Topic: Computer Show & Shine

[Mischief]

The reason for an upgrade:

My PSU is limiting what video card I can move up to at this point and I am tired of buying 1 or 2 parts at a time to "patch" the computer together.  I have upgraded this computer over the last 5 years and I am ready to start brand new with all new tech. This is simply to see the progress of my build as well as answer any questions anyone might have in regards to building a pc and finding the correct parts. Without further wait lets get to some pictures.





My first computer build when I was 16:








Current Computer:

Windows 7 32bit
ASUS M4A78T-E
AMD Athlon II X3 425 @2.71GHz
4x1GB Kingston DDR2
Saphire Radeon HD6670 1GB DDR3
Thermaltake Silent Purepower 480W PSU
Ultra Aluminus (Black) ATX Full Tower
160GB SATA I
2x 250GB SATA I

a green cold cathode.. 

[Mischief]

I need to explain a couple things before I list my new computer build so here it goes. Almost all new MOBO's have support for PCI-E 3.0 but unless you spent $1,000 or more on a Processor it doesn't enable it at all, and you also need a Video Card that will be able to use it as well.  With the recent release of the ATI 7970 using PCI-E 3.0 it has become apparent that upgrading to a full crazy expensive computer is a bad idea. Coupled with the fact that Intel is releasing their Ivy Bridge processor in April that will enable PCI-E 3.0 and you have the latest in everything.

So why don't I wait for Ivy and buy a 7970 right now? Because the prices are and will be insanely high for what you actually need.  Currently a 6850 (or a 6870 to be safe) will run Battlefield 3 on high settings with no issues, so a 7970 would be massive overkill. With this in mind I am going to build a computer with the below specs knowing full well that when say Half-Life 3 comes out I will upgrade to an Ivy Bridge and upgrade to likely a 7950x2 Crossfire setup. Sorry for the long winded speech, here are the specs!


New Computer Build:

Windows 7 64bit
Intel i5-2500k (plan is to overclock to 4.5GHz)
ASUS P8Z68-V/GEN3 (Full support for USB 3.0 and PCI-E 3.0)
Cooler Master Hyper 212+ with 2 aftermarket 120MM PWM fans
Corsair Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3 1600MHz 9-9-9-24
Saphire 100315L Radeon HD 6850 1GB GDDR5
Seasonic X850 Gold ATX 12V 24PIN 850W Active PFC 80PLUS Gold
Lian Li PC-A77FB Black Aluminum ATX Full Tower Case
320GB Sata III 7200 RPM
250 SSD when prices come down


Artic Silver 5 paste
5x XIGMATEK 120mm White LED Orange Case Fan
2x XIGMATEK 140mm White LED Orange Case Fan
3x XIGMATEK 120mm Blue LED Black Case Fan



*More pictures to come when parts start rolling in.

[Infusion]

damn sweet setup that case looks clean!

[Claw]

Very nice.

I just finished putting one together as well.
Intel i7 2600k
Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3 mobo
Corsair Vengeance 16GB RAM
Gigabyte Radeon HD 6870
Coolermaster HAFX Case
Corsair 650W PS
120GB OCZ Vertex 3 (Windows 7)
120GB OWC Mercury Extreme Pro (OS X)

Gets 80-100fps with The Old Republic (no AA enabled)

Does double duty as a CustoMac Pro (for 1/3 of the cost of a Mac Pro)

[Mischief]

Update:

The case should be arriving today and I am likely going to order all the parts this friday or next. I have gone through maybe 50 different setups thus far and switching between certain parts constantly so it will be nice when I can just order it and cement the build. One thing I am having troubles with is if I should spend decent coin on a CPU cooler if the Ivy bridge is going to make it obsolete.. in a perfect world I could find a decent size 2 fan cooler that doesn't cover the ram at all, but alas all I can find is the 212+ and a zalman cnps11x extreme, which both cover the first slot.

Any thoughts on cpu coolers?

damn sweet setup that case looks clean!

Thanks!

Very nice.

I just finished putting one together as well.
Intel i7 2600k
Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3 mobo
Corsair Vengeance 16GB RAM
Gigabyte Radeon HD 6870
Coolermaster HAFX Case
Corsair 650W PS
120GB OCZ Vertex 3 (Windows 7)
120GB OWC Mercury Extreme Pro (OS X)

Gets 80-100fps with The Old Republic (no AA enabled)

Does double duty as a CustoMac Pro (for 1/3 of the cost of a Mac Pro)

Thats pretty much what I wanted to build from the get-go (with a HD6990) but I just couldn't get myself to spend that much on a processor that I would be replacing in a year's time. It still would HAVE been a sweet machine to build but I guess I have to settle for "epic rig" whenever a game comes out that would actually need a HD7xxx. I was going to get the HD6870 as well but read up on the ability to overclock the 6850 so I decided to settle for the cheaper option haha.

It's good to see some other computer builders on the site! if we have enough maybe we should start a show and tell thread.

[The Goat]

nice computer. I just installed a thermal take q spin its relatively quiet I'll take a pictures later  today. I have been lazy I have a few things to post on the forums.

[bigdl]

Claw I like your setup.

Mine:

Proc: Intel i5 2500k running at 4.4ghz stable (like 20 hours of the prime stress test)
Motherboard: Asus P8Z86-V
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 16GB RAM
Video Cards: 6850 crossfire
Case: Cooler Master HAF X
Power Supply: Corsair TX850M 850W

What I need next is to upgrade the main hard drive, at least remove crap off of it so i can transfer it to a SSD eventually.

212+ is one of the best air coolers, and is cheap.

If you want to spend around $100 you can get like the antec 920 or a Corsair Hydro H100.  Basic sealed water cooling unit, works good for me and not too loud the way I have it set up.  If you want to spend more you could get something like the XSPC Rasa kit before going to a full custom setup.

Check out overclock.net lots of good info on that site.

[Mischief]

Thanks for the info on the CPU coolers! I think I have finally convinced myself that there is no point in buying an expensive cooler right now since I will need a new one when Ivy comes out anyways haha. So in that I will probably stay with the 212+ with a couple 120MM PWM fans and let that be.

[STI 2NV]

Those couple visible wires are now covered in splitloom and are invisible

Old Vs NEW


-Windows 7 ultimate 64bit
-Obsidian 800D case
-Asus Rampage 3 Extreme
-I7 980x @ 4.55GHZ @1.40 volts - Under full load 66 degrees
-24gb corsair vengeance ram @1600mhz
-Corsair H70 Cpu water cooler
-2x EVGA GTX580 SLI (slightly modified with extra fan connecting them.) 20 degree fix
-Corsair Ax1200 power supply
-160 gig SSD
-Sata3 1TB WD black HDD for gaming
-4x Sata2 2TB WD black HDD (hot swapping drives)

Total cost approx $4500 including IPR from mem express.

Did the build December of 2010 So almost time to do another build in a year or so.

[bigdl]

Thanks for the info on the CPU coolers! I think I have finally convinced myself that there is no point in buying an expensive cooler right now since I will need a new one when Ivy comes out anyways haha. So in that I will probably stay with the 212+ with a couple 120MM PWM fans and let that be.

Why do you need a new one when Ivy comes out?  Unless you are changing motherboards to the extreme version with the new socket it won't make a difference.

[Mischief]

Why do you need a new one when Ivy comes out?  Unless you are changing motherboards it won't make a difference.

i was under the assumption that a different sockettype (1156, 1155) would need a different bracket for each CPU? If that isn't correct than that opens up the table to anything really..

[Tenacious_B]

No Pics but I'll throw mine into here too:

Coolermaster Cosmos S + 2 Scythe 120mm Optional Fans
Corsair 850W PSU
Asus P5QE
Intel Q9450 2.66Ghz, 12MB Cache
Corsair H70 CPU Cooler
ASUS GTX570 x 1
8 GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2-800
3x Seagate 1TB 7200rpm 32MB Cache, SATA II HDD's, no Raid.
1x WDigital 3TB 7200rpm 64MB Cache, SATA II HDD (For teh media)
Scythe FDD Card reader
Phillips DVD/CD Burner
Samsung 26" 1080p LCD monitor
Logitech MX5500 Keyboard and Mouse

My Mobo & CPU is now holding me back, plays most games quite well, but Crysis @ Crysis Warhead play only OK, Metro 2033 runs pretty good.  Reason for the baller mouse and keyboard setup is that I run HDMI from the office to my Plasma in the living room, which is quite awesome... 

I think I`ll sit out the next round of consoles and just keep upgrading my PC instead.  I think what I might do is build 2 PC`s, one for home theater, and another for games + everything else.  I`m still good for another year at least I think tho.  Then I`ll do something epic.

[bigdl]

i was under the assumption that a different sockettype (1156, 1155) would need a different bracket for each CPU? If that isn't correct than that opens up the table to anything really..

1156 and 1155 share the same bracket, also Ivy bridge is using the same socket, 1155.  And as i edited in my post, unless you are going crazy and getting new motherboard and CPU for the new extreme stuff then that is pointless.

edit:

Instead of making another post ill edit and add more info to clear things up. 

If Ivy Bridge was different socket from the Sandy Bridge i5 you would have had to upgrade your Motherboard and processor to upgrade to Ivy Bridge.  However, Ivy Bridge is the same socket as existing sandy bridge and once the BIOS updates are released you could just drop it right in and it will be happy.

Most CPU coolers these days comes with different attachment options for different socket types.

[Mischief]

1156 and 1155 share the same bracket, also Ivy bridge is using the same socket, 1155.  And as i edited in my post, unless you are going crazy and getting new motherboard and CPU for the new extreme stuff then that is pointless.

That is some great info! The original idea was to find a decent CPU Cooler with a couple fans what didn't impede the memory slots at all so I could throw on a memory cooler (aesthetics mainly) but as I searched around it became obvious that a "good" CPU cooler is going to hang over the first memory slot regardless.  I am tempted to stick with the 212+ based only on the push/pull fan system which puts it right to the rear vent fan vs the Zalman CNPS11X Extreme which actually has a better cooling rating but is a single fan.. I am definitely putting looks before performance right now which is probably a bad idea 

Quick question, how do you like the mobo?

edit:

I knew the Ivy was going to work with the z68 mobo which is why I picked it out but for some reason i thought i would need a new bracket in order for a cpu cooler to attach to it. It is good to get some clarity on that so I can make a proper choice about which cooler i pick up. I doubt i'm going to go water at this point but in the future when I upgrade to Ivy and dual 7xxx series I might go water (don't know anything about water setup so would be fun to learn). As for now I am just going for the most unique computer case setup I can find with some of the best parts, which means I may have to search for a new cpu cooler.

[Mischief]

No Pics but I'll throw mine into here too:

Coolermaster Cosmos S + 2 Scythe 120mm Optional Fans
Corsair 850W PSU
Asus P5QE
Intel Q9450 2.66Ghz, 12MB Cache
Corsair H70 CPU Cooler
ASUS GTX570 x 1
8 GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2-800
3x Seagate 1TB 7200rpm 32MB Cache, SATA II HDD's, no Raid.
1x WDigital 3TB 7200rpm 64MB Cache, SATA II HDD (For teh media)
Scythe FDD Card reader
Phillips DVD/CD Burner
Samsung 26" 1080p LCD monitor
Logitech MX5500 Keyboard and Mouse

My Mobo & CPU is now holding me back, plays most games quite well, but Crysis @ Crysis Warhead play only OK, Metro 2033 runs pretty good.  Reason for the baller mouse and keyboard setup is that I run HDMI from the office to my Plasma in the living room, which is quite awesome... 

I think I`ll sit out the next round of consoles and just keep upgrading my PC instead.  I think what I might do is build 2 PC`s, one for home theater, and another for games + everything else.  I`m still good for another year at least I think tho.  Then I`ll do something epic.

How do you like the monitor? I am thinking of upgrading to a 24-26" Samsung with the build

[bigdl]

That is a good info tip! The original idea was to find a decent CPU Cooler with a couple fans what didn't impede the memory slots at all so I could throw on a memory cooler (aesthetics mainly) but as I searched around it became obvious that a "good" CPU cooler is going to hang over the first memory slot regardless.  I am tempted to stick with the 212+ based only on the push/pull fan system which puts it right to the rear vent fan vs the Zalman CNPS11X Extreme which actually has a better cooling rating but is a single fan.. I am definitely putting looks before performance right now which is probably a bad idea 

Quick question, how do you like the mobo?

Your answer to cooling then is to get one of the good sealed water cooling kits like the one I am running.  It will take up more space where the Radiator is, but will give you a lot more space around the CPU. 

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/06/23/antec_kuhler_h2o_920_cpu_water_cooler_review/3

comparing performance between different sealed units.

Results of the Zalman

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2009/12/15/zalman_cnps10x_flex_cpu_cooler_review/3


Mobo is good BUT I ran out of SATA ports.  I think the version I purchased only had 6 SATA ports.  Double check how many ports the one you are looking at has.  I went with this one mainly because it was a bundle discount with the cpu.  Besides that it works great, BIOS and overclocking was easy to do once I figured out where everything was and the settings I had to change.   Overclock.net has a few good write ups for that part.

[Tenacious_B]

How do you like the monitor? I am thinking of upgrading to a 24-26" Samsung with the build

Its pretty good, I got it on a sale, but honestly I tend to play most games on my LG 60PS60 Plasma, the monitor is just for day to day stuff.

I`m thinking for now I might just overclock the CPU on this to 3.2 Ghz, it`s easy on this combo and Id get a little more performance until I do a real upgrade.

[funk32]

I have a 26" samsung but before that I had a 24" samsung and I think I liked the smaller one more for some reason. I find with computer gaming im a lot closer to the monitor then I am when I play Xbox, so i had to move my head more to see eveything on the monitor on the 26" lol

ill post my gaming rig when i get home

[Mischief]

Your answer to cooling then is to get one of the good sealed water cooling kits like the one I am running.  It will take up more space where the Radiator is, but will give you a lot more space around the CPU. 

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/06/23/antec_kuhler_h2o_920_cpu_water_cooler_review/3

comparing performance between different sealed units.

Results of the Zalman

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2009/12/15/zalman_cnps10x_flex_cpu_cooler_review/3


Mobo is good BUT I ran out of SATA ports.  I think the version I purchased only had 6 SATA ports.  Double check how many ports the one you are looking at has.  I went with this one mainly because it was a bundle discount with the cpu.  Besides that it works great, BIOS and overclocking was easy to do once I figured out where everything was and the settings I had to change.   Overclock.net has a few good write ups for that part.

I like the idea of a water cooled but I think I would want to add in the GPU to the system as well (i think thats full custom?), I am not going to say no to any options at the moment. I will take a look inside the case and try to map out where I could put everything.  Does the water cooling radiator take a lot of power from the PSU or is it plugged in to the wall? Are they all still rather bulky?



Those benchmarks are for the CNSP10X and not the 11x so it's hard to use those to verify the data between it and water cooled.  I did see one benchmark that put the 11x in second place only behind the H70 so thats why I am so impressed by it.  It uses a single 120MM fan that blows onto a cone shaped heatsink/heatpipes which is rather rare but seems to do the job. Again my only issue is how freaking huge it is.

some tests:

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Zalman-CNPS11X-Extreme-CPU-Cooler-Review/1266/6



here you can see it blocks the first RAM slot just barely, but enough to make it impossible to use a RAM cooler.



I could do fine with 2 SATA ports to be honest. All I want is a 250GB SSD for the OS and games and a 320GB SATA III used as a "buffer" of sorts before it gets organized onto my 2TB network drive. Down the road I may upgrade the 320 to a 1TB but for now it's not feasible. I am glad to hear the MOBO is as good as the reviews state, I am eager to try out the overclocking in the BIOS as it seems so simple (multiplier up!).

[Mischief]

I have a 26" samsung but before that I had a 24" samsung and I think I liked the smaller one more for some reason. I find with computer gaming im a lot closer to the monitor then I am when I play Xbox, so i had to move my head more to see eveything on the monitor on the 26" lol

ill post my gaming rig when i get home

My understanding is that it all depends on the Hz it runs at and what connection you have. I will be looking for a monitor that does 120Hz for sure, either with DVI or HDMI.

[Tenacious_B]

a lot of people have that problem, turn the 'vsync' function that is in most games to 'on' and it'll lock the FPS to whatever your Hz is on your monitor.

I always have mine set to 60hz.  TV or monitor.

[ultimatt]

I spec'd and bought this one over xmas break:

Powercolor Radeon HD 6950 800MHZ 2GB
OCZ Vertex 3 120GB SSD
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium
Intel Core i5 2500K
Coolermaster GX 650W 80+
Antec Three Hundred Mini Tower
ASUS P8Z68-V LX
Kingston HyperX KHX1600C9D3K2/8GX 8GB
Samsung SH-S243D/BEBE 24X Black DVD Writer SATA OEM

It was BSOD'ing earlier this week, but hasn't since Monday. It did alert me to how hot the thing is running, so I'll probably pick up one of those self contained water cooling kits once the BSOD issue is sorted.
I use my TV as a monitor and have the same problem of having to look around a lot, haha.

I could do fine with 2 SATA ports to be honest. All I want is a 250GB SSD for the OS and games and a 320GB SATA III used as a "buffer" of sorts before it gets organized onto my 2TB network drive. Down the road I may upgrade the 320 to a 1TB but for now it's not feasible. I am glad to hear the MOBO is as good as the reviews state, I am eager to try out the overclocking in the BIOS as it seems so simple (multiplier up!).

The 1TB drives falling back down to $100 now. Can you even get a Mobo with 2 SATA ports now? I know my disc drive is Sata as well.

Did the build December of 2010 So almost time to do another build in a year or so.

You're crazy!

[JimmEh]

I want a new video card, one that can output sound via hdmi. I am not certain if my motherboard supports ot or not? or how it works. it's a it older....

asus pk5-e wifi
auzentech x-plosion sound card if that matters

I don't have a lot of money, I was looking at the gtx 560's

my current card 8600gts runs choppy when i play 1080p during action scenes etc.

I don't want to clutter your thread. sorry

edit: ad wtf is with the size of cards these days. hard to fit a long card in a htpc case.

[Mischief]

I want a new video card, one that can output sound via hdmi. I am not certain if my motherboard supports ot or not? or how it works. it's a it older....

asus pk5-e wifi
auzentech x-plosion sound card if that matters

I don't have a lot of money, I was looking at the gtx 560's

my current card 8600gts runs choppy when i play 1080p during action scenes etc.

I don't want to clutter your thread. sorry

edit: ad wtf is with the size of cards these days. hard to fit a long card in a htpc case.

I current use a 6770 I picked up for about 100 dollars and it played BF3 (low) and Skyrim (medium) settings but it has an HDMI port which also sends out sound. Might be a good upgrade if all you are looking for is decent gfx with the ability to send to a HDVT.  Otherwise maybe pick up a 6850?

[JimmEh]

I dont game at all I should have mentioned. photoshop/autocad and movies. some bluray and some 1080p mkvs

right now i have dvi -> hdmi -> receiver + toslink-> receiver.

want to clean it up to one connection, and utilize hdmi audio quality