Sandy Bridge (Builds, Discussion and Random Shit)

[cdbob]

Well seeing the amount of pics in the New Toys Thread, I figured it was a good idea to create this thread to get all those pics and the like into one thread to keep everyone jolly.

Intel created Sandy Bridge on the 32nm process as a "tock" in it's overall *yawn* Blah, Blah, Sandy Bridge, Blah, Blah

Fuck it, here's build pics

Boxes, Boxes, Boxes!

Inside the Case

Fan Controller Installed

First two of 5 2TB mounted in their brackets

And now inside the case

Seasonic PSU

I really like the badge!

Inside the case, upside down

Fixed!

PSU screwed into case

We all know what this is for

The Third 2TB Harddrive sitting in it's rat's nest

The Side Panel off

And now on

The arse of the case

Front

Front with fans

And now just the case

New Parts...

The RAM

The GPU

Case ready for the (next) motherboard

Boot drive, picture was taken this way to avoid photographing the serial number

CPU cooler, the fans pretty loud on this so I'll probably replace it with a noctua in the future.

I still have some more pics to take of the boxes and such. I've RMAed by CPU and Motherboard and the replacements should be arriving this coming week.

It's "the" case to have right now IMHO, when newegg picks them up they'll spread like wildfire and the prices will skyrocket.

Some more parts installed:

Another 80mm Front Fan to cool the 6 HDDs

The DVD Drive

Replacement CPU and motherboard arrived (and they work this time!)

"The Beast"

Motherboard

Motherboard + CPU

With the stock (crap) heatsink. I will put the aftermarket heat sink on during the weekend

The computer up and running

Spec:
CPU: Intel i5 2500k
Motherboard: Asus P8P67
GPU: MSI Cyclone Nvidia GTX 460 768mb OC
RAM: 4x4GB Patriot 1333
Case: Fractal R3
PSU: Seasonic S12 620w
HDDs: WD Black 640 GB (boot) 2TB Hitachi 7200rpm (boot), 5x WD Green 2TB

Desktop processors
[20][21][22]

Extreme /
High-End LGA 2011
Extreme
3960X 6 (12) 3.3 GHz 3.9 GHz N/A 15 MB 130 W 2011-11-14 $999
3930K 6 (12) 3.2 GHz 3.8 GHz 12 MB $583
3820 4 (8) 3.6 GHz 3.9 GHz 10 MB $294

Performance LGA 1155
2700K [24] 3.5 GHz 850 MHz 1350 MHz 8 MB 95 W DMI 2.0 $331
2600K 3.4 GHz 3.8 GHz 2011-1-9 $317
2600 $294
2600S 2.8 GHz 65 W $306
4 (4) Core i5 2500K 3.3 GHz 3.7 GHz 1100 MHz 6 MB 95 W $216
2500 $205
2500S 2.7 GHz 65 W $216
2500T 2.3 GHz 3.3 GHz 650 MHz 1250 MHz 45 W
2400 3.1 GHz 3.4 GHz 850 MHz 1100 MHz 95 W $184
2405S 2.5 GHz 3.3 GHz 65 W 2011-5-22 $205
2400S 2011-1-9 $195
2320 3.0 GHz 95 W 2011-9-4 $177
2310 2.9 GHz 3.2 GHz 2011-5-22
2300 2.8 GHz 3.1 GHz 2011-1-9

Mainstream
2 (4) 2390T 2.7 GHz 3.5 GHz 650 MHz 3 MB 35 W 2011-2-20 $195
Core i3 2130 3.4 GHz N/A 850 MHz 65 W 2011-9-4 $138
2125 3.3 GHz $134
2120 2011-2-20 $138
2120T 2.6 GHz 650 MHz 35 W 2011-9-4 $127
2105 3.1 GHz 850 MHz 65 W 2011-5-22 $134
2102 Q2 2011
2100 2011-2-20 $117
2100T 2.5 GHz 650 MHz 35 W $127
N/A 2 (2) Pentium G860 3.0 GHz 850 MHz 65 W 2011-9-4 $86
G850 2.9 GHz 2011-5-24
G840 2.8 GHz $75
G632 2.7 GHz Q3 2011
G630 2011-9-4 $75
G622 2.6 GHz Q2 2011
G620 2011-5-24 $64
G630T 2.3 GHz 650 MHz 35 W 2011-9-4 $70
G620T 2.2 GHz 2011-5-24
Celeron G540 2.5 GHz 850 MHz 1000 MHz 2 MB 65 W 2011-9-4 $52
G530 2.4 GHz $42
G530T 2.0 GHz 650 MHz 35 W $47
1 (1) G440 1.6 GHz 1 MB $37

EDIT: 10/24/11
Out of the entire line I feel that the Celeron chips have been ignored the most. For budget pcs and servers that actually offer the best value (The single core G440's list/1000 is $37 and the dual core G530's list is $43.) With these builds you can get a cheap rig for about $150-$170 for the ram (8 gigs at current prices,) motherboard and CPU. Most atom and bobcat systems cost similar amounts of money and offer drastically decreased performance and similar power consumption. If you're building a low end rig, I recommend you check these out.

Here's a review compared them to the i3s, pentiums, amd dual cores, atom and bobcat.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/celeron-g540-g440_8.html#sect0

Other people with Sandy Bridge builds, questions or future builds GET THE FUCK IN HERE!

 

[nsx_23]

Nice. I'm looking at putting a Sandy bridge comp together soon.

 

[FruityLexia]

*op's post*

Holy fuck.

 

[ZeDestructor]

Well seeing the amount of pics in the New Toys Thread, I figured it was a good idea to create this thread to get all those pics and the like into one thread to keep everyone jolly.

Intel created Sandy Bridge on the 32nm process as a "tock" in it's overall *yawn* Blah, Blah, Sandy Bridge, Blah, Blah

Fuck it, here's build pics
<Various Pics>

There are pics of this build on overclock.net, overclock3d.net and tonymacx86.com where it has the stupid name of "Project Silence in case you stumble upon the EXACT same pics. More pictures of exciting boxes and other shit to come.

Other people with Sandy Bridge builds, questions or future builds GET THE FUCK IN HERE!

Nice build.

I'm also planning on a Sandy Bridge build this year. Pretty much decided on most specs:

i7-2600K
Some manner of Asus board (Z68 preferably so I can hopefully disable the GTX and use intel HD)
GTX 560 or (hopefully) a 570 or even 580 (highly unlikely)
NZXT Phantom Case, in white because fingerprints are horrible
8+ GiB or RAM
HDDs will be decided in due course, probably Samsung because these have been the most reliable drives I've used so far (yes, I don't mind long load times so SSD isn't planned yet)
Liquid Cooling?
Dedicated Sound Card?

I'll also be needing new accessories (screen, speakers, keyboard) as well since I can't be arsed to move my ooooold CRTs and heavy keyboards from home to Sydney, Australia where I'm going for uni

 

[ahpadt]

Any idea when we'll start to see Sandy Bridge in laptops?

 

[cdbob]

Fractal sent a new front panel

... because the old one had defects (great customer support)

Any idea when we'll start to see Sandy Bridge in laptops?

The CPUs were released on the 5th (for the high end quad cores) and the rest of the line stands to be released February 20th. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Bridge_(microarchitecture) (Please note that the release dates they have were correct to the desktop line, so it's very probably they are reliable for the mobile launches.) So probably quite soon.

 

[nsx_23]

Whats cooling like on the Fractal case? I'm thinking of using one for my next build.

I have an Antec 900 atm - Great cooling, but noisy as hell. I want my next computer to still be fast but quiet as well.

 

[Average Guy]

You've properly all already seen my build but here it goes again

Here's my Sandy Bitch:

Boxes:
http://img14.imageshack.**/img14/7758/img8241m.jpg

Fractal Design FTW?
http://img534.imageshack.**/img534/7828/img8244v.jpg
http://img828.imageshack.**/img828/2192/img8248r.jpg
http://img202.imageshack.**/img202/8750/img8250c.jpg

It all put together:
http://img801.imageshack.**/img801/9365/img8252.jpg
http://img812.imageshack.**/img812/7170/img8260i.jpg

Then a little Noctua came by :
http://img607.imageshack.**/img607/2482/imag0225lille.jpg
http://img130.imageshack.**/img130/7576/img8281j.jpg
http://img814.imageshack.**/img814/7660/img8286p.jpg

And then when I come home from school today I expect another GTX 460 to be waiting for me

 

[Backdraft]

Any idea when we'll start to see Sandy Bridge in laptops?

This is a question I'm also interested in, I'm tired of settling for smaller laptops with nerfed Atom processors or an anemic mobile graphics. Not looking to power Crysis 2 or anything, but playing Source games on medium settings would be acceptable. Also interested in what the initial price would be for SB laptops and when to (presumably) wait until they drop.

 

[Goondu86]

The Fractal cases look fucking cool. Currently contemplating a notebook for work (11.6 that doesn't cost me a kidney and liver) or a Sandy Bridge upgrade. My present PC is still pretty pimped for all that I need it for, i haz a QX6800, Asus P5Q, 8GB of G.Skillz DDR2 1000MHz and a Sapphire Radeon 5850, and housed in a little Lian Li PC-A05(great space saving case, look it up).

 

[ZeDestructor]

Just saw GTX 560 Ti reviews. Pretty much confirmed now

Just need to get into Uni first (involves changing country) before I can build

 

[cdbob]

Then a little Noctua came by :

http://img130.imageshack.**/img130/7576/img8281j.jpg
\)

Which slot did you put your fan in? Because I used the power fan because the 3 pin cpu next to the four pin didn't work. Did you use the power and modify the mobo settings to let it know it was the CPU fan or did you use that normal three pin one?

 

[Cobol74]

Nice kit. ... Cobol74 approves.

 

[Average Guy]

Which slot did you put your fan in? Because I used the power fan because the 3 pin cpu next to the four pin didn't work. Did you use the power and modify the mobo settings to let it know it was the CPU fan or did you use that normal three pin one?

In the picture it runs on the pwr_fan (The noctua was so big I couldn't get my hand down behind it and into the cpu_fan because I mounted it while it was in the case), wich means it ran 100% all the time, but I've connected it to the fan controller now with all the other fans so I have 100% quiet computer now!

Even when all the fans on the lowest speed I only get temps up to 46c

 

[gtrietsc]

Oooh, good thread. I will be building a new rig in March (once tax refund is back, etc.) Been waiting for Sandy Bridge before I jumped, and I will probably be ripping one or more of you off as to what to buy based on your experiences.

 

[cdbob]

This was my first OC with the stock cooler, it sucked



This is my OC after first installing the stock tuner and using the Autotune program for get a feel for what I could do



This was my max stable overclock, using efui and trying to keep the voltage under 1.35 volts. My cooler let down my cpu here, which could probably get to 5 GHZ with the right cooler



This is my final 24/7 OC. I worked out the phase control from 25% down to 0% with the voltage set to +0.015, 1.24 volts running Super Pi, in Intel Burn test it doesn't go much higher voltage wise (1.288), in the os it usually never goes over 1.05 volts (ocing 1 core), max temps are around 70C



A little more voltage work (along with some work on the ram voltage and timings), now set to -0.030 here's a shot from Intel Burn Test, there was a max of 1.72 but I couldn't catch on cpu-z because it only lasts a spilt second.

 

[cdbob]

Well, it looks like my Asus board has decided to die again, so this will be RMA # 2. I've tried resetting the bios with the jumper pins and removing the battery. The good news is that a few hours before the board stopped working I managed to get OSX on the machine.

 

[Average Guy]

Sandy Bridge epic fail!! :O

And it shows on the Intel stocks

 

[cdbob]

So I've had little luck with the Asus Tech Support. In fact it's been so bad I thought I might post it to warn other people.
These are copy and pasted word for word. (Mail is from newest to oldest so start from the bottom)


"Hello Then the problem will not related to the model of the P8P67 series models. If it is the problem as you mentioned.At least the board could boot up, it just could not boot in to OS and there should be video on the screen.
In your situation,the troubleshooting is just as what I wrote in my first mail. You say the power LED is on, this simply indicates the power supply is fine and there is current on the motherboard. In this situaiton, you could use all the power connectors at the same time.(if you use more somponents, then 4-pin EATX12V will not be enough) If no effort,please clear the CMOS to load default settings and try again. If the problem still exists,I suggest you to take the motherboard out of case and keep the necessary components(a CPU, a video card, a memory) onboard to see if it post. If yes,may be there is something wrong with the other devices you installed,check them in order. If it still can't boot,please replace the CPU,video card and memory to define which of them is defected.
Welcome to refer Troubleshooting & FAQ for ASUS products in ASUS website: Troubleshooting - http://support.asus.com/troubleshooting/troubleshooting.aspx?SLanguage=en-us FAQ - http://support.asus.com/faq/faq.aspx?SLanguage=en-us
If you continue to experience issues in the future, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Best Regards,
(asus costumer support guy)
ASUS Customer Service
---------- Original Message ---------- From : (me) Sent : 2011-1-31 14:08:21 To : "(asus) Subject : Re:Re:Re:Re:<TSD> Motherboard P8P67
---------- Original Message ---------- From:ASUS Tome) Date:2011-01-31 09:52:38
The system does not boot at all, there is no display or power to any any usb device which leads me to think it's the bios chip on the motherboard.
Hello Do you mean that the BIOS will not able to automatically find the same boot device(OS disk) and sometimes it will choose other device as the first boot device? If yes, then please go into Boot Menu and set the 'Setup Mode' to [Advanced Mode], and under [Boot], look for [Boot Option Properties], and change the boot priority from there, then check if the problem persists. Welcome to refer Troubleshooting & FAQ for ASUS products in ASUS website: Troubleshooting - http://support.asus.com/troubleshooting/troubleshooting.aspx? SLanguage=en-us FAQ - http://support.asus.com/faq/faq.aspx?SLanguage=en-us
If you continue to experience issues in the future, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Best Regards,
(asus customer support guy)
ASUS Customer Service ---------- Original Message ---------- From : me Sent : 2011-1-31 2:24:20asus Hello, I do believe this is bios related issue. There are no problems with the power to this board; all the lights are lit that would normally indicate the system is working fine. The problems occurred after the efi firmware randomly decided to try to a boot one of the usb devices. I have searched extensively and this seems to be a problem common to Asus P8P67 series motherboards. I have tried reseating the ram, as well booting each stick alone, using memok to try work the ram timings, different psus, resetting the cmos (while removing the battery), and I've troubleshoot every component. In addition my tried resetting the efi firmware using both the included cd and the updated (as of 1/27/2011) bios on a usb stick with no success. This exact thing happened with another P8P67 I received a few weeks ago and then RMAed. I highly doubt is related to any other component. On Newegg the response to my comment was:
"Manufacturer Response: Dear Valued Customer,
We sincerely apologize for the issues that you are experiencing with this motherboard. Please contact me directly at Newegg_ASUS_MBSupport@asus.com so that I may get details about your system configuration to help you resolve the issues including expediting a fully tested replacement to you.
Best Regards,
ASUS Support Team"
This seems to be a blanket statement made by Asus in order to get good pr, not to help their customers, while i happy to receive this replacement board, I am annoyed that I didn't buy a far more reliable Gigabyte board. Is there a live chat I can to try to get my 2nd $160 motherboard working? I am sorry to be a bit pushy, but I would be very like to have a working computer.
(me) ---------- Original Message ---------- From:ASUS To:me Date:2011-01-31 01:37:42
Dear Valued Customer,
Thank you for contacting ASUS Customer Service.
My name is (blanked out to protect the workers identity and dignity) and it's my pleasure to help you with your problem.
Sorry for the inconvenience. In this situation,first after you power on the motherboard, is the on board power LED on? If not or if the light flashes,please try another power supply for a test.
If the power LED in on. Please make sure every equipment installed correctly. Maybe you could use all the power connectors at the same time. If no effort,please clear the CMOS to load default settings and try again. If the problem still exists,I suggest you to take the motherboard out of case and keep the necessary components(a CPU, a video card, a memory) onboard to see if it post. If yes,may be there is something wrong with the other devices you installed,check them in order. If it still can't boot,please replace the CPU,video card and memory to define which of them is defected.
Welcome to refer Troubleshooting & FAQ for ASUS products in ASUS website: Troubleshooting - http://support.asus.com/troubleshooting/troubleshooting.aspx? SLanguage=en-us FAQ - http://support.asus.com/faq/faq.aspx?SLanguage=en-us
If you continue to experience issues in the future, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Best Regards,
Asus guy
ASUS Customer Service ---------- Original Message ---------- From : Me Sent : 2011-1-31 0:28:03 Asus Subject : <TSD> Motherboard P8P67
Apply date : 1/31/2011 12:12:56 AM(UTC Time) [Contact Information] (my personal information here, blanked out) [Problem Description] This is an board that was a replacement for an RMA, it worked fine for 4 days, went for a reboot after a windows update and the motherboard now displays the problems that first one had (No display/ boot to bios) I really want a solution to this that doesn't involve me waiting another 3 weeks for a new motherboard. This is a fairly high-end motherboard and while mistakes happen, for it to be 2 in a row is pretty shoddy."



Yeah... pretty shitty

 

[nist7]

Looks like those of you looking forward to a new SB build will have to wait a couple of months for Intel to fix all the defective motherboards.

1366 ftw!