Future Build (Dream RIG)

[sowexly]

I was brainstorming on what would be my personal favorite build for a gaming/media rig, for later on.

So far I have this:

i7 980X - 999$
2x GTX 580 (got one already) - 1020$
2x Crucial RealSSD C300 128GB - 580$
2x Western Digital VelociRaptor 10k RPM 600GB - 550$
ASUS Rampage III Extreme - 360$
Antec TruePower Quattro 1200W Modular - 270$
Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid - 99$ (maybe a water cooling case integrated?)
CORSAIR DOMINATOR GT 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2000 - 240$ (maybe twice) - 480$

So far totals about 4,000$ with 12gigs of RAM total.

Not sure what to change out to improve on it, I would already have decked out accessories so what do you guys think?

I mean of course water cooling would improve performance, but then again with all of this being extreme I would want extreme cooling like the Hailstorm rig wherever you go to buy that thing!?

 

[joelmartinez]

okay, I say dump the 980X for SB it overclocks better

And liquid nitrogen cooling

 

[sowexly]

Nah the 980X still rocks any SB CPU

And yeah I believe the Hailstorm case is Liquid Nitrogen.

 

[Taylor422]

I disagree. The Tom's article says that the i7-2600k rivals the 17-980x, and the 2600k will over clock better.

Though actually, if you're going for a super-rig like this, you should wait until LGA 2011 releases, those are the real enthusiast Sandy Bridge chips.

 

[sowexly]

Oh yes a rig like this would take some time to gather, so by then the CPUs should be the final SB CPUs

 

[joelmartinez]

It's too far in the future to plan out right now

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Why DDR3-2000 ? if ya gonna use the unlocked CPU multiplier, are ya really gonna crank up the BCLK / mem multiplier to a point where ya need DDR3-2000 ? I'd get CAS 6 DDR3-1600 unless you have liquid nitrogen in mind.

I woulda said consider twin 570's which can be done with 8509 watter but with one already bought .....

I'd also move to the new HCP series of PSU's

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371043&Tpk=HCP-1200

The 900 is gonna be a bit small for twin 580's air flow wise, I'd opt for the new DF-85 .... another option is the JAF-X though having built w/ both, I prefer the DF.

I wouldn't bother w/ WC given the quality of today's air coolers. Pick from the top 3 here:

http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=447&Itemid=62

Top Performers

* Prolimatech Megahalems
* Thermalright Venomous-X RT
* Scythe Mugen 2 SCMG-2100
* ProlimaTech Super Mega
* Cogage Arrow
* ProlimaTech Armageddon
* Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme
* Cogage TRUE Spirit
* Xigmatek Balder SD1283
* SilenX Effizio EFZ-120HA4
* Titan FENRIR TTC-NK85TZ

and pair it with some Shin Etsu TIM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835242001
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835150080

But this will all change when LGA 2011 gets here, likely before the time you are ready to buy.

 

[sowexly]

I suppose you guys are right, planning out a build a year or 2 in advance is bad idea.
I will revise this build when the time comes for this extreme rig.

 

[sowexly]

Best answer selected by sowexly.

 

[dalauder]

For future dream build...since I don't know enough about Bulldozer, I have to go with Sandy Bridge.

i7-2600K OC'd to 5.4GHz
Whatever mobo goes with SB i7's & has a decent setup for 3 way SLI/Crossfire.
Corsair H70 cheap-0 liquid cooling (They say SB does 5.0GHz on air!)
3xSamsung Spinpoint F3 1TB in RAID5
2x Any Sandforce 128GB SSD's in RAID0
2x Any Radeon HD 6950 unlocked to 6970 & OC'd.

Everything else depends on what PSU's, cases & RAM are on sale on Newegg. Note: 8GB DDR3 (2x4GB) for upgrade to 16GB.

I think this build will nearly match the $4,000 one at the top, but for less than half the price. I'd save that extra $2,000 to upgrade to something else that's unnecessarily beastly in a year.