I was thinking of how to describe the upgrade i did since i didn't really "upgrade" every darn thing on my rig that was in a coma for the better part of the year. So having decided to revive my old rig (affectionately called Blackbird) I decided i needed to swap out the Holy trio of CPU+Mobo+RAM... i.e. a "Heart Transplant" ROFL. Hence the thread title 
So after Irfahn took my old E8400+P5K Deluxe+Crucial Ballistix tracers from my old rig... I finally went all out and settled for an ivy bridge setup. Albeit a lot more needs to be sourced still
Here's what Blackbird II comprises of
CPU : Core i5 3570K
Mobo: Maximus V Gene
RAM : Corsair DDR3 1600 9-9-9-24 Vengeance 8GB kit
with the below carry forwards:
GFX : Msi HD5850 1GB (for sale...next upgrade)
Storage : Seagate 80GB 7200rpm SATA + WD 1TB data backup
Chassis : Coolermaster CM690 v1.0
PSU : Corsair HX650
Display: Dell SP2208WFP
So basically i just resurrected my rig with a "core" transplant .. there are of course a few more upgrades i want done but will need some advice on.
shopping list:
1. SSD --- looking for a 60GB SSD (OS + 1 game if possible as primary use). Was torn between the previous gen Corsair Force 3 // Vertex 3 etc or the new Vertex 4. Ideally anything below 4.5k
2. Cooling --- It's been a while since i did any OC's & knowing that the 3570k + Gene is a very stable platform to push performance from ivy bridge, i've read that IB needs careful cooling. So far im on the stock cooler & im not too familiar with OC'ing the recent cpu's either... so I've been looking for the Corsair H80 before i start pushing it.
Initial reviews :
1. While the processor is fast, the temps at stock as measured by CoreTemp are in the regions of 53-55. My room is mostly non AC during use & i know the HDD is the weakest link for the moment when it comes to overall performance, So i'll reserve my final judgement on it for later.
2. Most of my praise is for the Maximus V Gene. I'm really enjoying this board's basic feature set and the intel gigabit ethernet controller. I can definitely feel an improvement on the browsing and downloading throughput almost instantly compared to my old setup. The CPU level up feature albeit gimmicky is quite stable and does what it says. One click boosts to 4.5 (or 4.6 iirc) is a no brainer.. but i havent played around too much for the fear of cooking the CPU on the stock cooler.
3. The HD Audio experience is much richer too & i will admit i was a bit skeptical about the isolated sound IC feature etc that the board touted, but once you play around with the Soundblaster/Realtek / THX options.. you can really dial in a 5.1 system easily!
What i really didnt like..
1. The CPU retaining mechanism is a bit wobbly/fiddly and i think the clamp design could have been made better by asus. I don't really know if anyone else found this a bit flimsy but i did have a few anxious moments when locking down the cpu with their latch plate.
2. While this board is small obviously.. the RAM sticks do come pretty close to the CPU cooler .. I'd have appreciated a bit more room there. Also one of the bays was SUPER TIGHT to get the stick into.. I didn't face it with the other bays so this was a bit weird for sure.
Going forward i need to figure out how to run this rig stable at some decent OC.. nothing extreme. Though it appears that if i only select 1600 from the bios settings for the Corsair Vengeance (which defaults to 1333 initially) it automatically bumps the CPU up to 4.6Ghz . I'm a little apprehensive about this, but i can see there are quite a few members here who own the Maximus V Gene, so i'd appreciate some pointers on some OC tips for this board and memory
Cheers!
Almost forgot the pics
So after Irfahn took my old E8400+P5K Deluxe+Crucial Ballistix tracers from my old rig... I finally went all out and settled for an ivy bridge setup. Albeit a lot more needs to be sourced still
Here's what Blackbird II comprises of
CPU : Core i5 3570K
Mobo: Maximus V Gene
RAM : Corsair DDR3 1600 9-9-9-24 Vengeance 8GB kit
with the below carry forwards:
GFX : Msi HD5850 1GB (for sale...next upgrade)
Storage : Seagate 80GB 7200rpm SATA + WD 1TB data backup
Chassis : Coolermaster CM690 v1.0
PSU : Corsair HX650
Display: Dell SP2208WFP
So basically i just resurrected my rig with a "core" transplant
.. there are of course a few more upgrades i want done but will need some advice on.shopping list:
1. SSD --- looking for a 60GB SSD (OS + 1 game if possible as primary use). Was torn between the previous gen Corsair Force 3 // Vertex 3 etc or the new Vertex 4. Ideally anything below 4.5k
2. Cooling --- It's been a while since i did any OC's & knowing that the 3570k + Gene is a very stable platform to push performance from ivy bridge, i've read that IB needs careful cooling. So far im on the stock cooler & im not too familiar with OC'ing the recent cpu's either... so I've been looking for the Corsair H80 before i start pushing it.
Initial reviews :
1. While the processor is fast, the temps at stock as measured by CoreTemp are in the regions of 53-55. My room is mostly non AC during use & i know the HDD is the weakest link for the moment when it comes to overall performance, So i'll reserve my final judgement on it for later.
2. Most of my praise is for the Maximus V Gene. I'm really enjoying this board's basic feature set and the intel gigabit ethernet controller. I can definitely feel an improvement on the browsing and downloading throughput almost instantly compared to my old setup. The CPU level up feature albeit gimmicky is quite stable and does what it says. One click boosts to 4.5 (or 4.6 iirc) is a no brainer.. but i havent played around too much for the fear of cooking the CPU on the stock cooler.
3. The HD Audio experience is much richer too & i will admit i was a bit skeptical about the isolated sound IC feature etc that the board touted, but once you play around with the Soundblaster/Realtek / THX options.. you can really dial in a 5.1 system easily!
What i really didnt like..
1. The CPU retaining mechanism is a bit wobbly/fiddly and i think the clamp design could have been made better by asus. I don't really know if anyone else found this a bit flimsy but i did have a few anxious moments when locking down the cpu with their latch plate.
2. While this board is small obviously.. the RAM sticks do come pretty close to the CPU cooler .. I'd have appreciated a bit more room there. Also one of the bays was SUPER TIGHT to get the stick into.. I didn't face it with the other bays so this was a bit weird for sure.
Going forward i need to figure out how to run this rig stable at some decent OC.. nothing extreme. Though it appears that if i only select 1600 from the bios settings for the Corsair Vengeance (which defaults to 1333 initially) it automatically bumps the CPU up to 4.6Ghz . I'm a little apprehensive about this, but i can see there are quite a few members here who own the Maximus V Gene, so i'd appreciate some pointers on some OC tips for this board and memory
Cheers!
Almost forgot the pics
