Supreme Commander (which is getting a huge update this year).

1. You are going to lug this 20lb beast to where?
2. Unplugging all the cables and moving into the kitchen for the 5 minutes you are in there? Hmm…
3. That would be nice if possible, but you could buy a bigger LCD and put it even with your 20”, maybe even for some dual headed gaming! Much cooler, cheaper and more practical.

 

[Ducman69]

Yeah, I have one in my Vette already, and if it works well there, why not on your comp? And I may be no body builder, but I think I can handle lugging 20lbs on vaca to relatives, LAN party, or to work (work nights), heh. It wouldn't be in the kitchen 5 mins, that'd be its pretty permanent spot (have other comps in the house). Another LCD isn't a bad idea, but on a "portable desktop", I figure this way I always have an interface as long as I have a power cord since the screen can be both a keyboard and mouse in a pinch. Neways, not so much worried about that part, as thats just a matter of personal preference rather than technical issue... cept the being used part, that would worry me, but haven't seen any evidence of that. *scratching head*

 

[sleepeeg3]

Your call man, I think it would just be a waste. I have one in my car and it's awesome, but I use it constantly and only to listen to music. I know personally how much I move my MicroFly and it's basically never, because it's a hassle unplugging all of the cables and then making several trips to move the LCD, cables and all the gear for what purpose? The weight just ensures you won't be doing it all in one trip. If you have several PCs already you will be even less likely to move it around.

The only real utility I can see would be having it hooked up to a bigscreen TV and using it to playback movies or music. That's about my only motivation for moving my MicroFly.

Your money, your build, just think about it.

 

[Ducman69]

I don't think you are understanding here... I have a computer in my home office, two HTPCs, a laptop in my bedroom, and one in the guest room. I'm not going to be moving this INSIDE my house, heh.

I used to just bring my laptop (old Inspiron 9300 w/ XPS internals) to LAN parties, to my work, and on vacations, but it only has a 120 gig harddrive, single core 2.1Ghz, and 7800GTX in it, so the performance is really only acceptable on last generation games. The plan is to replace that with a "portable desktop" w/ a TV tuner that will fit in the little kitchen nook (and replace my non-HD crappy little Viewsonic tuner) but that is also powerful enough to bring in to work on my way out to play Crysis and Supreme Commander and the like and have at least 500gigs of storage for high-def stored content.

The only thing to disconnect would be a single DVI cable and little wireless USB stick for the keyboard/mouse, and just have a simple switch at work that I plug into so I can switch the mouse/keyboard and screen (well I have 3x 20"ers there) control over when needed. I can't be the only one thats thought about using a SFF as a super-powerful AC power laptop before???