Since I’m still in recovery-mode (feeling better today and I didn’t have to take a second dose of NyQuil last night!), I thought it’s nice to slow down and show off… lol my new computer build! (To Sheryl‘s beau, Peter! Enjoy ze specs… ;))
I haven’t retired my old machine (AMD 64 Athlon X2 – which has been a reliable buddy for over 7 years!) but my older workhorse passed about 3 moons ago (AMD Athlon, circa 2000).
Here’s what I splurged on (and tacked some new debt because of it! O_o I should be able to pay it off in a month or two, though — provided I don’t go on any more out-of-town trips!)
Processor: Intel Core i7 950 3.06GHz (8M L3 Cache LGA136)
CPU HSF: Corsair Hydro Series H70
Mainboard: Asus Sabertooth X58
RAM: Corsair 6 GB PC3-12800 1600MHz (240-Pin DDR3 – Triple Channel)
Graphics Card: EVGA nVidia GeForce 9500GT 1 GB
HDDs:
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache (SATA 3Gb/s)
Western Digital 640 GB Caviar Black SATA 7200 RPM 64 MB Cache (SATA 6gb/s)
PSU: Corsair 750-Watt TX Series 80 Plus Certified
Case: Rosewill Challenger ATX Mid Tower (included 3 Three Fans-1x Front Blue LED 120mm Fan, 1x Top 140mm Fan, 1x Rear 120mm Fan, added 120mm Fan on side)
DVD Burner: LITE-ON SATA DVD Writer
OS: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit (OEM)
HDD Notes:
I actually installed the OS on my slower SATA (Samsung) HDD. Why? Because at the time, I was in a rush to get this machine put together to start using it for my new client. Then I realised that I wanted an even faster drive, and I did try to reinstall the OS on the WD SATA/6 but was having trouble with the mobo detecting it as SATA/6! To this day, it’s still connected to my mobo via SATA/3 port 🙁 I’ll do more research about that later.
Taxes, taxes, taxes:
As you can see, I got most of my parts off Amazon.com — I have a Prime membership which means I didn’t have to pay shipping (and no tax is charged either!) So I easily saved a good $100 just by not paying the sales tax ^_^ I also was able to get on deals when I got the parts off NewEgg (rebate offers, free shipping weekend) but the caveat was paying sales tax because they are a California company. :\
Temperature notes:
Before getting the case and Corsair H70 water-cooling HSF, my idle temps were at 43°-46° C (got it down to 41° idle with the window wide open!) for the CPU, 55° C for NorthBridge, 40° C for Mobo… They were running pretty hot and it didn’t help that the first time I put the machine together, I used the stock HSF’s pre-applied thermal paste (it was at 50° C at that time!) I got it semi-lower after using some (reliable) Arctic Silver 5 and messing with the Vcore voltage (removed it from auto and set to 1.23v), but all that work’s moot thanks to the Corsair H70. Now my idle temps are 31° C for CPU, 46° C for NB, and 29° C for Motherboard — albeit CPU still at 1.23v.
I’ll probably do more tweaking later on, but I’m glad I’m running the CPU at least under 40° C when idle. Haven’t run it at full-load (too lazy to install and test using Prime95… LOL) Plus, I really want to figure out how to make my SATA 6gb/s HDD work to it’s fullest potential, and not just (currently) a data drive. >_< I guess by the time I do so, the SSD prices are going to drop! LOL
Now I just gotta get sick again so I’ll have time to find a game to test the prowess of this machine… for research, of course 😉
