Performed Mods:
Overclocked CPU to 3.85ghz from 3.2
Overclocked and Tweaked GFX card to get 6k+ in 3dmark05
Got bored and painted PSU
===This is my First Custom build, and considering i'm 16, I'm very happy with it!!!
===I just spent 3 hours yesterday neatening the cables, and even now, they're not especially tidy. After this, i have learned how difficult it is to keep the wires out of sight. I now have a lot of respect to those with neat cases!!! GJ people!
===The case fans need replacing. They're very powerful, but are noisy and are falling apart after 50hours use... :P
===The Acrylic needs cleaning and polishing properly. I was in a rush to get it all in!
===Please no-one start telling me how crap intel is, I really don't want to hear it. Same applies to the nVidia fanboys.
===Any tips and suggestions are welcome!
52 Comments on My First Custom Build!!!!
I learnt a valuable lesson though:
It's tricky trying to hide cables in a clear case! Maybe i'll go with a metal case with a window next time! :D
am pretty sure you could find this tubing at the home depot...i mean clear tubing
I don't really need it at the moment though, the inside of the case is the same temp as the air ouside, so the case fans are doing a good job. What it could really do with is a decent heatsink. I've seen some awsome flower sinks that would do the job well.
Thanks for your input. :)
but a mod that we dont see that often
Hehe, I had to borrow £600 of my mum's money as well, so i'm gonna be in debt for a while! In total i spent about £800 - £850 on this... Good price or what?? :D
I dread to think how much an ailienware PC with a similar spec would cost.
i don't consider myself much of a fan of clear cases. i thought about buying one when i was first building my machine. but i went with antec and i have had nothing but success. are your cpu temperatures way out of whack now that you are running a 1Ghz overclock? i personally think that anything above say 400mhz is overkill, and you run too much of a chance of frying the cpu. well, congrats on your build, it looks sweet.you should try wrapping the wires in mesh or something, so that the yellow, black and red don't show so much. LOOKS GREAT!
My room temps are about 29*c If you don't believe me, that's fine... If you like i'll take a screenshot of cpu-z
EDIT: I am an idiot!! It's been trottling back hard the whole time. I wandered why it was performing like crap.
Oh, and those temps were way off! I updated the bios, which revealed the true temps... to my horror! :P
It's now running 3.8ghz (14*272mhz) 1.4125v with a max temp of 72c while running the cpu arithmatic benchmark repeatedly with sisoft sandra. I checked that there was no thermal throttling with ThrottleWatch, but it seems i'm right on the limit. I covered the fan with a hand, and it throttled back as soon as temps hit 75c.
voltage is 1.4125, sorry my mistake
Cool, i'll take a look. Thanks Dr. D
Could do though, i'll take it apart for cleaning soon, so i'll do some rearranging then.
Ok, upgrades planned:
Another 2 sticks of 512mb ram = 2gb total @ 700mhz (pc5700)
Another hard drive to put in a Raid 0 config! Sweet!
I'm also going to make on of the 5" bay blankers into a fan control panel, with just a variable resistor and a shiny nob of something :D
I need to get my hands on a x1800xt tho :D :D
EDIT: I got my new cpu cooler, i'll be taking some pics soon.
It's the 'Gigabyte 3D Rocket Cooler.' It's fairly tall, but isn't particularly wide, which is perfect for me. I also looked at the flower cooler, but the PSU gets in the way :(
Anyway, i've been able to get my high overclocks at safer temps and with not throttling!
Previousy i could get 3.75ghz @ 72c, which is 3c under thermal throttling,
I can now get in excess of 3.85ghz @ 65c!!!
I think i'm really lucky with this cpu, it overclocks by miles!!! i had it at 4.2ghz (16x multi), it was throttling back very hard, but it just shows that with some awsome cooling, it might be possible to stabilize it at that!!
Ok, the last think i need to get is the ATI silencer 5r2, which should be on it's way now!
EDIT:
All my new coolers are installed!!! I've got the "Gigabyte 3D rocket cooler" on the cpu, with AS5 of course! and the ATI Silencer 5r2 on my x800xl!
I still kept the 3.85ghz, but use it more as an 'everyday' speed, and ramp it up to 4.2ghz when i need it. Max temp at 3.85 with my new cooler is only 52c, and it idles at 35c.
And check this out!!! 4.2ghz is rock steady with a max temp of 56c!! I had 4.3 earlier, but had to put the voltage up to 1.43v, and even that wasn't enough... temperatures were getting to 60c, and prime 95 was begging to show errors, so i think 4.2ghz is the max for my cpu. Ill get a screenshot of cpuz and prime 95 and some others soon to prove it.
^I need to get my room re-decorated badly!!!
The case fans are quite noisy though, so i'm making a fan controller. The only problem is finding a variable resistor that can handle roughly 1 amp that my fans need... I've tried a few, and each one has burned out on me.
The only upgrade i need to do now is fit a second hard drive to put in RAID 0, and perhaps a gaming keyboard to go with my awsome mouse! I'm also looking into getting an x800/x850 master card to go in crossfire with my x800. That should be fun!
wow, looking back at this thread, it's amazing how much i've learned since i started this rig!
Unfortunatly, to stabilize it at that speed, i had to use a 1.45v vcore, so it runs extemely hot, even with a good cooler on it. I saw temperatures @ 63c while stress testing with 2 instances of prime 95. I was hoping for 4.4ghz, but no matter what voltage i apply, it isn't stable. Maybe an external watercooling setup is in order! =D
How far does your 630 go? W1zzards test one is amazing, but i'm not sure what cooling he's using on it.
Wizzard got a 3.0 up to 4.5, I also forgot what heat sink he used. He was the one who thought me how to OC lol so THX!!! lol
a 1.2ghz overclock with a vcore that low is incredible! Congrats! :D
The lowest my asus board will go is 1.28v all the way up to 1.7v!! Not all bad though, it's rock stable at 300mhz fsb, 1200mhz bus speed!! Pretty awsome! I think it's rated for 450mhz, but there's no way i'd be able to get near that! I particularly love it for a few tweaks concerning the PCI-e settings, my card wouldn't perform nearly as well without my asus mobo
The Intel 630, 640, 650 and 660 is the same chip(as far as i know). Their votage is also the same?, so the 3.0 to the 3.4 is running on the same voltage?
btw, are you looking into getting a decent cpu cooler? what have you got in mind at the moment?
If you look on page 3 of this thread, you can see the one i got. It's very quiet, and keeps my processor nice and cool! Getting a decent cooler is usually recomened because it's quieter, extends the life of your cpu, and usually allows you to reach higher overclocks!
Yes, I am going to get a CPU cooler, right now i have the stock "orb" on it. I am looking at the Artic Cooler frezer 7pro. it sells for about $40 canadian here.
was it hard to replace the cooler(CPU and GPU)??
Also, after you put in the Artic cooler ATI rev5, did you see a big improvement?
The ATISilencer was easy!! I had that done within 10 minutes of it coming through the post! You have to be careful while cleaning the old thermal grease off the core, so you don't damage the resistors. After fitting it, i got a massive increase in speed, and far lower temperatures! And the best thing: it's silent!!! :D
Hey, on another note, i managed to stabilize a 4.4ghz overclock today! =O
I left the windows open, and let my room cool down to 5c to manage it though.
Wait... when you get new ram it will be lol
anyway, updates:
Case has been stripped down, and is being used as a testbed at the moment.
x800xl fried because i dropped a screw on the voltmod.
rma'd it for an x800gto2, unlocked the last pipes, and clocked to 585/640
my P4 now reaches 4.7-4.8ghz prime stable with my arctic Freezer 7 Pro
Bought a second hard drive to put in Raid 0.
I'm soon to lap the cpu and HS and see if that helps temps any. (idle 37c load 55c)
I need some faster ram!
Updated bechmark scores:
3dmark05: 7200
3dmark03: I'll do that tonight
Aquamark: I'll do it tonight
superpi: 28s (ram bottleneck, the time stops improving at 4.3ghz)
Getting a new case soon, I've got the aerocool 'aeroengine II' in mind, or perhaps an aspire gaming case. Then going to watercooling. I'm getting the swiftech apogee waterblock, a decent pump. I'm considering getting the radiator/fan from an air-conditioning unit as an outdoor radiator, and maybe a 240x120 radiator to mount on the outside of my case for taking my pc to lans. I could even get a peltier, but i don't like the idea of having a separate psu, although my psu might have enough amps to spare.
Dry ice tubes look like a lot of fun, so i think i might buy one of them to play with. If my cpu can hit 4.9ghz on air, imagine how far it can go on dry ice. Before i go ahead with this, i need some faster ram, otherwise i won't gain anything by using sub-zero cooling.
I gotta get a job :(
nice! 9/10! :D