I've been tinkering with computers for well over 15 years now - and since 2007 I've been using laptops almost exclusively - prime reason being space(or the lack of it) since I moved away from my home, to a new city. Staying in a PG meant there was no space.
Since the past year and half I've been in Bangalore, staying in a rented house and though wanted to own a desktop, there wasn't a decent justification to get it, especially since my laptop, HP Envy 14 was coping well. Till November, my Envy's main system fan died and my laptop was running on GPU fan - which meant running any application would result in temperatures shooting to 80-90 - could barely run a game for 10-15minutes.
December was a fairly busy month for me thanks to some personal matters(*cough*see signature*cough), and in mid Jan I finally decided to get a new desktop than fix my laptop. Anyway, after going through some TDF threads, settling on a budget(which was stretched by over 6k) here's what I got
Core i5 3470 (initially was a i3, but decided to move i5)
MSI ZH77A-G41 Motherboard
Corsair Vengeance DDR3 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) PC RAM (CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9R)
Gigabyte 7750 GV-R775OC-1GI
Seasonic S12II 620 Watts PSU
Cabinet is a CM690 handed down to me, thanks to Zoombas.
Seagate 7200RPM ST500DM002
Display's my existing Dell UltraSharp U2312
Flipkart screwed up delivery.
Processor: i5 3470
*lh4.googleusercontent.com/-haKdxYf3H_0/URCW4IwI-nI/AAAAAAAACEs/Wq8C66Zh6RU/s681/IMG_20130204_191325.jpg
yes, that's the condition of the box when I opened the package. One HSF pillar is stuck, can't be moved up/down.
*lh4.googleusercontent.com/-0NRqiGMB_XE/URCW4KHa0vI/AAAAAAAACEs/W7_ELG7wtjA/s681/IMG_20130204_195338.jpg
You can see how the pillar is "jammed" in.
*lh3.googleusercontent.com/-22iokTKQAnA/URCW4K5HGwI/AAAAAAAACEs/mYCQ_Fy-4gQ/s681/IMG_20130204_201021.jpg
The one on the far right is the bad one.
*lh6.googleusercontent.com/-6NKmQtCYE48/URCW4GOqOKI/AAAAAAAACEs/yH8VYoWAMOs/s908/IMG_20130204_211956.jpg
Another view of the bad pillar.
*lh4.googleusercontent.com/-qSni6yUKoas/URCW4IyiSqI/AAAAAAAACEs/XOgV9WzCbls/s681/IMG_20130204_201125.jpg
versus the good one.
*lh5.googleusercontent.com/--mjtkqwd6u0/URCW4K2BsMI/AAAAAAAACEs/TVZyTQJ-1PI/s681/IMG_20130204_201205.jpg
PSU
*lh6.googleusercontent.com/-fFJ6dr0viGw/URCW4AuErsI/AAAAAAAACEs/POJVlqHp1tM/s908/IMG_20130204_191732.jpg
GPU
*lh5.googleusercontent.com/-UxZw-aX620k/URCW4MfNiBI/AAAAAAAACEs/fZs63anEAME/s908/IMG_20130204_211247.jpg
Memory:
*lh5.googleusercontent.com/-ndhEL1Drsuk/URCW4E13xvI/AAAAAAAACEs/EeW6QqiTSrc/s908/IMG_20130204_211923.jpg
Got a replacement from fk yesterday, and this time.. it didn't look like it was eaten
*lh4.googleusercontent.com/-YJ0f8GEwY8I/URYuU6IPosI/AAAAAAAACLI/yoL3q0ADPRk/s821/IMG_20130209_163152.jpg
*lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ODqX3ljmm8I/URYun2JujTI/AAAAAAAACLQ/SZ7veuQ_s80/s821/IMG_20130209_163330.jpg
*lh4.googleusercontent.com/-FdNMgHXSeHA/URYt6q1GP5I/AAAAAAAACK8/4kVmtA9lhg0/s821/IMG_20130209_163354.jpg
*lh4.googleusercontent.com/-UMdC5gAuQwc/URYx7AAGbrI/AAAAAAAACMM/cA7S_avo1bE/s821/IMG_20130209_165111.jpg
---
This is how I started the build
*lh3.googleusercontent.com/-n2tgnui-p3c/URcvtO_YjLI/AAAAAAAACO8/bxkwwn2naVw/s1095/IMG_20130210_105512.jpg
Motherboard taken out
*lh6.googleusercontent.com/-w5mmEez1bTY/URcwEx2c_7I/AAAAAAAACPE/KpuIQpBdWrI/s1095/IMG_20130210_105604.jpg
Slotted the processor in. Was surprisingly easy, despite my lack of experience in handling the new ones
*lh6.googleusercontent.com/-GjT0ifOPCGg/URcxXGeN6vI/AAAAAAAACPQ/nGD7W3Yqaa8/s821/IMG_20130210_110158.jpg
Stock HSF
*lh3.googleusercontent.com/-co3xcGcyg5k/URcx_FRQneI/AAAAAAAACQI/bDLmh5h5aEc/s821/IMG_20130210_110232.jpg
HSF fitted on CPU
*lh5.googleusercontent.com/-rWXDsYasdd8/URcyaNWoa9I/AAAAAAAACQQ/gX7UqbwNGNY/s821/IMG_20130210_110445.jpg
Fitting in the RAM
*lh3.googleusercontent.com/-K8TV5lZQyz0/URc_jgUsyEI/AAAAAAAACRM/VUFsceWspy8/s821/IMG_20130210_120349.jpg
And then the GPU
*lh6.googleusercontent.com/-okSWmtORRBk/URdBM6RGxxI/AAAAAAAACRY/_QEbBtRot5g/s821/IMG_20130210_121048.jpg
CPU-Z Validation: CPU-Z Validator 3.1
GPU-Z Validation: techPowerUp GPU-Z Validation 5krs5
Temps on light load:
*i.imgur.com/djxb9Pk.png
Temps after one round of 3D Mark 06 & 3D Mark Vantage
*i.imgur.com/KrC4JcB.png
Looking forward to playing some games on this without the system having to shutdown
Since the past year and half I've been in Bangalore, staying in a rented house and though wanted to own a desktop, there wasn't a decent justification to get it, especially since my laptop, HP Envy 14 was coping well. Till November, my Envy's main system fan died and my laptop was running on GPU fan - which meant running any application would result in temperatures shooting to 80-90 - could barely run a game for 10-15minutes.
December was a fairly busy month for me thanks to some personal matters(*cough*see signature*cough), and in mid Jan I finally decided to get a new desktop than fix my laptop. Anyway, after going through some TDF threads, settling on a budget(which was stretched by over 6k) here's what I got
Core i5 3470 (initially was a i3, but decided to move i5)
MSI ZH77A-G41 Motherboard
Corsair Vengeance DDR3 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) PC RAM (CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9R)
Gigabyte 7750 GV-R775OC-1GI
Seasonic S12II 620 Watts PSU
Cabinet is a CM690 handed down to me, thanks to Zoombas.
Seagate 7200RPM ST500DM002
Display's my existing Dell UltraSharp U2312
Flipkart screwed up delivery.
Processor: i5 3470
*lh4.googleusercontent.com/-haKdxYf3H_0/URCW4IwI-nI/AAAAAAAACEs/Wq8C66Zh6RU/s681/IMG_20130204_191325.jpg
yes, that's the condition of the box when I opened the package. One HSF pillar is stuck, can't be moved up/down.
*lh4.googleusercontent.com/-0NRqiGMB_XE/URCW4KHa0vI/AAAAAAAACEs/W7_ELG7wtjA/s681/IMG_20130204_195338.jpg
You can see how the pillar is "jammed" in.
*lh3.googleusercontent.com/-22iokTKQAnA/URCW4K5HGwI/AAAAAAAACEs/mYCQ_Fy-4gQ/s681/IMG_20130204_201021.jpg
The one on the far right is the bad one.
*lh6.googleusercontent.com/-6NKmQtCYE48/URCW4GOqOKI/AAAAAAAACEs/yH8VYoWAMOs/s908/IMG_20130204_211956.jpg
Another view of the bad pillar.
*lh4.googleusercontent.com/-qSni6yUKoas/URCW4IyiSqI/AAAAAAAACEs/XOgV9WzCbls/s681/IMG_20130204_201125.jpg
versus the good one.
*lh5.googleusercontent.com/--mjtkqwd6u0/URCW4K2BsMI/AAAAAAAACEs/TVZyTQJ-1PI/s681/IMG_20130204_201205.jpg
PSU
*lh6.googleusercontent.com/-fFJ6dr0viGw/URCW4AuErsI/AAAAAAAACEs/POJVlqHp1tM/s908/IMG_20130204_191732.jpg
GPU
*lh5.googleusercontent.com/-UxZw-aX620k/URCW4MfNiBI/AAAAAAAACEs/fZs63anEAME/s908/IMG_20130204_211247.jpg
Memory:
*lh5.googleusercontent.com/-ndhEL1Drsuk/URCW4E13xvI/AAAAAAAACEs/EeW6QqiTSrc/s908/IMG_20130204_211923.jpg
Got a replacement from fk yesterday, and this time.. it didn't look like it was eaten
*lh4.googleusercontent.com/-YJ0f8GEwY8I/URYuU6IPosI/AAAAAAAACLI/yoL3q0ADPRk/s821/IMG_20130209_163152.jpg
*lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ODqX3ljmm8I/URYun2JujTI/AAAAAAAACLQ/SZ7veuQ_s80/s821/IMG_20130209_163330.jpg
*lh4.googleusercontent.com/-FdNMgHXSeHA/URYt6q1GP5I/AAAAAAAACK8/4kVmtA9lhg0/s821/IMG_20130209_163354.jpg
*lh4.googleusercontent.com/-UMdC5gAuQwc/URYx7AAGbrI/AAAAAAAACMM/cA7S_avo1bE/s821/IMG_20130209_165111.jpg
---
This is how I started the build
*lh3.googleusercontent.com/-n2tgnui-p3c/URcvtO_YjLI/AAAAAAAACO8/bxkwwn2naVw/s1095/IMG_20130210_105512.jpg
Motherboard taken out
*lh6.googleusercontent.com/-w5mmEez1bTY/URcwEx2c_7I/AAAAAAAACPE/KpuIQpBdWrI/s1095/IMG_20130210_105604.jpg
Slotted the processor in. Was surprisingly easy, despite my lack of experience in handling the new ones
*lh6.googleusercontent.com/-GjT0ifOPCGg/URcxXGeN6vI/AAAAAAAACPQ/nGD7W3Yqaa8/s821/IMG_20130210_110158.jpg
Stock HSF
*lh3.googleusercontent.com/-co3xcGcyg5k/URcx_FRQneI/AAAAAAAACQI/bDLmh5h5aEc/s821/IMG_20130210_110232.jpg
HSF fitted on CPU
*lh5.googleusercontent.com/-rWXDsYasdd8/URcyaNWoa9I/AAAAAAAACQQ/gX7UqbwNGNY/s821/IMG_20130210_110445.jpg
Fitting in the RAM
*lh3.googleusercontent.com/-K8TV5lZQyz0/URc_jgUsyEI/AAAAAAAACRM/VUFsceWspy8/s821/IMG_20130210_120349.jpg
And then the GPU
*lh6.googleusercontent.com/-okSWmtORRBk/URdBM6RGxxI/AAAAAAAACRY/_QEbBtRot5g/s821/IMG_20130210_121048.jpg
CPU-Z Validation: CPU-Z Validator 3.1
GPU-Z Validation: techPowerUp GPU-Z Validation 5krs5
Temps on light load:
*i.imgur.com/djxb9Pk.png
Temps after one round of 3D Mark 06 & 3D Mark Vantage
*i.imgur.com/KrC4JcB.png
Looking forward to playing some games on this without the system having to shutdown
