Rebuild w/ Asus Rampage 3 Gene + i7 930
Here is my parts list for my rebuild project. If you see something questionable or would just like to post a comment please do so. I'm not in a hurry to order just yet.
Parts to get:
Mobo = Asus Rampage III Gene
RAM = G.SKILL Trident 6GB
CPU = Intel Core i7-930 Bloomfield
Waterblock = Enzotech SCW-REV.A + Enzotech Type-Z 1366 Retentioner
WC Accessories = Arctic Silver 5 + MCT-5 + ClearFlex 60 Tubing (10')
Fans (x3) = EVERCOOL SFF-12
OS = Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade
Parts already purchased:
PSU = OCZ 850W Z series
GPU = Gigabyte GTX 280
Parts transfered to this build:
Case = Lian Li PC-V2000b
Radiator = Thermochill PA160.1 single pass high flow
Pump = Laing D5-12V variable speed
HD = Western Digital 74GB Raptor (as secondary)
I would like to get an SSD SATA III for OS but haven't researched these enough. Also, I would like lower CAS rating on the RAM just having trouble locating anything at a decent price.
Your thoughts?
Parts to get:
Mobo = Asus Rampage III Gene
RAM = G.SKILL Trident 6GB
CPU = Intel Core i7-930 Bloomfield
Waterblock = Enzotech SCW-REV.A + Enzotech Type-Z 1366 Retentioner
WC Accessories = Arctic Silver 5 + MCT-5 + ClearFlex 60 Tubing (10')
Fans (x3) = EVERCOOL SFF-12
OS = Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade
Parts already purchased:
PSU = OCZ 850W Z series
GPU = Gigabyte GTX 280
Parts transfered to this build:
Case = Lian Li PC-V2000b
Radiator = Thermochill PA160.1 single pass high flow
Pump = Laing D5-12V variable speed
HD = Western Digital 74GB Raptor (as secondary)
I would like to get an SSD SATA III for OS but haven't researched these enough. Also, I would like lower CAS rating on the RAM just having trouble locating anything at a decent price.
Your thoughts?
0
Comments
Back to square one on the mobo ...what would you suggest?
ASUS Sabertooth X58 LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0
GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0
ASUS P6X58D-E LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0
Also, the memory is out of stock. So I'm leaning either towards the GeiL Ultra or the Patriot Viper II Sector 7. I think either tri-channel kit would do a decent job.
Do you own one or are you just going by liking what you see?
No I don't own it. I would choose P6X53D-E mainly for its 16 phase VRM and my OC experience with 3 other ASUS boards I currently use.
I would go with the Gigabyte, Chris. They have been building some solid boards the last few years and some of the crazy benchers over at OC Forums have been doing very well with UD3R.
As to your waterblock, I don't know much about it. But if you don't already know about the site, a guy going by the name of skinnee has pretty much taken over from where Martin left off on testing blocks, rads and pumps. Here's a link to his website. I haven't watercooled my 1366 system yet; I've been using it as a heatsink testbed lately and haven't rolled it in as my main rig. But I'm using an Apogee XT on my QX9650 system and I have a Heatkiller Rev. 3 on an overclocked Q6600 system and both kick ass for me.
Right now I'm leaning towards the Sabertooth but I know that I have something solid to fall back on with the UD3R. I wasn't too impressed with the P6X58D-E review.
Also I'm heavily considering the i7 950 since the price drop.
I don't need that fans afterall since I realised I already have them in my case.
Here is the chart that I went off of when I chose the Enzotech SCW REV A. I think that the HK 3.0 is the best performer and just slightly more restrictive. Any idea where they can be had at a decent price?
What about TIM and fluid? I would like to get a non-conductive fluid like I've been using ...it's saved my butt on a few occasions and I have good confidence in it. Unfortunately MCT-5 has been out of stock since I began considering this build.
I may bite the bullet when it comes down to it and go with CAS8 on the ram ...but I'll keep an open mind about that for now.
Also ...I'm knocking around an affordable high performance SSD OS drive. Any advice on that?
What price are you thinking for the SSD?
I was thinking sub $300. I want the best performance but $600 is just too much to justify yet capacity isn't important since it will be my primary OS drive. I have a pair of 70gb raptors I will probably use as secondaries in RAID-0 storage configuration. RAID isn't necessary however.
I was aiming at the CAS8 because I thought it might give me more overclocking headroom but I think CAS9 will be sufficient. Thanks.
Fuzion mobo makes sense on an AM3 build with an existing Nvidia GPU.
$139, saves you about $90 and gives you all the modern features.
You could buy a high end Phenom II black edition quad for around $150, saving you well over $100 more, unlocked, they are a joy to over clock on air, even more so on water.
What are you going to do that leverages the CPU that heavily that you feel compelled to spend on Intel's architecture? I imagine most of the heavy lifting is going to be done by the GTX280 that you already have? Sure, you might be able to rip a CD six seconds faster on the i7. Synthetic benchmarks may give you a warm fuzzy feeling, but in practical application what are you going to gain here thats worth about $250 more of your hard earned dollars? For that, you could budget more for your SSD, or perhaps sock it away for a future graphics upgrade, maybe even a 2nd GTX280?
I do primarily CAD, ArcMap & Photoshop. Some modeling & rendering with 3D Studio. I also overclock, fold , and do a few hours of gaming most nights. Other than that it's average crap. I'm open to AMD ...that's all I've personally owned anyway. My last build is in my sig.
Thanks ...that's the info I was hoping for.
The Black Ed Hex Core looks like an attractive option as well (price range of the Quad Core i7).
What do you like about the Fuzion board? Sorry for the noobness. I'll look at these options tonight. Thanks.
With the software that can use six cores efficiently, Phenom II X6 is golden. I want one.
Just seems like one way of justifying 1090T vs i7.
I don't have benchies to back up this logic yet but I'm sure it's out there.
The Hydra technology still seems wet behind the ears but looks very promising.
1090T is faster than any quad-core CPU (not overclocked) as long as the software can use all six cores. If there is a performance problem that is only because of the software. Given that multiprocessing is the only way for increasing performance today and in the future, a six-core processor makes most sense for a tech enthusiast today, IMHO.
If you decide to go Intel, definitely check into getting someone to pick you up a 930 at Microcenter (Houston) if possible. With tax and shipping costs for a buddy to send it to me it came to $227. I started playing around with mine about 2 days ago and I am definitely impressed with it. Weird though it may seem, my ram problems with the P6X58D Premium board must have been caused with the Venomous X I originally used on it. I went with the stock 980X heatsink and no problems with getting the board to recognize all 3 sticks, as well as when I installed a Megahalems on it. But the P6X58D is definitely limited in bclock headroom; my max stable bclock is 207 with the 930. But I have been able to get good stable overclocks up to 4260 with this 930 while using 1.3v vcore. Vcore starts ramping sharply from there though. For ram on my 1366 boards, I have 1 kit of Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1600 which is in my test case and the other kit which I plan to use in my main system is some HyperX T1 DDR3 2000. You also might check out what OCZ is offering too, as I think I heard that they have some good pricing on ram right now.
Skinnee just did a fluid roundup that you might find very interesting, Chris. It looks like most all the fluids he tested come extremely close in thermal capacity except for the FluidXP Nonofluid, which is worse. Personally, I have switched over to using straight distilled water with a few drops of PTNuke-PHN for my loops and on a couple I'm also using a section of Tygon silver antimicrobial for bug and algae suppression too. For water loop component testing, skinnee's site is the go-to place too. He pretty much took over the testing crown from Martin when he got out of testing and also Vapor from XS reviews with him there too. And you can't fault his testing methodology either for either of them. As for tubing, I highly recommend the PrimoFlex Pro LRT tubing over Tygon or anything else I've used. I have some in my main system that's over 2 years old and it's still supple and in good shape. It hasn't hardened up and gotten stiff like I've had Tygon do on me, so I highly recommend it, Chris. BTW, the link is to the exact tubing I have that is over 2 years old. They also sell the Primoflex Pro LRT in different colors and in clear too.