start of my new pc

[Pugsport]

im in need of a new pc as my Core 2 duo motherboard (asus p5w series) is on its last legs but it is three years old now so its done well and with my core i7 now being used alot for Autocad im unable to use that for gaming so much so im going to be replacing my old core 2 duo with something a little newer. well newer in and also new to me. this will be my first AMD powered pc so just need to hope it works well and ocs are good

main pc components
CPU: - AMD Phenom II 965 Black Edition 3.4ghz socket AM3
Motherboard: - Asus Crosshair V Formula 990fx socket AM3+
Ram: - G-skill 8gb (2x4gb) DDR3 1600mhz Ripjawx Memory
GPU: - Sapphire HD6850 toxic Edition 1gb GDDR5 x 2
PSU: - Coolermaster silent Pro 1000watt
Hard Drive: - Seagate ST500NM0011 500gb sata 6gb/s 64mb cache 7200rpm
Case: - Unsure if i want to use my Cooler master HAF 932 case or if i want to do something different. i have wanted to make a case for a while now and this maybe the time to get it done and start with a complete Custom PC

Water cooling Components
Radiator: - Magicool Slim Dual 240 elegant plexi series or Magicool slim Thriple 360 elegant plexi series
Pump: - Laing DDC pump 12v ultra and a pump top
Reservoir: - FrozenQ Liquid fusion V Series 160mm Red (if used with the HAF case or another colour if i use a different case)
CPU Water Block: - Koolance CPU-370 1.5mm mid plate
GPU Water Block: - Koolance VID-AR685 Radeon 6850
Motherboard Water Block: - Anfi-tec Asus Crosshair V Formula Light Cover set (may change if i can find another one)
Ram: - im still thinking about cooling the ram with water for more oc performance but most sticks of ram come with heat sinks on already now and have been told some of them are hard to remove or the stick is shapped different for the standard heat sink to fit so wont fit in a water block

i had been thinking about making a computer case that looked like a FLY or some sort of bug and have plans but i think with the above kit inside it would have to be rather big so it may not work to well. other ideas i had thought of was a standard shape case made from plexiglass but build the reservoir and some water ways into the case itself and also make brackets and mounting plates from carbon fibre (for looks and that also means the case wont be 100% see throw). i was also thinking maybe a COD theme PC was needed but dont have any ideas as to what to use for a base as say a gun would not be big enough to Hold all the above and still keep it a fair size. Could style it on an ammo box but that would be a little boring and you can buy them off ebay

if anyone has any ideas for a Custom PC case feel free to share Please as id really like to build a COD case but really need ideas.

 

[Joe Momma]

I see a few problems here, the hard drive, the graphics cards, and the water cooling. Hard drive do NOT buy seagate, always buy samsung or Western Digital. Next the graphics cards. Get a 6950 or 6970, don't bother with 2 weak cards, just get 1 powerful one. You will have less problems and all games will be able to utilize the video card instead of hoping each game you play will have crossfire capabilities. Third, water cooling is useless and a waste of money. Spend money on a good cooler and forget this water cooling hype. Honestly if you have the money to spend on water cooling, use that to get a intel 2500k cpu and a good motherboard instead of the very very dated phenom series amd chips. If you are a AMD fan, bulldozer amd chips are being released in early september.

 

[Pugsport]

1: - the hard drive has to last until ssd come down in price then ill upgrade to one of them
2: - Graphic cards will be fine for a while (at the least they are going to last a year or two) and then i might look at swapping them out and put them in my media pc. plus quite afew people have them in crossfire mode and they say they work fine
3: - water cooling because i will be over oc. water cooling is in no way a waste of money my i7 is water cooled and it runs cool, can oc if wanted to or need to and it dont leak so all is good and worth the money
4: - not an amd fan this will be my first amd but the crappy cpu is just to get it working until the good bulldozers come out hence the AM3+ board

 

[Joe Momma]

1: - the hard drive has to last until ssd come down in price then ill upgrade to one of them
2: - Graphic cards will be fine for a while (at the least they are going to last a year or two) and then i might look at swapping them out and put them in my media pc. plus quite afew people have them in crossfire mode and they say they work fine
3: - water cooling because i will be over oc. water cooling is in no way a waste of money my i7 is water cooled and it runs cool, can oc if wanted to or need to and it dont leak so all is good and worth the money
4: - not an amd fan this will be my first amd but the crappy cpu is just to get it working until the good bulldozers come out hence the AM3+ board

I know the cards run fine, but you will get more power out of 1 card rather than having 2. Even if you overclock that Phenom II chip to 4.5ghz, you won't get performance even close to a 2500k running at stock speeds. The 2500k overclocks to 5ghz on air, so no need for water cooling.

 

[Pugsport]

like i said i will be using that cpu until the good Bulldozer chip come out. so its just a stop gap untill then. altho i may wait if i can and just by bits every now and then until the bulldozer comes out but if i need to ill use that cpu as a stop gap

 

[Pugsport]

just look a the core i5 and i7 socket 1155 (sandy bridge) and was pretty shocked at how cheap they were compared to the older 1366 socket and im now unsure if i should go with the AMD above and then upgrade to the bulldozer when it comes out or to get an i5 or i7.

Motherboard: - Asus Maximus IV Extreme P67 socket 1155 8 channel audio EATX board
CPU: - Intel Core i7 2600k 3.4GHz socket 1155 8mb cache or Core i5 2500k unlocked, 3.3GHz 6mb cache
Memory G-skill 8GB (2x4gb) DDR3 1600MHz sniper x memory kit or the G-skill ripjawx memory (both run 1.50v and are made for the new sandy bridge i5 and i7 cpu's)

 

[Joe Momma]

Honestly, atm there is no motive to go with a AMD build sadly. If you want performance for your buck, go with a nice 2500k cpu and decent cheap mobo. Or wait till september when bulldozer comes out.

 

[Pugsport]

Honestly, atm there is no motive to go with a AMD build sadly. If you want performance for your buck, go with a nice 2500k cpu and decent cheap mobo. Or wait till september when bulldozer comes out.

No point going for a cheap board as they dont last long. I paid good money for my socket 775 board from asus and thats 3 or 4 years now and has been over clocked from day one (its now starting to give up and hence one of a few reasons for a new build). the board i want is £290. the only thing thats making me think AMD this time is the fact that Intel keep changing the socket for the new CPU's where as the old 775 was around for ages and the 1366 lasted a year maybe a little more

thats Asus AMD board will work with the bulldozer when it comes as its AM3+ socket and supports up to 8 cores but the cpu thats listed above is just to make get things up and running untill then as im not to sure how long my pc is going to last before it gives up.

 

[Joe Momma]

No point going for a cheap board as they dont last long. I paid good money for my socket 775 board from asus and thats 3 or 4 years now and has been over clocked from day one (its now starting to give up and hence one of a few reasons for a new build). the board i want is £290. the only thing thats making me think AMD this time is the fact that Intel keep changing the socket for the new CPU's where as the old 775 was around for ages and the 1366 lasted a year maybe a little more

thats Asus AMD board will work with the bulldozer when it comes as its AM3+ socket and supports up to 8 cores but the cpu thats listed above is just to make get things up and running untill then as im not to sure how long my pc is going to last before it gives up.

Problem is, 6 core amd chips can't even begin to keep up with the 2500k. And to top it off 2500k and 2600k chips are reported to overclock to 5GHZ on air alone. AMD right now just isn't worth the money. Until bulldozer comes out, for the first time in my life I am actually going to recommend you don't buy an AMD chip if you want performance for your dollar

 

[Pugsport]

well it looks like i will be going intel as theres quite a bit of info on the internet that leads me to think that the bulldozer is still not going to cut it when up it gose along side the intel range. that is if the info is true and their standard non server cpu's are no better. saw some tests that results that were from the amd bulldozer server cpu's and yes it is a little better than the core i5 and i7 but it should not be compared to them as intel us the xeon which from what i have seen and been told by a few people i know that work with computers and servers all the time wipes the floor with it pretty much (altho this could be why amd have delayed the launch to sort this out but who knows)

well on the above it has to be go intel or wait until the bulldozer comes out before making a choice

 

[Pugsport]

well sorted out my layout and thanks to you guys sort out the photos for my PSU and im now thinking i need to address the crappy looking optical drives so they might get painted or airbrushed. Also had the go ahead from Wally to use the |KKK| tags so been brain storming a little and work out that in going to get |KKK|Pugsport engraved in the side pannel of the case and fill it with coolant from the water cooling system or if i can think of a way of getting it connected up to the water cooling system ill have water/coolant running throw it. Ill also you be using clear soild tube for some of the water pipes in order to try and cut down on mess inside the case but some of it will have to be done with flexi pipe work.

Layout

photos

 

[Pugsport]

well have had a bit od a spec change and gonna the intel i5 route. all tho i have had a few problems with parts being out of stock or being on pre order some stuff has started to come in now. so i now have motherboard (asus P8P67), ram (16gb G-skill ripjaws x) and have been that the i5 cpu will be in stock and shipped to me next week on a next day service.

ive still not had any news on the other parts for my new build as yet but this gives me time to work out some other now big issues like the fact i dont think my standard case will hold all the radiator surface area i need in order to run the overclocked cpu as well as water cool the motherboard and the gpu's. so its looking like i being going back to plan B as far as a case gose and thats spending the £300 on making a case from scratch which is a fair amount of money for a pc case but ill be able to make it to the size i need and no try to get everything in a case thats not made for it.

i need a 360mm radaitor to run both gpu's and i need a 720mm radiator to run the cpu overclocked and the motherboard. i a few options here option 1 of putting a 480mm radiator on the side pannel of the case but this would making getting at the parts inside a bit tricky and then running another 240mm radiator at the bottom of the case losing two harddrive bays or of course running two 120mm radiator one bottom of case and one at the back of the case losing no space but meaning tube runs will be long. option 2 making the radiator setup outside the case and have it sit on the desk or beside the pc case. option 3 use a car radiator and mount it outside (great cooling but would need to make sure the water dose not freeze and make sure the radiator is not blocked up by leaves etc) option 4 is to just bite the bullet and build a new case.

there are other ways of cooling the water like placing a smaller radiator in a bucket of of cool water or ice but this means a rather nasty looking mess altho works well and you need to replace the ice which would get very old very fast.