Review: i7 3770 + CM 690 II ADV "USB 3.0" + P8Z77-M Pro + ASUS 7770 Crossfire + TX650

First of all i have to confess this is not what i wanted, i wanted to get a AMD trinity system "I kind of am a AMD fanboy but FX is just too far gone " but with no release in sight this was a must since i dont have a desktop and my laptop is taking the brunt of my usage.

I finalized the list of my to be buys as following:

CM HAF 932 cabinet/ CM Trooper
Corsair TX650
Intel i7 3770K
Asus Maximus V GENE "Why mATX well because it saves space even in a huge case more space is good"
Asus 7850
1TB-2TB 7200 HDD

After waiting for more than a month the 3770K still is not available freely the only option was either a 3770 non K or a 2600K. After chatting with prime among others dealers i decided to get the 3770 nonK. I even started a thread about the same on TE, i feel a bit stupid that i have a Z77 and a locked CPU but its better than having no CPU

The Maximus V GENE was another big problem after the local shop said no i bought the same from flipkart the bloody idiots canceled my order without providing me any information and then called me citing lack of stock. I am still waiting for a refund should have used COD the only other good mobo i could get was a P8Z77 M Pro it was also very feature rich and even had an old VGA connector and an extra PCI 16X slot "4X".

You can check the comparison of P8Z77 M Pro and Maximus V here

The case i wanted was either the CM Trooper or the CM HAF 932 but their prices have sky rocketed recently, I was quoted around 9K for the CM HAF 932 and now the same costs 12.6K. I searched for other cases without a floppy slot and found CM 690 II advance USB 3.0 it has everything i wanted and now my external SSD has a place to call home. Saw the CM Trooper later on flipkart am feeling a bit sad that i did not search first but then again CM 690 II Adv USB3.0 is for 6.6K where as the CM Trooper is for 13K really a VFM case in comparison.

Letting the explanations be now lets focus on the hardware and here is the new list along with prices, everything was bought from Shimla, HP from the local shop who has ties to RPTech:

i7 3770 - Rs21000





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P8Z77 M Pro - Rs13200

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2x Asus 7770 - 2x Rs10800 = Rs.21600



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CM 690 II Adv USB3.0 - Rs.6600



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On the left is my old cabinet bought in 2007 its faceplate and most other plastic parts are damaged and had to be removed due to weird noises they now make. From this to above still really a strong case and a good buy

TX650 - Rs.6300



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Patriot 1600Mhz DDR3 2x4GB
Seagate Constellation 2TB - Rs.13100 "This is the first thing i bought about a month or two ago"
Antec FORMULA 7

Right so coming to the benchs i will bench the 7770 crossfire against a Asus GTX 680 on an later review, for this review i will focus on i7 3770 and P8Z77 m pro. Also cant overclock the 3770 since my Corsair H80 has yet to come and i am stuck with the default intel cooler

USB 2.0 speed HDD

READ -30MBPS
WRITE - 28MBPS

USB 3.0 speed SSD

READ - 300-310MBPS
WRITE - 220-224MBPS

SATA 6.0 speed HDD

CrystalDiskMark crashed the system?

Now to some CPU bench's:

SYSMark 2012 - 219

Cinebench 11.5
Single - 1.6
Multi - 7.5

TrueCrypt Benchmark - 3.6

Now a taste to what is to come 7770 crossfire result:

3DMark11 Extream - 2037

Since i am on stock heatsink the temps were just crazy i saw noting like this since the P4, hell my old amd 5400+ black edition runs cooler on stock.

RealTemp

Idle - 43 to 48C
Max- 96 to 98 "Intel Burn Test"

This is just too much loaded i need that H80 asap, i was actually shocked but then again that cooler is POS.


So all in all good mobo almost as good as the Maximus V but my heart still craves it. The cpu is ok i might as well sell this and buy a 3770K when they are in stock and hopefully cheaper "Haswell is coming" but for the 2-3k i saved over the 3770K i still would have preferred 3770K oh well. The case CM 690 II Adv is a very good and well made case i am very happy with all the added features like the USB 3.0 it comes in hand a lot the only bad thing was the VGA card bracket that was bent and did not fit properly i have called up the dealer i bought the stuff off it will get changed he assured me. Now comes the 7770 CF you all might think but you should have gotten a 7870 instead well i intended to but then i never did think of getting another 7870. I don’t keep GPU's for more than 2years and the need for an additional 7870 might not have cropped up in which case i would lose the great crossfire features that GCN has brought "7770 CF will have lower standby needs among other things". I will cover the why 7770 CF over a 7870 saga in my 7770 CF vs. GTX 680 review "7770 CF will lose badly but my friends don’t have any other current gen cards the closed is a 560 Ti but it would be no fun" till then sayonara.

 

[sudhanshu123]

I dont get your choice of a 7770 crossfire above a single gpu like 7850 or 7870(or 560 ti,570).the performance will be worse and to me it sounds like you are saying that you did a crossfire for the heck of it(you would have saved money with a single gpu like 7850 or 560ti and could have gotten that CM 932,but well).so its kind of foolish,also there is no point in a 7770 crossfire vs gtx 680,so drop that act.A better comparison would be between a gtx 560 ti,which you are saying will be "no fun",this comparison would be interesting so do this one instead.Also single gpu setups are almost always better than equivalent dual gpu ones,mainly because of increased stability and because in games that don't support dual gpu setups(admittedly rare),you will have a hard time playing with dual gpu setup.so this is a FAIL.(i don't see any reedeeming value in your decisions whatsoever,nothing ,nil,zip,zilch,nada).also your proccy is a non k version as you sadly stated,but then you write that you are waiting for your H80 to OC?How man?please review your post.

 

[sanjiv]

I dont get your choice of a 7770 crossfire above a single gpu like 7850 or 7870(or 560 ti,570).the performance will be worse and to me it sounds like you are saying that you did a crossfire for the heck of it(you would have saved money with a single gpu like 7850 or 560ti and could have gotten that CM 932,but well).so its kind of foolish,also there is no point in a 7770 crossfire vs gtx 680,so drop that act.A better comparison would be between a gtx 560 ti,which you are saying will be "no fun",this comparison would be interesting so do this one instead.Also single gpu setups are almost always better than equivalent dual gpu ones,mainly because of increased stability and because in games that don't support dual gpu setups(admittedly rare),you will have a hard time playing with dual gpu setup.so this is a FAIL.(i don't see any reedeeming value in your decisions whatsoever,nothing ,nil,zip,zilch,nada).also your proccy is a non k version as you sadly stated,but then you write that you are waiting for your H80 to OC?How man?please review your post.

Seems that you are a beginner well let me first of all point out that you should do some research on the net about 7770 CF before you throw things out there. For example this review of 7770 Crossfire:

http://www.kitguru.net/components/g...lack-edition-s-crossfire-hd7750-dd-review/11/

According to the review the 7770 CF is closer to GTX 580/ HD7950 than a GTX 560 Ti, there are even more reviews out there search. The only downfall is when the resolution exceeds 1080P and lack of ram becomes a problem. As for the lack of crossfire support very few games suffer from that and most top labels never do, so ya i did think before i bought two 7770's.

Now to your second point again you need to read up online, in fact you can overclock a non-K processor using the Turbo Multipliers found in the BIOS. See the 3770 nonK supports a max of 3.9Ghz that means 39x and i can select 39x in the BIOS of my motherboard which would essentially drive 3770 at max Turbo all of the time "3.9Ghz".

3.9Ghz is not bad considering that 3770K has mixed OC results seems 4.5Ghz is stable majority which is just 600Mhz more than Turbo Max. The H80 is required as the stock cooler cant even take a stock CPU on load a 3rd party cooler is essesntial if you want to do anything other than typing on forums.

 

[Daredvil]

Great buys mate.

 

[sudhanshu123]

" in fact you can overclock a non-K processor using the Turbo Multipliers found in the BIOS."so what you were just holding on to that,didnt think writing "Also cant overclock the 3770 since my Corsair H80 has yet to come and i am stuck with the default intel cooler " was a bit misleading?idgit.learn to phrase better.

 

[sanjiv]

" in fact you can overclock a non-K processor using the Turbo Multipliers found in the BIOS."so what you were just holding on to that,didnt think writing "Also cant overclock the 3770 since my Corsair H80 has yet to come and i am stuck with the default intel cooler " was a bit misleading?idgit.learn to phrase better.

What no comeback on my 7770 crossfire and how a 560 Ti was better ohh well. Now as for the above mentioned points, the Turbo Multipliers option is not a secret its a known fact searching online 2400/2500 overclock would have shown the same result. The second point "Also cant overclock the 3770 since my Corsair H80 has yet to come and i am stuck with the default intel cooler " was not misleading i cant its not possible since the 3770 would hit 105C limit if i even tried any type of OC leading to system downclock or shutdown so a 3rd party cooler is essential for even a slight OC. Now i hope you understand me if not do let me know i will try and clarify further.

 

[sudhanshu123]

What no comeback on my 7770 crossfire and how a 560 Ti was better ohh well. Now as for the above mentioned points, the Turbo Multipliers option is not a secret its a known fact searching online 2400/2500 overclock would have shown the same result. The second point "Also cant overclock the 3770 since my Corsair H80 has yet to come and i am stuck with the default intel cooler " was not misleading i cant its not possible since the 3770 would hit 105C limit if i even tried any type of OC leading to system downclock or shutdown so a 3rd party cooler is essential for even a slight OC. Now i hope you understand me if not do let me know i will try and clarify further.

hey idgit i think you only know how to flame,nevertheless,enjoy your system,i dnt have a problem with you,but that attitude,it doesnt fly with anyone

 

[sanjiv]

hey idgit i think you only know how to flame,nevertheless,enjoy your system,i dnt have a problem with you,but that attitude,it doesnt fly with anyone

Humm flaming please re-read your first post in this thread, as far as the attitude i have non i was just pointing out the facts and requesting you to read up online.

Also who here started saying idgit to people it wasn't me...

 

[sudhanshu123]

hey moron,i am not trying to come back at you,this is a forum,not a gladiator pit.and also a 560 ti is cheaper than your solution so a gtx 570 will be a better match,and if you really want me to "come back at you" see the benches here :AMD Radeon HD 7770 & 7750 Crossfire Performance > Benchmarks: Battlefield 3, Modern Warfare 3 - TechSpot Reviews and here :HIS Radeon HD 7750 & HD 7770 CrossFire Review | techPowerUp ,in certain situations(in the first bench that is) your crossfire is about 20% better in total than a 560 ti(and 560 ti is 6k cheaper flat) ,and in the other one hd 7770 takes a swan dive to the last bench of the class,so no,your setup doesn't touch a 570 in performance(in very less games,it does,and on very lower res,rev up the res and your setup is done,and also lack of ram and bandwidth will already plague you when you enable AA and AF with high settings at res a lower than 1080p but higher than 768p so good luck).your setup has lower bandwidth,lower ROP's,Also try playing arkham city on your setup,i will only laugh(dual cards are not more stable than single ones,so dnt throw things out there without info)see here :Review: MSI Radeon HD 7770 OC CrossFire examination - Graphics - HEXUS.net - Page 5,

 

[sanjiv]

hey moron,i am not trying to come back at you,this is a forum,not a gladiator pit.and also a 560 ti is cheaper than your solution so a gtx 570 will be a better match,and if you really want me to "come back at you" see the benches here :AMD Radeon HD 7770 & 7750 Crossfire Performance > Benchmarks: Battlefield 3, Modern Warfare 3 - TechSpot Reviews and here :HIS Radeon HD 7750 & HD 7770 CrossFire Review | techPowerUp ,in certain situations(in the first bench that is) your crossfire is about 20% better in total than a 560 ti(and 560 ti is 6k cheaper flat) ,and in the other one hd 7770 takes a swan dive to the last bench of the class,so no,your setup doesn't touch a 570 in performance(in very less games,it does,and on very lower res,rev up the res and your setup is done,and also lack of ram and bandwidth will already plague you when you enable AA and AF with high settings at res a lower than 1080p but higher than 768p so good luck).your setup has lower bandwidth,lower ROP's,Also try playing arkham city on your setup,i will only laugh(dual cards are not more stable than single ones,so dnt throw things out there without info)see here :Review: MSI Radeon HD 7770 OC CrossFire examination - Graphics - HEXUS.net - Page 5,

Comeback means verbal here so unless you think Gladiator pit is the place to have verbal match idk how that would imply. Yes 560 Ti is cheaper than 7770 Crossfire but its not in anyway better, in all 7770 crossfire scores similar to 7870 in most games and even out does a stock 7870 in some. Now since 7770 crossfire is cheaper than a 7870 by 4K i am happy with the buy. I allready know about arkham city i did do my research remmber as for your 7770 CF cant come close to GTX 580 here is a image from the link you posted above.

Is it closer to GTX 570 or GTX 560 Ti you decide and look 4x AA??

Now the other thing i took from that review:

and

Well thanks for proving my point.

 

[Daredvil]

Comeback means verbal here so unless you think Gladiator pit is the place to have verbal match idk how that would imply. Yes 560 Ti is cheaper than 7770 Crossfire but its not in anyway better, in all 7770 crossfire scores similar to 7870 in most games and even out does a stock 7870 in some. Now since 7770 crossfire is cheaper than a 7870 by 4K i am happy with the buy. I allready know about arkham city i did do my research remmber as for your 7770 CF cant come close to GTX 580 here is a image from the link you posted above.

Is it closer to GTX 570 or GTX 560 Ti you decide and look 4x AA??

Now the other thing i took from that review:

and

Well thanks for proving my point.

Cross fire performance generally improves as time goes on due to new profiles ,For gaming at 1080p it is more than enough .enjoy gaming.

 

[ALPHA17]

@sanjiv good attempt for a first time write-up {OR have you got a blog?}.

Anyhow I would recommend that you publish screen-shots, they are more effective at putting across a point / Benchmark scores.

Also you can put a watermark on all imagery to verify that it is your work and is not lifted easily by third party users / pilfers / content stealer's et al.

P.S. -- I would recommend that you and @sudhanshu123 stop behaving like kids please, it was your choice to setup a HD 7770 GHz edition CrossFire and I respect it.

Just bench it and be done with it; results can be tallied later as long you can provide us with the requisite details: pertaining to the Benchmarks you used and what standards you have implemented.

 

[kaneunderground]

:scared14: battle field indeed !! funny thing is single 460gtx beats single 7770 card in those benches ... M confused LOL !:lol:

 

[sunny27]

Nice to see my HD 5850 is still a good capable card in the benchmarks posted above mucking about with the top mid range cards of today! This saves me money on my next upgrade!