SG01 G45 Chipset Build - finally

Little_Crow · 19 Aug 2008 at 20:06

It's been a massively protracted wait for the G45 motherboards, and now they're here, look to be a bit of a damp squib

Still, in the spirit of Great British derring-do I'm going to go for it anyway. If the HD performance turns out to be a hideous mess, then the backup plan is to get a discrete card.

So this is the spec I'm poised to order:
Intel E2180
Silverstone NT06-E heatsink
SG01B-W Case
2x 250Gb Seagate Momentus HDD
520W Corsair HX PSU
Gigabyte EG45-DS2H Mobo
4Gb Memory??

My biggest question mark is the memory, going by other peoples build notes PC6400 is where it's at.
But how is the clearance? from pics it looks like memory with heat spreaders is out, so what makes and models do people recommend?

Also anything else I should be aware of, changing fans etc?

Thanks in advance,

Little_Crow

AlexTrickle · 24 Aug 2008 at 19:39

I'm on a G35 and have 4GB (2x2GB) GeIL Black Dragon DDR2 PC6400 RAM. One thing i noticed which i'm not sure if they fixed on the G45 is due to chipset limitations any low latency CL4 RAM will be downgraded to CL5 by default (as I discovered). Apparently there is a solution but I'm not sure about it.

AbsenceJam · 24 Aug 2008 at 20:10

All boards are like that, you have to set the voltage and timings manually.

Little_Crow · 30 Aug 2008 at 02:20

I received all the parts and built it this evening. I've got photos so I'll put up a build log later this weekend.

It's currently idling around 33 degrees, and making almost no noise at all.
I still have a bit of cable tidying to do, but I'm enormously happy with the results.

p4radox · 30 Aug 2008 at 10:26

That's a fantastic looking spec, pretty much what I'd have gone for in the Sugo. What fans are you using?

I'm looking forward to some pics.

Little_Crow · 30 Aug 2008 at 12:18

At the moment I'm just using the silverstone fans that come with it, and the 2 HDD's are in Scythe quiet drive enclosures.

Unless you have your ear right next to the side, you cannot hear the fans at all.

Tuffers · 1 Sep 2008 at 15:11

What memory did you go for in the end and how is the PSU for noise?

Little_Crow · 1 Sep 2008 at 18:40

The PSU is absolutely incredible, it may really be overkill for what I have. I chose it because it was modular and couldn't get anything lower power.

When I was happy that the motherboard was in place (had major problems running cables under the motherboard) I gave it a power up test.

I switched it off and on a couple of times thinking it wasn't powering up, then noticed the lights on the motherboard, then got a post screen.
The PSU was so quiet I didn't realise it was on - panic over!

The memory I got was 4Gb Corsair TwinX XMS2, as it turns out the clearance wasn't an issue. I just rotated the heatsink to and all was well.

(Build log coming soon!)

Little_Crow · 1 Sep 2008 at 19:04

All the loot:
(not shown is a Logitech G5, and a Steelseries SX Mousemat)
(Also not shown is the enormous mess of bubblewrap and boxes that if the missus had ever seen, would have ended with my privileges being revoked for a month)

(Dyson not included)

Next came stripping out the case of all the chassis fans and HDD enclosures
I'm not sure why they make the cables for the frontpanel so damned long:

Some shots of the motherboard in all it's glory

My next step was to test fit the NT06-E, I needed to check the fit for the memory, the big gold 'Gigabyte' heatsink nearby, and the capacitors
This turned out to be the only orientation that worked:

Little_Crow · 1 Sep 2008 at 19:47

The next shot constitutes about an hour of swearing and sweating.
I had failed to take into account the plastic pushpins and heatsink which then made getting the motherboard into position impossible, this is the final position of the cables for the USB frontpanel connectors:
(I've no idea what the black tape I've used is, it was in my toolkit and did the trick nicely. I borrowed this trick from another forum and it works great.)

After this came the power up test, which gave me the scare in my previous post, but attests to the quietness of the HX520.

With that out the way I was pretty much on the home stretch, just HDD's and optical drive to install.

I really wanted to get 2.5" drives for the power saving and quietness qualities, but this presented a dilemma as the SG01 only take 3.5" drives. An OCUK forum post later and I had the answer - Scythe Quiet Drives:
(Virgin drive, shown with one already Quiet Drive'd)

2nd Drive just before it's incarceration:
(The grey pad on top of the HDD is a slighty tacky thermal transfer pad, 2 are included, 1 each for top and bottom)
(Also included is a SATA Power/Data entension)

Both drives before they're added to the SG01 drive enclosure:

Drives in their Caddy:

Little_Crow · 1 Sep 2008 at 20:25

All that was remaining was to install the caddy, and install the optical drive.
This is the nice side:

And this is the side that the family don't talk about and try to keep hidden:

I've still got to finish the tidying up of the cabling and check the HDD activity light conections, but other than that it's complete.

I'm very, very happy with it, according to speed fan the CPU is running at 32 degrees, and I haven't seen it go much above that.

Watching H264 movies the CPU usage is about 60% which is pretty high in my mind, but there's plenty of headroom for any background tasks.

The Pioneer DVD-ROM is pretty noisy, but I'm looking into the 'Quiet Drive' utility to address that.

Tuffers · 2 Sep 2008 at 22:56

Great build matey.

So the PSU is the nuts and the memory fits all nicely.

Personally I would have ditched the Pioneer drive in favour of the All in One LG Unit which from experience is massively quieter. Quiet Drive should remedy that though.

Also, what heatsink CPU cooler is that?

Did you get 2.5 drives or are the 3.5s in this caddy thing?

Thanks

Little_Crow · 3 Sep 2008 at 01:35

Yep, can't say enough good things about the PSU.

You could be right on the DVD drive front, and I've since found the Quiet Drive utility isn't available for this drive. Tried Nero Drive speed which has helped matters a bit, but not as much as I hoped. Still, it was only a tenner or so, so I'm not fussed right now, but may replace it in future.

The CPU cooler is the Silverstone NT06-E.

Bought 2x 2.5" Seagate Momentus 250Gb 5400RPM drives, these are installed into the Scythe Quiet Drive enclosures. These had the dual purpose of quietening the drives even further, and allowing them to be installed into standard 3.5" drive bays.