$2500 of pure bliss

ssjwizard · Aug 3, 2011

Ok so my buddy just asked me today to spec him out a system @2500 ish with liquid cooling and minimal case modification.

Ok so this is the idea that I came up with:
This

Plus

Equals $2500 of computing joy.

But seriously he spacifically requested dual nVidia video cards with over 1gb of ram so this was the only option I could come up with. The I7 is actually an 8 core BD.

The plan I have for the cooling is 1 rad on the bottom with the 120x25mm yates, 1 rad below the 2 120x38mm yates mounted to the top with the third rad sitting ontop of that piped in parallel to the lower rad. Assuming mild overclocks(hes not a super overclocker just enough to say its not stock) will the cooling performance be adequate for this build?
What if anything would you change in this setup?

Conumdrum · Aug 3, 2011

Umm AMD Mobo for an i7?

Yea, 120x6 is enuff raddage.

Umm stacking rads is a proven bad idea unless you have some really crazy fans. Don't think he wants to chain it down while the fans are running. Martin tested it, look in his archive.

ssjwizard · Aug 3, 2011

I know its not preferable to sandwich fans inside of radiators but those rads are supposedly setup for low resistance so I thought it wouldn't be to bad. I just couldnt seem to find a case that appeared to hold 2 120.3s without significant modification(at a price that fits the build). If anyone has a suggestion for that Im all ears. Given that he wont be overclocking to terribly much 2 120.2s would probably be sufficient I just like to overdo things...

Conundrum really I know that an I7 wont go into an AMD mobo its a price point place holder for an 8core BD(also mentioned in original post).

Conumdrum said:
Umm stacking rads is a proven bad idea unless you have some really crazy fans. Don't think he wants to chain it down while the fans are running. Martin tested it, look in his archive.

Id be happy to look over these results where might I find this archive?

jmdixon85 · Aug 3, 2011

At that price point I would certainly go with an Intel system over an AMD one.

As for cooling I would go with a case that would allow for a tripple RAD up top and hang another off the back in a rad box.

Bijiont · Aug 3, 2011

Maybe it's just me, but KINGWIN? I have never heard of that brand PSU and personally unless it's the nicer Corsair / Antec PSU's I tend to stay away from anything else.

Can someone correct me about that?

jmdixon85 · Aug 3, 2011

Kingwin have actually got some decent reviews from what I've seen.

But I too would rather stick with a better proven brand like Corsair.

Conumdrum · Aug 3, 2011

Sorry, it was the other god, Skinnee.
http://skinneelabs.com/swiftech-mcr320-qp-stack/

Your putting warmer air on the second rad AND reducing flow a LOT. Maybe with push pull fans at 3000 RPM at 38mm thick with a shroud setup in the middle. Not quiet... at all.

You just lose so much cooling capability with the stack. And doing it like listed above would be ohh, about 8" tall, maybe more.

Conumdrum · Aug 3, 2011

I'd use JohnnyGuru for PSU reviews. Kingwin has some top stuff. Don't we have a recommended list in the PSU section?

EarthDog · Aug 3, 2011

We do Conum, and the Lazer series is good. (link in sig)

+1 to NOT sandwiching rads...

jmdixon85 said:
At that price point I would certainly go with an Intel system over an AMD one.

As would I... :shrug:

Conumdrum · Aug 3, 2011

Thanks Landbound Puppy, yep, I saw it a while back. Good deal. I'll link it then for giggles so the OP has it at his mousetips.

Wait, just use the link one post above. Gaa I almost did extra work. I was a quality management guy for a while, dealing with effiency. I almost caused me extra work. Grr now if I wasnt so wordy....

fall · Aug 3, 2011

So here is what i would change.

1. Is he dead set on Nvidia? You can prolly get 6950s cheaper and they have more power.

2. Dump the AMD Board and get a good i7 board I was at AMD's showcase of Bulldozer in Dallas TX and honestly all i can say is the i7 will be better, but no pricing has been set yet AFAIK but i still have no hopes for AMD beating the i7...

3. Dump the memory and get the 60$ version of it it will do just fine.

4. Drop the SSD and just make it a HDD

5. Change the MCP 655 for a 35X

6. Change the RADs to MCR220s

7. drop the 38mm yates as they are not needed for the higher price that they are.

10. Shop around at different places and compair shipping with them all and see who gets you the better deal.

Good luck

jmdixon85 · Aug 3, 2011

fall said:
So here is what i would change.

1. Is he dead set on Nvidia? You can prolly get 6950s cheaper and they have more power.

2. Dump the AMD Board and get a good i7 board I was at AMD's showcase of Bulldozer in Dallas TX and honestly all i can say is the i7 will be better, but no pricing has been set yet AFAIK but i still have no hopes for AMD beating the i7...

3. Dump the memory and get the 60$ version of it it will do just fine.

4. Drop the SSD and just make it a HDD

5. Change the MCP 655 for a 35X

6. Change the RADs to MCR220s

7. drop the 38mm yates as they are not needed for the higher price that they are.

10. Shop around at different places and compair shipping with them all and see who gets you the better deal.

Good luck

No SSD in a $2500 system! Was that meant to be a joke? :screwy:

But seriously, even two of the fastest Velociraptors in RAID0 wouldn't come close to an SSD as on OS drive. An SSD is are certain *MUST* at this price point.

EarthDog · Aug 3, 2011

Drop the SSD? Dude needs to take those post its off his eyes! LOL!

karkas · Aug 3, 2011

jmdixon85 said:
No SSD in a $2500 system! Was that meant to be a joke?

But seriously, even two of the fastest Velociraptors in RAID0 wouldn't come close to an SSD as on OS drive. An SSD is are certain *MUST* at this price point.

I agree with the SSD being a must.

He isn't a hard core overclocker, so why get a $190 mobo? $100-120 should be fine.

You can also get very good PSUs for $50-80 less.

Spend $100 less on the memory.

I would sink these savings into something more tangable like a larger SSD.

IMO, small SSDs are too much of a pain in the arse.

Quite honestly, if not going for high OCs or quiet computing, I would also reconsider all the WCing. Is this person who doesn't build his own computer really gunna wanna drain, refill and clean the loop?

He may be happier with more CPU & storage and less WC. If he jsut wants to say he has a watercooled system maybe simply one of the corsair self contained ones...

EarthDog · Aug 3, 2011

I wouldnt cheap out on the PSU either. The good PSU's in that price range are lowe powered and I would assume games, and therefor a higher powered GPU is needed...

Prime · Aug 3, 2011

Nothing AMD makes can keep up with the gen 2 iCore chips. Other than that.. theres no need to shell out an extra 60-70$ on that ram kit for the ram fan. You can get that GSkill 8g kit for like $70 now.
So you could take that money and maybe put it towards a case that can accept a 3.120 rad?

Also, does he do video editing or something like that? If is just for a serious gaming rig you could drop down to the i5 2500k only think you dont get is hyper threading (which games dont really make use of) and a bit smaller cache

By knocking down the ram/cpu/mobo prices you can add a 1t HDD, get SSD caching and go up to 2x 570's and still have a little more money to play with than that current shopping list

sharpsuxx · Aug 3, 2011

Yeah the only change I might make is instead of 1 120 GB SSD maybe 2 60 GB OCZ SSDs in Raid 0 for sick fast speed
+1 on the swith to intel 2600k, on water OC it 4.9 5.0 GHZ ish 24/7

Switch to DDR3 1600 with the 2600k higher speed memory shouldn't change OC

Use the Saved money to the get a 7200k HDD or two for more storage and switch the case to a full tower case to give non water-cooled pieces some room to breathe.

+1 on the Corsair PSU

You can use 1 higher end GPU like 6970/50 or Nvidia gtx 580 and outperform the scaling of two cards on most games, you friend can buy another one later and only probably spend a few more $s.

MattNo5ss · Aug 3, 2011

I'd stick with an SSD at least for OS and frequently used apps. However, 60GB of total storage seems kinda small, especially if there will be many games installed, music, photos, videos, etc. I would think a bigger SSD or a SSD and HDD for storage would be needed.

You can definitely cut the RAM cost down by at least $70 if you go with DDR3-1600 8-8-8-24 or 9-9-9-24.

I'd also go with a single GTX580 instead of SLI GTX560Ti, which can handle almost anything. Not only will it save you money on the GPUs, but you'll only have to get one GPU block. You could even opt for the 3GB GTX580 and it would still be cheaper, since you mentioned he wants more vRAM. What resolution will he be gaming at?

karkas · Aug 3, 2011

EarthDog said:
I wouldnt cheap out on the PSU either. The good PSU's in that price range are lowe powered and I would assume games, and therefor a higher powered GPU is needed...

True, if he MUST have a modular/gold rated one. There are several of good bronze rated PSUs in the 850w range for ~$120.

There is even a 750w (should be just enough for this setup) OCZ bronze for $80 AR on newegg, but at this price point I agree, probably not worth it and he could stick with what he already chose.

Tokae · Aug 3, 2011

If he doesn't mind a full size tower, look at the 800d. Its designed for water cooling. A nice deep 120.3 rad for the top and 1 out the back. I hope to get into wc this fall!

$2500 of pure bliss

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