Geoffrey - A Socket 775 Build - Updated 23/04/2014

[The_Strict_Nein]

Geoffrey - A Socket 775 Build

 

Update List:

 

Update No 1 - 19/04/2014

Update No 2 - 23/04/2014

 

Thought Process

 

Well, I came to this forum around January this year after looking how a 'How to build a computer' guide on Youtube and stumbling upon Linus' video. I've been wanting to build a PC for a while now but never had the capital to do so (I'm from a relatively wealthy family, but this would be my own personal PC and I already have my Laptop). Then I stumbled across Ebay and Gumtree. I've had an Xbox 360 for several years now but recently I don't play it at all really and I own most of the games I have on there on my laptop.

 

Browsing ebay and this forum has been an interesting experience. I've picked up a lot of info and was able to grab some great stuff at a great price.

 

Now-a-days, it's easy to build a budget build. You grab a £60 AMD CPU, a £50 board, and you're set. But what if you were able to grab a board that cost £270 at the time (counting for inflation) for £50?

 

I have spent a little more than a true budget build on certain parts due to saving's elsewhere. Already, I could have saved around £40. However, by spending more on some things, especially the case, I'll have something that can be used for many years to come. Honestly, saving £30 on a case and having a PoS that I hate every time I look at it versus using the £30 I saved on the PSU and RAM to buy a Fractal case. I feel that's an obvious choice.

 

Oh, and the name? I needed something that sounded refined. Something a bit older, but still able to kick it with the modern boys. Plus, I hate cheesy computer names. If you're American, you'll just have to imagine Geoffrey being said by a posh Englishman. It just won't have the same effect in an American accent.

 

Part List

 

CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 - Arrived

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo - Arrived

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EP45-Extreme - Arrived

Memory: 2x1GB Crucial DDR2 667 MHz - Arrived, from local pick-up

              2x1GB DDR2 667 Mhz - Arrived, taken from family PC

Storage: 1TB Western Digital Caviar Blue - Arrived

Video Card: ASUS GTX 760 DirectCU II - Arrived

Case: Fractal Design Arc Midi R2 - Arrived

Power Supply - Corsair CX500 - Arrived

Operating System - Windows 7 Pro 64-Bit - Arrived

 

Total cost so far:

 

CPU - £35

Cooler - £22

Mobo - £62.09

Storage - £43.99

Case - £64.99

PSU - £25

GPU - £130

 

Total = £383.07

 

First Off - Parts from old systems

 

The Screwdriver of Dreams

 

 

Yes, I have THE Linus screwdriver. Although mine is Lime Green, it's the same model. It's an absolutely epic screwdriver. The ratchet is so useful for speed. I use all the included bits regularly, as well as a bit from another set that fits certain screw heads better than any other piece for more leverage.

 

8500 GT

 

 

Got this for £15 on Ebay. Why? Because I also have a 8500 GT in my Family PC. And an SLI connector. I really like the look of this card. A Matte black PCB in the days when it was acceptable to use a piss yellow PCB. Nice touch. I'll be interested to just have some fun with this and then give it to my Uncle when I'm done. It'll also serve as the initial card for my system as I currently don't have a graphics card.

 

CPU Cooler

 

Look at this monstrosity

 

 

 

I thought they put those kind of cones on dogs! I'm not going to use this for the build, but it'll make a good back up for my testing boards.

 

An old dog of a PSU

 

 

Taken from an Acer Aspire I bought for a quid, along with my RAM. It's rated at just 250 Watts and has no PCI-E cable. Still, it powers on, and upon taking it apart it seemed to have everything that should be in there in there. This'll do for my testing station when I receive another order I'm excited about.

 

Thermal Paste

 

 

Bought this a little while ago to use to refurb an old laptop. Excellent stuff, looking forward to using it again

 

A card reader?

 

 

Took this out of the PC I got. Could be useful as I regularly need to access an SD card

 

A old DVD Drive

 

 

 

Yes, that's an IDE DVD Drive. It's still a fairly decent unit, so I'm considering buying a rounded IDE cable for it, as this Motherboard supports IDE.

 

Up next time

 

Hopefully I'll have all the parts here with the next update. My current plan for a GPU is a 750 Ti, however if I can find a good deal on a 760 I'll get that. I'll also reveal the motherboard with a video, so keep tuned for that!

[flibberdipper]

This will be nice... @Ryan Leech should take a peek at this.

[TheDigitalRealm]

I love this stuff! There's a fair few Intel Core 2 Quads on eBay at the moment, I'm very tempted to pick one up. Are they over-clockable?

[FlamingDefibs]

As opposed to most other build logs, I actually liked reading what you wrote and looking at the pictures you took. Maybe it's because unlike some, you format text and don't waste time. 

 

I'll be looking forward to the rest of this.

[The_Strict_Nein]

I love this stuff! There's a fair few Intel Core 2 Quads on eBay at the moment, I'm very tempted to pick one up. Are they over-clockable?

 

Because old-school over clocking pretty much relied on altering the FSB speed (to my knowledge), pretty much any CPU was over clockable. Case in point, Intel CPU over clock world records are held by Celeron 3 and 400 series chips. The main limit was your motherboard, it's BIOS and it's Northbridge cooling ability. This won't really be a problem for me. 

[TheDigitalRealm]

Because old-school over clocking pretty much relied on altering the FSB speed (to my knowledge), pretty much any CPU was over clockable. Case in point, Intel CPU over clock world records are held by Celeron 3 and 400 series chips

 

Sweet. Might make a nice cheap side-project. It wouldn't make a bad media server either...

[d33g33]

Yes 775 respect!

 

I am rebuilding my Shuttle PC at the moment, i've just taken delivery of some new parts to update my build log. I managed to score a Q9550 for $60AUD. 775 build bros, yeah! 

[Almercenary]

Ahhh, haven't seen a 775 build in a while. Don't tell me you got one of those bloody gigabyte boards that have every colour of the rainbow on them  .  Can't wait.

 

Because old-school over clocking pretty much relied on altering the FSB speed (to my knowledge), pretty much any CPU was over clockable. Case in point, Intel CPU over clock world records are held by Celeron 3 and 400 series chips. The main limit was your motherboard, it's BIOS and it's Northbridge cooling ability. This won't really be a problem for me. 

Pretty sure this was the biggest setback lol.

[The_Strict_Nein]

Right then, everything has come now apart from the Graphics Card.

 

I managed to get a DirectCUII GTX 760 for £130 on ebay, so that'll be the card I use with this system. It'll be bottlenecked a bit for sure, but that card will far out live the system.

 

Expect a video of the motherboard and pictures of the rest soon!

[Jumper118]

Right then, everything has come now apart from the Graphics Card.

 

I managed to get a DirectCUII GTX 760 for £130 on ebay, so that'll be the card I use with this system. It'll be bottlenecked a bit for sure, but that card will far out live the system.

 

Expect a video of the motherboard and pictures of the rest soon!

 

 

Right then, everything has come now apart from the Graphics Card.

 

I managed to get a DirectCUII GTX 760 for £130 on ebay, so that'll be the card I use with this system. It'll be bottlenecked a bit for sure, but that card will far out live the system.

 

Expect a video of the motherboard and pictures of the rest soon!

I am very interested to see what this board is. Core 2 quad dont oc very high really, but the are suppose to be tricky, but good fun.

[The_Strict_Nein]

 

One thing's for certain, I need a bigger desk. And a better monitor

 

 

Love the look of the Arc Midi R2

 

 

This is the completed system. The motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-EP45-Extreme. In the Socket 775 days, most of the overclocking was done on the Northbridge side as I understand it. As such, a lot of heat was output by the Northbridge,and your ability to cool it affected your over clock, hence Gigabyte created this:

 

 

This 'Hybrid-Silent Pipe' connects directly to the Northbridge heatsink and provides an extra two heat pipes worth of cooling. It looks freaking baller. This motherboard also supports native water cooling, which is pretty cool.

 

 

 

I'm going to be putting in my GTX 760 when it comes.

 

 

As for cable management? I don't think I did a bad job considering it's my first time building in an ATX case.

 

The other great part of having a very colour uncoordinated motherboard is that bare cables actually look decent. I don't think I'll bother getting sleeved extensions for any of the cables, especially the 24-Pin.

 

My current upgrade plan is this:

 

1. ASUS GTX 760 DirectCU II - I have already brought this, but I'm waiting for it to arrive

2. Dell U2414H - I really need a proper 1080p display

3. NZXT Hue - It's very dark through my side window at the moment

4. Upgrade to Socket 1150 - This'll cost around £400, so is a way aways off

 

I just wanted to talk for a little bit about Ebay here.

 

I got the Hyper 212 Evo for £22, about £8 off retail. I got the CX500 for £25, about £15 off retail. I got the GTX 760 for £130, £50-60 off retail. There are great bargins to be found on ebay my friends. How many people can say they have a rig with a balling ass motherboard and a GTX 760 for £400?

 

I'll definitely post my over clocking results here. I've also got some other motherboards I have to test before I sell them, so keep tuned for those.

[Jumper118]

P1090163.JPG

 

One thing's for certain, I need a bigger desk. And a better monitor

 

P1090164.JPG

 

Love the look of the Arc Midi R2

 

 

This is the completed system. The motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-EP45-Extreme. In the Socket 775 days, most of the overclocking was done on the Northbridge side as I understand it. As such, a lot of heat was output by the Northbridge,and your ability to cool it affected your over clock, hence Gigabyte created this:

 

 

This 'Hybrid-Silent Pipe' connects directly to the Northbridge heatsink and provides an extra two heat pipes worth of cooling. It looks freaking baller. This motherboard also supports native water cooling, which is pretty cool.

 

 

P1090166.JPG

 

I'm going to be putting in my GTX 760 when it comes.

 

 

 

As for cable management? I don't think I did a bad job considering it's my first time building in an ATX case.

 

The other great part of having a very colour uncoordinated motherboard is that bare cables actually look decent. I don't think I'll bother getting sleeved extensions for any of the cables, especially the 24-Pin.

 

My current upgrade plan is this:

 

1. ASUS GTX 760 DirectCU II - I have already brought this, but I'm waiting for it to arrive

2. Dell U2414H - I really need a proper 1080p display

3. NZXT Hue - It's very dark through my side window at the moment

4. Upgrade to Socket 1150 - This'll cost around £400, so is a way aways off

 

I just wanted to talk for a little bit about Ebay here.

 

I got the Hyper 212 Evo for £22, about £8 off retail. I got the CX500 for £25, about £15 off retail. I got the GTX 760 for £130, £50-60 off retail. There are great bargins to be found on ebay my friends. How many people can say they have a rig with a balling ass motherboard and a GTX 760 for £400?

 

I'll definitely post my over clocking results here. I've also got some other motherboards I have to test before I sell them, so keep tuned for those.

that is the mother of all northbridge heatsinks! i love it  :wub:

[TheDigitalRealm]

I just wanted to talk for a little bit about Ebay here.

 

I got the Hyper 212 Evo for £22, about £8 off retail. I got the CX500 for £25, about £15 off retail. I got the GTX 760 for £130, £50-60 off retail. There are great bargins to be found on ebay my friends. How many people can say they have a rig with a balling ass motherboard and a GTX 760 for £400?

 

I'll definitely post my over clocking results here. I've also got some other motherboards I have to test before I sell them, so keep tuned for those.

 

Definitely! GTX 680's are starting to go for about £150 regularly now, which is awesome!

[dounuts97]

I cant seem to find the screwdriver on the official page

Anyone can find it?

[The_Strict_Nein]

I cant seem to find the screwdriver on the official page

Anyone can find it?

 

http://store.snapon.com/Standard-Handle-Screwdriver-Ratcheting-Magnetic-Standard-Orange-8-3-4--P634146.aspx

 

This is the Orange version

[Logan2012]

Finally someone spelt Geoffrey right

[The_Strict_Nein]

 

Look what came today

 

 

 

 

 

My GTX 760. Awesome looking card. Fans were much smaller than I as expecting, though. Never had a proper graphics card before though, so I guess that makes sense. Much much better than my old 8500 GT, runs cooler, and doesn't lag when using Windows Aero. Banging.

 

 

 

 

I also got these. I tell you, I've never felt a heavier fan, and they spin for ages. I'll put them on my Hyper 212 Evo for now, then when I am able to water cool later on I'll put them on my radiator.

 

 

I also got a bag of black SATA cables. Looks much nicer know, and has a proper locking clip, which is nice.

 

Here are some pics of the rig, enjoy!

 

 

 

[Jumper118]

 

Look what came today

 

 

 

 

 

My GTX 760. Awesome looking card. Fans were much smaller than I as expecting, though. Never had a proper graphics card before though, so I guess that makes sense. Much much better than my old 8500 GT, runs cooler, and doesn't lag when using Windows Aero. Banging.

 

 

 

 

I also got these. I tell you, I've never felt a heavier fan, and they spin for ages. I'll put them on my Hyper 212 Evo for now, then when I am able to water cool later on I'll put them on my radiator.

 

 

I also got a bag of black SATA cables. Looks much nicer know, and has a proper locking clip, which is nice.

 

Here are some pics of the rig, enjoy!

 

 

 

that looks brilliant. its funny you mentioned about the fans on the gpu being small because that it what i thought when i got my gtx670. 

[The_Strict_Nein]

that looks brilliant. its funny you mentioned about the fans on the gpu being small because that it what i thought when i got my gtx670. 

 

Still, they run a hell of a lot quieter than the old card, so I guess I can't complain

[Jumper118]

Still, they run a hell of a lot quieter than the old card, so I guess I can't complain

looking at it again its funny how the north bridge has a bigger heatsink than the gpu. need a penis pcb extension.  :lol: