New build using the SG05 + ECS H55H-I

1

1_legged_sheep

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 20, 2010
Messages
397
I've been planning this build for a while now and the parts finally made it in last night.

Silverstone SG05 mini-ITX case
ECS H55H-I mb
Intel i3-530
Cooler Master GeminII
4GB (2x2gb) Crucial Tracer DDR3-1333
WD black edition notebook hard drive
HIS 5770 1gb
Samsung slim DVDRW
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit

First off the GeminII will fit on that mb with a video card, but it takes a good amount of careful modding. I'll post pics tonight when I get home from work. Basically I had to use a ball peen hammer to "adjust" the angle the heatpipes come out of the top of the heatsink. I managed to do it without flattening any of the pipes and I'm still pulling very decent temps, around 54C with both cores maxed in P95, but it took a long while and I was very nervous. If I had it all to do over again I'd just go with the H50 and save myself the time. I just felt wrong ordering an $80 cooler for a $99 cpu, and the $30 GeminII worked out fine.

Second, ECS's BIOS is still very buggy. The original BIOS would fail to POST as soon as you set it to "enhanced" to enable the OC options. Tom's Hardware ran into this bug also. A BIOS update fixed this but now I can't push it over 3.5ghz. If I set it to anything over 160 then it fails to POST. I even tried adjusting the voltages, even though the i3-530 is supposed to go to 3.8 on stock voltages, but no matter what I try it won't post with the FSB over 160. The other weird thing is, leaving everything at defaults, if you lower the multiplier to try to figure out the max FSB, the system will not POST, even if you leave the FSB at 133! I've emailed ECS support and I'll update this if I actually get a reply.

Aside from the flakey BIOS and GeminII mod, everything went smoothly. The factory power supply seems to do well and the 5770 idles around 52C. The tracer RAM does look pretty flippen cool. I have a window kit on order, I'll post pics after I install it.
 
54C with both cores at 100%, Windows shows all 4 threads at 100%.

Forgot to mention I replaced the stock fan on the GeminII with a Scythe 12mm thick 1600rpm fan. I think the stock fan would have cleared the power supply but the extra clearance doesn't hurt.
 
ECS did actually reply, pretty quick too. They said they are going to test it in lab and asked for my memory model number.

They at least get kudos for fast response times, and for their techie being from the US!
 
Frankly the CPU placement is unacceptable. That is not exactly an easy mod.

Oh well :) Having fun with it though?
 
Modding that heatsink was kinda nuts, but I managed to do it without flattening or breaking one of the heatpipes and so far temps are very good. I would never try it a 2nd time if I had it all to do over again, that's for sure.

Plays Bad Company 2 at 1920x1080 with no issues and it's damn near whisper quiet. Looks pretty flippen cool with the red LEDs shining through the front fan too. I should be able to get pics up tonight.
 
redbig.jpg

Finished case, the beer is to give you reference to the size.

jeminiibig.jpg

My lovely heatsink mod

overviewbig.jpg

Case with just the board and heatsink installed
 
I see you've flipped-turned upside down the PSU. Does this help with the cable management?
 
Aye, it put the braid of cables coming out of the PSU against the right wall as apposed to the exact center of the case.

I also did it so the PSU wasn't competing for air against the GeminII S.
 
Really, a 5770 better for Battlefield BC2...my 8800GTX sli isn't up to it at 1920x1080...guess I gotta upgrade my main rig :D
 
It's a pretty decent HIS 5770 with the copper heatsink.. I have it OC'd to 950/1275. It will go further but that's as far as I can take it and still keep it quiet.
 
Given that youve the boxen in your hands, if you had it to do over again, with the same build essentially - clarkdale cpu, amd video, etc, what if anything would you change?

(perhaps heatsync?)

--42
 
Yeah I don't think I would ever do that heatsink mod again. If I ever do this build again I'm just gonna spend the extra $40 and get the H50.

I think I'd also spend the extra $20 for a 5770 that shoots the hot air out the back of the case like the IceQ or one of XFX's. My current 5770 hits 72C during heavy gaming.
 
I figured it out. I had to manually set the memory to DDR3-1066 due to the mem ratio not being adjustable. With the FSB at 185 the memory automatically overclocks itself to DDR3-1480. I am now happily at 4.074ghz!! I only needed a +.19 voltage bump to be Prime95 stable at 4.0ghz. I'm still running very cool also!

ECS customer service is the best I have ever encountered. They even sent me BIOS screen shots of their results!
 
Do you have a picture with graphics card in place? I want to see how close you are to the cooler you had to shave down.

Thanks!
 
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