Advice & Comments For New Build

Got a shopping cart of parts that you want opinions on? Get advice from members on your planned or existing system (or upgrade).

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mingv7v
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Joined: Thu Aug 13, 2015 1:08 pm
Location: Vancouver B.C

Advice & Comments For New Build

Post by mingv7v » Thu Aug 13, 2015 2:38 pm

Planning to upgrade my Lynnfield i7 870. Not a gamer (anymore... sigh...), the system will be used mainly for documents and spreadsheets, with some photo shopping and video editing. However I have to run a XP VM frequently for some legacy stuff.

One of the main reasons I wanted to upgrade to a Z97 is the ability to run dual 2560*1440+ screens off the integrated graphics. Currently I'm running QHD + UXGA off a fanless HTPC card.

Haven't kept up with computer HW for the last few years, but have been doing some catching up over the last few weeks. Here are the components I've chosen:

Silverstone FT05
Seasonic SS 400FL2

ASUS Gryphon Z97
i5-4690
Corsair Vengence Pro/LP 16GB

Crucial MX200 500GB x 2 mirrored

Noctua NH U12S

From current system:
ASUS Xonar Essence STX PCI-E

Questions:

- Is it worth getting the 4690K so I have the option to under-clock/volt it? Would that impact DRAM choice too? (Last time I blew anything up... err... did any overclocking was back in the AMD glory days.)

- The Scythe Kotetsu looks to be the favour of the month but neither Newegg, NCIX, MemExpress nor Amazon.ca seem to have it. Is there a Canadian source or will I have to get it through the US?

There are sure to be some questions I didn't know to ask and compatibility issues that I have not anticipated, so any suggestions and comments will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

CA_Steve
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Re: Advice & Comments For New Build

Post by CA_Steve » Thu Aug 13, 2015 3:20 pm

Welcome to SPCR.

If you aren't in a rush, you could build a Skylake based system in a couple of months. The non-K i5 will be 65W vs the 84W of Haswell. Should see more about this in the next week.

Scythe products in Canada - yeesh. There's some serious buggery going on in Amazon Marketplace regarding pricing :)

FT05 is an awfully large case for so little hardware.

mingv7v
Posts: 32
Joined: Thu Aug 13, 2015 1:08 pm
Location: Vancouver B.C

Re: Advice & Comments For New Build

Post by mingv7v » Thu Aug 13, 2015 8:48 pm

Steve, thanks for the welcome and reply.

One of my Seagate is reporting reallocation errors so that has to be replaced real soon no matter what. If I don't do the whole system now it'll have to wait till next summer. I have air for brains and a chrome dome -- a walking van der graaf generator -- so building a system whilst the central heating is on is verboten....

I know the the FT05 is kind of big for what I have in mind but it does look nice (to me anyways). I saw some really nice SFF cases but I don't like having the system sitting on the desk and the old gamer in me hopes that sometime in the future I'd be able to put in a couple of 36 inch long graphics cards...

CA_Steve
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Re: Advice & Comments For New Build

Post by CA_Steve » Fri Aug 14, 2015 7:04 am

Ok.

I'd go with the K version just because the "Devil's Canyon" SKUs have a better thermal interface material / better temps. Plus, you have the potential to OC a bit later on if you want. No reason to underclock/undervolt the i5 unless you want to play with saving some energy.

If you are planning to game sometime in the future, then you'll want to size the PSU for it. Are you thinking SLI?

FT05: ok. Take a look at the Fractal R5 or the Fractal S reviews (if you don't have an ODD). They'll be quieter than the FT05. On the other hand, the FT05 can be a quieter build for higher end SLI gaming.

quest_for_silence
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Re: Advice & Comments For New Build

Post by quest_for_silence » Fri Aug 14, 2015 9:18 am

mingv7v wrote:I know the the FT05 is kind of big

It's also a kind of noisy for the proposed hardware (the two air penetrator is an high noise floor for it).

P.S.: ops, already pointed out by Steve. Ad abundantiam...

mingv7v
Posts: 32
Joined: Thu Aug 13, 2015 1:08 pm
Location: Vancouver B.C

Re: Advice & Comments For New Build

Post by mingv7v » Mon Aug 17, 2015 1:32 pm

Will get the K version, thanks.

I did did consider at the Fractals but I've been using P18*s since it came out so this time I just wanted something totally different. From the reviews I gathered that the FT05 180mm fans are some what noisy, but I thought if they cannot be slowed down to an acceptable level I can always swap them out for 120mm fans -- I have enough spare Scythe slip stream 800s and Noctua S12s on hand to test out a quiet enough config.

If I were to game again I'm definitely going SLI and I'd do it with a new Z170 mobo and re-cycle some of the components for use as HTPC or server (they're both older than my desktop).

Not having built a system for so long and have never dealt with UEFI are there things I should be aware of?

Thanks!

CA_Steve
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Re: Advice & Comments For New Build

Post by CA_Steve » Mon Aug 17, 2015 2:00 pm

mingv7v wrote:Not having built a system for so long and have never dealt with UEFI are there things I should be aware of?
I guess the answer is "it depends". I've run into some oddities with UEFI under Win7. Somewhere in the boot settings it'll say something like "UEFI, Legacy, or UEFI+Legacy mode". Check with your mobo mfgr to make sure which mode is the most compatible with your particular OS.

If you are doing a clean Win7 install from and older Win7 build and have a >2TB HDD, you have to do the install w/o the drive connected, get the >2TB update, and then connect the drive. I've had Win7 CD's balk at doing an install with a GPT based HDD attached rather than an MBR based HDD there. Whereas Win8 wants a GPT drive for UEFI compatibility...

It's Windows. <shrugs>

mingv7v
Posts: 32
Joined: Thu Aug 13, 2015 1:08 pm
Location: Vancouver B.C

Re: Advice & Comments For New Build

Post by mingv7v » Tue Aug 18, 2015 4:03 pm

OK, thanks Steve.

I'm going to install W10 preview for the initial shakedown. Would have preferred W7 but the EOL is in less than 5 years and the hardware is going to last longer than that, so W10 is what I'm planning for unless I find it totally unstable.

I see affiliated links for amazon and newegg .COM, are there ones for .CA?

Thanks.

CA_Steve
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Re: Advice & Comments For New Build

Post by CA_Steve » Tue Aug 18, 2015 4:48 pm

Try replacing the .com TLD with .ca

mingv7v
Posts: 32
Joined: Thu Aug 13, 2015 1:08 pm
Location: Vancouver B.C

Re: Advice & Comments For New Build

Post by mingv7v » Tue Sep 15, 2015 12:59 pm

Thanks again for all the help. Have been testing the new build for a couple of weeks now, pretty happy with the results so far.

Loved the thick front and back aluminium panels of the FT05, but the assembly is pretty fiddly especially trying to connect anything that's on the front edge of the mobo, a removable mobo tray would have been great. Haven't even tried to put in the 2nd SSD because the cables seem to have taken up most of the space, will get one of those expansion slot removable drive rack for that. Would have been nice if Silverstone included a basic expansion slot drive mount kit.

Not that keen on the sleeved front panel wires, would probably have been OK if all the wires were sleeved into one, but with each pair individually sleeved they got bulky, also I would have preferred a longer cable and a molex connector for the power to the front logo LED.

With the 2 air penetrator fans, once I got them down to 430rpm they were quiet enough so I won't have to change them. Had the system transcoding video for a couple of hours and the core temps went from 23-25°C to 50-53°C, so CPU load shouldn't be a problem, and since I'm not going to play games with added graphics load, I think it's going to be OK.

CA_Steve
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Re: Advice & Comments For New Build

Post by CA_Steve » Tue Sep 15, 2015 2:12 pm

Congrats and enjoy your build.

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