Hi All,
Prologue
ive been researching through these forums and others over the past few weeks, after i decided to upgrade a system i already own and make it into a gaming rig.
although im the proud owner of an ASUS G53J, i really want a desktop that can carry heavy duty.
Note : throughout the build, i did take some hardware changes, like upgrading the GPUs to 580s and adding SSD etc... so follow to see the actual HW used
around page 4 of this thread you can see i upgraded to an ASRock Extreme4 Gen3 Mobo, with i7 2600K and 16GB of Corsair Vengence, plus an NZXT Sentry Mix.
to the point - to see all changes, go through the entire thread
i decided to upgrade a system i own which i used as a home vmware lab, to a beast gaming rig.
since its already i7 spec'd and i own a great RAID system that gives amazing IO performance, i decided to migrate with that as well :P
this thread will be my build worklog.
the existing specs that will be carried over :
CPU : i7 920
Motherboard : GA-X58A-UD3R rev2.0
Memory : Corsair 12GB (6x2gb)
RAID Controller ( yea baby ) : Adaptec 2405s ( Raid 10 configuration ) ( Edit : so i ditched the Raid, and went with an SSD for OS + HDD for storage )
HDDs : 4x WD Caviar Blue 500GB
upgrades and addons :
GPU : 2x EVGA GTX 570 in SLI ( a configuration i chose after reading this : http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforc...0-sli-review/1 ) ( Edit : caved and wend for 2 EVGA GTX 580s ! )
PSU : Corsair HX 1050w
Case : Obsidian 800d
Water Cooling Design
first of all lets start with the fact that this will be my first water cooling build. and since thats the case, im designing and buying parts as i go ( do help with suggestions and advice ! ).
i've been messing around with some ideas, mainly following some of the ideas that i've seen in these forums ( and advice from experts such as DazMode and others, which really opened my eyes around how this should look like, and here is the basic schematics of a loop that i have come up with :
the loop as i plan it is : Pump -> Rad(360) -> CPU -> Rad(140) -> GPU1 -> GPU2 -> Reservoir -> Pump. ( Edit : loop changed. )
now, im not completely sure that i need the Rad(140) in my loop, since i dont know what will be the temperatures ( and i am not going to overclock heavily on this rig ), so that is to be decided.
but for now this is the kit that i think i am going for :
water cooling shopping list
Pump : Swiftech MCP655
TOP : EK X-TOP Rev2
Reservoir : EK Multioption 150ml Advanced Rev 2.0 ( Edit : changed to XSPC Bay 5.25 350m
Rad 360 : EK CoolExtreme XT 360 ( to be mounted on top )
Rad 140 : EK CoolExtreme XTC 140 ( to be mounted on the 140 fan location on back ) ( Edit : didnt install at the end, no need )
Fans for 360 Rad : 3x 120mm Scythe Gentle Typhoon 1850 RPM Cooling Fan
Fan for 140 Rad : i will use for now, the one that comes with the Obsidian 800d.
CPU Block : EK-Supreme HF Acetal Rev 2.0 ( was supposed to be originally Full Nickel, but im not taking chances )
GPU Block : EK GTX580 ( which fits on EVGA GTX570 )
the compression fittings and hose are not decided yet, other than that i will probably standardize on ID 1/2 OD 3/4 so its good flow, but still easy to work with.
as i start my work on this in a few days, i would love to get advice and comments on what should i add/change ( do i need the 140 rad ? should i consider fan controllers or changing some parts i chose ? )
thank you.
SECTORIX.
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