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

[azasadny]

I moved my components into the Corsair 650D last night and built my friend's new i3-3220-based system in my "old" Diablotek Abyss case. I'll post pics later today and then post the baseline benchmarks I ran last night so you guys can see where I am now. I'm very, very happy with the results I got!

 

[azasadny]

Old versus new case...

My DiabloTek Abyss case was given to a friend and I moved my components to a new Corsair 650D and the new case is fantastic! What a difference! Tonight, I'll get temps for my baseline prior to overclocking. The 2 x200mm fans are so quiet that I cannot hear them The Intel liquid cooling fan for the rear mounted radiator is whisper quiet, too. The blue LED on the Intel fan and waterblock are not nearly as obnoxious as my poor pics make them look...

 

[azasadny]

Last night, pt. 2 (swapping computer cases)

Last night, pt. 2 (swapping computer cases)

 

[azasadny]

Pt 3, swapping computer cases...

Pt 3, swapping computer cases...

 

[azasadny]

My old and new WEI scores (Win 7)

My old and new WEI scores (Win 7)

Component old (Q6600 and GT430) new (i7-3770k and AMD 7770)
1. CPU 7.1 7.7
2. RAM 5.9 7.8
3. Graphics 6.7 7.5
4. Gaming Graphics 6.7 7.5
5. Disk 5.9 (SSD in SATA II) 7.8 (SSD in SATA III)

 

[azasadny]

My comparison chart didn't turn out very good, but the results sure did! I just ordered a USB3 header panel to connect to the two USB3 ports on the motherboard to give me 4 more USB3 ports, as if I need more! I'm trying to get my Bluetooth adapter connected without giving me "a usb device has exceeded the voltage for it and needs to reset" message that I'm getting. The blue LEDs on the rear fan and watercool block are not bad at all and the LED can be shut off, but I like it and it doesn't prevent me from easily seeing the status lights and POST codes on the motherboard. The Corsair case was a delight to install into, compared to the "bargain basement" craptastic cases I usually use. From now on, I will use quality cases and skip the "Harbor Freight quality" cases that I used to buy because they were cheap! Air flow is excellent and the fans do not produce any noise, which is nice!

 

[whs]

The boxes look very nice. I like the plumbing.

 

[azasadny]

Wolfgang,

Thank you! It's amazing how something as mundane as a computer case can really make the difference! I used to think all cases were the same, but no more! Sometimes , you really do get what you pay for! Of course, the case costs $160 (after $20 rebate), so you do expect more from a product that costs more and in this case, I really got my money's worth!

 

[pparks1]

Wolfgang,

Thank you! It's amazing how something as mundane as a computer case can really make the difference! I used to think all cases were the same, but no more! Sometimes , you really do get what you pay for! Of course, the case costs $160 (after $20 rebate), so you do expect more from a product that costs more and in this case, I really got my money's worth!

I used to feel the same way until I used a nice case. Now I don't settle for cheap cases. The cheapest case I use is an Antec 300 and it's fine for most needs. But I've use the Antec Sonata II's for builds at home and my current case is an Antec P182.

 

[azasadny]

I like the Antec cases I've seen. This particular Corsair has the SATA drive caddy at the top and I'm always hooking up drives to retrieve data, etc... so that's really convenient. The eSATA and USB3 ports are nice, too. The 200mm fans are silent and airflow is excellent. Cable mgmt is very important to me and there's more than 1 in behind the motherboard to hide the mess of cables... You have 100% access to the CPU cooler mount, so you can change CPU coolers without removing the board from the case and I like that, too.

 

[pparks1]

Yeah, my coworker built in a Corsair 600T and it was a very nice case to work with. He brought it into work during it's construction so that we could all check it out.

I love having room for cable management, but I don't need or want huge cases anymore. So, I try to find the smallest form factor case, but with good cable management options and quiet fans.

 

[whs]

I would not mind using a different case for my conversion project. But for me it is not very practicaql because

a) I really like the looks of the Dell case,
b) I have very little room on my desk and a bigger case would not fit. And there is no room under the desk either,
c) Because of my poor eyesight and the arthritis in my hands a have to have a local computer shop do the work. I do not want to generate unneccessary work for them having to rip out everything from the Dell box and installing it into a new box. I really only want to change the board and the CPU and replace my old OCZ Vertex with the new OCZ Vector.

 

[azasadny]

Wolfgang, I understand completely, I reuse older Dell cases all the time, but I really needed more room and ease of access since I'm constantly changing things around, adding, swapping, etc... I usually don't keep the side panel on the PC, but the new case has two nice lever to lift and easily remove and replace the side panel, so that's perfect for me...

 

[Dave76]

Nice work, the new case looks easy to work on, congrats.

 

[azasadny]

Thanks! I really like the case!!

 

[azasadny]

Overclocked the 3.5Ghz CPU to 4.4Ghz and temps went up by 5 degrees and all is stable!

 

[azasadny]

My Radeon 7770 video card didn't like any overclocking at all, so I replaced it with an nVidia GTX650, which is running happily at 4.4GHz, versus the stock speed of 3.5GHz. The viedo tests all failed and the error messages all said "No DirectX support detected". After I uninstalled the Radeon drivers and replaced the card and installed the 310.90 drivers for the nVidia card, all is fine!

 

[Dave76]

What brand of HD 7770 did you have?

I just got a Sapphire HD 7770 Vapor-X, which is factory OC'ed and easily went higher, I was happy with the OC and didn't even get to bump the voltage.

 

[azasadny]

Dave, This 7770 is the MSI "overclocked" version. It has dual fans and a 6 pin power connection. The video card would lose it's DirectX features when I overclocked the PC and after going back to default CPU values in the BIOS, the card wouldn't work properly until I reinstalled the drivers and software. This leads me to believe that this is a software issue but I'm taking the card back to MicroCenter today for a refund as I'm using a GeForcs card in its place and the nVidia card has no problem running at 4.4Ghz (overclocked from the 3.5 stock speed). With the 7770 card, I couldn't run any benchmark programs because they would all report the same "halted due to no DirectX support" with that video card. Very strange...

 

[azasadny]

I just returned the 7770 card at the MicroCenter in Madison Heights, MI and there was no problem as I had everything in the box and the receipt. I'll be putting a GTX-660 in my PC tonight, so we'll see how that goes...