Building new rig, very big! Opinions welcome.

[Zucca]

Alright, I'm new here so first, a bit about myself! I'm Zucca. Ok now that that's done, let's get on with the good stuff.

I'm dead smack in the middle of building a custom cube case, I will post pics of it when I start to get more pieces, let's dive right in with the big ol' list of soon-to-be goodies.

PC Parts--
Motherboard: EVGA X58 FTW3 132-GT-E768-KR
CPU: Intel Core i7-920 probably 930
Two Video Cards: EVGA 01G-P3-1373-AR GeForce GTX 460 Superclocked EE 1GB 256-bit GDDR5
2+ Monitors: Samsung XL-2370-1 23-Inch Widescreen LED LCD Monitor
HDD (to start): Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache Sata3.0 (6gb)
RAM (to start): G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 12GB (3 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666)
Power Supply: ENERMAX Galaxy EVO EGX1250EWT 1250W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Certified 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Compatible w/Core i7 Modular Active PFC Power Supply


Case Cooling Parts--
120mm Fanx14(maybe more): Yate Loon 120mm x 25mm Fan - Open Chassis (D12SH-12)
Fan Controller: Lamptron 30W - 4 Channel Aluminum Rheobus w/ Multi Color Backlit LED - Version 2 - Black (FC-5V2)


Liquid Cooling Parts--
Tubing: 3/8ID 5/8OD tygon lab grade
Pump: swiftech mcp355
Radiator: Thermochill PA120.3
Reservoir: XSPC Dual 5.25" Bay Reservoir - Black
Waterblock cpu: *undecided*
Waterblock gpu: *undecided*
Mobo waterblock: Bitspower Black Freezer EIX58NS EVGA Intel X58 North / Southbridge Combo Block
Pump #2: mcp355
Radiator #2: Thermochill PA120.3
Reservoir #2: XSPC Dual 5.25" Bay Reservoir - Black

What do you guys think?
I'm gonna have some questions a little bit down the line, just want to see what people's first impressions are!
And here's a hint about my case, it's a 2'x2'x2' steel framed cube. Before you ask... Yes, it's that big.

 

[Evochuck]

1250w is WAY overkill, pretty sure 750w would be plenty enough and its not like you could upgrade from 2 GTX460 to a tri or quad sli setup unless you rip everything apart

 

[Zucca]

1250 overkill

You really think so? It's something I've actually been debating for quite a while. I tried using this power supply calc I found:

http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

It recommends a minimum of 750 watts not including some extras I plan to put in later.

And what exactly do you mean by "rip everything apart"?


~Zucca

 

[David]

Welcome to the forums!

Firstly, I'd agree that 1.25 kW is a bit overkill for what you have. A good branded 850 to 1000 W PSU ought to do the job nicely. PSU calculators aren't always perfectly accurate, I'd take them with a pinch of salt rather than as a minimum estimate.

The second, very important question is what are you doing with it?

If you are gaming, I'd be tempted to drop down to less RAM (6 to 8 GB ought to be plenty) and/or the i7-8xx series chips and put the money you save (plus the money saved from dropping down the PSU wattage) towards a pair of 470s instead. From what I've seen the i7-9xx series is for when you really need massive number-crunching power whereas your priority ought to be the best cards you can afford if it's a gaming rig.

The caviar black is a good choice of HDD, although a 128 GB SSD plus a 640 GB Caviar black would be a reasonable alternative. It would cost a bit more, but would load games and the OS faster.

So in short I'd rearrange your build (assuming gaming here):

- i7 8xx chip and an appropriate board
- 8 GB DDR3 RAM
- A pair of GTX470 cards
- 128 GB SSD
- 640 GB Caviar Black
- 850 W to 1000 W PSU

This is all just my opinion however, but I think it would be a more well-rounded build. If you get the i7-8xxK chip you might find it easier to overclock as well.

As for the water cooling stuff, I'd read all the stickies then post a new thread in the Water Cooling subsection of the Cooling forum. They'll soon tell you if the water cooling setup is any good

 

[David]

Also: see here: http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=24263&page=4 and here: http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...0999-nvidia-geforce-gtx-470-sli-review-2.html. Someone suggests here that a good 750 W PSU ought to do it: http://www.overclock.net/nvidia/699052-gtx-470-sli-review.html.

They ran a pair of GTX470s off a 1 kW PSU.

 

[Zucca]

Well first off: thank you!

I understand what you mean about the power supply, and especially about the calculators.

This rig will be for top-end games, compiling, and audio/video editing.

I'm actually planning on picking up a Sata3.0(6gb) 256gb ssd as my OS/current-game/render/compile insta-farm

I've heard that the i7 920's and 930's are amazingly overclockable chips for a very reasonable price, that's the reason I chose that.

I will check out the water-cooling subsection with a few of my questions later on down the line (I have to finish building the case first!)

Oh, and my budget is about 2,000-2,500$ for pc parts.

~Zucca.

 

[David]

Well first off: thank you!

I understand what you mean about the power supply, and especially about the calculators.

This rig will be for top-end games, compiling, and audio/video editing.

I'm actually planning on picking up a Sata3.0(6gb) 256gb ssd as my OS/current-game/render/compile insta-farm

I've heard that the i7 920's and 930's are amazingly overclockable chips for a very reasonable price, that's the reason I chose that.

I will check out the water-cooling subsection with a few of my questions later on down the line (I have to finish building the case first!)

Oh, and my budget is about 2,000-2,500$ for pc parts.

~Zucca.

The 9xx series are really overclockable - when they are used as benchmarking rigs (which they frequently are) they tend to be at least 3.5 GHz or higher. Given that you plan to do A/V and programming work it's probably best to stick with the 9xx series and the extra RAM as you had at the start.

It looks like it will be quite a monster

 

[Zucca]

It looks like it will be quite a monster

Wait until I post the pics of the case, you're not going to believe it.

-As a side note, I'm considering putting a Mac Mini and KVM switch in there too. (I currently use a Macbook Pro, 15.4" from 2007)

~Zucca

 

[David]

Wait until I post the pics of the case, you're not going to believe it.

-As a side note, I'm considering putting a Mac Mini and KVM switch in there too. (I currently use a Macbook Pro, 15.4" from 2007)

~Zucca

If you're taking notes and pictures along the way, it would make a great article for Overclockers.com. Once it's built if you fancy writing a piece about it (doesn't need to be massive) send me a PM and we can sort you out with access to the WordPress.

David

 

[Zucca]

If you're taking notes and pictures along the way, it would make a great article for Overclockers.com. Once it's built if you fancy writing a piece about it (doesn't need to be massive) send me a PM and we can sort you out with access to the WordPress.

David

I was actually considering doing a write-up on my case when I start getting the pieces in, unfortunately I'm waiting on the case outer-panels right now, can't do anything until I receive them. I'm using 6 sheets of 2'x2' 1/8" thick aluminum diamond treadplate as my case walls. I will definitely keep you posted as to my status on the project.

~Zucca.

 

[Evochuck]

This is what I would personaly use since i like xfx a lot, most would probably recommend a Corsair 850HX too

http://go.overclockers.com/?id=1132...erclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=589708

 

[infam0ussteven]

I would go with a 850W from either Corsair or Seasonic. Seems like a great build you have going on, hope to see picture updates soon!

 

[Zucca]

*Update*

So I just got off the phone with the company that I ordered my case panels from, they said that they are shipping them to me on Wednesday of this week the latest, maybe sooner. After I get those panels is when I'll start doing the write-up, you guys will get to see me cut and drill and hopefully make something worth a damn.

Let me just give you an idea of what the case is about:

2 foot x 2 foot x 2 foot cube:
-frame made from 1" thick hollow perforated zinc/steel square tubing 14 ga steel
-angle brackets (you'll never believe where I got them from)
-14 or more case fans
-horizontal orientation mATX/ATX mobo tray
^customized with Lian-Li tool-less PCI card slot rack
-2x 5 slot 5.25" drive bays
-1x 3 slot 5.25" drive bay
^that 3 slotter is going to hold a Lian-Li tool-less HDD rack + 120mm fan.

That's just a bit to get it started, let me know what you guys think. Oh and before anyone asks, I will post where I got my parts from and exactly how much they cost me in the write-up, so stay tuned.

~Zucca.

 

[Zucca]

So I took a whole bunch of pictures of the parts I already have, some before and after assembly. I'm going to be receiving a majority of the case parts that I'm going to be using over the next week or two so look out for either this thread being updated or a new thread that will start my write-up. (if i do start a new thread, i will link it here.)

~Zucca.

 

[EarthDog]

Which PSU did you get? Honestly you PSU could have been EASILY run off a quality 750W PSU, none the less 1kw or more!!!

 

[Zucca]

Which PSU did you get? Honestly you PSU could have been EASILY run off a quality 750W PSU, none the less 1kw or more!!!

I haven't purchased any actual PC parts yet, just case parts. the write-up will mostly be on the case but I will include the actual PC parts when I do get them.

~Zucca.