First build in years - need help catching up

D

DefineByte

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 24, 2006
Messages
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I'm about to put together a new system for gaming (1680x1050) and general usage. Specs:
  • Intel i5 750
  • Gigabyte GA-P55-UD3R - I've struggled to find a board I like but I guess this one will do. Don't need RAID, crossfire or firewire but would like eSATA, 1 PCI slot, 1 PATA connector, well placed/usable PCI-E x1/x4 slot/s. I'm slightly concerned by the Foxconn socket issue but I guess it shouldn't matter with my usage. I'd like to wait for the P55A boards to come out (in the UK) but the mobo in my current system is on its way out so need to replace it quickly.
  • Crucial Ballistix DDR3 PC3-10600 4GB kit (BL2KIT25664BN1337) - only because I've had good experience with Crucial in the past. May well be better buys these days
  • ATI Radeon HD 5850 - probably XFX but not sure
  • 2x Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB HDD - seem decent for the price
I've got a Seasonic S12 500w PSU from my old system that I'm hoping to use for this one. I won't be doing any overclocking or running dual video cards (I'm a bit oft). Will it be sufficient?

This is all going in an Antec Solo case, which I guess is big enough.

I plan on using the stock cooler for now then upgrade to a Thermalright Ultra Extreme 120 if I find it too noisy/hot.

Is there anything in the specs you'd change? Am I forgetting anything? It's been a while since I last built a comp. :eek:
 
while nothing is wrong with your picks, I would still suggest this kit over Ballistix as they are cheaper and use 1.5v (which is better for the long term life of your cpu).

i would go with these G.Skill DDR3 4GB 1600
 
Thanks for the tip about the voltage. I'll move my sights to 1.5v memory. How much do timings matter?

Did you mean to link to 1333 dimms? The link says 1600. I've heard G.Skill are good. Here in the UK the only place I can find the RAM you've linked to is here and they charge £7 ($11) just for delivery. Still cheaper than what I was looking at though. Thanks.
 
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I have the ram lt_shiro linked to and 2 x the lower latency 1600mhz ram F3-12800CL7D-4GBRH.

What lt_shiro said is partially true. i7 and i5 cpus are rated up to 1.65v for the ram. Anything above that you are running things out of spec. The ram I linked to will do 1600 7-7-7-24 at 1.6v, well within the safe range. If you are set on getting 1.5v ram, G.Skill sells another 1600mhz kit with higher latencies that runs at the lower voltage. Its cheaper too.

As long as you are 1.65v or below, there is no long term "risk" to your CPU. It always amazes me how much ram for sale out there needs to run at much higher voltages that Intel's specs say you should go.
 
@ brom42 - 1156 memory controller isn't as good as the one on 1366 and as such I say it was nothing wrong with the 1.65v memory. I am saying that lower the voltage, less heat it is and longer it would last.
 
You'll also have more headroom with lower stock voltage sticks. Basically, 1.5v RAM at DDR3-1600 is much more efficient than sticks rated at 1.65v but the same speed. The only reason you'd need the higher speed RAM was for OC'ing -- its easier to buy higher rated sticks than to OC lower speed sticks, especially with these small voltage windows. Timings don't matter much -- at least not enough to pay a moderate price premium, IMO. In other words, you may or may not notice the difference between CL9 and CL7 DDR3, but most likely not enough to warrant a price premium. Higher speed RAM yields better performance improvements than faster timings, but typically only if you OC the CPU along with the RAM (on Intel platforms).

I'd try to find a cheaper cooler than the TRUE. Sure, its the best, but at a high price. The CoGage True Spirit is a great value for $40USD, and it performs nearly as good as the TRUE (btw, it's OEM'd by Thermalright, too). Other similar heatsinks like the Xigmatek Dark Knight, Cooler master Hyper 212+, etc should be cheaper and perform similarly as well, which should be good enough since you don't plan on breaking any OC'ing records.
 
Any complaints if I was to go with this RAM (G.Skill Ripjaw 4GB DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit)? Not much difference in the price between 1333 and 1600MHz.

I'll look into the coolers you've suggested, thank you. The Xigmatek Dark Knight's relatively low weight appeals.
 
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DefineByte said:
Any complaints if I was to go with this RAM (G.Skill Ripjaw 4GB DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit)? Not much difference in the price between 1333 and 1600MHz.

I'll look into the coolers you've suggested, thank you.
Click to expand...

Nope, that was the 1.5v 1600mhz ram I was referring to before.

lt_shiro said:
@ brom42 - 1156 memory controller isn't as good as the one on 1366 and as such I say it was nothing wrong with the 1.65v memory. I am saying that lower the voltage, less heat it is and longer it would last.
Click to expand...

I've run the 2 types of G.Skill at 1.5 and 1.6 and I can tell you that it made 0 difference with the heat of the CPU. The same with running 1333, vs 1600. Intel's i5 and i7 CPUs are able to run quite hot without any issues. Just look at the crappy heatsinks that come with the CPU and on OEM boxes. The heat of the memory controller will be influenced by the heat from the cores, not in going from 1.5 to 1.6 volts.

enginurd makes a lot of good points of why going with 1.5 volts is better and the actual influance of timings will make. Unless you are putting your ram way above the CPU specs of 1.65v, heat from the memory controller won't be a factor at all.

OP, are you planning at running stock or are you going to overclock.
 
I hope a small bump isn't too out of order.

One thing I really need to know is whether the PSU is OK. The Seasonic S12-500 has two 12V rails, one 17A and one 16A. Is that OK for the proposed system?

Here's some more of its specs (in not so helpful .gif form):
S12_05.gif
 
The number of rails or how the amperage is distributed among the multiple +12V rails doesn't matter that much. With that said, that picture doesn't help at all since the max or combined amperage or total wattage on the +12V rail is not listed. Here's a much more useful picture instead:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/files/images/seasonic-s12/500label.jpg

In the above picture, 396W is listed on the +12V rail meaning that it had 33A on the +12V rail. For your planned setup, 33A on the +12V rail is more than enough. Then again, that's assuming that after four years that PSU is still capable of providing 33A on the +12V rail. Good chance that it is but it is a small possibility that it can't.
 
Thanks for the help (and reassurance). I don't know if it means much but I recently tested the rails with a multimeter and they all seem to hold well under load with my current system. I guess I'll just have to try it and if I notice anything flaky then I'll look at replacing the PSU. I'll probably go for a Seasonic X-650 then, assuming they become available soon.

Regarding the picture, you can derive the total wattage by multiplying the number of volts by the amps for each rail and adding them together. Obviously your picture makes it clearer though. :)
 
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DefineByte said:
... Regarding the picture, you can derive the total wattage by multiplying the number of volts by the amps for each rail and adding them together. Obviously your picture makes it clearer though. :)
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, it doesn't always work that way with every PSU label. :(

Take the TP-750 for example -- a very good quality Seasonic-built PSU. It's label denotes 4 x +12V rails at 25A each, which would mean 100A total (which would imply that it could deliver 1200W on the +12V rails alone, and it obviously cannot) -- however, as the label specifies, it can only deliver 62A total on the combined +12V rails. ;)

Even the old assumption that you can subtract the combined power for the +3.3V and +5V rails from the total to get an approximation would be highly inaccurate (750-170=580/12= 48A; 500-180=320/12= 26A); back in the day, that was the only combined power rating many PSUs mentioned on their label (back when systems pulled more power from those rails than the +12V rail). Its best to choose a PSU that shows the combined power rating for its +12V rails either on its label or on the manufacturers website (and most, if not all, good manufacturers list these values).
 
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Hadn't heard that before. Thanks for the education. :D

In your TP-750 example, how do they come up with that amperage for the rails? Just creative accounting? I guess it's par for the course with computer hardware. :rolleyes:
 
Interesting reading. Didn't like the part at the start of the FAQ about multimeters not being able to pick up fast voltage sags. Makes me a bit nervous about my current PSU.
 
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