Shiney new desktop... VapoXE, X2, DFI, Water, etc...

[charlie]

I'm kinda tired of having ugly, messy rigs sprawling over a table top sans case, lol...

So I'm trying to think of an uber-rig to throw up on the desktop and "forget".. simply compute, game and enjoy. No maintenance or tuning, lol... I do enough of that when benching! And I don't want a "double decker" case on top of a cooler ala nventiv or Vapo LS.

Here's what I'm thinking:

Vapochill XE II
DFI nF4 Ultra-D (a Crossfire board when avail)
Athlon 64 X2 4400+
MUSHKIN Redline XP4000 1gB
Sapphire X850xtPE (or newer G70 or R520)
OCZ Powerstream 600W
4 x Maxtor D'Max 10, 250mB, 16M Cache, 7200rpm HDD (1tB baby!!)
M-Audio 2496 PCI sound card
Swans M200 speakers
120mm watercooling rig for GPU mounted in top of Vapo.
1pr Akwaflow Water Ram coolers

Sound good? I have about 1/2 of these parts laying around... but it's difficult to leave a rig well alone! I really have problems not touching them... I always have my hands in there, lol!

C

[perkam]

I'd use as many parts as you already have lying around and keep additional purchases to monitors, speakers, new desk, etc.

Perkam

[charlie]

I'd use as many parts as you already have lying around and keep additional purchases to monitors, speakers, new desk, etc.

Perkam

Ahh yes... monitors, hmmm.
Is there a 23" that runs about 1600x1200?
Maybe a Samsung 213?? I think the 23's are all too expensive!

Maybe that sweet 26" DELL LCD TV? How BAD would 1280 x 768 look on a 26" screen? And $1200 for a 26" is good.

Here's a great deal on 26" HD ready LCD tv
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0007R8YGI/ref%3Dnosim/techbargainscom/104-0250285-9631155

The new 24" DELL widescreen runs at 1920x1200... nice at $959

C

[NickK]

Charlie - are you running the rig 24/7? Just thinking the impact of daily starts on that quartet of 250Gb drives may not be good. My 6x200Gb Maxtors kick out quite a bit of heat.

[Disposibleteen]

water cooling the ram essentially has no benefit. Sure it will keep your ram cool but the added restriction in the loop is not worth the effort. Some ramsinks and a nice fan should be more than enough to keep your ram's heat output in check. Other than that i dont see anything that i dont like in there, love that 1TB of storage you would have going on. Maybe throw in a TV tuner to record all of your favortie TV shows to try to utilize that 1TB ;) its up to you really. Good luck with the new rig :up:

[teko]

Seems pretty nice! ;) Are you thinking of making your own case? Cause else it's going to be somthing like a stacker + vapo..
Btw. do you have a link to those mem water coolers?

[charlie]

Seems pretty nice! ;) Are you thinking of making your own case? Cause else it's going to be somthing like a stacker + vapo..
Btw. do you have a link to those mem water coolers?

ram coolers are from www.svc.com

And the Vapochill XE II case is self contained and decent looking.

C

[Master_G]

Should be good, but dont expect amazing temps on the GPU, the top compartment can get pretty warm as it gets all the heat from the condensor and compressor so the air temp for the rad maybe a little high.
With watercooling and a XEII it should be a compact, relatively quiet but powerful desktop rig (i'd probably do the same sort of thing so i could have a computer to play with and a computer i could leave alone and know was always there when i needed one but i dont have the cash. Means i have to plan my computer tinkering a lot more)

G

[charlie]

Should be good, but dont expect amazing temps on the GPU, the top compartment can get pretty warm as it gets all the heat from the condensor and compressor so the air temp for the rad maybe a little high.
With watercooling and a XEII it should be a compact, relatively quiet but powerful desktop rig (i'd probably do the same sort of thing so i could have a computer to play with and a computer i could leave alone and know was always there when i needed one but i dont have the cash. Means i have to plan my computer tinkering a lot more)

G

Yeah, good call... may be a good idea to add blow-hole to the VapoXEII??

C

[Disposibleteen]

ram coolers are from www.svc.com

And the Vapochill XE II case is self contained and decent looking.

C
I looked at those ram water coolers, not only are they restrictive, they are aluminum. I would think twice about that if i were you.

[Master_G]

Yeah, good call... may be a good idea to add blow-hole to the VapoXEII??

C
Well it would certainly help your GPU temps. I'm just trying to think what the best way to do it would be, because you want some way to get the cold air to get in as well getting the hot air out.
Maybe having the rad over the blowhole would be best? Having the fan sucking cold air from outside in through the rad, and then it could be exhausted by the 120mm at the back of the compressor compartment.

G