Build Log

minimadmotorman · 4 Sep 2011 at 10:13

Well finally got around to putting my new rig together that stulid kindly helped me spec up.

Spec thread is here:-
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18307564

Basic specs of this rig are:-

Intel Core i5-2500k
Stock Intel Cooler
16gb Corsair Vengeance Blue Ram
MSI Z68A-GD65-G3 Z68 Motherboard
2 x 160gb Seagate 7200.11 in RAID 0 (Liberated from my microserver)
HP Lightscribe 16x DL DVD-RW SATA
Antec TruePower New Modular 650W '80 Plus Bronze' PSU
Antec 300 Case

Plans are to upgade the cooler, storage and graphics at some point in the future.

Build was pretty simple and no problems so far.
I'll get some pics of the finished article as I may want some cable routing advice.

I re-routed a few cables in the case and busted out some zip ties.

Then I did a quick dry build on my test bed. (AKA a big plastic box)

CPU in cooler installed, memory installed and DVD drive hooked up along with PSU.

Booted off of a bootable windows xp disc and ran prime95 & speed fan for about 3 hours. Initially temps soared upto about 75degrees however these quickly settled to a maximum of 65degrees at full load. (I expect this is down to the themal paste setting)

After this I rebooted in to memtest and let that do 4 passes before slotting it all into the case.

Have to say I'm pretty impressed and the 2500k seems to offer a tangible performance increase over the 2100 I built last week for a friend.

minimadmotorman · 4 Sep 2011 at 22:27

@CreMafia - Yes currently using the onboard graphics. Planning on an SSD and a decent GPU sometime next year.

@honosueri - I was actually using a slightly butchered version of Hirens

And now for the pictures, apologies for the poor quality I only had my phone to hand:-

All buttoned up
Side View
Board View
PSU Shot
Cable Shot
My Man Lab

minimadmotorman · 4 Sep 2011 at 23:37

Case mods are not for me anymore. I'm too old! Used to do that back when I was 17ish.

minimadmotorman · 5 Sep 2011 at 10:26

Can anyone offer suggestions how to tidy my cabling up some more then? I don't mind buying alternative SATA leads etc.

minimadmotorman · 5 Sep 2011 at 15:01

@seandog:- There are links to pics in post #5 seandog

minimadmotorman · 5 Sep 2011 at 15:30

Yeah anything I do would pretty much only be for aesthetic reasons. Temperature wise I'm not having any issues. I was playing around at 3.8ghz and not getting temps over 70deg's with the stock cooler running Prime.

minimadmotorman · 5 Sep 2011 at 15:42

TBH it will have the lid on 99.9% of the time.

Upgrades I have in mind as & when I can afford it are:-

V.Quiet HDD (Nothing big as I have 5tb of storage on my LAN)
Small SSD to use as a Cache on the Z68 chipset
Discrete Graphics Card
Antec Kuhler (620 or 920 depending on price)
More Fans (Prob Antec TrueQuiets)
More Overclock

As you can probably tell I like to stick with a brand

minimadmotorman · 5 Sep 2011 at 15:52

I'm looking at things like isolating the fans & PSU from the case with a rubber pad etc. Just things to improve noise and vibration.

minimadmotorman · 13 Sep 2011 at 15:22

Right I've been thinking about tidying up my cabling some more.

Would inverting the power supply be ok? The fan only seems to be moving a very marginal amount of air so would the 5mm of clearance be enough?

I was also thinking of reversing my hdd's and bringing the cables around the back of the bays.

Along with this I am planning on 3 x additional 120mm fans and ultimately a kuhler 920.

Graphics & SSD will have to wait until I come back from the US

minimadmotorman · 13 Sep 2011 at 16:49

If that is what they recommend then I will probably stick to it. I mostly run with the lid on

minimadmotorman · 11 Oct 2011 at 12:48

I've now got 2 x Sharkoon 1000's in the front (£20) and as a trial I bought a 120mm Coolermaster for £1.99 off here to go in the side.

The Sharkoon's are silent however don't shift masses of air. The Coolermaster is equally silent and shifts as much air as the Sharkoons.

In summary I don't rate the Sharkoons for the money.

I did however get nearly a 5degree drop in CPU temp after installing the fans.

I've also isolated all the fans in the case with rubber fan pins and spacers. Going to do the PSU at some point when I find a suitable spacer.

I would also like to replace the 140mm fan in the top with something of good quality as it seems to vibrate quite a lot. (Any advice?)

When I get back from USA my next purchases are going to be 128gb M4 and an Antec 920. I'm then going to clock the bejesus out of it.

minimadmotorman · 8 Nov 2011 at 10:49

Well change of plans. Went for a Antec 620 on the £40 offer as I couldn't warrant paying nearly double for the 920.

I've also replaced the top case fan with an Apache (just got to sort the speed control now!)

minimadmotorman · 9 Nov 2011 at 15:09

Woohoo! My 620 has arrived! Pics to follow!

minimadmotorman · 21 Nov 2011 at 14:44

Right!

I forgot the pics from installing the 620 but will take some soon.
I also managed to source a second fan from a Kuhler 620 so have it in a push/pull setup, seems to make about 3 degrees difference @ 4.5GHz :-)

Have just made a deal on a 40gb Vertex 2 to use as an SSD cache. My ultimate aim is to replace all the disks with just 1 Cruicial M4 (128GB) but that will have to wait until I have a decent graphics card in there.