New computer - research almost done

[Bino]

Last time I built a completely new machine was January Y2K.  Then I did a major rebuild reusing that tower case in July 2004.  I figure I'm about due.  

A major part of my reading up on hardware has been right here in this forum.  And so thanks, Skuzzy, and to all of you who post in here!  

My plan is to water-cool the cpu, X58 north bridge, and video cards.  And then clock the livin' snot outta this baby.  Y'see, I *really* like tinkering with my toys.  

case:    NZXT Tempest EVO
mobo:   ASUS P6T Deluxe V2
psu:     SeaSonic X750
cpu:     Intel Core i7-930 2.8 GHz
ram:     Corsair XMS3 (3 x 2GB) DDR3 1600
vpu:     2 crossfire x XFX HD-577X-ZNFC Radeon HD 5770
disk:     2 JBOD x Seagate Barracuda ES.2 500 GB
sound:  Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme
os:       Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit

The ICH10R south bridge and the MOSFETs will sport Enzotech solid-copper heatsinks.  The water-cooling parts will come mostly from Danger Den, like their MC-TDX for the CPU and MPC for the chipset. Two full-coverage EK blocks will keep the video cards cool, and an AC-powered Eheim aquarium pump will circulate the fluid.

Almost ready to place the order.  Almost...

[gyrene81]

  Sounds....................... .expensive. Should be a very cool setup when you get it assembled...can we assume some cathode eye candy is going to adorn the interior?

[Bino]

The basic box will be around US $1900, with a few hundred more for the water cooling parts.  If I'm going to put in the effort to build a new box, I want to build a very *fast* box.  And I plan to re-use my old 22" Philips CRT. I plan to post some pictures of the construction process.  Stay tuned...

[Spikes]

It is your choice to get XFX video cards or not...their 5770's have cheaply made PCB. You can take the lifetime warranty if yuo'd like. Good system.

[Bronk]

It is your choice to get XFX video cards or not...their 5770's have cheaply made PCB. You can take the lifetime warranty if yuo'd like. Good system.

I must have got a good one no probs so far.

[Spikes]

I must have got a good one no probs so far.

Yeah. I guess in all reality it is a slim chance, and even then the warranty covers it, but I despise XFX for doing such a thing.

[Bino]

It is your choice to get XFX video cards or not...their 5770's have cheaply made PCB. You can take the lifetime warranty if yuo'd like. Good system.

I'm not married to the XFX brand.  Any others out there with better construction?  And since I will install water-cooling, the warranty is voided, anyway.  >shrug<

[Tigger29]

The basic box will be around US $1900, with a few hundred more for the water cooling parts.  If I'm going to put in the effort to build a new box, I want to build a very *fast* box.  And I plan to re-use my old 22" Philips CRT. I plan to post some pictures of the construction process.  Stay tuned...

All that and you're REUSING A CRT?!?!  No offense, but ARE YOU CRAZY??

Not to sound rude, but have you used a LCD in the last 12 months or so?  Believe me... HUGE DIFFERENCE... you have no idea.

Also LCDs are bigger than CRTs, as 100% of their screen is viewable (your 22" might only have 19.5" viewable measured diagonally, whereas a 22" LCD will be 22" viewable).

Or better yet, go for a 58XX series video and get three monitors (eyefinity)... hehe.

With that kind of money to spend, you have many better options available to you than Watercooling, Crossfire/SLi, etc... than you did 6 years ago...

Also, keep in mind that today's processors run much cooler than the last couple generations... Watercooling should only be necessary if you plan to O/C to the point of failure...

[BaldEagl]

I have to agree.  Skip the liquid cooling, get a good air cooler and buy an LCD with the left over money.  You'll be much happier and you'll still get an easy 20% overclock, probably without even raising the vcore.  I had my 2.66 Ghz E6750 clocked to over 3.5 Ghz stable on air but dropped it to 3.2 Ghz for everyday use.  

I also had SLI'd 8800 GTS 512's for a while with no heat issues but I used Riva Tuner to manually run the fans at a constant 70%.  As far as that goes I'll never crossfire or SLI again.  I'll spend that money to get the best single card I can.

New LCD's provide a much sharper picture than a blurry old CRT.  Even my Trinitron CRT doesn't hold a candle to my LG 22" LCD.

[oneway]

I have to agree.  Skip the liquid cooling, get a good air cooler and buy an LCD with the left over money.  You'll be much happier and you'll still get an easy 20% overclock, probably without even raising the vcore.  I had my 2.66 Ghz E6750 clocked to over 3.5 Ghz on air but dropped it to 3.2 Ghz for everyday use.  

I also had SLI'd 8800 GTS 512's for a while with no heat issues but I used Riva Tuner to manually run the fans at a constant 70%.  As far as that goes I'll nevel crossfire or SLI again.  I'll spend that money to get the best single card I can.

New LCD's provide a much sharper picture than a blurry old CRT.  Even my Trinitron CRT doesn't hold a candle to my LG 22" LCD.

Agreed...

Get a Noctua air cooler...i7 flavor...liquid cooling is way more hassle than its worth...been their and done that multiple times...even liquid cooled ram, north bridge, southbridge and the gpu in the past...liquid is a hassle, its expensive...and it wont turn your i7 2.8 into a fps demolisher...

Save your money on the liquid junk and buy a faster proc....

And can I ask why in the world would you pick up a pair of vid cards that are basically 2 generations behind the curve just so you can crossfire them?

Get a single 5870...or better yet a single 5970 and ash heap the hassle of xfire...

Sounds like the bells and whistles train pulled up to the station and its "all aboard"

Oneway

[Spikes]

Take a looksie at the MSI R5770 Hawk...or MSI R5870 Lightning...both have dual fans for great OCing...I personally have two Sapphire 5770 Juniper XT's...

[Tigger29]

Spikes, I have to say... after a disappointing few hours in the movie theater, looking at your post made me realize... perhaps I DO like Avatar after all!

Oh another thing I forgot to say about that build.. have you considered SSD for the boot drive?  Makes a huge difference apparently, and they've about worked out all the quirks.  I think if I were building one now, I'd be tempted to go that route rather than dual 500GB drives... (SSD for boot, regular drive for storage).

[Bino]

...
And can I ask why in the world would you pick up a pair of vid cards that are basically 2 generations behind the curve just so you can crossfire them?
...

According to what I read on the web, a pair of 5770s may - sometimes - slightly outperform a single 5870.  And a pair of 5770s costs about US $100 less than a single 5870. 

The VPU in the 5770, the Juniper XT, is actually of the same generation as the Cyprus XT in the 5870.  Both run DirectX 11 and Shader 5.0.  While both have GDDR5 video RAM, it is true that the little card has only a 128-bit data path and the big one, 256-bit.  The 5870 also has twice as many stream processors as each 5770.

Despite all this, I might still elect to use a single video card.  Most reasonably-priced motherboards can only provide their three PCI-E slots in 16/16/1 or 16/8/8 mode.  If I ever want to add a good RAID disk controller card, or even better, one of OCZ's Z-Drive SSDs >drool!< I will need to have an eight-lane slot available.  Decisions, decisions...   

[Spikes]

And can I ask why in the world would you pick up a pair of vid cards that are basically 2 generations behind the curve just so you can crossfire them?

Two 5770s outperform one 5870.

[Ghosth]

A year ago I'd of said, why spend money on an LCD.

Then I went to AH con and saw what the new LCD monitors are doing.

Less than 2 weeks after returning I was flying on a new 23" LCD monitor, and yes I'm loving it.
The wife kept looking over her shoulder at my monitor and saying things like "wow, look at that color!"
So we got one for her too.

Mine was on sale at Sam's club for 196$ and sales tax.

Blows CRT's right out of the water.

One way or another I'd find another 200$ to upgrade your monitor also.