- Feb 8, 2009
- 14,235
- 27
- 49,290
Common Building errors: 
1. 3~4-WAY SLI/CF will only work with triple width GPUs if the OEM cooling is removed and replaced with the appropriate water blocks or LN2 pots. Most ASUS high-end GPU's also are not reference designed therefore the vast majority of water blocks will not work or fit.
2. Check your prices!!! Pricing, especially now, is like a 'bouncing bunny'; they must be good at time of contest closing. I had several of my build's prices change in the last day.
3. ASUS Rampage IV Extreme can only boot with (x2) SSD's in RAID 0 and not (x3 or more) in SATA 6Gb/s. More than (2) drives in RAID 0 requires a RAID Card e.g. LSI PCIE x4/x8 SATA3 otherwise the SSD's will run 3Gb/s (300 MB/s). Boot drive RAID cannot cross SATA controllers.
Intel® X79 chipset :
2 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s), red
4 x SATA 3Gb/s port(s), black
Support Raid 0, 1, 5, 10
ASMedia® PCIe SATA controller :
2 x eSATA 6Gb/s port(s), red
2 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s), red
4. ASUS Rampage IV Extreme is not the same as the ASUS Rampage IV Extreme/BF3 they have different SKU's and specifications, and the contest specification is the standard edition.
5. ASUS X79 MOBO's has only been tested with OCZ RevoDrive 3 X2 for boot drives, and RevoDrive's will not RAID 0 for boot drives though can be software RAID 0 in OS.
6. Corsair H100 requires 2X120 case venting or won't fit/work. Only a few cases will support 3x120 or larger radiators.
7. PSU problems:
(a) under powered - use 100% TPD/100% Load (especially for 'Fastest' scenarios -> http://www.thermaltake.outervision.com/
(b) inadequate PCIE power connectons {GTX 590 2X8-pin/GPU, GTX 580 6-pin + 8-pin/GPU <or> 2X8-pin/GPU, HD 6970 2X8-pin/GPU}
8. No 2-WAY Crossfire will work without separte purchase of an 'extended' CF Bridge.
9. Complex builds - while I appreciate the use of water cooling, I noted that just about all of them will not work for a variety of reasons; e.g. wrong blocks, incorrect ID/OD components, missing items, etc.
There's a significant number of builds posted that simply will not work, and the 'corrections' will in many instances exceed the build cost limits.
Hope this is helpful! Good Builds & Good Luck!
--
I am not a Judge or in anyway 'Official' to the contest. I was away for over a week and wished I could have posted this earlier.
1. 3~4-WAY SLI/CF will only work with triple width GPUs if the OEM cooling is removed and replaced with the appropriate water blocks or LN2 pots. Most ASUS high-end GPU's also are not reference designed therefore the vast majority of water blocks will not work or fit.
2. Check your prices!!! Pricing, especially now, is like a 'bouncing bunny'; they must be good at time of contest closing. I had several of my build's prices change in the last day.
3. ASUS Rampage IV Extreme can only boot with (x2) SSD's in RAID 0 and not (x3 or more) in SATA 6Gb/s. More than (2) drives in RAID 0 requires a RAID Card e.g. LSI PCIE x4/x8 SATA3 otherwise the SSD's will run 3Gb/s (300 MB/s). Boot drive RAID cannot cross SATA controllers.
Intel® X79 chipset :
2 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s), red
4 x SATA 3Gb/s port(s), black
Support Raid 0, 1, 5, 10
ASMedia® PCIe SATA controller :
2 x eSATA 6Gb/s port(s), red
2 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s), red
4. ASUS Rampage IV Extreme is not the same as the ASUS Rampage IV Extreme/BF3 they have different SKU's and specifications, and the contest specification is the standard edition.
5. ASUS X79 MOBO's has only been tested with OCZ RevoDrive 3 X2 for boot drives, and RevoDrive's will not RAID 0 for boot drives though can be software RAID 0 in OS.
6. Corsair H100 requires 2X120 case venting or won't fit/work. Only a few cases will support 3x120 or larger radiators.
7. PSU problems:
(a) under powered - use 100% TPD/100% Load (especially for 'Fastest' scenarios -> http://www.thermaltake.outervision.com/
(b) inadequate PCIE power connectons {GTX 590 2X8-pin/GPU, GTX 580 6-pin + 8-pin/GPU <or> 2X8-pin/GPU, HD 6970 2X8-pin/GPU}
8. No 2-WAY Crossfire will work without separte purchase of an 'extended' CF Bridge.
9. Complex builds - while I appreciate the use of water cooling, I noted that just about all of them will not work for a variety of reasons; e.g. wrong blocks, incorrect ID/OD components, missing items, etc.
There's a significant number of builds posted that simply will not work, and the 'corrections' will in many instances exceed the build cost limits.
Hope this is helpful! Good Builds & Good Luck!
--
I am not a Judge or in anyway 'Official' to the contest. I was away for over a week and wished I could have posted this earlier.
Planning for 3930k @ 4.8-5ghz. Can I just have a block to the CPU and VRM and not the south bridge. The PCH heatsink is connected by a heatpipe to the VRM heatsinks so I don't know how that would work. Ive read the VRM is the only component on the board that really heats up. 
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