Timing of building a new system

[ddrueding]

Intel Core i5-2500K 6MB 3.30GHz Processor 11920
Asus P8H67-M PRO 32GB DDR3 USB 3.0 Intel Motherboard 8285
(2) Corsair XMS3 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3 1600MHz Desktop Memory (CMX4GX3M1A1600C9) 4590
Antec NSK 4482B Black With Power Supply ATX Cabinet 4625
OCZ Vertex 120GB 2 SATA II 2.5inch SSD Solid Sata Drive (OCZSSD2-2VTXE120G) 11405
LITE-ON 4X SATA Blu-ray ROM Drive (iHOS104-08) 6090

Grand Total (Rs): 46915.00 = $1054...ouch

 

[LunarMist]

I wonder what kind of warranty service there would be on the OCZ over there?

 

[Stereodude]

I wonder what kind of warranty service there would be on the OCZ over there?

It's probably comparable to what they offer over here. Virtually none. wneddnce:

 

[LunarMist]

Maybe it would be better to use a good HD instead.

 

[mubs]

Yup, DD, that's the world I live in. I could probably buy the processor and RAM in the US since they seldom fail, but mobo and HDD, no way. I might save about 10% by buying at a local shop instead of these guys. I do miss the good prices in the U.S.

This will end up being a full build, with just perhaps the HDDs being carried over from my current system. I will still be buying at least one new HDD to get started as a system drive. So it'll likely end up costing me $2k.

Lunar, that's why I said earlier that I'd not use a SSD for several more years!

The MB and processor Bozo mentioned are not available on this site, and I'll have to hunt around to find them, even to get a price.

What's a decent video card that will not occupy two slots? i.e., the cooler will not eat the second slot?

 

[time]

Seriously, you really don't need a separate video card for your stated usage, especially if you can stretch to one of the K suffix CPUs (2500K or 2600K) that comes with HD 3000 graphics. Even the default HD 2000 is quite enough for non-FPS-game usage. They both support dual monitors with your choice of HDMI, DVI or VGA connectors.

 

[time]

Mubs, if you buy direct from Crucial, you can return any defective components to them and they will ship out a replacement or repair (depending on age). It's often faster than trying to return through the retail channel and definitely a lot less hassle.

I believe India is served by the Crucial Europe rather than America; the freight per shipment is £30. Not worth buying just RAM this way, but definitely worth your while buying an SSD. They're small and hard to break, so ideal for cheap international shipping if you do need to return it.

 

[mubs]

Thanks time, I'll check out Crucial. When I was living in the U.S., I bought RAM from them direct several times, and never had a problem.

More than the great service they may provide, it's the frequent disruption and corruption I may suffer with an SSD that I'm afraid of. Maybe my fears are unjustified, but I don't see too many happy experiences here at SF.

I spent the most of the day researching motherboards. Some interesting findings!

Many of the oldies are gone or have gone out of the consumer motherboard mfg business; Abit, Aopen, DFI, Tyan. My choices (ignoring what's available here, btw) are Asus, Gigabyte, Biostar and MSI.

Based on some reading I did, I'm restricting myself to Z68 based boards so I can use the onboard GPU or add a card in later if I want to. Surprisingly, many of these boards don't have a display port in the back (and I presume the circuitry as well). So those go off the list. Many others have only an HDMI port for the display; scratch those as well.

Of the remainder - 20 motherboards, I have to select based on slot configuration and additional goodies like extra SATA ports, USB 3, etc.

Realtek seems to rule the roost with respect to LAN and audio; only two use an Intel chip for the LAN port. Realtek domination is 100% in audio in these 20 motherboards.

For USB 3, Asmedia chips are in 5 motherboards (Asus & Biostar); Etron in 4 (Gigabyte); NEC in 10 (all MSI); and one doesn't have any USB 3 ports.

18 offer Lucid Virtu, 2 don't.

All this not factoring board reliability and performance; about the only way for me to judge that is for people here to share their thoughts or for me to read reviews on the Egg.

In case anyone's really interested, here are the 20 boards:

[FONT=Courier New][SIZE=3]  Brand .... Model
  [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Courier New][SIZE=3]Asus       P8Z68-V
  [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Courier New][SIZE=3]Asus ..... P8Z68-V LE
  [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Courier New][SIZE=3]Asus       P8Z68-V-PRO
  [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Courier New][SIZE=3]BioStar .. TZ68A+ Ver. 6.x
  [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Courier New][SIZE=3]BioStar    TZ68K+ Ver. 6.x
  [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Courier New][SIZE=3]GB ....... GA-Z68A-D3H-B3
  [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Courier New][SIZE=3]GB         GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3
  [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Courier New][SIZE=3]GB ....... GA-Z68M-D2H
  [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Courier New][SIZE=3]GB         GA-Z68MX-UD2H-B3
  [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Courier New][SIZE=3]GB ....... GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3
  [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Courier New][SIZE=3]MSI        Z68A-G43 (B3)
  [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Courier New][SIZE=3]MSI ...... Z68A-G45 (B3)
  [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Courier New][SIZE=3]MSI        Z68A-GD55 (B3)
  [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Courier New][SIZE=3]MSI ...... Z68A-GD55 (G3)
  [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Courier New][SIZE=3]MSI        Z68A-GD65 (B3)
  [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Courier New][SIZE=3]MSI ...... Z68A-GD65 (G3)
  [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Courier New][SIZE=3]MSI        Z68A-GD80 (B3)
  [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Courier New][SIZE=3]MSI ...... Z68A-GD80 (G3)
  [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Courier New][SIZE=3]MSI        Z68MA-ED55 (B3)
  [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Courier New][SIZE=3]MSI ...... Z68MA-G45 (B3)
  [/SIZE][/FONT]

Biostar's ruled out. I know most here don't think well of MSI.

I have to take a break now to get some other work done . Back to the drawing board as soon as I can.

 

[LunarMist]

I'm not sure if you are looking for a mATX board, but the GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 is fine with the 2500K and there are both DVI and HDMI outputs. http://www.storageforum.net/forum/showthread.php?t=8800

 

[CougTek]

You forgot to include the Maximus IV GENE-Z in that 20 boards list, but you listed it in your available boards before. It has a Z68 chipset. If you get a case with front USB 3.0 connectors, it might be worth it (the GigaByte Z68MX-UD2H-B3 has the internal 20 pins connector too). Otherwise, pick the GigaByte Z68MA-D2H-B3. It's failry cheap compared to the others.

 

[mubs]

I'll give a short answer since I'm at work.

The first filter was the display-out port. I eliminated all boards that had zero ports or only an HDMI port.

The second filter I'm working on is the # SATA ports; the third will be the # and type of expansion slots.

Question: when a mobo mfr says that two x16 slots will work at x8 speed if both are populated, do they mean when the slots are filled with two video cards or are they saying that the speed drops in both slots even if only one of them is a video card?

Thanks.

 

[Mercutio]

IIRC, usually the second one is physically a 16x slot but there are only enough PCIe lanes for it to operate at 8x speed. But I think you need to go by what the manual is telling you.

 

[Howell]

Usually what they mean is that either will work at 16x alone but if you need to use both they will drop to 8x for the reason Merc gave.

 

[CougTek]

Interestingly, I told my students about the E3-1220 and a couple of them were really interested in building on that platform.

Can you confirm that the SandyBridge Xeon will work on regular LGA1155 boards? Any of your students built a box using one?

 

[Mercutio]

The people who are doing that bought Intel or Asus workstation boards for theirs. If I have an opportunity, I'll see if I can borrow a CPU and make it boot on a standard z68 board.

 

[CougTek]

Thanks, I would appreciate.

 

[mubs]

The project crawls along. Time is the big constraint. If I was in Canada, I'd have asked Coug to build it for me. If I was in the US, I'd have Merc or Buck to do it for me.

Many Z68 motherboards have a single HDMI connector on the back; kind of rules them out for me. I need a DVI. I guess there are adapters that allow one to connect a DVI monitor to an HDMI port, but I've read that HDMi is a rat's nest of standards and compatibility is not guaranteed.

Any comments?

 

[Stereodude]

For the purposes of connecting to a DVI monitor I don't see it being a problem.

 

[Mercutio]

Thanks, I would appreciate.

I stuck it on the only non-workstation board I had handy, which wound up being an Asus H61 something-or-other. It powered on but did not boot. That might've been correctable with a BIOS update or a Z68 board, but amazingly enough no one bought one and I didn't have THAT much time to mess with it in a room full of people.

 

[CougTek]

If I was in Canada, I'd have asked Coug to build it for me.

I could build one and send it by ship. You should receive it by Christmas.

 

[CougTek]

Thanks Merc for trying. This means I would potentially be in trouble if I try to put it on a non-worstation board. Good to know.

 

[time]

Many Z68 motherboards have a single HDMI connector on the back; kind of rules them out for me. I need a DVI. I guess there are adapters that allow one to connect a DVI monitor to an HDMI port, but I've read that HDMi is a rat's nest of standards and compatibility is not guaranteed.

An HDMI to DVI cable will work just fine; stop stressing.

 

[CougTek]

For USB 3, Asmedia chips are in 5 motherboards (Asus & Biostar); Etron in 4 (Gigabyte); NEC in 10 (all MSI); and one doesn't have any USB 3 ports.

Here's a review of USB 3 controllers if you want to know how they fare against each others.

In case anyone's really interested, here are the 20 boards:

[FONT=Courier New][SIZE=3]  Brand .... Model
  [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Courier New][SIZE=3]Asus       P8Z68-V
  [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Courier New][SIZE=3]Asus ..... P8Z68-V LE
  [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Courier New][SIZE=3]Asus       P8Z68-V-PRO
  [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Courier New][SIZE=3]BioStar .. TZ68A+ Ver. 6.x
  [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Courier New][SIZE=3]BioStar    TZ68K+ Ver. 6.x
  [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Courier New][SIZE=3]GB ....... GA-Z68A-D3H-B3
  [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Courier New][SIZE=3]GB         GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3
  [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Courier New][SIZE=3]GB ....... GA-Z68M-D2H
  [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Courier New][SIZE=3]GB         GA-Z68MX-UD2H-B3
  [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Courier New][SIZE=3]GB ....... GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3
  [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Courier New][SIZE=3]MSI        Z68A-G43 (B3)
  [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Courier New][SIZE=3]MSI ...... Z68A-G45 (B3)
  [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Courier New][SIZE=3]MSI        Z68A-GD55 (B3)
  [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Courier New][SIZE=3]MSI ...... Z68A-GD55 (G3)
  [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Courier New][SIZE=3]MSI        Z68A-GD65 (B3)
  [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Courier New][SIZE=3]MSI ...... Z68A-GD65 (G3)
  [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Courier New][SIZE=3]MSI        Z68A-GD80 (B3)
  [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Courier New][SIZE=3]MSI ...... Z68A-GD80 (G3)
  [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Courier New][SIZE=3]MSI        Z68MA-ED55 (B3)
  [/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Courier New][SIZE=3]MSI ...... Z68MA-G45 (B3)
  [/SIZE][/FONT]

Biostar's ruled out. I know most here don't think well of MSI.

Last week, I had to replace an MSI motherboard I sold two years ago, which had no less than five blown capacitors on it. Sure, it was a low-end offering, but I still consider it unacceptable.

I have one GigaByte Z68MA-D2H-B3 here and it does have a DVI output on the back plate. My only problem with it is the long delay to boot the operating system (hangs for ~20 seconds on the screen following the POST, before Windows kicks in. I have an H55-USB3 that doesn that also). Other than that, it's behaving well.

 

[Mercutio]

I've observed that behavior on Gigabyte's AMD 990FX board too. I'm guessing it's some kind of delay whilethe storage controller initializes. I'll bet it would go away if AHCI were disabled.

 

[CougTek]

I've only seen this on GigaByte boards. That's three boards with three different chipsets (H55, Z68 and AMD 990FX). I don't know why they do it, but it's annoying. Asus boards don't do that and they work fine anyway.

 

[ddrueding]

I had a machine stall massively during startup, and disconnecting some USB peripherals sped it up dramatically. Reconnecting the same devices once the system was up worked great.

 

[CougTek]

The only USB peripheral connected to the Z68 motherboard was a keyboard. It wasn't due to a many-cards-reader or a USB hub integrated in the monitor or anything else. I think the motherboard will do that no matter what's plug into the machine.

 

[time]

I have one GigaByte Z68MA-D2H-B3 here and it does have a DVI output on the back plate. My only problem with it is the long delay to boot the operating system (hangs for ~20 seconds on the screen following the POST, before Windows kicks in.

I actually timed a Z68MA-D2H-B3 about a few weeks back and did not see any delay. It took 60 seconds from power on to cessation of disk activity, and only 30 seconds when the drive was changed to an SSD. POST was 15-17 seconds of that.

So it must be something you're doing.

Of course, it might be a different BIOS version, different HDD (Samsung F3) or even different keyboard or monitor - who knows?

 

[CityK]

I've observed that behavior on Gigabyte's AMD 990FX board too. I'm guessing it's some kind of delay whilethe storage controller initializes. I'll bet it would go away if AHCI were disabled.

I formally observed it on a Gigabyte AMD 785 board and it was indeed related to storage detection...IIRC, the solution was to not use cable select on PATA devices, but, rather, jumper them accordingly as master and slave. SATA devices didn't seem to have any impact on the problem.

 

[LunarMist]

I actually timed a Z68MA-D2H-B3 about a few weeks back and did not see any delay. It took 60 seconds from power on to cessation of disk activity, and only 30 seconds when the drive was changed to an SSD. POST was 15-17 seconds of that.

So it must be something you're doing.

Of course, it might be a different BIOS version, different HDD (Samsung F3) or even different keyboard or monitor - who knows?

Same here. It boots very quickly from the C4 SSD and there are no hangups in the BIOS.

 

[CougTek]

It did it both with the F2 and F4 BIOS. There was no PATA drive connected. SATA access mode was AHCI. There was a Seagate ST31000524AS hard drive and a Plextor PX890A DVD burner. It wasn't raining outside and it wasn't a full moon either.

 

[CougTek]

I actually timed a Z68MA-D2H-B3 about a few weeks back and did not see any delay.[...]

So it must be something you're doing. :smile:

You're in the southern hemishere so your results must be biased.

Same here. It boots very quickly from the C4 SSD and there are no hangups in the BIOS.

You're under medication so you might not perceive time as healthy people do.

There is a problem with the boot delay. Even a Canadian agrees with me so it must be pretty damn serious

 

[LunarMist]

I can hardly hit the Del quickly enough to enter the BIOS if I'm not on my toes. Apparently different settings, BIOS, or hardware make some difference.

 

[CougTek]

I can hardly hit the Del quickly enough to enter the BIOS if I'm not on my toes.

I'm generally on my ass when working on computers. Much more comfortable. You should try it.

 

[LunarMist]

It is a cliche meaning to be alert, derived from being prepared for quick movement such as running.

 

[Howell]

Turn off boot from USB.

 

[ddrueding]

Turn off boot from USB.

That isn't where mine was lagging, it was during what used to be the "starting windows" screen.

 

[mubs]

An HDMI to DVI cable will work just fine; stop stressing.

Well, I hope so; I'd be going out on a limb assuming it will. Reviews on Newegg indicate visual quality using these converter cable sis a hit and miss. I need "safe & sure-shot" solutions since experimenting will be costly time and money wise. I'll do some more research.

Thanks for the inputs, time and SD.

 

[mubs]

Here's a review of USB 3 controllers if you want to know how they fare against each others.

Awesome! Thanks Coug, I'll check it out.

 

[mubs]

I could build one and send it by ship. You should receive it by Christmas.

I wish we could. I'll have Customs problems, damage and pilferage on arrival and before getting the paperwork done!