Aynjell's i5 Build

[Aynjell]

Well, ladies and gentleman, I'm getting really close to building my i5 rig. It'll be really nice to be at the top end of the hardware game again.

Here are the intended specs:

i5 750 *ordered*
DFI P55 T3EH9 *ordered*
8GB Crucial Ballistix Tracer's (Red) DDR3-1600 8-8-8-24 1.65V
eVGA GTX 260 core 216 734.1475.1161
2xWestern Digital Velociraptor's (300GB) in RAID 0
1xWestern Digital Caviar Black (1TB)
3xWestern Digital Caviar Black (.75TB) in RAID5
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750
Creative X-Fi Titanium Champion Edition
ATCS 840 with Modded Window (Mod done by Craigbru, site at www.losias.net)

The general theme-ing will be a black background, red in the foreground, and chromed accents. I'll accomplish this with subtle things, and not so subtle things. First off, my video card has red parts on it, and my ram will light up red on top of that. I'm actually using i7 memory for this build, and I think the 1.65 Vdimm stock rating at DDR3-1600 with okay timings will lend to a good overclock on these sticks.

See this video:

Also, sound rig is up and running. Grado SR325i's, driven by a Little Dot I+, with Mullard M8161 Tubes.

Water cooling is as follows:

Swiftech Apogee GTZ Special Edition from Performance-PC's
Swiftech MCP355 Pump, with XSPC standard top
Swiftech Micro Res II
Bitspower 1/2 ID || 3/4 OD Compression Fittings (Because it absolutely has to look great and be secure at the same time)
Feser Red Tubing 1/2 ID || 3/4 OD

 

[Aynjell]

The story behind the ram is actually quite cool.

I was at a lan party here in Omaha, and a fellow gamer won this kit of ram, sort of. He won a blue set, but he had no need for ddr3 ever, he said, and I had no need for the ddr2 I had won since I already had 8GB, but seeing as how I would eventually go to a platform with ddr3 it made sense for us to trade.

So 3 of the sticks were free, the fourth cost me 66.77. 8GB of DDR3 1600 8 8 8 24 crucual ballistix tracers in red. Not a bad deal, right guys? Now, you're wondering how they magically turned into red sticks when I traded for a set in blue? Ladies and gentlemen, crucial is just that nice to people. They let me rma based on the color of the sticks alone.

Now I have 4 with the exact same batch, and matching numbers acrossed all four sticks. They should be a great addition to my i5 build. Without further hold up, here's the pictures:

 

[Aynjell]

Here are some pictures of the current setup, should give you an idea of what it might look like from the outside.

 

[Aynjell]

Reserved for pictures of existing parts.

 

[Hardin]

Ooh shiny ram. Now we just need a few pictures of the computer and the obligatory cat picture and we should be good. Can't wait for the final product.

 

[Aynjell]

Ooh shiny ram. Now we just need a few pictures of the computer and the obligatory cat picture and we should be good. Can't wait for the final product.

I'll get some pictures of the other hardware soon, maybe after I eat some macaroni.

*Edit, sorry I didn't get pix up yet, also sorry, no cat*

 

[Marshmallow64]

Nice ram

 

[Daddyjaxx]

Nice ram

Until it goes bad in about 3 months. This is RAM that you should be glad has a lifetime warranty. Crucial has gone waaaay downhill.

 

[Aynjell]

Until it goes bad in about 3 months. This is RAM that you should be glad has a lifetime warranty. Crucial has gone waaaay downhill.

I've not heard anything about such a thing.

I'll get the rest of the photos up sometime tomorrow. As for the build and when it's supposed to take place, very shortly, within the next month. I'm going to be doing mods and documenting it here prior, though. Little things, things that don't make a huge difference but are worth teh few minutes it takes. :0

 

[Aynjell]

Build is resumed. I have decided to go with DFI's T3EH9, any small bugs it may have now, should go away with bios revisions, plus I needed more SATA ports. Here are the specs as it'll stand in about a week.

i5 750
DFI T3EH9
8GB Crucial Ballistix Tracer's (Red) (already own)
eVGA GTX 260 core 216 (already own)
2xWestern Digital Velociraptor's (300GB) (already own)
1xWestern Digital Caviar Black (1TB) (already own)
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 (already own)
Creative X-Fi Titanium Champion Edition (already own)
ATCS 840 with modded window (already own)


I also just ordered tubing, and a few more accessories.

 

[jgv115]

Why you going with that motherboard? UD4P all the way!

 

[Aynjell]

Why you going with that motherboard? UD4P all the way!

Because the gigabyte boards NEUTER my theme, and DFI is just fine by me. Also, gigabyte boards don't feature a lotes socket.

Thanks for asking, though.

Also, slot layout on the gb boards is flat out ***. Featurewise, the boards are the same, but the DFI was 35$ cheaper because it was on sale, I LOVE DFI, AND, it features a lotes socket with all the features I wanted. The DFI board coupled with an i5 was definitely a cheap setup. 325$? How can you even hope to argue against it? Especially when NORMALLY the DFI board costs more than the GB boards normally. Trust me...

I love GB boards, but I'm so tired of blue I could puke.

 

[Krogen]

The new Gigabyte boards do have lotes sockets.

But either way it seems that lotes burn as easily as foxcon.

 

[theflash083]

whats a rough esitmate on the build cost. was thinking about going i5.

 

[Aynjell]

The new Gigabyte boards do have lotes sockets.

But either way it seems that lotes burn as easily as foxcon.

Doesn't matter. I got it all for christmas, no money spent. But the board cost her 135$, pretty cheap if you ask me. DFI is a name I'll trust for at least another board based on the SLI-DR, and this board is getting reviewed favourably.

So I'm really looking forward to using it. Also, had I gone gibabyte I'd of gotten something with usb 3.0 and sata 6.0gb.


But I have need for neither at the moment so all is well!

whats a rough esitmate on the build cost. was thinking about going i5.

Let's see,

450$ these days for twin VR's...
200$ for an i5
135$ for the board (limited time pricing as far as I know)
220$ for the RAM (I got 3 sticks of it free)
400$ worth of water cooling stuff...
300$ for the case as it stands...
110$ for a caviar black 1tb...
80$ for the 750GB caviar black...
100$ for my power supply...
200$ for my sound card...
I'm probably missing something else too...

Obviously I've got some expensive **** besides just the main build, you can cut a lot of corners but I find the VR's are some of my favourite parts, because they really snap things up a bit.

 

[deed]

What do vrs stand for lol im having a dumb moment.... also 300 for a case wow thats pretty expensive ( edit) are you sure about the price newegg says 200?.

 

[theflash083]

What do vrs stand for lol im having a dumb moment.... also 300 for a case wow thats pretty expensive ( edit) are you sure about the price newegg says 200?.

velociraptors
Western Digital's 10,000 RPM drives.

 

[deed]

velociraptors
Western Digital's 10,000 RPM drives.

I see thanks... I stopped going over 7200 after my two 15ks where extremly loud... may have just been those but have not changed to anything higher since.

 

[Aynjell]

What do vrs stand for lol im having a dumb moment.... also 300 for a case wow thats pretty expensive ( edit) are you sure about the price newegg says 200?.

I had craigbru mod in a window. He did a fantastic job. He's a professional case modder, I'm actually a moderator at his forum, losias.net (shameless plug).

Anywho, 200$ for the case, 50$ for the window kit, 50$ for his time. 300$ for my case (as it stands)

 

[theflash083]

I see thanks... I stopped going over 7200 after my two 15ks where extremly loud... may have just been those but have not changed to anything higher since.

the western digital raptors were loud imo, but the velociraptors are not.
they are a lot quiter than previous 10,000RPM drives.
I have 2x80GB Velociraptors in Raid 0 and love em, very quiet , cant even hear them over my case fan.