before I kick off this MASSIVE post just want to say there are a lot of questions. I've pretty much made up my mind on most aspects but feel free to recommend other quality products if need be.
Purpose for this rig? Almost every possible scenario imaginable. Gaming, movies, video editing, photography, 3d modeling, and web design. Also, this build will not be put together until November/December. Why? Waiting on new hardware..This rig is to last me a few years with a few minor upgrades here and there...so not planning to dump 600 on a GTX and end up selling it and losing 200 bucks or so for a g92 (excluding the evga step up program that is ^_^).
Ok...Now to the good stuff..The specifics I have planned out is this. I'm waiting for X38/G92...Those are the most important factors. i was also waiting for penryn but considering the initial launch will be extreme edition processors I scrapped the idea. But of course time will tell on that aspect..Barcelona and penryn will be out when I start buying up so it's subject to change on performance/availability.
------------------------------
Case + Fans
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119121
9x http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185006
I'm almost 100% made up on the idea...com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102014
I was looking at the elite card as well. but I'm trying to figure out if I need it compared to this. The elite doesn't have the front 5.25 panel. Which Would turn out to be useful for a headphone setup. Especially considering how I plan to eventually get a surround sound system. So I don't want to have to swap cables repeatedly. Do these front panels offer the same quality from the rear outputs? Cause sound is key during FPS games as well as video editing. Want to make sure there is no downgrade in quality connecting a headset to a front 5.25 panel.
Is there any other alternative/better cards? Or is creative the cream of the crop choice? I've had a Audigy 2 platinum in the past. I remember having issues with ventrilo and counter strike. Whichever application started 2nd would have my voice transfer skip repeatedly. probably buggy drivers but I don't know if it has been resolved. Any thoughts?
------------------------------
Water Cooling
Not 100% made up on if I want to or not. I've heard many situations about not having enough room for a water cooling rig in this case even though it's massive. So choices are basically top end air cooling...But I do have a Lian Li PC-65 case that I can use for a separate container. Although I'm not sure how this will effect the flow. considering the extensive tubing. I also have a spare 550 watt psu I can use as a seperate power source for a rather lucrative water cooling solution. I'd have to ghetto jump it but think of the possibilities.
"Pump (Stacker) > CPU (Stacker) > GPU (Stacker) > Reservoir (Lian Li) > Pump (Lian Li) > Rad (Lian Li) > Rad (Lian Li) > Pump (Lian Li) > Rad (Lian Li) > Rad (Lian Li) > Pump (Lian Li) > Reservoir (Stacker) > Repeat"
I know what you must be thinking.."This guy is nuts"..Right so. but chances are I won't do this at all. The reservoir's would be completely filled to make sure the pumps are getting adequate water. I'd have to nab high quality pumps to move all that water. Maybe get by with 2 but it would take a max of 4 I think... Overall it is discussable. But yea..Probably won't go with such a insane setup..But if I end up having lots of extra cash it's a possibility I could probably nab a peltier for the same cost as something like this..or just try to ghetto rig a personal refrigerator to cool the water also. But I'm not sure. lol....Might just go with end cooling If I don't have as much cash as I think I'll have.
But back on subject. I'm in love with the stacker but water cooling is a VERY tough idea considering the space..I also plan to water cool the gpu as well. Any ideas?...I could strip all the drive trays in the Lian Li case which isn't a problem for a external solution. But is there one massive pump strong enough to pump all the water?..Or would I have to nab multiple pumps to do this?.I've only water cooled once before but I bought a ****ty *** big water kit (big mistake). Got a tuniq tower which replaced it a couple years later.
If I do go up water cooling. what should I be nabbing?..keep in mind I pretty much want to get enthusiast parts. top grade, Danger Den?..Swiftech?..What should I be looking at since this is my first custom WC kit if I do go WC. If I don't..Are these case fans sufficient?..Anything better then these atm?
------------------------------
Motherboard
Even though I'm waiting on the x38's..I was curious on how other brands are. I'm currently on an asus board and have had great results. But curious on other choices. I've been looking at EVGA and DFI lan party...I've never read any reviews on them but are they any good? ATM still sticking with asus..But willing to try something new if it's a great board. I'm also going to OC the **** out of this *****....So the best overclocking/quality brand is important. Are these boards a waste compared to gigabyte, asus, and the other top dogs?..or? I understand there are no x38 boards out..But trying to make sure I have all the top notch brands separated from the lower end brands.
------------------------------
Processor
If no decent penryn procesors are out at the time..I'll probably nab a Q6600 for temp till the midrange penryn family comes out. Or maybe even go a barcelona build once I see the performance charts. All depends..Overclock ability is also a factor...Pretty much gotta wait and see...Can't make any choices since I have to wait a few months.
------------------------------
Hard Drives
This is a tough choice. Atm, I have 4 drives in my current pc, two 500 gig storage drives (one OS drive). As well as two 160 giggers in a raid 0. I've always used the raid 0's for my video editing drive. Popped my source files on their with the project files on my non raid drives.
With this new rig..I might have to end up dumping the idea of raid because of the cost of the PSU..not sure just yet. So far I've decided on 4 drives. Two raptors (they may be outdated on technology..But they are still damn fast...what I'd give for a raptor refresh with PMR >_<)...One for Windows XP...The second for a dual boot of Windows Vista...Problem is, this aint that great for storage which is why I need 2 other drives. 750 gb or 1 tb drives probably. But the problem lies in having to nab WD Caviar drives that have a 3 years warranty compared to the Seagate Barracuda's 5 years. But the performance difference is worth the 3 years. But 2 system drives and 2 storage drives makes it difficult for a video source drive. I might have to nab 3 caviar drives and have 2 raided. (raid source for my footage and the other non raid for data backup) Need really fast drives thanks to them being the most bottlenecked portion of PCs. But the extra hardware isn't really a problem..It just scares me on the PSU..I want ample overclocking room...and have no idea what type of PSU this sucker would need..I'm REALLY scared about this department.
------------------------------
Memory
DDR2 or DDR3?...The discussion has often been had with DDR2 being the best in terms of price and performance. But now I don't believe that to be the case. Earlier yes..but now...I think not. DDR3 has progressed in terms of speed but not price obviously. OCZ is now releasing PC3-12800 modules which can be seen here...
http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/memory/ocz_ddr3_pc3_12800_flexxlc_edition
Considering they are running at 6-6-6-18 timings..It's not that bad. The one benefit about DDR2 to DDR3 was the bandwith was pretty similar..But DDR2 was priced better as well as having lower latencies which made it the obvious choice. But as the bandwidth increases...this where ddr3 begins to shine. OCZ also makes PC3-14400 modules which can be seen here..
http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/memory/ocz_ddr3_pc3_14400_platinum_edition
But the timings on these are much higher at 8-8-8-24. Corsair also showed off "The worlds fastest DDR3" which was running at 2000mhz with 10-10-10-24 timings at computex. By the time I buy this build quick ddr3 modules will be out in terms of speed. Price and latencies are a dif story...but they speed is beginning to outweigh the problems now since they can punch more bandwidth then ddr2.
Considering this builld will be put together before years end. Chances are I will end up using DDR3..But just incase I don't..what brands should I be looking at? I've used lots of value modules in the bast but this rig I'm on now I dished out 900 on ram when I bought it. I'm probably going to nab either 4 or 8 gb's for this new machine. but which brands should I stick to if I do get ddr2 or even og ddr3?..I've only used OCZ for the top end and I have to admit I loved it. 2 of my 4 sticks started showing errors and I RMA'ed them without a hitch (<3 lifetime warranties). I shipped the same day I got my rma, and they even shipped my modules out before they received the damage ram. Just had to give them a tracking number. Had my ram the next day..not even 24 hours went by before my rig was back up and running. I had to replace all 4 of my sticks even though only 2 reported errors...they stopped making those PC2-533 modules (this was about 5 months ago). They ended up sending me four 1 gb sticks of PC2-667 compared to the four 512 sticks of 533 rated memory I had.
But besides that. What brands would be top performers?..Been reading through random posts on boards around the web and I've heard a lot about crucial I think it was with their d9 micron chips they were using?..forgot all the info but what brands should I be looking at?..overclocking is also key..lifetime warranty as well ^_^.
I do realize windows has a huge limitation in how much it can see. Going to use 64 bit xp as well as 64 bit vista. What is the limit for Xp again?..I know 32bit is around 2.8-3.5 useable..But how is it in 64bit?..Is the limit 4 gb or does it go higher?..Not sure about Vista either. But since it's much newer I beleive I can see 8 GB's if I do end up nabbing 8.
------------------------------
PSU
THIS is the scary part. I have no idea. I was looking at the Enermax Galaxy 1kw. I was also looking at the PC P&C 1kw...Enermax is at 330 dollars while the PC P&C is at 500!....Both tier 1 psu's so decided on the enermax. Although if you guys have any other recommendations that would be nice..modular if possible...hybrid of it is fine as well. But would these even power this sucker?..
I used a PSU calculator which you can find here...http://www.extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine. I'm hoping it is 100% wrong..Cause according to this I'd need a 1,321 watt psu for oc'ing....lol..
The system would basically have..
quad core oc'ed pretty darn far.
4 or 5 hard drives
4 sticks of ram
2 optical drives
top end gfx card
9 case fans
possible water cooling or high end air cooler
2 fan controllers
high end sound card
floppy drive
I think that's everything...as well as a USB mouse/keyboard. Overall this thing is going to be a god damn monster. Would a 1kw psu cover this?..cause that damn calculator is scaring me. If anyone with some insight could guesstimate how much I would need? Any info will help.
------------------------------
Video Card
Easy...G92..Just waiting for it before I build my rig. if for some reason I jump the gun or it gets delayed..I'll probably nab a x1950xt for temp till the next gen cards are out.
------------------------------
Optical Drives
Very simply really..But SATA or EIDE? I want to try SATA but are they hard to set up? Also can they run on the same onboard SATA controller that hard drives are using as well? (such as most boards come with 2 sata controllers...if they share the same controller is that a problem?).
------------------------------
Monitor
Personally I dislike LCDs. The technology has to many negatives to outweigh its positives. I'm going to nab a refurbished Sony GDM-FW900 monitor. I found a place that deals exclusively repairing these monitors for film companies (they were used for the movie "300" as well as many other top rated productions). They also come with a warranty from this place..They are the only 24" widescreen crt. 700 bucks though for a refurbished model with a 1 year warranty. although they go used for 250-500 I'd rather get one with a warranty...They retailed for 2,300 or so brand new. Going to use these monitors till FED rolls out (think CRT in the flat panel form ^_^..it's going to rock).
--------------------------------------------------------
Ok, that was one LONG *** thread. Sorry about that ^_^..but so many questions on my head for this truly expensive build. Hope you guys have as much fun reading as I did typing. Can't wait to get this sucker. Looking forward to your feedback.
Purpose for this rig? Almost every possible scenario imaginable. Gaming, movies, video editing, photography, 3d modeling, and web design. Also, this build will not be put together until November/December. Why? Waiting on new hardware..This rig is to last me a few years with a few minor upgrades here and there...so not planning to dump 600 on a GTX and end up selling it and losing 200 bucks or so for a g92 (excluding the evga step up program that is ^_^).
Ok...Now to the good stuff..The specifics I have planned out is this. I'm waiting for X38/G92...Those are the most important factors. i was also waiting for penryn but considering the initial launch will be extreme edition processors I scrapped the idea. But of course time will tell on that aspect..Barcelona and penryn will be out when I start buying up so it's subject to change on performance/availability.
------------------------------
Case + Fans
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119121
9x http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185006
I'm almost 100% made up on the idea...com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102014
I was looking at the elite card as well. but I'm trying to figure out if I need it compared to this. The elite doesn't have the front 5.25 panel. Which Would turn out to be useful for a headphone setup. Especially considering how I plan to eventually get a surround sound system. So I don't want to have to swap cables repeatedly. Do these front panels offer the same quality from the rear outputs? Cause sound is key during FPS games as well as video editing. Want to make sure there is no downgrade in quality connecting a headset to a front 5.25 panel.
Is there any other alternative/better cards? Or is creative the cream of the crop choice? I've had a Audigy 2 platinum in the past. I remember having issues with ventrilo and counter strike. Whichever application started 2nd would have my voice transfer skip repeatedly. probably buggy drivers but I don't know if it has been resolved. Any thoughts?
------------------------------
Water Cooling
Not 100% made up on if I want to or not. I've heard many situations about not having enough room for a water cooling rig in this case even though it's massive. So choices are basically top end air cooling...But I do have a Lian Li PC-65 case that I can use for a separate container. Although I'm not sure how this will effect the flow. considering the extensive tubing. I also have a spare 550 watt psu I can use as a seperate power source for a rather lucrative water cooling solution. I'd have to ghetto jump it but think of the possibilities.
"Pump (Stacker) > CPU (Stacker) > GPU (Stacker) > Reservoir (Lian Li) > Pump (Lian Li) > Rad (Lian Li) > Rad (Lian Li) > Pump (Lian Li) > Rad (Lian Li) > Rad (Lian Li) > Pump (Lian Li) > Reservoir (Stacker) > Repeat"
I know what you must be thinking.."This guy is nuts"..Right so. but chances are I won't do this at all. The reservoir's would be completely filled to make sure the pumps are getting adequate water. I'd have to nab high quality pumps to move all that water. Maybe get by with 2 but it would take a max of 4 I think... Overall it is discussable. But yea..Probably won't go with such a insane setup..But if I end up having lots of extra cash it's a possibility I could probably nab a peltier for the same cost as something like this..or just try to ghetto rig a personal refrigerator to cool the water also. But I'm not sure. lol....Might just go with end cooling If I don't have as much cash as I think I'll have.
But back on subject. I'm in love with the stacker but water cooling is a VERY tough idea considering the space..I also plan to water cool the gpu as well. Any ideas?...I could strip all the drive trays in the Lian Li case which isn't a problem for a external solution. But is there one massive pump strong enough to pump all the water?..Or would I have to nab multiple pumps to do this?.I've only water cooled once before but I bought a ****ty *** big water kit (big mistake). Got a tuniq tower which replaced it a couple years later.
If I do go up water cooling. what should I be nabbing?..keep in mind I pretty much want to get enthusiast parts. top grade, Danger Den?..Swiftech?..What should I be looking at since this is my first custom WC kit if I do go WC. If I don't..Are these case fans sufficient?..Anything better then these atm?
------------------------------
Motherboard
Even though I'm waiting on the x38's..I was curious on how other brands are. I'm currently on an asus board and have had great results. But curious on other choices. I've been looking at EVGA and DFI lan party...I've never read any reviews on them but are they any good? ATM still sticking with asus..But willing to try something new if it's a great board. I'm also going to OC the **** out of this *****....So the best overclocking/quality brand is important. Are these boards a waste compared to gigabyte, asus, and the other top dogs?..or? I understand there are no x38 boards out..But trying to make sure I have all the top notch brands separated from the lower end brands.
------------------------------
Processor
If no decent penryn procesors are out at the time..I'll probably nab a Q6600 for temp till the midrange penryn family comes out. Or maybe even go a barcelona build once I see the performance charts. All depends..Overclock ability is also a factor...Pretty much gotta wait and see...Can't make any choices since I have to wait a few months.
------------------------------
Hard Drives
This is a tough choice. Atm, I have 4 drives in my current pc, two 500 gig storage drives (one OS drive). As well as two 160 giggers in a raid 0. I've always used the raid 0's for my video editing drive. Popped my source files on their with the project files on my non raid drives.
With this new rig..I might have to end up dumping the idea of raid because of the cost of the PSU..not sure just yet. So far I've decided on 4 drives. Two raptors (they may be outdated on technology..But they are still damn fast...what I'd give for a raptor refresh with PMR >_<)...One for Windows XP...The second for a dual boot of Windows Vista...Problem is, this aint that great for storage which is why I need 2 other drives. 750 gb or 1 tb drives probably. But the problem lies in having to nab WD Caviar drives that have a 3 years warranty compared to the Seagate Barracuda's 5 years. But the performance difference is worth the 3 years. But 2 system drives and 2 storage drives makes it difficult for a video source drive. I might have to nab 3 caviar drives and have 2 raided. (raid source for my footage and the other non raid for data backup) Need really fast drives thanks to them being the most bottlenecked portion of PCs. But the extra hardware isn't really a problem..It just scares me on the PSU..I want ample overclocking room...and have no idea what type of PSU this sucker would need..I'm REALLY scared about this department.
------------------------------
Memory
DDR2 or DDR3?...The discussion has often been had with DDR2 being the best in terms of price and performance. But now I don't believe that to be the case. Earlier yes..but now...I think not. DDR3 has progressed in terms of speed but not price obviously. OCZ is now releasing PC3-12800 modules which can be seen here...
http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/memory/ocz_ddr3_pc3_12800_flexxlc_edition
Considering they are running at 6-6-6-18 timings..It's not that bad. The one benefit about DDR2 to DDR3 was the bandwith was pretty similar..But DDR2 was priced better as well as having lower latencies which made it the obvious choice. But as the bandwidth increases...this where ddr3 begins to shine. OCZ also makes PC3-14400 modules which can be seen here..
http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/memory/ocz_ddr3_pc3_14400_platinum_edition
But the timings on these are much higher at 8-8-8-24. Corsair also showed off "The worlds fastest DDR3" which was running at 2000mhz with 10-10-10-24 timings at computex. By the time I buy this build quick ddr3 modules will be out in terms of speed. Price and latencies are a dif story...but they speed is beginning to outweigh the problems now since they can punch more bandwidth then ddr2.
Considering this builld will be put together before years end. Chances are I will end up using DDR3..But just incase I don't..what brands should I be looking at? I've used lots of value modules in the bast but this rig I'm on now I dished out 900 on ram when I bought it. I'm probably going to nab either 4 or 8 gb's for this new machine. but which brands should I stick to if I do get ddr2 or even og ddr3?..I've only used OCZ for the top end and I have to admit I loved it. 2 of my 4 sticks started showing errors and I RMA'ed them without a hitch (<3 lifetime warranties). I shipped the same day I got my rma, and they even shipped my modules out before they received the damage ram. Just had to give them a tracking number. Had my ram the next day..not even 24 hours went by before my rig was back up and running. I had to replace all 4 of my sticks even though only 2 reported errors...they stopped making those PC2-533 modules (this was about 5 months ago). They ended up sending me four 1 gb sticks of PC2-667 compared to the four 512 sticks of 533 rated memory I had.
But besides that. What brands would be top performers?..Been reading through random posts on boards around the web and I've heard a lot about crucial I think it was with their d9 micron chips they were using?..forgot all the info but what brands should I be looking at?..overclocking is also key..lifetime warranty as well ^_^.
I do realize windows has a huge limitation in how much it can see. Going to use 64 bit xp as well as 64 bit vista. What is the limit for Xp again?..I know 32bit is around 2.8-3.5 useable..But how is it in 64bit?..Is the limit 4 gb or does it go higher?..Not sure about Vista either. But since it's much newer I beleive I can see 8 GB's if I do end up nabbing 8.
------------------------------
PSU
THIS is the scary part. I have no idea. I was looking at the Enermax Galaxy 1kw. I was also looking at the PC P&C 1kw...Enermax is at 330 dollars while the PC P&C is at 500!....Both tier 1 psu's so decided on the enermax. Although if you guys have any other recommendations that would be nice..modular if possible...hybrid of it is fine as well. But would these even power this sucker?..
I used a PSU calculator which you can find here...http://www.extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine. I'm hoping it is 100% wrong..Cause according to this I'd need a 1,321 watt psu for oc'ing....lol..
The system would basically have..
quad core oc'ed pretty darn far.
4 or 5 hard drives
4 sticks of ram
2 optical drives
top end gfx card
9 case fans
possible water cooling or high end air cooler
2 fan controllers
high end sound card
floppy drive
I think that's everything...as well as a USB mouse/keyboard. Overall this thing is going to be a god damn monster. Would a 1kw psu cover this?..cause that damn calculator is scaring me. If anyone with some insight could guesstimate how much I would need? Any info will help.
------------------------------
Video Card
Easy...G92..Just waiting for it before I build my rig. if for some reason I jump the gun or it gets delayed..I'll probably nab a x1950xt for temp till the next gen cards are out.
------------------------------
Optical Drives
Very simply really..But SATA or EIDE? I want to try SATA but are they hard to set up? Also can they run on the same onboard SATA controller that hard drives are using as well? (such as most boards come with 2 sata controllers...if they share the same controller is that a problem?).
------------------------------
Monitor
Personally I dislike LCDs. The technology has to many negatives to outweigh its positives. I'm going to nab a refurbished Sony GDM-FW900 monitor. I found a place that deals exclusively repairing these monitors for film companies (they were used for the movie "300" as well as many other top rated productions). They also come with a warranty from this place..They are the only 24" widescreen crt. 700 bucks though for a refurbished model with a 1 year warranty. although they go used for 250-500 I'd rather get one with a warranty...They retailed for 2,300 or so brand new. Going to use these monitors till FED rolls out (think CRT in the flat panel form ^_^..it's going to rock).
--------------------------------------------------------
Ok, that was one LONG *** thread. Sorry about that ^_^..but so many questions on my head for this truly expensive build. Hope you guys have as much fun reading as I did typing. Can't wait to get this sucker. Looking forward to your feedback.
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