Advice on custom build!

[Guest]

Heya.

I am fairly new to custom builds, and I've been looking through the different parts etc. for around a year now, on and off. I don't have an exact budge for my build, however I would like to keep it within the boundaries of $1500 AUD (discluding monitors and other peripherals). So far I have looked over and decided that the following parts are adequate:

Case:
CoolerMaster Cosmos S
http://www.coolermaster.com/product.php?product_id=3947

Mobo:
Asus P8Z68-V Pro
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1155/P8Z68V_PRO/

Processor:
Intel i7 2700k 3.5GHz (3.9GHz clocked)
http://ark.intel.com/products/61275/

RAM:
Kingston 2x4GB DDR3-1600
http://www.kingston.com/datasheets/KHX16C9T2K2_8.pdf

Wireless Adapter:
D-Link RangeBooster N 650 PCI Adapter
http://www.dlink.com.au/products/?pid=792
(sadly necessary as we have limited ethernet port access in my house - I also need wireless capability for ad-hoc network gaming at my hostel! )

GPU:
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560 Ti 1GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125363

Optical:
BluRay Writer Retail Pack
www.lg.com/au/burners-drives/lg-BH12LS38.AYBR10B-burner-drive

SSD:
Kingston HyperX 3K 90gb SATA for $90 from newegg.com
or
OCZ Vertex 4 128GB SATA III
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227791

Hard drive:
WD Caviar Green 1.5TB SATA WD15EARX 64mb cache
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136892
or
Seagate Barracuda 1.5TB 7200RPM 32MB cache
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148337
(the SSD is intented for SSD caching (I think is the term) with my Sandy Bridge mobo), so if anyone could recommend anywhere I could find a decent quality one I would be grateful. I plan to use two of them in a RAID 1 array because I'm paranoid about losing the music, movies etc. that I will be storing on them.


_______________________________________________


I am also going to add a water cooling rig for my processor. I am extremely inexperienced when it comes to anything to do with water cooling - it's taking a while to get my head around, so please forgive me if I get something mixed up.

I would like to use:

Pump:
DD12V-D5 Pump Variable Speed by Laing
http://www.dangerden.com/store/dd12v-d5_pump-variable-speed-by-laing.html
OR
DD / Laing DDC 3.2 - 12V 18 Watt Version
http://www.dangerden.com/store/dd-laing-ddc-12v-18-watt-version-3.2.html

WaterBlock:
RayStorm CPU WaterBlock (Intel) by XSPC
http://www.xs-pc.com/products/waterblocks/cpu-waterblocks/raystorm-cpu-waterblock-intel/

Reservoir:
Single 5.25? Bay Reservoir by XSPC
http://www.xs-pc.com/products/reservoirs/single-5-25-bay-reservoir/

Fan:
RX360 Triple Fan Radiator by XSPC
http://www.xs-pc.com/products/radiators/rx-series/rx360-triple-fan-radiator/



I am extremely shaky on my choices for the Res and Fan of my setup; I am almost positive I've misinterpreted something and chosen completely wrongly. I'm even more unsure about my choice of pumps - I have read multiple forums in regards to pumps, around 20 pages of reading in total I'd say (enough!!!) but I still don't have much of an idea where to go. If this happens to be the case, I'd appreciate it if someone could let me know where I went wrong and what a better choice would've been?


Before anyone asks "Have you read the stickies", I have read as many as I can possibly comprehend over a plethora of websites on water cooling, and frankly I think I've comprehended as much as I possibly can at this time (although I OBVIOUSLY am still in need of heaps of experience).


It mentions in my signature that I have not built a system before; unfortunately this is the case. I have however since the start of this year constructed 3 relatively sound custom system builds just to muck around; dream-machines. However, this is the first in which I've included a water-cooling system.


I am building this system for school at the moment, however I will be doing image/video editing, and I regularly use Adobe software such as Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Fireworks and Flash Professional to build websites. I am a computing enthusiast, and I plan for this desktop to last me around 5 years and hopefully more.



Anyway, if somebody could let me know where I've messed up it'd be a great help to a learning computer enthusiast.

Thanks very much!
~Trble

 

[Nw333]

http://pcpartpicker.com/au/p/i5R7

At this price, you shouldnt trade performance for cooling.
Just add in a wireless card to my build and an aftermarket heatsink/fan if your going to OC.

 

[Guest]

I was actually looking for advice on this system build. Thanks anyway.

 

[Nw333]

That WAS my advice lol >.> You could get a much better build for the same price.

 

[Guest]

Sorry I didn't mean to come off as rude.

I've been looking more thoroughly through your system build, and I think that it would be good if I switched to a GTX GeForce 560 Ti, and switched to a Blu-Ray reader. In looking at the CPU and mobo, I decided that the mobo was excellent.
As for the CPU, it looked excellent for a decent price, and I really can't believe I chose so blindly with my parts..
Other than that, the RAM I had Kingston RAM which I think is a little cheaper and it looks better. There isn't really any reliability difference I'm guessing, each brand has a pretty good name as far as I know.
In terms of cases, I want to water cool the system (obviously it seems super-efficient if set up properly) and I thought that it might be better to buy a larger case to fit a larger radiator? I might even consider including a GPU block on the 560 Ti, would it be worth it or will the GPU survive with its own fan?
Lastly, I didn't include a PSU because I figured I should get advice on the rest of the parts before I figure out the voltage and choose one, although again the one you suggest seems good!

 

[Nw333]

560Ti is so last gen. 670 all the waaaaaaaaaaay! Way more performance in terms of graphics, but if you really need that much CUDA cores, Fermi is the way to go. (The 5XX line of cards.)

Kingston RAM runs at 1.65V and Intel doesnt have official support of that. It WILL void your warranty and risk damage to the processor. Same goes to OCing for the warranty part, so if you dont want to OC get the i5 3550. (Some things are cheaper for a reason. )

Again, at this budget, its not a good decision to trade performance for cooling. Maybe do it in the future, but not now. If you will do it in the future, there are bound to be newer cases built for watercooling around, just take that incase you feel that the HAF XM is too small. (The HAF is built for aircool actually, since HAF means high airflow, which it has.)

 

[Guest]

Okay, I guess I have some research to do on CUDA cores and other GPU-related stuff.. I see with the RAM, can't believe I overlooked that! -.-

In terms of cooling, I would think that it'd be better to go with the best cooling possible, as I live in Australia and we get 40 degree C weather over here. I guess the high airflow case would be good, however I plan to run this in my room at night. Wouldn't a heap of fans keep me up? I mean, I practically need dead silence for a good sleep (I live in the country so that's not so hard to find). I presumed water cooling would be quieter as I only need 1 pump, over a few fans it seemed a more likeable option, as well as cooling my PC better.

Sorry for the late reply, thanks for replying!


***EDIT***
Also I figured the sound of trickling water would calm me down a bit.. I'm often very stressed and the sound of water doesn't make me wet myself, so I figured why not?

Although, apparently if I bought a larger case with 140mm fans they would move plenty of air and also make very little noise..

Undecided :lol:

 

[Nw333]

Well, the HAF cases come with 200mm fans. (Dunno about the 912)
Larger fans spin at less rpms so they are less noisy. You can always replace the fans anyways. For quietness, I guess the Corsair Quiet fans are nice. (AP120 or whatever the model is lol.)

You can always buy a case built with silence in mind. The NZXT Silent H2 and the Corsair 650D (I think. Any case with foam padding is made with silence in mind.) come to mind.

 

[Guest]

Those cases look really really good. Thanks heaps for the advice, I'll review my build in a few months when I have enough money to build it - hope to speak to you then!! :lol:

 

[Why_Me]

Sorry I didn't mean to come off as rude.

I've been looking more thoroughly through your system build, and I think that it would be good if I switched to a GTX GeForce 560 Ti, and switched to a Blu-Ray reader. In looking at the CPU and mobo, I decided that the mobo was excellent.
As for the CPU, it looked excellent for a decent price, and I really can't believe I chose so blindly with my parts..
Other than that, the RAM I had Kingston RAM which I think is a little cheaper and it looks better. There isn't really any reliability difference I'm guessing, each brand has a pretty good name as far as I know.
In terms of cases, I want to water cool the system (obviously it seems super-efficient if set up properly) and I thought that it might be better to buy a larger case to fit a larger radiator? I might even consider including a GPU block on the 560 Ti, would it be worth it or will the GPU survive with its own fan?
Lastly, I didn't include a PSU because I figured I should get advice on the rest of the parts before I figure out the voltage and choose one, although again the one you suggest seems good!

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261222-31-build-advice <------ This

No idea what your intended uses are for this build but you have last years tech up there. If this build is for gaming then it's all wrong.