New build (first ever)

lewicron · March 2010

Hello dudes.

I used to frequent these forums fairly regularly a while back but have drifted off the RADAR in recent years (finishing uni, starting new job, starting PhD, etc.).

Anyway, I've basically been stroking it 'til it hurt over the prospect of building a (reasonably) high-end machine for a long time, but have always had to nix the idea due to money constraints and have never actually got round to it. However: I've finally done the dirty and knocked my first box together. The most amazing thing is that it seems to actually work. I am genuinely shocked by this.

So here's what I bought. I'd be interested to hear what the pros here on Icrontic will say I should have bought instead:

CPU: Phenom II X4 955 (black edition)
- Seemed like good value with decent OC potential.
Motherboard: Asus M4A78T-E
- good features and price (I thought).
PSU: Coolermaster 700W Silent Pro M
- says "700W" on the side in big letters in case you forget what spec PSU you bought.
Memory: G-Skill 4GB DDR3 PC12800
- Would be lying if I said I didn't buy this largely because I liked the colour.
Graphics: XFX ATI Radeon HD 5770
- Well reviewed.
SSD: Intel X25-M 80GB (for OS and Apps)
- e-penis.
HDD: Western Digital 500GB Caviar (storage)
- plenty of space for Brazilian fart-porn.
Chassis: Xclio case Windtunnel extreme
- Big enough to double as housing in times of strife.
OS: Windows 7; Ubuntu
- both surprisingly good.

I will get it folding soon. Hope you're all well.

- Lewis

Thrax · March 2010

My only concern is for your motherboard and possibly your SSD. There are many better AM3 motherboards, and the Intel SSDs are only good if you purchased a second-gen drive.

Everything else is good. Welcome back.

lewicron · March 2010

Thanks Rob, it is a G2 drive (thankfully, as I didn't check before buying it). I'm just pleased it didn't go on fire the first time I switched it on.

ardichoke · March 2010

Probably the only thing I would have done differently would have been to get a Gigabyte Ultra-Durable series board instead of the Asus... but that's just because I have a serious technology crush on the UD line. Oh, and I probably would have taken the SSD drive money and put that into more standard hard drives for RAID 10 goodness... but that's just me.

Cliff_Forster · March 2010

lewicron wrote:

Hello dudes.

I used to frequent these forums fairly regularly a while back but have drifted off the RADAR in recent years (finishing uni, starting new job, starting PhD, etc.).

Anyway, I've basically been stroking it 'til it hurt over the prospect of building a (reasonably) high-end machine for a long time, but have always had to nix the idea due to money constraints and have never actually got round to it. However: I've finally done the dirty and knocked my first box together. The most amazing thing is that it seems to actually work. I am genuinely shocked by this.

So here's what I bought. I'd be interested to hear what the pros here on Icrontic will say I should have bought instead:

CPU: Phenom II X4 955 (black edition)
- Seemed like good value with decent OC potential.
Motherboard: Asus M4A78T-E
- good features and price (I thought).
PSU: Coolermaster 700W Silent Pro M
- says "700W" on the side in big letters in case you forget what spec PSU you bought.
Memory: G-Skill 4GB DDR3 PC12800
- Would be lying if I said I didn't buy this largely because I liked the colour.
Graphics: XFX ATI Radeon HD 5770
- Well reviewed.
SSD: Intel X25-M 80GB (for OS and Apps)
- e-penis.
HDD: Western Digital 500GB Caviar (storage)
- plenty of space for Brazilian fart-porn.
Chassis: Xclio case Windtunnel extreme
- Big enough to double as housing in times of strife.
OS: Windows 7; Ubuntu
- both surprisingly good.

I will get it folding soon. Hope you're all well.

- Lewis

I approve of this build

lewicron · April 2010

Thanks for the comments guys

I've started overclocking this machine now and am keeping diary of my results here. It's my first proper effort at this, so any comments/suggestions would be most appreciated!

Ardichoke, you mentioned:

...I probably would have taken the SSD drive money and put that into more standard hard drives for RAID 10 goodness...

Is RAID 10 performance comparable to that of an SSD, or would you go with RAID for the extra storage?

jedihobbit · April 2010

lewicron wrote:

Memory: G-Skill 4GB DDR3 PC12800
- Would be lying if I said I didn't buy this largely because I liked the colour.

What is the model number of these guys?

siruspernot · April 2010

Seems solid. Good fit. What I'm about to suggest is based on me not knowing exactly what your FSB is set to, but I would get my ram/fsb ratio in harmony. If you don't know what I mean look up my e5200 wolfdale overclocking thread here. Basically you get better overall performance if your ram setting is an easily divisible multiple of your FSB. In my own scenario my cpu and ram bus settings were for 800mhz FSB. the cpu was 800mhz (200x4) and my ram was set to 800 ddr2. When I overclocked my setup i took the FSB up to 1333mhz (333x4) and downstepped my ram to 667mhz (default 800). This preserved a more even ratio. This has to do with synchronization and polling. If your ram and FSB don't match up try to either overclock the fsb to match your ram or such as in my case underclock your ram. if you've never overclocked before please do some reading into how and what to adjust in small increments. Welcome back to the forums, I just took a few month hiatus myself. Web Design, console shooters, and EVE online have pretty much eaten my time.

Vicar · April 2010

Looks good i would have gone for the Samsung F3 Hd's.

Are you using the stock cooler for the cpu or an aftermarket one? It will make a difference if you are going to oc.

New build (first ever)

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