First build..slightly concerned

[mindsnare]

Experts..need your help

Did some research and managed to spec out the following with my budget.

- SuperFlower Leadex GOLD 650W Fully Modular "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black
- Samsung 250GB 850 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 32 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-75E250B/EU)
- MSI GeForce GTX 970 Gaming Edition 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
- TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17100C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLRED38G2133HC11ADC01)
- Prolimatech 81 CPU Cooler - 120mm
- Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming 5 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard
- Intel Core i5-4690K 3.50GHz (Devil's Canyon) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail

Can someone review and let me know how this looks. i primarily have concerns around the RAM and CPU cooler since I am not able to find many reviews for these.

I plan on over-clocking the cpu to 4.1/4.2 and running the memory to full 2133mhz using xmp

Thanks in advance

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Regarding the CPU cooler, it's probably fine. The design looks rasonable.

It's about half again as expensive as the very popular Hyper 212, though - I'd be tempted to just go with what works.

The RAM is probably also fine. I haven't heard of Team Group / Vulcan before, but the product page on Newegg has a reasonable number of positive reviews. Again, I'm a follower so I might stick with G-Skill, Corsair, or Crucial. (All very popular.) There is typically very little price different between brands for RAM.

Otherwise, nice build.

 

[mindsnare]

Many thanks for the quick reply. Read up on the page for the RAM....sorted

Regarding the cooler, just checked and saw that the following are also available

Alpenföhn Brocken 2 - 140mm
Alpenfohn Matterhorn Rev B
Be Quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3

Should I still go with the Prolimatech 81?

 

[Techhog]

I have Team RAM and... Well, it works as advertised. Sadly, when I upgraded to 16GB (too lazy to update signature) with RAM from a different brand, I had to disable XMP. Prime92 crashed in about 5 seconds with XMP and different kits. So long as you're certain that 8GB is enough for you, it's fine.

 

[mindsnare]

Thanks for the heads up..and yes 8Gb is good enough for me for now.

 

[ClockHound]

Can you get a Scythe Kotetsu? That's the current best cooler value - can run with the big, cool dogs like the D14.

If those are the only choices then Alpenföhn Brocken 2 or Alpenfohn Matterhorn Rev B seem to perform better than the Prolimatech 81.

Here's the only review I could find on all them together from hardwareluxx.de.

The Dark Rock 3 is a little disappointing, from this SPCR review. The Kotetsu rates many places above on the cool ladder.

Nice power supply choice.

 

[XavierMace]

My one experience with Team RAM and it was less than stellar as well. Wouldn't work at all with the mobo it was bundled with. Did get it working in a different system so I keep it on hand for emergencies. I would spend a little extra for a better brand.

 

[Essence_of_War]

Can you get a Scythe Kotetsu? That's the current best cooler value - can run with the big, cool dogs like the D14.

Agreed, alternatively, the new scythe mugen max is basically the same price as the prolimatech (at least from FrozenCPU, not sure where you are geographically for shipping, though) and it is known to be excellent as well.

 

[Yuriman]

If I'm not mistaken, that RAM is 1.65v, which is not good. These kits from Patriot, G.Skill and Mushkin are 1.5v:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231468

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA1N82KT8329

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226607


The gains from RAM faster than 1600 are minimal though. I'd probably pick a DDR3-1600 or 1866 kit that's low profile and/or low voltage, personally.

 

[Headfoot]

Consider that the 970 is only about 5-10% faster than a Sapphire Tri-X R9 290 yet costs $75 more. That $75 can get you your 256GB SSD to a 512GB in the same budget for an imperceptiblely small difference in FPS.

Otherwise, build looks good. I've heard SuperFlower's newest models are really high quality

 

[Headfoot]

If I'm not mistaken, that RAM is 1.65v, which is not good. These kits from Patriot, G.Skill and Mushkin are 1.5v:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231468

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA1N82KT8329

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226607


The gains from RAM faster than 1600 are minimal though. I'd probably pick a DDR3-1600 or 1866 kit that's low profile and/or low voltage, personally.

Agreed. Higher voltage DDR3 is going to be more difficult and expensive to find when/if you want to eventually upgrade to 16GB a few years down the road. The industry has settled on 1.5v as being "the default"

 

[bonehead123]

Experts..need your help

Did some research and managed to spec out the following with my budget.

- SuperFlower Leadex GOLD 650W Fully Modular "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black
- Samsung 250GB 850 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 32 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-75E250B/EU)
- MSI GeForce GTX 970 Gaming Edition 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
- TeamGroup Vulcan RED 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17100C11 2133MHz Dual Channel Kit (TLRED38G2133HC11ADC01)
- Prolimatech 81 CPU Cooler - 120mm
- Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming 5 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard
- Intel Core i5-4690K 3.50GHz (Devil's Canyon) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail

Can someone review and let me know how this looks. i primarily have concerns around the RAM and CPU cooler since I am not able to find many reviews for these.

I plan on over-clocking the cpu to 4.1/4.2 and running the memory to full 2133mhz using xmp

Thanks in advance

I just finished building 4 rigs for a client using very similar setups, and both he & I have been extremely pleased with the results....they are more than enough for his moderate gaming needs as well as running every office app & database he uses at his company...

I also o'cd the 4690k's to 4.2, but used Hyper 212 coolers to keep them chilly, and Corsair Vengance LP 1600mhz Ram .....

Good luck with your build

 

[ehume]

It is surprising what that Meghalems can do. They make clips for it that will allow you to run it with 140mm fans that have square frames. They also make clips to fit 120mm screwholes, so round-frame 140mm fans work. The Thermalright TY-140 is the most cost-effective solution of all the fans.

 

[ClockHound]

It is surprising what that Meghalems can do. They make clips for it that will allow you to run it with 140mm fans that have square frames. They also make clips to fit 120mm screwholes, so round-frame 140mm fans work. The Thermalright TY-140 is the most cost-effective solution of all the fans.

Agreed. But, he wasn't considering the Meghalems, it was Prolimatech's entry level model, the 81. With the stock 120mm fan it doesn't appear that competitive. However, put a couple TY-140s on it and... we're trashing his budget. That's what we're here for - to expand budgets and spend more money not our own. ;-)

 

[ehume]

Agreed. But, he wasn't considering the Meghalems, it was Prolimatech's entry level model, the 81. With the stock 120mm fan it doesn't appear that competitive. However, put a couple TY-140s on it and... we're trashing his budget. That's what we're here for - to expand budgets and spend more money not our own. ;-)

I looked at the Prolimatech 81. It's a Megahalems -- P'tech even says so -- with an included fan.

That said, the Megahalems I bought at the end of 2009 cooled as well as an NH-D14 and an NH-D15 in recent tests. I now have a Silver Arrow SB-E and a Genesis to match up with them, and will be resuming tests soon. I didn't think the Mega would do as well as the tandem towers. I was wrong. We'll see after I add a couple of more.

 

[ClockHound]

I looked at the Prolimatech 81. It's a Megahalems -- P'tech even says so -- with an included fan.

That said, the Megahalems I bought at the end of 2009 cooled as well as an NH-D14 and an NH-D15 in recent tests. I now have a Silver Arrow SB-E and a Genesis to match up with them, and will be resuming tests soon. I didn't think the Mega would do as well as the tandem towers. I was wrong. We'll see after I add a couple of more.

Wow...that's interesting. At the P'tech site that I visited the specs for the
Basic 81 show it's 6 pipes at 740 grams (assumed with fan)
http://www.prolimatech.com/en/products/detail.asp?id=2748&subid=2770#showtab


Megahalems Rev C 6 pipe, no fan 790 grams
http://www.prolimatech.com/en/products/detail.asp?id=2149&subid=2236#showtab

So they're the same and the fan on the Basic 81 model is just really weak?

It didn't fair well in the test I linked:
http://www.hardwareluxx.de/index.ph...830-prolimatech-basic-81-im-test.html?start=9

 

[Geforce man]

get the cheapest 1600Mhz or 1866Mhz ram you can find, 2133 is a waste. That should shave off a few dollars. Stick with Crucial, Samsung, G.skill.

Hope that helps!

Otherwise, looks like a solid build.

 

[ehume]

And get low profile RAM, for compatibility with any heatsink.

 

[mindsnare]

Thanks..did some more digging decided on going with the Dark Rock Pro 3 cooler.
Hopefully that fits in my case : Silverstone SST-RL04B

After reading your post now I'm torn between the Hyper 212 Evo and Pro-3.

Any suggestions?

My thinking is that since i am thinking of a mild overclock(4.1/4.2) on the cpu, the hyper should be enough but i want to keep the option of going to 4.5 or higher --hence the pro 3

Thoughts?

 

[mindsnare]

I just finished building 4 rigs for a client using very similar setups, and both he & I have been extremely pleased with the results....they are more than enough for his moderate gaming needs as well as running every office app & database he uses at his company...

I also o'cd the 4690k's to 4.2, but used Hyper 212 coolers to keep them chilly, and Corsair Vengance LP 1600mhz Ram .....

Good luck with your build

This is the message i was replying to

 

[mindsnare]

get the cheapest 1600Mhz or 1866Mhz ram you can find, 2133 is a waste. That should shave off a few dollars. Stick with Crucial, Samsung, G.skill.

Hope that helps!

Otherwise, looks like a solid build.

How does this look : http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-173-KS&tool=3

Can I run this at 1866@1.5v??

 

[Dave2150]

I'd suggest getting 2400Mhz ddr3 at least. It's very cheap now, and has performance benefits in games such as BF4, and other newer games.

The Hyperx Savage 16GB 2400Mhz kits are very well priced and perform well, also come with lifetime warranty.

 

[Yuriman]

How does this look : http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-173-KS&tool=3

Can I run this at 1866@1.5v??

Hard to say. I can't find that RAM on Kingston's site though so it may be older and discontinued. My guess is that it's 1866@1.65v, and a lower clock (or higher latency) at 1.5v, but OCUK seems to have ratings of voltage ranges on all of their memory so I'm not sure. You probably won't be able to tell a difference though as RAM speed has almost zero impact on gaming performance.

I'd suggest getting 2400Mhz ddr3 at least. It's very cheap now, and has performance benefits in games such as BF4, and other newer games.

The Hyperx Savage 16GB 2400Mhz kits are very well priced and perform well, also come with lifetime warranty.

After a quick google, I discovered that this Kingston Savage set is rated for the following:

JEDEC: DDR3-1600 CL11-11-11 @1.5V
XMP Profile #1: DDR3-2400 CL11-13-14 @1.65V
XMP Profile #2: DDR3-2133 CL11-13-13 @1.6V

Source

They're rated at 2400mhz @ 1.65v, which I've read is hard on Intel memory controllers.

This TeamGroup kit is £13 less and is rated for 1600 @ CL11, 1.5v.

 

[ClockHound]

Thanks..did some more digging decided on going with the Dark Rock Pro 3 cooler.
Hopefully that fits in my case : Silverstone SST-RL04B

After reading your post now I'm torn between the Hyper 212 Evo and Pro-3.

Any suggestions?

My thinking is that since i am thinking of a mild overclock(4.1/4.2) on the cpu, the hyper should be enough but i want to keep the option of going to 4.5 or higher --hence the pro 3

Thoughts?

Pro 3 - very quiet fan....the stock fan on the 212 will slowly make you re-think your cheapskate ethos one painful dB at a time.

The Pro 3 isn't the best air cooler at the price, but it's very good and quiet - whereas the 212 is decent and noisy. Fan swap is a mandatory 212 option imo.

The Pro 3 should fit your case and match the color - low profile ram is required. First expansion slot will be covered.

 

[Dave2150]

After a quick google, I discovered that this Kingston Savage set is rated for the following:

JEDEC: DDR3-1600 CL11-11-11 @1.5V
XMP Profile #1: DDR3-2400 CL11-13-14 @1.65V
XMP Profile #2: DDR3-2133 CL11-13-13 @1.6V

Source

They're rated at 2400mhz @ 1.65v, which I've read is hard on Intel memory controllers.

This TeamGroup kit is £13 less and is rated for 1600 @ CL11, 1.5v.

They work flawlessly on Z97. Older Intel chipsets had some issues with higher voltage RAM - though the newer chipsets have no such issue at all.

HyperX RAM is from Kingston - a much more reputable vendor than 'teamgroup'.