Monstrosity-i7 (New Build)

[ZaLiTH]

Well hi SF, long time no see...

I don't see many new PC build logs around here (...and OC.net has way too many), so I thought I'd be daring and try break tradition for a change..

This here is my dream machine in the making. No skimping this time round. Period.

Some of the parts may seem overkill, but each one plays a vital role in the end result of this beast. However, as in any good PC build, I am still leaving space for other options later when the need arrises...

...and thus computers are built.

The Parts List

• The Guts
  • [got it] Processor: Intel i7-4960X
  • [got it] Motherboard: Asus Rampage IV Black Edition
  • [got it] RAM: Corsair Dominator Platinum 32GB (4 x 8GB) 2400MHz C10
  • [got it] Graphics: 2x MSI GTX 780Ti 3GD5 (might replace with GTX 8xxs later...)
  • [got it] PSU: CoolerMaster V1000 (with custom sleeved black cables from modDIY on their way)
• Cold Storage
  • [got it] OS: Crucial M500 120GB
  • [got it] Games: Crucial M500 480GB
  • [got it] Mass: 2x Seagate Barracuda 3TB (ST3000DM001)
  • [got it] Optical: Asus DRW-24D3ST
• The Windows
  • [got it] 3x LG 27" (27MP65HQ)
• Plugin Babies
  • [got it] Keyboard: Corsair Vengeance K95 (CH-9000020-NA)
  • [got it] Mouse: Logitech G700S
• Peripherals
  • [got it] Case: Corsair Obsidian 750D
  • [got it] CPU Cooling: Thermaltake Water 3.0 Extreme
  • [got it] Fans: 4x Corsair AF120 Performance , 7x Corsair SP120 Performance (I plan to mix and match these, so I will have spares..)

Finishing Touches

The side panel will have the PC name embossed into the perspex, I'm aiming for a "sandblasted" look that will glow when the interior lights up in a nice cool blue. Essentially, I'm going for a black/white colour scheme, enhanced with ice blue lights. It would be nice to mod the green lights on the 780's as well, but I'm still somewhat undecided on this point.

Interior lights will be on a separate switch, not included in the fans.. Nothing worse than a bright glowing box next to the monitor when you're trying to watch movies or play games in the dark. I'm thinking two LED strips or cold cathode tubes, but I'm not sure yet which will give me the effect I want.

I'll be getting a custom curved handle milled out of aluminium, anodized and dyed to match the black of the case.

I will also need to get an extra 120mm fan is for a GPU wind tunnel; running front to back with an "intake" fan near the front of the tunnel. The tunnel itself will be folded out of clear perspex.

This gives me another idea for the case branding... Perhaps the name would work better on the side of the GPU tunnel rather than the side panel. Hmmm...

Photos

Just to keep things simple for sharing pics in different places, I'm using a Dropbox gallery to keep photos of this build as it goes along.

Bandwidth-friendly | Hi-res

 

[linnemeyerhere]

ZaLith,
Good luck with this dream machine. May I toss out another excellent choice and some of the if not the best value going in Ram. I used this in my mini-ITX i5 build and I'm freaking over the moon. Don't limit yourself with 1600-1866 Mhz ram when Haswell and the Z87 mobo will take extreme speeds.

Team Xtreme 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2400 (PC3 19200) Desktop Memory Model TXD316G2400HC10QDC01 - Newegg.com

Also get 2666 Mhz same price.

 

[ZaLiTH]

Thanks for the link, I'm not familiar with Team Xtreme so I completely missed those.. I was basing my memory options on the kits used in this comparison, which also go up to 2400MHz.

I'll see if I can find some comparisons.

 

[carwiz]

The processor says it only supports up to 1866.

For about half the price, you could go with a i7-4930K. You'd loose only 100Mhz of processor speed and 3MB of cache. The difference between 12MB and 15MB of cache probably isn't noticeable on a gaming machine.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

This is a good read as well:

Team Xtreem LV TXD38192M2800HC11RDC-L - Does High-Speed DDR3 Help AMD's FX? Four 8 GB Kits, Reviewed

 

[linnemeyerhere]

The processor says it only supports up to 1866.

For about half the price, you could go with a i7-4930K. You'd loose only 100Mhz of processor speed and 3MB of cache. The difference between 12MB and 15MB of cache probably isn't noticeable on a gaming machine.

Good catch I was assuming this was Haswell and Z87....my bad.

 

[ZaLiTH]

The processor says it only supports up to 1866.

To the best of my knowledge, that only applies to the system "standard" speeds. Selecting an XMP profile for RAM is effectively a form of overclock.

For about half the price, you could go with a i7-4930K. You'd loose only 100Mhz of processor speed and 3MB of cache. The difference between 12MB and 15MB of cache probably isn't noticeable on a gaming machine.

Hmmm... Wouldn't you consider that "skimping" on the build? To be honest, I'm not entirely against the idea of going with a i7-K instead of an i7-X. But at the same time, this build doesn't really have a fixed budget, so the cost doesn't really matter all that much..

 

[paulpicks21]

Hi ZaLiTH,

I have the i7 4930K in my rig, I must say it is an excellent CPU and mine runs at a daily OC of 4.6GHz @ 1.25V. If you really must have the absolute best then yeah go for the 4960X, at near to double the price of the 4930K personally I don't think it is worth the money. It certainly does not have double the performance or even near for the extra money but that's your choice.

Motherboad wise, the Rampage IV Extreme Black edition seems to be the most popular choice at the moment, I believe it is an excellent board.

Regarding RAM, I have 2400MHz stuff in mine and although it will run it at full speed after vigorous testing I notice the RAM performance drops with anything over around 2200MHz speed so I have mine running at 2133MHz with tighter timings instead.

GPU wise, I would always go with the newest available at the time so I would recommend the 780TI, however depending on how quick you plan on building it may be worth waiting for the 800 series as I believe they will be released in the next couple of months.

Paul.

 

[carwiz]

The processor says it only supports up to 1866.

To the best of my knowledge, that only applies to the system "standard" speeds. Selecting an XMP profile for RAM is effectively a form of overclock.

For about half the price, you could go with a i7-4930K. You'd loose only 100Mhz of processor speed and 3MB of cache. The difference between 12MB and 15MB of cache probably isn't noticeable on a gaming machine.

Hmmm... Wouldn't you consider that "skimping" on the build? To be honest, I'm not entirely against the idea of going with a i7-K instead of an i7-X. But at the same time, this build doesn't really have a fixed budget, so the cost doesn't really matter all that much..

Hey, you're the one that started out skimping. If there's no budget then why fool around with a single processor MB?

Package this MB w/8 Quad channel slots: Motherboards - Z9PE-D8 WS

With TWO of these 8/16 Xeons and be done: Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-2600 Product Family

And quit messing with that cheap stuff.

 

[ZaLiTH]

[snip]...at near to double the price of the 4930K personally I don't think it is worth the money. It certainly does not have double the performance or even near for the extra money but that's your choice.

I do get that, but to be honest this build is a bit of an odd one. For reasons I won't publicly disclose, this is the first time in my life that I literally don't have to worry about the cost.. I'm comparing individual specs of the K and the X at the moment, so I might review my decision before I actually buy one.

Regarding RAM, I have 2400MHz stuff in mine and although it will run it at full speed after vigorous testing I notice the RAM performance drops with anything over around 2200MHz speed so I have mine running at 2133MHz with tighter timings instead.

I was somewhat concerned about the very high speeds, much like any "newer" tech I imagine there are a few quirks that later chipsets may iron out. I've done similar things with a couple older RAM kits, although it could just as easily depend on the combination of components.. Half the fun of a new build, right?

GPU wise, I would always go with the newest available at the time so I would recommend the 780TI...

The GTX 690 caught my eye thanks to the comparison page I linked, my first idea was actually the 780TI. Seeing the normal vs TI difference with the 7xx range seems to be a vast improvement over what the 6xx range did for us. Bonus points to the green monster there.

Between the two, I'm leaning towards the 780TI's wider bus here anyway.. I might very well be wrong, but I'm convinced this plays a vital role in how a card handle future demands than those with a narrower bus width. My current machine still handles virtually anything at 1920x1080 with only a 448-bit GTX 275, which I put down to nothing more than finding specific component characteristics that complement each other. I could even go as far back as the Riva TNT2 (such fond memories), but that's a story for another time.

 

[ZaLiTH]

Hey, you're the one that started out skimping. If there's no budget then why fool around with a single processor MB?

[snip]

And quit messing with that cheap stuff.

Hehe.. That's just evil. Perhaps I should rename this to "My Dream i7 Build"..

That is one scary awesome board right there though.. I can see that sitting quite happily at the heart of a single-box style virtual server farm, anyone for a large scale corporate network in a single machine?

 

[carwiz]

ARK | Intel® Xeon Phi? Coprocessor 7120X (16GB, 1.238 GHz, 61 core)
Two of these on the previous mentioned MB will put you in the big-boys club. Each has 61 cores with an effective speed of around 75Ghz. If you can't get it done with 122 cores and 256GB of memory, you'll need to move to a mainframe.

The Zeon-Phi is only around $4k each so the non-existent budget shouldn't be hurt.

 

[AddRAM]

Or these

G.SKILL Trident X Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2400 (PC3 19200) Desktop Memory Model F3-2400C10Q-16GTX - Newegg.com

 

[ZaLiTH]

[snip]...at near to double the price of the 4930K personally I don't think it is worth the money. It certainly does not have double the performance or even near for the extra money but that's your choice.

[snip...]so I might review my decision before I actually buy one.

Duly reviewed, and I'll stick with the 4960X hey..

Quite honestly, the major point in most reviews does come down to performance value. A cheaper product offering all the same as a higher one will always be more popular, and I see absolutely nothing wrong with that.

I just really want the X..

By the way, it was this comparison that helped settle my mind in the end.

Update: For anyone interested, I also just updated the OP.

 

[ZaLiTH]

...and so it begins.

The SSDs and two MSI GTX 780Ti have been ordered, should be arriving within a week. I found really awesome specials on both parts recently, so I scooped them up before all the stock disappeared. Will post pics as the parts arrive..

 

[Solarstarshines]

...and so it begins.

The SSDs and two MSI GTX 780Ti have been ordered, should be arriving within a week. I found really awesome specials on both parts recently, so I scooped them up before all the stock disappeared. Will post pics as the parts arrive..

You are so lucky to get TI's at what they are worth right now they have fallen at least a $100 cheaper here in the states i might grab another over the summer if they continue to be around the $600.00 mark

 

[ZaLiTH]

You are so lucky to get TI's at what they are worth right now they have fallen at least a $100 cheaper here in the states i might grab another over the summer if they continue to be around the $600.00 mark

I won't lie, I was starting to get worried that I wouldn't find the cards.. But I struck it lucky over on the Carbonite forum (South African forum-based selling/reselling community).

Keeping in mind prices here in SA can't be compared too accurately by a simple currency conversion, I'm quite stoked to have picked them up for R8000 a piece ($749 USD straight conversion), especially considering the average price I've seen here is R9000 to R9500.... One PC shop here told me "we can try track them down, but you should know they're like R12000 cards". Suffice to say I walked out of the store at that point.


Oh, and another general update: The courier guy dropped of my SSDs at lunch time, will put up some pics when I get home from work today.

 

[ZaLiTH]

A "little" update to my dream build... (see OP)

I managed to source a brilliant deal with a startup business dealing in high-end PC components. Gotta love those opening specials hey... So.. Motherboard, CPU, RAM, keyboard and mouse are all inbound early next week. I'd best get cracking picking the PSU, case, fans and so forth, hey..?

I'm currently waiting to hear back from a local shop about the screens, for those I'll never rely on a courier. Never say never, but you never know.

I'm going to attempt to get my camera working tonight, so I'll have pics of the 780TI's up soon. I also need to snap the two KFA2 660Ti's I picked up for my current rig.. Oddly cute little monsters, I must say.

 

[Layback Bear]

Have I missed something?
I have not seen anything on cooling.
CPU/GPU/CASE.

If you want to stay with the same brand why not go with the 900D. Lots more room to expand with.

Look in my specs and you will see the case I have chose.

essenbe and I both use the case and are well pleased.
Reasons we chose this case is for it's versatility for just about anything. Air cooled, water cooled ect.

 

[AddRAM]

Where are the pics ????