Fractal Arc Midi build

[AndyHope]

I am a 44 year old Control Systems Engineer, I have been messing around with Computers since I was 15 (Sinclair ZX-81) and I have built a few of my own PCs over the years. I play games (mostly World of Tanks, Eve Online and Command & Conquer) and my 5 year old PC was realy struggeling so it was time for a fresh one.

Parts used:
Case: Fractal Design Arc Midi ATX+ Windowed side panel
PSU: Corsair AX760i PSU
Mobo: Asus P8Z77-V
CPU: Intel i5 3570K
Cooler: Corsair H100i
GPU: Gigabyte GTX670 OC
RAM: 16GB (2x8GB) Corsair DDR3 Vengeance Low Profile Cerulean Blue PC3-12800 (1600)
SSD: OCZ Vertex 4 128GB
HDD: WD Caviar Green Sata3 2TB 5400RPM
KB: Gigabyte Osmium
Mouse: Madcatz R.A.T. 7
Fan: Corsair SP120 quiet 2 pack
Fan: Corsair AP140 quiet single
OS: MS Win 7 Home Prem 64bit OEM
Spkrs: Genius SP-HF1800A
DVD: Robbed off my old PC
Monitor:Robbed off my old PC
All parts bought from Scan except the HDD. Total cost ~ £1,600

I was working in Jamaica when I ordered the parts, it was Easter Monday and I was coming home the next day so hoped for it to be delivered on the Wednesday. The credit card didn't authorise (my bank doesn't like me ordering stuff from the UK when they know i am abroad).

I had to authorise it on the laptop at Gatwick Airport while on the phone to Scan, so there was a short delay getting my stuff. It all arrived on Thursday so I didn't have too long to wait.

Everything worked except the HDD so I popped out to PCWorld and got one off the shelf which worked first time. I am still waiting for my replacement / refund but I expect that to come through tomorrow.

This is the second dead HDD I have had from Scan but everything else that I have ordered from them has been fine. Their service isn't perfect but it's not bad, they have pretty much everything that you need in stock and their prices are good.

I overclocked it a wee bit (following Tom's 1155 overclocking guide), its running at 4.2 ghz with temperatures max 73 degrees while stress testing with OCCT. Its is very quiet even when gaming.

The cabling could have been better if I used individually braided cables but that is a bit of a luxury IMHO. I still need a couple of fan cable extensions to make it acceptable. I was thinking of buying the Corsair Link cooling and lighting kit but it seems a bit overpriced to me.

 

[Sir-Weasel]

Nice looking rig ( nice and balanced ) and good cable management:lol:
i can see this isn't your first build

 

[alpenwasser]

Hi Andy, and welcome!

I am a 44 year old Control Systems Engineer, I have been messing around with Computers since I was 15 (Sinclair ZX-81)

Just had to Google that thing. Man, it looks awesome :rock:

Liking the rig, nice and clean, with good colour coordination. Although I'm thinking
this is probably more a thread for the rig gallery than the build log section?

Anyway, welcome again, and nice work

 

[airdeano]

welcome to the OC3D forums andy!

noice, clean and proper.
i'd pass on the stand-alone link kit. more clutter, less headaches.
super build again welcome to the forums.

 

[Lystfiskern]

Welcome to c3d: Andy - Nice build, tidy cables

 

[Noz_God]

Nice clean rig, I like

 

[sheroo]

Lookin' good. What volts are you using to obtain that 4.2 overclock? With the Asus boards its recommended to have LLC at "Ultra High" as opposed to "Extreme", as this will give you the closest voltage to the one you have set in the bios.

 

[AndyHope]

Lookin' good. What volts are you using to obtain that 4.2 overclock? With the Asus boards its recommended to have LLC at "Ultra High" as opposed to "Extreme", as this will give you the closest voltage to the one you have set in the bios.

I used 1.13 and extreme Load Line Calibration.

I did find that the extreme setting pushed the voltage up to 1.16 when the CPU was loaded, if I do any more tinkering I will definitely try your suggestion.

I also found that the asus board sometimes reported incorrect temperatures on one or 2 of the cores, this seems to be a common problem with Asus motherboards showing erroneous voltages / temperatures in the hardware monitor.

 

[sheroo]

That temp reading does seem a little bit odd - may be worth a bios update if you think its worth it.

 

[alienware]

Small pics are, well,small

 

[AndyHope]

Sorry I was trying to avoid using an external host for the pics but the forum limits are quite small. Here are larger images:

 

[alpenwasser]

Sorry I was trying to avoid using an external host for the pics but the forum limits are quite small.

Yeah the forum image hosting is (as far as I understand) primarily for pics that
you use when need to show something quickly. Bandwidth does cost, and if
everyone uploaded their high-res pics to the site, that would probably run up
quite a bit of bandwidth usage.

I've just checked with my hosting provider, and since starting my build log for
HELIOS last Friday I've racked up 1 GB of bandwidth usage from a mere 20 MB
of pictures. It does add up incredibly quickly.

Having said that, now that I can appreciate your work in its full glory, I must say:

It's really, really pretty :dribble:

 

[SeekaX]

very neat and clean. love it.

 

[AndyHope]

Lookin' good. What volts are you using to obtain that 4.2 overclock? With the Asus boards its recommended to have LLC at "Ultra High" as opposed to "Extreme", as this will give you the closest voltage to the one you have set in the bios.

Excellent advice, i switched to 'Ultra High' and with the vcore set to 1.13 it is now regulating between 1.13 and 1.14 volts.

 

[sheroo]

Cool. Its time to see if you can crank her up a little - should be able to hit 4.4 no sweat given your current voltage.

 

[BPRSM]

Looks very nice

 

[Lystfiskern]

Looks very fine m8.

Might I suggest u switch to these pics in your first post. Have u considered removing the cage-sliders? Think it would make for an even cleaner look - tho makes installing another 2 more drives at a later point that little bit more of a job.

 

[Tindo]

Very nice & clean, big up

 

[alienware]

Much better pics thanks !

Nice work you've done there.

 

[UkGouki]

very neat love the build but i dont understand how your temps are so high.

im at 4.2ghz on the stock intel HSF and my max temp at 1.112v is 66c you have a h100i so should be getting less temps than me i would try a bios update.

i think i have a gem of a cpu though my stock vid is 0.950v and i can get 4.0ghz at 1.050 needs 1.100 for 4.1 and what im currently at for 4.2,
i treid 4.5 but failed occt after 2 hours... hit max temp also needed 1.225v...