Sandy/Ivy Retro Build

[runit3]

It's time for another one of my giveaway builds, however this time I'm finally getting to have some fun myself before I launch it off to a better home. For all the OCing experience I have on X58, X99, and Z87/97 I completely missed the boat on the "golden age" of OCing -Sandy/Ivy. Now is roughly the sweet spot to buy in on used parts, CPU's have a considerable amount of life left in them, and go for roughly 50-75% of original cost w/K & X SKU's. As such, I've already purchased these components:

 

Components already purchased/delivered:

• ASUS P8Z77-V LX (one bent pin) $42.99 shipped
• Intel Pentium G645 -Sacrificial CPU to test bent pin fix, and OC ability of the board, guaranteed not DOA $28.99 shipped
• x6 20x20x10mm Aluminum Heat Sinks for the VRM's $5.94 shipped
• Alphacool 360mm Rad & EK Res bought here on the forum for $115 shipped
• Kingston V300 128GB SSD -MBR corrupted, SSD might be blown itself, could do RMA if necessary, will use as game drive (file system not corrupt) -Donor from another build-
• x3 WD 300-500GB HDD's -donors from another build- debating RAID options

 

To be purchased/planned purchases:

• 2500k, 2600k, 2700k, 3570k, or 3770k Really any of those listed for under $140 for an i5 or under $185 for an i7 is the goal. If I get a chip that bins below 4.5GHz it's going right back up on ebay where it came from. Worst case scenario if I stick to those price limits is losing out on shipping cost of resale.
• Swiftech MCP655, Advance LRT tubing (blue -matches board-), BitFenix fittings, XSPC or EK blocks
• R9 280X -minimum-
• EVGA 750w B2
• Phanteks Enthoo Pro -painted to match board

 

Overall Game plan:

I'll have most of the components cycling through the test bench to make sure that I can repair the bent pins, and that the board/VRM's will hold up to the OCing. While all that is happening I'll be painting/mocking up the case and sourcing a GPU with various watercooling parts. I'm hoping that I can get some decent OC's going and use the build as a Cinebench rental program for neglected sandy/ivy chips :lol: . Overall budget is less than $475 from the "To be purchased" list. Don't care if they're new or used, as long as they work.

 

If anyone has input on the various components/plan I'd appreciate it. Always could use a good sanity check.

[mapegl]

Get a sandy cpu. They are supposed to be overclocking better and as I still have my 2500k I must say it is quite easy and not hard to cool.

And there is no bottleneck.

[runit3]

Get a sandy cpu. They are supposed to be overclocking better and as I still have my 2500k I must say it is quite easy and not hard to cool.

And there is no bottleneck.

most of the stuff available on ebay is 2500/2600k's, some make me a little nervous w/their condition but they're all fairly inexpensive.

[mapegl]

most of the stuff available on ebay is 2500/2600k's, some make me a little nervous w/their condition but they're all fairly inexpensive.

Maybe you can find someone in your area and test the cpu before buying..

also when someone sells you a cpu and it is supposed to be running, they have to pay you back in case it is broken. Although this is a very difficult process.

still. A 2500k is almost as good as a 4690k for gaming. There is almost no difference. Other uses will show a bigger difference though.

[runit3]

Maybe you can find someone in your area and test the cpu before buying..

also when someone sells you a cpu and it is supposed to be running, they have to pay you back in case it is broken. Although this is a very difficult process.

still. A 2500k is almost as good as a 4690k for gaming. There is almost no difference. Other uses will show a bigger difference though.

I'm giving the build away to someone who's on a 4 year old laptop, I doubt there will be anything to complain about performance wise