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Overview
I've been planning this project for over a year now. Originally I was going to go with a single 480 rad in the top of an 800D. After coming to grips that I'm not the most mechanically inclined person to build a PC I decided that I'd be much better off getting a case which would need no modifications. Once I selected the case I had no other option than to basically go all in. Everything is purchased and on hand. As of the time of this post I'd say it's about 3/4 put together. I've taken, and will continue to take as many pictures as I can but I must warn you I'm no photography wizard. The second post in this thread will be reserved for links to updates & pictures.
Without further adieu, here's the list of what this build contains:
PC Hardware
For TIM I'm using Indigo Xtreme for the CPU and Phobya HeGrease for the motherboard and GPU blocks. Yes, I'm using 32 AP15's. Are they loud? Yeah, at full blast a little. At full blast are they quieter than the stock fans in my Antec 900 and my Sycthe Slipstream on my CPU heatsink all set to high? Most definitely yes. I have 16 as intakes using Silverstone fan filters and another 16 on the two radiators in push/pull. The intake fans suck cool air in from the bottom and front of the case and the push/pull fans on the radiators blow the warm air out the top of the case.
My goal is to get the CPU to 4.8-5ghz. In the winter my ambient temps without a space heater are between 18C-20C. In the summer it's much higher, 26C-32C, but we'll be getting A/C in our house this coming spring so then hopefully we'll be at a constant 22C. I don't think temps will be a problem unless I have to get ridiculous with the voltages to hit my desired over clock which at that point I'd throttle things back a bit. I loved tweaking the over clock settings on my Q6600, even though things were a bit simple, and it seems like there are enough settings and options with SB-E to keep me busy for a while. I'm thinking about using the custom BIOS for the 670 FTW that increases the voltage for over clocking; temps shouldn't be a problem but instead stability.
Purpose
I used to be big into folding and stopped because, well, life happened. In the past 3 years my dad died, I got married, and became a father of 4 girls; 2 from my wife's previous marriage and 2 new ones of our own. With this new build I'm hoping to get back into folding with a vengeance; my goal is 20 hours a day. My current rig will be relegated to 100% folding.
This will also be used to run VMs, more than likely 2-3 at a time. I'm an IT manager and former web developer who likes to tinker with things. My wife, who is a teacher, has a lot of older educational game CD's that require Windows 95/98. I'd love for my 17 and 3 month old daughters to be able to play these games in a couple of years and having an older Windows VM would work quite well. I'd more than likely also create a dedicated PS3 Media Server VM to stream out.
I do enjoy gaming though I don't often get the time to do so with two little ones running around. When I do get the time I'd like to be able to do so with most, if not all, of the eye candy turned on. My current rig has done a decent job but my 8800GTX's are really starting to show their age when trying to play games like Skyrim and Guild Wars 2 with medium/high graphics and decent frame rates.
As I said, this is my first water cooled build. Everything I know about water cooling came from this site. I started by following the Water Cooling Essential Threads then moved to following various build logs. After I felt I knew the direction I wanted to go I started asking questions. Not all of them resulted in the answers I was looking for but even then the responses were enough to get me to change my way of thinking or take other things into consideration. It never hurts to ask questions, even if you feel they are dumb or noobish, that's what this site and this community is here for. If you are new to water cooling and don't know where to start or want to maybe pick up a couple of pointers or things to look out for feel free to ask and I'll do my best to help.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and my build was inspired by this build. I'd also like to thank the following members for their help:
Juggalo23451 - For organizing all the Water Cooling Essential Threads
Reglar - For the Pandamonium build log and answering my questions about radiator fitment
Stren - For your great water block review and your insight with IX & Raystorm
Cheaptrick - For the EVGA GTX 680 backplate & Heatkiller GTX 680 waterblock tutorial
cpachris - For the BBBB build log
I've been planning this project for over a year now. Originally I was going to go with a single 480 rad in the top of an 800D. After coming to grips that I'm not the most mechanically inclined person to build a PC I decided that I'd be much better off getting a case which would need no modifications. Once I selected the case I had no other option than to basically go all in. Everything is purchased and on hand. As of the time of this post I'd say it's about 3/4 put together. I've taken, and will continue to take as many pictures as I can but I must warn you I'm no photography wizard. The second post in this thread will be reserved for links to updates & pictures.
Without further adieu, here's the list of what this build contains:
PC Hardware
- CaseLabs TH10 with reverse ATX layout
- Asus Rampage IV Extreme
- Intel 3930K
- 2 x EVGA 670 FTW w/back plates
- 32GB Mushkin Redline 2133 ram
- 256GB Plextor M3 SSD
- 2 x Hitachi Deskstar 7K3000 2TB hard drives
- Western Digital Black 1TB
- Corsair AX1200 PSU
- 2 x AlphaCool Monsta 480 radiators
- XSPC Raystorm water block
- Koolance R4E Motherboard Block
- 2 x Watercool Heatkiller GTX 680 Nickel Hole Edition
- EK-Multioption RES X2 - 250 Advanced reservoir
- Swiftech MCP35X2 Pump with heatsink
- 32 x Gentle Typhoon AP-15's
- Lamptron FC8 fan controller
- Duralene tubing
- DI water then switching to Mayhem's pastel white or red
For TIM I'm using Indigo Xtreme for the CPU and Phobya HeGrease for the motherboard and GPU blocks. Yes, I'm using 32 AP15's. Are they loud? Yeah, at full blast a little. At full blast are they quieter than the stock fans in my Antec 900 and my Sycthe Slipstream on my CPU heatsink all set to high? Most definitely yes. I have 16 as intakes using Silverstone fan filters and another 16 on the two radiators in push/pull. The intake fans suck cool air in from the bottom and front of the case and the push/pull fans on the radiators blow the warm air out the top of the case.
My goal is to get the CPU to 4.8-5ghz. In the winter my ambient temps without a space heater are between 18C-20C. In the summer it's much higher, 26C-32C, but we'll be getting A/C in our house this coming spring so then hopefully we'll be at a constant 22C. I don't think temps will be a problem unless I have to get ridiculous with the voltages to hit my desired over clock which at that point I'd throttle things back a bit. I loved tweaking the over clock settings on my Q6600, even though things were a bit simple, and it seems like there are enough settings and options with SB-E to keep me busy for a while. I'm thinking about using the custom BIOS for the 670 FTW that increases the voltage for over clocking; temps shouldn't be a problem but instead stability.
Purpose
I used to be big into folding and stopped because, well, life happened. In the past 3 years my dad died, I got married, and became a father of 4 girls; 2 from my wife's previous marriage and 2 new ones of our own. With this new build I'm hoping to get back into folding with a vengeance; my goal is 20 hours a day. My current rig will be relegated to 100% folding.
This will also be used to run VMs, more than likely 2-3 at a time. I'm an IT manager and former web developer who likes to tinker with things. My wife, who is a teacher, has a lot of older educational game CD's that require Windows 95/98. I'd love for my 17 and 3 month old daughters to be able to play these games in a couple of years and having an older Windows VM would work quite well. I'd more than likely also create a dedicated PS3 Media Server VM to stream out.
I do enjoy gaming though I don't often get the time to do so with two little ones running around. When I do get the time I'd like to be able to do so with most, if not all, of the eye candy turned on. My current rig has done a decent job but my 8800GTX's are really starting to show their age when trying to play games like Skyrim and Guild Wars 2 with medium/high graphics and decent frame rates.
As I said, this is my first water cooled build. Everything I know about water cooling came from this site. I started by following the Water Cooling Essential Threads then moved to following various build logs. After I felt I knew the direction I wanted to go I started asking questions. Not all of them resulted in the answers I was looking for but even then the responses were enough to get me to change my way of thinking or take other things into consideration. It never hurts to ask questions, even if you feel they are dumb or noobish, that's what this site and this community is here for. If you are new to water cooling and don't know where to start or want to maybe pick up a couple of pointers or things to look out for feel free to ask and I'll do my best to help.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and my build was inspired by this build. I'd also like to thank the following members for their help:
Juggalo23451 - For organizing all the Water Cooling Essential Threads
Reglar - For the Pandamonium build log and answering my questions about radiator fitment
Stren - For your great water block review and your insight with IX & Raystorm
Cheaptrick - For the EVGA GTX 680 backplate & Heatkiller GTX 680 waterblock tutorial
cpachris - For the BBBB build log