[msdivy]

Originally Posted by Aroy

Have you tried any application which uses the CPU upwards of 50% and > 4GB RAM?

How long does the battery last at full blast usage?

I run VMs on VMWare Player and 2 of them together will easily cross 10GB RAM. CPU has 4 cores, 8 threads. I have never seen usage above 10%.
This model has physical button to switch profiles. In high performance mode, battery will last around 30~45 minutes. In battery-saving mode, it will last around 2 hours.

[kaushik_s]

Originally Posted by Rehaan

Update -

Actual prices paid :

• ASUS P8Z68-V (or ASUS P8Z68-V/GEN3 - if available) --- Rs 12,100
• Intel Core i7-2600K --- Rs 17,000
• Cooler Master Storm Enforcer OR 690 II Cabinet --- Rs 6,500
• Seasonic 560W Modular Power Supply (SS-560KM) --- Rs 7,100
• Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) --- Rs 6,850
• TVS Gold USB Keyboard - Black --- Rs 1,600

cya
R



Yes ofcourse, though i still think its worth buying an SSD! How much scratch disk space will you need anyway?

Have you already bought the Cabinet? 6500 Rs is bit more from the actual price, to be precise it's 1.2k extra, I bought the Storm Enforcer for 5.5k and CM 690II advanced was priced at 5300Rs.. Also Windows 7 HP 64 bit is priced at 6050Rs. Price of the mobo is pretty good as I got quote of 12.4/12.5Rs.

Originally Posted by moralfibre

If you find out when the prices come down, let me know. I guess my PC was waiting for the crisis and had two hard drives in the desktop with bad sectors. They are working but might die any day. :(

Will sure update about the pricing. As of now it's only the hard drives which have gone sky high. Other parts are slightly costlier due to poor performance of the rupees vs dollar. The HDD situation will take some time for sure and probably we can expect it to come down only by mid of next year.

BTW, following is the configuration I got. Installed the whole thing myself and it really felt good after I boot it up. It was really fun to assemble the PC, much easier than the days when I was in college.
Intel i5 2500k - 11100Rs
Asus P8Z68M-Pro - 9300Rs
Gskil Sniper 8GB (2x4GB)- 1600MHz - 2600Rs (got a super deal at primeABGB in their daily deal)
Seagate 1TB 7200.12 - 5400Rs
CM Storm Enforcer 5500Rs
Seasonic S12II 430W - 2600Rs
Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit - 6050Rs.
LG DVD writer - 900Rs
Keyboard I'm using my old keyboard i.e Logitech K200
Monitor Dell U2311H..
The Storm Enforcer cabinet is pretty nice to my eyes and I loved the tool-less features, neither for the HDD or OD I had to use screws. Their are 2 USB 3.0 points with connector at the front along with USB 2.0 ports. But sadly my mother-board doesn't have a USB3.0 internal header. Only concern is the noise from the 200mm fan in front. It's not very bad but still not that quite too. May be later I'll replace it with a quieter fan. The machine runs pretty cool but I still haven't pushed it to limit anyway.

[Thad E Ginathom]

As of now it's only the hard drives which have gone sky high

... and the rupee which has hit the dirt. This is going to make all imported goods more expensive. It now takes 15% more Rs to buy a dollar than it did for all that time it hovered around 45 :(

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by moralfibre

Rehaan, Super cool config. I guess you made my life easier and I don't have to research too much for config. I'd wait and replicate the same configuration you got.

Depending on your needs, you could save roughly 5k by getting an i5 instead.

I chose i7 because of the Adobe programs i use a lot can take advantage of the additional threading.

Originally Posted by kaushik_s

Have you already bought the Cabinet? 6500 Rs is bit more from the actual price, to be precise it's 1.2k extra, I bought the Storm Enforcer for 5.5k and CM 690II advanced was priced at 5300Rs.. Also Windows 7 HP 64 bit is priced at 6050Rs.

Yep - had already bought all of it when i posted. Though i only just saw your reply.

I got the CM690 II Advanced.
I've seen it for cheaper on TheITDepot, but then with shipping it worked out pretty much the same. I have trouble believing you saw the 2nd gen 690 for 5300 !

For Windows 7 Home Premium, i actually got it for ~5900, only to discover it was the 32-bit version. Grrr. Had to switch it out and pay the difference.

Where did you get it for 6050? Thats a damn good price. Is it the RETAIL version? The best price i heard was 6700.

Originally Posted by kaushik_s

The Storm Enforcer cabinet is pretty nice to my eyes and I loved the tool-less features. Their are 2 USB 3.0 points with connector at the front along with USB 2.0 ports. But sadly my mother-board doesn't have a USB3.0 internal header. Only concern is the noise from the 200mm fan in front.

I was considering the Enforcer too, but then the 690 II won me over!

Bummer is that i have USB 3.0 headers on the MB, but the CM690 doesn't have USB3 ports on the front . Not a big deal.

Its SUPER quiet too, and the Seasonic SS-560KM i have is insanely silent (esp with fanless operation <20% load).

-------

In other news, i have got my SSDs set up in RAID 0



Ignore the CPU usage, thats a bug with the HDTune software.

cya
R

[kaushik_s]

Originally Posted by Rehaan

I got the CM690 II Advanced.
I've seen it for cheaper on TheITDepot, but then with shipping it worked out pretty much the same. I have trouble believing you saw the 2nd gen 690 for 5300 !

I guess that I've got some really good deals (even some of the threads at techenclave seems to point the same) on few of the stuffs. The one I saw was CM 690 II and I'm almost sure that I saw advanced written on the box but now I'm confused now. I might've heard the prices wrong. Don't know if it's 2nd gen or 1st gen. What I was quoted was for the basic it was 4300Rs and for the advanced/690 II it was 5300 and there is one nVidia CM 690 which was priced at 6k+. The one I liked basically comes with all black interiors, tool-less slots and transparent side panel. I almost went for it till I decided for the Storm Enforcer. Might be it's not the 2nd Gen advanced model that you've bought. Can you please post a link for your cabinet?

For Windows 7 Home Premium, i actually got it for ~5900, only to discover it was the 32-bit version. Grrr. Had to switch it out and pay the difference.

Where did you get it for 6050? Thats a damn good price. Is it the RETAIL version? The best price i heard was 6700.

You can get for 6334Rs at Flipkart too. 6700Rs is bit high. I bought the retail version only, it comes with 2 DVD's, one for 64bit and the other for 32bit installation.

Bummer is that i have USB 3.0 headers on the MB, but the CM690 doesn't have USB3 ports on the front . Not a big deal.

He he we should switch the cabinets :P

I'm planning to get a PCIe card which comes with USB 3.0 headers. Unable to find it in India but are available in US. Probably have to order it from there. Any suggestions? Also planning to add a good internal card reader hub (and most of the card readers comes with USB ports also).
Tried to run a PS job yesterday and boy, was it fast. Loved the performance (considering I was using a Core 2 laptop with 2GB ram before which was super slow). Will probably add a SSD later as a scratch disk for Photoshop but somewhere I remember reading that if the RAM is good then it makes use of SSD redundant for this purpose. Comments?

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by kaushik_s

...Don't know if it's 2nd gen or 1st gen. What I was quoted was for the basic it was 4300Rs and for the advanced/690 II it was 5300 ..... Can you please post a link for your cabinet?

Those prices make me think its a first gen? Not sure.

What i have : CM 690 II Plus(Asia-Pacific edition) - Cooler Master

Originally Posted by kaushik_s

You can get for 6334Rs at Flipkart too.

Ah! I checked a few other online sites but didn't think of flipkart!

Originally Posted by kaushik_s

I'm planning to get a PCIe card which comes with USB 3.0 headers.

Your MoBo specs say : ASMedia® USB 3.0 controller :
4 x USB 3.0 port(s) (2 at back panel, blue, 2 at mid-board)

Shouldn't you be able to plug in your Enforcer ports to the 2 at mid-board??

(Note that USB 3.0 is a different looking connector)

Why do you need even more USB 3.0 ports??

Originally Posted by kaushik_s

Will probably add a SSD later as a scratch disk for Photoshop but somewhere I remember reading that if the RAM is good then it makes use of SSD redundant for this purpose. Comments?

If you have enough free RAM, then this is true.

Though naturally an SSD will help speed up getting info into ram in the first place! Get one for OS and programs man. Totally worth it.

cya
R

PS - If your front fan is noisy, go to your BIOS and set it to run less often, or at a lower RPM, etc. Naturally your fan wire also has to be plugged into the Mobo for this to work.

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by kaushik_s

I'm planning to get a PCIe card which comes with USB 3.0 headers. Unable to find it in India but are available in US. Probably have to order it from there. Any suggestions? Also planning to add a good internal card reader hub (and most of the card readers comes with USB ports also).
Tried to run a PS job yesterday and boy, was it fast. Loved the performance (considering I was using a Core 2 laptop with 2GB ram before which was super slow). Will probably add a SSD later as a scratch disk for Photoshop but somewhere I remember reading that if the RAM is good then it makes use of SSD redundant for this purpose. Comments?

My son ordered a PCIe USB3 card on the net and it was delivered within a week. It has two ports, and boy is it fast. On a 2TB external USB3 disk, the data transfer was faster than between 2 internal disks, 5GB+/min vs 2BG. We have a dual quad Xeon, 8 GB RAM with 6 HDD on board, and a host of external disks for back up. Thinking of getting a PCIe SATA controller so that I can plug in 4/8 more HDD. The cabinet has space for 10 3.5" and I have a hot plug cage for 4 (in the 3, 5.25" bays), so I can max out on 14 HDD!

[kaushik_s]

Originally Posted by Rehaan

Those prices make me think its a first gen? Not sure.

What i have : CM 690 II Plus(Asia-Pacific edition) - Cooler Master

That answers the mystery, it's a different cabinet than the one I was talking about. Plus edition was slightly costlier, if I remember correctly then I was quoted 5.8k+ for CM 692 Plus.

Originally Posted by Rehaan

Your MoBo specs say : ASMedia® USB 3.0 controller :
4 x USB 3.0 port(s) (2 at back panel, blue, 2 at mid-board)

Shouldn't you be able to plug in your Enforcer ports to the 2 at mid-board??

(Note that USB 3.0 is a different looking connector)

Why do you need even more USB 3.0 ports??

Mine is M-Pro and following are the specs :( No mid-board headers.
ASMedia® USB 3.0 controller :
2 x USB 3.0 port(s) (2 at back panel, blue)
Intel® Z68 chipset :
14 x USB 2.0 port(s) (4 at back panel, black, 10 at mid-board)

I probably should've gone for V but anyway, some other time.

Originally Posted by Rehaan

If you have enough free RAM, then this is true.

Though naturally an SSD will help speed up getting info into ram in the first place! Get one for OS and programs man. Totally worth it.

cya
R

PS - If your front fan is noisy, go to your BIOS and set it to run less often, or at a lower RPM, etc. Naturally your fan wire also has to be plugged into the Mobo for this to work.

I've connected the FAN to Mobo if I remember correctly. Gotta check the BIOS setting. It's not very noisy but just that I'm kind of aware of the fan noise.
Well, about the SSD, now I'm totally broke man. Will surely get one once I'm financially fit again.

Originally Posted by Aroy

My son ordered a PCIe USB3 card on the net and it was delivered within a week. It has two ports, and boy is it fast. On a 2TB external USB3 disk, the data transfer was faster than between 2 internal disks, 5GB+/min vs 2BG. We have a dual quad Xeon, 8 GB RAM with 6 HDD on board, and a host of external disks for back up. Thinking of getting a PCIe SATA controller so that I can plug in 4/8 more HDD. The cabinet has space for 10 3.5" and I have a hot plug cage for 4 (in the 3, 5.25" bays), so I can max out on 14 HDD!

Hey, can you please post a link to site where you've bought your PCIe card? Was there any customs duty levied? How is the quality of the card and make?

[moralfibre]

Originally Posted by Rehaan

Depending on your needs, you could save roughly 5k by getting an i5 instead.

I chose i7 because of the Adobe programs i use a lot can take advantage of the additional threading.

Which is a good i5, motherboard combo?

[kaushik_s]

Originally Posted by moralfibre

Which is a good i5, motherboard combo?

It'll depend on your usage. For normal usage the intel board is good enough It's H67 board with support for onboad GPU that resides in i5 proccy and also it's cheap. But if you are going to use a K series processor and overclock it then you'll need a P67 or Z68 board. With P67 board you'll need a separate Graphics card as this board can't use the the in built GPU inside the processor but it can overclock the CPU. Z68 is kind of fusion of both, i.e. you can use both the inbuilt GPU and also overclock. So basically it depends on your need.
As for board makers, I guess Asus/Gigabyte/msi would do. I chose Asus as I kind of liked the features available and read some good reviews about Asus V-Pro boards, although I end up buying the M-Pro only.

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by moralfibre

Which is a good i5, motherboard combo?

Kaushik is right on the money.

See my post here too : Please suggest configuration for high end video production & editing. (Rs.80,000) - Page 2

cya
R

PS - @Kaushik, sorry, even though i copy-pasted your exact motherboard, google took me to the -V specs (probably coz i've visited it so much in the past )

[reignofchaos]

I had a look at the following few boards in person and then decided on mine

- P8Z68 V-Pro
- P8Z68 Deluxe
- MSI Z68-GD65
- Gigabyte Z68XP UD3R
- Gigabyte Z68XP UD4

Out of these, the UD4 had the best build quality by far. The P8Z68 Deluxe had more frills but the chipset and mosfet coolers seemed much lower quality. Also the fact that Gigabyte has the best service support in India sealed it for the gigabyte for me.

A bonus of the UD4 is that it supports PCI-E 3.0 out of the box and the upcoming 22nm ivy bridge with a bios update. My i5-2500k is running at 4.5GHz at this moment.

[chevelle]

Don't know where else to post this query. Thought this is the write section. Mods, if in appropriate please move.

I am wondering which is a good media to store data for 5-8 years without losing it.

i considered 3 options

HDD (external/internal)
DVD
Memory card.

All 3 above has disadvantages and advantages. the best i thought was memory card. Is it true? What are your opinions?

Thanks

[Punzabi]

Originally Posted by chevelle

I am wondering which is a good media to store data for 5-8 years without losing it.

None of those three options offer guarantee but in my openion DVD/Blue rays would be your best bet as HDD and Memory cards are more prone to failure. But then again you'd have to be carefull with storing/handling your optical disks with backups.

A close friend of mine lost 2TB of his life due to a sudden HDD (external) failure (he had no other back-up). Personally, I have all my close-to-the-heart data stored on internal HDD and a copy of same on an external HDD. Very bleak chances that both crashing on me at the same time.

Regards
Punzabi

[chevelle]

Originally Posted by Punzabi

None of those three options offer guarantee but in my openion DVD/Blue rays would be your best bet as HDD and Memory cards are more prone to failure. But then again you'd have to be carefull with storing/handling your optical disks with backups.

A close friend of mine lost 2TB of his life due to a sudden HDD (external) failure (he had no other back-up). Personally, I have all my close-to-the-heart data stored on internal HDD and a copy of same on an external HDD. Very bleak chances that both crashing on me at the same time.

Regards
Punzabi

i thought CF memory cards would be a good option. My data is around 500 gb.

Why?

- small, light, robust
- cost per GB is getting lower all the time
- good capacity and increasing all the time
- have stable standard being followed since 1994.
- based on ATA interface, same as HDD.
- easy to store with good robust casing.

Why not?

- possibility of gradual decay and bit flips like HDD.

For DVD, i thought - it has only 8gb max capacity per DVD. So i would have to use many discs which will create clutter, naming problems, storage problem and physical decay over 8 years. My year old DVDs are already having scratches even with one or two time use.

What do you think?