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

[azasadny]

Thanks, Dave! I'm getting a Corsair 650D case this week and I'll be moving everything over and giving my case to a friend for his new PC that I'm building this week. My case will not properly hold the rear mounted 120mm fan and radiator for the CPU liquid cooling rig. I will clean up the cabling and really get things dialed in. I'll document the process...

LittleJay, I decided to get the Corsair 650D over the HAF932, but I like both cases. I just like the 650D a little more (grommets in the cable mgmt holes, drive racks are moveable, etc... I have a rear board-mounted eSATA port, so that front eSATA port isn't important to me. The Corsair 650D also has a mount on top to temporarily attach SATA hard drives and I do that all the time!!

 

[pparks1]

The Corsair 650D is a great choice. And it's shockingly large when you actually get it and start working inside of it.

 

[azasadny]

Thanks for that confirmation! I want a case that's large enough for me to crawl in while I'm working on it! I'm ALWAYS swapping things out and adding stuff, so a big case is a must. I put it on a wire rack in the basement, so it's off the floor and it gets adequate ventilation. Noise is not an issue because I've got a hearing deficit (military) and I play my music loud!

BTW, the sound chip on the Intel motherboard is fantastic! I gave it a good workout this weekend and it passed with flying colors!

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
Back on to the USB3 thing -- those USB slots on your Mobo are probably USB2 not USB3.
e-sata on at the rear is fine -- but I was thinking particularly if you want to have one or two portable devices - and the self powered passport usb3 one's are well worth it -- speed / portability and 2 TB size.

As the pci-e card is so cheap I'd insert a USB3 one as a matter of course - especially if you also have a tablet or laptop that has a usb3 port -- data transfer speed etc is really FAST -- ok e_sata is better (not by much) but how many laptops have an e_sata slot.

If you don't plan on having a laptop or other portable device that you want to connect to another machine -- fine your mobo will work just perfectly and looks very decent value for money.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[LittleJay]

The Corsair 650D looks like a great case Art! :thumb: I have an eSATA port on the back of my PC as well, but the way I have my computer set up, it isn't as easy to get at as the front port, so that is why I mentioned it earlier. Your new computer is going to be one "mean machine"! Makes me want to build a new one myself, but that just isn't in the cards for now.

 

[azasadny]

Thanks, guys! My motherboard has 2 USB3 ports on the rear and 2 USB3 ports on the front, but I don't have any USB3 devices yet. I find eSATA useful for copyng drive images, backing up user's hard drives, etc... My next thumb drive(s) will be USB3, so I can do "Windows to Go"... and run windows from the thumb drive.

 

[pparks1]

Hi there
Back on to the USB3 thing -- those USB slots on your Mobo are probably USB2 not USB3.

It's a new Intel DZ77GAL-70K. The Z77 boards have USB 3.

Looking at the specs of the board, show it has 4 USB 3.0 ports on the back of the mobo
Intel BOXDZ77GAL-70K ATX Intel Motherboard - Newegg.com

ok e_sata is better (not by much) but how many laptops have an e_sata slot.

Yeah, getting e-sata on a laptop is somewhat hard to find. My Dell E6400 laptop has e-sata...which makes me happy.

I use a combination esata-usb dock from Thermaltake
Thermaltake BlacX ST0005U External Hard Drive SATA Enclosure Docking Station 2.5” & 3.5” USB 2.0 & eSATA - Newegg.com

 

[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)

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.

Thank you Patrick for the input. The reviews of the on-board 4000 are pretty good. It is good that you can confirn that. I currently have a small ATI 2400 Pro in the box and that is certainly less powerful than the on-board 4000. My graphics requirements are very modest anyhow.

 

[azasadny]

From the Intel website... The DZ77GA-70K provides:

- Eight SuperSpeed USB 3.0 ports (4 external/4 header)
- Ten USB 2.0 ports (4 external (2 Hi-Current/Fast Charging) / 6 internal)
- Four Serial ATA 6.0 Gb/s ports, one eSATA 6.0 Gb/s
- Four Serial ATA 3.0 Gb/s ports
- Two IEEE 1394a ports/headers (1 external/1 header)

 

[azasadny]

My nVidia GT-430 with 1Gb of RAM just barely beat the on-chip GPU (HD 4000).The onboard GPU on the i7-3770(k) is very impressive and supports DirectX 11. I'll be running benchmarks next weekend, it time permits,...

 

[LittleJay]

Thanks for the heads up on the onboard GPU Art! Since I don't game, my next build won't even need a after market GPU and I can use the money to upgrade other components.

 

[whs]

From the Intel website... The DZ77GA-70K provides:

- Eight SuperSpeed USB 3.0 ports (4 external/4 header)
- Ten USB 2.0 ports (4 external (2 Hi-Current/Fast Charging) / 6 internal)
- Four Serial ATA 6.0 Gb/s ports, one eSATA 6.0 Gb/s
- Four Serial ATA 3.0 Gb/s ports
- Two IEEE 1394a ports/headers (1 external/1 header)

This is impressive. I would have to drill additional holes into my box, LOL.

 

[azasadny]

I am truly impressed with this board/CPU combo. The onboard audio is fantastic! I was watching a Jeff Beck Live at Ronnie Scott's video this weekend and it was unbelievable! The CPU was running at 1% utilization at 31 degrees C. I will test the onboard video this coming weekend. This past weekend, I built three PC's and played the drums at church, so I didn't have time... After I finish the case, I'll benchmark everything methodically and begin the overclocking process...

 

[azasadny]

The "mother of all boards"!!

The "mother of all boards"!! (Sorry, I couldn't resist the bad pun!)

 

[HippsieGypsie]

Clever pun. That is a nice board indeed. And look at all the ports! Too bad it gets mounted in a case where it can't be seen. Perhaps you could use a piece of pexiglass for a side panel and light up the inside of the case.

 

[pparks1]

Are the blue lights in the liquid cooler stock? And can they be shut off?

 

[whs]

The only thing that would make me hesitate are the user's feedback on Newegg. Those are not too exciting.

Intel BOXDZ77GA70K Intel Motherboard - Newegg.com

 

[pparks1]

Motherboards are so hit or miss from a review standpoint. I've always had good luck with Intel boards. As far as NewEgg reviews go, with motherboards I don't think I have ever purchased a board that got more than 3-4 stars...but yet unlike all of the issues others seem to have experienced my results have only been positive.

 

[azasadny]

The Intel lighted fan on the rear of the case (integrated into the water cooler) can be turned off. My new case will have a side window, but I'll only have the Intel light and get rid of the "blingy" lights, I did that for a joke! I've always had excellent results with Intel boards and so far, this board is the same! I'm going to MicroCenter tomorrow at lunch to buy all of the components to build my friend's PC and then I'll move my parts to the new case and install his stuff in my "old" case. I hope all goes well with the "organ transplant"!

 

[azasadny]

I only pay attention to the opinions of those I know and respect, not strangers on some online site. I've read great reviews of products that I can't stand and vice versa. Several people wrote on Amazon that the Intel cooler I just installed was horrible to install and I did it in less than 5 minutes and didn't have a single issue. These were IT folks, like me... Crazy...