The UPS Truck Came Today!

[DaddyRabbit]

OK, in reference to this thread http://forums.legitreviews.com/about19789.html this is what finally arrived today :

Case - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811119194
PSU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817171032
Mobo - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813128375
CPU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819115202
HDD - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822136319
RAM - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820231225

Done the build and installing fresh now, I'll post thoughts in a few.

[Skippman]

This thread is worthless without pics.

[vicaphit]

This thread is worthless without pics.

I agree. The mail came for me today, all I got was junk, but it would be more exciting with pictures!

[DaddyRabbit]

I was gonna' do a "step by step" install pictoral but the camera was out of batteries and I was getting gear impatient. I'll take some snaps tomorrow of the finished install.

That said, most of the online reviews of this specific gear are spot on. The build took about 2 hrs without cracking a book other than to look at the front panel connector layout for the mobo (still got the +/- messed up on the power switch which scared me a bit). Other than a couple of my mistakes the build went great and everything came up the first time.

I'll go a bit more into detail later this week but some initial impressions:

Case - CM Storm Sniper - Looks better in person than in the pics online. BIG! (not as tall as my P180 but much wider). Cable management (for us cable management impaired) rocks. I'm still questioning whether I would have liked the Cosmos better but it is growning on me quick and is quieter than I thought it would be. The front panel cabling is a mess though and the toolless PCI adapter slots are weak. Plus, for what the case costs, CM cut some corners (more later) but, all in all, I'm liking it.

PSU - Well its "80+ Silver" certified and has a cool textured finish (actually goes well with the Sniper) but I still am kinda' wishing I'd have went modular (love my Corsair 620HX). Still seems like a quality unit though, don't think I'll be sorry.

CPU - Does anything else need to be said? I'll be pushing it as far as I can on stock (safely) over the next week and I do see aftermarket cooling in my future but it's a killer chip.

RAM - Booted up without a hiccup, gonna' run MEMTEST on it soon but I'm not expecting any issues. Not the best for high end overclocking but the price was right. G.Skill is the new Corsair, Kingston, and Mushkin.

HDD - Not a Velociraptor or SSD but danged fast and quiet as a mouse. I definitely see two more of these in my immediate future, certainly from a price for performance standpoint. WD does it again with the Black series.

MOBO - I'm a single card type. I don't need a bunch of bell and whistles just a mobo that works and does what I need it to do. My last two MOBOs have been Gigabyte and I've yet to have been disappointed. I flashed to the F3 BIOS immediately (QFlash works like a champ BTW) and no issues whatsoever. I am a Gigabyte "HO" at this stage of the game and think, for the price, this was the board that met my needs exactly.

[InspectahACE]

I was gonna' do a "step by step" install pictoral but the camera was out of batteries and I was getting gear impatient. I'll take some snaps tomorrow of the finished install

you know..they do make rechargeable batteries (just messin with ya)

[Bio-Hazard]

Pics and a few preliminary numbers wouldn't hurt either.

[vicaphit]

I don't know about you guys, but I am just joking with you... Take your time and enjoy the machine, then get us some pics when you get the chance.

[DaddyRabbit]

I can take a joke vicaphit

Still reinstalling (building the PC is nothing compared to doing a complete clean install! I forgot how many apps I had!).

Preliminary temps are in the 36-40c range on stock cooling (all cores) case side off 72 F ambient. Have yet to hit over 71c loaded (3Dmark Vantage) but still need to get Prime95 going to really push it. Temp measurements with RealTemp 3.0. I am seeing an aftermarket cooler in my near future though (should I get my feet WET?).

I tried a 3.2G overclock with not much success but I need to read a bit more on this "new overclocking thang" with the i7.

The couple of Vantage runs at stock pretty much smoked my old rig (E6850) overclocked at 3.3G (especially in the CPU tests). Still downloading Steam games before I can get real world numbers.

While synthetics are one thing the new rig feels quite a bit snappier in everyday use but not "awesomely" so. Also the fact that its a clean install with a much faster HDD and 2G more RAM might have something to do with it (plus the "I just spent a grand, it HAS to be faster!" filter comes into play ).

The case is growing on me, although I still find myself gazing longingly at the Cosmos Cable management is good and the BIG LED fans are suprisingly unobtrusive. That said, it does have some issues, especially for the cost.

More to follow.

[Skippman]

I can take a joke vicaphit
Preliminary temps are in the 36-40c range on stock cooling (all cores) case side off 72 F ambient. Have yet to hit over 71c loaded (3Dmark Vantage) but still need to get Prime95 going to really push it. Temp measurements with RealTemp 3.0. I am seeing an aftermarket cooler in my near future though (should I get my feet WET?).

As a new water cooling convert thanks to the gang here (Dan, Martian, and Bio) I have to say go for it! We'll be glad to help along the way. Of all the things I've done to my PC in the last year or so I have to admit water cooling was the most intimidating but yeilded the best rewards. Thanks to Bio sitting down with me and setting up my first system I feel completely confident that I could do it again. Plus, as you can see from my thread, the temp gains are amazing.

[werty316]

Pics or it didn't happen

jk but nice set pf parts.

[DJ Tucker]

not a bad pc m8. but just something to ask, why do so many people have G Skill memory?

[Skippman]

G.Skill tends to be cheaper (at least when I bought it) but uses the same actually memory modules that many of the bigger named memory companies use so it makes a very attractive choice for those who don't want to spend a fortune.

[DaddyRabbit]

Yes, the G.Skill was about $30 cheaper than the comparable Corsair XMS3 kit and the G.Skill does CAS 9 at 1.5v versus the XMS3 doing it at 1.65. I've owned a lot of RAM over the years and G.Skill is the only RAM I've used that "just works" and its usually the cheapest. This kit wasn't designed for overclocking though but runs fine at its rated speeds.

Finally got Prime95 installed. Everything set to stock (BIOS set to Turbo) with the stock cooler this is what I got after 21 minutes of the blend test:



What really suprised me was that the system was totally usable while the cores were all at 100% ! I could open Office, surf, check email etc and everything was completely responsive. This thing is a beast. I will definitely need an aftermarket cooler to push the OC too far.

[Skippman]

I see Water Cooling in your future!

[Bio-Hazard]

I see Water Cooling in your future!

How very true, but regardless of water cooling or not, i7's run hotter than you're used to seeing on Core2 Quads.

[slugbug]

I'm expecting a few things but no sign of any delivery truck

[DaddyRabbit]

OK A couple of pics. The camera bites but they're legible:

Front view next to the P180B. Its a big midtower!

DCP_0433.JPG (161.44 KiB) Viewed 7272 times

Side view open, kinda blurry but you get the idea ;)



I'm gonna' let it settle in a bit before I try further overclocking. Right now I'm just using C.I.A 2 in the "Racing" mode until I can tweak the RAM settings to allow further headroom.

I'm calling it good

[Skippman]

Looking great brother! Nice job of cable managment so far.

[ibleet]

Tight!

[InspectahACE]

that's a tidy case there...could probably use it in one those breathe-right clear passages commercials or somethin