Official Conroe information thread

[Eldonko]

Quiet in here lately.. You guys getting 680i or RD600 boards?

[Dan-Baer]

I have a 680i, Asus Striker Extreme on order. Not only are the options and specs very impressive it is also constructed with solid capacitors instead of electrolytics. That will help give back some of the reliability that we are loosing because of the garbage lead free provisions of RoHS.

I hope to get my board in the next few weeks, right now they are hard to come by.

[fvbounty]

Originally Posted by Dan-Baer

I have a 680i, Asus Striker Extreme on order. Not only are the options and specs very impressive it is also constructed with solid capacitors instead of electrolytics. That will help give back some of the reliability that we are loosing because of the garbage lead free provisions of RoHS.

I hope to get my board in the next few weeks, right now they are hard to come by.

It looks like it's going to be a winner, can't wait for your review....

[Eldonko]

Very nice. I am going with the DFI RD600 for now, and will probably get a 680i board in Jan 07. Christmas time means Im not allowed to buy everything for myself anymore heh.

[Dan-Baer]

I know what you mean. My Christmas list:
Pair of Raptors and a big WD Cav.
Qx6700 or a C2D Ex.
4 Gb DDR2
8800 GTX
Perhaps a few optical drives in the stocking :-)

After all she is going to get my present rig so I can't use the componnents from it.

Ths only report I can give so far on the new rig is that an Enermax Galaxy 1000w does not fit in a Tt ARmor case without using a dremel but a BFG 1000w does, barely but you have to remove the top usb, 1304 ports first.

[fvbounty]

Originally Posted by Dan-Baer

I know what you mean. My Christmas list:
Pair of Raptors and a big WD Cav.
Qx6700 or a C2D Ex.
4 Gb DDR2
8800 GTX
Perhaps a few optical drives in the stocking :-)

After all she is going to get my present rig so I can't use the componnents from it.

Ths only report I can give so far on the new rig is that an Enermax Galaxy 1000w does not fit in a Tt ARmor case without using a dremel but a BFG 1000w does, barely but you have to remove the top usb, 1304 ports first.

Thats a shame that Enermax wouldn't fit, looks like a really nice PS....

[Dan-Baer]

Yes but the Enermax is HUGE, almost 9" long when you condider the necessary cable clearence and it is heavy, almost 10 Lbs. The specs on the BFG are also quite good and it was my second choice. I have tested it under 80% load and all voltages are rock solid so far. Of course the acid test is when it goes live.

[fvbounty]

Originally Posted by Dan-Baer

Yes but the Enermax is HUGE, almost 9" long when you condider the necessary cable clearence and it is heavy, almost 10 Lbs. The specs on the BFG are also quite good and it was my second choice. I have tested it under 80% load and all voltages are rock solid so far. Of course the acid test is when it goes live.

I just measured my Silerstone J03 case and its really big and I don't think it will fit in it, I have a 120mm blowhole instead of 80mm and the Enermax would hit the fan...

[BKA]

Originally Posted by Dan-Baer

Ths only report I can give so far on the new rig is that an Enermax Galaxy 1000w does not fit in a Tt ARmor case without using a dremel but a BFG 1000w does, barely but you have to remove the top usb, 1304 ports first.

How are you liking that TT Armor case. I absolutely love mine. Plenty of room to work in. The best air flow from any case I've owned. Too bad about the Enermax won't fit in it.

[Dan-Baer]

So far I really like the Armor case, the aluminum version is not heavy at all. The aluminum seems a little thin in places but it is sturdy and well engineered. There are some sharp edges and the manual was written by someone from the dark side of the moon just learning english but overall I like my choice and rate the case highly. I got the one with the 250 fan on the side as I really do not want to liquid cool. I intend to only OC about 10% so with the new generation of Intel chips that should work. I am planing on four hard drives, the two Raptors in RAID 0 for Apps and the OS, a large storage drive for data, Pics, music Etc and a small Raptor that I have for a secure data storage for client information. The large size and many options is mainly whi I choose the Armor. The wings are a little loose and tend to flop and rattle but a little heat shrink tubing on the hinge shafts will fix that. The case looks good too. I am not 14 years old and do not want some flashy painted cartoonish look,the Armor is impressive but not in a garish way.
So far so good.

[BKA]

I have the steel version and boy is that sucka heavy when moving it with all components inside. I have 4 hard drives in mine also, two at the top in the cage and two in the front. Same setup as you plan too, 2 are RAID for OS and apps. Although I have the other two in RAID also with Vista and backup docs on partitions.

I've had mine a couple of years I think, so no side fan but case temps still stay incredibly low. Good luck!

My kittens like to rub up against the flaps, go figure.

[Dan-Baer]

OK, I have now had a few days really working with the Armor case. I absolutly love it. It is very easy to work with and gives you many options. It is light but really sturdy. So far best case I have owned. Now if my Mobo would just come in :-)

[LongView]

I hope some of the experienced users here can help with a quick question because I'm finding the world of DDR2 memory quite baffling despite doing lots of research. I'm currently upgrading my rig and have the following components already:

XFX 7600GT 256MB PCIE Dual-DVI
Core 2 Duo E6600 (2.4GHz)

I have decided on the ASUS P5B DELUXE/WIFI motherboard and have ordered a single Corsair TWIN2X2048-5400 DDR2 to go with this. I did look at PC6400 but since I am limited on budget, and after reading Tom's Hardware, I decided to save some money and go with the PC5400 instead which hopefully will not have too great an impact on performance.

My questions is this: Have I selected the right memory to match with the processor and if so is the memory a good choice to match with this motherboard? I should add that this is all intended to build a Vista desktop machine not a gaming machine.

[Eldonko]

Vista requires a lot of RAM (2-4GB) so a 1 gig stick is a good start since you can easily add one (or three) later. And yes that mem should work with a P5B np.

[LongView]

Thanks for the response and sorry I didn't follow up sooner but it appears my notification got lost in the post somewhere... The TWIN2X2048-5400 is a 2GB kit which although a drop from my current 4GB the cost of upgrading the four main components means I'll have to wait a while to get back up to 4GB on the new machine.

In the end that memory wasn't available, or at least my supplier has stopped selling it now, so I decided to keep with my original plan (although a little more expensive) and get TWIN2X2048-6400C4 which should hopefully give me a little room to grow should the FSB landscape change in the future.

Thanks again for the response. Hopefully MB and RAM will be delivered today and then I have all the components I need unless I decide to change the case as well (I'm leaing towards the NZXT Lexa case right now).