1st Home Build Gaming Rig

[Zetsou]

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I was just looking to get a quick critique of my new rig. I definitely realize I'm overkilling it with the PSU, but I have a second GTX580 ready to put in once I get the watercooling units I'm wanting. Still perhaps overkill, but I honestly don't see the harm. I'd like any further feedback (bad or good) about the rig and perhaps things I could update/change. Thank you!

CM HAF X Full Tower
6 x 5.25" & 5 x 3.5" Bays
9 PCI Slots

Intel i7 2600k CPU
3.40 GHx (stock) LGA 1155
8MB Cache

ASUS P8P67 Evo B3
2 x DDR3 1600 Dual Channel
32 GB Max, No VGA, 2nd Gen.

Corsair AX 1200W PSU
80 Plus Gold
Subgke +12V Rail
Modular

Western Digital 1 TB HDD
SATA/300 Caviar Black
7200 RPM, 32MB Buffer

EVGA GTX 580 3 GB GPU
3 GB DDR5
DVI, HDMI (mini w/ converter)

Windows 7 64bit Full Version

ASUS 24x DVDRW Optical
OEM Package
SATA

Corsair H80 Liquid CPU Cooler
Intel/AMD CPU Okay
2 x 120 mm Fans

60 GB Corsair Force 3 SSD

Corsair Vengeance 8 GB Ram
2 x 4 GB Module
Dual Channel

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Well, if ya want a critique, I will tell ya what might have been considered. Not saying your choices were wrong for your situation, just raising points to ponder. For Sandy Bridge, there's simply no need for water cooling. You can still do it if ya enjoy building it, but a good air cooler is still way more than Sandy Bridge needs. The H80 btw, will make ya think ya moved next to an airport if ya set fans on high....however this shouldn't be needed..

Other thing I will mention up front is what do you expect outta the three 580s ? I gotta assume there will be three monitors involved or there's no advantage to having them. At 1920 x 1200, here's how some of the more popular options stack up:

Guru3D uses the following games in their test suite, COD-MW, Bad Company 2, Dirt 2, Far Cry 2, Metro 2033, Dawn of Discovery, Crysis Warhead. Total fps (summing fps in each game @ 1920 x 1200) for the various options in parenthesis (single card / 2-way SL / 3-way SLI) are tabulated below along with their cost in dollars per frame single card - 2-way SLI - 3-way SLI:

$ 205.00 560 Ti - 900 Mhz (495/862/NA) $ 0.41 - $ 0.48
$ 320.00 570 (524/873/NA) $ 0.61 - $ 0.73
$ 480.00 580 (616/953/1030) $ 0.78 - $ 1.01 - $1.40

So ya gotta decide if getting that 3rd 580 for another $500 is worth just 77 fps.

The HAF-X is a great case, my 3rd fav as a matter of fact ..... but with what you spent on everything else, I woulda suggested looking at the new Thermaltake Level 10 GT ..... the extra features to my mind are well worth the increase in price.

http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=843&Itemid=61
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133192

With just two 580's I wuda suggested the Antec 1200 or DF-85 w/ CP-1000 be considered.

PSU - Can't go wrong w/ a 10.0 jonnyguru performance rating

CPU - I don't get the 2600k if this is just a gaming rig. Mighta gotten the 2500k and save $100 unless ya have video editing, CAD Rendering or something else that uses HT.

MoBo - All these dollars and everything based upon a mid range MoBo ? Since P67, we've had Z68 and Z68GEN3....However, many would advise ya to consider a NF200 board with tri-SLI.

When you move away from a two card setup and into a three card one, boards without the NF200 chip would run x8 / x8 / x4, while with the NF200 we're able to achieve x16 / x8 / x8 which when having so much power on hand, is extremely appreciated.

http://74.6.238.254/search/srpcache?ei=UTF-8&p=tweaktown+x16+x16&fr=moz35&u=http://cc.bingj.com/cache.aspx?q=tweaktown+x16+x16&d=4786844456978144&mkt=en-US&setlang=en-US&w=e0b4c0ff,fae25f29&icp=1&.intl=us&sig=PD2jQWAxkFYog0tfFUUHJQ--

$345 ASUS Maximus IV Extreme-Z
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131760

Cooler - As I said before, I don't see what is gained by the Corsair H80 ....SB doesn't need anywhere near the level of cooling that the better air coolers provide even at 5.0+ GHz. You also talked about wc for the GFX, where's the pump and radiator for that gonna go ?

When ya upgrade the HD's / SSD, Id suggest the 3 TB Seagate Bararcuda XT's and a 500 MBps 120 GB SSD

 

[ross_mitchell]

Get a i5 2500k as they give similar performance while being much cheaper. Also how are you going to cool the graphics cards with water cooling, are you going to use a custom loop or are you going to use something like the h80. If you are doing a custom look for the graphics cards then why not include the cpu.

 

[Zetsou]

Only have the one GTX 580, good sir. I'll be grabbing a second I mentioned, but not a third. Sorry for the confusion.

Yeah I should take the h80 out and loop it all to the same pump and radiator, etc. That was a mistake as well. I'm set on the i7 2600k, as I already have that one (for good or bad).

 

[ross_mitchell]

Only have the one GTX 580, good sir. I'll be grabbing a second I mentioned, but not a third. Sorry for the confusion.

Yeah I should take the h80 out and loop it all to the same pump and radiator, etc. That was a mistake as well. I'm set on the i7 2600k, as I already have that one (for good or bad).

If you are going to be water cooling everything (cpu and potential gpus) make sure you have a very good pump (like a laining d5) and a very good radiator (a 360mm one maybe). Anyway you will be very happy with the 2600k. Also the CPU will not produce much heat so it should not affect the graphics cards much

 

[Zetsou]

Thank you, kind gentlemen! Yeah I really want to make it a legit unit. I've never built before and I'm very surprised at myself for how easy it was. I didn't think I'd get two GPUs and I didn't think I'd do water cooling. At the time I thought it was too advanced for me. Now I'm regretting I didn't START with that notion of water cooling. Now I need to backtrack a bit and eventually take it all apart and start over. I'm wondering, what would be a good fit for the CM HAF X case, in terms of water cooling? I just want to link it to the CPU and GPU. I love the Heatspreaders on my ram and honestly don't think it needs much more.

 

[Zetsou]

Best answer selected by Zetsou.

 

[ross_mitchell]

Thank you, kind gentlemen! Yeah I really want to make it a legit unit. I've never built before and I'm very surprised at myself for how easy it was. I didn't think I'd get two GPUs and I didn't think I'd do water cooling. At the time I thought it was too advanced for me. Now I'm regretting I didn't START with that notion of water cooling. Now I need to backtrack a bit and eventually take it all apart and start over. I'm wondering, what would be a good fit for the CM HAF X case, in terms of water cooling? I just want to link it to the CPU and GPU. I love the Heatspreaders on my ram and honestly don't think it needs much more.

I think i have seen people put a 240mm rad in the bottom of haf x and a 120mm at the back.

 

[Zetsou]

Thank you both for the critique and support. I've loved my decision thus far but moving forward I want to be more educated and immerse myself further into building my own cases and cooling mechs. Simply putting this build together, I feel like I have a new addiction, ya know? Now its all about learning more and getting into the intricacies of computer hardware.

I appreciate both of you for your time and quick analysis! I learned a lot just based on this quick convo.

 

[Zetsou]

I think i have seen people put a 240mm rad in the bottom of haf x and a 120mm at the back.

Oh wow! That would be perfection then for this build! LOVE IT!