New build tonight, i7 and x58

[Slacker]

Got the itch and went to Microcenter for mb, cpu and memm

Asus Sabertooth x58 $199.00
i7-960 $249.00
Corsair Vengeance DDR3 12gb $159.00 (for 12 gigs, crazy)CMZ12GX3M3A1600C9


bought a Sparkle computer scc-750af 750 gold modular power supply earlier this week $145.00

had a gtx465 from a couple months ago was like $180.00 or so

but because I am cheap and lazy, I migrated my 2? year old sata drives 2x500gb

Pulled my Antec P180 out of the closet and spent about 4 hours cleaning it and assembling the computer, was a fun saturday afternoon.

Then the moment of dread, turn it on and see...

It came to a warning about the cpu being changed, thought it was weird but w/e, went in the bios and looked around, looked good so I restart and it boots windows, to the log in screen... but the resolution is LOW and my keyboard and mouse dont work, grrr restart, hey look, no video, and what are those 2 red lights on the mobo?

CPU LED and DIMM LED ugh!, spent an hour fiddling with different combinations of dimms and reseating everything that had a seat, was getting a little pissed.

While I was looking for a cmos jumper I saw the battery and popped it out, I started the computer with no memory and no battery and saw that the CPU LED was not on, so I turned it off and put all the memory back in and it booted right up.

Was afraid to restart it but had to for updates, on restart the bios warning came up to recover the bios, I went in and loaded defaults, restarted a few times since then no problem.

Just now finished getting everything situated and updated.

Besides watching 8 cpu windows in task manager, what would be a good way to test and see the power of this setup?

and, with the bios defaults loaded is everything set where it should be or do I have to change settings for the memory?

 

[mnewsham]

return it and save yourself some money... O_O seriously unless you need the x58 platform for something specific you just wasted money.

Anyway, CPU-Z, Hardware monitor, Intel Burn test, Prime 95, OCCT... Use the first two to monitor the CPU and other components use the other 3 to stress test. Hardware monitor will let you see the Min, MAX, and current temp of CPU and GPU while giving you voltage on both and the RPM of fans and such. CPU-Z will show you the clock speed and other CPU specific things.

EDIT: in case you wanted to know what would have been more sensible upgrade,

I5-2500k
P67 Sabertooth
8GB RAM

 

[mfenn]

return it and save yourself some money... O_O seriously unless you need the x58 platform for something specific you just wasted money.

Anyway, CPU-Z, Hardware monitor, Intel Burn test, Prime 95, OCCT... Use the first two to monitor the CPU and other components use the other 3 to stress test. Hardware monitor will let you see the Min, MAX, and current temp of CPU and GPU while giving you voltage on both and the RPM of fans and such. CPU-Z will show you the clock speed and other CPU specific things.

EDIT: in case you wanted to know what would have been more sensible upgrade,

I5-2500k
P67 Sabertooth
8GB RAM

:thumbsup: to everything but the Sabertooth. I would get something reasonable like the GA-P67A-UD3. In any case, buying a new X58 system right now is just crazy.

 

[mnewsham]

:thumbsup: to everything but the Sabertooth. I would get something reasonable like the GA-P67A-UD3. In any case, buying a new X58 system right now is just crazy.

I just got it cause he had just bought the X58 version :awe:

 

[Dice144]

Sandy better bang for the buck. Plus OC higher!

 

[Slacker]

This unit is still running strong with daily use and zero problems

 

[Denithor]

LOL a 5 year necro to post an update?

Well, since you poked in, I'll give you some advice. Upgrade to a Xeon X5650 or higher for <$100 used from eBay. 6 cores/12 threads of goodness, lower power consumption than your current i7, what's not to love?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Xeon-...828505?hash=item1eae08c259:g:1TMAAOSwsN9W~p3I

You can likely offer like $65 and get it.

 

[Slacker]

Now you did it, got me thinking about upgrades, I was at best buy Saturday looking at video cards and the guy said there was an unadvertised special on the xfx r9 390x for $249.99, I have been thinking about a new vid card for a while so I went for it.

While looking at that CPU you linked I saw a couple 5950 for as low as $150.00 but need to do more research on which 5k series handles the pin mod at defaults.

 

[Denithor]

A 390X for $250? That's unbelievable those cards are like $450 usually!! Even with next gen stuff coming out this summer that's a crazy good price. I might have to swing by the BB near my home tomorrow just to see.

And I'm not sure what you mean by 5950, that's not an Intel CPU number as far as I can tell. There's a HUGE thread over in CPU section dealing with use of these cheap server chips on X58 boards.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2335636

Tons of info and Burpo is always happy to help with any questions you have. As a note, these chips are the last generation of Intel chips that could be BCLK overclocked. Since they are smaller node than the original i7's they tend to run cooler, use less power and overclock (significantly) better.

That ol' upgrade itch aughta be driving you nuts about now...
LOL

 

[Slacker]

I can post a pic of the receipt if it will help, I got the impression it was that day only, I have had them mention specials like this before on other items.

I got the CPU # all wrong, meant 5690

 

[mikeymikec]

This unit is still running strong with daily use and zero problems

Hardware from around 2009 that is still working is not really that remarkable.

 

[Denithor]

I'd probably stick with an x5675 or lower for the lower TDP (95W vs 130W).

95W: x5650, x5660, x5670, x5675
130W: x5680, x5690

When I got mine I just nabbed the best deal I could find, $50 shipped for x5650.

Still haven't been to BB, keep forgetting, will try tomorrow.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Hardware from around 2009 that is still working is not really that remarkable.

I remember hardware back in the bad old days, before solid capacitors, and when the mobo mfgs all seemingly fell for the "capacitor plague".

Back then, you were almost lucky to have a mobo survive more than 3-4 years.

Even so, past the capacitor plague days, I consider a mobo (without solid caps) to have survived well, if it lasts more than 5-6 years. (Branded OEM mobos for AMD X2 rigs especially seem to be prone to failing after 5 years. Edit: Those 125W X2 5600+/6000+ CPUs really worked the VRMs pretty hard on those boards.)

Edit: That said, the mobo in my Q9300 rig (currently using it right now), was one of the early Gigabyte "Ultra Durable" mobos, with solid caps, and it was purchased in 2007, and still going strong. I would put a high likely-hood of solid cap boards lasting 10 years or more.

 

[Denithor]

Likely any board with all solid caps should last beyond the 'usable' lifespan of the overall system, barring major upgrades that would prolong use (or, obviously, power spikes/defective PSUs, etc).

Nine years is a pretty good run though!