i5-2500k @ 4.3 Ghz, Z68, uATX, 32 Watts @ Idle
Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2011 5:46 am
This is actually a motherboard/CPU upgrade of an older system. The old CPU was an i5-750 @ 3.36 Ghz. Usually I would not bother to move up for a 30% speed bump, but someone else around here needed that CPU and motherboard to upgrade a 6 year old system. When I realized all I would need is a motherboard, CPU and 4 gigs of DDR3 to upgrade two machines it was a go:
Components:
MSI Z68MA-ED55
i5-2500k @ 43x100.0, no turbo
Cooler Master Hyper 212
4x2 G Skill DDR3 1600 cas 9
Sony Optiarc DVD burner
2 x Scythe 800 RPM fans
Antec NSK 3480 with original power supply
Noctua 1800 RPM 80 mm fan in the PSU
Samsung 7200 rpm 500 gig F2
Crucial 64 Gig SSD
Windows 7 64-bit
A system like this is either very interesting because of it's low idle power draw, or very boring because it does not have a souped up GPU.
As you can see the only component that is not super high powered is the GPU. I don't game so that is not a priority. I am looking around for an upgrade that is more compute oriented, but the current crop of Fermi cards are very power hungry. Any ideas? Idle power is 32 watts AC and 29 C CPU temp. Under Prime 95 145 watts AC and 66C CPU temp. CPU temps are for the hottest core. The average is about 2C lower. Under load the IGP draws an additional 30 watts AC; it is overclocked to 1400 Mhz and produces a windows experience rating of 6.5. The system boots very fast due to EFI on the motherboard and the SSD.
My next system will probably be a mid tower with an ATX board. uATX has few enthusiast motherboards available. On Newegg there are 23 Z68 ATX boards and only 4 for uATX. So far, nothing from Asus.
Aside from typical computer chores, I mainly use the machine for photo editing. It is hooked up to a Dell 2209W monitor. The IGP provides "Basic" open GL acceleration in Photoshop. Rendering changes of 2d images such as zooming are near instantaneous.
Components:
MSI Z68MA-ED55
i5-2500k @ 43x100.0, no turbo
Cooler Master Hyper 212
4x2 G Skill DDR3 1600 cas 9
Sony Optiarc DVD burner
2 x Scythe 800 RPM fans
Antec NSK 3480 with original power supply
Noctua 1800 RPM 80 mm fan in the PSU
Samsung 7200 rpm 500 gig F2
Crucial 64 Gig SSD
Windows 7 64-bit
A system like this is either very interesting because of it's low idle power draw, or very boring because it does not have a souped up GPU.
As you can see the only component that is not super high powered is the GPU. I don't game so that is not a priority. I am looking around for an upgrade that is more compute oriented, but the current crop of Fermi cards are very power hungry. Any ideas? Idle power is 32 watts AC and 29 C CPU temp. Under Prime 95 145 watts AC and 66C CPU temp. CPU temps are for the hottest core. The average is about 2C lower. Under load the IGP draws an additional 30 watts AC; it is overclocked to 1400 Mhz and produces a windows experience rating of 6.5. The system boots very fast due to EFI on the motherboard and the SSD.
My next system will probably be a mid tower with an ATX board. uATX has few enthusiast motherboards available. On Newegg there are 23 Z68 ATX boards and only 4 for uATX. So far, nothing from Asus.
Aside from typical computer chores, I mainly use the machine for photo editing. It is hooked up to a Dell 2209W monitor. The IGP provides "Basic" open GL acceleration in Photoshop. Rendering changes of 2d images such as zooming are near instantaneous.