Upgrading - Opinion/Recommendations and Watercooling

[Rain1406]

OK couple of questions so I apologise

Backstory: I'm off to uni at the end of the summer and so plan to upgrade my computer rig to be able to survive 3 years at uni with no upgrades so it's gotta be pretty future proof plus my old system really needs replacing now it's starting to get old, I'd like to go into uni with a (very) high-end PC and come out with it either still being High-end or mid-end . i'm dead set on the i7 for several reasons, first of all the introduction of DDR3, it's benefits and the fact that logically speaking in 3 years time that will probably be very much cheaper/the prominant ram type when I finish, second of all I'd love the fact I'd have one of the fastest CPUs on the market (granted at the time). the system I've mentally built for myself is this

Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz
ASUS P6T Motherboard (not the delux edition)
OCZ 3GB 1600mhz PC3-12800 Gold XTC triple channel RAM
BFG Nvidia 9800GTX+ (carried over from my old rig)
640gb western digital HDD (carried over from my old rig)
Coolermaster HAF (carried over from my old rig)

First question is what do you think of my choice? I've checked loads of different suppliers and I've managed to get the top 3 things for £517.47. I'd like to get the highest spec for the lowest price (who doesn't) so considering it's gotta be pretty much 3 years future proof (I know it's only as good as the day I buy it) is it worth the money. I'm into my gaming, so much so I'm doing a computer games development degree (meaning lots of programming and stuff) I'l be buying this rig in August time so hopefully prices'll come down more or better quality stuff will be out. If anyone has any recomendations for changes to this setup I'd be glad to hear them

Second question is: with my budget I've got about £100-£150 spare. Now I've heard that the i7 produces alot of heat so I was considering going into watercooling, this is an area I've really got no idea about; I know that I'll need the i7 water block so that's about £40 already on that but the rest I've got no idea what's good quality and if it's even worth going for watercooling. Does anyone know if it's worth the extra money in watercooling or should I just stick to a CPU fan instead?

Thanks in advance.

 

[The_Blood_Raven]

You need 6GB of RAM and forget about watercooling, anything decent would cost way too much for your budget.

 

[Rain1406]

You need 6GB of RAM and forget about watercooling, anything decent would cost way too much for your budget.

I thought about that but to be honest I've been on 2BG of ram for about a year and nothing has really needed anymore than that so I'm thinking 6gb would be overkill, 3gb is fine for what I'd need, and if needs be I can just buy another 3gb kit when it becomes cheaper. plus I'm a die hard XP fan and would probably dualboot XP and vista until I've gotten used to it/decided I finally like it so it's gotta be below 4gb idealy

 

[cheepstuff]

unless you plan to serously OC, don't water cool. with air, you should get to 3GHz at least (w/o the stock cooler). just spend your money on a reasonable cpu and exauhst fan. are you a gamer? if you play serious games you should think about upgrading the graphics.

 

[Rain1406]

recently bought the 9800gtx+ so it seems pointless to needlessly replace it, I am a gamer yeah and so far what I've played it's handled it fine, I think I'll invest in a good CPU fan instead thanks. as for upgrading my graphics the MoBo allows for Dual SLi. if I find that my graphics are lacking then I'll SLi it with another 9800GTX+, form the benchmarks on this site that I've seen it SLiS nicely. What are good CPU cooler brands?

 

[cheepstuff]

plus I'm a die hard XP fan and would probably dualboot XP and vista until I've gotten used to it/decided I finally like it so it's gotta be below 4gb idealy

it doesn't harm you to have more than 4GB( 3.3 to be exact), it just wont register in XP. your system will run fine for the next three years with three gigs.

 

[Rain1406]

oh so I can have 6gb just, it will only use 3.3 of them? thanks I didn't realise that. Either way i'd like to keep costs down and 6gb does seem a bit overkill, money better spent on a good Cooler/ another 9800GTX+

 

[cheepstuff]

yup, i have 4GB in my XP system and it only registers 3.3 b/c it is a 32-bit OS. vista can register more though. 6GB is probably more than a your system will need in its life. other factors will limit it long before your ram slows you down. your ram is fine.

 

[sid_nag17]

it doesnt depend on xp or vista it depends whether u r running the 32bit or the 64-bit os. win xp 64bit will recognise 4gigs of ram

 

[sid_nag17]

any way 3gigs is good enough to run all games and applications

 

[captaincharisma]

with water cooling just use common sense. water and electronics do not mix!

 

[Shadow703793]

^ You are so wrong. Many people have used water cooling and if done correctly it is fine.

And yes, Raven is right. A good WC set up will set you back about $200 for CPU only.

 

[Rain1406]

That seems a tad too much really =[ shame. is anyone able to recomend a good socket LGA1339 CPU cooler? only ones I can find are the Triton 88 which I can't find any reviews on and the Coolermaster V8 which I've heard mixed reviews, heavy and loud.

 

[The_Blood_Raven]

Get the $10 xigmatek 1336/775 bracket (make sure it is the right one as 1 is for the 3 pipe and another is for the 4 pipe version) and get a $30-$40 Xigmatek HDT-s1283 (3 pipe, recommended) or HDT-s1284 (4 pipe, will work if nothing else). Both solutions are on the top of aircooling performance, but not on top of air cooling price.

 

[Rain1406]

That's excellent thankyou.

 

[g3force]

To be honest, I seriously doubt that a 9800 GTX+ will be mid-high end 4 years in the future.

 

[Rain1406]

To be honest, I seriously doubt that a 9800 GTX+ will be mid-high end 4 years in the future.

Neither do I, however the motherboard opens up the possibility of SLiing it which should at least delay it's drop into the mid range, after 3 years of uni I expect I'll be going over it again and the graphics card will be one of the first things I swap, it will at least last me 3 years, or at the very least be able to play the new games that come out.

 

[Shadow703793]

Get the $10 xigmatek 1336/775 bracket (make sure it is the right one as 1 is for the 3 pipe and another is for the 4 pipe version) and get a $30-$40 Xigmatek HDT-s1283 (3 pipe, recommended) or HDT-s1284 (4 pipe, will work if nothing else). Both solutions are on the top of aircooling performance, but not on top of air cooling price.

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