Please critique my $5k build plans...

[earwicker7]

no, ditch the water cooling on the graphics cards...

i would water cool the motherboard and the processor, thats really all you need.

the air coolers on the graphics cards will keep them plenty cool and give you plenty of room for over-clocking them

i didnt list anything for water cooling because im not good at putting together water build lists.

So just cool the CPU and the chipset? What would be the approximate amount of wattage I'd need to disperse?

4 hd 5870s is just silly, unless all this pc is going to be used for is benching. even then it's really not worth it unless you just like to throw money away.

@ earwicker, what about an OS? what about a monitor or monitors, keyboard, mouse, speakers, etc? i'm gonna go out on a limb here and assume that these are to be included in your budget?

I don't use speakers... I've got reference quality headphones which will slay any speaker system that costs less than $10k (with the exception of the subwoofer range... they still have the range, just not the decible levels). I've got most of the other stuff, although I'm going to buy a tiny 2nd monitor to display temp/performance software.

You read right, but I do not believe that it comes with all of the fans
Straight from Cooler Master's website
"Front:230 x 30 mm red LED fan on/off x 1
Top:200 x 30mm fans x 2 (one optional)
Side:200 x 30mm fan x 1
Rear:140 x 25mm fan x 1
VGA Fan Duct:120 x 25 mm or 120 x 38 mm fan x 1(optional)
VGA Holder:80 x 15 mm fan x 1(optional)"
so...add them optional fans to your shopping list!

Thanks for pointing that out! I'll have to check with them.

One last thing... it seems like the most expensive motherboards aren't going to be more than another $100 or so; since I'm spending this much to begin with, should I just go ahead and buy the most expensive one, or is it just going to give me bells and whistles that aren't really necessary for my setup?

 

[PP Mguire]

Pictures or it never happened.

I'll assume your kidding and you really don't have a clue.

I still have that phase unit and it will be repaired as soon as i can afford it. (repairing is easy, i just need to buy the freon). People doubt me way to much.

 

[Sean W.]

the CPU and the chipsets might give off a max wattage of like 220 watts... a triple radiator would be more than enough for that.

 

[aspire]

http://www.techist.com/forums/f115/water-cooling-101-depth-guide-taking-plunge-203866/#post1621532

My water cooling guide, if you have any questions about things I haven't gotten around to completing, just lemme know.

 

[earwicker7]

http://www.techist.com/forums/f115/water-cooling-101-depth-guide-taking-plunge-203866/#post1621532

My water cooling guide, if you have any questions about things I haven't gotten around to completing, just lemme know.

D'oh! One of the first lines in there says that if I haven't built a computer yet, I shouldn't attempt water-cooling... Is this still your belief? I don't technically have a problem with building the computer, finding my way around it, and then adding the water-cooling later, however, I'm wondering if that will be more expensive (first you buy a good heat sink, but you're going to toss it in a month for the water block) and time-consuming (building an air-cooled system then tearing it out to add the water-cooled system). In other words, would it be like designing a new house without the pool, even though you wanted the pool to be a centerpiece of the house?

 

[PP Mguire]

If you bought a good heatsink first it would only cost you an additional 40-70 bucks or so. With this heatsink you can get a good understanding of your PC and its overclocking features before messing with water. Also itll give you some time to research more about water cooling too.
Building any PC is time consuming, but for some builders thats not always a bad thing lol.

 

[earwicker7]

If you bought a good heatsink first it would only cost you an additional 40-70 bucks or so. With this heatsink you can get a good understanding of your PC and its overclocking features before messing with water. Also itll give you some time to research more about water cooling too.
Building any PC is time consuming, but for some builders thats not always a bad thing lol.

If that's all we're talking, that's not a bad idea... I can slowly overclock it and just add stuff once I find the limits. Can I get some other people's feedback on this idea? What do you think... all at once, or slowly?

Here's a 2nd draft:

Case: Cooler Master HAF X RC-942-KKN1; http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119225; $199.99

Power Supply: CORSAIR Professional Series AX1200 1200W ATX12V v2.31 / EPS12V v2.92 SLI Certified 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply; http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139014; $309.99

Motherboard: Asus Rampage 3; http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131666; $299.99

Processor: i7-980X Extreme Edition; http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...AID=10446076&PID=3946032&SID=skim2305X575088; $999.99

RAM: G.SKILL Trident+ Turbulence II 12GB (3 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2000 (PC3 16000) Desktop Memory Model F3-16000CL9T-12GBTDD; http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231384 $469.99

Hard Drive: OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD2-2VTXE60G 2.5" 60GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD); http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...&AID=10446076&PID=3946032&SID=skim2305X575088 ; $145.90

OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD3-2VTX240G 3.5" 240GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD); http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...&AID=10446076&PID=3946032&SID=skim2305X575088 ; $509.99
Graphics Card: 2 x ATI 5970; http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...Mark=&IsFeedbackTab=true&Keywords=(keywords); $1429.98

DVD Drive: HP 8X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM SATA BD Combo Model BD240I-h01 LightScribe Support; http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827140046;
$119.99

Fan Controller: ZALMAN MFC1-Combo 5 Channel Fan Controller http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...&cm_re=fan_controller-_-11-999-220-_-Product; $49.99

What would a good temporary heatsink be?

 

[PP Mguire]

Question, why do you want to get 2 different sized SSDs of the same type?

 

[earwicker7]

One for the OS, and one for the programs. This is better for performance, correct?

 

[Sean W.]

wrong

just get a 240 gig, that is plenty