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Hey guys how is everyone doing? I've been away for a while, but I'm back with some upgrades! I also have a question about sleeved cable extensions, but first my rig! Also I apologize for bad picture quality. They were taken with my iPhone 4.

IntelUpgrades.jpg


Installed1.jpg


Installed2.jpg


Intel i5 2500K at 4.2ghz
ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3
8gigs Corsair Vengeance at 1600
XFX HD 6950 2gb
Corsair TX750w v2
1tb Western Digital Caviar Black
ASUS DVD/CD drive
Cooler Master Hyper 212+
Xigmatek Elysium

So I made the switch to Intel after Bulldozer wasn't what I expected. I went from a AMD Phenom II 955 BE to an i5 2500K and I have seen a noticeable improvement all across the board. I'm very happy with my upgrades. I still have my 955 BE, ASUS Crosshair V Formula, and the 8gigs of G.Skill Ripjaws as well as my old HAF 912 case so I think I'm going to round out that build with a decent video card and my TX750 when I get my HX850 for Christmas. I want the HX because it's modular and because it's blue :) . I'll throw together some parts to get that second rig up and then I'm not sure, but I'll figure that out later haha.

Now to my question about sleeved cable extensions. I was going to grab a blue Bitfenix Alchemy 24 pin, two 8 pins, and a CPU power extension to match the blue mobo and PSU once it gets here, but the cables look a little dark. Here is a link to it

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/14049/cab-566/Bitfenix_Alchemy_Multisleeve_24-Pin_ATX_Extension_Cable_-_30cm_-_Blue_BFA-MSC-24ATX45BK-RP.html?tl=g2c537s1534

Here is a ModRight Blue and it's a little lighter.

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/11151/cab-201/ModRight_CableRight_Single_Braid_MB_24-Pin_Extension_Cable_-_Blue.html?tl=g2c473s1209

Which brand has better quality sleeving? I'm leaning towards Bitfenix as I have heard good things about them, but I figured I'd ask and see which one you guys liked the most

I am also getting a dual white cathode kit because the Elysium fans have white LEDs in them and I think the white and blue would look good together. Hopefully I'll be able to move to water cooling, like I've been wanting to for a while, and work the blue and white theme into the loop as well. Here is the cathode kit I'm looking at.

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/2993/lit-24/Dual_12_Cold_Cathode_Kit_--_White.html?tl=g6c75s133

The reviews say it is not too bright and the Elysium fans are soft as well so I think they will go well together. Let me know what you think about my new setup :)

 
This is my new rig!

i5 2500k @ 4.5ghz (llc4 vcore 1.38v)
corsair h100 cpu liquid cooler
gigabyte z68x-ud3h-b3 motherboard
gtx560 ti hawk oc twin frozr 3
8gb corsair vengeance low profile ram
2x 60gb ocz agility 3 ssd in raid0
2tb caviar green storage hdd
ocz zt 750w modular psu
LG supermulti bluray drive
corsair obsidian 650d case

111920111357.jpg
 
8 months of building buying parts, first complete new build in 15 years.

DreamReavXS3-1.jpg


DreamReaver XS

Case: Thermaltake Level 10 GT
CPU: Intel i7 3960x
Cooler: Zalamn CNPS12X
Motherboard: ASUS Rampage IV Extreme
RAM: 32Gb G.Skill Ripjaws Z quadchannel @1600Mhz
Videocard: ASUS MARS II 3Gb GTX580SLi
Power Supply: Corsair AX1200 80 Plus Gold
Harddrives: Western Digital Caviar Green 1 TB
Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB
Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB x 2 in RAID 0
SSD OCZ Vertex 3 MAX IOPS 240GB
SSD OCZ RevoDrive 3 X2 240GB PCI-E

Miscellaneous: Hauppauge HVR-2210 Media Center
Visiontek Bigfoot Killer 2100
SoundBlaster X-Fi Titanium Fatality Champion Series

Connected: Dell 30” U3011
BENQ E2200 HD
Logitech G19 Keyboard & G13 Gamecontroller
Logitech G700 Mouse
Logitech G 5500 Speakers
Razer Megadolan Headphones
 
Just moved my rig into a new case, other one looked better with better cable management, this case is a little bit messy but everything fits and runs cooler(had to remove both side fans in the SMILODON case after I added a 120mm CPU cooler)

DSCN0671.jpg


i5-750 @ 3.6GHz w/CORSAIR CAFA70
ASUS P7P55D-E LGA
PNY GTX 470
G.SKILL Ripjaws X 2x4GB 1600
WD Black 640GB
Antec EA650
Linksys WMP600N
Antec 300 Illusion

Might move to this rig but my current runs so smooth I'm having a hard time letting it go lol

DSCN0673.jpg


Intel i5-2500k
Cooler Master 212+
MSI P67A-G45 LGA 1155
XFX 6870
4GB Corsair DDR3 1600
Seagate 1TB 7200RPM hard drive
Sony CD/DVD burner
Antec High Current Gamer Series 750W
Rosewill Smart One Case
 
imaurer269.

The second one is a lot better, You should definitely change to it and take the 6870 out and put the 470 in.

If you have both I don't understand why your still using the 750.
 
@ Dreamreaver76 - awesome seeing that Mars card, but could use some heavy cablemangement work

@ imaurer269 - cablemanagement on both your rigs will give you better temps, a nicer build look and some more OC'ing headroom :)

@ dajusta - nice clean build - do ya plan to WC that rig since you have the first drive cage missing?
 
8 months of building buying parts, first complete new build in 15 years.
Click to expand...

Really nice and expensive setup there... although I can't justify the 3960 over the 3930 nor can I justify the MARS II but hey you're the envy of the classroom. Anyway with the $ you put into it you're not doing it any justice with the sloppiness of the wiring. Looks thrown together to be honest... with that much $ tediousness should be put into construction. :)
 
Nice clean build :) . I am also curious about the big empty space at the front-bottom of your case. Did you choose the low profile RAM to prevent issues with the radiator?

Wow :O That is one expensive rig! How is the Zalman cooler working out? I want it, but it will not fit with my current motherboard and RAM layout. Regarding the NIC, do you see any noticeable change? I just heard mixed reactions with it.

I feel your pain with cable management issues and the EA650. I have the newer green version in my rig at work. I do like how you routed the second motherboard power cable. Regarding the other cables, bundle the unused ones as best as possible and lay them flat at the bottom. Good luck and happy gaming :sol: with both rigs.
 


Well I have built a dozen and a half or so differnet gaming rigs the past year. I bought my current rig minus the cpu cooler for $500(came with a 19" dell 1600x900, razer naga, saitek cyborg keyboard and rocketfish mouse pad) It was basically new(2 months old) and a steal when I bought it back in oct 2010. While it might not be as good on paper as the newer i5-2500k towers, its a couple hundred dollars cheaper and for what I do(medium gaming, school, music and internet) it has ran smooth as butter even before I overclocked it. The i5-2500k I have on hand is the 4th or 5th one I've built and they have all been nice, just not worth the upgrade for me atm. Tossing the 470 with the i5-2500k might increase some benchmarks and prolly does other things I never do faster and better but isn't gonna increase my fps by more than a few unnoticeable frames. Maybe its my WD Black HDD or a combo of things but after I get Windows 7 on a newer Intel SB rig I just built and start loading up stuff, benchmark and try a game I don't feel a noticeably big difference, honestly I've felt like the SB builds have been more choppy at times especially the 1st few builds.


Yeah someday I might clean up my rig a bit, my temps are pretty good minus the hot running 470 but they all run that way, slight boost in fan speed via afterburner keeps mine under 80, haven't felt the need to push my i5-750 any higher it tops out at 60 under load now and my memory is running at cas 7 timings a little underclocked. Was a lot cleaner in my old top mounted case. The other rig will get a clean up when it finds a permanent home, been swapping gpu's & hard drives in it lately seeing how crossfire/sli and raid set ups run. Damn non modular PSU makes it a chore, will stick with modular ones for dual card set ups that require 4 or more pcie power connectors in the future


Yeah I was a little bummed in how much harder it was running the cables going to a bottom mounted PSU case, will clean her up next time I do any upgrades or maintenance, that's y I have a couple twist ties in there instead of zip ties lol
 
Well going from my AMD rig i have noticed a vast improvement in terms smoother gaming and all round responsiveness.

AMD rig:
Phenom II x2 555 BE unlocked to x4 B55 at 4.2ghz.
MSI 790FX-GD70 Quad Crossfire-x mobo
4GB Geil black dragon 1600mhz ram
Was GTX 480 (now a 5670)
Corsair TX650 psu.

Intel rig:
i5 2500k@4.5ghz
MSI P67A-GD53
8GB g.skill ripjaws x 1600mhz ram
GTX 480
Silverstone strider plus 1000 watt psu.

The cpu in my AMD holds back most games EG: Black ops, BFBC2 ect.
Click to expand...

Yeah AMD vs Intel is night and day in overall performance, I always thought unlocked AMD chips felt slower than leaving them as should be and overclocking them, I never had much luck unlocking cores and then overclocking tho either. When it comes to playing games I have never noticed any real difference unless im switching gpu's. I have swapped many cards from low end AMD builds over to high end Intel SB builds and can't tell much difference once the game is loaded, now the time before the game loads is a different story.

 
^^

Otherwise its a GODLY build.

I had to double look at that pic to make sure I was seeing a Mars II lol

Wish you had posted more pics :3



Have you considered the Phantek cpu cooler that is red and looks like the Noctua NH-D14 and Thermalright Silver Arrow? It is a boss cooler and would go sex with your Mars card :3
Click to expand...



Well, technically, he is allowed up to 4 pictures in a thread, unless I read the OP incorrectly. I would hope he edits that post to include 3 more pictures, personally. 😉
 


+1 [:russwood1488:7]
 
@ChromeTusk "Wow :O That is one expensive rig! How is the Zalman cooler working out? I want it, but it will not fit with my current motherboard and RAM layout. Regarding the NIC, do you see any noticeable change? I just heard mixed reactions with it."

The Zalam was a pain to install, putting the fans pointing <- found out the the MARS II wouldn't fit, so had to go the current way. The Zalman is so quiet, actually the whole rig is very quiet, i was so surprised. Keeps the CPU at about 30c at idle, haven't checked it out when running under stress. The NIC, nothing special i have noticed, certain website to download i have noticed quicker download like steam, i get about double speed download use to get around 1mb, now i get 2mb, but don't know if that is steam or the NIC, then again haven't played any online games yet to see if there is major difference in ping. Would i recommend it, no, but i needed/wanted a second network port to connect my NAS upto it without going through my router.

Expensive yes, but over 8 months of getting the parts at the cheapest possible places around Australia and USA for the bits that arn't available in Australia such as RAM and Zalman cooler, its not so painful and plus my first complete rig in about 15 years so just making up for lost time. lol


One a side note. Since i have so much RAM thought i would try RAM caching using half of the 32G. Did a 3D Mark 11 Performance and PCMark 7 testing, without RAM Caching and with using SuperCache 5, only tested once at the moment and will do more tests later. Doesn't seem to improve much.

Only used PCMark 7 and 3D Mark 11 and did only one run of each.

results

3DMark11

12000P with RAM caching
11917P with out RAM caching
1950P my previous computer before the new build 😛

PCMark 7

5836 with RAM caching
5637 without RAM caching
1504 my previous computer before this new build 😛


my conclusion

Difference between my old system and new system is massive, RAM caching, meh, nothing special, maybe i am doing something wrong or the program (SuperCache 5) isn't configured properly.

Need to do some cable management sometime and the MARS II seems to be leaning, not sure how i am going to keep it straight.

you have asked here are some more pics.

DreamReaverXS.jpg


DreamReaverXS4.jpg


DreamReaverXS2.jpg

 
@ dreamreaver -
1| that is a nice setup you got there :)
2| could you PM me your wallpaper ?
3| +5 to cablemanagement
4| if you can route the wires to come from above the card than you can have them 6+8+8 pin wires to tug the card up abit. The weight and size of the card is the issue - but PCB's are designed to be flexible.
5| whats that above your BR player/burner?
6| :lol: mals "oneworders" are getting better by the years
 



the wallpaper actually is an from official ASUS ROG desktop theme, you get from the download tab of Rampage IV Extreme motherboard page on the global ASUS website, there are about 10 other ROG wallpapers that comes with the theme

above the BR player/burner is a Multimedia Station Premier, mainly for when i use tv on the computer, but can also turn the computer on and off from a remote control http://www.antec.com/Believe_it/product.php?id=NzEyJjE2

thanks for the hint for the cable management of the MARS II, will give it a go
 
Dreamreaver, awesome looks, and I bet it was hard to photograph. I still can't take a decent photo to save my life. If you line up one thing to look straight, most everything else doesn't, and I guess that's just the way it is with phone caliber optics.

Anyway, I'm almost ready to reveal, but I'll have to let the dust settle first, lol...

And also thanks, jumping on those ROG desktops like a dog on a bone... The Z68 ROG's didn't get any such love, afaik...
 
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