Introduction and Build LOG (updated)

Beej

Hey guys am new here but i havent introduced myself officially. You can call me BeeJ, i live in Beirut.
Now lets cut to the chase, am currently building a pc for my friend.
But first a little teaser for you guys ;).

Here are some pics of my msi gtx 460 hawk, its aprox. 25cm long.

Here is the box shot of the asus card.

Here is the card.

These pictures compares both cards in length and width, 29.4cm vs 25cm and dual slots vs tripple slots.

^For the non-believers :P.
In any case this card is a beast, and soon it will accompany the following:

Lebanon's first i52500K!!! (i hope its the 1st in Lebanon)
These 2 items where bought from Republic of Gamers Store.

Follow update 2 :http://www.lebgeeks.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=9667

Khaled

first of all, welcome to this community, that said, congrats for yr friend for his new rig.

now question is i just wanted to know why you said the first i5 2500k in lebanon. i mean its not even perticularly rare, i know you said that you hope to be the first but i mean where did you presume its that rare. just wanted to know

Beej

First of all sorry for the bad image quality, phone camera...
In any case, this cpu is rare here in Lebanon, i searched alot of store in Beirut and i couldnt find one. Also the big stores here in Beirut and online distributers either have 2500 non-K or 2600K, and no matter how i try and order it as a special item i get sorry we cant provide. I did my homework on finding this cpu, but maybe i failed to check a few stores, maybe they had one...

Follow update 2 :http://www.lebgeeks.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=9667

Khaled

well pcandparts has many of them www.pcandparts.com.. microcity has many of them ... you just had to search a little more... nthing personal i just wanted u to know :P good luck anyway

Beej

khaled my friend, pcandparts and microcity along with all distributers are limited to 1 big company, most of us know its name.
The item in my hand is i5 2500 K, K series have unlocked multiplyers and can oc way way way beyond a non K variant. Pcandparts and microcity have 2500 non-k, which can slightly oc. You can get it to 4ghz if your lucky, since the multiplyer is locked you will have to oc the baseclock from 100 mhz to 103-4 IF your lucky, also upping the baseclock too high can damage cpu and degrade sata performance. A K version is unlocked keep the baseclock 100 mhz and multiply by 44-48, you can get 4.4ghz. Anyway the rest of the pc wil arrive from pcandparts dont worry about that.
But again i stress NON K version of the 2500 exist in lebanon's retailers, the only K sold is 2600 and to me the price difference is useless, we saved $ from here and there and put all our efforts in the gtx 570, gpu matters more than cpu :).

Concerning the 570 and why i chose this card over the reference gtx 570 is because of the issue with vanilla gtx 570 accompanied by oc and overvoltaging.
I had 2 choices this card and pcandpart's msi PE, the asus card costs 500$ from Republic of gamers store after the guy gave me a discount while the msi from PCandParts is 488$ add vat and 5$ shipping the price is 542$. So i saved 42$.
Second reason i didnt buy msi, though i love their gpu lineup, is because this particular MSI gtx 570 Power Edition OC is EOL. Msi does not make it anymore, lets say after a few month the card died, what will i do??
In usa msi is giving refunds to these cards, we are not in USA :S...

Follow update 2 :http://www.lebgeeks.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=9667

yasamoka

What motherboard? What chassis? Congrats on the ASUS GTX 570 DirectCUII and the Core i5 2500K, by the way. The GTX 570 is a beast.

Beej

Dont get your hopes too high on the choice of mobo and case...:S.
BUT am hoping to gt a good oc out of the system. PC doesnt have to look good, but it has to perform great ;).

Follow update 2 :http://www.lebgeeks.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=9667

Flakk

Welcome Beej and good job on that PC.

yasamoka

Beej wrotekhaled my friend, pcandparts and microcity along with all distributers are limited to 1 big company, most of us know its name.
The item in my hand is i5 2500 K, K series have unlocked multiplyers and can oc way way way beyond a non K variant. Pcandparts and microcity have 2500 non-k, which can slightly oc. You can get it to 4ghz if your lucky, since the multiplyer is locked you will have to oc the baseclock from 100 mhz to 103-4 IF your lucky, also upping the baseclock too high can damage cpu and degrade sata performance. A K version is unlocked keep the baseclock 100 mhz and multiply by 44-48, you can get 4.4ghz. Anyway the rest of the pc wil arrive from pcandparts dont worry about that.
But again i stress NON K version of the 2500 exist in lebanon's retailers, the only K sold is 2600 and to me the price difference is useless, we saved $ from here and there and put all our efforts in the gtx 570, gpu matters more than cpu :).

Concerning the 570 and why i chose this card over the reference gtx 570 is because of the issue with vanilla gtx 570 accompanied by oc and overvoltaging.
I had 2 choices this card and pcandpart's msi PE, this card costs 500$ after the guy gave me a discount the msi is 488$ add vat and 5$ shipping the price is 542$. So i saved 42$.
Second reason i didnt buy msi, though i love their gpu lineup, is because this particular MSI gtx 570 Power Edition OC is EOL. Msi does not make it anymore, lets say after a few month the card died, what will i do??
In usa msi is giving refunds to these cards, we are not in USA :S...

Don't you mean he gave you a discount on the DirectCUII and not the MSI? Although the DirectCUII is more expensive than the MSI Twin Frozr, he still managed to sell the ASUS DirectCUII for less.

yasamoka

Khaled wrotewell pcandparts has many of them www.pcandparts.com.. microcity has many of them ... you just had to search a little more... nthing personal i just wanted u to know :P good luck anyway

Did you personally check pcandparts? The 2500K is not even listed.

Beej

Don't you mean he gave you a discount on the DirectCUII and not the MSI? Although the DirectCUII is more expensive than the MSI Twin Frozr, he still managed to sell the ASUS DirectCUII for less.

No the asus card is from ROG store, but the msi is from pcandparts, thats why i added vat and shipping:P.
In anycase am 100% sure that if i orderd the msi gtx570 from Republic of Gamers store, he will definitly be cheaper (and yes he does supply non-asus parts).

Follow update 2 :http://www.lebgeeks.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=9667

Rody

Beej wrote
Don't you mean he gave you a discount on the DirectCUII and not the MSI? Although the DirectCUII is more expensive than the MSI Twin Frozr, he still managed to sell the ASUS DirectCUII for less.
No the asus card is from ROG store, but the msi is from pcandparts, thats why i added vat and shipping:P.
In anycase am 100% sure that if i orderd the msi gtx570 from Republic of Gamers store, he will definitly be cheaper (and yes he does supply non-asus parts).

hi
i don't understand you paid $500 for asus gtx570
i found it at pcandparts for 372+vat
:O

Beej

You sir are right, Rody.
But what pcandparts listed is the vanilla gtx 570, reference card. If you search online you wil be amazed at the number of people who own reference gtx 570 have troubles with overclocking and overvolting. You see the gtx 570 uses 4 phases to power the gpu, which is not enough, but the msi and dcu boost 6+1 and 8 respectively.
So if you want to compare the prices of these 2 cards i paid 500$ while the other is 42$ more. In any case i will update the OP with overclocking results as i have reached my max oc ;).
Stay tuned for more...

Follow update 2 :http://www.lebgeeks.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=9667

yasamoka

Rody wrote
Beej wrote
Don't you mean he gave you a discount on the DirectCUII and not the MSI? Although the DirectCUII is more expensive than the MSI Twin Frozr, he still managed to sell the ASUS DirectCUII for less.
No the asus card is from ROG store, but the msi is from pcandparts, thats why i added vat and shipping:P.
In anycase am 100% sure that if i orderd the msi gtx570 from Republic of Gamers store, he will definitly be cheaper (and yes he does supply non-asus parts).
hi
i don't understand you paid $500 for asus gtx570
i found it at pcandparts for 372+vat
:O

What Beej said is right...but you also have more cooling for less fan noise...basically when overclocking a card, you can't OC too high and when you do OC, you WILL have to raise the fan speed. Temperatures will not be that great and your fan will be noisy. But with DirectCUII you have the choice between pure low temperature and high fan speed and good temperatures with low fan speeds. OCing is like a dream because of the added cooling AND the higher number of power phases.

So in the end you are getting a great card with great cooling and stability and reliability for $100 more, rather than spending a fortune for a reference GTX580. The DirectCUII GTX570 should overclock further than a reference GTX 580 (even if OCed) by the way.

Beej

Oh yea i forgot the temps and noise :P.
When i update the op i added the fan speed, basicly the fan stays on auto with my max oc with temp reaching 66 degrees, which is still really good, but the vm's temps are getting hot, so i upped the fan speed to 50% and all is cool with low fan noise.

Follow update 2 :http://www.lebgeeks.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=9667

Rody

Beej wroteOh yea i forgot the temps and noise :P.
When i update the op i added the fan speed, basicly the fan stays on auto with my max oc with temp reaching 66 degrees, which is still really good, but the vm's temps are getting hot, so i upped the fan speed to 50% and all is cool with low fan noise.

Hi beej, just can't see the need why the heck i need to overclock this card, it is extremely fast and everything run smoothly with the current games :) not in ten years :))))))

i would rather spend the extra $100 or a bit more on upgrading to an SSD, i think the result will be more satisfying

my opinion :)

Beej

True an ssd will increase boot time and loading time and will help in certain games, mainly strategy games when number of stuff increase alot.
Also you have to remember it is not my pc :). And you can never have anything fast enough.
And you answered your own question, if a reference 570 will be enough for 10 years then this card + oc will last for 12 :P.
In anycase oc is fun and its a hobby of mine :).

Follow update 2 :http://www.lebgeeks.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=9667

yasamoka

Rody wrote
Beej wroteOh yea i forgot the temps and noise :P.
When i update the op i added the fan speed, basicly the fan stays on auto with my max oc with temp reaching 66 degrees, which is still really good, but the vm's temps are getting hot, so i upped the fan speed to 50% and all is cool with low fan noise.
Hi beej, just can't see the need why the heck i need to overclock this card, it is extremely fast and everything run smoothly with the current games :) not in ten years :))))))

i would rather spend the extra $100 or a bit more on upgrading to an SSD, i think the result will be more satisfying

my opinion :)

Simple...higher resolution...antialiasing...multimonitor...folding is faster...the possibilities are endless. Let's say your card gets 40FPS minimum. Overclocking would make it get 60FPS minimum, then the game will run at 60FPS constant, assuming your refresh rate is 60Hz. Take note that a single card cannot really run a demanding game with maxed out antialiasing, well a good OC will let you somewhat be able to do that. And you can run newer games on higher details without replacing the card.

Ten years?? You kidding me?? Give it 5 years and it will start to really struggle. Look at the 8800GTX which was released in 2006 and was the king of cards back then. Right now, 8800GT, almost equivalent in performance, is considered somewhat low-end and cannot properly run things at medium / high @ high res. And the fact that it can still run games is only due to the fact that this is probably the first time hardware really surpasses software.

MrClass

im still on a GTX280 and all games run with maximum graphic quality. it's all about the game developers. Unless the game's graphic get more complicated, I will be keeping the GTX280 for a very long time