asingh
Aspiring Novelist
Hi Friends,
I finally got my new system:
Configuration and Prices(inclusive of taxes):
Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 INR 6000.00
Corsair CMPSU-650TX INR 6930.00
Corsir TWIN2X4096-8500C5 4GBkit INR 4883.00
MSI P45 PLATINUM INR 9738.00
Powercolor HD4890 1GB GDDR5 INR 15888.00
Coolermaster 690 Black(Transparent) INR 4552.00
Sourcing, Purchasing, and Supply Chain:
All equipment was purchased from Lynx India, and shipped by Shikawati Couriers as suggested by Amarbir. I have given Lynx some feed back. It can be read here.
Configuration Review:
Am not writing about system benchmarks, and overclocking as of yet. Just some general feedback, things which I noticed, during installation and initial runs.
Intel Core 2 Duo E7400:
Is a standard C2D processor. The stock heat sink supplied with this is really crappy. Like a piece of tin. I wish I had ordered an after-market cooler. Will probably get one in the future. Though my system is at around 58-59 degrees, under normal load. Last time I saw a stock cooler was back in 2006 for my old system (P4), the quality was better. Even the connector plastic rods are flimsy. Lousy packaging, just an Intel carboard box, nothing much to protect the CPU.
Corsair CMPSU-650TX:
Good robust powerful PSU. Is really heavy, and has a LOT of cables, which are thick. Need a good cable management system, to tame this beast. Has all the connectors generally needed (for example 2 PCI Express Connectors 6+2 Format, 20+4 ATX Connector). The packaging is excellent, comes in a hard sturdy box, with styrafoam inserts.
Corsir TWIN2X4096-8500C5 4GBkit:
Physically appealing. Has steel plates, on both sides. Yet to test the full potential, cause am still on XP-32 BIT, and am not able to get the RAM to run at 1066 MHz.
Decent packaging.
MSI P45 PLATINUM:
Well this is a big one. Came in a nice package, with standard accessories. Looks strong and sturdy, and has a lot of connectors. The manual is really really bad. I had to do almost a day of NET research to find things out. I think it has been directly transalated from Chinese or something. The packaged driver CDs are bad. They did not auto-fire, had to manually browse each folder, and install. Also had to update the BIOS to AMV 1.6. One CD labeled "MSI Extras' was blank. Also the Driver CD's do not run in Safe mode (where I usually install my drivers). The heatsink with MSI written on it...gets slightly in the way of the CPU Cooler. One thing which I liked, a lot of Fan connectors, are thrown all over the place. This way I was not using MOLEX connectors for the fan. Has a lot of diagnostic LEDs, which give a good shine, but I find pointless. The Dual Core Center is a useless piece of software. Really hard to understand. Will rather OC using the BIOS.
Powercolor HD4890 1GB GDDR5:
First thing first. This card is BIG, and this card is HEAVY. Comes in beautiful packaged case, with some accessories. Installed all the drivers from the guru3d site. I am sure the CD has legacy ones. At idle (fan speed = 25%) the temperatures is 60 degrees. The fan does make a bit of noise at full throttle. The clocks 'power down' when not rendering 3D. Am getting good game play, but cannot quote statistics, since my system is not optimized as yet. But I was able to play Crysis, at customized levels, at 1440 + 900 with decent FPS. No stuttering. The affects are awesome. Games look great. This card has great headroom for OC. CCC takes while to get used to after being a nVidia user for years.
Coolermaster 690 Black(Transparent):
Heavy cabinet. Gosh..must be 10KG. I even cut my forearms, at two places, picking this monster up. Came with 3 built in fans, front (near drive bays -- blue LED), left side and one exhaust near the top back. Has space for 4 more. All fan ducts have filters. I put in 3 more. Some panels have to be removed for instalation. Like the front one, and top, and right. The front and top are IMPOSSIBLE to remove..I really had to put in all my strength. The cable management hooks (inside) and the start/reset button are of cheap plastic quality. You get like 12 spacers and 32 screws. (For some reason Coolermaster screws the 32 screws in the drive bay holes. Very difficult to find. I read that in a review on newegg.com.) The cabinet has a lot of steel mesh and seems sturdy. Only has 2 USB ports up front, that too on the top. Comes in a good case, to keep the chassis secure during transit. The transparent panel gives an UBER look to the system.
Issues:
1. Am not sure if the Powercolor fan is running at dynamic speeds. Will have to figure that out. Though it is running cool as of now.
2. Am not being able to run the RAM at 1066 speed. How should I do that. I even went to the BIOS and changed the setting but not working. Made it 5-5-5-18. Still runs at lower speeds.
3. Need to upgrde to XP - 32 bit soon.
Last but not the least, thanks to you all for the help / suggestions. I always come to this place for advice.
Some images:
*img196.imageshack.us/img196/426/gpu.gif
*img252.imageshack.us/img252/9577/cpumem.jpg
*img252.imageshack.us/img252/3774/dsc00623.jpg
*img40.imageshack.us/img40/8784/sytemanil.jpg
regards,
Anil Singh
I finally got my new system:
Configuration and Prices(inclusive of taxes):
Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 INR 6000.00
Corsair CMPSU-650TX INR 6930.00
Corsir TWIN2X4096-8500C5 4GBkit INR 4883.00
MSI P45 PLATINUM INR 9738.00
Powercolor HD4890 1GB GDDR5 INR 15888.00
Coolermaster 690 Black(Transparent) INR 4552.00
Sourcing, Purchasing, and Supply Chain:
All equipment was purchased from Lynx India, and shipped by Shikawati Couriers as suggested by Amarbir. I have given Lynx some feed back. It can be read here.
Configuration Review:
Am not writing about system benchmarks, and overclocking as of yet. Just some general feedback, things which I noticed, during installation and initial runs.
Intel Core 2 Duo E7400:
Is a standard C2D processor. The stock heat sink supplied with this is really crappy. Like a piece of tin. I wish I had ordered an after-market cooler. Will probably get one in the future. Though my system is at around 58-59 degrees, under normal load. Last time I saw a stock cooler was back in 2006 for my old system (P4), the quality was better. Even the connector plastic rods are flimsy. Lousy packaging, just an Intel carboard box, nothing much to protect the CPU.
Corsair CMPSU-650TX:
Good robust powerful PSU. Is really heavy, and has a LOT of cables, which are thick. Need a good cable management system, to tame this beast. Has all the connectors generally needed (for example 2 PCI Express Connectors 6+2 Format, 20+4 ATX Connector). The packaging is excellent, comes in a hard sturdy box, with styrafoam inserts.
Corsir TWIN2X4096-8500C5 4GBkit:
Physically appealing. Has steel plates, on both sides. Yet to test the full potential, cause am still on XP-32 BIT, and am not able to get the RAM to run at 1066 MHz.
Decent packaging.
MSI P45 PLATINUM:
Well this is a big one. Came in a nice package, with standard accessories. Looks strong and sturdy, and has a lot of connectors. The manual is really really bad. I had to do almost a day of NET research to find things out. I think it has been directly transalated from Chinese or something. The packaged driver CDs are bad. They did not auto-fire, had to manually browse each folder, and install. Also had to update the BIOS to AMV 1.6. One CD labeled "MSI Extras' was blank. Also the Driver CD's do not run in Safe mode (where I usually install my drivers). The heatsink with MSI written on it...gets slightly in the way of the CPU Cooler. One thing which I liked, a lot of Fan connectors, are thrown all over the place. This way I was not using MOLEX connectors for the fan. Has a lot of diagnostic LEDs, which give a good shine, but I find pointless. The Dual Core Center is a useless piece of software. Really hard to understand. Will rather OC using the BIOS.
Powercolor HD4890 1GB GDDR5:
First thing first. This card is BIG, and this card is HEAVY. Comes in beautiful packaged case, with some accessories. Installed all the drivers from the guru3d site. I am sure the CD has legacy ones. At idle (fan speed = 25%) the temperatures is 60 degrees. The fan does make a bit of noise at full throttle. The clocks 'power down' when not rendering 3D. Am getting good game play, but cannot quote statistics, since my system is not optimized as yet. But I was able to play Crysis, at customized levels, at 1440 + 900 with decent FPS. No stuttering. The affects are awesome. Games look great. This card has great headroom for OC. CCC takes while to get used to after being a nVidia user for years.
Coolermaster 690 Black(Transparent):
Heavy cabinet. Gosh..must be 10KG. I even cut my forearms, at two places, picking this monster up. Came with 3 built in fans, front (near drive bays -- blue LED), left side and one exhaust near the top back. Has space for 4 more. All fan ducts have filters. I put in 3 more. Some panels have to be removed for instalation. Like the front one, and top, and right. The front and top are IMPOSSIBLE to remove..I really had to put in all my strength. The cable management hooks (inside) and the start/reset button are of cheap plastic quality. You get like 12 spacers and 32 screws. (For some reason Coolermaster screws the 32 screws in the drive bay holes. Very difficult to find. I read that in a review on newegg.com.) The cabinet has a lot of steel mesh and seems sturdy. Only has 2 USB ports up front, that too on the top. Comes in a good case, to keep the chassis secure during transit. The transparent panel gives an UBER look to the system.
Issues:
1. Am not sure if the Powercolor fan is running at dynamic speeds. Will have to figure that out. Though it is running cool as of now.
2. Am not being able to run the RAM at 1066 speed. How should I do that. I even went to the BIOS and changed the setting but not working. Made it 5-5-5-18. Still runs at lower speeds.
3. Need to upgrde to XP - 32 bit soon.
Last but not the least, thanks to you all for the help / suggestions. I always come to this place for advice.
Some images:
*img196.imageshack.us/img196/426/gpu.gif
*img252.imageshack.us/img252/9577/cpumem.jpg
*img252.imageshack.us/img252/3774/dsc00623.jpg
*img40.imageshack.us/img40/8784/sytemanil.jpg
regards,
Anil Singh
Last edited:
