Project: Blue on Black

[Taskforce]

Spending spree, monitor over kill but I'm guessing your not going to keep all three, plans for a new desk maybe? went cheap on res, rad and fans though, don't like the case, would've gone with high-end Lian Li since you're already dropping that kinda cash, anyways good luck with your build.

[Bolas]

Spending spree, monitor over kill but I'm guessing your not going to keep all three, plans for a new desk maybe? went cheap on res, rad and fans though, don't like the case, would've gone with high-end Lian Li since you're already dropping that kinda cash, anyways good luck with your build.

I'm almost certainly going to keep all three monitors. I thought about getting just one, but I got such a great deal on them I couldn't pass up three. Heck, I was tempted to get six of these bad boys! But that would have skimped on other components in the budget a bit too much, so I passed on that option. Reviews for Eyefinity say that 3 is the way to go and that 6 is annoying with bezels across the middle of the view. 5 in portrait is a consideration if you play a lot of first person shooters, but I don't do that.

I thought about getting a new desk. My wife wants one, so that would be easy to convince her to buy one. But this one is a nice desk. I'll just need to add some more cross-braces underneath. It's sagging a bit too much at the moment and I don't want it to collapse. When I put the Corsair case on the left side, the case wobbles due to the desk sag. Bleah.

I didn't go "cheap" on the res. I wanted a pump/res combo for better performance.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=178575

But the XSPC reservoir top wouldn't fit in the bottom of the Corsair 800D in the power supply chamber, it's too tall. And I didn't really want to put the pump/res combo on top of the power supply where it would bump into the motherboard and gpu. So the next best thing was a bay mount pump res combo. Pump plus res together means less tubing (because you don't have to connect the two) which means better loop performance.

I considered putting the pump with an aftermarket top in the bottom of the case and using a cylinder reservoir mounted behind the drive bays, but the reservoir that I wanted was out of stock at Petra's Tech Shop at the time I was shopping for a res. Naturally, they were back in stock the day after I placed my order for something else.

From www.petrastechshop.com:
Yates AND iandh StealthRes Reservoirs in stock!!! 3/31/10 5:11 EDT
Petra's Yates are now back in stock! A DIRECT shipment from Yate Loon just arrived and all models are ready for purchase. Also, we just received a second batch of stealthres reservoirs, but as usual, those won't last long....better get em while you can!

With Petras ouf of the iandh StelthRes, I considered a different brand of cylinder reservoir. But being a noob, I also wasn't really sure how to mount the cylinder res, so I went with a bay mount reservoir, which is pretty easy to figure out how to mount. I still have the option to switch to a different reservoir, they aren't that expensive ($60?). I'll see how this one works out first, though.

For the radiator, you'll notice that this thread below indicates that the one that I bought is the best price/performance for any fan speed. Not so much a matter of going "cheap" as it is getting the best bang for the buck.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/....php?p=4101259

For the fan selection, I went with what Martin listed as the "king of low noise". I was after quiet, not cheap.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=223391

The Gentle Typhoon was also a consideration for fans, but I didn't like the gray blades. That's not the aesthetic that I'm going for -- gray isn't in my color scheme plan for this build. It's black, dark blue, UV blue, and bright nickel. All other colors are forbidden, including gray. The fan I picked is black and dark blue. Perfect!

Case selection. I originally settled on a Lian Li PC-343B powder coated black. But it couldn't be made to hold the really large motherboards, so I was going to switch to a Mountian Mods Ascension. But that seemed a bit too large for my feeble desk, and a bit too complex of a project for my initial build. What makes me think I can do seven loops if I'm not even sure I can do one loop right?

I wanted something simple to learn on and that wasn't too expensive, only about $300. That way, I can resell the case for $200 when I want to move up to a larger case and then only spend a net of $100 on the "learner" case. From what I've read, the Corsair Obsidian 800D is very "noob-friendly". Easy wire routing, everything's already black, etc. It's a well known case and I shouldn't have any problem selling it later when I no longer need it because I've moved up.

I was still on the fence a bit about exactly which case to choose, so I ran a poll on Xtreme Systems. Clear winnner was the Obsidian 800D. The Lian Li only got two votes.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=247698

Next build will probably be a larger all aluminum case -- probably one of the other ones from the survey. What's your suggestion for a good Lian Li case that can hold multiple large radiators internally with little modding?

I am also considering a custom wood case for my next build. My brother is a real craftsman with wood and he offered to build me a custom case. He has been building guitars lately, but if I send him the plans for a nice large custom case out of wood, he would build it for me with the highest craftsmanship.

So I might do something like Mick64's case, but made out of all wood by my brother and customized to my liking. Only problem is that I don't know enough about case design to plan it out myself, so I'll probably have to find someone to help with that. The nice thing about building this now on the Corsair 800D is that I can then have it to game with while he takes his sweet time to build the case and do it right.

[Taskforce]

"noob-friendly"

Not everyday i see noobs dropping 1k on processor, you said it not me.

I was still on the fence a bit about exactly which case to choose, so I ran a poll on Xtreme Systems. Clear winnner was the Obsidian 800D. The Lian Li only got two votes.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=247698

As for your poll you only got two votes because it's probably one of the lease desired case out the entire Lian Li production line, i love Lian Li cases and would never consider purchasing Lian Li PC-343B.

Going BIG i see, but the saying goes bigger isn't always better, quality over quantity, truthfully i wish i was there in person to guide you in making right decisions cause it burns to see a newbie go way overboard.

[Bolas]

Not everyday i see noobs dropping 1k on processor, you said it not me.

As for your poll you only got two votes because it's probably one of the lease desired case out the entire Lian Li production line, i love Lian Li cases and would never consider purchasing Lian Li PC-343B.

Going BIG i see, but the saying goes bigger isn't always better, quality over quantity, truthfully i wish i was there in person to guide you in making right decisions cause it burns to see a newbie go way overboard.

I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm a noob. Better to be humble and proved wrong than to be arrogant and proved wrong, I would think. I probably should have gotten the 920 or the 930, but it won't hurt me to have 6 cores of 32nm goodness either, so *shrug*.

I even asked for advice on the processor with a survey on xtremesystems. Winner was the core i7 980X. I probably should have combined the 920 and the 930 into one category when I did the survey, that would have given a different result, I suspect. But it's not a horrible choice, either.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=247702

What Lian Li case would you suggest? You still haven't answered that question.

I'm not quite sure how buying the cheapest case option is going way overboard. What would you have spent different in my budget, other than going with a cheaper cpu and power supply? Here's the budget breakdown.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=248144

I've been saving up for two years, researching for a year or so, and asking for advice on this build for months now (since November of last year) on multiple forums. Mostly on xtremesystems for obvious reasons.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=242234

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=242257

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=247701

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=248272

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=246754

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=248361

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthre...977&highlight=

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/fo...0&new=0&nojs=0

http://forums.firingsquad.com/t5/Har...397977#M139679

http://www.computerpoweruser.com/ide...87FCFC587449D4

A bit late to say that you would have done it different, don't you think?

[Taskforce]

What Lian Li case would you suggest? You still haven't answered that question.

I'm not quite sure how buying the cheapest case option is going way overboard. What would you have spent different in my budget, other than going with a cheaper cpu and power supply? Here's the budget breakdown.

Alright Bolas i didn't know you're open for suggestions, here's my personal opinion. I'm not saying you went overboard with the case just on other items, in fact you kinda skimmed a little with case choice, like i said i just didn't like the Corsair Obsidian 800D, it's too big, feels clumsy, and the quality can be debated "steel mixed with plastic" and just can't get over it having 6 feet.

Here is an unboxing i just watched, Lian Li PC-A77F:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xpB7...eature=related
I felt the same way he did when i got the 71F, marveled at elegance and build quality, cases i currently recommend, descending order:


Water:
Lian Li PC-A77F
Lian Li PC-B71B
Lian Li PC-A71F-B
Lian Li PC-A70B

Aftermarket top:
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...ducts_id=25009

Air:
Lian Li PC-B10
Lian Li TYR
Lian Li PC-60FNWX
Lian Li PC-A16B

Other thoughts, you'd save and excess of 3k ditching two monitors and getting an i7, things you need not want! Extreme don't benefit you unless you do heavy benching and willing to run LN2, trust me next 6 months you'll see better Cpus for fraction the price.
And only if you have 3 pairs of eyes, you need 3x30" i can just imaging how much neck movement you'll be doing with those.

Let me know if you'd like to hear the rest of my parts recommendation including HID and desk, update with my own setup soon.