I7-975 New Build - First Build

virtualmadden

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Nov 19, 2010
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Approximate Purchase Date: Thanksgiving - Xmas
Budget Range: $1,000 - $1,700
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Dev, Cuda, Blu-ray, and Gaming
Parts Not Required: Mouse, Keyboard, Monitor, CPU.
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Any
Country of Origin: USA
Parts Preferences: Any
Overclocking: Maybe
SLI or Crossfire: Maybe
Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080
Additional Comments: Needs to be fairly quiet and a more traditional case (Black)

Based on my own reading and research this is what I'm looking at in terms of parts. This is my first real build outside of hardware maintenance on some Dell/HP desktop and laptops. If there's anything I'm missing or going to possibly cause issues please let me know.

SILVERSTONE Raven RV02B-EW
ASUS Rampage III Formula LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
CORSAIR HX Series CMPSU-850HX 850W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
Intel Core i7-975 Extreme Edition (Love my girlfriend and her Intel connections.)
EVGA 01G-P3-1373-AR GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) Superclocked EE 1GB
Mushkin Enhanced Ridgeback 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model 998826
G.SKILL Phoenix Pro Series FM-25S2S-120GBP2 2.5" 120GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Lite-on iHAS-424
ASUS Black 8X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM SATA Internal Blu-ray Drive Model BC-08B1LT/BLK/B/ASUS - OEM
Scythe SCMG-2100 Sleeve CPU Cooler
Acer P244W (Inexpensive monitor from my last computer.)
 

mk-ultra

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^^ why not? Please do not post something like that, that you know will start a flame war. What is wrong with it? 230mm intake fan in the front, 200mm fan intake from the side with a duct that blows air onto the graphics card. Optional fans on the GPU housing, and support brackets. 140mm exhaust in the back, 200mm exhaust on top with a option to put in another one. If I counted correctly that 7 fans. Now if he was going to WC the his computer he would go with something like a Corsair 700D/800D, or most likely a Lian Li xxx. Next time give some reason please.
 

Somebody_007

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anyways good build exept kind of underpowered graphics and the cpu is way overpriced but I'm assuming your getting it pretty cheap so nevermind.

I'd say get this gpu http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814162064

here are some changes to nullify the added price:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145286&cm_re=6gb_ddr3.-_-20-145-286-_-Product (still more than fast enough, but I'd say going with a 90dollar 6gb kit is kind of too low)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207003&Tpk=750%20xfx good psu and more than big enough for 2 460s.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227593&cm_re=ocz_3.5%22-_-20-227-593-_-Product super fast SSD only cheap because it's larger but in a desktop system 2.5" drives ussually cause more hassle than their larger cheaper to make brothers.


Great board great price http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131665&cm_re=asus_x58_sabertooth-_-13-131-665-_-Product

You don't need to make all those cutbacks but it's definately a better choice to first spend on 460 sli and then on an enthousiast mobo instead of the otherway around

EDIT: about the case: the haf x doesn't live up to it's High Air Flow name although it's good it's matched by most competition like all antecs gaming cases, and any performance cases really that are intended for air cooling it's bested by the smaller less ventilated better constructed better looking http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163161&cm_re=ft02-_-11-163-161-_-Product ithis case comes at a price though. In addition I really don't like the looks or lack of the lack of dust filters. I would opt for Lian li, corsair(the 700d/800d are mainly for watercooling and the 600t's styling is just plain weird) silverstone, fractal or another cooler master(like the atcs840 or 830 stacker if you can get a hold of one as those in my opi9nion are some great cases). Also My lame comment above was I joke I was trying to joke at the simple and unfounded reccomendation above I was going to explain as in in this post.
 

coldsleep

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No opinion on either case, but this could apply to your first post as well, mk-ultra.

OP, assuming all that fits into your budget with employee discounts, I think it looks pretty good, though I have a few tweaks to suggest.

I'm unsure on the CPU cooler, you might check Frostytech's top "5" heatsinks for more ideas.

Many would consider CAS 6 RAM overkill, but it's probably suited to your workload. There are a couple of cheaper kits with basically the same specs, like this G.Skill kit and this other Mushkin kit.

I think the Raven 2 looks neat, though I find that my aesthetics don't match up with most of the regulars on this forum. If you like the case, go for it, it gets pretty good reviews.

850W is overkill even for 2x GTX 460, but if you intend to keep it for a while, it's a good PSU. You could probably drop down to any reputable 750W PSU if you're looking to save money.

For not too much more, you could get a retail Blu-ray combo drive like this Lite-On for $90. It comes with blu-ray software, which OEM models do not. It also writes DVDs. You could still go with 2 drives if you want to, of course. Unless you were selecting that Lite-On DVD burner for a specific reason, there are less expensive models available, like this Sony for $19 + free shipping.
 

mk-ultra

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Sombody 007 Do you have any proof that it lacks in High Air Flow? From the reviews that I have read http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1311/1/ , http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/32554-cooler-master-haf-x-full-tower-case-video-review.html . Now for some reviews of the Silverstone that he picked out http://www.maximumpc.com/article/reviews/silverstone_raven_2 ,http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/23410-silverstone-raven-rv02-video-review.html . I think the reviews say it all.

When you can find me a legit reviewer that says the HAF X does not preform well there is no point in arguing or it on this forum.
 

Somebody_007

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I didn't say it performs badly, it does perform great, but considering the cost, size, noise(due to lack of noise cancelation and overkill in ventilation) and general lack of attention to dust filetring and looks I don't think it lives up to it's name. It's built completely around cooling yet still performs like all the others like you can see here http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cases/2010/07/26/cooler-master-haf-x-review/2 look at the numbers properly the rang is decieving as the haf x is cool on idle it suffers under load. Here's also a benchmark showing the ft02(keep in mind this is a case oriented towards quality, looks and noise dampening aswell completely unlike the haf x) destroying all else that's twice the volume http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cases/2010/08/12/silverstone-ft02r-w-review/2

Please don't tell me that isn't a legit review.

 

mk-ultra

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I would really like to stop this bickering. You have your options I have mine. bit-tech is one of the only websites that have put the silverstone above the HAF X. Lets agree to disagree.
 

Somebody_007

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I'm not saying your wrong some like the haf x styling some want a full tower case that's fine everyone's entitled to their personal preferences, I was just pointing out that the haf x isn't the best in air cooling so that that isn't a reason to go for it. If for all other reasons you still prefer ir over the silverstone then great get it. I mean cases come fown to preference none is better or worse really.
 

virtualmadden

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Actually the CPU was free (1st year anniversary, just haven't used it yet). I subsidized the SSD by selling off 2 Phoenix Pro 60GBs I got off Newegg for $60/each. After living with Dells for most of my life and their underpowered PSUs, I'm happy with some extra juice for expansion/upgrade. I got the Blu-ray drive for cheap and even though it was OEM, it came with the software. Thanks for advice on cases, heatsinks, and memory. The Raven really struck me as a cool case with a nice organization to it. I've narrowed it down to G.Skill, Corsair, or Mushkin for RAM (Heard nothing but praise for the Mushkin Ridgebacks), but I haven't had to ever worry about CAS timings before? Saw a bunch of recommendations for the Megahalems, but that thing is a beast in size. I'm excited to get this finished and probably will never use half of the potential.
 

coldsleep

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I've got the black Mushkin Ridgebacks myself, and although I had to RMA one of the sticks, I haven't had any problems since then...they're running perfectly at CAS 6 1600 MHz, fully populated.

To set the timings, simply poke around in the BIOS under the RAM settings, it should be fairly easy to set. To start off with (prior to overclocking) simply set them to the stock settings, and you shouldn't encounter any issues. The G.Skill PI series is also well-regarded, and it does run at 1.6V...I have heard that sometimes that extra headroom (before hitting 1.65V for Intel setups) can help.
 

Somebody_007

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I haven't tried tweaking anything yet, but my mushkins are low profile, look simply fantastic and have had no problems even with my i7 930 at 3.8Ghz(not really spectacular, but I thought I'd mention it anyways).

My friend has corsair dominators 1600 cl8 and he runs them at cl6 1600 again with no issues.

I've got no experience with G.skills but they have a good reputation so I'd say either way will do, but I think mushkins and dominators have the most OC potential(although I've heard trients clock very high as well).

As for the cooler: The hyper 212+ and the scythe you mentioned are both good budget choices my reccomendation goes to the titan fenrir though if you can get a hold of one. Megahelems is one of the best at medium to high overclocks so is the frio(I'd get the latter due to the fans being included and it being just as good). And then for high overclocks(drawing near to and passing 4.0ghz) the noctua d14 and thermalright silver arrow are the best in the buisness due to the dual tower design(or so I assume anyways) in this test the thermalright seems to fail at 4.4ghz whereas the noctua maintains a good temp which seems fairly odd http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/cases_cooling/thermalright_silver_arrow_vs_noctua_nh-d14/2 I wouldn't look at that test too much, nevertheless my preference still goes to noctua because they are reknowed for having the best fans on the market.