Spec Check Please - i5 Rig

PhilipM · 29 Sep 2009 at 22:19

Looking to build something small, but with big performance. Looking for the sweet spots in terms of performance per £. How does this lot look?

Intel Core i5 750 2.66Ghz (Lynnfield) (Socket LGA1156) - OEM + Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising Game £139.99
HIS ATI Radeon HD 4870 1024MB GDDR5 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - OEM (H487F1GP) £103.99
Silverstone Sugo SG01B-F Evolution Aluminium Micro-ATX Case - Black (No PSU) £89.99
Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD2 Intel P55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 Motherboard £86.99
OCZ Platinum 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C7 1333MHz Dual Channel (OCZ3P13334GK) £65.99
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £59.98
OCZ ModXStream Pro 500w Silent SLI Ready Modular Power Supply £52.99
Arctic Cooling Alpine 11 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 1156) £7.99

Sub Total : £528.62
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.75
VAT is being charged at 15% VAT : £81.06
Total : £621.43

PhilipM · 8 Oct 2009 at 22:16

Anyone?

Hotwired · 8 Oct 2009 at 22:26

The cooler you specced however is not all that much better than the stock intel one. 95
watts maximum is what it's for. So not good for overclocking as that's the thermal design power of a stock 750 anyway.

The AC Freezer 7 Pro clicky is good to 130 watts on the other hand but costs £12 more.

However if all you'll do is run it at stock then that's fine, probably quieter than the Intel cooler.

Guardsmon · 9 Oct 2009 at 16:29

Other things to consider are possibly a single platter hdd?
The HD4890 is slightly more expensive, but uses less power and better performance for the same size.

PhilipM · 10 Oct 2009 at 18:50

Thanks guys.

Will the cooler fit in the case? I think it'll be too big!

What are the benefits of a smaller, single platter drive? Is the F3 500gb about the best?

McstylisT · 13 Oct 2009 at 21:00

Hi ,

There is also another thread of a user doing the same thing. Check that one out too.

I pretty much did the same thing but with the SG02 case and the i7 920. The ATI 4870 is a very hot card and even with the fans running at 40% minimum it was still producing too much heat that could not escape.
Due to the small clearance are you get from the CPU area to where the PSU sits you can not mount a good cooler. All these low profile ones are not up to the task. Not from the ones i have seen anyway.
I was getting ridiculous temp readings. Completely at stock with the 4870 cooking the place i was hitting 50degs across every core constantly. This was idle and with speed step enabled too. It got really hot a few times like 60's when doing nothing however its was like 30degs outside and humid. If i attempted a stress test it would shut down due to the heat.

Personally by this point id had enough. I just wanted my new computer to work. So i ended up buying another tower case and moved the build into that. It works a dream now , and i have the old SG02 waiting to be turned into a HTPC along the line.

The difference is the i5 is of lower 95w TDP. It also does not use HT , which gives higher temps. If you can get a good cooler and stay at stock speeds i think you might just get away with it.

Cable management and good case fans will be important as the 4870 acts as a air flow block due to the size of it in this small case. If you can suck out that hot air rather than keeping it in the case , well its a good thing.

I am very interested in these type builds personally as its they way forward i think , however now i am using a tower and am able to over clock , I now see the power i would be missing out on at stock in a ssf case. Personal preference i guess.

Best of luck

McT