So I have my dream PC, Now what?

[banscare]

Hey,

I just want to take a second to say hello to everyone. This is my first post here

I just finished assembling my new PC which I have to say is by far the best one I have had to date. The funny thing is I found the most enjoyable part of assembling a new PC is actually researching and ordering the parts. I am now spending this cold Monday morning perusing the web looking for fun accessories to complement my machine. What are some unique and interesting things some of you have for your computers? It doesn’t necessarily have to useful, I just have some cash left over burning a hole in my pocket . Any comments and criticisms welcome!

My build: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvBPwad4inw

i7 950
ASUS Rampage Formula mobo
24 GB Mushkin Enhanced Blackline Frostbyte
120GB SSD
2TB Sata3 Slave
GTX 580x2 Sli
850w psu
HAF X Tower
Win7 Pro 64bit

Cheers!

 

[WR2]

Nice system.

which I have to say is by far the best one I have had to date

If you hadn't been able to say that then you wouldn't have done it right

Hmmmmmmmm....... how much cash left over? I'm sure we won't mind spending it.

What are you using for a monitor?

Nvidia 3d Vision Surround

 

[boiler1990]

I have Nvidia 3D Vision and it's pretty cool, but not *entirely* useful. However, it does add an incredible amount of depth to games that enable stereo 3D well (Just Cause 2 looks awesome in 3D at max settings).

You could get some crazy LEDs and LED fans if that's your things.

If you REALLY like researching things and spending money, you could look into watercooling your system. It'll take a couple of months to get all of the required information, but it will be worth it if you're patient and do it properly. Then you could OC those 580s even further.

I could go on forever on how to spend money

 

[banscare]

Nice system. If you hadn't been able to say that then you wouldn't have done it right

Hmmmmmmmm....... how much cash left over? I'm sure we won't mind spending it.

What are you using for a monitor?
http://www.nvidia.com/docs/IO/89510/multiple_displays.jpg
Nvidia 3d Vision Surround

Yo! I was thinking about this myself. I had the Samsung MD230X3 Eyefinity set up but I ended up bringing it back and went with a single Samsung sync master with 5mil:1 and a 2ms responce time because I found the picture on the Eyefinity was just terrible. I am not entirely familure with the technology but am I able to set up some kind of eyefinity config with a couple more syncmasters? Would I just need a special cord? I have about 1100 bucks to play with.

 

[banscare]

I have Nvidia 3D Vision and it's pretty cool, but not *entirely* useful. However, it does add an incredible amount of depth to games that enable stereo 3D well (Just Cause 2 looks awesome in 3D at max settings).

You could get some crazy LEDs and LED fans if that's your things.

If you REALLY like researching things and spending money, you could look into watercooling your system. It'll take a couple of months to get all of the required information, but it will be worth it if you're patient and do it properly. Then you could OC those 580s even further.

I could go on forever on how to spend money

Yo! I have to pass on 3D, I really don’t have a reason other than I prefer without it. LED's, again are not my thing. BUT water cooling my video cards would be a great option I have never thought about. My gpu temps are steady between 45-50 Celsius, as far as I know that’s pretty respectable. When installing a water block on a gpu is it mounted on the top or front of the card? I ask because if they are mounted on the front wouldn’t that be tricky to fit because the cards are so close together in SLi mode?

Thanks!

 

[WR2]

What model of Samsung did you end up with?
Eyefinty is the AMD/ATI version of Nvidia Surround which is what you want to use.
You can have profiles based on your activities.
3 separate screens for multitasking and a single large 'virtual monitor' for gaming, etc.

 

[WR2]

The water block is mounted right over the GPU chip and video RAM chips.
The blocks themselves are fairly slim, in most cases slimmer than the cooling shroud & fan you'll need to remove.

 

[major_major]

How are you liking the HAF X case? That's on my list for my new build (once the 2600K and motherboards hit the shelves again - Intel is supposed to start shipping the replacement support chips today, so hopefully not too much longer to wait!)

Question - I am also looking at 2 x 580's in SLI, and someone in the forums here mentioned that 850W PSU wasn't enough to drive those cards - what drove your decision to go with the 850, and is there a reason you didn't go bigger on the PSU?

Thanks!

 

[boiler1990]

Yo! I have to pass on 3D, I really don’t have a reason other than I prefer without it. LED's, again are not my thing. BUT water cooling my video cards would be a great option I have never thought about. My gpu temps are steady between 45-50 Celsius, as far as I know that’s pretty respectable. When installing a water block on a gpu is it mounted on the top or front of the card? I ask because if they are mounted on the front wouldn’t that be tricky to fit because the cards are so close together in SLi mode?

Thanks!

You have to remove the stock cooling assembly to attach the waterblocks. They make all sorts of stuff for GPUs; full blocks (GPU + VRAM chips), GPU-only blocks (need separate heat dissipaters for VRAM chips), and the list goes on. You'll learn about these as you research them.

The HAF X is a reasonably easy case to liquid cool with, since you can handle a big radiator on the top, so you should be able to cool pretty easily.

 

[CopaMundial]

Forget all the doo-dads and whoser-watsits.
None of that stuff will really make much difference. But two things I would advise:
#1) Before you bother messing w/ liquid cooling, move the case so that your desk isn't covering up your side intake fan.
#2) Get a UPS. If your investing that kind of money in a gaming rig you should have had one long ago.

Also, as a side note, you might just want to save that extra money and maybe take your significant other out to a nice dinner.

 

[WR2]

@ major_major
2 x 580s SLI is a good match for most people if you're not going wild with overclocking, case mods, etc.
(and maybe running Furmark & multitasking)
620watts AC drawn from the wall socket with a 85% efficient PSU means the system is drawing about 527watts DC power. And PSUs are rated in DC power.
Even 777w with a 90% efficient PSU would mean right around 700w DC. With a Silver 80Plus 85% PSU that's 660w DC.

 

[banscare]

How are you liking the HAF X case? That's on my list for my new build (once the 2600K and motherboards hit the shelves again - Intel is supposed to start shipping the replacement support chips today, so hopefully not too much longer to wait!)

Question - I am also looking at 2 x 580's in SLI, and someone in the forums here mentioned that 850W PSU wasn't enough to drive those cards - what drove your decision to go with the 850, and is there a reason you didn't go bigger on the PSU?

Thanks!

Hey! As far as I thought 850w was more than enough, if anyone knows otherwise please let me know! I have not had any power consumption issues. I have been running for about 3 weeks. Now that were on the subject, do you know of a program that monitors each devices power consumption?

 

[banscare]

Forget all the doo-dads and whoser-watsits.
None of that stuff will really make much difference. But two things I would advise:
#1) Before you bother messing w/ liquid cooling, move the case so that your desk isn't covering up your side intake fan.
#2) Get a UPS. If your investing that kind of money in a gaming rig you should have had one long ago.

Also, as a side note, you might just want to save that extra money and maybe take your significant other out to a nice dinner.

Hey! Thanks for your input. I have a 1400va smart UPS. Its hidden behind my sub in the video hehe
The case is in a pretty good position but I agree I could move it further from my desk to optimize the 33mil fan intake.

 

[banscare]

You have to remove the stock cooling assembly to attach the waterblocks. They make all sorts of stuff for GPUs; full blocks (GPU + VRAM chips), GPU-only blocks (need separate heat dissipaters for VRAM chips), and the list goes on. You'll learn about these as you research them.

The HAF X is a reasonably easy case to liquid cool with, since you can handle a big radiator on the top, so you should be able to cool pretty easily.

Hey! Yea I really like my water cooler for my cpu so I going to start looking into gpu coolers. I don't think I really need the extra cooling but hell, why not right? It looks like I have to do some reading.

 

[boiler1990]

If you head over to the LC section and state you're interested in a GPU-only LC loop, they'll get you started. Another good place is the overclockers.com forums (not to advertise another site, but they did help me significantly in my research since a large percentage of Ocers there LC).

 

[banscare]

What model of Samsung did you end up with?
Eyefinty is the AMD/ATI version of Nvidia Surround which is what you want to use.
You can have profiles based on your activities.
3 separate screens for multitasking and a single large 'virtual monitor' for gaming, etc.

Hey!
I have: Samsung BX2431 24IN Widescreen LED LCD Monitor 1920X1080 2MS 5M:1DC 2HDMI VGA

Two more would be pretty amazing I think. My secondary monitor I have now is pretty basic.

 

[banscare]

Thanks for all the great input everyone
I think the cash is going towards display and watercooling for my gpus
If there is any cash left over I'll take the missis out for a happy meal lol
cheers!

 

[WR2]

Having been a multi-monitor user for many years I'd never be happy again with just a single monitor.

Two more would be well within your budget. You might think about getting one that can pivot into Portrait mode.
More useful for work than play but I'd never give up my 1200x1920 work screen.

 

[major_major]

Hey, WR2 and banscare -

I was going off of JackNaylorPE's reply to my thread at http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/304334-31-help-choose-display-setup

He pointed me to Nvidia's site which shows nothing lower than a 900W for dual 580 SLI setup: http://www.slizone.com/object/slizone_build_psu.html

However, I've heard of plenty of people running 2 x 580's with an 850 with no issues...I'm going to have to do some more research for my build and see if I need more power or not. Thanks for the charts and info!

Oh, and just to keep this on topic - if you're a gamer, perhaps a few of these accessories could take care of your excess cash problem

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/top-5-unusual-pc-gaming-peripherals/#

 

[WR2]

and watercooling for my gpus

How much extra power is the watercooling setup going to draw from your PSU?

 

[boiler1990]

If you're looking into a good 850W PSU, I would think the Corsair 850HX and 850AX PSU would be able to handle the 580s easily. They supply 850W of continuous power (like my 650W Antec in my sig), which is probably why you can use some 850W PSUs. I know the 850HX can support 3x470s as well (looking into that as an upgrade path).

 

[boiler1990]

How much extra power is the watercooling setup going to draw from your PSU?

Good point - the pumps and extra fans may tax it too much. If the PSU can handle it, there's no chance of an OC.

 

[WR2]

He pointed me to Nvidia's site which shows nothing lower than a 900W for dual 580 SLI setup: For]http://www.slizone.com/object/slizone_build_psu.html

For legal reasons you're probably not going to get any company to tell you the minimum PSU needed to safely run a gaming rig.
As you see above they can never tell what any individual is going to want to do with his system. Extra case lights and fans, powerful TEC cooling systems, volt mods on the GPUs, just all the different sorts of shenanigans an unwise individual might choose to make.

 

[WR2]

I think he could manage a reasonable GPU water cooling system in his power budget but I personally don't see much advantage for him in doing so.

 

[WR2]