New build - Help please.

[matty-hodgson]

Right, I've decided I want to upgrade my computer to something much more powerful, and I've set myself a budget of £1500 for everything and I'll be selling this computer minus the SSDs.

What I want is a Core i7, 6GB of RAM, decent graphics, possibly a GTX460 SLI setup.

I'd also like to be able to keep one colour scheme throughout the entire PC, red and black is what I have in mind.

For the innards I was thinking about this:

Motherboard - http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Compo...roductId=40973

Processor - http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Intel...io-130W-Retail

Memory - http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/6GB-(...connector-165V
But is there any benefit to getting 1866MHz memory over, say, 1333 or 1600?

This adds up to £556.12, leaving about £950 for the rest.

I was thinking of a few options for the graphics:
SLI GTX460s - http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/1GB-E...DVI-I-MiniHDMI
a GTX480 - http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/1536M...2xDVI-miniHDMI
a 5850 X-fire - http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/1GB-X...-DL-DVI-I-HDMI
or even a 5970 - http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/N2GB-...-DVI-I-Mini-DP

I run at 2048x1152 so I need plenty of grunt for the games coming out in the next few months (Crysis 2, CoD, F1 2010, Fifa 2011, MoH...)
I was also thinking of maybe putting aftermarket coolers on, depending on the standard noise.

About £500 - £600 left now.

PSU - I quite like the PSU I have now, but it's quite an expensive PSU for it's wattage. So I'd like some suggestions for here .

Case - This is somewhere I'm not really up to date with so some suggestions would be nice. I'd like it to look good, be quite big and be very good at keeping a system cool.

I'd like to spend about £400 on a good PSU and case, including fans, then they can last me a very very long time.

And for HDD storage, I'm keeping my 2 Intel SSDs and I'll buy a Samsung 1TB drive to go alongside it.

So... The reason I came to HEXUS for help is because I know you can always help eek out extra performance for the same money and are always helpful .

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

TBH,your current setup would be fine IMHO for the next year or so. You do realise that Intel Ivy Bridge and AMD Bulldozer will be released next year and these will be new architectures.

Also,the HD6000 series graphics cards are going to be launched soon.

Anyway, I would suggest getting a Core i7 950 for a few quid more:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Intel...io-130W-Retail

Unless you want to go mATX I would suggest this motherboard:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Gigab...and-SATA-6Gb-s

If you want a mATX build though I would suggest the following case if you want a small PC:

http://www.lan-gear.com/langear-microATX

The mini-P180 is also another case worth a look at:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/Antec...t-2xUSB-20-ATX

Edit!!

If you want a red and black full ATX case I would looking at this Silverstone one:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Silve...Window-w-o-PSU

[nibbler]

Corsair 700D is only £138 on scan if i saw that correctly.
the P180 mini is pretty tricky to work in tbh, but it just exudes quality, I could stroke mine all night.

Edit: ROFL, i seem to be getting into the habit of producing sigworthy innuendo.

[PC4Free]

The NZXT Phantom is a pretty good looking case and you can get it in black, white and red.

Corsair Power Supplies seem to be pretty good at the moment. Enermax are also good and i think their revolution range are black and red.

SLI 460's > GTX 480 - The Gainward GLH GTX 460 is black with an orangey, red fan

[matty-hodgson]

How much would a good watercooling loop cost? With the CPU and 1/2 GPUs included in the loop.

[nibbler]

£250

[kalniel]

Thing is Matty, you've already got a great computer, so you'd be throwing a lot of money at it without any noticeable improvement. Better to wait for your current system to become a problem with a new game after it's released, and then just upgrade the parts needed for that, which is usually just graphics cards. A lot cheaper that way!

[nibbler]

Yeah, £1500 is sooooo much money. The smartest thing to do is to invest the money in a project such as My Computer.

[matty-hodgson]

You lot are probably right, so I've decided I'll just treat myself to a new case and watercooling setup. Although I do have my eye set on a Corsair 800D .

So, this is where it'll get REALLY tricky, I have absolutely no clue whatsoever about what case will go with what parts for watercooling.

I'll try and set out some future upgrade plans and see what you guys can come up with, I'll do my own research as well however .

Basically, at the minute I'm gonna keep the setup I have and just upgrade the case and the cooling. I'll be upgrading the CPU+GPU next year probably (will that mean I'll need to buy a whole new CPU block and GPU block?)

Also, does anyone know where I can go to find out some information about watercooling?

[kalniel]

CPU block - unlikely to need a new one as they're usually multi-socket compatible, and the new sockets coming out should have pretty much the same mounting brackets (bulldozer might not, but that's a way off and maybe not the performance choice anyway).

GPU blocks tend to be a bit more model specific, but it depends on the card and how much they change the design. Going from an AMD 5000 to 6000 series won't be a problem for example.

[nibbler]

Best information on watercooling is probably on these forums
Seriously though, http://www.scan.co.uk/products/Corsa...m-fans-w-o-PSU.
That's a great deal, might even be on today only for a fiver or so less. That's what fraz used in his WC build I think.

[scaryjim]

... I have absolutely no clue whatsoever about what case will go with what parts for watercooling. ...

AFAICT the only thing you really need to make sure is that you get the right tube to fit your barbs, and the right barbs to screw into the blocks. Almost all blocks seem to have G1/4" connections, so it shouldn't be too hard. As long as the numbers match on everything you should be good to go

CPU blocks don't seem to change much and a lot of block manufacturers seem to release new mounting plates for new sockets - so even if your big upgrade in a year's time is to a socket that you don't currently have a mounting for there's every chance that you'll just be able ot buy a new mounting kit rather than a whole new CPU block. Since you're currently on a GTX275, however, I'm gonna stock my neck out and say you'll definitely be replacing the GPU block when it comes to upgrading the GPU - unless CoolIT release a "block-only" version of the OMNI A.L.C....

[matty-hodgson]

Looking at that 700D now, and then comparing it to the 800D, and all I can think is, what's the point? It looks almost exactly the same, and definitely not worth the extra £70.

So I think I'll definitely be going for that Corsair 700D, cos it looks amazing, it's huge and it gets some bloody good reviews .

But now I'm a bit stuck, what are all the parts that I'll need for a watercooling loop?

I'll list the ones I think I'll need:
1) Reservoir
2) Pump
3) CPU block
4) GPU block
5) Radiator
6) The pipes
7) Some special water

And that's where my knowledge stops .

[nibbler]

Pump top is good apparently. I only know that it is, I have no idea why
I would say check out Fraz's build log in the system and chassis modding section. He used a 700d and watercooled it.

[nibbler]

http://forums.hexus.net/chassis-syst...80x-build.html

[vinnyT]

For a great watercooling guide for beginners, see Clunk's article here http://www.clunk.org.uk/forums/water...beginners.html