680i Quad Gaming Rig **1st Build** v2.0

Posted:
August 7th 2007
Updated:
Viewed:
17,426 times
Rating:
Excellent (5.6)
Voting Graph 11 votes total
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Key Features:
Intel CPU NVIDIA Graphics Water-cooled
System Specs:
  • Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4 GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 @ 2.86 GHz
  • Gigabyte LGA 775 nvidia nforce 680i SLI ATX Intel
  • Gigabyte 3d Galaxy Water Cooling 2
  • Crucial Ballistix Tracer 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM 800 PC2 6400 @ 905 Freq 4-4-4-10 1T
  • XFX 8800Ultra 768MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 XXX Edition
  • Seagate Barracuda 320GB 7200 RPM SATA
  • LITE ON 20x DVD+-R with lightscribe SATA
  • Antec 900
  • Antec 850w Quatro
  • Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit
3DMark06 Benchmark: 13127 5.9 rating on Vista Rating. Revised a little here and there. Did some drimmel work, did alot of wire management. Any input would be favorable, still trying to organize this system! Tell me how to get a 10!
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39 Comments on 680i Quad Gaming Rig **1st Build** v2.0

#1
Ravenas
Also, thanks to the wire management my system dropped 3 degrees in temperature!
Posted on Reply
#2
DrunkenMafia
nice rig man, I must say I don't like that water cooler myself..


What sort of temps do you get on there..


Good job
Posted on Reply
#3
Ravenas
No more than 25 degrees celcius idle. Doesn't go over 38 degrees celcius at max load.
Posted on Reply
#4
Ravenas
Added some more pictures for more detail and to see what drimmeling I did.
Posted on Reply
#5
demonbrawn
That is NICE! Nice hardware in there man and good cable management.
Posted on Reply
#8
Unregistered
nice watercooling very nice and your radiator is blue cool stay cool

go see my lamborstyle and koment and voted if you want beacuase a give you a 7
#10
technicks
Very nice. Like the watercooling kit.
8 from me.
Posted on Reply
#11
KennyT772
You still need to remove the two valves from the loop, they are rather restricive and if you add a gpu block to them you will have serious flow issues. Not to mention you wouldn't have to use as much tubing and it would give less clutter.

I would also change the loop around as the most restrictive part is your rad. Pump>Rad>Block>Res>Pump should improve things a bit and it will improve clutter and lessen the amount of tubing.

All of this depends on how much tubing you have left though.

Ziptie your fan switches out of the way too, they are unsightly and I doubt you change those much.

Vote pending responce.
Posted on Reply
#12
Ravenas
Just wondering, what can I do to get a 10 (from those of you who voted 9 or less)?
Posted on Reply
#13
sneekypeet
not-so supermod
Much better this time around, I gave you an 8/10. Much cleaner wire management, could use a coat of paint on the interior,only my opinion tho. Very nice recovery from V1.0
Posted on Reply
#14
Chewy
NIce man good work but a 10 requires more modding eg. running the cables like a crazyman and cuttin up your case lol.. in otherwords a perfect 10 (from me atleast) has to be modded to the tits! I do give you a 9/10 now but I would like to see that cpu have a higher overclock, I dont understand why it wont go HIGHER! Looks like the water cooling is doing its job well, if you could get to 3.4ghz I think your temps will still be under 55c or so and 50 gaming. which is perfect.
Posted on Reply
#15
Ravenas
Yeah...Today I tried a little OCing, for some reason I had this result...

With a 360 fsb with a 9x multiplier and 893 4-4-4-12 @ 1T it would but past the Vista login screen, but when loading up explorer.exe, it crashed.
Posted on Reply
#16
Chewy
I personally dont know why it does that :P humm

I figured a 680i board would be able to handle a higher fsb than that.. you have a newer bios on it ? Ive been told to use a 1/2 ratio fsb/ram.. so I use like 450fsb and 900mhz ram x7 witch gives me 3.15ghz on my c2d. you could trya 1/2 ratio (or however exactly they put it) but try like 400fsb with 800mhz ram.. well you get the drift oh and do that with a x7 multi.. do you have a x7 multi? that will give you 2.8ghz.. see if it works than up it little by little. hope that works out for you.
Posted on Reply
#17
p_o_s_pc
F@H&WCG addict
I voted 4/10 because:

I don't like the case but clean look.
Posted on Reply
#18
Ravenas
4/10 for the case? Awesome.

----
by p_o_s_pc (July 27th - 5:55 AM) - Reply
I like it wish i would have done different when i was getting stuff to build my rig.
----

Above is your post on sneeky peet's Antec 900, please give more information.
Posted on Reply
#19
p_o_s_pc
F@H&WCG addict
sorry i would have gave higher but the case i am not a big fan of. You did vary good on the WM and water cooling.
Posted on Reply
#20
TXcharger
shoot i dont prefer that case, i love the design on the stacker...

but i still gave him a 10, thats an amazing computer bro
Posted on Reply
#21
Ravenas
Thanks man, I appreciate that!
Posted on Reply
#22
tbuzz2
Water Cooling

9/10 That water cooling set up is bad ass GOOD JOB:) Cable management is also great and the case is ok
Posted on Reply
#23
p_o_s_pc
F@H&WCG addict
hell man i had to give you higher so i gave you 7
Posted on Reply
#24
Ravenas
p_o_s_pchell man i had to give you higher so i gave you 7
I no longer trust your grading scale.
Posted on Reply
#25
p_o_s_pc
F@H&WCG addict
sorry about that after looking at the case and the WM also the specs again i put aside that i don't like the case and gave you a new rating.
Posted on Reply
#26
Robert_GameXpert
Excellent build so I will give a 7 - I would think to get a 10 you will really need to focus on aesthetice - it looks great as is, but I think the stickers on the side spoil the look a bit.
Posted on Reply
#27
Scrizz
onboard audio, minus 1 point
9.2/10 lol
Posted on Reply
#28
Ravenas
Scrizzonboard audio, minus 1 point
9.2/10 lol
Hehe, thanks much. Yeah I've been debating wether to get a new sound card or a tv tuner card... Maybe I should just get both! lol :)
Posted on Reply
#30
Weer
I give you an 8/10 because of the horrible CPU overclock, and the Ultra.
Posted on Reply
#31
Ravenas
Cool thanks, what problems do you have with the Ultra?
Posted on Reply
#32
btarunr
Editor & Senior Moderator
2x 3.0 > 4x 2.8

Dude, that's a nice-a$$ rig you've built. But seriously if I were you, I'd get myself a Core 2 Duo E6850, a dual-core that chugs at 3.0 GHz, you can take it upto 3.53 GHz with the same cooling you used in your rig. You'd say four cores are better than two, but 3DMark 06 and Vista's internal benchmark aren't really four-threaded applications. Plus four cores sharing a 1066 MHz FSB is a bottleneck and a power-hog compared to the E6850's two cores feasting on a 1333 MHz FSB, your NF 680i supports FSB 1333 as well. E6850 spews a TDP of 70W at stock-speed, 92W at 3.55 GHz and costs as less as $180.

I'll rate your rig 9/10, sure your choice of CPU was okay, but your four cores will come handy in the future. Take it up to 2.93 GHz, you've got pretty good cooling and winter's round the corner.
Posted on Reply
#33
Ravenas
btarunrDude, that's a nice-a$$ rig you've built. But seriously if I were you, I'd get myself a Core 2 Duo E6850, a dual-core that chugs at 3.0 GHz, you can take it upto 3.53 GHz with the same cooling you used in your rig. You'd say four cores are better than two, but 3DMark 06 and Vista's internal benchmark aren't really four-threaded applications. Plus four cores sharing a 1066 MHz FSB is a bottleneck and a power-hog compared to the E6850's two cores feasting on a 1333 MHz FSB, your NF 680i supports FSB 1333 as well. E6850 spews a TDP of 70W at stock-speed, 92W at 3.55 GHz and costs as less as $180.

I'll rate your rig 9/10, sure your choice of CPU was okay, but your four cores will come handy in the future. Take it up to 2.93 GHz, you've got pretty good cooling and winter's round the corner.
Hehe thanks man.

However, I did get the same 3dmark06 score as someone with a 3.8 ghz oc on a c2d @ 2.86. Problem is, my mobo has a fsb wall can't get past 318 fsb.
Posted on Reply
#34
btarunr
Editor & Senior Moderator
You're both right and wrong.
The "right" part: Yes, you're right saying your NF 680i mobo sits tight at FSB 318.
The "wrong" part: That it's your mobo that's holding your FSB at FSB 318.

The "why" part: You see, NV made the NF 680i in a way that it supported all the stock 1066 (266) chips, be it Conroe (2 core) or Kentsfield (4 core). And the chipset is designed to take even the stock 1333 (333) FSB like C2D 6550, C2D 6750, C2D 6850 etc. BUT, when making the BIOS, most vendors didn't enable FSB 1333 for Quads. That's right. So the C2 Quads stall at close to FSB 320 (like the 318 at which yours stalled). However a simple BIOS update fixes it. Because irrespective of it being a 1/2/4 core chip, FSB 1333 is supported by the 680i. But the BIOS doesn't seem to recognise Quad-core FSB 1333 chips like the Q6750 (2.66/333).

Yours being a Kentsfield 266 FSB chip, gives you room to take it till 325 at brutal cooling.

Another thing, if you weren't aware: The Core 2 Extreme series chips are the only ones that have a completely unlocked multiplier. Others, Core 2 Duo/Quad have a downward multiplier meaning that though its unlocked, you cannot take the multiplier value above the stock value. C2Q Q6600 has a 9.0x multiplier, 9 x 266 = 2394 (your stock speed)

Cheers!
Posted on Reply
#35
Ravenas
btarunrYou're both right and wrong.
The "right" part: Yes, you're right saying your NF 680i mobo sits tight at FSB 318.
The "wrong" part: That it's your mobo that's holding your FSB at FSB 318.

The "why" part: You see, NV made the NF 680i in a way that it supported all the stock 1066 (266) chips, be it Conroe (2 core) or Kentsfield (4 core). And the chipset is designed to take even the stock 1333 (333) FSB like C2D 6550, C2D 6750, C2D 6850 etc. BUT, when making the BIOS, most vendors didn't enable FSB 1333 for Quads. That's right. So the C2 Quads stall at close to FSB 320 (like the 318 at which yours stalled). However a simple BIOS update fixes it. Because irrespective of it being a 1/2/4 core chip, FSB 1333 is supported by the 680i. But the BIOS doesn't seem to recognise Quad-core FSB 1333 chips like the Q6750 (2.66/333).

Yours being a Kentsfield 266 FSB chip, gives you room to take it till 325 at brutal cooling.

Another thing, if you weren't aware: The Core 2 Extreme series chips are the only ones that have a completely unlocked multiplier. Others, Core 2 Duo/Quad have a downward multiplier meaning that though its unlocked, you cannot take the multiplier value above the stock value. C2Q Q6600 has a 9.0x multiplier, 9 x 266 = 2394 (your stock speed)

Cheers!
There still hasn't been a single BIOS update.
Posted on Reply
#36
btarunr
Editor & Senior Moderator
RavenasThere still hasn't been a single BIOS update.
But XFX, BFG, EVGA: Makers of NF 600 series boards have all given BIOS updates for 1333 MHz Kentsfield processors months ago, check their websites.
Posted on Reply
#37
Ravenas
btarunrBut XFX, BFG, EVGA: Makers of NF 600 series boards have all given BIOS updates for 1333 MHz Kentsfield processors months ago, check their websites.
Yeah I can remember reading about those updates, thing is Gigabyte seems to not be paying too much attention to this board... Guess I'll just have to wait. :(
Posted on Reply
#38
Unregistered
RavenasJust wondering, what can I do to get a 10 (from those of you who voted 9 or less)?
Make something to rival this.

Sorry, not trying to be rude or anything, but this is a case modding gallery. I love to see modded stuff and while you have some holes cut out for better CM, I wouldn't really call that worthy of a "10". Don't get me wrong, I really like your computer, I gave it an 8 (which is higher than my average). But I haven't given anyone a 10 yet and I likely won't until I see something that's just so outrageous there's no doubt it deserves a perfect score. I wouldn't come here with anything less and expect a 10 from everyone.

ps. for more of that case check it out here if you haven't already

forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=76374
Posted on Edit | Reply
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