ocelot11

Hello Everyone!

Overview
This will be my first build log. I am upgrading the core components of my computer and thought it would be fun to document what's going on. I want to get a big performance boost on a budget while keeping some components which don't need an upgrade right away. After this computers life is done, I am going to build a completely new system... hopefully I am settled with a nice job by then... That's why I have decided to not go for an SLI system as well, this is meant to be a large upgrade, when I get the whole new system, I'll spring for an SLI or Crossfire setup.

I am upgrading from an Athlon 2800+ socket 754(gross...) based system with 1gb of DDR400 ram and an AGP XFX 6600gt to:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6420
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3
2x 1GB Wintec AmpX DDR2-800 Ram
MSI 8800gts OC Edition

As far as components I already have:

A case with good fans, and room for more.
Sony DVD/CDRW combo drive
Floppy Drive (uneeded for Vista install I guess, but keep to be safe)
550w PSU with 6 pin PCI-E connectors
I have a Creative Audigy SB 2 Value as well, but I am going to use my new mobos onboard (I'm not a big stickler for audio)
Free Vista 64-Bit license (Thank you school!)

I am going to break my build down into 4 phases, which will be as follows:

Phase 1: Ordering
Ordering parts obviously

Phase 2: Preperation
This will include removing all old parts and giving my case a major clean.

Phase 3: Hardware/Software Install
Putting the darn thing together and making it operational.

Phase 4: Overclocking
Self-explanitory (well so were the other 3 steps i guess lol)

Phase 1 Progress:

Well, as of now I have 2 pieces already here and ready to rock! Well... when the rest of the required equipment arrives that is... Anyways I have recieved these items so far:

Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3
2x 1GB Wintec AmpX DDR2-800

Tomorrow I will be ordering my processor (Intel Core 2 Duo E6420) and maybe the HSF and a fan I plan on buying. I am only using 1 of my 4 5.25 bays, so I am going to drop a 120mm fan in that open space for some more intake. Also I am going to order up a Thermaltake Big Typhoon for my cpu cooling.

I am also thinking about ordering the video card on Wednesday so I can get this project moving asap.

Anyways that's all for now, I'll update as things progress.

BTW, I'll get pictures up as soon as I can.

Cheers!

Rick Arter

nice mobo that will run great with the core 2 duo

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ocelot11

Hey e'ryone! I'm back finally with an update on my progress.

All my parts arrived today as seen here:



Which puts me into Phase 2 of my project! Yay! Building is my favorite part of a new computer. First i'll show you what the insides looked like with the old parts:


After I took all the old stuff out, I removed my processor from the mobo, and it was stuck to the heatsink fairly well:


After I removed all the old parts, I cleaned out the case and blew as much dust out of there as possible. The case fans are as clean as they have been since I got it. After i got the case prepped it was time to start putting the stuff together, Phase 3 time!

Here's the mobo (Gigabyte 965P-DS3) with the RAM and cpu/hsf slapped on:


I know I mentioned I was going to get an aftermarket cooler for my cpu, but I had to care of some other things so that will come later. I figure this way I can do a review for whatever cooler I end up getting.

I got the motherboard in place and screwed down, now it was time to put in the graphics card, which is seen here: (Kinda dark)


And then after everything was in place, heres how the inside looks with the new parts:


Now everything is together and I have Vista 64 installed and am about to start phase 4 (OC'ing) but that will have to wait till another time, I am quite sleepy.

A couple notes though, my rig is a lot quiter without the noisy northbridge and OTES fans from my old mobo. Also according to Speed Fan, which I don't know whether to deem accurate, the cpu is idling around 36 C with ambient of 40 C, so it's about 5 C cooler than my old cpu.

Oh and also, a stock run of 3dmark06 got me 8525 which mops the floor with my old high of 484 LOL

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ocelot11

Well, I did my first pass of OCing on the processor and am sitting at 3.2GHz now (stock volts). I'm not going to go any further until I get a better cooling solution. Speed Fan shows the cores idling at around 40-42 C and loading in the mid to high 50's. Anyways heres a link to the verification.

With the processor oc'd my Vista performance rating went from 5.0, with the processor being the bottleneck, to 5.7 with the memory being the bottle neck:

Which is great compared to the 3.3 rating my old rig had.

After oc'ing the processor i saw a 1000 point increase in my 3dmark06 score. With stock cpu speed I got 8525 3dmarks and with the cpu at 3200MHz i got 9583 3dmarks:


I'm going to OC the gpu more past the stock OC it came at and go for 10k in 3dMark06, but that will have to wait for a bit.

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ocelot11

Well, didn't take long but I broke 10k in 3dMark06 (just barely though):


OC'd the GPU to 615MHz and video mem to 1790MHz. While running 3dmark I logged RivaTuner hardware info. I reviewed the core temp and saw it peaked at 81 C for about a half a second, and was at 80 C for around 3 seconds and thats the highest the temps got during the entire bench.

Now that I have reached my goals (3200MHz oc on E6420 stock cool, and 10k in 3dmark06) I think its time to enjoy my new rig and play some games. When I upgrade some cooling in my system then I'll maybe go for more.

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shellofinsanity

nice work, whats happening with your old setup?

ocelot11

For now the stuff is just sitting around, if I buy some new hard drives I might put linux on it and use it as a server of some kind.

In other news I got over 11,000 in 3dmark06! This was done with my processor oc'd to 3200MHz and my video card oc'd to 660MHz core and 2090MHz memory. I think this as high as I am going to go with anything until my cooling improves. But I am definitely satisfied with it! Anyway heres the pic:


As you can see, i opened the RivaTuner log I had running while I ran 3dmark, and the GPU peaked at 72 C for only a short period of time, averaging around 68 C. Also the CPU peaked at 54 C during the CPU tests.

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pheonixsingh

nice work!

Coma

Nice.

I'm getting an E6420 later today too (hopefully everything will be in stock) and I'm planning to start overclocking tomorrow, so I have a few questions..

What's your CPU idling/loading (from one of the stress tests please, like Orthos) at, what's the ambient and the stepping?

Thanks

edit: Er, I just realized this is quite a bump.. sorry. But, if you can still answer these questions (with the 3.2GHz OC), that'd be great