Showing Off My Build

[mslagle]

This build was completed in December of 2010. I have not been on hardforum in quite some time, so I decided to post my build after coming back here. Please keep in mind the prices that I paid were during Black Friday, and so may be wildly different than what is available today.

My Computers Purpose: I am mainly a programmer, so I need a multi-cored system that runs fast. I have got to have high disk IO and major amounts of ram to compile as fast as possible. When I am not programming, I browse the internet, play videos, and light video gaming.

Case: Antec 902 - Newegg $99
Motherboard: ASUS M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3 AM3 AMD 880G SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - Newegg $103
CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1055T Thuban 2.8GHz Socket AM3 125W Six-Core Desktop Processor - Newegg $180
CPU Cooler: ZALMAN 9500A-LED 92mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler - Newegg $40
Memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) - Newegg $90
HDD: OCZ Agility 2 OCZSSD2-2AGTE120G 2.5" 120GB SATA II MLC - Newegg $220
HDD: WD Caviar 500GB Serial ATA HD 7200/16MB - TigerDirect $30
GPU: EVGA GeForce GTS 450 - TigerDirect $120
GPU: Nvidia 6800GT - Already Owned
PSU: CORSAIR Enthusiast Series CMPSU-650TX 650W - Already Owned
Optical: Samsung SuperWrite Master DVD-+RW - Already Owned

Total Spent: Newegg ($731) + TigerDirect ($154) = $885
The bad news: I bought many of these components due to mail in rebates. By the time I received the hardware, put it together, and remembered about the rebates, the month time to mail them was over. By my accounts, I could have saved $150 on the build. The total cost should have been around $720 .

Pictures in the next post....

 

[mslagle]

Build Pictures:

Performance in the next post....

 

[mslagle]

PCMark Results: Click Here - Please note, I ran this at stock speeds and with other apps running.

 

[mslagle]

My Comments and Reviews:

Overclocking
When I first got this system, I had it overclocked from 2.8 to 3.6 on air. However, the newest AM3 AMD cpus do not overclock very well unless you get the black editions. No matter if I tuned down the overclock, increased the voltage, or turned on the airflow, I could not see a stable overclock. I was pretty happy at 3.0, but turned it back to stock anyways.

There should be an anandtech article somewhere about why this happens. Besides, 2.8 GHz with 6 cores is plenty fast for me.

SSD Performance
Once you go SSD, you do not really notice it. After using it for 6 months, I barely notice any speed change. However, I have heard that once you go back to normal HDD, you would notice it. Am I happy with the speeds I get? Yes. However, I bought this SSD based on user and professional reviews. This SSD had the best performance to price ratio at the time. It also had very good reliability ratings compared to some older OCZ drives.

As for the 500 GB WD Blue HDD, it was mainly for backup. My PC backs up the SSD to this disk every week and I also use it for extra space when the 120 GB space will not do. Because I do not game, the SSD has had enough space for me except when I torrent. Although after 6 months, I am finding out I am running out of space. But for the $30 purchase price and the outstanding reliability of the Blue drives, how could I have done any better?

The Case
I have always been a fan of the Antec cases. Having own the mini Antec P182 case, I have been a fan. But when the 902 came out originally, it was quite expensive. But the $99 price tag was such a great bargain.

As you can see, I had pretty good cable management for the small size of the case. I get great airflow from the front two fans and the large top fan. Dust is somewhat of an issue even with the front fan filters (the top fan has no filter and the case plenty of openings). Space was not a concern for me with my medium sized gaming card and medium-sized cpu fan. However, wiring was quite a pain as some of the motherboard ports can be blocked by their location, but that is more a fault of the motherboard than the case.

Possible Upgrades
Not sure what I can upgrade too that would increase raw performance. I have close to the top of the line AMD 6-core CPU. However, I could upgrade to a new 6 Gb/s SSD as this mobo does support, but the price to my needed performance ratio just is not there. I am quite happy with the current SSD performance.

The one thing I do need is HDD space as the 500 GB is somewhat limiting. At first it was not a concern, but as the backups take more and more space, I am now at 50GB or less free. However, that is how windows performs updates, it uses all the space on the drive unless instructed otherwise. With the way it is setup now, I have multiple weeks of backups. Not sure if that is needed though.

I do have an external server with 500GB of raid 1 storage. Looking to upgrade to a few 2 TB drives, but I dont trust of the low cost of the seagates (I remember the 7200.11 firmware issues) and the WD drives are still pricey and the newest reviews are not up there with the older drives.



Any comments questions about the build? I am here to answer.

 

[msemcee]

Nice job! My build is almost exactly like that. Same CPU cooler, same Mobo.. I had the 1200 for my case though. Real nice but downgraded cause it was just too big.

 

[jhwk6957]

How do you like that Zalman Cooler? I thought about getting that cooler but for some reason I opt'd to get a cooler master n520 instead because it was a little cheaper, but I have always thought that those Copper Zalman's were Sick!

 

[mslagle]

Nice job! My build is almost exactly like that. Same CPU cooler, same Mobo.. I had the 1200 for my case though. Real nice but downgraded cause it was just too big.

The 1200 hides the wires much better. I built several builds with the 1200 (I used to work at a system builder) and no matter what you stuffed in there, you could hide almost all the wires.

 

[mslagle]

How do you like that Zalman Cooler? I thought about getting that cooler but for some reason I opt'd to get a cooler master n520 instead because it was a little cheaper, but I have always thought that those Copper Zalman's were Sick!

The CPU cooler is nice and quiet. However, you have to use the little black voltage regulator that comes with and set it low. I just took it out of the case because the sticky stuff was wearing off and it kept falling off the case. With it off, the CPU fan noise is noticeably higher. I am thinking of downloading speedfan because of this.