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Please review my Sandy build

niemion

New Member
Joined
Sep 20, 2010
Messages
85 (0.02/day)
Processor i7 2600K @ 100x50 [5GHz] at 1.485v
Motherboard ASRock Z68 Pro3 (Bios ver. 1.30)
Cooling Scythe Mugen 2 in push/pull with stock fan 1300 RPM & Noctua NF-S12B FLX 1200 RPM
Memory Mushkin Redline 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000 9-11-10-28 Blackline
Video Card(s) GTX 570
Storage Vertex 3 120GB Max IOPS
Display(s) HP 2475W
Case Currently on table - Coolermaster ATCS 840 (sound dampened)
Audio Device(s) Meier Audio Dac
Power Supply Corsair AX850
Software Windows 7 64 bit
  • MSI Z68A-GD80
  • i7-2600K
  • 16GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600MHz CL8
  • ASUS GeForce GTX 570 1280MB "DirectCU II"
  • Corsair SSD Force Series 3, 120GB

I already have PSU, case and cooler.

Would you change anything?
 

cadaveca

My name is Dave
Joined
Apr 10, 2006
Messages
17,232 (2.63/day)
Why 16GB? Doing some rendering work, or movie editing, or running a bunch of virtual machines?

I would add a 2TB SATA 6 Gb/s drive for storage...
 

niemion

New Member
Joined
Sep 20, 2010
Messages
85 (0.02/day)
Processor i7 2600K @ 100x50 [5GHz] at 1.485v
Motherboard ASRock Z68 Pro3 (Bios ver. 1.30)
Cooling Scythe Mugen 2 in push/pull with stock fan 1300 RPM & Noctua NF-S12B FLX 1200 RPM
Memory Mushkin Redline 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000 9-11-10-28 Blackline
Video Card(s) GTX 570
Storage Vertex 3 120GB Max IOPS
Display(s) HP 2475W
Case Currently on table - Coolermaster ATCS 840 (sound dampened)
Audio Device(s) Meier Audio Dac
Power Supply Corsair AX850
Software Windows 7 64 bit
Why 16GB?
I encode video files and do a lot of Photoshop editing.

What do you think of my RAM choice? Does 16GB on SB limit OC'ing? Would I benefit from faster RAM?

I would add a 2TB SATA 6 Gb/s drive for storage...

I already have my storage needs covered by a Synology 710+ NAS. I prefer no hard drives installed to minimize noise :p
 

cadaveca

My name is Dave
Joined
Apr 10, 2006
Messages
17,232 (2.63/day)
Ah, good reasons. ;)

As to the ram choice, I think it's fine. Yes, having all slots populated will limit clocking a bit, but on that note:

Don't buy ram to overclock it. Buy the ram with the speed and timings you want. Ram makers are pretty aggressive on thier binning, so to me, OC'ing ram just isn't much of an option.

Also, but sure that if you are going to run 4 sticks, that you buy a set of 4 sticks, and not two seperate pairs...while chances are good that two seperate pairs purchased at the same time will work just fine together, I have personally run into many instances where two pairs I bought(I almost always buy two sets), just didn't like running with each other, for whatever reason.

Ram makers have 4-stick kits for just this reason. They HAVE to test the 4 sticks together.

In regards to it affecting CPU clocks...no, not directly, however, as you increase CPU speed, load on the memory and memory controller will increase, which may cause the ram to be unstable.
 
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niemion

New Member
Joined
Sep 20, 2010
Messages
85 (0.02/day)
Processor i7 2600K @ 100x50 [5GHz] at 1.485v
Motherboard ASRock Z68 Pro3 (Bios ver. 1.30)
Cooling Scythe Mugen 2 in push/pull with stock fan 1300 RPM & Noctua NF-S12B FLX 1200 RPM
Memory Mushkin Redline 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000 9-11-10-28 Blackline
Video Card(s) GTX 570
Storage Vertex 3 120GB Max IOPS
Display(s) HP 2475W
Case Currently on table - Coolermaster ATCS 840 (sound dampened)
Audio Device(s) Meier Audio Dac
Power Supply Corsair AX850
Software Windows 7 64 bit
That's a very valid point, I'll make sure to buy a kit then.

How is the chipset by the way supposed to support 32GB? Can you populate the slots with 8GB modules?
 

cadaveca

My name is Dave
Joined
Apr 10, 2006
Messages
17,232 (2.63/day)
That's a very valid point, I'll make sure to buy a kit then.

How is the chipset by the way supposed to support 32GB? Can you populate the slots with 8GB modules?

Yes, exactly. Of course, SB only really supports 1333 MHz ram, 1600 Mhz is an overclock, and there might be issues with 32 GB @ 1333...I do not have 8GB sticks to test with, unfortunately.


Heck, I only have 1GB and 2GB per stick kits...I needs me some 4GB kits too!
 
Joined
Aug 12, 2005
Messages
754 (0.11/day)
Processor Intel Core i7 4790K
Motherboard Asus Z97i Plus
Cooling Antec Kuhler 620 + Gentle Typhoon 3000RPM
Memory A-DATA XPG V2 DDR3-2400 16GB
Video Card(s) MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G
Storage Samsung 850 Ev0 500GB
Display(s) Qnix QX2710 @100Hz
Case Silverstone SG13
Audio Device(s) Onboard
Power Supply Silverstone SX-500LG
Mouse Logitech G602
Keyboard Corsair K70 Lux
Software Windows 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores Not interested in benchmarks
one problem with MSI board is that you cannot use the power saving features when the CPU is overclocked, which means idle power draw is pretty hefty when you overclock the CPU. I would consider getting a Gigabyte (they should also have a Dynamic VID option where you can have stock VID when idle and set the volts that need to be increased when under load) or Asus (not sure if they have the same issue as with MSI) board if possible.

you don't really need fast RAM for sandybridge, because RAM speed doesn't need to be increased when overclocking. also look at this article and decide how much money you are going to spend on RAM.

Others look OK.
 

niemion

New Member
Joined
Sep 20, 2010
Messages
85 (0.02/day)
Processor i7 2600K @ 100x50 [5GHz] at 1.485v
Motherboard ASRock Z68 Pro3 (Bios ver. 1.30)
Cooling Scythe Mugen 2 in push/pull with stock fan 1300 RPM & Noctua NF-S12B FLX 1200 RPM
Memory Mushkin Redline 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-17000 9-11-10-28 Blackline
Video Card(s) GTX 570
Storage Vertex 3 120GB Max IOPS
Display(s) HP 2475W
Case Currently on table - Coolermaster ATCS 840 (sound dampened)
Audio Device(s) Meier Audio Dac
Power Supply Corsair AX850
Software Windows 7 64 bit
Expert advice has led me to these changes:

Before

  • MSI Z68A-GD80
  • i7-2600K
  • 16GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600MHz CL8
  • ASUS GeForce GTX 570 1280MB "DirectCU II"
  • Corsair SSD Force Series 3, 120GB

After

  • Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD5
  • i7-2600K
  • 16GB-Kit Corsair Vengeance blue DDR3 1600 MHz CL9 (couldn't get CL8 as a kit)
  • ASUS GeForce GTX 570 1280MB "DirectCU II"
  • OCZ Vertex 3 Max-IOPS

Looks good?
 

bostonbuddy

New Member
Joined
Apr 14, 2011
Messages
381 (0.08/day)
I'd go back to the Corsair, I've only heard bad things about the OCZ's.
I'd also add a TB hdd for storage unless you already have one.
 
Joined
Jul 15, 2009
Messages
1,087 (0.20/day)
Location
Upstate NewYork
System Name no remorse
Processor i7 2600k @ 4.7 ht on
Motherboard gigabyte z68x-ud3p-b3
Cooling xspc rasa cpu block, bitspower restop, mcp355
Memory 4 x 4gb corsair vengance 1600 8-8-8-24
Video Card(s) 570 gtx
Storage 2x32 gb patriot ssd's in raid 0 (os & games) / 2 x 500gb barracuda (storage)
Display(s) 25 inch 1080p widescreen i-inc
Case cooler master haf x
Audio Device(s) turtle beach earforce px21 headset (usb)
Power Supply corsair HX850
Benchmark Scores super pi 1m : 7.160 sec. 34,837 3dmark06
just built a sb system check my specs, im at 5.2. I'm only using 2x4 vengance and its fast enough.
 
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