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[Solved] P55 -i5 750 Build

Forum CPU & Components : CPUs - [Solved] P55 -i5 750 Build

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Best answer from andy5174.

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Hey all, newbie here. Been using a p4 cpu for the longest time, and I've decided it's time to buy a new pc. I am buying pre-built pc (from cyberpower) and would appreciate feedbacks. Here's the details:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

# CASE: AZZA Solano 1000 Full-Tower Advance Cooling Case w/ Dual 230mm Fan + Extra 3 Fans

# MOTHERBOARD: [CrossFireX/SLI] GigaByte GA-P55-UD4P Intel P55 Chipset DDR3 ATX Mainboard w/ 7.1 HD Audio, Dual GbLAN, USB2.0, SATA-II RAID, 2 Gen2 PCIe, 3 PCIe X1 & 2 PCI

# CPU: Intel® Core™ i5-750 2.66 GHz 8M L2 Cache LGA1156

# FAN: XtremeGear HP-1216X Five Heatpipes Direct Core Contact Copper Heatsink CPU Cooling Fan (Extreme Silent at 20dBA & Overclock Proof) (Extreme Silent at 20dBA & Overclock Proof)(Venom Boost Extreme OC Certified)

# HDD: Extreme Performance (RAID-0) with 2 Identical Hard Drives (1TB (500GBx2) SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD)

# VIDEO: NVIDIA GeForce GTX260 CORE 216 896MB 16X PCI Express (EVGA Powered by NVIDIA)

# MEMORY: 4GB (2GBx2) DDR3/1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Module (Kingston HyperX (All Venom OC Levels Certified)

# POWERSUPPLY: 850 Watts Power Supplies [+3] (Thermaltake TR2 RX-850 PSU (850w modular 80+))

# WNC: Zonet ZEW1642 IEEE 802.11b/g/n Draft 2.0 PCI Wireless Adapter Network Card

# CD: LG 22X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Dual Layer Drive (BLACK COLOR)

# NETWORK: Onboard Gigabit LAN Network

# OS: Microsoft® Windows® 7 Home Premium (64-bit Edition)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I do not have experience in assembling a pc, so I'm hesitant to do it myself.

I have 0 knowledge about overclocking, but would love to learn and overclock this after my warranty expires. I've heard that the i5 can be overclocked up to 3.8 (or was it 4ghz). I'm not aiming for that much of an increase, but looking towards about 3.2 to 3.5ghz.

I consider myself a casual to mid level gamer. I may or may not SLI/crossfire in the future. It will depend on what vidcards are available. Would love to be able to play all games.

I have no problem buying extra ram in the future and sticking it in there. Same goes with vid card.

Will be buying a new monitor that's 1920x1080 resolution. (lower than the current best of 25xx X xxxx resolution, so hopefully easier to get good fps)
Aside from gaming, will mostly use photoshop, lightroom (maybe), and autocad. I love multitasking too. I usually have multiple tabs in firefox open, YM and skype open at the same time, with Avast anti virus monitoring in the background.

Thanks in advance!

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PSU: 750W PSU is much more than what you need with your current configuration. Get Corsair HX620!

HDD: WD Black 640GB or Seagate 7200.12 500GB

Cooler: Hyper 212 plus(a member at TOM reaches 4.5GHz with this extremely cheap cooler)

Case: Cooler Master CM690 or Cooler Master HAF922

GFX: XFX HD5770(It is better than GTX260 in price, power efficiency and performance.) or wait for HD5830 release which I prefer.
(p.s. XFX offers double life-time warranty in the US)

It doesnt look as that CPU cooler is socket 1156 ready: XtremeGear HP-1216X
It also looks like a budget part. Did you find any reviews that say its a good cooler? Im very suspicious of that 'Extreme Silent at 20dBA & Overclock Proof' claim. And I have no idea what this means: 'Venom Boost Extreme OC Certified'

That case is a budget full tower but if you like it it's good enough. Azza Solano 1000 Case Review

I could not find any independent reviews of that Thermaltake TR2 RX-850 PSU. Sales price of $110 if sold seperately. It's got 2x 6pin and 1x 8pin PCI-e adapters and 60A +12V.
I've seen excellent 650W PSUs with 2x 6pin and 2x 8pin PCI-e adapters with 54A +12V.
Here is a 750W PSU Antec TruePower New TP-750 750W with 2x 6pin and 2x 8pin PCI-e adapters with 62A +12V and only $95 after rebate. It got reviews like this one @ Jonny Guru

Reply to WR2

Oh, to clarify the "venom boost overclock certify"

Venom boost - cyberpower (the store's) fancy term for their overclock service. Basically they will overclock the cpu for you, so you don't void your warranty.

Here's where I'm buying it https://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system [...] _SE/detail

Again, reminder, I'm buying it prebuilt, so I'm pretty much limited to what they carry.

Message quoted 1 times
Message edited by sky03 on 10-22-2009 at 06:34:41 AM

Reply to sky03

It is very easy, so build it yourself for better configuration with cheaper price!

I built my first PC on my own by just looking at the manual without having to ask others for help, so you should be fine with yourself as well.

Mounting the PWR SW, PWR Led, HDD Led and Reset SW connectors of case can be a pain though, due to them being small and too close to one another.
I have no idea about the Gigabyte m/b. However, it should be easy if you are with ASUS as they provide the Q-connector for easy case connector mounting.

Furthermore, don't ever think about OCing with your first build prior to comprehending the following stickies.
1. HOWTO: Overclock C2Q (Quads) and C2D (Duals) - Guide v1.6.1
2. Core i7 Overclocking Guide

p.s.
1. OC process of i5 is the same as i7.
2. Some knowledge taught in "HOWTO: Overclock C2Q (Quads) and C2D (Duals) - Guide v1.6.1" is omitted in "Core i7 Overclocking Guide" and therefore DO read it first.
3. Do download CPU-Z, Hardware Monitor and Real Temp for stability monitoring.
4. Do download the Prime95 for stability test. AND, read the "readme.txt" provided in the folder downloaded prior to program setup!

Good luck!

Reply to andy5174

CPU-Z

HWMonitor

Reply to andy5174

Is there a guide to assembling your own pc? I'm more concerned about after the assembly, like the first time starting the computer. Do i have to do set ups and stuff before installing windows. How do i do raid0?

EDIT: Did a quick check on newegg, and I saw a part called "raid controller". I assume I stick this in the mobo, then from there I connect my hdds. Wow, these things are expensive. $400

Message edited by sky03 on 10-22-2009 at 07:25:21 AM

Reply to sky03

Quote :

Is there a guide to assembling your own pc?

Yes. Manual

Quote :

Do i have to do set ups and stuff before installing windows

????? What do you mean?

Quote :

How do i do raid0?

Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks (RAID)
AC&NC on RAID

Reply to andy5174

I meant, after physically assembling the computer, I go straight to installing windows?

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to sky03

sky03 wrote :

I meant, after physically assembling the computer, I go straight to installing windows?

Although the m/b will ask you to setup the BIOS in your first boot, you can just use the default setting.

However, it is better to set components' voltages manually if you are doing some extreme OCing. Furthermore, be sure to get a decent CPU cooler, such as, Prolimatech Mega Shadow and Scythe Mugen II.

Reply to andy5174

Ok, I need a bit of help here. I went to Newegg and shopped for parts that I know is needed for a computer (I'm a noob so I'm sure I missed something).

What I'm trying to do is see if buying parts separately from newegg will be that much cheaper than buying it prebuilt. So far here's what I have:

*LITE-ON CD/DVD Burner - Bulk Black SATA Model iHAS124-04 - OEM

*EVGA 896-P3-1257-AR GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 Superclocked Edition 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card

* (2x) G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL7D-4GBRH

*GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD4P LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard

*Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor

*Antec TruePower New TP-750 750W Continuous Power

*Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders

So what else am I missing? Case, heatsink, raid controller, hdd. Anything else? So far above already costs about $800. The prebuilt system I initially posted costs 1.2k. They both have the same mobo and cpu, but this one has a slightly better vidcard and double the amount of ram.

Reply to sky03

Best answer

Reply to andy5174

550W is enough if you are not considering SLI or CF in the future.

Reply to andy5174

Interesting. Am on mobile now, will look it up tomOrrow and see how much all those cost.

I want to go raid0 though, so i'll have to buy 2x of the hdd. Any recommendation for a raid controller?

(i know i can read up about all these parts, but it'll take me weeks just to read up reviews on different models of each parts)

Reply to sky03

I may go sli/crossfire. It will all depend on what vid cards are available. Just wanna be ready for it.

Also, i prefer a mid tower, but i am under the impression that full towers offer more flexibility and generally better for airflow and stuff.

Message edited by sky03 on 10-22-2009 at 08:31:46 AM

Reply to sky03

The latest gfx are very power efficient. For example, 2x HD5870 CF only need 600W. Hence, I suggested HX620 which is actually a 750W 80+ PSU.
HX620 Overload

2x WD Black 640GB or 2x Seagate 7200.12 500GB for raid. BTW, do you know that you will lose everything with raid0 if one of the HDDs fail? I would recommend you to get an additional WD Green 1TB/2TB for backup purpose.

Message edited by andy5174 on 10-22-2009 at 08:36:45 AM

Reply to andy5174

Yup i am aware of the hdd crash with raid0. i did forget about the back up drive though. I'm pretty sure external hdds are cheap nowadays.

So with raid, is a controller a must? Or if my mobo supports raid, that means it has a built in controller?

Reply to sky03

Quote :

from http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/43125-32-raid

7. How do I setup/partition a level 0 RAID array, and install my OS on it?
The easy way:

1) Attach the drives to the RAID controller. Each drive should be master on its own channel (separate cable) for maximum performance.
2) Enter the RAID controller bios (usually you press CTRL+H after powering on the PC). Setup the RAID0 array with your preferred stripesize. The exact way of doing this depends on the controller. Note: Some controllers (e.g. the Promise-lite) does not allow you to change the stripesize.
3) Make sure you have a floppy with the RAID drivers. Boot from the OS installation CD, and when prompted press 'F6' to install third party RAID or SCSI drivers. Insert the floppy.
4) Using the installation program partition and format the drive.
5) Proceed with installing the OS on the boot partition.

The problem with the above method is that you can not specify the wanted clustersize when formatting (For NTFS the default clustersize is 4kB). If you choose to use NTFS it is not possible to change the clustersize without reformatting the drive. For FAT32, the clustersize can be changed at a later time with programs like Partition Magic.
Update: Partition Magic V8.0 is able to change the clustersize of an NTFS partition. I haven't tested this yet, but I expect it to be a slow procedure. So if you wan't to test different clustersizes, the method below should be used.

If you want to use NTFS, or do some benchmarks with different stripe and clustersize combinations the recommended method requires a third temporary drive:

1) Attach the drives to the RAID controller. Each drive should be master on its own channel (separate cable) for maximum performance.
2) Attach the temporary drive to the normal IDE controller.
3) Enter the RAID controller bios. Setup the RAID0 array with your preferred stripesize.
4) Install the OS on the temporary drive.
5) Boot on the temporary drive. When the OS is up and running, install the RAID drivers.
6) Partition and format the RAID array with the preferred clustersize. In Windows XP, Disk Management provides the means to partition drives and formatting with a custom clustersize.
7) Optionally perform benchmarks on the array. Reformat the drive with a different clustersize or rebuild the array with a different stripesize. When the array is partitioned and formatted, the temporary drive can be removed.
8) Make sure you have a floppy with the RAID drivers. Boot from the OS installation CD, and when prompted press 'F6' to install third party RAID or SCSI drivers. Insert the floppy.
9) Install the OS on the boot partition of the RAID array. Make sure you do not format the array during installation, since this will reset the clustersize to the default value

Reply to andy5174

Didn't understand much of it, but 1 thing sticks out.. I need a floppy drive.

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to sky03

sky03 wrote :

Didn't understand much of it, but 1 thing sticks out.. I need a floppy drive.

http://www.giga-byte.com/Products/ [...] A-P55-UD4P

You don't need a Raid Controller!(I was thinking why the hell would you need a raid controller. Even my 4-year-old P4 m/b support raid.)

Reply to andy5174

Oh. So if mobo supports raid, that's it. both hdd connects to it, then it raids.

Reply to sky03

you have to tell the motherboard you want to use the SATA ports in RAID mode, and then set up the RAID yourself, but it's not difficult to do.

Reply to LePhuronn

How do you typically go about telling the motherboard to raid the hdd? Is it a physical switch? Or upon initial boot up?

Reply to sky03

It's a BIOS option similiar to this:

Reply to WR2

sky03 wrote :

Venom boost - cyberpower (the store's) fancy term for their overclock service. Basically they will overclock the cpu for you, so you don't void your warranty.

You don't void your warranty. The store does that for you?

edit;
OK; I see you get a 1yr parts warranty from Cyberpower. If you buy a retail box CPU from NewEgg you'd have a 3yr warranty but overclocking does void the warranty. Not that you should let that overly worry you.

Message edited by WR2 on 10-22-2009 at 05:13:02 PM

Reply to WR2

Yup. They overclock it before they send it to you, so you still have their 1 yr warranty. But of course, they won't OC it a lot. Max is around +30% and they charge 100 for that (you can also choose 10 or 20% for less cost). Makes sense though, since more OC=higher chance of failure =more cost for insurance

Message edited by sky03 on 10-22-2009 at 05:21:15 PM

Reply to sky03

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