Look at me! I'm building a computer!

Higlac

Higlac

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Well, I'm just wondering if the tech gurus can double check my planned rig here.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157229

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231460&Tpk=F3-14900CL9D-8GBSR <- Changed ram after looking at ASRock's compatibility list < Bought

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...m_sp=Cat_Monitors-_-Best_Sellers-_-24-009-266 < bought. Pretty awesome TBH.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...194&cm_re=storm_sniper-_-11-119-194-_-Product < already bought

Basically, I'm building it as a barebones system with a lot of potential for upgrades, since I'm a poor-ish college student (yay grants). I'll be buying it in bursts, snagging things like video cards, a cpu cooler, and hard drives when they're on sale.

The end product after I'm done buying random shit over the next 6-9 months should be overclocked to hell, in SLI, and maybe a pair of SSDs in Raid 0, keep this in mind when suggesting alternatives.
 
Buy AMD if you're a gamer on a budget.

I got my quad core for 150 bucks
 
Lol, and that's one of the parts that I'm not willing to change. I want the 2500k so I can crank it up to 4.8 or higher on air cooling.
 
Anybody have any experience with CPU coolers, I'm looking at this, but I'm not sure if anyone has any better suggestions for my bang/buck?
 
I got this one.

Cheaper, higher RPM, and I don't think yours comes with a fan?

I found this one on a site about quiet computers. Seemed like the quietest and most efficient for the price range, iirc.
 
Vegeta, how is that for overclocking? I like that it has more copper, but it has less than half of the number of heatpipes.
 
I've got my 3.0 dual core OC'd to 3.4

With only one case fan, too.
 
I've heard many great reviews of the ASRock mobo, is there any real advantage of going with a similarly priced ASUS?
 
Nope. I usually do Gigabyte myself but I have no idea if their Intel socket mobos are good or not.

Your list looks pretty solid... what GPU are you putting in there?
 
Well, I'll probably be going with a 460 or two once I get the cash for a video card. Until then, it's the sandy bridge doing some work.

Order of acquisition:
>Everything needed to turn the damn thing on.
>School
>Rent
>CPU cooler
>GPU
>SSD
>GPU2
 
AMD 6ore master race here running @ 3.6Ghz

:p screw Intel!!
 
I might steal this build. My comp is on the brink. I'll need to find UK equivalent prices.
 
StardogChampion said:
I might steal this build. My comp is on the brink. I'll need to find UK equivalent prices.
Click to expand...

Good luck to you, this is my first real build, so I want to make sure that everything works properly.
 
My hat off to you for not skimping on the PSU and getting a solid and quality Corsair product to keep everything well juiced and protected.

With regard to the CPU cooler, some of the larger Akasa / Zalman top end coolers are pretty massive so make sure you have sufficient clearance from your large side fan. Oh and obviously don't use the stock paste, get some arctic silver 5.

Your HDD approach sounds like a good idea since those prices are rock bottom these days. Probably worth holding out for a 1TB drive, partition off your OS section, get your SSD when you can afford it and migrate the OS over (or fresh install). I was too lazy to reinstall and found some program which lets you migrate your OS partition around for fun.
 
So newegg was like "Want some cheap ram?" and I was like "yes."

And then I bought 10% off ram.
 
I just built my 2500k comp and it got 7.5 for the processor rating. Is this decent since it's out of 7.9? I've never used W7 before.
 
I have no idea. I'm not finished building mine yet. Are you doing any overclocking?
 
No overclocking with an Arctic Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2 fan, and only the stock paste that was applied to it. The temperature idles at around 30-35 degrees and 52 after playing the Just Cause 2 demo for 20 minutes.
 
Speed is relative to real time. Don't worry a shit's worth about the W7 rating (unless it's like real low, in which case you might have a slow/bad component).
 
Well, now that I have all of my money scraped together, I can kiss it goodbye, just ordered the rest of my bits from newegg. This is my first real build, so it should be a learning experience.
 
I found it very enjoyable to build my first PC.
 
Except that first time you install a CPU. Nerve wracking doesn't cut it... I still get nervous. D:

Good luck lol!
 
Yeah I remember..."Easy does it...eassssy...****ING GO IN!!" *snap* "Oh **** I just ****ed it, shit my shit's ****ed up." *starts up*
 
The bits are in, construction is underway.

Will update in 3 hours.
 
First post is successful! Though my CPU temp seems a bit warm for having a hyper 212. Is 39C normal for an i5 2500k? I'm using arctic silver thermal paste.
 
Higlac said:
First post is successful! Though my CPU temp seems a bit warm for having a hyper 212. Is 39C normal for an i5 2500k? I'm using arctic silver thermal paste.
Click to expand...
In my limited experience with overclocking, I've never had a CPU that's below 35 on idle at stock. I've heard of people with mystical setups that supposedly get 25, but I've never experienced it firsthand. Anything under 70 at load is fine.
 
Bad^Hat said:
Except that first time you install a CPU. Nerve wracking doesn't cut it... I still get nervous. D:

Good luck lol!
Click to expand...
It is stressful but I still love that moment. Ever so carefully lowering the CPU into its socket and locking it in place... makes me feel like an astronaut repairing the shuttle on a spacewalk or something.
 
Well, everything is complete. Just transferring my steam folder onto here at the moment. I'll update tomorrow with benchmarks and stuff.

Also, It was just in the bios that it said 39C, my thermometer says I'm idling at about 30 average right now. Since I'm planning on overclocking the crap out of this computer, anyone have any suggestions on how to do it? My mobo comes with preset clock speeds, should I roll with one of those, or set it up manually? Also, does thermal paste take time to set, or cure? Also, how should I go about testing the stability of my system? I've heard of prime95, but I have no idea how to use it.
 


Does this mean I need to overclock it?
 
You never have to overclock anything if you don't want to. I don't trust Speedfan for crap, it's told me some ridiculous shit before. I use Everest for temp monitoring.
 
Ennui said:
It is stressful but I still love that moment. Ever so carefully lowering the CPU into its socket and locking it in place... makes me feel like an astronaut repairing the shuttle on a spacewalk or something.
Click to expand...

I can't remember that part stressing me out too much the only time I've done it, but any time I do anything with my computer's internals I'm absolutely mortified of static electricity. I will constantly ground myself by touching the unpainted metal tubings of my radiator. I really should invest in a strap.
 
^How likely is it to damage something with static electricity anyway? I also handle computer components with care, but I noticed how casual the staff is sometimes in computer stores. When I handle something like a RAM stick, a CPU or a GPU I always wash my hands, wait for them to dry then ground myself and try to touch only the edges of the parts. But once when I was buying some RAM, the dude selling it to me just grabbed the stick, placed a warranty sticker on it, slapped it on his knee and wrote the neccessary details on the sticker.
 
I have no idea, but then again, I went completely paranoid when I built this and used an anti-static mat and a wrist strap. Running at 4.2 GHz at 49C right now though.
 
Overclocking halp!

I'm just wondering what a safe temperature is for a CPU. Speedfan is giving me about 55-56C when I'm at 4.6 GHz under full load, and Coretemp is giving me 75-83C for each core. Which temperature reading should I go off of, and what is a general maximum temp?



Oh, and 1 month check in: it's bloody fast, plays everything on maximum so far, and I have yet to make use of more than 50% of my ram. However, it does put out a good amount of heat.
 
I'd trust coretemp over SpeedFan. Imo 75 is high for CPU, but you can find out from Intel what they consider unsafe for the 2500.
 
You might want to visit an actual overclocking forum and see what they recommend, I don't know that anyone here would consider themselves uber experienced at this stuff.

I don't know about your processor, but I know that my i7 alledgedly shuts itself off at 105 deg to prevent damage.

If my CPU was runnung at 75 under full load I would be all "ok, but definitely don't go any higher". What cooler did you go with?
 
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