SB Build

[Slammy1]

I'm looking to upgrade in about 3 weeks. BluRay paly back, HD videos, light to mid level gaming. I'm more interested in future proofing (my current rig is 2003 tech) and am not overly concerned with sound (my stereo makes most computers noiseless). I'm still in the era of a 5.1 digital system so I'm somewhat limited wrt sound output, will be using my older PCI XFi platinum with breakout (analog out for games, digital for theater). Video is my older 37" 1080p monitor with possible future upgrade. Will probably add an SSD later. Budget around my current pricing, could go higher.

MSI P67A-GD65 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz
COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus
G.SKILL Value Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666)
SAPPHIRE 100315L Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
Crucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAC064MAG-1G1 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive
LG Black Blu-ray Disc Combo Drive
Rosewill BLACKHAWK Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Antec earthwatts EA500 500W
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

Total $1230. Some specific questions:
Would it be better to wait out the motherboard until more 1155 boards are released?
Is 8 year old AS5 Ceramique still good?

TIA for any advice.

 

[mnewsham]

Light to mid gaming is HD 6850 or 6870 not 6950 O_O

Your PSU sucks, try Antec.

 

[Slammy1]

Yeah, I was going around on the PSU. I liked the idea of a modular unit, but I can see your point (though sucks might be a bit harsh). I replaced the OCZ unit with my second choice in the OP.

I figured the GPU was overkill, but for about $50 more I figured a better lifetime. When I say light to mid gaming I'm not so much talking about the games I'd run, just not as much time as I used to have for it.

 

[fffblackmage]

You shouldn't need an extra SATA cable, the mobo should come with a couple.

I don't remember what the difference between HP and Pro, but you can google for it. Normally, most people don't need Pro.

620W is overkill. 500W is already more than enough.

The 6950 will get you max settings now, but you will have to upgrade it in a couple years, if you want to maintain the ability to play games with max settings.

 

[Slammy1]

True about the PSU, a little too much overhead. I decided to go with the 3rd choice, which was probably the recommended one.

Good point on the video. I really don't care about the candy as much as the frame rates, and $80 is a nice savings. Updated the OP.

 

[mnewsham]

Looking good, I recommend going with the Hyper 212+ HSF because you are getting the 2500k and i assume you will be overclocking. The 212+ will give you good temps up to 4.4Ghz or so with a small voltage increase.

 

[Slammy1]

I had the 212 in the build initially but switched it out due to concerns about its size. I'll switch it back, heck, I may need to add back the SSD with all the savings. Thank you all for the advice.

EDIT: Just noticed that I didn't have the Noctua HSF listed in the OP.

 

[mnewsham]

If you wait a few weeks the motherboard prices should go down somewhat.

 

[Slammy1]

Timing is everything, I suppose. I'm not concerned about saving a few bucks on the MoBo price (I figure I'd spend $150-ish anyway) as much as making compromises to the technology. It'll be 3 weeks before I get my next block of days off due to my shift rotation. I was about ready to buy when the SB problems arose, I was just waiting for them to get fixed.

EDIT: Thanks again for the advice. Before I push the purchase button in the next couple of weeks I'll bump the thread.

 

[mfenn]

Looks good to me!

 

[Slammy1]

Well, I went ahead and pulled the trigger. I went with a slightly higher rated 6850 (XFX for the same price, $5 more but an extra $5 rebate), held off on the SSD until the next generation SATA3 drives (I can wait), swapped to the 212/2500k combo deal, and saved a few dollars with the Lite-On BD player. Total was just under $1100. I guess 8 years was long enough to wait between upgrades, hopefully this one will last as long. Next up, the Westinghouse 37w1 monitor (someday, hopefully), still recovering from layoff and rehire last year.

 

[Anomaly1964]

Nice looking build!

 

[mfenn]

Well, I went ahead and pulled the trigger. I went with a slightly higher rated 6850 (XFX for the same price, $5 more but an extra $5 rebate), held off on the SSD until the next generation SATA3 drives (I can wait), swapped to the 212/2500k combo deal, and saved a few dollars with the Lite-On BD player. Total was just under $1100. I guess 8 years was long enough to wait between upgrades, hopefully this one will last as long. Next up, the Westinghouse 37w1 monitor (someday, hopefully), still recovering from layoff and rehire last year.

Meh, the SSD was the biggest upgrade in the whole build. I'm sure that this will still blow you away, but the SSD is really what defines a modern machine (IMHO).

 

[Slammy1]

I went ahead and got the Crucial drive after I posted that. I'm too used to having a fast boot drive, and although the newer Sandforce2000 drives are due soon I could always install this one to my laptop (should the upgrade bug bite). Also, I needed a case fan for my old system (which is going to a friend).

 

[mfenn]

I went ahead and got the Crucial drive after I posted that. I'm too used to having a fast boot drive, and although the newer Sandforce2000 drives are due soon I could always install this one to my laptop (should the upgrade bug bite). Also, I needed a case fan for my old system (which is going to a friend).

The C300 is a fine drive, I'm sure you'll be pleased.

 

[Slammy1]

Well, got everything together, holding off on test/install as I have to go to work soon. I didn't want to have to worry about it at work ya know, but I took a vacation day so I'll have 3 days to transfer stuff over. Some observations.

The 212 is too squiggly for my tastes. I had to remove the side fan to fit it in (and the backplate stopped me from installing it in the rear). I decided to hold off on putting it (the side fan) back in until I decide if I need it. It paid to check the thermal paste, I didn't get full coverage of the cpu.

Overall an easy build if I'd gone with a smaller HSF. Probably half the build time/frustration was getting that sucker in and I'm still worried about it.

EDIT: Windows installed fine, but temps in BIOS were a whopping 36-37C (held steady). I closely followed the instructions for the 212, including the paste instructions on various sites. May just install the stock fan and be done with it.

 

[betasub]

^ BIOS temps are not the same as "fully idle" temps. Load up an OS with support for Intel's power saving features & then check temps.

 

[Slammy1]

Yeah, I'm not ready to toss it yet. All I've done is installed Windows 7 and let it idle while I was getting ready for work. I figure it still has a break in period and I'd like to run Prime on it and watch temps, and even then I'll probably try another round with thermal paste before giving up. It's just so twisty it makes me nervous. My older system has an even heavier HSF on it (Zalman 7000CU) but that one's sturdy.

 

[mfenn]

What do you mean by "twisty"? If your referring to any looseness at the base, then you don't have it mounted properly. If your referring to the flex that the heatpipes have, then that's perfectly normal. We've moved beyond the need for huge expensive hunks of copper. Do not go and twist it on purpose or you will crack the heatpipes.

 

[Slammy1]

Well, the fan is flush with my memory but moving the unit caused it to rotate a bit (maybe 5-10 degrees). From what I've read, it's about 10C above the case reading which is "normal", but I've yet to stress it (and I'm running stock). I can definitely imagine that I might need to reapply the thermal paste, it seemed like a lot (I applied to the HS base, wiped off excess with a credit card, then ended up with 3 thin strips about half the length of the processor).

 

[mfenn]

If the upper structure rotates, that's fine. If the base itself is moving, there is definitely something wrong with your mounting.

 

[Slammy1]

Well, CPU temps are fine. I'll continue to monitor with SpeedFan, but they're pretty much unchanging (getting slightly lower, actually, I assume break in). I frequently looked at the base during building and it seemed aligned, just not used to moving things.

There was a brief driver issue with the GPU in 3D but it seems resolved through the driver from Windows update. I spent my free time yesterday getting my old system in order for my friends. Still need a new CMOS battery, no biggie.

The one concern is the SSD. I got a 5.9 rating in Windows Experience Index. I know, synthetic benchmarks and all that. I followed the sticky in Memory and Storage so I dunno. I guess I'll need to further review this, it may be my first priority after I get everything straight in Windows.

Haven't done any o/c yet, in fact I've just imported favorites before I came here (getting ready to set up email and transfer about 150 gigs of data from my external HDD over).

Thanks again for everyone's help on this project.

 

[mfenn]

Regarding the HSF, if your temps are fine, I wouldn't worry about it too much.

WEI scores have really high variance, so I wouldn't worry about that. Download CrystalDiskMark and post the results and I can tell you if your performance seems to be where it should be.

 

[Slammy1]

Regarding the HSF, if your temps are fine, I wouldn't worry about it too much.

WEI scores have really high variance, so I wouldn't worry about that. Download CrystalDiskMark and post the results and I can tell you if your performance seems to be where it should be.

I'm not too worried either way. I just did some HD stuff and the temps may have rose a couple of degrees, pretty awesome. Plus I've never put much stock in HDD benching, I boot in like 20 sec and things are pretty speedy. Thank you again for your help, the system is pretty nifty. Course, now that I finally have a couple of days off I don't seem to have anything to fix, how boring is that? Maybe I'll see what I can break .

EDIT: CrystalDiskMark 2.2 Results:
Seq: 340.1/70.67
512k: 313.5/69.87
4k: 25.42/47.08
From what I've read, these results would seem to indicate that I need to update the firmware on the drive. Those are the 100MB results.

EDIT2: Well, I have the latest firmware (006). It matches the specs on the box, so I guess firmware isn't the issue.

 

[mfenn]

Your 4K read scores are a little low, but everything else is pretty much spot on. That could be caused by running CrystalDiskMark 2.X rather than 3.X though.