Sonata I, meet Sonata III

[cvrefugee]

I apologize for making a thread when a single post in the New Toys thread may be more appropriate, but I'm so freaking excited I had to share my joy with all of you! My last computer I built was back in April 2004, which I named Sonata (after the Antec case). It has undergone various upgrades since then, and at its final configuration it consisted of:

• Intel Pentium 4 @3.4GHz (Prescott)
• Abit IS7
• 2GB DDR400 Kingston HyperX
• eVGA 6800GT 256MB w/Accelero X1
• 80GB + 400GB Seagate PATA
• SoundBlaster Audigy SE
• Plextor Premium 52X
• NEC 3520AW DVDRW
• Scythe Katana Cu
• Antec Sonata case + 380w PSU

It has been running Vista since the betas and still runs it very well. However, I believe the motherboard has been slowly dying. The onboard audio gave out a few months ago and the computer as a whole has been slowing down ever since I installed SP1. I haven't been able to game on it for a long time since I was stuck with AGP. Well, last Friday (on the 4th of July) I decided to check out the sale over at Fry's Electronics. When I left I ended up with this (and other stuff I bought online):

• Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 @3.0GHz
• ECS G31T-M
• 2GB DDR2 800 Crucial Ballistix
• Asus Radeon 4850 512MB
• WD 150GB Raptor X + 640GB SATA
• Optiarc AD-7190S DVDRW
• Zalman 9700CNPS LED
• Antec Sonata III + 500w PSU
• Seagate Freeagent 750GB

After rebates ($100) this entire system will only cost me just a hair over $800. Yes, I know the motherboard sucks and I don't have 4GB of RAM, but it will serve me well. If any of you are curious how I got so much stuff for such a cheap price I can tell you how much I spent on each item. You won't believe the prices! Here are some pics:

I tried my best at cable management using 3/8" plastic tubing


The Zalman HSF is beautiful AND dangerous


The Raptor is loud but really fast


I love the minimalist design of the Sonata series

[L2D]

I've got a Sonata III as well. I must say it is pretty damn quiet.

The parts in your case look very organised and simple. My cables are all over the place

Make sure you clean your dust filter. I had so much dust after the 2nd week.

[Shawn]

Nice system - E8400 FTW!!!

Don't feel bad about your cable organization, mine is much worse... but it's an HTPC case, so I gots an excuse.

[cvrefugee]

Everything is running great, only two issues have come up so far:

1. The video card fan runs at only 10%, which makes it super quiet but also super hot. You have to create a profile in the CCC, edit the .xml file and change the fan speed to 40-50%. This obviously made it louder, but also dropped the idle temperature from 80C to 50C.

2. The motherboard is decent but cheap. You can't really OC since there is no voltage control, only FSB. Also, the onboard LAN has issues on a cold boot or restart. I have to unplug the cable, reset the network adapter, then plug it back in. Sometimes I have to do this several times before it works. I may end up buying a cheap NIC and call it a day. Eventually I might replace the entire motherboard when I decided to do some OCing.

And if anyone says I wasted money on the Raptor, I bought two for $99 each and plan on selling the extra one for $150...making it a $50 HDD

[Wizegui]

Mind if I have your old computer? Thats a pretty solid looking setup there, but I really wouldn't recommend an ECS motherboard. My old K7S5a was complete trash, and was woefully spartan (mind you I got it along with an AMD Duron 1.2 for free). I seriously need a new PC. You just know something is wrong when the old PC of another person is still better than your current rig

[Shawn]

^ Well his old system is quite good still. I built a new computer about 2 months back, but my previous machine was quite dated.

If you're looking for parts in Canada just hit up NCIX.com as they have similar prices to Newegg. In fact, a few of the pieces I got from NCIX were cheaper than on Newegg due to some sales and discounts.

Oh, and I forgot to mention in my first post, when I first read the thread title I thought cvrefugee had bought a Huyndai Sonata.

[cvrefugee]

Originally Posted by Wizegui

Mind if I have your old computer? Thats a pretty solid looking setup there, but I really wouldn't recommend an ECS motherboard. My old K7S5a was complete trash, and was woefully spartan (mind you I got it along with an AMD Duron 1.2 for free). I seriously need a new PC. You just know something is wrong when the old PC of another person is still better than your current rig

The motherboard was free so I don't mind using it right now. I looked online and it actually got some pretty solid reviews. As for my old computer, I'll be parting it out online this week. The CPU goes for $80+ on eBay alone (fastest chip for Socket 478, excluding the EE). The heavy stuff I'll probably post up on Craigslist.

Originally Posted by Shawn

Oh, and I forgot to mention in my first post, when I first read the thread title I thought cvrefugee had bought a Huyndai Sonata.

I didn't think of that

[Ilpav]

Originally Posted by Shawn

^ Well his old system is quite good still. I built a new computer about 2 months back, but my previous machine was quite dated.

If you're looking for parts in Canada just hit up NCIX.com as they have similar prices to Newegg. In fact, a few of the pieces I got from NCIX were cheaper than on Newegg due to some sales and discounts.

Oh, and I forgot to mention in my first post, when I first read the thread title I thought cvrefugee had bought a Huyndai Sonata.

I went to NCIX when I was shopping for my video card, but I found a website with considerably cheaper prices. Although, I didn't buy my DFP from them, because I found another place by searching on pricegrabber that had the wheel listed as more expensive, but shipping was a lot less, which brought the overall price lower. Direct Canada is located in BC, so shipping won't be as much if you live in BC.

[cvrefugee]

A few questions:

When I first put together the system, the BIOS reported idle temps of 25C, after I installed my video card it went up to 32C. Using CoreTemp/RealTemp/SpeedFan give me totally different temp readings. Are these accurate? I just re-seated the HSF and the temps went down a little bit (1 or 2 degrees).

With the stock BIOS I could not disable SpeedStep, so I updated it to the latest version which subsequently fixed that issue. Is SpeedStep useful and should I leave it enabled or disabled?

My Zalman is running around 1200rpm (lowest setting) and so is the exhaust fan. Would raising the fan speed help with the temp issues?

Last question: RealTemp is telling me that Core 0 has a stuck sensor. Should I exchange the CPU at Fry's or is this a non-issue? The idle temp is stuck at 44C (or 54C with CoreTemp).

[Crazyjeeper]

Originally Posted by cvrefugee

A few questions:

When I first put together the system, the BIOS reported idle temps of 25C, after I installed my video card it went up to 32C. Using CoreTemp/RealTemp/SpeedFan give me totally different temp readings. Are these accurate? I just re-seated the HSF and the temps went down a little bit (1 or 2 degrees).

With the stock BIOS I could not disable SpeedStep, so I updated it to the latest version which subsequently fixed that issue. Is SpeedStep useful and should I leave it enabled or disabled?

My Zalman is running around 1200rpm (lowest setting) and so is the exhaust fan. Would raising the fan speed help with the temp issues?

You could turn the fan up, but I would not call 32C a "temperature issue". My E8400 on a stock cooler in an extremely well ventilated case (CM 690) is at 43C at idle.

Originally Posted by cvrefugee

Last question: RealTemp is telling me that Core 0 has a stuck sensor. Should I exchange the CPU at Fry's or is this a non-issue? The idle temp is stuck at 44C (or 54C with CoreTemp).

Dunno on that one

[cvrefugee]

That's what I don't understand. Core 0 reports 44C idle while Core 1 reports 39C idle. I believe the BIOS has a sensor somewhere else, which reports 32C. The new BIOS also took away the temperature monitoring feature (stupid ECS). I re-enabled SpeedStep just so the CPU doesn't work so hard. Vista gave me a 5.0 for the CPU when enabled (running at 2GHz) and a 5.6 when disabled (3GHz). Go figure that one out!

I'm just going to leave everything how it is. I just thought the Zalman would provide me with a really low idle temp. BTW here are my HD Tune results:






The new WD 640GB is a monster! It kills the Raptor except in access time, which is still better when it comes to loading programs and stuff.

[argatoga]

I would guess that perhaps your thermal compound isn't spread evenly across the chip.

[cvrefugee]

Originally Posted by argatoga

I would guess that perhaps your thermal compound isn't spread evenly across the chip.

I used the Zalman thermal grease that came with the HSF. Comes in a little bottle (silver in color) and a brush, sort of like nail polish. I applied enough to cover the entire head spreader, a pretty thin layer. Should I apply it differently?

[argatoga]

Originally Posted by cvrefugee

I used the Zalman thermal grease that came with the HSF. Comes in a little bottle (silver in color) and a brush, sort of like nail polish. I applied enough to cover the entire head spreader, a pretty thin layer. Should I apply it differently?

If it was evenly spread then I don't see an issue.

[cvrefugee]

At full load the temps never get past 55C, so I should be good then?

[awdrifter]

55C is fine for Intel chips. You don't have to worry.

[matt2000]

A very nice and tidy system there. Looks pretty good. If you think that's messy, you should see my case. It's the same size but the motherboard fills it and there are cables squashed up against the side window. There's still a good airflow through it though.

I hope you have many happy computings.

[Cobol74]

Really, really nice machine you got there - I approve muchly. ...