[eldernnine]

I'm building a gaming machine and want to know if anyone see's any potential *compatibility issues that I may have missed, or if you'd do anything differently, let me know.

*by compatibility I don't only mean, "it won't work", but also "it would work better if you replaced [part A] with [part B]

- Thanks.

note: I'm going with a very beautiful and expensive case, it is the top case for water-cooling, which I'm also going with. I am going with watercooling because I will be overclocking more than I'd like to rely on air for, and I'm also fond of how quiet water is over air.


::System Specs::

Mobo (£120): Asus P5Q-E, iP45, S 775, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), DDR2 1066/ 1200/800 MHz, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX

CPU (£140): Intel Core 2 Duo, E8400, Wolfdale Core, S775, 3.0 GHz, 1333MHz, 6MB Cache, 9x Multiplier, Retail

Gfx card (£230): 896MB EVGA GTX260 PCI-E 2.0 (x16), Mem 1998MHz, GPU 576MHz, 216 Cores, 2x Dual Link DVI-I/ HDTV

Sound card (£90): Creative Soundblaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional

HDD 1 (£35): 250GB Samsung HD252HJ, Spinpoint F1, SATA300, 7200 rpm, 16MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ

HDD 2 (£35): 250GB Samsung HD252HJ, Spinpoint F1, SATA300, 7200 rpm, 16MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ

Optical Drive (£16): Optiarc (Sony/NEC) AD-7200S-0B 20xDVD±R, 8xDVD±DL, DVD+RW x8/-RW x6, DVD-RAM x12, SATA, Black, OEM

PSU (£100): 650W Be Quiet Dark Power PRO BN073 Modular PSU 87% Eff

RAM (£55): 4GB (2x2GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 4-4-4-12, DHX

OS (£65): Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic SP1* 64Bit 1Pk OEM (DVD)

Sub-Total: £886 (inc. VAT)


::Case (+water cooling)::

Case (£245): Silverstone TJ07B-W Black Aluminium Full Tower Case with Window ATX/E-ATX/SSI (w/o PSU)

CPU Block (£50): Swiftech Apogee GTZ CPU Block LGA 775 - 3/8" & 1/2" Barbs Incl

Radiator (£75): TFC Xchanger Triple Radiator 360 using G1/4" Threads

Fans (£35): 3x 120mm Scythe S-FLEX SFF21F Fan 1600 RPM

Reservoir (£75): XSPC Laing DDC-Pump 12V Ultra(18w) Acrylic Reservoir with G1/4" Threads

Lighting (£3): Sharkoon 4" UV CCFL 2in1 Kit (x2 CCFL Tubes + 1 dual Inverter + adhesive Velcro strips)

Tubing (£7): Alphacool Hose PVC 11/8mm Clear 2 Meter Length

Fluid (£14): 1L Feser One Fluid - UV Acid Green for water cooling systems (Non Conductive < 10 ìS)

Barbs (£10): EK Polished Nickel Plated Brass G1/4" (BSPP) Thread to 1/2" Hose Tail

Sub-Total: £514 (inc. VAT)


::Peripherals::

Display (£181): 22" LG L226WTQ , Black , Widescreen, 2 ms, DVI/VGA, 1680x1050, 3000:1

Speakers (£29): Creative Inspire Black T3100 2.1 Speaker System

Mouse (£27): Logitech G5 Laser Mouse, 2000dpi, USB 1.1/2.0, 7 Buttons, Black - Gamers Choice

Mousepad (£27): SteelSeries SteelPad 5L Multilayered Gaming Mouse Mat (E3162)

Keyboard (£54): Razer Lycosa "Unstoppable" Gaming Keyboard [RZ03-00180600-R3W1] Non-slip Rubber Backlit Keys - UK

Headset (£88): Sennheiser PC350 Gaming Headset

Sub-Total: £406 (inc. VAT)


::Grand Total::

£1806 (inc. VAT)


I'm also getting an external HDD along with Acronis for secure back-up. If I were to go with air-cooling and not overclock my rig so much, it would have a grand total of around £1300. But, as I mentioned, I will be overclocking more, and I want a cooler/quieter environment. Also, this case + cooling-system is a long-term investment, I will only be spending ~£0-£300/year in upgrades, in order to stay with the flow of things.

Suggestions awaited!

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Hello and welcome to geekstogo,
I have the same case, I love it to bits and pieces, for those that can afford it, you cannot find a better tower on the market
Like you, I'm also watercooling and preparing for the arrival of my i7 setup next week.

So lets dig in.
1. I highly recommend you look into getting Vista Home Premium over home basic.
2. Why do you have two 250GB drives? Is this for RAID purposes?
3. I'd recommend you get a quad core processor, games are beginning to use 4 cores. Some of the most recent games are TF2 and Left 4 Dead.
4. Does your retailer have any Primochill tubing?
5. While the pump you have choosen is a good pump, if you have any intentions of expanding your loop in the future, I suggest the Swiftec MCP-665-B pump
6. If your aim in a quite environment, I suggest you take a look at some of the Noctua fans and a fan controller.
7. Is there any reason in particular, that you do not plan on watercooling your GPU? While there are benefits of water cooling a CPU, the benefits are far greater on a GPU.
8. I don't see any thermal compound in your list, you'll want to add some. I perfer MX-2 or OCZ Freeze extreme.
9. Personally, I find a sound card of that level as a wasted expense with the speakers you've selected. Additionally, creative has some lack luster support for it's drivers.
10. Replace the plastic barbs that come with your CPU block, they are very poor (you don't want to deal with plastic barbs).
11. Pioneer makes better drives then the one you have selected.

If you provided me a link to your retailer, I'd be able to better support your needs
James


Edit: You've posted two different builds, are you building two machines?

Edited by james_8970, 27 November 2008 - 10:03 PM.

[james_8970]

Hello and welcome to geekstogo,
I have the same case, I love it to bits and pieces, for those that can afford it, you cannot find a better tower on the market
Like you, I'm also watercooling and preparing for the arrival of my i7 setup next week.

So lets dig in.
1. I highly recommend you look into getting Vista Home Premium over home basic.
2. Why do you have two 250GB drives? Is this for RAID purposes?
3. I'd recommend you get a quad core processor, games are beginning to use 4 cores. Some of the most recent games are TF2 and Left 4 Dead.
4. Does your retailer have any Primochill tubing?
5. While the pump you have choosen is a good pump, if you have any intentions of expanding your loop in the future, I suggest the Swiftec MCP-665-B pump
6. If your aim in a quite environment, I suggest you take a look at some of the Noctua fans and a fan controller.
7. Is there any reason in particular, that you do not plan on watercooling your GPU? While there are benefits of water cooling a CPU, the benefits are far greater on a GPU.
8. I don't see any thermal compound in your list, you'll want to add some. I perfer MX-2 or OCZ Freeze extreme.
9. Personally, I find a sound card of that level as a wasted expense with the speakers you've selected. Additionally, creative has some lack luster support for it's drivers.
10. Replace the plastic barbs that come with your CPU block, they are very poor (you don't want to deal with plastic barbs).
11. Pioneer makes better drives then the one you have selected.

If you provided me a link to your retailer, I'd be able to better support your needs
James


Edit: You've posted two different builds, are you building two machines?

Edited by james_8970, 27 November 2008 - 10:03 PM.

[eldernnine]

Hello and welcome to geekstogo,
I have the same case, I love it to bits and pieces, for those that can afford it, you cannot find a better tower on the market
Like you, I'm also watercooling and preparing for the arrival of my i7 setup next week.

So lets dig in.
1. I highly recommend you look into getting Vista Home Premium over home basic.
2. Why do you have two 250GB drives? Is this for RAID purposes?
3. I'd recommend you get a quad core processor, games are beginning to use 4 cores. Some of the most recent games are TF2 and Left 4 Dead.
4. Does your retailer have any Primochill tubing?
5. While the pump you have choosen is a good pump, if you have any intentions of expanding your loop in the future, I suggest the Swiftec MCP-665-B pump
6. If your aim in a quite environment, I suggest you take a look at some of the Noctua fans and a fan controller.
7. Is there any reason in particular, that you do not plan on watercooling your GPU? While there are benefits of water cooling a CPU, the benefits are far greater on a GPU.
8. I don't see any thermal compound in your list, you'll want to add some. I perfer MX-2 or OCZ Freeze extreme.
9. Personally, I find a sound card of that level as a wasted expense with the speakers you've selected. Additionally, creative has some lack luster support for it's drivers.
10. Replace the plastic barbs that come with your CPU block, they are very poor (you don't want to deal with plastic barbs).
11. Pioneer makes better drives then the one you have selected.

If you provided me a link to your retailer, I'd be able to better support your needs
James

Thanks a lot James, you've exhibited quite a lot of knowledge, something I lack! which is why I'm here!

Okay!

I'm using www.scan.co.uk to purchase everything, I want everything delivered at once so I'm not going to mix and match carriers, plus I get free delivery from them

I don't know anything about building a PC, or about cooling, but I have a very knowledgeable friend who is helping me, he helped me piece this together.

Someone told me that the 1/2" barbs I chose won't fit on 8mm piping, is that true?

And I wasn't aware I needed thermal compound, so thanks for that.

If you take a peak at the following url, it will show you all of the cooling options...

http://www.scan.co.u...8.564.339.467-0

Thanks!

-Robert

EDIT: I thought the 1L feser fluid i got was the thermal compound...

What is thermal compound then? "Silverstone LCP02A 500cc thermal fluid for any liquid cooling devices" ???

---no im not building two machines, I threw the last one out because my friend told me its crap lol

Edited by eldernnine, 27 November 2008 - 10:18 PM.

[james_8970]

Someone told me that the 1/2" barbs I chose won't fit on 8mm piping, is that true?

To be honest, I'm not sure what they are saying that 8mm measurement is for, though it's pretty safe to say that they are talking about the wall thickness of the tubing.

I thought the 1L feser fluid i got was the thermal compound...

No, this is the actual liquid that you are putting into your loop. If you want, you can also put distilled water and a biocide as a way to cut down costs. This is why I have running in my loop. Distilled water cal be found at any grocery store.

What is thermal compound then?

Thermal compound, otherwise known as TIM, is the compound that you apply between your CPU and heatsink, or in this case, waterblock. Essentially what it does, is fill all the micro gaps between the two surfaces to improve the dissipation of the heat.

I'd change your CPU block to this one.
http://www.scan.co.u...2-Barb-included

Again, I strongly encourage you to purchase a GPU block
http://www.scan.co.u...ercooling-Block

Tubing - you can pick a different kind, but I strongly urge you to get 1/2" ID
http://www.scan.co.u...e-1-2-ID-3-4-OD

James

[eldernnine]

Someone told me that the 1/2" barbs I chose won't fit on 8mm piping, is that true?

To be honest, I'm not sure what they are saying that 8mm measurement is for, though it's pretty safe to say that they are talking about the wall thickness of the tubing.

I thought the 1L feser fluid i got was the thermal compound...

No, this is the actual liquid that you are putting into your loop. If you want, you can also put distilled water and a biocide as a way to cut down costs. This is why I have running in my loop. Distilled water cal be found at any grocery store.

What is thermal compound then?

Thermal compound, otherwise known as TIM, is the compound that you apply between your CPU and heatsink, or in this case, waterblock. Essentially what it does, is fill all the micro gaps between the two surfaces to improve the dissipation of the heat.

I'd change your CPU block to this one.
http://www.scan.co.u...2-Barb-included

Again, I strongly encourage you to purchase a GPU block
http://www.scan.co.u...ercooling-Block

Tubing - you can pick a different kind, but I strongly urge you to get 1/2" ID
http://www.scan.co.u...e-1-2-ID-3-4-OD

James

Thanks a lot, but I have actually decided not to do watercooling at this time. Instead, for the same price as my rig was previously set up with watercooling, I'm making major upgrades to the hardware.

The final version of my PC can be found here:

http://forums.hexus....ty-friends.html

Thanks for the help James, I will keep in mind what you've suggested because I do plan to use watercooling in the future, on this same rig, which is why I've invested in the Silverstone case, because perhaps no more than a year from now I'm going to buy top-of-the-line watercooling components and make sure to get the most efficiency from it. I will have learned a lot by then. I'm only just now getting into the PC scene this week for the first time in years, I'm way out of date, before Duo's were even heard of... lol I have a long way to go, but thanks to people like you, it won't be as hard as it would!

Robert

[james_8970]

Just out of curiosity, are you making a i7 build? With a budget that large, it's rather pointless to purchase a Core2duo/quad system at this time.
James

[eldernnine]

Just out of curiosity, are you making a i7 build? With a budget that large, it's rather pointless to purchase a Core2duo/quad system at this time.
James

Yes, if you'll follow the link that I posted, I outlined all of my system specs... but here they are as well:

CPU: Intel i7 920
Mobo: Asus P6T Deluxe
GPU: BFG GTX 260 OCX Maxcore
RAM: 6GB Corsair Dominator DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600)
Case: Silverstone TJ07B-W
PSU: 620W Corsair HX Series Modular
Main HDD (for os, winrar, wmp, etc): 320gb Samsung F1, 16mb cache, 7200 rpm, 8.9ms
Second HDD (for games, backup, etc): 750gb Samsung F1, 32mb cache, 7200 rpm, 8.9ms
Optical Drive: Pioneer DVR-216DBK
Display: 22" LG L226WTQ, WS, 2ms
OS: Vista 64
CPU cooler: Noctua NH-U12P
Fan Controller: MCubed T-Balancer bigNG 4-channel Fan Controller for air and watercooling (Auto)
Bay Fan: Scythe KAMA-BAY
Sound Card: Azunetech Xi-Fi Prelude
Speakers: Logitech Z2300 2.1 THX
Headset: Sennheiser PC350
Mouse: Logitech G5
Mousepad: Razer Destructor
Keyboard: Razer Lycosa "Unstoppable"

And a couple of other personal items like surge protector, and vga protector, Acronis backup software, 160gb Western Digital hd (it's pink so that nobody steals it, if you find a pink HD it's mine, send me a PM on here :mrgreen: ), Canon Pixma MP190 All-In-One, and a webcam.

Final cost: £2600

But note, that the expense is due mainly to the extra's that I got... I also got a 8.2 megapixel digital camera from Fuji... This is an entire setup, not just a PC, but the monitor, speakers, etc...

[james_8970]

Good luck with the rig. I'm getting my i7 setup in on monday, but have to wait till thursday to have time to do anything with it. Overclocking this new setup will be quick a learning curve for your friend, if this is what you intend on doing. Good luck and if you have any problems, let us know. We are always here to help
James

Edit: Don't buy that VGA protector.

Edited by james_8970, 29 November 2008 - 09:43 PM.

[eldernnine]

Good luck with the rig. I'm getting my i7 setup in on monday, but have to wait till thursday to have time to do anything with it. Overclocking this new setup will be quick a learning curve for your friend, if this is what you intend on doing. Good luck and if you have any problems, let us know. We are always here to help
James

Edit: Don't buy that VGA protector.

Thanks a lot, I'll be sure to ask any questions if I need help!

Good luck on your i7 as well!

Here's two great articles on the i7

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/

http://www.anandtech...post.aspx?i=521

I found them interesting to say the least. It's especially important to note (in the second article) that the Rampage mobo apparently has memory compatibility issues...

[james_8970]

Yeah, I've read a far amount of articles already.
I nearly got the same board as you, but decided the Gigabyte Extreme board was the way to go due to it's slot layout. That being said, it's as ugly as sin (gigabytes trade mark)
James