My New Haswell Rig: A Two-Part Review
- Thread starter Boozad
- Start date
Boozad
Prolific Poster
Yeah I've installed everything from the motherboard disk, which funnily enough seems to have made things worse. I was getting transfer speeds of up to 40MB p/s before installing but now it's around 10MB p/s. I was getting around 100MB p/s on the old rig except from the added front panel, I'll get to the bottom of it.
Boozad
Prolific Poster
Right, I'm still in the setup phase at the moment, installing programs and games and importing stuff from my external HDD. But here are a few pictures to be going on with.
The box that arrived was absolutely massive! I struggled to get it in through the doors it was that big and heavy, and when I opened it I saw that the packaging was completely bombproof which explained the size and weight. The usual package of booklets, disks, stickers and unused PSU cables were packed neatly into their own box and the rig itself was wrapped and padded to high heaven. Go PCS!
The build quality itself is fantastic, it looks gorgeous inside and my crappy photos don't really do it justice. The 780 and the Z87 are absolutely stunning, I'll have to get the DSLR out and get some much better shots when I have an hour or two spare. I've topped out the Windows Experience and will 3DMark when Tomb Raider's finished installing. First impressions of my first SSD are just 'wow', all of my files installed on that drive are opening in the blink of an eye, although I haven't noticed the quicker bootup speed yet as I had to go through setup first time round.
I'm loving this rig!
The box that arrived was absolutely massive! I struggled to get it in through the doors it was that big and heavy, and when I opened it I saw that the packaging was completely bombproof which explained the size and weight. The usual package of booklets, disks, stickers and unused PSU cables were packed neatly into their own box and the rig itself was wrapped and padded to high heaven. Go PCS!
The build quality itself is fantastic, it looks gorgeous inside and my crappy photos don't really do it justice. The 780 and the Z87 are absolutely stunning, I'll have to get the DSLR out and get some much better shots when I have an hour or two spare. I've topped out the Windows Experience and will 3DMark when Tomb Raider's finished installing. First impressions of my first SSD are just 'wow', all of my files installed on that drive are opening in the blink of an eye, although I haven't noticed the quicker bootup speed yet as I had to go through setup first time round.
I'm loving this rig!
ragingwhisky
Bronze Level Poster
but here's the question....
Can you hear it when it starts up! And how power hungry in "real world" use
I must admit...coming from myself who has spent his last decade around laptops and servers....I am very very pleased to see that the entire build looks especially sleek and professional. I certainly can say that the look of the machine, the wiring and it's ability to meld in (some PC cases are just ugly....especially some of the "gamer" ones)..this....yup..does it for me.
Congrats on your build, really very much so
Can you hear it when it starts up! And how power hungry in "real world" use
I must admit...coming from myself who has spent his last decade around laptops and servers....I am very very pleased to see that the entire build looks especially sleek and professional. I certainly can say that the look of the machine, the wiring and it's ability to meld in (some PC cases are just ugly....especially some of the "gamer" ones)..this....yup..does it for me.
Congrats on your build, really very much so
Boozad
Prolific Poster
but here's the question....
Can you hear it when it starts up! And how power hungry in "real world" use
You can hear it when it starts up, for about fifteen seconds and then it settles down to a barely audible hum. I'm sitting literally a foot away from (on standard setting in AI Suite III) and I can just hear it. Temps are running fine with each core hovering around the 38°C mark with some standard tasks running. You'll be more than impressed. I don't know about power usage yet, I'm still setting stuff up.
It's much better than my photos show, it's a very high standard build. Tinglingly good to look at in person.
Congrats on your build, really very much so
Cheers mate, I'm sure you'll love yours just as much as I love this one!
Boozad
Prolific Poster
Yeah the door swings shut! It's not really a problem though as I only have it open briefly to insert or remove disks. The Z87 is gorgeous, so glad I chose it now.
There are a couple of teething problems (USB 3.0 and internet connection both being slow/intermittent) but I'll get to the bottom of those later.
EDIT: Downloaded and installed the latest LAN and USB 3.0 drivers from ASUS (I couldn't last night, my connection was so bad) and things seem to have improved. Up to 45MB/s on USB 3.0 transfer rates and net connection back up to 60MB/s. Ping times are still awful though but I know that's down to Virgin.
There are a couple of teething problems (USB 3.0 and internet connection both being slow/intermittent) but I'll get to the bottom of those later.
EDIT: Downloaded and installed the latest LAN and USB 3.0 drivers from ASUS (I couldn't last night, my connection was so bad) and things seem to have improved. Up to 45MB/s on USB 3.0 transfer rates and net connection back up to 60MB/s. Ping times are still awful though but I know that's down to Virgin.
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Boozad
Prolific Poster
XL. It's usually an excellent service, consistent download speeds and great WiFi around the house, but last night I was downloading Metro at around 500 - 700kb/s. I couldn't even get a reading on Speedtest.net at one point, so I'm presuming that was something to do with the rig. All was OK this morning with 60mb/s download speeds so I downloaded the LAN driver there and then, I'll see later whether the connection has restabilised or not.
My ping times have been bad for a few months hitting around 200ms, last night was over 350ms.
tom_gr7
Life Serving
was possibly virgins rip of traffic management policy.
Boozad
Prolific Poster
Well the USB 3.0 is sorted, over 100Mb/s now to the Touro so it looks like the driver package worked. Net speeds are back to normal too by the look of it so maybe the LAN drivers helped out too, although it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if Virgin had a hand in it, and ping times are still appallingly slow. All I need to do now is get some gaming done!
Boozad
Prolific Poster
Will be on steam all day
I'll probably be around tonight. Just got back from work and have got to silver sand the drive, move a load of building materials, watch Despicable Me with the kids, order pizza and get stuff ready for work tomorrow. I'm installing games now though (Rpitide will be one of them!) at proper speeds, so yesterday's teething troubles are all ironed out, the rig's now running like clockwork!
Still so much to figure out though, GeForce Experience for one, I can't wait to put this 780 through its paces! And there's so much Intel branded stuff on here I need to look into; LAN (massive amount of options in Device Manager!), SSD Rapid Storage Technology etc...
ragingwhisky
Bronze Level Poster
Ditto - just got my one this morning and have spent the last 2 hours getting it "back up to shape".
Had it on with the fan (sliders on top) set to silent, door closed, general windows usage and installations - averaging 29 degrees C.
Getting the same?
Had it on with the fan (sliders on top) set to silent, door closed, general windows usage and installations - averaging 29 degrees C.
Getting the same?
Boozad
Prolific Poster
My cores are running around 38°C under general usage, what are you using to monitor your temps?
Oh, and where are your photos?!
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ragingwhisky
Bronze Level Poster
Wouldn't be as interesting as yours! My pictures would just show an identical mobo, gpu, case power supply (750) and cooler
but here is the system just setup now next to my desk.
I'm using the BIOS readouts (averaging just now at 33 after running the Nvidia "faceworks" demo http://www.nvidia.co.uk/coolstuff/demos#!/lifelike-human-face-rendering )
I think what makes this whole system all the better, IS the fact you have a near identical setup. Highlights that as a "convergence" or components...it's destined to be!
but here is the system just setup now next to my desk.
I'm using the BIOS readouts (averaging just now at 33 after running the Nvidia "faceworks" demo http://www.nvidia.co.uk/coolstuff/demos#!/lifelike-human-face-rendering )
I think what makes this whole system all the better, IS the fact you have a near identical setup. Highlights that as a "convergence" or components...it's destined to be!