Finished First Build: Sandy Bridge

[ArcSec]

I just want to post on this forum, which has helped me a great deal in researching system building, that I recently completed my first system build. Here are the components:

MOBO: ASUS P8P67 Pro

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K

GPU: EVGA nVidia 460 GTX SSC (factory OC to core: 763 MHz, shader: 1526 MHz, Mem: 1900 MHz)

PSU: XFX Black Edition XPS-850w

RAM: G.skill Ripjaws X 4x2GB DDR3 1600 MHz, timing (9-9-9-24)

HDD1: Crucial RealSSD C300 64 GB SATA 6.0GB/s

HDD2: WD Caviar Black 1TB SATA 6.0GB/s

Monitor: Viewsonic 22" LED VX2250

Windows 7 64-bit

All total (including monitor, OS, shipping/tax, and rebates) I spent $1375, which was slightly more than I had wanted to spend but still acceptable. I had very little issues putting together the system aside from my lack of experience with routing cables. I only have two issues with the build. First, the mobo had difficulty identifying the correct RAM frequency out of the box and it took some fiddling and forum searching to get it sorted out. Second, the fact that in April I will have to essentially rebuild my system when the revised chipset is released by Intel for Sandy Bridge mobo's. Luckily I bought the mobo and CPU at a local Microcenter which should limit down time, and hopefully ASUS will have made the board even more stable by that time and I won't have to fiddle with the memory frequency outside of actual OC'ing. So far, the system has been running great and scored a solid 7.5 on the Windows Experience Index with the HDD scoring 7.9 and the memory scoring 7.8 (if that index really means anything to anyone).

I have also been running a couple of F@H clients for a few days now on this system and was looking at Extreme Overclocking's Folding stats page and noticed I got into the Top 20 TomsHardwareGuideCommunity producers (avg. points per day)!

 

[WR2]

Nice system.

First, the mobo had difficulty identifying the correct RAM frequency out of the box and it took some fiddling and forum searching to get it sorted out.
.... and hopefully ASUS will have made the board even more stable by that time and I won't have to fiddle with the memory frequency outside of actual OC'ing.

That is not unusual behavior. If you leave it up to the motherboard it will often make a conservative choice in the interest of increased stability.
Was the system NOT stable at the RAM setting the MB selected? Or did you change it before you did any testing?
Don't expect any changes in that area with the revised boards.

 

[ArcSec]

The system was stable at the underclocked memory frequency (sorry about the imprecise wording before). The real problem was that my attempts to change the setting didn't seem to make it through the boot up procedure so I couldn't test stability at 1600 MHz. Once I got it booted up at 1600 MHz there have been no problems to indicate any instability.