i7 930 Build - Suggestions Appreciated!

[ThorofThunder]

AnandTech Members,

I queried the forums about prospective components as well as pricing about a month ago, and the time has come to begin the ordering/building process.

I return home in 3 days and I’ve already begun to order parts online. Everything should be, in theory, sitting in my house and ready to put together upon my return.

I’ll list out the parts quickly, as well as their respective price points (for those of you who are interested). I would love to hear some suggestions on installation procedures or tips. (Ex: Don’t install drivers provided with the motherboard, etc.)

And I’ll keep updating the thread as my computer build progresses. I owe a lot of this build to these forums!

Cheers AnandTech!

TigerDirect Purchases:
XFX Radeon 5870 1GB
$409 - $49 = $360 (BCB)

Acer H233H BMID 23”
$209 - $25 = $185 (BCB)

Logitech G15 R2 Keyboard
$74 (BCB)

Lite-On IHAS124-04 Internal DVD Writer + 16 DVD+R Bundle
$24.99 (BCB)


Newegg Purchases:
G. Skill 6GB DDR3 1600MHz CL9 + Gigabyte x58A-UD3R SATA 6gb/s USB 3.0
$169 + $209 - $80 = $298 (Newegg Combo Deal with BCB)

Antec TruePower New 750W
$119 - $15 - $20 = $85 (Newegg Deal with MIR and BCB)

Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB 7,200 RPM 32MB Cache
$89 - $20 = $69 (Newegg Deal with BCB)


Amazon Purchase:
2x Scythe S-Flex 120MM 1600RPM
$13 (x2) = $26


Micro Center Purchases:
Intel Core i7 930
$200

Scythe Mugen 2 Rev. B
$45

Antec 1200 Case
$150

I’ve also purchased some Arctic Silver 5 as well as power extensions for my power supply just in case. I want my case to be as cable-managed as possible. I’m also going to glue this all together with a Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit operating system.

So, are there any tips out there? I read up on the UD3R board and found that there are quite a number of utilities that come bundled with it. I’m relatively tech-savvy so I don’t need any kind of monitoring utility, and I’d like to keep my new computer clutter-free. However, I would like OCing software recommendations—as in Afterburner, etc.—because I will be pushing this thing to the 4 GHz mark.

Any tips and suggestions are welcomed. Expect this thread to be updated soon with pictures!

 

[ChaiBabbaChai]

Well not to be a dick, but I am, I wouldn't choose any of those parts. MAYBE the Samsung F3, but the 2TB model.

Conflicting thoughts: UD3R has plenty of utilities, but you want it clutter free? I only installed 1 of GIGABYTE's utilities: The Face_Wizard program for flashing the BIOS with your own splash image. You do need monitoring software for overclocking. Being tech savvy doesn't make you have eyeball temp probes and voltage meters in your fingers. Lavalys EVEREST is great. The TPM software might be good if that board has a TPM chipset. Not sure if you need software for TPM. The other utilites are just bloat. I do the overclocking in the BIOS. I don't trust windows OC tools for some reason. It just seems counter intuitive if you see how the board behaves after rebooting with changed over-clock/over-voltage settings. It has some sort of calibration or self check process that I can't imagine works when fully powered on.

Good luck hitting 4GHz with a Mugen 2 and UD3R. I suggest the UD5 if one of your goals is hitting 4GHz.