$2600 + build

[m8chor]

Hi, I've been working on this list for a while, here's what I've got. Please give some input. Thanks.


======================================== Main =============================================

Case: Cooler Master HAF X ATX Full Tower
Power Supply: CORSAIR HX Series CMPSU-850HX 850W Power Supply
Motherboard: ASUS Rampage III Extreme
CPU: Intel Core i7-930 Bloomfield 2.8GHz (OC to 4.3 GHz)
RAM: G.SKILL PI 6GB(3x2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM 1600Mhz CL6 6-8-6-20 (OC to 2000MHz, 6-9-6-24)
Graphic Card: SLI(2x) GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB OC 715MHz
Harddrive: G.SKILL Phoenix Pro Series 2.5" 120GB SATA II SSD (Read/Write:285/275 MB/s)
Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5"

=================================== Cooling/Lighting ======================================

CPU Cooling: Corsair Cooling Hydro Series H70
RAM Cooling: OCZ XTC V2 Ram Cooler
Case Fan: COOLER MASTER R4-L2R-20CR-GP 120mm Red LED Case Fan
2x COOLER MASTER Megaflow 200 R4-LUS-07AB-GP 200mm Blue LED Case Fan
Fan Controller: NZXT Sentry-2 5.25" Touch Screen fan controller

======================================== Extras ===========================================

Optical Drive: PLEXTOR 24X DVD/CD Writer Black SATA Model PX-880SA LightScribe Support
Wireless: Asus PCE-N13

=============================peripherals (not included in price) ====================================

Monitor: Dell SP2309W 23-inch Widescreen FP Monitor(2048x1152, 80000:1, 2ms)
Keyboard: Logitech G110
Mouse: Cybrog R.A.T 7

================================================== =======================================

[fishingfanatic]

It looks like you've done some research. I would consider the P6X58D premium or the-E from Asus. It has sata 3 and usb 3 and overclocks well. The rampage is a nice board, but it's a board for benchmarking and extreme overclocking which most people don't do.
The ram cooler probably isn't necessary either as I have the same case and with a 480 and a good gpu fan I can touch it without any problems. This case has such good air flow and people I've spoken to have found no need for memory cooling unless doing extreme ended stuff constantly.
Consider looking at the EVGA gpus due to lifetime warranty and great support. Great choice of graphics card btw!
As for cpu cooling, look at other options as this is rather expensive and there are air coolers that work just as good or better. The Thermaltake Frio cooler, the Gelid Tranquillo, and the Noctua coolers are pretty good alternatives for less money.
Overall, it looks like a solid build and you should really enjoy this system. Good luck with the build!

[xlilmissmjx]

Since I prefer linksys wireless adapters (as I've never had an issue with them) I'm recommending the WMP600N to you.

I would also change your monitor, as it has a funky resolution! Have you considered the 1920x1080 resolution at all? If not, you could check out the Dell SX2210 & SX2210T monitors. The main difference is that the T model is a multitouch monitor.

Everything else looks great, good luck with your build mate

[GFaust]

Nice build. I'd go with what fanatic said and look into the Asus P6X58D Premium. It's a bit less in terms of cost and it will get the job done all the same for your setup. I'd also go with EVGA SuperClocked 460's as they have a lifetime warranty and a bit faster clock speed. They also have the external exhaust feature that blows hot air directly out the back of your case, which is advisable for 2 hot GPU's so close in SLI. Your RAM is also a good choice but I'd watch out on the OC'ing. Intel only officialy supports up to 1033MHz of RAM on Nehalem chips as beyond that, the memory controller starts to run a bit hotter and unstable. From what I've read the higher you clock your RAM, the less you can use otherwise you run the risk of making your system unstable, or your system might not recognize all of the sticks in your DIMM's. This is a known issue with Nehalem chips, so keep that in mind. You could probably run 3x2GB @1800, but 2000 might be pushing it too far. I guess you'll just have to try it out, tweak your voltages some and see if things hold out.

[m8chor]

Hi,

Thanks for the response.


I've looked at WMP600N as well.

Reason I couldn't get it is due to the orientation PCI/PCIE2.0/PCIE slots of the motherboard.
If i was to use WMP600N on RE3 with gtx 460SLI , i will have to put the 2 graphic cards right on top of each other to give out the pci which WMP600N uses, which I do not think would give me good cooling. Separating the 2 graphic cards will leave me a gap of pci-e slot, which the asus wireless adaptor uses. I could also put the 2 graphic cards at the very bottom slot (slot 4,2) for the WMP600N, however, those cards are gonna become so low down there I won't be able to see it from the small window of HAF X.

Why that monitor and resolution.
Research shown that the scalability of GTX460 shines out more and more as the resolution go up.
From 60% at HD to 80+% beyound HD. That's why I decided to go for the monitor to use the SLI at maximum potential. And it's a great value too!

About the CPU cooler, yeah... I don't know. The benchmark is pretty decent on H70 and those same performance Air coolers are very very big, which will hit my ram fan (I really wanted too keep the ram fan for the look too ) ... sigh I'm crazy..

Thanks guys again for the input, I greatly appreciate them.

[fishingfanatic]

Mushkin ram will fit no problem. I have 1866 sticks in my P6X58D-E board and simply set it in the bios, np. No heat or stability issues whatsoever. One of the ram manufacturers I spoke with stated that these i7 systems seem to run best with the 1866 sticks, that's why I got them, but you wouldn't notice any difference from a slightly higher or lower speed unless you're benchmarking with new records in mind.
Mushkin is also lifetime warranty and has a good rep from ocers with great manufacturers support!

[GFaust]

Originally Posted by fishingfanatic

Mushkin ram will fit no problem. I have 1866 sticks in my P6X58D-E board and simply set it in the bios, np. No heat or stability issues whatsoever. One of the ram manufacturers I spoke with stated that these i7 systems seem to run best with the 1866 sticks, that's why I got them, but you wouldn't notice any difference from a slightly higher or lower speed unless you're benchmarking with new records in mind.
Mushkin is also lifetime warranty and has a good rep from ocers with great manufacturers support!

I'm guessing you probably have 1 triple channel @ 6GB total? I think the majority of the problems come with 2 triple channels @ 12GB total, 1800 and above. 3x4GB @ 1800 would probably work well too. Once you add in the second channel and start going over 1800/12GB total is when you start seeing degradation. Mileage may vary however. More power to you if you can get over 12GB running dual triple channel @1800.

[fishingfanatic]

Actually I do have 12gb of DDR3 1866 ram, 6 x 2gb and it's been a non issue. Honestly, I'm not trying to one up, I just happen to have that P6X58D-E board with the 12 gbs of ram. The 1st 2 pci-e slots are x16 as well, so it helps for either xfire or sli. I had 2 5970s in xfire and they worked great. I was actually considering a 2nd 480 and because of possible power issues with the 24 pin connector and it melting, I decided to pass.

[GFaust]

Originally Posted by fishingfanatic

Actually I do have 12gb of DDR3 1866 ram, 6 x 2gb and it's been a non issue. Honestly, I'm not trying to one up, I just happen to have that P6X58D-E board with the 12 gbs of ram. The 1st 2 pci-e slots are x16 as well, so it helps for either xfire or sli. I had 2 5970s in xfire and they worked great. I was actually considering a 2nd 480 and because of possible power issues with the 24 pin connector and it melting, I decided to pass.

2x 5970's?

Nice! Glad to hear you have that much RAM running stable as well. Makes me feel all that much better about getting a similar setup. You never know until you try I suppose. I'll definitely keep that in mind when I build my system.

Btw, is this the kit you have? (x2)

998687 - 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-15000 8-9-8-24 Blackline (Triple Kit)

[fishingfanatic]

Actually the kit is 998834. I didn't see it listed, but I emailed Nick at Mushkin. When I was searching for new DDR3 triple channel memory and he suggested that kit. Mushkin ram has never had a height issue. The only thing I found was a set of Mushkin Redline Ascent XP3-12800 C6, with the heatsinks being so wide that only 1 set will fit into the slots. You'll find that set in the memory reviews.
I must warn you that I'm biased towards Mushkin, but I've contacted different manufacturers and asked their opinion based on my build and what it would be used for. Most seem to agree about the 1866 being the sweet spot for 1366 socket systems.
I was building my system for CADD and extreme gaming. I must admit the 2 5970s were real nice, but I've always preferred Nvidia but did like the 5970s in xfire. The one for sale by BobbyLou is one of them that I traded other hardware for. It's a shame that XFX stopped producing Nvidia gpus, because that was my preferred gpu manufacturer.
The folks on this site are really good, so any issues you have can usually be solved with their help.
Anyway, I digress. Enjoy the build and resulting system!