An ambitious workstation build looking for a few good men for help!

[cemster]

Hello everyone..

A LITTLE ABOUT ME
Organically speaking, I am adequately matured, otherwise relentlessly foolish 'young' musician. I use the word 'young' with precaution hence the low level of testosterone and highly level of wisdom crumbs accumulated over the course of years along with handsome amount of experience and necessaries to make music. However due to predicaments of life, sadly I pretty much failed to accommodate my inner demands and became a film maker for shorts and a screenwriter for TV instead, and got severed myself from music...

Many years later as my bowels became more conformist and I became very aware of my culpability, I realized that I have to correct at least one of these situations. So I decided that I can fart as much as I want given that I can start to make music again... Okay now that you have a bit insight about me I should come terms with my suffocating future...

This is going to be my first serious attempt to put a system together...
Although I wanted to make one for over ten years, I kept putting off my desire based on the worries of the upcoming Intel upgrades that were always in the horizon... Yes! The technology was never good enough for me! Yes! It is a sickness but I am in control of the sickness now...

Finally when I was ready, I realized that I was a bit outdated with my system knowledge... And when I say a bit, I mean enormously... Thus I began researching and researching finally to realize just the basics, the elementary.
That's why I am here today hopping that your expertise and wisdom would save me from lots of afterwards pain...

MY GOAL
I would like to build a Workstation Rig that is mute! "0" DB is going to be my main objective...
(Please don't laugh! And if you have to do it, do it with compassion... )
The work load of the Rig will be VIDEO/AUDIO production with as many virtual and physical OSs as machinely possible... Not to mention I would like to have at least three monitors...

My MOBO/CPU COMBO
ASUS P9X79 WS / INTEL i7-3960X

RAM
For RAM I will have Corsair 64GB (8x8GB) 1600MHz

CASE
For the Case I like to get the COOLER MASTER COSMOS II PURE BLACK ALUMINYUM FULL TOWER
Lian Li PC-A77 was an option and I really wanted the MAGNUM TH10 ( Who wouldn't?) But can't get those ones where I live.. I need a case that would accommodate TWO PSUs and still be very roomy fo WC & HDDs.

PSU
At first I was planning to get a Koolance 1000W Liquid-Cooled Power Supply...
But 1000W wasn't going to do it and unfortunately or fortunately 1200W &1600W models are discontinued so are1300W &1700W models. Not very assuring..

So I decided to get two PSUs...
If the Liquid-Cooled Fanless Power Supply is not a mistake of choice then I can get one Koolance 1000W and one Koolance 500W and call it a day...

The other attractive solution is a TWIN Corsair AX1200i Digital ATX Power Supply...

I also heard that Seasonic SSP-650RT Active PFC is pretty quiet as well.

The reason behind for two PSUs is the fanless operational capability of the Corsair unless a certain workload is reached. So two of them sharing the load, will reduce the PSU's need to ventilate... Obviously I will have to do some alterations to the case to accommodate the twin PSUs...

GPU
This is another taffy. After lots of reading and comparing I came up with few ideas which belong to other people... Pathetic really... The only sure thing I know is my multi-monitoring ambition... Now I know that I will not go with SLI setup because I don't need to...

QUADRO 4000 is the Video Guys' DIY 2012 top choice...

Of course the best combination would be to have best of both of the worlds.
So maybe as a second GPU one of these ...

GForce GTX 580 3GB
GForce GTX 590
GForce GTX 670
GForce GTX 680
EVGA GeForce GTX 670 4GB Superclocked+ w/Backplate ???

Or how about the FirePro V7900 as a second GPU? Would an ATI card work allong with Nvidia card? Probably NOT!

I am not going to pretend like I know much about GPUs except that I know I will not use SLI and I need a QUADRO card for serious HD video editing...

I'm obviously not going much for a gaming rig here... Having said that I was a game designer back in the days... Does anybody remember a game called Magic Candle? Don't feel bad if you don't! Well let me put it this way, my Rig was consist of x486 Intel processor! Can you say "Aga, Gugu" ?! Dos and 3,5 inch floppy disks were a must! I remember how amazed I was with the velocity that the 'DIR' command being executed!!!

Having subjected you to all to this nostalgic crap, I would like to address a little fantasy of mine. And that is to have a decent GPU muscle that can chew and handle some serious game tasting if I really wanted to. That’s the idea behind the best of both of the worlds...

WATER COOLING
My obsession with Water cooling is not because of OC possibilities but because of less audibility and obviously better cooling capability it possesses...

For the water cooling scenarios, I realized that the most important issue for me, would be a long lasting WC system that would not need maintenance too often... And the second achievement should be the simplicity in doing so. Like carefree liquid filling and easy plug/unplug capabilities with the tubes and quick disconnects couplings.. So that I don't have to drain the system when I make any changes or replacements and upgrades and so forth so on...

Also ideally I would have love to build a WC system that the Pomp and reservoir units is placed outside of the Case. And preferably far enough from the machine so that I don't have to hear any of the fans...

Still, I presume I will have to have some fans in the case no matter what. At least to exhaust the heat that might accumulate in the case. If there is any way not to need any fan, PLEASE LET ME KNOW HOW...

FANS
So if it is a must, then I would love to have the most silent fans available to me... I checked many reviews and forums for that but I cannot get a clear view to figure out... So this is an area that I need your experience for sure...

That brings us to open loops versus stuff like Corsair H100 and alike... Now, I believe that I do want a real WC operation in my machine, unless that totally crashes with my little maintenance and longest longevity possible objectives... Having said that I did a lot of reading throughout the forums and various sources... So I have names! I have a few of them alright.. But do I feel I know what I need? Hardly... Here are some candidates for basic water cooling members... I have them purely because other people seem to like them, not because I have any idea... I only did a statistical work...

CPU BLOCKS
Enzotech Sapphire
Heatkiller 3.0 LT

PUMPS
MCP655
Laing DDC 3.25

Swiftech MCR-320 Drive Rev3 Series Heat Exchanger w/ Pump and Reservoir... ???

RADS
Hardware Labs Black Ice GT Xtreme 360mm

And there is also a Radiator/Pump/Reservoir combos like:
Aquacomputer Airplex Modularity System 240 Radiator / Pump / Reservoir Combo - Copper Fins - D5 Pump
Aquacomputer Airplex Modularity System 360 Radiator / Pump / Reservoir Combo - Copper Fins - D5 Pump
Aquacomputer Airplex Modularity System 420 Radiator / Pump / Reservoir Combo - Copper Fins - Eheim Compact 600/12V Pump

So at the moment I have no idea what kind of capacity my rig will require...
BUT
Incidentally I want a loop for everything... For GPU, PSU, RAM!, MOBO... North, south, east, west... Perhaps in the end consequently for my *** too!
Did I conduct a research for them? Yes I did! But this is not very different then searching for a friend by going through The City Phone Directory... Lots of phone numbers but no one to call...
So this is another poor areas of my intellect... I can add that I don't care for beauty aspect of the system. Like if Clamps means more to me I won't care how they look... I don't want it to be ugly as hell but if that's what it takes, so be it...

CHIPSET BLOCKS
HEATKILLER MB Chipset Cooling Kit ASUS-P9X79 Nickel
http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/hembchcokita.html

MOTHERBOARD HEATSINKS
Zalman ZM-NBF47

RAM BLOCKS
RAM-33 Water Block (Memory)
http://koolance.com/ram-33-memory-water-block

GeIL EVO Cyclone Memory Cooler

Also I was advised not to put a complex water loop together until a system has been thoroughly tested. Always spend a week or so on air cooling before starting to add water blocks.
So that notion presents more hurtle to me... Fans! Lots of them probably! We will see about that...

Okay... So that's a lot of question to ask not to mention a lot of questions to answer! I apologize for that but desperate times need desperate measurements... And boy am I desperate!...

Obviously there will be some aspiring enthusiasts and hopefully some experienced specialist and if I am lucky even a few wizards and if I am really really really fortunate a Yoda will come to rescue me from agony of making the wrong decisions and thus eliminate serious afterwards crying...

Thank you for even reading through... Seriously if you made this far, yet there is hope for me )

I appreciate your efforts to help and thank you for your willingness to put up with my idiocrasy before hand...
Cheers...

 

[EarthDog]

Well done first post... whoa...

PSU: Why would you need a 1KW+ PSU for that system? You mention no SLI but another videocard (HINT: You dont, not close, not even for "0DB computing") you dont remotely need that much wattage. Get a quality unit like Seasonic X750. Under light/medium loads, the fan doesnt spin up.

Water cooling... there isnt a point in chipset and ram cooling outside of looks. Also note this will add to your heatload and require more radiators or fans which as Im sure you know..... more noise. I would only cool the CPU and GPU's.

Get the 3930K instead of the X, save your self $500.

As far as a 0DB rig... well. thats going to be damn near impossible.

 

[bmwbaxter]

Very good first post indeed.

EarthDog said just about everything I was thinking.

-No need for so much wattage in your PSU
-Grab the 3930k pretty much the same at the end of the day compared to the 'X'
-Before you get set on the water cooling, it is a lot of work to maintain and is expensive. Also it won't get you a 0dB computer.

-Consider air cooling. Atleast explore the options there. Noctua NH-D14 with undervalued fans is silent and as long as you don't OC too much you should be good there. Also getting an aftermarket cooler for any gpu will help make them more silent.

Just something to consider. WCing will get your computer quieter but is 10x the work and requires maintenance.

Once again nice first post and I will be around to help.

 

[GoD_tattoo]

I'll 3rd that. Great first post..

Get the 3930K and you won't be disappointed. This thing is a beast. I can't even begin to slow it down. Easy 24/7 o/c to 4.5 ghz. With a D14 it is silent. I have it sitting next to me right now with the side off my case and can't hear it.

 

[Knufire]

Just my tip.

Pick all your parts except for the cooling and case FIRST. This way, you'll know what you want and how much heat you will make.

Only after you've picked out the components, start researching the loop. You will know the heatload of your computer, and we can help you with the math to figure out how much radiator you need to get silence and good performance.

After all of this is done, choose the case. You know how much raddage you need and what size case you need to fit it all.

Breaking this into segments might streamline the process better and make it a little bit less overwhelming. It's a lot to all do at once.
------------
0DB is a fairly common idea, and one especially important in music production. However, the truth is that tiny amounts of airflow is many times better for cooling than zero airflow at all, hence why it's not as practical as it first seems. Don't worry, it's a very common idea for beginners, we've all had it at one time or another.

 

[cemster]

First of all thank you all for kind words and warm welcomes...
About the infamous two PSU situation... Well the main reason for dual PSUs was to split the load in between so that individual fans wouldn't need to spin so much since they would be sharing the load rather than combining two units' wattage output.

Quadro cards is the best bet when using CS5/6 so it's a must for me. But unfortunately Quadro 4000 can only support two monitors, I'd like to have at least three... So I need a second GPU and I would like to be able to indulge myself with some games now and then... Yet the Quadro is a serious GPU thus will not play games! I am still searching my options on this issue. There are options like to leave Quadro unconnected to external displays and is only used for processing, while another GPU can handle displays. So one card for CUDA and one for GUI... Quadro consumes lots of power by the way. Not to mention, I will be using two more cards from Blackmagicdesign. DeckLink 4K and DeckLink HD Extreme 3D...

If there is any way to have a FirePro V7900 along with a Quadro would be so great. Since FirePro supports up to four displays, and it would be just great for games as well... But it is highly unlikely that they would sit together without any dispute... So GPU needs further figuring out!

I understand that I only need to use WC on CPU & GPU... That's a good news for me... I have less to worry...
How about that Koolance 1000W Liquid-Cooled Power Supply I have in my list, does anybody have any views on that ?

About WC: Do you think it is possible to place the pump and he radiator/fans outside of the Case (outside the room) thus eleminating the noise?

I want the 3960X because of the Cache difference over 3930K. Which is 3.0MB... It is pretty important to have higher cache when you do post production... I orriginally wanted to build a double Xeon system but those are priced out of this world over here... And I wanted to get CPU & MOBO locally incase of waranty... But now I am seriously considering at least a single Xeon which has 20MB cache...

And finally about the 0DB, Well obviously that is a myth... How ever, in my old studio I had the opportunity to open a hole on the wall and put the PC in the closet room and seal the hole after sticking all the cables through... That was like reaching Nirvana... It was a bliss, a joy... NO NOISE! what so ever from the case... But now I've moved to home and I don't have such a room to expel the case... So with 0DB I wanted to project how strong my desire was...
I do have a balcony next to my office room and I wouldn't mind to put the noisy WC components out there though...

@Knufire
Your tip sounds very sensible of course. The only problem with it that, there are no WC components available here so I have a very small window to get things from US. A friend is coming from LA and I don't want to miss her. There is no way I can get anything through mail without being severely screwed up due to newly introduced custom taxes...

Thank you everybody so much for your enthusiastic hand...
cheers

 

[manu2b]

Regarding the question about putting the rads/fans in another room, yes, it is possible. An other possibility is to use passive radiator cooling (no fan), but you need, I'd say, at least twice the radage. For your setup (CPU+GPU=+/-400w), a 3x3x120 would certainly do. Of course, it has to be outside the case (or replacing the side panel with a bit of modding).

 

[Knufire]

Buy everything at the same time, my suggestion was just the order you plan things in.

 

[cemster]

Regarding the question about putting the rads/fans in another room, yes, it is possible. An other possibility is to use passive radiator cooling (no fan), but you need, I'd say, at least twice the radage. For your setup (CPU+GPU=+/-400w), a 3x3x120 would certainly do. Of course, it has to be outside the case (or replacing the side panel with a bit of modding).

Can you tell me any specifics? That would be so great...
cheers

 

[cemster]

So I am back with an update:

I bought the fallowing items

Intel i7 3630K (room for near future upgrade: 8 core i7)
Asus P9X79 WS
Corsair AX1200i Digital PSU
COOLER MASTER COSMOS II PURE

Now I think I want to get a
GTX 680 4GB card and for sure
CORSAIR Vengeance 64GB (8 x 8G) 1600MHz

Soon I will have to make decisions on cooling and other peripherals...
cheers

 

[manu2b]

Sorry for the laaaaate reply.

As a basic rule: 1.120 of raddage with medium speed fans for 100w dissipation.

So, with your config:
- 3930k: 130w@stock, roughly 180w with a 35%OC
- GTX 680: 195w@stock, 225w@max OC

So, it would be 320w for your sytem@stock with both CPU and GPU@full load and medium speed fan. 3.120 would do. 4.120 would be better.

Overclocked, you'd need to dissipate around 400w. 4.120 would do. 5.120 would be better.

If you want (almost) totally silent passive cooling (no fan on the rads), you need to double the raddage. It would be 9.120.

The Phobia Xtreme 1080 is a 3x3x120:
http://www.xoxide.com/phobya-xtremenova1080-radiator.html

 

[bmwbaxter]

With the 1080 you would also be able to remote it in another room and be even farther from the noise. I believe they make stand for that rad aswell.

 

[mcoomer]

I think you're going to like that case. Lots of room inside. One of the things I like the most is the switch cover. Once the computer is on I can close the cover and there's zero light coming from the case. Very quiet too when the chassis fans are set to low. The only thing I can hear is the CPU cooler when it spins up to higher RPM, and not much even then.

Mike

 

[cemster]

Thank you all for your valuable input... I hope I can get this 1080 around here..

I'll be back with choices of stuff to get opinion after a rigorous research...

cheers

 

[cemster]

If you want (almost) totally silent passive cooling, you need to double the raddage. It would be 9.120.

Is this a guarantee formula? Can I really get rid off the fans and still cool GPU, CPU and maybe few HDD blocks on the side, just using 9.120 ? (I don't know what's the unit measurement suppose to be on 9.120?)

And what do you suggest I get for blocks?

 

[bmwbaxter]

No need for cooling HDD blocks. It adds needless complexity and will not make them any less noisy.

9.120 means a rad that holds 9 fans of 120mm diameter.

So a 3.120 would be a rad that holds three 120mm fans.

It is kind of a made up unit. I don't think there is a "STANDARD" method for rad measurement.

 

[cemster]

9.120 means a rad that holds 9 fans of 120mm diameter.

I see...

But then I am confused by what manu2b is saying...

If you want (almost) totally silent passive cooling (no fan on the rads), you need to double the raddage. It would be 9.120.

9.120 = 9 x 120mm fans but (no fan on the rads)?!

 

[bmwbaxter]

I see...

But then I am confused by what manu2b is saying...


9.120 = 9 x 120mm fans but (no fan on the rads)?!

It means if you have that much raddage you should be good on just passive cooling without fans.

 

[cemster]

Thank you bmwbaxter.. At the moment I'm trying to educate my self on Fans.. Lot's of semi conductive knowledge! )

I was assuming to keep the rad near by, since no fans but I had forgotten the pump!
Unless I can put the pump outside and keep the rest in the same room...
Then if I am going to be able to place them away from me (in an other room) I am thinking I don't have to worry about a huge Rad to be delivered to my doorstep... I'll do a little (MORE) research on that..

My PSU is not going to spin unless is %40 loaded.. (480W) Even when it's %70 loaded you can barely hear it... I am hopping that I can make the case even more silent for HDDs... I'll have two SSDs but also will have lot's of data disks mainly Seagates which are a bit concern at the moment. Let's see how well I can mute them...
Maybe some pointers on that?

 

[bmwbaxter]

Thank you bmwbaxter.. At the moment I'm trying to educate my self on Fans at the moment.. Lot's of semi conductive knowledge! )

I was assuming to keep the rad near by, since no fans but I had forgotten the pump!
Unless I can put the pump outside and keep the rest in the same room...

Then if I am going to be able to place them away from me (in an other room) I am thinking I don't have to worry about a huge Rad to be delivered to my doorstep... I'll do a little (MORE) research on that..

My PSU is not going to spin unless is %40 loaded.. (480W) Even when it's %70 loaded you can barely hear it... I am hopping that I can make the case even more silent for HDDs... I'll have two SSDs but also will have lot's of data disks mainly Seagates which are a bit concern at the moment. Let's see how well I can mute them...
Maybe some pointers on that?

You can mount the pump external same as the rad. I would suggest the swiftech MCP35x2 it is a dual pump so it should be able to handle all of your blocks and the run of tubing to another room.

As for silencing HDD, it will depend on how they are mounted.

The HDD cage on my fractal design arc midi has rubber grommets which isolates the HDD from the metal case so no vibrations get transferred and amplified.

Not sure what system your case will use, but if it is high end, then it should be good.