Corsair 500R, ASUS, Intel i5 build

[OVERKILL]

A buddy of mine got a hold of me last week asking me if I could build him a new system.

Ended up with:

-Corsair 500R case
-Corsair TX750 PSU
-Corsair H80 Water cooling kit
-16GB (4x4GB) Corsair XMS3 RAM
-ASUS P8P67 Motherboard
-ASUS DVD-RW
-ASUS Radeon HD6950 Video Card
-Patriot Torqx2 128GB SSD
-Intel Core i5 2400 CPU
-Philips 27" Monitor

"On the bench" getting loaded:

 

[4D-56]

Nice build!...really like the case, looks like great build quality...same RAM as mine, how does the i5 compare to my Phenom II 945??

 

[OVERKILL]

In 3DMark Vantage, according to Tom's:

i5 2400: 15568
AMD 945: 13011

Memory bandwidth (Sandra):

i5 2400: 18
AMD 945: 13.58

PCMark Vantage:

i5 2400: 10228
AMD 945: 8010

So a pretty significant difference.

 

[4D-56]

wow!....this technology moves on so fast! thanks.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Neat looking machine!

 

[Rand]

Nice machine I came really close to pulling the trigger on a i5-2500k build they had em for 149$ at microcenter.

I build a cad station and it oc to 4ghz with one try and rock solid.. stock voltage.

 

[4D-56]

[censored]!....just watched a vid on Newegg TV about that case....i LOVE the design, very smart, flexible and great quality...makes my Ultra case look poor!...
I enjoy seeing such smart design. good choice.

 

[buickman50401]

I've got to ask, why the watercooling rig? Are you planning on overclocking the snot out of it? If not...????

 

[Nick R]

Originally Posted By: buickman50401
I've got to ask, why the watercooling rig? Are you planning on overclocking the snot out of it? If not...????


Much quieter under load (no fans to ramp up really), keeps the CPU much cooler, and keeps the rest of the case cooler, by exhausting the heat directly outside the case.

 

[greenaccord02]

That's quite the box - and very beautifully executed!

 

[CBR.worm]

I've got the P8P67 pro motherboard in one machine, a P8P67-M in another one and a P8H67-I in another. I am building one tomorrow with a P8Z68 deluxe. They all have some variety of ASUS ATI video cards and either Corsair or Seasonic power supplies.


I have had good luck with the ASUS stuff, been using them pretty consistently since the P5 series.

I have also had great luck with Corsair memory and power supplies.

That looks like a nice case, good wire management.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: buickman50401
I've got to ask, why the watercooling rig? Are you planning on overclocking the snot out of it? If not...????


Yes. It will be overclocked once it has a few hours on it.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: greenaccord02
That's quite the box - and very beautifully executed!


Thank you. This case makes proper cable management a breeze, I like the clean look you can achieve with it without having to add your own holes.

 

[Rand]

Thats the one with the locked multiplier though? I thought only K series were overclockable more than some small amount (like 400mhz)

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: Rand
Thats the one with the locked multiplier though? I thought only K series were overclockable more than some small amount (like 400mhz)


Yes, it is limited to 3.99Ghz.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2011/01/03/intel-sandy-bridge-review/14

The water cooling is a bit of overkill for that small of an overclock, but it was inexpensive and if he decides to upgrade the CPU later to one that is overclock-friendly, he'll have plenty of cooling headroom.

He's never done overclock before however, so I don't know how interested he'll be in doing that. This was part of the reason for the CPU choice to begin with. It was inexpensive and didn't have to be an overclocking monster.