Documenting my new PC (re)build... From Q6600 to i7-3770k

[jimbo45]

Hardware list:

1. Intel DZ77GAL-70K motherboard
2. Intel i7-3770k CPU
3. G. Skill 32GB DDR3 RAM
4. Intel liquid cooler for CPU
5. Intel 120GB SSD (boot)
6. 2TB Western Digital Caviar Black hard drive (data)
7. GeForce 650 GTX video card
8. ThermalTake 750 watt modular power supply
9. LG DVD/RW drive
10 Diablotek Abyss mid-tower case
11. Several 120mm case fans (front, bottom and rear of case)

My goal is to build a nice, reliable daily PC that is not used for games. I'll be running Win7 until I get more comfortable with Win8. I have Win8 running on another PC that I use for testing, so I don't need to run Win8 on this PC yet. I will move my existing SSD to this new motherboard and it will go from SATA II (current Intel DG43GT motherboard) to SATA III on the new Intel DZ77GAL-70K motherboard.

I'll post "before and after" pics as well as baseline performance tests, to include temps, power used, etc...

Hi there
Might seem trivial but I noticed possibly a very useful piece of kit MISSING on that Mobo

Does it have any onboard USB3 slots (note not USB 2 but USB3 slots). If it doesn't have I'd get a USB 3 card (usually goes in the Pci-e slot and comes with two USB3 ports and is very cheap).

If you use external drives the new passport USB3 one's are around 10X faster than USB 2 -- I've a few of the small self powered passport type USB 3 2TB drives -- excellent for portability between machines -- they will work on USB 2 as well.

You also might find that you really don't need a DVD writer any more -- especially if you install W8 as Windows 8 can mount .ISO files directly. Save the slot there and mount more Disks --you can NEVER have too much HDD space. I've got 8 physical HDD's on my File server !!.

I have an old external USB DVD drive for the very rare times I need a physical DVD -- using a program like AnyDVD I always convert a physical DVD to an ISO anyway. All my Film DVD's are now stored as .ISO's on external disk drives -- and with AnyDVD are de-regionalized. When I want to play them W8 mounts the .ISO and will treat it as an Identical hardware DVD -- Menus and everything - identical to the original except de-regionalized.

For your SSD boot device -- these are so light and small you don't even need to physically bolt to the case if you can find a space to just put the SSD into. These are solid state with no moving parts so there's no vibration etc so they don't really need to be bolted to the case --saves you more space.


Cheers
jimbo

 

[azasadny]

Jimbo, Thank you for your feedback and advice! Yes, the board has 4 USB3 ports on the rear and 2 more on the board, connected to the front panel via headers. The board has a rear eSATA, which I find very useful! I still use DVDs a lot to burn multimedia disks for family members and I have many archives on DVD's, but I also have a USB DVD drive for those times when I need it. I'm getting a bigger case this week , possibly the CoolerMaster HAF 932 as my Intel liquid cooling radiator doesn't quite fit on the rear 120mm opening, it prevents me from closing the case. This DiabloTek Abyss case is horrible for my use but I have a friend who would love it, so I'll be swapping cases and cleaning things up nicely this week....

 

[HippsieGypsie]

Sorry to read of your case problem, Art. That puts a damper on your weekend project. However, I do know a few architects that will draw it in your plan for you, so it should fit then!

 

[azasadny]

Tony, Thanks! I "made it fit" AKA "Polish engineering", but I'm not at all happy with my case and it will fit my friend's needs and budget ($0) perfectly. He'll get my old (<4 months old) case and I'll get the full tower CoolerMaster HAF 932 case, which will be perfect for me, so it's a win-win. The overall install was almost perfect and it fired up the 1st time and I am running the default settings right now. The CPU is running at 90 degrees and I'll benchmark it and start my overclocking adventure when I get it nice and settled in it's new case... More pics to come!

 

[pparks1]

Jimbo, Thank you for your feedback and advice! Yes, the board has 4 USB ports on the rear and 2 more on the board, connected to the front panel via headers. The board has a rear eSATA, which I find very useful! I still use DVDs a lot to burn multimedia disks for family members and I have many archives on DVD's, but I also have a USB DVD drive for those times when I need it. I'm getting a bigger case this week , possibly the CoolerMaster HAF 932 as my Intel liquid cooling radiator doesn't quite fit on the rear 120mm opening, it prevents me from closing the case. This DiabloTek Abyss case is horrible for my use but I have a friend who would love it, so I'll be swapping cases and cleaning things up nicely this week....

Esata is what I use and I prefer it over usb3. It's faster.

Sorry to hear about your case, that's one of the reason I don't use the big coolers or the liquid cooled setups..I don't want to be forced into a very large case. I just have to ensure that my video card fits.

 

[azasadny]

Pt 5...

Pt. 5...

 

[azasadny]

Yeah, I could make the radiator fit, like I'm doing now... but the case has other issues (no cable mgmt, no top fans, etc...) and I really need more space as the case is in the basement with no restrictions... I went cheap with my case and I learned a very valuable lesson.... The case is important, don't go cheap!!

 

[whs]

Interesting thread.

I was just thinking of upgrading my Dell Inspiron 530 which also has a Q6600 with a new Ivy Bridge board (BIOS not UEFI), i7, good CPU cooler and 12GB of RAM. Not sure whether I also have to replace the 300W PSU. Although I have a small GPU, I will probably go with the on-board. My graphics requirement are office only - no games. I already have a 128GB OCZ Vector to replace my older OCZ Vertex.

Question - why do you install 32GBs of RAM - for RAMdisk ?? .

 

[azasadny]

I mistyped my RAM amount, I have 16GB, not 32GB, although the board will hold 32GB. Your 300w power supply will work because the i7 takes 77 watts and the PCIe slot provides 75w without needing an additional power plug for the video card. I use 750w power supplies (with discrete video cards) and 550w for motherboards with video onboard. I can strongly recommend the Intel DZGA77-70K and the i7-3770k as they work very well together!

 

[whs]

The i7 K-model is for overclocking which I do not plan. Is there not an equivalent cheaper non-K model.

 

[azasadny]

Yes, the i7-3770 (minus the "k" is the same CPU, just not "unlocked"). After building many, many PC's with ASUS, Gigabyte, FIC, FoxConn, MSI, etc..., the BEST motherboards I've ever worked with are the Intel boards. When I say "best", I mean that they are easy to setup, and are rock-solid dependable... That's been my experience...

 

[whs]

Thanks Art for the inputs. I now have to check prices and sizes. The components have to fit into my Dell box.

Btw: was there a typo in the Intel board number you gave earlier. I could not find it.

 

[JoBo]

I built my i7 last week.

I built my new i7 last week using the Asus P8Z77-V also with i7-3770k cpu with 16mb DDR3 ram with a Samsung 840 240gb SDD with win8 using the onboard video.

It runs 42 seconds on the reboot test

 

[whs]

It runs 42 seconds on the reboot test

That is not bad, but not too fast either. For my old Dell with an M4 I got this:



It might be your BIOS/UEFI that is holding things up.

 

[HippsieGypsie]

Hello, JoBo. Welcome to Eight Forums.

Nice rig. That is quick.

You may want to post your boot time here: http://www.eightforums.com/chillout-room/13507-post-your-boot-time.html

 

[azasadny]

The confusing thing about the Intel DZ77GAL-70K is that it's exactly the same board as the Intel DZ77GA-70K, but without the WIFI and Bluetooth kit, the boards are exactly the same, same BIOS, drivers, etc.. It's just marketed as a different package because of the add-ons, so look up the DZ77GA-70K, and drop the "L". Sorry for the confusion! My board has "DZ77GA-70K" on the board, if you check the pictures out. One of the reasons I selected this board is that the onboard audio is better (for me) than the similar ASUS or Gigabyte boards....

 

[whs]

That worked, thanks.

 

[LittleJay]

I think you are going to love the Haf 932 Art. I have the Haf X myself and really like it. I see that the 932 has the same port arrangement on the front of the case as my Haf X. So you will have another eSATA port available. I have the front eSATA port plugged into a SATA 3.0 port on the MB with hot swap turned on so it functions just like the built in eSATA port on the back. I find myself using eSATA more than the 2 USB 3.0 ports up front, because I also think eSATA is faster than USB 3.0. It also allows me to externally boot Linux distros I have on HDD's that are not installed in the case. Also, you will have lots of room to spare, so if you need to park your car somewhere the Haf 932 might hold that as well as all your other hardware.


PS I like your build a lot!

 

[Dave76]

Very nice build azasadny, pictures look great, well done.

 

[pparks1]

Interesting thread.

I was just thinking of upgrading my Dell Inspiron 530 which also has a Q6600 with a new Ivy Bridge board (BIOS not UEFI)

WHS, I built a desktop for work that runs on an Asus P8Z77-V LK and a core i7-3770 (I went with the non K version because that is what supports vt-d). My board has an UEFI bios and this has caused me no problems at all. I've run Windows 7 on the box, Windows 8, Server 2008R2, Server 2012, VMWare ESXi 5.1, and various flavors of Linux. Everything has been completely fine.

I am running the onboard video at work from the Core i7 and am totally happy with it. My WEI score under Windows 7 is 6.6 with this onboard video. Figured I would let you know so that you could use it as a reference. As a comparison, I have another desktop at work running an Evga 8600GT video card and it scores a 5.9 in graphics and 6.4 for gaming graphics. So, the onboard video is running better than this.