Building my phase change Dream

[psilent]

Hey all!

I'm building my dream machine (just the box) but need your expert advice since I haven't been able to search and find/understand it.

Requirements:
Fast Gaming (No Benching)
Not too noisy
Budget $4000 USD

What I have on my list so far:
Cooling: VAPOCHILL Light Speed
Cooling: Swiftech H20-120 (Rev. 3) series Liquid Cooling Kits 1/2"
Cooling: VGA block(s)?
Power: PC Power & Cooling: 510 SLI
MB: DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 SLI-D
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 (939) 3500+ 512KB 90nm
RAM: 2gigs of ??
Video: eVGA nVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT
Sound: Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS
HD: Western Digital Raptor 74GB 10,000RPM SATA Hard Drive

Where I especailly need help:
1) CPU --- Do I have to get FX to do major overclocks? Update: benefit to cost not big enough
2) Cooling: VGA block(s)??--- Eventually going SLI. thinking of Innovatek Cool-Matic NV40 (only 3/8"tubing) or custom block (see other post http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...t=49924&page=1). Do I really need to cool other components on the card(s)?
3) RAM: 2gigs of ?? --- I've read posts for 2 vs 1gigs. I've decided on getting 2gigs. Considering G.SKILL PC4400/3200 F1-3200DSU2-1GBLE 1024MB kit or OCZ VX - OCZ EL DDR PC-3200 / 400MHz. Even after reading all that I could about these I'm still uncertain which is best for me. AND these don't come in 2x1024 kits...so do I get 4 modules?


Thanks xtremers!!
Psilent

[zA.Gosu]

Well, heres an idea. Get 1 gb of Gskill LE, an FX 55, 6800 Ultra. Dont get a winnie if you have phase. FX really shines under phase.

But in my opinion, save your money. Get a 3200, DFI NF4 Ultra-D, a 6800 Ultra or a X850 XT PE, or wait for the R520. That will rival any GAMING setup, if you can get the 3200 to 2.6.

A GIg of ram is ENOUGH, now. I think that 2 Gig's is fine, IF you can afford it. Don't worry about 2x1024 or x512, it's the same amount of banks, IIRC, but you have to run 2T, and that costs some bandwith. On the Ultra-D 4x512 works. If you get 4x512, or 2x1024, get a 3500 winnie, or wait for the venice core, cause you fsb oc will be limited by the amount of memory banks, and a higher multi will help.

[Crankster]

An FX under phase is a force to be reckoned with, i'd say go with that.
1gig>2gig for overclocking in my opinion.

[Noktar]

1) No u don't have to buy a FX, but the most Fx (55) clock very high, but the cheaper but slower Winchesters too (but less cache)
2) No idieo, but Innovatek isn't the best (havn't read much good about this brand), maybe look to Austrian Shops (Zern, watercool.at), maybe DangerDen is the way to go !
3) tthere are 1Gb Stick, dunno if there comming in Pc4400 or somethink like this, I would go gor 4Sticks, with 4 sticks it's hard to overclock, except you buy Pc4000 or higher, then you won't have to clock very high !

Btw, very nice Rig you will have there !

[psilent]

1) Hmm FX vs non FX...performance difference when phase change cooled ...what is ballbark %?
2) I may just go with just a gpu cooler for now....and then see what differences are later. (I'm set on nvidia SLI)
3) I understand that for OC'ing 1 gig is better. But for me I want 2 gigs (MMO gaming & I like the snappiness of it). 2gigs is the requirement...I can use pc4400 and that will be stable and be faster than 3200 (4 sticks of gskill or ocz?)?

[freecableguy]

Stick with 1GB of memory. 2 will just decrease your OC ability. Get the BEST video card out there. Don't skimp on this. What case are you going with? This is an important part of any system build. Get an FX-55 if you want to go 939. And lastly, Maxtor drives blow. I would suggest a couple of 74GB Raptors in a RAID 0. If you need that much space then get 3 or 4 of them and stripe them all together.

[zA.Gosu]

If you do get phase, or even water for that mater, go with a CM Stacker, or an antec soho. Big room, Solid build

[CaTalyst.X]

Go w/ a vapo LS, a 6800U PCI-E (so you can upgrade to 2 later ) an FX-53 or 55 bc winnies suck under phase, 1GB Gskill TCCD, 2GB is horrible for ocing, stick w/ the rest of ur stuff and u should be ok

-CaT

[psilent]

Thanks for the input all!!!

RAM: I know that 1 gig is better OC!!! but I want 2 gigs. I'm more focused on gaming. I'm set on that you dam speed freaks!!! heh. So considering I'm getting 2 gigs of ram...what's the best for that?

Case: I have searched and searched and can't find that case that I require (120mm fans, lots of room, and vapo ls hose can fit/reach). So I'm temporarily going to frankenstien an old midtower. I would love to get the stacker...but the vapo LS hose to CPU is 14"/35.5cms. So it may not reach since the MB is location is higher. I haven't found a confirmed picture of one.

HD: Hmm I'm considering raptors...now....you all are evil

CPU: I need some reference point to justify getting a FX...for gaming(no benching)
CaTalyst.X, Winnies no good? I think I read that newer ones were clocking better?

[reject]

uh not many games need even 600mb of ram, so close you web browser, and other progs, i can play games fine with almost 300mb of background apps, with 1gb only open programs that eat cpu cycles can slow you down. even if the game needs 800mb you can close every program and still have spare.
hd doesnt matter, save some money and get some samsung satas. do raid if you want but its a hassle id rather have 1 hd with files and music ready to remove
if your only gaming, and u want sli, get a newcastle 3500. that will get to 2.8-3ghz on vapoLS

[xtrempinoy]

2gigs is a must if your gaming, and especially at those higher res, yes you can live with 1gig, but once you try 2 gigs, its just that much more responsive and things load alot faster, i wish i had 2gigs, umm if you really want 2gigs tho, i would probably consider buying a AMD FX chip, that way, if your ram sticks won't overclock high, you can just raise the multiplier and find a good sweet spot between the multiplier and your ram,

as for SLI, i would probably consider 2x6800GT's, and they can be overclocked/flashed to ultra speeds, and i also heard thats a 6800Gt is actually faster then a Ultra at the same speeds, because the 6800Gt has faster ram latency. but i'm not 100% sure on this.

now for the hard drives, i would consider picking up those new dimondmax 10 hard drives, they have 16mb of cache, and they are just a tad slower then the rapters but has alot more space, for the same price.

[Snowman89]

seriously are you gonna use you ram as a hdd?
i have 512mb ram and i can still game on atleast 1024/768 with no problem (that was with my 9800pro)

[echow87]

FX-55 $1000
SLI MB $250
Dual 6800gt $900
20.1" LCD $600
4x512Mb $500
2x74gb raptor $320
1x300gb $200
Audigy 2 ZS $70

$3840...

with cooling:
pump, rad, 2xgpu, 1xcpu ~$250
case: $150~

Total: $4240...forgot psu
no vapoLS but you should be able to do 3ghz on water with the fx-55

personally id go with this setup:

A64 winchester 3200+ $200
DFI SLi MB $250
Dual 6800GT $900
20" LCD $600
Logitech Z-5500/Klipsch Ultra $350
Audigy 2 ZS $70
2 x 300gb $400
2 x 512mb Ram $250
Case + cooling $500 ($150 for case, $350 for cooling)
OCZ 520W $135

Total: $3655 with leftover money for keyboard/mouse...etc

For both setups...lets just say you either choose between the 20" lcd or pay $250~ more for vapoLS cooling

[psilent]

Thanks for the advice all!

I'm just building the box so no need for monitor, keyboard, speakers, etc.
sticking with 6800GTs
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 (939) 3500+ 512KB 90nm
Harddrive: I edited HD to Raptor.

Now my worries are Ram and Vga cooler...?

[Murmlos]

Why not start out with 1gb of ram.. then if you still believe that youll need 1gb more go or it Gskill/ocz or random tccd should work, that way youll be able to run your ram in sync and dont have to have active cooling on your mofsets

[dpa]

go dual vapo ls!!

and fx55, dual 6800gt..

2GB of VX ram.. 4x512 on the DFI-SLI board?

[Crankster]

You ought to pay more heedd to freecableguys advice. He is the only i know of who has hit 250 mhz with 4x512 bh-5. He can tell you how hard that is.
Noktar, easy to get DDR 500 with 2 gig? "ok"

[IvanAndreevich]

You can run 4x512MB 1T no problems as long as you use Single-Sided 512MB sticks.