What components to pick? Small Gaming PC

[cyphur]

Hi Guys,

I am looking to build a small but very powerful gaming pc. I move around alot between countries so I am inclined to lean towards a mini ATX case but dont want to sacrifice power.

Money isnt really a problem so I was intending to go with dual 6990s and a small board Maximus IV GENE-Z/GE? capable of running these. In addition a core i7, as much ram as possible. One SSD and One large 7200rpm drive

Now I realise Im probably asking a lot but as I also want to keep down the noise I was intending to go with water cooling and thought perhaps the Koolance 51/4 bay system might be possible?

Anyway any suggestions on which cases, components I should use would be greatly appreciated!!!!!

 

[gmcizzle]

Two 6990's will not fix comfortably on a mATX board. Unless you plan on water-cooling the GPUs, the top card will suffocate, and that's if they even fit on a maximus gene at all.

First off, what kind of budget are you looking at roughly? Also, will this be a PC purely for gaming or some work stuff (ie. 3D render, video encoding, etc.)? A single monitor setup or multi-monitor setup?

Also, list the components that you already have and do not need to purchase (ie. case, OS, monitor, mouse, keyboard, etc.).

 

[cyphur]

Cheer Gmcizzle. Yeah I had planned to watercool the GPUs with Koolance waterblocks, as I assume the gpu fans would just smack into each other and set the whole rig on fire! I wasnt sure about the Maximus and the 6990s but am happy to buy any board that will fit inside the small case and handle two cards?

I plan on using the computer for gaming, general surfing etc and also perhaps a spot of bitcoin mining. I also dual boot between ubuntu and windows

I intend to run 3-4x24inch panels using eyefinity and I guess the budget is somewhere around the 2-3 grand but can go higher if needed.

I have external peripherals so no requirement for monitors, mice, keyboards, speakers etc

 

[cyphur]

I guess I should rephrase the question into two parts.

1. Is it possible to build a watercooled dual 6990/top of the line intel/ mini ATX box?
2. If it is possible what components do you suggest
3. If it is not possible then what components would you suggest that would achieve similiar performance in the same form factor.

 

[gmcizzle]

Ok after a bit of research I think 2x 6990s will work, but you may want to get a second opinion. One Maximus Gene-IV user had 2x ASUS GTX 580 Matrix's in his board and those are definitely wider than a 6990 with a waterblock.

 

[cyphur]

Cool if its possible to slam the two 6990s in it then it will be a bit more useful for bitcoin mining.

Any suggestions on the best case?

 

[gmcizzle]

I never looked at micro ATX cases before so I'm probably not the best person to ask

This one seems to perform good, although a bit too plain for my taste: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352008