praetorian75

Wow, lots of responses. Thanks for all the feedback!

First things first, perhaps I was unclear in my initial post. I've already purchased everything on the list - what I've got is what I've got. Indeed, the only thing i haven't actually received at this point is the case (it's waiting on the new 4870x2 water blocks).

As to the CPU cooling, the Boreas unit is what actually cools it and the two video cards, which is part of the chassis. You can read the specifications by following this link and clicking "Specifications", which has all you could ever want to know about the heat exchanger system. Here's a review of the Boreas system itself, and you can click here for a review of the case, or here for another. Both give reviews and benchmarks. One of the reviews (I don't remember which) showed a thermal image of the case under full load at 100% power, and the hottest parts were right at 40c. I think that's cold enough.

As to the CPU, I had considered the QX9770 ($1,450 on newegg) until someone told me about the QX9650 ($999), and I thought: Unlocked, and $450 cheaper. Yeah, okay. Out of my $5,000 budget for the system overall, this was the single most expensive bit of hardware. Still, I thought it was worth it.

Video Cards: I did extensive research on these, enough that my brain was going by the time I was done. I read reviews on tomshardware and various other sites (here, here, and here). Considering that in most cases 1 of these 4870x2's blew away SLI'd GTX 280's (the acknowledged front-runner before) by an average of 25 - 30% in an air-cooling configuration, I thought 2 water-cooled cards would do the trick.

Sound card: Already had it from a prior build. I may or may not be able to fit it in the system with the 2 4870x2s. If not, I'll use the included hi-def sound card from ASUS. I could really care less about sound - I don't watch movies on my machine, and the sound effects from games only matter so much.

Storage: When I was looking at the difference in speeds between various configurations, I realized something... with the amount of RAM and the CPU speed I'm going to get in this system, the HDD access speed is going to be so fast anyway that I'm not likely to notice a difference (I'm a techie, but I'm not going to sit there with a stopwatch). The apps will be on the RAID 5 (or RAID 1, I still haven't decided), and the OS is the only thing on the 10k raptor.

PSU: I went with the CoolMax instead of the Corsair 1000w total-modular power supply because it had all the right connections (2x 6-pin AND 2x 8-pin, which I need for the gpu's) plus power to spare to run all the hdd's (5 total), 2 dvd drives, tons of usb and firewire... in short, enough power to do everything I could want and then some.


I appreciate all the advice on hardware and everything (both for and against), but this is what I've got. I designed this system with one goal in mind: To avoid having to upgrade for 5-6 years. Sure, I might want to, but I won't have to. This beast is going to murder anything I throw at it for the next few years and then some.

I'm mainly looking for recommended voltage/other oc settings to maximize this hardware. Thanks again to all those who respond!

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Intel QX9650
ASUS Rampage Extreme
8gb OCZ DDR3 1600Mhz SDRAM
2x ATI RADEON 4870x2 (CrossfireX)
1.2 Tb Raid 5 WD SATA + 150Gb 10k Raptor (System)
Boreas MTEC Chassis


"Be careful what you pretend to be, for in the end, you are what you pretend to be."
- Nick Nolte, Mother Night

Monst3r

Nice rig, First off dont take it personally but i would change alot of hardware you have picked, here is what i would change in your build.. First off your CPU-QX9650 (these things are ocing machines) 2nd i would go for 1x 4870X2 unless you have a 24"+ monitor and your playing at super high resolutions! 3rd Id definately go the corsair 1000HX has a super strong rail over that cheapo 1000w psu.. And last but not least 4)Definately get a custom Watercooling kit for such a Expensive rig.. Try lookin around Petrastechshop.com for a nice custom build.. Other then that tho nice build!

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praetorian75

Again, all the hardware is already bought - this is what I've got. I have a 27" monitor, and I want to play at the highest resolutions available on the games I play - which I can, with this rig. 2560x1600 4xAA AF in Crysis at 50fps? Can do!

I chose a 1200w CoolMAX PSU, not a 1000w, for the reasons I listed in my post just above.

The cooling is handled by my case, which is the coolest (pun intended) case on the market that has a custom setup for my cpu and gpu's (in fact, it's one of only 3 companies that make water blocks for the 4870x2s, and one of those is OEM-only). The case runs $950 by itself. Ouch!

__________________
Intel QX9650
ASUS Rampage Extreme
8gb OCZ DDR3 1600Mhz SDRAM
2x ATI RADEON 4870x2 (CrossfireX)
1.2 Tb Raid 5 WD SATA + 150Gb 10k Raptor (System)
Boreas MTEC Chassis


"Be careful what you pretend to be, for in the end, you are what you pretend to be."
- Nick Nolte, Mother Night

Monst3r

Well if u need help choosing a PSU go here its a power calculator, it should solve any problems with getting the corsair or the no namer 1200 http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp.. As for your watercooling kit im not a big fan of custom case kits besides thats alot of heat load for a case cooling kit imo!!.. As for the 2x 4870x2's yeh u should be able to run @ 50fps with the resolutions u posted

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praetorian75

I've already chosen a PSU. Once again, all the hardware is bought, paid for, and received. This is it. I'm not returning it, nor am I changing out any of it. I used that power calculator, and I was uncomfortable with buying a 1000w psu based on its recommendation of an 870w+ rating. I like a little more margin than 130w.

It's not a watercooling kit - it's a whole case and the kit designed specifically for that case, the cpu I bought, and the waterblocks I bought. This is a custom watercooling system designed specifically for my hardware. There is a lot of heat, but that's what all the watercooling (again, cpu and both gpu's will be water-cooled) is for. The cpu block alone will dissipate 250w of heat.

Now, anyone else besides those posted have any specific motherboard, cpu, or ram overclocking setting recommendations?

__________________
Intel QX9650
ASUS Rampage Extreme
8gb OCZ DDR3 1600Mhz SDRAM
2x ATI RADEON 4870x2 (CrossfireX)
1.2 Tb Raid 5 WD SATA + 150Gb 10k Raptor (System)
Boreas MTEC Chassis


"Be careful what you pretend to be, for in the end, you are what you pretend to be."
- Nick Nolte, Mother Night