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So I just 'finished' (as much as one can ever be complete) a new build. I'm pretty happy with it, so here's a summary.
Motherboard: AsRock Z790 Steel Legend WiFi
CPU: i5-12600K, running @ 5GHz-P/4GHz-E, -0.090 offset voltage
Other: Thermalright anti-bend bracket & included TF7 thermal paste; note the super-sick, old school Vantec PCI slot covers
I purposely got this MB/CPU combo (~$450 total) with an upgrade to 14th-gen in mind, after I heard it'd stay on LGA1700 - otherwise I'd have went for the 13600K.
Cooling: MSI MAG CoreLiquid 280R V2, black 2x140mm aRGB fans, top push/exhaust
I am retiring my custom cooling for an AIO - laziness in my old age...? It did make the CPU plugin a challenge to fit once mounted.
I ended up mounting it twice b/c I got no POST. Turned out to be a bad wall-PSU cord, what a fluke? Good coverage, I think:
RAM: G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB DDR5-6400/CL32 XMP (black, 2x16GB)
I meant to buy the silver version, to go with the heatsinks on the motherboard, but these have no problem at XMP-6400, so it's cool.
Drives: Solidigm P44 Pro 1TB (OS/programs), Silicon Power XS70 1TB (files/games)
I only planned on the P44, but the $40 deal on the XS70 made that irresistible for a Games drive (and I ended up putting it under the lower heatsink).
GPU: MSI Ventus RTX 2060 6GB, undervolted w/minor OC
I am considering an upgrade to RX6650XT/RX7600, but in no rush, as I don't game too much. I am probably ordering up a 180* adapter to clean up the cable soon, and maybe a whole set of cable extender/adapters in a white/gray color. And a right-angle adapter for that monstrous USB3 cable.
PSU: Corsair RM850e, fully modular, zero RPM mode
I had planned to keep my HX620, but it had POST issues (or so I thought - turned out it just wouldn't come on without a load, forgot about that). But, even before I tracked down the bad wall cord, I found a bad cable on the new PSU - anyone ever seen a wire stick out of a cable like this? I've asked Corsair for a replacement.
Case: MSI MAG Forge 100R, 3x120 MSI intake aRGB fans, 1x92mm exhaust aRGB fan (random no-namer to fit the rear spot which is limited by the AIO tubes)
I was gifted a MSI pre-build, and have moved the majority of it over to my old Rocketfish/Lian Li, but kept the graphics card & the case. It's got plenty of air flow, the aRGB that's all the rage now, good cable-routing options, and a side window, so it's cool.
Monitor: AsRock PG27Q15R2A, 27"/1440p/165Hz (the lower/blank screen; had the internal GPU hooked to my TV)
OS: Windows 11 Professional (using Win7Pro key - yeah, hold on to old software, fellas - it's even an "upgrade" key)
KB/mouse: Dell Premier Multi-Device Wireless Keyboard/Mouse KM7321W (behind the software above)
Got this to be able to swap easily between this rig, the other rig, and my laptop - it works well, and looks sleek. And I got one of those big-ass Aukey mousepads with the PSU, so there's that.
So, that's it. I tossed Wolverine and his matching C8 in there, b/c... there was space to do so (and spent 2 days fighting with conflicting RGB software to just get some simple yellow/blue going...). And a right-angle 24-pin adapter.
All of this keeps everything pretty cool, even under load. I have the A/C set between 73-78* (depending on the weather), and the CPU can idle close to that (23-28*C). I'm still learning about all the new undervolting and such kids are doing these days, but I was happy to hit 5GHz b/c my first build was a P3-500e (which got taken from 500MHz to 700MHz, with junk SDR, in due time - imagine a 40% OC these days!). Literally 10x as fast as my first PC (that I built, i.e. excluding 386s and such).
That's all, I guess. It was fun to do this all again, after using company machines for 10+yrs.
Thanks for perusing,
-bZj
Motherboard: AsRock Z790 Steel Legend WiFi
CPU: i5-12600K, running @ 5GHz-P/4GHz-E, -0.090 offset voltage
Other: Thermalright anti-bend bracket & included TF7 thermal paste; note the super-sick, old school Vantec PCI slot covers
I purposely got this MB/CPU combo (~$450 total) with an upgrade to 14th-gen in mind, after I heard it'd stay on LGA1700 - otherwise I'd have went for the 13600K.
Cooling: MSI MAG CoreLiquid 280R V2, black 2x140mm aRGB fans, top push/exhaust
I am retiring my custom cooling for an AIO - laziness in my old age...? It did make the CPU plugin a challenge to fit once mounted.
I ended up mounting it twice b/c I got no POST. Turned out to be a bad wall-PSU cord, what a fluke? Good coverage, I think:
RAM: G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB DDR5-6400/CL32 XMP (black, 2x16GB)
I meant to buy the silver version, to go with the heatsinks on the motherboard, but these have no problem at XMP-6400, so it's cool.
Drives: Solidigm P44 Pro 1TB (OS/programs), Silicon Power XS70 1TB (files/games)
I only planned on the P44, but the $40 deal on the XS70 made that irresistible for a Games drive (and I ended up putting it under the lower heatsink).
GPU: MSI Ventus RTX 2060 6GB, undervolted w/minor OC
I am considering an upgrade to RX6650XT/RX7600, but in no rush, as I don't game too much. I am probably ordering up a 180* adapter to clean up the cable soon, and maybe a whole set of cable extender/adapters in a white/gray color. And a right-angle adapter for that monstrous USB3 cable.
PSU: Corsair RM850e, fully modular, zero RPM mode
I had planned to keep my HX620, but it had POST issues (or so I thought - turned out it just wouldn't come on without a load, forgot about that). But, even before I tracked down the bad wall cord, I found a bad cable on the new PSU - anyone ever seen a wire stick out of a cable like this? I've asked Corsair for a replacement.
Case: MSI MAG Forge 100R, 3x120 MSI intake aRGB fans, 1x92mm exhaust aRGB fan (random no-namer to fit the rear spot which is limited by the AIO tubes)
I was gifted a MSI pre-build, and have moved the majority of it over to my old Rocketfish/Lian Li, but kept the graphics card & the case. It's got plenty of air flow, the aRGB that's all the rage now, good cable-routing options, and a side window, so it's cool.
Monitor: AsRock PG27Q15R2A, 27"/1440p/165Hz (the lower/blank screen; had the internal GPU hooked to my TV)
OS: Windows 11 Professional (using Win7Pro key - yeah, hold on to old software, fellas - it's even an "upgrade" key)
KB/mouse: Dell Premier Multi-Device Wireless Keyboard/Mouse KM7321W (behind the software above)
Got this to be able to swap easily between this rig, the other rig, and my laptop - it works well, and looks sleek. And I got one of those big-ass Aukey mousepads with the PSU, so there's that.
So, that's it. I tossed Wolverine and his matching C8 in there, b/c... there was space to do so (and spent 2 days fighting with conflicting RGB software to just get some simple yellow/blue going...). And a right-angle 24-pin adapter.
All of this keeps everything pretty cool, even under load. I have the A/C set between 73-78* (depending on the weather), and the CPU can idle close to that (23-28*C). I'm still learning about all the new undervolting and such kids are doing these days, but I was happy to hit 5GHz b/c my first build was a P3-500e (which got taken from 500MHz to 700MHz, with junk SDR, in due time - imagine a 40% OC these days!). Literally 10x as fast as my first PC (that I built, i.e. excluding 386s and such).
That's all, I guess. It was fun to do this all again, after using company machines for 10+yrs.
Thanks for perusing,
-bZj