Help with General Building compatibility

[xcgix]

Hi everyone,

Just after some help regarding a new desktop build. I will preface with the fact that I am no expert, so any help with the following build config and supplementary questions at the bottom would be greatly appreciated.

Firstly, Purpose

Main purpose: will be working fast in & rendering scenes from Maya, after effects render sequences, video encoding, compression/decompression

Secondary Purpose: Gaming of course (so this will write off a quadro GCARD [even though this was never financially feasible])

Looking to overclock the 2600k to around 4.2 - 4.5 GHz.

So im currently looking at getting the following parts:

CASE: NZXT Phantom ATX Full Tower Case White
CPU: Intel Core i7-2600k
MOBO: ASUS P8Z68-V PRO
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws 16GB (4x 4GB) DDR3 KIT
GCARD: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 570 OC (Rev 2.0) - GDDR5 1280MB 320-Bit VRAM
Main HD: OCZ Agility 3 - 60GB - 2.5" SATA3 SSD
Sec HD: Western Digital Caviar Black - 1TB SATA 3 6Gb/s
PSU: Corsair HX-750 750W Professional Series Power Supply
COOL: Antec KUHLER H2O 920 CPU Cooler

So just 4 basic questions in closing:

1. Is this water cooling system overkill for a possible 4.5 overclock?

2. Are any parts of the system overkill for my intended purposes?

3. Will this RAM support large AIR coolers, thus enabling me to get a cheaper air cooler instead of the water cooling system?

4. Does the PSU have enough grunt to run the spec'd system? (as i prefaced, I'm no expert when it comes to this, but through Google i have found this to be fine, just checking...)

Finally the novel ends... God, its going to be a miracle if anyone reads this through haha, help will be appreciated

 

[rvilkman]

1) you can do 4.5 usually with a good air cooler, but the cpu will generally run cooler with the water kit.

2) I think for your intended use it's pretty spot on

3) Depends heavily on the cooler and it's orientation. For some they might be an issue. But since you have the water cooler planned i think that's a good way to make sure you won't run into issues. And with that heavy duty cooling your CPU should stay nice and cool.

4) You won't probably won't be able to run SLI on the 570's but other than that it's good enough for your system. As I recall 850 is recommended for 570's and OC'd CPU.

Other comments.

Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB is a better, cheaper and more reliable HDD.
Then if you want the SLI option, check out the HX850.

Another option for SSD is the Crucial M4 64GB.

 

[puttsy]

1. Well, it's a partial watercooling system. You aren't having a water cooled computer, just heatsink using liquid in a closed loop. Yes, many call it a water cooling setup because it does use liquid but, it's not a full-out water cooling unit. But it's shouldn't be overkill.

2. Your expectations for overclocking seem a bit high, and a little unnecessary. The extra GHz won't impact rendering all that much...some, but not loads.

3. You would probably be perfectly ok with 8GB of RAM, get 2, 4GB sticks and upgrade later if you think you will gain even greater performance, but 16GB seems like a little overkill at this point.

4. Your PSU will do just fine with your setup. Personally I would get an 850W but 750w will be just fine for what you're doing.

Other: Get a larger SSD. If you intend on installing Adobe Suite AND Maya AND you OS on there, you will want something bigger. A 128GB would be great, heck, even 90GB+ would suit you well, but 60GB will disappear quicker than you think.

Hope that helps.

 

[xcgix]

Thanks for the help guys, much appreciated!

Glad to hear your opinion of OC'ing for rendering, as that was my intended reason (and only reason) for OC'ing, so....

Iv'e refined the spec's in light of both your suggestions:

Drop the OC'ing idea, thus dropping the semi-watercooling closed loop radiator (saving $110)

Dropped the case model back to a "Cooler Master HAF 922 Case" (saving about $60)

Dropped the Graphics card from an overclocked Gigabyte 570 to a regular EVGA 570. (saving a whopping $10.. Worth it?)

Change the PSU > Corsair TX-850 V2 850W which is actually cheaper than the Professional 750W series i had listed before (saving $30 bucks)

And with all those savings, I increased the size of the SDD > Corsair Force Series 3 120GB SSD ($130)

What do you guys reckon about this setup now, oh and is it worth having an OC'ed GCARD for extra 10 bucks...? haha

Thanks again

 

[rvilkman]

All of those changes seem quite reasonable.

I think that if the video card you originally planned for is the one with a custom heatsink and fans, then go with that instead.
It will help keep the card nicely cool and probably be less noisy that the standard solution.

 

[xcgix]

Yeah good point rvilkman, the Gigabyte G card did have an outstanding cooling system! Not bad for 10 bucks, ima get it

Thanks again for everyone's help,

 

[xcgix]

Best answer selected by xcgix.