Would appreciate a look at this spec please :)

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Soldato
Joined
4 Sep 2005
Posts
2,794
Mainboard: Gigabyte Z68X-UD7 Intel Z68 @ £284.99 inc VAT
CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) @ £161.99 inc VAT
Memory: Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) @ £45.98 inc VAT
SSD: Intel 320 Series 120GB 2.5" SATA-II 25nm @ £164.99 inc VAT
CPU Cooler: Corsair Hydro H100 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler @ £94.99 inc VAT

I plan to use the 4870x2 until the ATI 7000 series are out so I can check out price drops or whatever the new ones might be like. Also plan to keep my Thermaltake W0133 1200W Modular PSU as it should be adequate from what I can see. Mainboard connectors haven't changed or anything crazy have they?

Hearing good things about the Crucial SSDs so wasn't sure whether to go for one of those.

Now I would like to try overclocking the i5 to c. 4.4 as I believe it is possible but I didn't want to go for one of the Gigabyte pre-overclocked bundles as I really want to go for a 2x x16 slots mainboard that can offer me the chance to go the whole hog with SLI or Crossfire. Is the Gigabyte board I have chosen good for overclocking?

Really don't want to make the same mistake I made 4 years ago with the EVGA 680i which has never really like my overclock.

Basically what I am looking for is a strong stable setup with moderate/good overclocking potential that I can then expand upon. Would really appreciate feedback please :)
 
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Change the SSD to this: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-009-CR

The M4 has double the read speed and faster write. Have one myself and found it extremely reliable so far. It will also take advantage of the SATA 3 port on the board as well, the 320 is only SATA 2 speeds.

For PCI-E 2.0 there's only a ~1% difference between x16/x16 and x8/x8 Crossfire/Sli. It's a good board and will get you to 4.4ghz, but it's quite expensive. Pretty much any P67/Z68 can reach 4.4ghz with ease. Could save some money with this board and save that money for a better/another 7000 series card: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-360-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1990

Perhaps consider this cooler for the 2500K: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-006-AN&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=1395
 
From the little I know about the i5/i7 range of cpus, I gather there i5 overclocked is an excellent/cheaper alternative to the i7. Am I missing a great deal of performance opting "only" for an i5?
 
I really liked the idea of having a mainboard that can possibly let me access Crossfire or SLi but a few people I have spoken to have said it isn't ideal. I have also seen recommendations for the Asus P67 Sabretooth but is there much difference between the P67 and Z68 chipsets?
 
Ok this is what I am looking at as an alternative:

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge)

Asus P67 Sabertooth Intel P67 (Socket 1155)

Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive

Antec Kúhler H2O 920 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler

Crucial RealSSD M4 64GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive

Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 - oops forgot the ram :)

The reason I have gone for a 64GB and a 128GB hdd is that I like to generally have my o/s on a separate disk. I had thought about putting 2x64GB in Raid 0 however. What do you guys think? Really need to know the difference between the P67s and Z68s ideally. Appreaciate the input :)

N.B. Is there a more suitable ram to use by the way or should the Kingston Grey be fine?
 
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Z68 BOARDS GIVE YOU

1. Integrated graphics support
2. Use of Quicksync for video transcoding
3. SSD Caching

Otherwise, its the same as P67
 
mickyflinn said:
Z68 BOARDS GIVE YOU

1. Integrated graphics support
2. Use of Quicksync for video transcoding
3. SSD Caching

Otherwise, its the same as P67
Click to expand...

Must confess I know nothing about 2 & 3 and not really interested in integrated graphics. Are 2 & 3 particularly useful? I am not particularly planning on transcoding from this pc as I intend to have a separate HTPC and currently have a TViX media player.
 
Hey guys. This is the build I went with in the end. Can anyone see any problems I might face trying to get it to somewhere between 4.5 and 5GHz?

i7 2600k Retail
ASRock Extreme7 Gen 3
16GB Kingston HyperX Grey 1600MHz
1 x 64GB Crucial M4 SSD
1 x 128GB Crucial M4 SSD
Antec Kuhler 920

Initially I plan to use my very dated Sapphire 4870x2 and hope to change that around Christmas, maybe sooner if its performance really holds back the system.

What do you guys think? Am I likely to face any overclocking problems with the ram?

If anyone can recommend where I go to look for o/c settings that would compliment this build, I would really appreciate it.
 
Well my kit arrived today and it looks like the 920 is going to have enough clearance at the top as well as enough tubing length (certainly if I invert the CPU housing but shouldn't need to I don't think).

Sorry to ask again but does anyone foresee any problems before I start my build this weekend?
 
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