New SB i7/Vertex 3 Build

Sin_Chase · 13 May 2011 at 22:48

So...I bought a Vertex 3 as my Raptor was annoying me, I had been scraping by on the 69GB it offered for some time.

Got a Vertex 3 and a SATA III controller card to dump it in my IP35 Pro but bleh, PCIE 1 with sub 2.5Gbit/sec bandwidth was very very lame for throughput.

Onboard SATA II controller was much better but still lack luster.I had also been battling BSODs I could not resolve for some time also.

So what the hell, I bought some mid range kit and dumped it into my existing rig.

Old:
Antec 900
Corsair HX520

New:
i7 2600K
XMS3 2x2GB 1600Mhz
Antec Venom
IC Diamond 24ct

I spent the days before while waiting for the delivery COMPLETELY stripping my Antec down (IE - If it was screwed in it came out, top off the lot) Cleared out the crap, dirt and dust and refurbishing it to as good as new, cabled it up, and was ready to drop in a mobo with bits as soon as it arrived.

All built, mem tested, OCed to a mild 4.3GHz right off the bat and OS on. Boy does it fly, the newest generations of SSDs are rather impressive.

Spent a long time applying every SSD related tweak and had to disable Intel LPR as I was getting long long pauses on my SSD when doing certain tasks - Windows Updates for example.

For anyone who gets similar it can be fixed by merging the following into the registry:

Disable Intel LPM

Anyway, some pics!

sk82jack · 13 May 2011 at 22:53

That looks sweet dude

TheEnosFam · 13 May 2011 at 22:55

Very nice

RJC · 13 May 2011 at 23:12

Nice

Sin_Chase · 13 May 2011 at 23:17

Oh and that Card reader install is a total bodge

USB Mini to USB which plugs into a USB2/Firewire IO expansion card with the bracket removed. Duck taped up to prevent any shorting and stuffed under the HDD caddy/connected to the MB header. The HDD bays screw in system has too large a thread for it so I had to remove parts and very trickily get correct size screws into the inner holes and screw in. The screw hole locations mean the front of the card reader does not sit flush with the blanking plates but it does sit in-line with the back side of them, so while it's not perfect it actually looks okay and unless you had the knowledge I did would be hard pressed to tell it was 'wrong'. Was fiddly but it came out okay

Mr. May · 14 May 2011 at 17:01

Whilst you had it striped down should off sprayed the steel black that would off looked sweeeeeeeeeet i alwasy use hammerite heatproof scratch proof and will last a lifetime only cost about £12 and will do the whole case

Rockbottom · 14 May 2011 at 19:40

Mr. May said:
Whilst you had it striped down should off sprayed the steel black that would off looked sweeeeeeeeeet i alwasy use hammerite heatproof scratch proof and will last a lifetime only cost about £12 and will do the whole case

I agree.

Still looks freaking sweet though :cool:

, makes me want to get a move on and get a new case so I can tidy the spaghetti of cables that I'm rocking atm.

lolwithtim · 14 May 2011 at 20:02

Looks great. Congrats on the good looking build.

How was the Venom for building? Don't know whether to get one myself in my build in a couple of weeks.

cammy5477 · 14 May 2011 at 21:15

awesome mate

Sin_Chase · 15 May 2011 at 00:10

lolwithtim said:
How was the Venom for building? Don't know whether to get one myself in my build in a couple of weeks.

Easy as. Bracket system is nice and easy to use, can get the HS down onto the CPU with minimal movement then clamp down with the nuts. Plenty of pressure. The only thing that is a little different is that it's a direct heatpipe contact system, it's not perfectly flat and there are small channels into which thermal interface compound is going to get caught in. I put more on that recommended to account for this fact. It's not leaked out and my temps are good. If I ever take it off I would be interested to see the spread pattern.

Venom recommends a thin layer but I went with the IC guidelines of a blob.

Fan is easy to get on, much better than that wire clamp malarky.

CrixxzeH · 15 May 2011 at 00:14

looks so sleek.

stulid · 15 May 2011 at 00:16

Yeah, I found it easy enough to put on, juggling the motherboard in one hand while trying to get the backplate on with those sliders for the pins was about as difficult as it got.