New Build query

Soldato
Joined
7 Aug 2003
Posts
8,030
Location
Bedfordshire
Hi All,

I posted a while ago about some issues I had with my machine, which seemed to be related to motherboard and PSU.

So a friend borrowed me their 575w Jeantech psu, which I thought was fine, but it got so hot (even with the fan set to high) and it 'smelled' hot as well. As well as these issues, my motherboard decided to kill my USB connectors for my keyboard and mouse - and two of the sata connectors seem to be dead anyway, so I'm thinking of replacing my phenom II x4, 8gb ddr2 and motherboard for this lot:

Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) 1155 - £179.99
MSI Z77A-G43 Intel Z77 1155 - £79.99
GeIL EVO Corsa 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1600mhz - £74.99
OCZ ZT 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular PSU - £63.98

Total - £410.95

I've chosen the Geil Corsa even though I am not overclocking because the 1333mhz seems to be on the motherboard compatibility list, so I figured it will just clock down to the standard speed and should still be fine.

This lot is going to go with my VTX ATI/AMD 5870, 1tb WD hard drive, Lian-li PC-60 and my DVD +/- RW.

Any thoughts on this? I would love to go for the i7 dual channel, but it's just a bit more money than I would like to spend..and this lot should be faster than the DDR2/phenom II/AM2+ system I have at the moment.

All help appreciated,

David
 
The RAM will most likely have a XMP profile stored on it, the motherboard can read this info and set up the RAM to 1600Mhz and the timings/voltage correctly, all you have to do is select this option in the BIOS.
 
Cheers for your reply, so I should hopefully be okay.

It also means I can put my DDR2 on MM, well, it might pay for half the power supply haha. I don't trust the motherboard/CPU/heatsink, so they're going to get chucked, but I know the memory is fine.

Thanks again for your reply,

David
 
Wondering if this will work from my fb account:

i5 3570k, 16gb Geil Evo Corsa DDR3, MSI Z77A-G43, OCZ 550w Modula PSU:

218500_10151247487428352_782934714_o.jpg


All lumped in my case:

289844_10151247487718352_991582294_o.jpg


Confirmation it all works:

622104_10151247487973352_735703819_o.jpg


I'm thinking the temperature might be a bit high - creeped up to 51c, settled back down to 49c but then I had no system fans connected. I'm hoping the temperatures have dropped 5-10c after connecting the two fans up (one rear, one front).

Thanks again,

David
 
Last edited:
By the way, you did add thermal paste to the CPU and then put the cooler on right?
Unless retail versions are totally pre-built, of course (I don't know as mine was OEM).
 
In the BIOS the speedstep doesnt work, so the temps will be higher than idle at the desktop.
 
Thanks for your replies!

It seemed to be okay running games, but I'll probably get some better cooling for the i5 soon.

I also enabled XMP as stulid recommended, bringing my memory frequency up to 1600mhz (the stock speed of the Evo Corsa DDR3) from 1333mhz, which has made things marginally faster.

Thanks again,

David
 
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