- Project Double Build -

Harl0

Harl0

Harl0

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Joined
23 Oct 2012
Posts
213
Hello!

First off thanks go to the chaps and chapets of this forum for helping me decide on the specs and Overclockers for swift delivery and Harribo :D which while I was inspecting my beast of a GPU, my dog swiped a bag :(

For anyone interested I am building two PCs; the first destined for gaming the second high performance graphic design and video editing. The gaming rig is for myself the second for my father.

Original discussion thread HERE

Specs:
Gaming Rig

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI HD 7950 Twin Frozr III OC V2 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE FARCRY3, Hitman Absolution, Sleeping Dogs & 20% off MOH Warfighter PC Games £251.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - OEM £179.99
1 x XFX 850W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Silver' Power Supply £94.99
1 x Samsung 128GB SSD 830 Desktop Series SATA 6Gb/s KIT with Norton Ghost - (MZ-7PC128D/EU) £89.99
1 x Antec P280 Super Midi Tower Case - Gun Metal Black £84.98
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £83.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) £69.98
1 x Corsair Hydro H60 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler (Socket LGA2011/1366/1155/1156/775/AM2/AM3) (CWCH60) £59.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML8GX3M2A1600C9) £37.99
1 x Samsung SH-S222BB/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £989.38 (includes shipping : £13.75).
YOUR BASKET
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £83.99
1 x Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g) £8.99
Total : £101.68 (includes shipping : £7.25).





Performance Rig
(difference listed)

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3770K 3.50GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £269.99
1 x Samsung 256GB SSD 830 Series SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive - (MZ-7PC256B/WW) £149.99
Total : £429.58 (includes shipping : £8.00).



NOTE: This build was featuring 16GB RAM and a HD 7950. Going to roll with on-board graphics and 8GB RAM for now.
__

Not sure how interesting/ popular this is going to be with members but thought I would do it anyway; maybe members new to the world of computing will find it useful.

I'm sure many mistakes will be made in fact... I'm more than certain so, please point out anything you feel I could do better/ differently this is a learning exercise for me too :)

I have suitably dubbed this adventure 'Project Double Build' well it was either that or my sisters suggestion of ' Project...There is no way that graphics card will fit on that motherboard, you have screwed this up already'

Now she maybe right, it is massive and overhangs the M/B by about an inch... meh what can you do :cool:

As requested I have made this thread to document the build(s) progress and expose myself to no end of criticism due to my unorthodox methods and maybe have some fun along the way!

Phase 1 - Procurement
01/11/12

Build -
Still waiting on couple of components but here are some quick pics:

All-Unboxed.jpg


Harribo theif -

All_boxed_dog.jpg


Quick shot of GPU -

GPU_unboxed.jpg


Hopefully start building this weekend!

Note to self: Must find anti-static mat...
 
Last edited:
FYI the underneath of mouse mats are anti-static. It's not wise to leave parts on the bags they come in as they are only anti-static on the inside, the outside is conductive ;)
 
Cheers guys.

I do actually have an anti-static mat along with wrist-strap, just not to sure where I put it!

Do have a fairly large mouse mat I could use though :D
 
- UPDATE - 07/11/12

Both systems have now been built and operational with O/S installed - Have to say I am extremely impressed with the performance of both systems! O/S was installed and functioning in under 7 mins and boots ready to use in under 20 secs!

I did take few pics during the process (nothing you haven’t seen before) and I will post them up with a brief explanation when I have time.

I just have a couple of post build questions;

I have manually set the RAM speeds to 1600mhz up from the default of 1333mhz in BIOS using the performance profile available. I have also set SATA control to AHCI and selected Load Optimised Defaults.

When I booted into my PC after installing all updates etc etc. I loaded the Easy Tune application and ran the Auto Tune feature. Clocked my processor at 4.66ghz! This OC sounds quite high and was also kicking out temps of over 80c when put through stress test! I was only looking for a mild OC :eek:

I have since returned the CPU to its default speed of 3.4ghz and binned Easy Tune off - The weird thing is my BIOS is saying my CPU speed is set to 3.4ghz but reading an actual speed of 3.8 which seems to rise to 4.1ghz under heavy load, is this normal? Could this have something to do with me selecting Load Optimised Defaults in the BIOS?

Finally, I have installed the Corsair H60 CPU Cooler. Nice and quiet, just wondering how best to set the fan up... Currently I have followed the rubbish instructions and installed the HS to the fan which is bolted to the case - the fan is currently extracting air across the HS out the case. Is this the most efficient set up or should I turn the fan around so air is being pushed across the HS into the case?


Thanks guys and I plan on giving my thoughts on each component when I get time :cool:
 
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