My First Ivy Bridge Build
Given my relatively limited financial resources, I'm still running a LGA1366-based machine as my primary system. Not complaining, it's still quite a powerhouse IMO, and if it wasn't for a stroke of luck on my part a year and a half ago, I'd likely still be using a Q6600.
So getting to the point, I was recently tasked with building a relatively high-end system for a friend of a friend as a Christmas present for his daughter. I was given a basic list of requirements and suggestions given by someone else. Basically, it's destined to be used for video editing and production.
Admittedly I was a little nervous, as I always am doing hardware work for other people. I was given the cash upfront and if anything fucked up, I'd be screwed as I don't have cash floating to cover replacing parts beyond my relatively small profit margin and this was the most expensive system I've ever built, most of the time it's been budget AMD systems. That said I was also quite excited, as this was my first chance to play with an Ivy Bridge-based system, and a motherboard with UEFI instead of the traditional BIOS.
Fortunately, everything went together without a hitch - things work a lot better when everything is brand new and you check compatibility before ordering...most of the systems I've built have been a mix of new and used parts.
Case: Antec Three Hundred Two Tower
Fans: 2 * Cougar Turbine 120mm Front Intake / 2 * Antec 120mm Rear Exhaust
Power Supply: Corsair CX Series CX500 500W
Heatsink: Zalman CNPS5X Performa 92mm CPU Cooler
Processor: Intel Core i5 3570K @ 4.2 GHz (Ivy Bridge, 22nm)
RAM: 16 GB Kingston DDR3-1600 (2 * 8GB)
SSD: 120GB Samsung 840 Series SATA3
HDD: 2 TB Western Digital Caviar Green SATA3
Optical: LG Blu-ray Rewriter
Graphics: NVidia GeForce GTX 550 TI 1GB
Addons: Vantec Firewire 400/800 PCI-Express Card (TI Chipset)
While an i7 probably would have netted slightly better performance, I didn't feel it was worth $150 extra (I was able to get the motherboard and CPU in a bundle deal from NCIX) especially given that I was giving it a significant overclock. I was blown away by the speed of the thing. Windows installed and booted in under 20 minutes, and after everything was said and done it cold booted to the desktop in under 30 seconds easy - I didn't actually time it, just an estimate. The UEFI BIOS was nifty, but not really a big deal. I'd be perfectly content with a normal BIOS - I navigated through it with the keyboard just out of habit.
If there was anything I'd have liked to improve upon it'd be: An unlocked i7 and likely a slightly better heatsink, and perhaps a Caviar Black HDD instead of Green. Other than that, I'm pretty pleased with the build. You can't see the SSD as it's hidden on the opposite side of the case in a little slot that it so neatly fits into, held in place with electrical tape.
In the end, the customer was happy with the build and I made a decent profit, plus the mail-in rebates whenever they come in. Last I heard he was on the look out for a good IPS monitor, I pointed him to the Dell Ultrasharp 2412HM for $250, not sure what they ended up getting.
I look forward to one day building my own Ivy Bridge system...or likely by the time I can make that happen, Haswell.
So getting to the point, I was recently tasked with building a relatively high-end system for a friend of a friend as a Christmas present for his daughter. I was given a basic list of requirements and suggestions given by someone else. Basically, it's destined to be used for video editing and production.
Admittedly I was a little nervous, as I always am doing hardware work for other people. I was given the cash upfront and if anything fucked up, I'd be screwed as I don't have cash floating to cover replacing parts beyond my relatively small profit margin and this was the most expensive system I've ever built, most of the time it's been budget AMD systems. That said I was also quite excited, as this was my first chance to play with an Ivy Bridge-based system, and a motherboard with UEFI instead of the traditional BIOS.
Fortunately, everything went together without a hitch - things work a lot better when everything is brand new and you check compatibility before ordering...most of the systems I've built have been a mix of new and used parts.
Case: Antec Three Hundred Two Tower
Fans: 2 * Cougar Turbine 120mm Front Intake / 2 * Antec 120mm Rear Exhaust
Power Supply: Corsair CX Series CX500 500W
Heatsink: Zalman CNPS5X Performa 92mm CPU Cooler
Processor: Intel Core i5 3570K @ 4.2 GHz (Ivy Bridge, 22nm)
RAM: 16 GB Kingston DDR3-1600 (2 * 8GB)
SSD: 120GB Samsung 840 Series SATA3
HDD: 2 TB Western Digital Caviar Green SATA3
Optical: LG Blu-ray Rewriter
Graphics: NVidia GeForce GTX 550 TI 1GB
Addons: Vantec Firewire 400/800 PCI-Express Card (TI Chipset)
While an i7 probably would have netted slightly better performance, I didn't feel it was worth $150 extra (I was able to get the motherboard and CPU in a bundle deal from NCIX) especially given that I was giving it a significant overclock. I was blown away by the speed of the thing. Windows installed and booted in under 20 minutes, and after everything was said and done it cold booted to the desktop in under 30 seconds easy - I didn't actually time it, just an estimate. The UEFI BIOS was nifty, but not really a big deal. I'd be perfectly content with a normal BIOS - I navigated through it with the keyboard just out of habit.
If there was anything I'd have liked to improve upon it'd be: An unlocked i7 and likely a slightly better heatsink, and perhaps a Caviar Black HDD instead of Green. Other than that, I'm pretty pleased with the build. You can't see the SSD as it's hidden on the opposite side of the case in a little slot that it so neatly fits into, held in place with electrical tape.
In the end, the customer was happy with the build and I made a decent profit, plus the mail-in rebates whenever they come in. Last I heard he was on the look out for a good IPS monitor, I pointed him to the Dell Ultrasharp 2412HM for $250, not sure what they ended up getting.
I look forward to one day building my own Ivy Bridge system...or likely by the time I can make that happen, Haswell.
Comments
8GB though? Since X58 / LGA1366 is triple channel (which is why I have 6 * 2GB DIMMs) I'd snag another 4GB DIMM (if that's what you're using) if you can.
Personally I'd disable hyperthreading unless you're doing stuff that will really make use of it. I found it actually decreased performance except for stuff like video encoding, encryption etc. because most stuff can't utilize eight threads.
As for the i7, I haven't decided exactly what I'm doing with it yet. I'm reluctant to upgrade my desktop because I've finally got it to a state that I'm happy with, but once I see the performance of the i7 system, I may wind up changing my mind.
I don't have a lot of details about the i7's hardware since it's a used system and I didn't get any manuals or anything. But it's memory configuration is 4 x 2 GB DIMMs. I have 2 x 4 GB DIMMs in my current desktop and another 2 x 4 GB DIMMs sitting in my parts drawer.
But I'm not sure I can justify spending so much in one go
The real question is, is the 6870 faster than the GTX 295? I know the GTX280 has performance around that of the 560, and you can pick one up at newegg for $90 right now.. I'd definitely play with that if I were you.
That said, Duff, that looks a lot like my build, except a MUCH better case, and much better cable management. I had a 550ti in mine for a while, I got bored with it and bought this 570 so I could use the HD pack for Skyrim.. it stays at around 50FPS with everything at max, so I think it was worth the buy. I also have 16GB of RAM, but mine is in 4x2+4x2, and if prices keep dropping, I'm sure she'll have 24GB soon. Then I'll allocate some of that as a RAM drive for whenever I play Skyrim, or any other game with loading times, and I'll watch all of those loading screens go away.
Price was a factor and I had to buy locally due to the time crunch, so the 302 was pretty much the only thing available that fit the bill - front USB 3.0, adequate cooling. If it was a personal build I'd have invested more in the chassis - I'm using an Antec P280 for my main machine.
I did what I could cable management wise, a modular PSU and better case would've helped, but in the end it doesn't really matter, nobody is going to be looking inside the case and it's not a total disaster so airflow won't be an issue.
As for overclocking and longevity, I got it to 4.2 GHz at stock voltage, and it was Prime95 stable for 12 hours and it didn't go above 65°C so I don't think it'll have a notably shorter lifespan compared to a non-overclocked chip. Voltage tends to be what kills, not clock speed.
That said, if it does break down the road, chances are it'll be coming back to me for a fix soo...win win?
That said, since in my case it's just a box sitting under a desk, big doesn't bother me - I'm not going to be toting it around with me. I do see the appeal of small mATX and mITX designs, and I'd love the chance to build one.
I'm stuck using a relatively gigantic case as my motherboard is EATX, and very few cases will hold it because of it's extra width. At least it's not as huge as my old Silverstone Temjin TJ-09B, that thing weighs a fucking ton.
That being said, there are some very nice mATX and ITX cases out there with some fairly high end motherboards to match. You can build a respectable ITX gaming rig now a days fairly easily. It has really come along the last few years.
That's without a video card, and several other things
Also this. I'm so leaning towards using this case, or a HTPC one, seeing as I have enough electrical crap as it is cluttering up the place.
Living the dream here still. Only upped my FSB a little to get it clocked to 3.01Ghz though. I did have like 3.2Ghz but I couldn't get it to be stable. Although I wasn't using my Asus P5KC board at the time so I might have better luck now.
I'm after an older Sandy Bridge i7 2600k if I can for my next build, as it would be bought used. Although if I had the cash I'd get an Ivy bridge i7 3770K.
For some reason I have the urge to buy another HiS Radeon 5750 gfx card at the moment, even though I'd get no benefit from it.
Even still, the Q6600 is still a very viable platform. Not modern, but still, you can hold out for a bit longer.
As for the proc, I recommend most people to get an i5 when they ask, hell even the Sandy Bridge 2500K's are worth getting if you can get them cheaper. As for the 20% faster that's not directly true, on a clock for clock basis it's near enough the same and as usual depending on your chipset and board will yield similar results, as PC Pro found out with multiple laptops, running same chipset but with slight differences.
However the on chip graphics were uprated and provide a better performance when being used, the power efficency is better though, so they do draw less watts, which does equal less heat.
Prices are my discenring factor in my choices, if I can get an older Sandy Bridge for about £90 second hand then it'll be a Sandy Bridge, if I had the cash I would just flat out buy an Ivy Brdige. Power draw is irrelevant to me.
Rent and bills come first and I'm saving up for a car again and to do my C.B.T and get a bike. so I may be with the Q6600 for many a moon to come. When it leaves my service I'll get my brother to switch to it. Thats how I got him to a Pentium D from a P4. :P
The sad thing is, the price isn't dropping.. probably for exactly that reason. Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge are just so fast, it's not exactly one of those OMGIHAVETOUPGRADETOTHISNOW. I've seen an i3 go for $100, but that's just an i3.. It's impossible to find an i5 for more than $50 cheaper than retail. It's a shame too, because I want to upgrade my friend's Pentium G620 system to an i5. I don't think the motherboard supports 75W processors though..
Funny you should mention a G620 as my friend is running the same chip and thats what got me into looking at current prices. He's set on getting an older socket 2011 (was it 2011? I foget) for an i7, but I told him there is no point if his current board takes an 1155. Why waste money going back over.
If I were building a new system, I'd definitely stick with AMD for the price, the simplicity, and the upgrade path. The only reason I got the i7 I have now is because I got a good deal. I paid $300 for the complete system sans hard drive.
Unless you have a real specific need for it or must have that 6-core $1000 CPU, I see no reason for somebody to fork over the ridiculous amount of money LGA2011 boards and chips cost vs LGA1155.
Either way, Bluesun, AMD's upgrade path doesn't look that great either. Pretty sure the next generation APU's are going to use Socket FM2 (correct me if I'm wrong) and socket AM4 is in the making as well. I don't see why they don't just unify it. Same with Intel. It can't be THAT hard to do, but then again, I'm no engineer.
AMD is better about backward compatibility. You can run an AM3 CPU in an AM2+ socket, for example.
And yes, socket FM2 is for APU's, but APU's are really in a league all their own. They're not really geared toward enthusiasts, but instead for the average joe and maybe someone that does light gaming.
The main issue with using an AM3 CPU in an AM2+ motherboard is that you'd be limited to DDR2. So there may be some performance hit, but I don't think it'd be anything noticeable.
As for AM4, I haven't heard anything about it, so I couldn't tell you. If I were to speculate, I'd say no. I imagine AMD will be working toward quad channel memory support and that'll require a new socket that would for sure be incompatible with their older stuff.