View Full Version : Build Log (Coming Soon)
Just got around to ordering all the kit I wanted to get,
couldn't wait around for the Fractal Design Arc Midi so
instead went with the Define R3 Black Pearl =)
Shopping List:
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge)
1 x ASUS Sabertooth Intel P67 (REV B3)
1 x 8GB Mushkin Blackline LV (2x4GB) DDR3 1600MHz
1 x Asus Geforce GTX 580 DirectCU II
1 x 1TB Samsung HD103SJ SpinPoint F3
1 x Sony Optical DVD Writer AD-5260S-0B
1 x Fractal Design Define R3 Black Pearl
1 x 650W Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro P9 Modular
1 x Noctua NF-P14 FLX Quiet Case Fan 140mm
6 x Noctua NF-S12B FLX Quiet Case Fan 120mm
1 x Noctua NH-D14 Dual Radiator and Fan CPU Cooler
I'll continue the build log in this thread as soon as the
kit is delivered and be sure to add lots of pics too for
anyone that might be interested in seeing how it goes
on my first build =)
Watch this space!!
Definately. Please take lots of pics of the Sabertooth as it's a 'maybe' for me as a replacement motherboard.
Can't wait to see the log, and thanks for taking the time to post it.
xxxx
Cheers Lisa I really appreciate the encouragement =) I've been keeping
an eye on yours and have learnt a lot from reading through the threads!
The sabertooth looks really nice but I'm unsure of the 'thermal armour'
and will probably add the extra 50mm fan to it just for extra precaution
although in review it said that it made the board no hotter than usual but
at the same time made it no cooler as it claims to do =) I'll let you know
how it goes and see if I can get you some decent stats since it has some
built-in thermal sensors apparently.. Btw how's the new pup doing? =)
Sniperdude
13-04-11, 17:01
Lisa killed her motherboard and took out the power in 15 streets on her first build
hhaha
Lisa killed her motherboard and took out the power in 15 streets on her first build
hhaha
Oi!
it was only 11 streets thank you. :D
Sniperdude
13-04-11, 17:09
i counted the children's hospital as 4 streets haha
Cheers Lisa I really appreciate the encouragement =) I've been keeping
an eye on yours and have learnt a lot from reading through the threads!
The sabertooth looks really nice but I'm unsure of the 'thermal armour'
and will probably add the extra 50mm fan to it just for extra precaution
although in review it said that it made the board no hotter than usual but
at the same time made it no cooler as it claims to do =) I'll let you know
how it goes and see if I can get you some decent stats since it has some
built-in thermal sensors apparently.. Btw how's the new pup doing? =)
I see you got the 580 CU II, I got the 570 version. Can't wait to see a pic of yours in the flesh as I was always curious how big it was. xx
New pup is doing brilliantly thanks. They're all friends which is a good thing. You're the first person to ask, and I don't just mean on the forums!
Thank you.xxxx
i counted the children's hospital as 4 streets haha
Hahaha, that is actually really really harsh.
Sod.
:Dxxxx
No SSD.
You're not wrong, I don't want one so it's not on the list =P
no raid?
and why you not want a ssd?
no raid?
and why you not want a ssd?
I considered raiding but instead I've decided to just see
how it goes with one SpinPoint F3 and then maybe add
another in the future, performance wise I can't justify
SSD right now for the price (which I've already gone
waaay over budget on the GTX580 to be honest!) but
we'll see how it goes with this lot for now =)
ah i see :) seems all good and yea good idea getting a f3 and then raiding it later :)
also good motherboard choice :) i have the asus saberthooth but the socket 1156 version and its an amazing motherboard :)
looks like a great build, but "downgrading" to a 570 would give u most of the performance of the 580 and would have saved the ~£120 needed for a decent SSD :D!
it will perform awesome tho :thumb:!
1 x Fractal Design Define R3 Black Pearl
I <3 that case!
Looking forward to pix :)
seems alot of people are going for the R3 :)
cant wait for the log and pictures :)
Update:
Started the build last night and ran into a few hitches (as per usual!)..
Firstly the Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro P9 is much longer than I had originally
anticipated which meant that not only am I unable to have the 140mm fan
on the bottom of the case but the included dust filter must be removed to
fit the psu in all together. The size issue of the psu also makes it tricky for
routing the main cable through the most tidy cable management hole, I did
get it through there eventually after having to remove the gromit and try to
flatten the cable inside of it's braiding (which feels a bit cheap). Apart from
this initial hiccup it's going quite smoothly so far, bar the three attempts at
trying to apply the thermal paste (I really suck at it!), the NH-D14 was very
nice to install with minimum fuss, the Sabertooth is definately a quality board
and the ram fits under the cooler with a slight gap seperation. Upon fitting the
board in the case I realised the fans on the NH-D14 were a bit high and found
they needed to be lowered a few fins so that the side panel would be cleared.
I'd probably recommend anyone to go with the Define XL over the R3 as space
does seem somewhat an issue in areas! Later today I'll install the gfx card, hdd
and dvd drive, hook up all the cables and do some cable management. Took a
lot of pics but they aren't the best of quality so I'll take more later and upload
all of them in one go at the end =)
Thanks for the update Jinx, I'll look forward to the pictures.
Ok peeps I've managed to get the first batch of pics up earlier than expected so I thought it best not to keep you in suspense any longer =) Please forgive the quality
of the pics as I had no digicam available and had to resort to using a phone cam in the end. Instead of posting all the pics here directly I've created a flickr photo set which has been given titles and descriptions of things, just seemed to make more sense! I'll keep adding new pics to it as and when I can but for now they are here http://www.flickr.com/photos/59423584@N03/sets/72157626510345264/
Hope you find them interesting and the quality is near acceptable, please feel free
to ask any questions you might have and I'll do my best to answer them =)
Cheers,
J
watercooled
16-04-11, 18:24
looking good dude
Thanks for doing that Jinx :thumb: I ended up getting the Sabertooth too.
Looking forward to pics of the gpu.xx
You're very welcome =) it's an awesome board you will _not_ be disappointed!
The gpu is still boxed so I'll probably do a closed box, open box, unboxed thing and
then show it installed before any cabling is done, hopefully someone is going to
lend me a digicam later so the remaining pics will be much better quality.. really
I should of waited until today to start the build.. but it was just impossible to resist xD
I'll get the rest of those pics up for you by tonight and hopefully be in the testing
stage by then so you can have some temp stats too! =)
Update:
Added a few more pics to the set but unfortunately quality is still lacking.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/59423584@N03/sets/72157626510345264/
Really miffed with Be Quiet! now too.. the cable they provided for the CPU power
was way too short to do any decent cable management so it's gone up the middle
passing the gfx card and over the cooler.. Sort of lost heart after that so the rest
of the cable management is messy and crammed. Also connecting the case fans
to the PSU's fan connections was a bad idea as they ran very slow and don't seem
to throttle so I'll be moving them over to molex adaptors instead with no pwm.
On the plus side of things, when I eventually plucked up the courage to turn it on..
all systems were most definately go =) Temp readings in bios weren't bad at all with
the CPU showing 33-37c and mobo 17-22c although this was with one side panel still
off, when it's on there will be a 140mm blowing directly on to the gfx card.
More to come soon =)
Update:
Added a few more pics to the set but unfortunately quality is still lacking.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/59423584@N03/sets/72157626510345264/
Really miffed with Be Quiet! now too.. the cable they provided for the CPU power
was way too short to do any decent cable management so it's gone up the middle
passing the gfx card and over the cooler.. Sort of lost heart after that so the rest
of the cable management is messy and crammed. Also connecting the case fans
to the PSU's fan connections was a bad idea as they ran very slow and don't seem
to throttle so I'll be moving them over to molex adaptors instead with no pwm.
On the plus side of things, when I eventually plucked up the courage to turn it on..
all systems were most definately go =) Temp readings in bios weren't bad at all with
the CPU showing 33-37c and mobo 17-22c although this was with one side panel still
off, when it's on there will be a 140mm blowing directly on to the gfx card.
More to come soon =)
Don't give up on the cable management just because of one little problem. Just order an extender, maybe one of the nzxt one's. Just tidy up the rest of it for now and sort the cpu cable when you get the extension. There's no point creating a build of that quality and then giving up on the aesthetics. Pride in your work hon :thumb:
There's absolutely nothing wrong with the quality of the pics. I sense some of the members have the kleenex on standby before they look at them.
Thanks for the pics of the gpu. It looks precisely the same size as the 570 CU II that I bought. Surprises me actually.
It's all looking good and I'm glad you haven't run into any major roadblocks.xx
looking good mate :thumb:
gpu is massive :eek:!!!!!
It might be my eye's but that gtx580 looks like it is sagging at the back?
I'm with you there Scrivz - definitely doesn't look straight!
It does look like it's sagging doesn't it.:(
Just checked on Asus' website and the dimensions for the 580 and 570 are exactly the same and my 570 CU II was sagging almost immediately.
Get some Ninja Wire like I did! xx
Don't give up on the cable management just because of one little problem. Just order an extender, maybe one of the nzxt one's. Just tidy up the rest of it for now and sort the cpu cable when you get the extension. There's no point creating a build of that quality and then giving up on the aesthetics. Pride in your work hon :thumb:
There's absolutely nothing wrong with the quality of the pics. I sense some of the members have the kleenex on standby before they look at them.
Thanks for the pics of the gpu. It looks precisely the same size as the 570 CU II that I bought. Surprises me actually.
It's all looking good and I'm glad you haven't run into any major roadblocks.xx
Cheers Lisa, I've ordered the extention cable and it's due to be here
some time tomorrow =) I'll redo all the cable management nicely and
seeing a pic in another thread where someone has cable managed the
R3 has helped me work out how I should go about doing it!
As for the GPU.. yea it seems to be sagging just a little, probably not
as much as the pics would have you think.. I'll see if it's the way the
screws were tightened first since I think the bottom one might have
pulled the card down a bit, although it is really bloody heavy!! Forgive
my ignorance.. but what is ninja wire?? Would it do any damage long
term if the card is sagging a bit towards the end? What i could possibly
do is cheat a bit and tie in the two 8pin power cables tight so that it would
hold the end up more since I have them going over the top of the card
anyways.
Thanks for the comments and suggestions all, much appreciated! =)
J
If it sags too much you could potentially begin to get artifacts on screen. Something not welcome from a near £400 graphics card.
Here's (http://forums.aria.co.uk/showthread.php?t=54343&page=21) pics of my ninja wire.
Don't use it all though as you'll find yourself with a lot of wire to hide away somewhere and metal cable lose in a case is not something to contemplate.
I just measured it to where I needed it and wrapped some electricians tape around where I wanted to cut it so I wouldn't get any frayed strands and just snipped it. I didn't even use the second hook as the screw and eyelet fit snugly into one of the 5.25" bay screw holes.
It all worked out rather well. Although I'm just awaiting some black electricians tape as I'm going to wrap the whole length of the cable I'm using just to minimise any risk of the cable touching anything and shorting it.
Ah thanks for the info on the kung fu cable =D I'll see if it'll hold up ok with
just tight power cables first as it's only sagging very slightly, I'd prefer to do
it this way rather than have to suspend it on anything else really. Tomorrow
I'll upload a few more pics of the progress and hopefully by thursday it'll be
completely ready for overclocking and stress testing =) I also had a neat idea
for the ModuVent panels from the R3.. since I took them out for maximum air
flow and thought they were too good quality to waste.. I've pushed the rubber
gromits that came with the Noctua fans through the holes in them and when I
have the system off they will sit nicely on top to cover up the vents as the top
ones don't come with any dust filters, the gromits sit in the holes for 140mm
fans which is ideal as I've installed 120mm under both vents that will exhaust
air out, it would be mental if the fans lifted the panels when on full 1200rpm
but they are probably too heavy =]
Uploaded a few new pics into a new set showing the cable management,
looks pretty decent for a first time at doing it properly I think =)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/59423584@N03/sets/72157626559173020/
I'll upload some more tonight to a new set showing the completed system,
including the monitor and old keyboard/mouse/pad on the desk I'm using,
then hopefully I'll get around to uploading some of the temps, benches and
maybe some game shots =D
Cheers me dears!
J
That looks absolutely terrific! especially behind the tray. It's tempting to leave that area a mess because who see's it?! I know I said have pride in your work but you've gone the extra mile there. Nice! :thumb:
Loving the way you've routed the two 8 pin pci-e connectors for the gpu. That orientation will actually stop the card from sagging at the back, I would think.
I'll be trying that myself. Thanks! xx
That looks absolutely terrific! especially behind the tray. It's tempting to leave that area a mess because who see's it?! I know I said have pride in your work but you've gone the extra mile there. Nice! :thumb:
Loving the way you've routed the two 8 pin pci-e connectors for the gpu. That orientation will actually stop the card from sagging at the back, I would think.
I'll be trying that myself. Thanks! xx
I might have gone a tad overboard on the zip ties but they really
help to keep the awkward PSU cables in shape, especially 24pin
cable which was like wrestling with a cobra! Routing the cables
for the GPU up higher definitely helps with the slight droop on
the card as long as you tie them in tight once you get the card
looking level =)
I've overclocked a bit and ran some basic benches recently,
the i5 2500k is set with turbo ratio 45 but I'm led to believe
that this only allows 1 core to hit the 4.5ghz(?), also upped
the gtx 580 a bit from the factory overclock, vcore is 1.1v
up from the default 1.038v, clock is 919mhz from 782mhz
default and the ram is at 4104mhz from 4008mhz default.
Ran 3DMark 11 and Vantage and got the following results;
3DMark 11 - P6540
http://3dmark.com/3dm11/1086854
3DMark Vantage - P27085
http://3dmark.com/3dmv/3111577
Not sure how respectable these scores are really as I've got
nothing else to compare them with =)
As for temps the max it hit after 2 hours of Crysis 2 was 59c
which seems great with the game on hardcore settings and
looking absolutely stunning.
Quick question.. would there be much point in manually doing
a CPU overclock for 4.5ghz across all cores? Right now it seems
to run everything extremely quickly with the standard speedstep
1.6ghz going up to 4.5ghz even if it only does it on one core.. =S
Cheers,
J
No idea about your last post Jinx, just jumped in to say thanks for the mionix mouse link as I've ordered it for him. :D xx
No idea about your last post Jinx, just jumped in to say thanks for the mionix mouse link as I've ordered it for him. :D xx
No worries any time =) The keyboard they are doing looks really
sweet too but it doesn't seem to be available anywhere yet even
though they claim it is actually out now! xD
Btw I'm actually starting to wonder if your fella is going to get any of
the kit that you're buying as you seem to be really getting into it =P
I bet when the time comes you'll have separation issues with most of
it and end up building him another system just so you can keep that
one! =]
Btw I'm actually starting to wonder if your fella is going to get any of
the kit that you're buying as you seem to be really getting into it =P
I bet when the time comes you'll have separation issues with most of
it and end up building him another system just so you can keep that
one! =]
Nope, haha! Building a system for myself once this one is all said and done. It also keeps getting more and more expensive the more I spec it.
I've got his desk and drawers all set up now with his monitor and xbox and headset, just waiting for the ram and I'll have his pc built and then it's all done. The setup so far looks halfway decent if I do say so myself. I'll get a pic of it all once the pc is finished and all connected.xx
Tidy darts =) That reminds me to take pics of the desk and
everything set up, I'll do it later and make a new flickr set
to post here =] The next build I'll definitely make sure to
have a decent quality digicam on hand to snap it all up =D
Looked through your flickr album. Looks really nice :)
Just a couple of things i spotted:
Got 24pin, 2x 8pin and a sata power coming out of that one poor hole in your mobo tray :P I think it would look neater if you moved the GPU power cables to the hole below.
Also, seeing as you got a sleeved extension for the CPU power, why not get all matching ones? It will get rid of the rainbow of colours that PSU manufacturers insist on making their cables out of :mad: Great looking cables make a build stand out :D
Everything else is super neat and gets my special OCD thumbs up :thumb: lol, especially the bottom where your PSU is :)
Looked through your flickr album. Looks really nice :)
Just a couple of things i spotted:
Got 24pin, 2x 8pin and a sata power coming out of that one poor hole in your mobo tray :P I think it would look neater if you moved the GPU power cables to the hole below.
Also, seeing as you got a sleeved extension for the CPU power, why not get all matching ones? It will get rid of the rainbow of colours that PSU manufacturers insist on making their cables out of :mad: Great looking cables make a build stand out :D
Everything else is super neat and gets my special OCD thumbs up :thumb: lol, especially the bottom where your PSU is :)
Thanks for the nice comments =) The reason I've put the 2x8pin
through the top hole is so that it helps to hold up the end of the
GPU as it's very heavy, so I've used the height as leverage and
tied them in tight behind the tray =) The sata power just goes
through there as it was the nearest to the drive and makes it
look more tidy than running it up the side of the hdd cage.
Not too bothered about the extra braided cables really as there
is no window and the side panel is rarely taken off, the reason
for the cpu power braided extention was simply because the
one that came with the PSU was too short to reach from behind
the tray. I'll make more of an effort in next build (with window)
to have everything looking sweet though =)
Ah I see, I've never suffered from GPU sag even with a full cover water block and back plate on and power cables pulling down and watercooling tubing pushing down on it, just screwed the card in tight at the back with both screws and its fine.
The sata powers are great where they are, it's the just 8pins I was suggesting moving but if you need them in that hole for support then nvm lol.
Atm I've got no window either as I'm waiting to cut my window into the new blank panel I bought. It's still nice to know that if I take off the panel it looks all lovely inside anyway but thats just me ;)
Cut a window in, lol?
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