Opinions Welcome. :)

[Zachary_92]

Hi everyone I'm a complete newbie as far as custom/home built systems are concerned, but decided, to build my own desktop pc, after a particularly bad experience with my last laptop (which only worked for 3 months, died, and because I removed the hard drive was told I had voided the warranty ). Here is my proposed spec:

Case: Coolermaster Cosmos Pure Black silent gaming tower. (RC-1000K-KKN2-GP) ******

Motherboard: Gigabyte G1.killer Guerilla. ******

CPU: Intel Core i7 980 Gulftown 3.33 Ghz 12 MB cache. ******

CPU Cooling: Zalman Reserator 1 V2 (unavailable till mid November, I'm told).

PSU:1000W OCZ-ZX1000W-UN ZX Gold. ******

Monitor: LG W2363D-PF LCD 23 inch Wide 3D Monitor LG W2363D-PF LCD 23 inch 3D Monitor. ******

Fan Controller: Zalman ZM-MFC3 Fan Controller. ******

Graphics: Gainward NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590

System RAM: 12GB (3x4GB) Corsair XMS3, DDR3 PC3-10666 (1333) Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24, 1.5V

SSD (OS): 64GB Crucial RealSSD M4, 2.5" SSD, SATA III - 6Gb/s, MLC-Flash, Read 507MB/s, Write 290MB/s

OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit OEM.

HDD: 3TB Hitachi 0F12450 Deskstar 7K3000, SATA 6Gb/s, 7200rpm, 64MB Cache, 8ms, NCQ

Optical: LG BH10LS30.AUAR 10x Blu-ray Writer, 16x DVD±R, 8x +RW, 6x -RW, 12x RAM - Retail + Software


I've also bought a complete pc toolkit which has every tool I need supposedly for a new build. An ESD wrist strap. I need a little help with this, there were no instructions supplied with the wrist strap and I've got completely confused when Googling® how to use it, some say leave the PSU plugged in and then connect the crocodile clip to the chassis (will that even work, the case is mostly aluminium as I understand it ), some say NEVER leave the PSU plugged into the wall socket, others say they've never used a wrist strap and had no problems, HELP!! I really don't know what to do about the strap, any help would be gratefully accepted.

I already have an OEM (system builder) version of Windows 7 64 Ultimate, but it was used as an upgrade for the Home Premium on this machine, so as I understand it, I can't install it on the new build because it would be rejected at registration. Is that correct?, again I can't seem to get a difinitive answer.

What is the opinion of the spec?. Will the Reserator be able to cope with the processor. I won't be using it to cool the graphics card, yet, because the price of the water cooling block would add just a bit too much to the budget. Until it is available I plan to use the cooler provided by Intel, can someone please tell me how easy it will be to remove this and replace with the Reserator water block, or should I wait and only build when the Reserator is available?. I want the system to be as quiet as possible, that's why I've chosen the fanless Reserator. I do realise that the gfx card will make a fair bit of noise when under full load, but for stuff like TV recording I understand it should run virtually silent (I already have a Freeview HD USB Tuner). Have I made any glaring omissions?.

I'm not too sure which audio connector to use for the FRONT panel as the motherboard manual states that it supports both AC97 and HD audio.

And can anyone confirm that the RAM I've chosen is compatible with the mobo? don't want to make an expensive mistake. I'd like to use Triple channel RAM.

As I said I'm a complete novice at this so any help/advice will be most welcome.

(Items marked ****** have already been purchased).

Zac.

PS sorry there are so many questions, but no matter how hard I Google® for answers all I succeed in doing is getting more and more confused.

 

[Scooby85]

Just a few tidbits of my own opinions. I have the Cosmos S, and after using it for almost 2 years, I'm not sure how much I like it. I guess it has done me well as far as thermals go, but the case is HUGE! It hardly slides under my desk. I see your only looking at a single GPU option so there is just something to think about there regarding whether or not you will need all that space.

As far as your question about the anti-static wrist strap, I think you will end up with just as varied answers from the people here as you were seeing online. Personally, I have never used one and have been repairing computers for my employer for over 6 years. I have never killed a component due to static shock so I tend to feel the concerns are a little over-hyped. I know many will disagree with me, so don't flame me for that, I'm just saying that is my thoughts on it.

 

[Zachary_92]

I hear you Scooby and thanks for the reply. The case is HUGE, but because I might want to add a second gfx card and maybe a few other things I thought it looked the part.

As for the wrist strap, this is the first time I've ever done this and I was advised to use one. I really just want to know where to connect it to. People have said it's something to do with equalising your potential with the chassis and others describe it as "grounding". All I really want to know is where to attach the croc clip, bearing in mind the Cosmos Pure is mostly aluminium.

Thanks again for your thoughts Scooby.

Cheers.

Zac.