New Build

[androidman]

Hey there!



New gaming build I'm going for - would appreciate any sort of cost cutting tips/warnings/hints about going about it.

Here is a basket of all the parts: http://www.scan.co.uk/savedbasket/63fb6974f5414039ad9ff0bcb7cde032

Will be running on 1 x 1080p monitor to start with. Plan on upgrading to at 2560 x 1600 monitor some point next year. Hence I may be adding in a second 670 in SLI to help cope with it then.
I do plan in overclocking the CPU to about 4.2ghz? =S
GPU would you suggest overclocking that? Not that I even know where to start when it comes to overclocking a GPU!

I know the cosmos II is a massive waste of money however it's a must for me, the case is stunning!

Any other cost cutting tips would be greatly appreciated.


Many Thanks,
AndroidMan

 

[hellfire24]

i strictly suggest getting a reasonable case,but i can't really oppose if it's your personal choice.
i would like to make some changes about other parts-
850w is overkill for 670 SLi and overclocks,HX750w will do fine.
16GB is overkill again,8GB is more than enough.
corsair force GT series is updated and faster version of force 3 drives,worth the extra few bucks for reliability and speed.
hxx and h100 absolutely suck! a high end aircooler beats them easily for less cost and less noise.they(hxx and h100) are noisy,ugly(for me),expensive and full of crap.pump failure and fan noise are the most infamous issues,recently saw this guy struggling-
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/forum2.php?config=tomshardwareus.inc&cat=29&post=276036&page=1&p=1&sondage=0&owntopic=1&trash=0&trash_post=0&print=0&numreponse=0&quote_only=0&new=0&nojs=0
just the tag 'watercooling' doesn't means these things are real watercooling.for silence,performance and reliability,go with silver arrow-
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/silver-arrow-extra-dual-tower-cpu-cooler-with-2x-ty-143-supports-lga775-1155-1156-1366-2011-socket
other things look good to me but once again i would suggest getting a cheaper case that will give the same(or better) performance and contribute more towards core components that will improve your pc performance.remember,never judge a book by looking at it's cover.
alienware computers are pretty cool to look at but they use value ram lol.
rest is dependent on you.

 

[ubercake]

Everything looks fantastic, though I'd pony up the extra pounds for the WD 2TB Caviar Black:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2tb-wd-wd2002faex-caviar-black-sata-6gb-s-7200rpm-64mb-cache-oem

I recommend these due to the experience I've had with them through the years.

As far as cutting costs, I wouldn't go with anything less than what you're getting. This will be a great setup.

 

[Ironslice]

Save some money on the ram, 8GB is already more than enough for gaming.

Rest looks great.

 

[androidman]

i strictly suggest getting a reasonable case,but i can't really oppose if it's your personal choice.
i would like to make some changes about other parts-
850w is overkill for 670 SLi and overclocks,HX750w will do fine.
16GB is overkill again,8GB is more than enough.
corsair force GT series is updated and faster version of force 3 drives,worth the extra few bucks for reliability and speed.
hxx and h100 absolutely suck! a high end aircooler beats them easily for less cost and less noise.they(hxx and h100) are noisy,ugly(for me),expensive and full of crap.pump failure and fan noise are the most infamous issues,recently saw this guy struggling-
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/forum2.php?config=tomshardwareus.inc&cat=29&post=276036&page=1&p=1&sondage=0&owntopic=1&trash=0&trash_post=0&print=0&numreponse=0&quote_only=0&new=0&nojs=0
just the tag 'watercooling' doesn't means these things are real watercooling.for silence,performance and reliability,go with silver arrow-
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/silver-arrow-extra-dual-tower-cpu-cooler-with-2x-ty-143-supports-lga775-1155-1156-1366-2011-socket
other things look good to me but once again i would suggest getting a cheaper case that will give the same(or better) performance and contribute more towards core components that will improve your pc performance.remember,never judge a book by looking at it's cover.
alienware computers are pretty cool to look at but they use value ram lol.
rest is dependent on you.

I totally understand that the case is a waste of money however -it's a matter of aesthetics really. Personal preference.

Save some money on the ram, 8GB is already more than enough for gaming.

Rest looks great.

Both hellfire and ironslice suggest less RAM however 16gb of ram is coming to near £85 whilst 8 is coming to near £50 for the sake of £35 does it not seem worth it to purchase the RAM anyway?. I understand it's unlikely I'll use it but it may be worth having anyway making system that tad bit more futureproof?

The main issue you've bought up hellfire about the h100 is an issue for worry. I know the silver arrow cooler you showed me is fantastic. I've seen it before and it provides near enough the same performance. However it is incredibly ugly! I liked the h100 since it's very discrete in it's attachment to the motherboard. Are the noises coming from the pump or the fans? If the fans I'll just buy new ones.

Ubercake- I wanted WD drives myself however it's very hard to justify the extra cost ever since the HDD price increase.

 

[hellfire24]

the noise was from block,their are countless threads on several forums reporting about issues related with hxx and h100 coolers.as i said,performance>looks.
there is nothing like "future proof" in computers,the technology changes so fast that it is almost impossible to mark any component as 'futureproof'.
+1 for western digital drive.

 

[androidman]

the noise was from block,their are countless threads on several forums reporting about issues related with hxx and h100 coolers.as i said,performance>looks.
there is nothing like "future proof" in computers,the technology changes so fast that it is almost impossible to mark any component as 'futureproof'.
+1 for western digital drive.

You know what, after 20 mins of research you're right. I'm gonna go for the NH-D14 instead.

 

[hellfire24]

^good decision but only if you can tolerate the ugly color scheme LOL.

 

[ubercake]

The proven reliability of the WD drives and the fact that WD backs their drive for five years (compared to Seagates one year) tells you something about trust in their own product. Performance and reliability are why we pay more for WD drives.

Regarding CPU coolers, you can pretty much search 'coolername problem' or 'coolername issue' and find thousands of links to issues with a cooler.
Also, I've been using the Low-Cost Liquid Coolers since they've hit the market starting with Aseteks and the Corsairs when Asetek started producing for them.
I haven't had a single issue. Also, the current Corsair's (H80 and H100) are the first of their kind to show up on Frostytech.com's top ten list:

http://www.frostytech.com/top5heatsinks.cfm

These guys are all about heat sinks. I'm using an H80 on the PC in my signature and have an H50 running on another. I didn't see enough difference between the H80 and H100 in various reviews to warrant blocking two of my fan slots, so I went with the H80. I'm not a huge overclocker, but you generally don't need to be when you buy the right equipment up front. I can tell you at stock speeds, the cooler does a decent job of keeping things cool.

It doesn't take up a whole lot of room around the processor, so it's easy to work around your motherboard. It's also very easy to mount on the motherboard.

 

[androidman]

I may very well get the WD drive- you're right! I do know they're of better quality.

And now you're making me doubt again ubercake! Thing is I really like the H100 because:
1) it isn't ugly like the NH-D14 and the SilverArrow
2) it doesn't make my case look dis-proportioned in that I don't have this huge lump sticking out of my motherboard
3) like you said, takes up ah heck all in terms of space on the processor.

However there seems to be pages of threads moaning about the sound it creates and people constantly RMAing it. Some people claim it's silent which is what I want, however if it starts making whirring noises I'm going to throw a hissy fit.
Not really too sure now.

NH-D14 = ugly but guaranteed to work!
H100 = stylish, sleek but may burst my ear drums!

 

[ubercake]

I may very well get the WD drive- you're right! I do know they're of better quality.

And now you're making me doubt again ubercake! Thing is I really like the H100 because:
1) it isn't ugly like the NH-D14 and the SilverArrow
2) it doesn't make my case look dis-proportioned in that I don't have this huge lump sticking out of my motherboard
3) like you said, takes up ah heck all in terms of space on the processor.

However there seems to be pages of threads moaning about the sound it creates and people constantly RMAing it. Some people claim it's silent which is what I want, however if it starts making whirring noises I'm going to throw a hissy fit.
Not really too sure now.

NH-D14 = ugly but guaranteed to work!
H100 = stylish, sleek but may burst my ear drums!

No cooler is silent if it has a fan attached. I replaced the Corsair fans with more powerful, yet quieter fans. I can tell you that once you fire up a game or a video benchmark, though, your video card is going to have the loudest fan(s) in your system unless you set a fan profile allowing your GPU to heat to max temps. Other than fan noise, I haven't had any other sort of noise with my H80. I don't like the idea of liquid around electronics, but I also don't like the idea of a 3 lbs. hunk of metal sitting on the processor either when gravity is pulling things toward the floor. I'd almost feel better if the big metal coolers had a support you could attach to the top of the cooler that you could then attach somewhere to the case so the cooler's weight was supported at both ends.

There really is not space savings with either though. You're either taking up room on and around your processor or you're using space around your fan mounts. I just find it's much easier to work on things when the area around the motherboard cleaner.

I've used both air and these low-cost liquid cooling (LCLC) solutions. I used to think the LCLC wasn't worth the risk, but I've found no risk myself to this point and now see them as a real convenience. They're really easy to mount and change out.

 

[hellfire24]

but still a good air cooler is better than hxx coolers.
at least for me.

 

[androidman]

No cooler is silent if it has a fan attached. I replaced the Corsair fans with more powerful, yet quieter fans. I can tell you that once you fire up a game or a video benchmark, though, your video card is going to have the loudest fan(s) in your system unless you set a fan profile allowing your GPU to heat to max temps. Other than fan noise, I haven't had any other sort of noise with my H80. I don't like the idea of liquid around electronics, but I also don't like the idea of a 3 lbs. hunk of metal sitting on the processor either when gravity is pulling things toward the floor. I'd almost feel better if the big metal coolers had a support you could attach to the top of the cooler that you could then attach somewhere to the case so the cooler's weight was supported at both ends.

There really is not space savings with either though. You're either taking up room on and around your processor or you're using space around your fan mounts. I just find it's much easier to work on things when the area around the motherboard cleaner.

I've used both air and these low-cost liquid cooling (LCLC) solutions. I used to think the LCLC wasn't worth the risk, but I've found no risk myself to this point and now see them as a real convenience. They're really easy to mount and change out.

I understand no cooler is silent, and it's not the fans I'm worried about since I can quite easily swap those out for quite fans. However the only real issue I'm worried about the pump making whining noises like I've seen a lot on the internet:
http://youtu.be/paEmTiKfWEU

If I get that sort of amplified HDD sound coming out of my case I think I'll have a mild fit!

 

[hellfire24]

i won't suggest any and yes i mean any closed loop cooler.just the tag 'watercooling' doesn't means that it is as good as a custom watercooling loop.there are a bunch of people using 'heavy' D14 coolers without any issues.i never heard of any case of damaging the motherboard due to a heavy cooler.but i hear issues with closed loop coolers every now and then.
i don't know how can someone like the looks of a device which is faulty in most of the cases.
after all,it's your decision.
EDIT: read the top comments on that video.

 

[androidman]

I know but true watercooling is a massive expense. Pump + Block + Pipes+ Coolant + Dye + Reservoir really adds up fast.

The H100 provides good temps with decent aesthetics at a fairly low price.
Mean whilst the D14, even better temps with horrific aesthetics at a low price. Same goes for all the air coolers I've seen really. They all have horrible horrible aesthetics!

 

[hellfire24]

no offence but you have horrible taste IMHO.
how can a thing be ugly if it performs better than your good looking crap for less?
okay listen here-
on a track,would you take a ferrari F430 over a GT-R ??
if you know a little bit about cars than i am sure you will take GT-R,it may not be as good looking as ferrari but in terms performance,it's excellent and affordable.
if that doesn't worked out then-
on a track,will you choose a ducati over a S1000rr?i mean ducati is good looking but more expensive and still not the best track bike.S1000rr may have ugly lights but in terms of performance,it's unbeatable.
same thing applies here,don't judge anything by it's looks.once your case window is closed the role of good looks is over and the real performance will begin.
i hope i convinced you but after all it's your choice.
one more thing-
may sound harsh but you are *wasting* so much on case.for $350,you can build a decent watercooling loop for your cpu(i don't know much about watercooling stuff but still it is better to buy a good to do case and watercool it instead of throwing $350 on a case with some fake liquid loop).

 

[androidman]

Hellfire- you say yourself the Noctua is ugly. And sadly it does matter- I know it's closed however I'm spending a lot of money and it'll bother me otherwise.

EVGA Superclock CPU Cooler <-- Do you have an opinion on this air cooler? It looks pretty decent. Doesn't seem to be many benchmarks with it around.

 

[ubercake]

I understand no cooler is silent, and it's not the fans I'm worried about since I can quite easily swap those out for quite fans. However the only real issue I'm worried about the pump making whining noises like I've seen a lot on the internet:
http://youtu.be/paEmTiKfWEU

If I get that sort of amplified HDD sound coming out of my case I think I'll have a mild fit![/quote]
Any sort of whining noise would indicate air where it's not supposed to be. Definitely bad units and a reason for returning them. I have not experienced whining from any of the three corsair units I've dealt with. Two were built by Asetek and the H80 is built by CoolIT.

Jst some additional food for thought... People who have issues are going to voice their issues online. People that don't have issues may or may not. For the most part, if things are going OK, most people aren't necessarily adamant about reporting their success. They're busy using the PC.

 

[hellfire24]

Jst some additional food for thought... People who have issues are going to voice their issues online. People that don't have issues may or may not. For the most part, if things are going OK, most people aren't necessarily adamant about reporting their success. They're busy using the PC.

strong and useful words.

 

[hellfire24]

i didn't say it's ugly,just color scheme is a bit deifferent.superclock is a great cooler but no where in league of D14 or silver arrow.
if you want a pretty looking heat sink you might wanna take a look here-
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233029
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835154011
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835106150
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103106
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186058
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835146011
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099
more here-
http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=2521
http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=2588

 

[androidman]

Jst some additional food for thought... People who have issues are going to voice their issues online. People that don't have issues may or may not. For the most part, if things are going OK, most people aren't necessarily adamant about reporting their success. They're busy using the PC.

True, but there is an overwhelming amount of criticism and loads of people sending back several units eventually taking part in some 'diode hack' to lower the voltage ever so slightly.

What do you guys thing of the EVGA SuperClock CPU Cooler?

 

[hellfire24]

What do you guys thing of the EVGA SuperClock CPU Cooler?

[strike]good[/strike] excellent
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/EVGA-Superclock-CPU-Cooler-Review/1336/8

 

[androidman]

I saw that site too- shame none of the regular sites I use have reviewed it too much like bit tech.

 

[androidman]

i didn't say it's ugly,just color scheme is a bit deifferent.superclock is a great cooler but no where in league of D14 or silver arrow.
if you want a pretty looking heat sink you might wanna take a look here-
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233029
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835154011
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835106150
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103106
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186058
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835146011
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099
more here-
http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=2521
http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=2588

didn't see this reply: XIGMATEK Dark Knight II SD1283 Night Hawk Edition looks awesome too. Now which one to choose- both their benchmarks seem pretty similar form the looks of things =S