My first real build: Advice please!

[jacques_za]

Hi guys!

I've dabbled in watercooling and OCing before, and now I think it's time to get serious.

I don't have unlimited funds, but I'd like to get as schweet as possible, even if I have to sell a kidney to do it.

Below is the build I've got on paper at the moment. The price looks a lot bigger than what the main components would suggest, and I'm wondering if I'm spending money in the right places. I do wish to overclock, but the end result should be a minimum-fuss stable machine that I can use everyday and enjoy.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Component|Description|Cost|Image|Cooling|Cost|Image
CPU| Intel i5-2500K Quad-Core LGA1155 3.3GHz Sandybridge |219.99|

| DD-M6 Nickel CPU Block |88.95|

GPU| EVGA GeForce GTX 570 1280MB DS Superclocked OEM x 2|599.98|

| DD-GTX580/570 Black Chrome Top and Nickle Base GTX-570 |279.85|

Motherboard| Asus P8Z68 Deluxe Gen3 Intel Z68 Chipset ATX |259.99|

| Black Ice XtremeII Radiator |64.95|

Memory| G.Skill F3-19200CL9Q-16GBZMD RipJawsZ 4x4GB DDR3 2400Mhz 1.65V XMP |369.99|

| Black Ice Pro III Radiator |59.95|

Case| Coolermaster Cosmos II Black Chassis |349.99|

| DD12V-D5 Pump Fixed Speed by Laing |76.46|

PSU| Antec HCP 1200w |294.99|

| Monsoon D5 Premium - Dual Bay Reservoir |129.95|

HDD| Plextor® M3S Series - 256GB |339.99|

| 1/2" UV Red DreamFlex Tubing |29.95|

Total||||||3,164.98

 

[EarthDog]

Here is what I would change...

1. 2600k
2. Why 2 570's? Multi monitor? Why not one 7970 or wait for Kepler in a few days (And save $50
3. You dont need the deluxe, a lower model is fine.
4. Could probably use 8GB total
6. PSU is overkill for 2 570's. If you go one card, 650W, 2, 850W.

 

[jacques_za]

Thanks!

I'll incorporate and update. Looking at it all together now, I wonder if I could trim this down to around 2000...

Watercooling adds quite a bit to the bottom line.

I need some advice on the RAM. The M/B can only fit 2200, but I can only find up to 2133 in my country. I see a lot of people spec'ing 1600 for this M/B or similar. Why? Isn't that slower?

J

 

[EarthDog]

It is, but memory isnt a bottleneck. There is not point, outside of benchmarking, to get faster than 1600Mhz ram.

Water cooling adds a ton, yes. Personally, I vote you drop the water, go single GPU (HD7970/7950 or GTX680/580), ram to 2x4GB DDR3 1600Mhz (unless you run VM's, render, encode, etc), Drop the PSU to 650W if you dont plan to run two cards in the future (no point at 1920x1200 or less).

 

[jacques_za]

Looking at the Asus M/Bs now. Main differences are:

P8Z68 DELUXE/GEN3|P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3|P8Z68-V/GEN3
Intel® Z68 chipset : 2 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s), 4 x SATA 3Gb/s port(s)|Intel® Z68 chipset : 2 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s), 4 x SATA 3Gb/s port(s)|Intel® Z68 chipset : 2 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s), 4 x SATA 3Gb/s port(s)
JMicron® JMB362 controller : 1 x eSATA 3Gb/s port(s), 1 x Power eSATA 3Gb/s port(s)|JMicron® JMB362 controller : 1 x eSATA 3Gb/s port(s)|JMicron® JMB362 controller : 1 x eSATA 3Gb/s port(s)
Marvell® PCIe 9128 controller : 2 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s)|Marvell® PCIe 9128 controller : 2 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s)|
2 x LAN (RJ45) port(s)|1 x LAN (RJ45) port(s)|1 x LAN (RJ45) port(s)
1 x Power eSATA 3Gb/s||
4 x SATA 6Gb/s connector(s)|4 x SATA 6Gb/s connector(s)|2 x SATA 6Gb/s connector(s)
259.99|194.99|179.99

Looks depending on if the 2 extra SATA 6Gb/s slots are worth $15, I should probably go with the Pro.

 

[EarthDog]

Id go with the Pro.

 

[Knufire]

I'd go with the Pro. The ASRock Extreme4 GEN3 is also a very similar board in black.

 

[jacques_za]

Ok, sounds good. I really appreciate the help, btw!

Now looking at RAM:

ID|Size|Freq|CL|Price
G.Skill F3-2133C9Q-16GAB 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3-2133MHz 1.65V CL9 Quad Channel Ares Desktop Memory |16GB|DDR3-2133|CL9|$215.79
G.Skill F3-1866C9Q-16GAB 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3-1866MHz 1.5V CL9 Quad Channel Ares Desktop Memory |16GB|DDR3-1866|CL9|$168.01
G.Skill F3-12800CL7Q-8GBXM 4x2GB DDR3-1600 Ripjaws X - Desktop Memory |8GB|DDR3-1600|CL7|$125.45
G.Skill F3-12800CL8Q-16GBZH RipJawsZ 4x4GB DDR3 1600Mhz 1.5V CL8 XMP X79 Ready Desktop Memory |16GB|DDR3-1600|CL8|$217.36
G.Skill F3-1600C8Q-16GAB 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3-1600MHz 1.5V CL8 Quad Channel Ares Desktop Memory |16GB|DDR3-1600|CL8|$208.48
G.Skill F3-12800CL9Q-16GBXM 4x4GB DDR3-1600 1.35V Ripjaws-X - Desktop Memory |16GB|DDR3-1600|CL9|$143.47
G.Skill F3-12800CL9Q-16GBZL RipjawsZ 4x4GB DDR3 1600 Mhz 1.5V Desktop Memory |16GB|DDR3-1600|CL9|$136.94
G.Skill F3-12800CL9D-8GBSR2 2x4GB DDR3-1600 1.25V Sniper - Desktop Memory (x2) |16GB|DDR3-1600|CL9|$147.25

From this, I don't understand why there are so many seemingly similar models from the same manufacturer... Anyway, since the price difference between the 1600 models and the 2133 are insignificant, I can probably safely get the 2133? Would I get better performance if I underclock to 1600 and try to bring the latency down?

Or, when you say that RAM is not a bottleneck, doesn't it matter what I do with it I won't see any real life difference?

The odd one out is the batch of 4x2GB Sniper kits. It runs at CL7, but I can only fit 8GB total. 8GB is probably enough, but I'd like 16GB if possible.

How much should the voltage affect my choice?

J

 

[EarthDog]

You can see in the nice table you have, that there are clear differences in each, be it voltages, CL, number of sticks, and speed.

I would get #3.

 

[Knufire]

Assuming that's USD, that's really expensive...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231546

 

[jacques_za]

Lol!

I guess what I'm saying is I'm not sure what to look for. According to your previous response, I should look at freq, then latency. That is how I sorted the table.

Without annoying you with n00b questions, can you tell me why you prefer #4? Is it the XMP certification, and the fact that it will work with X79 chipset?

As to the pricing, yes, we're getting ripped off in South Africa. Shops just import from the US and pass the fees directly on to consumers. Don't know why they don't buy from the same places you buy from, but anyway...

Sorry, I got lazy. All previous prices were from www.newegg.com. These were priced locally and converted to USD.

 

[jacques_za]

For the heck of it, here is the table again, with US pricing included. I'm going to my room now to cry silently for a while...

ID|Size|Freq|CL|Local|NewEgg
G.Skill F3-2133C9Q-16GAB 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3-2133MHz 1.65V CL9 Quad Channel Ares Desktop Memory |16GB|DDR3-2133|CL9|$215.79|$154.99
G.Skill F3-1866C9Q-16GAB 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3-1866MHz 1.5V CL9 Quad Channel Ares Desktop Memory |16GB|DDR3-1866|CL9|$168.01|$124.99
G.Skill F3-12800CL7Q-8GBXM 4x2GB DDR3-1600 Ripjaws X - Desktop Memory |8GB|DDR3-1600|CL7|$125.45|$ 84.99
G.Skill F3-12800CL8Q-16GBZH RipJawsZ 4x4GB DDR3 1600Mhz 1.5V CL8 XMP X79 Ready Desktop Memory |16GB|DDR3-1600|CL8|$217.36|$139.99
G.Skill F3-1600C8Q-16GAB 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3-1600MHz 1.5V CL8 Quad Channel Ares Desktop Memory |16GB|DDR3-1600|CL8|$208.48|$134.99
G.Skill F3-12800CL9Q-16GBXM 4x4GB DDR3-1600 1.35V Ripjaws-X - Desktop Memory |16GB|DDR3-1600|CL9|$143.47|$ 99.99
G.Skill F3-12800CL9Q-16GBZL RipjawsZ 4x4GB DDR3 1600 Mhz 1.5V Desktop Memory |16GB|DDR3-1600|CL9|$136.94|$ 89.99
G.Skill F3-12800CL9D-8GBSR2 2x4GB DDR3-1600 1.25V Sniper - Desktop Memory (x2) |16GB|DDR3-1600|CL9|$147.25|$ 49.99

 

[Knufire]

IMO, DDR3-1600 CL9 is plenty performance for most people, and it's fairly cheap. RAM typically gets increasingly more expensive for faster sticks than that.

 

[Daleon]

#7 will do you just fine. Unlikely you'll actually need 16GB but if your getting the i7 you mind as well.

You have an SSD but what about some large storage? If you don't plan to have large amounts of movies, music, etc then not that important. Otherwise a nice 2TB drive would be in order.

 

[jacques_za]

I currently have 4x 1.5TB Barracuda's in RAID5 that I use as storage. The RAID was intended to provide some security against data loss in the case of HDD failure, but it turns out that the performance of my RAID set is better than that of my Velociraptor 10,000RPM primary drive...

Anyway, I'll keep these when I migrate to the new system.

Component|Description|Cost|Image|Controller|Cost|Image
Storage| Seagate Barracuda 1.5TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s x 4|479.96|

| areca ARC-1210 (3.0Gb/s) Controller Card |289.99|

Speaking of HDD...

I'm currently only using around 120GB of my 300GB primary drive. Perhaps I could go with a smaller SSD. What are your thoughts on putting SSD's in RAID? Performance benefit? Mirrored, probably. Is it worth it?

 

[Knufire]

RAIDing SSD's is a bit pointless. Yeah, you get about the same % performance boost as with hard drives, but since a single SSD is so fast, faster still feels the same to the user. You also lose TRIM support, which helps keep the wear level on the SSD down. Most people would just stick with a single SSD, 120GB seems to be good for most people.

 

[jacques_za]

OK, I made the adjustments, and this is where we are now:

Component|Description|Cost|Image|Cooling|Cost|Image
CPU| Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz |324.99|

| DD-M6 Nickel CPU Block - LGA 2011, 1155/1156 |88.95|

GPU| EVGA GeForce GTX 570 1280MB DS Superclocked OEM |299.99|

| DD-GTX580/570 Black Chrome Top and Nickle Base |133.95|

Motherboard| ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 |194.99|

| Black Ice Pro III Radiator (25mm) |59.95|

Memory| G.Skill RipJawsZ 4x4GB DDR3 1600Mhz 1.5V CL8 |139.99|

| DD12V-D5 Pump Fixed Speed by Laing |84.95|

Case| Coolermaster Cosmos II Black Chassis |349.99|

| Monsoon D5 Premium - Dual Bay Reservoir |129.95|

PSU| Antec HCP-850 850W |199.99|

| 1/2" UV Red DreamFlex Tubing |29.95|

HDD| Plextor® M3S Series - 128GB |199.99|

|||
Total:|||||| 2,237.63

I still stuck on water cooling. I still believe it should be cooler, more stable, quieter, and with a general awesome factor a normal PC just doesn't have.

Any further suggestions?

After the price comparison between local prices and US prices, I'm investigating buying overseas and shipping it home. Think I can shave some costs that way, as well.

 

[EarthDog]

If you still want to save some coin and go water, grab a Corsair H100. Its a solid water cooling, no maintenance solution.

Otherwise, looks good to me.

 

[jacques_za]

I'm looking at some case cooling. I want to run as quiet a PC as possible, with moderate overclocking.

The case will run the main 200mm fan on the front, which is rated at 19dB (can't find much better aftermarket), and everything else will be cooled via water or heatsinks (chipset, mem).

So I'm looking for some 120mm fans to cool the water. I've come up with:

Component|Description|Cost|Image|Cooling|Cost|Image

Controller| LOGISYS Computer FP600BK 6-Channel Fan Controller |24.99|

| Delta FFB1212EHE-F00 120mm Case Fan (x6) |179.94|

Mostly based on the CFM vs dB table on this site: BitTech: What's the best 120mm case fan?

Any comments?

 

[txus.palacios]

Try to find some PFC1212DE-PWM to cool the water. And build bing's 556PWM controller or use your motherboards PWM function since those are standard 25kHz PWM fans IIRC.