Need help choosing what to do!

[shelfelf]

Hi everyone, I'm currently running an i7 2600k, on an Asus mIV extreme-z, with a gtx 560ti.

I plan to be playing a lot of guild wars 2 this upcoming year, and possibly borderlands 2 or diablo 3 later on. I also play starcraft 2 and some bf3.

so the options i have set out for myself are as follows:

1. buy a gtx 690, then wait for around 6 months to a year and then watercool everything inside of an STH10.

2. buy some watercooling stuff and an ssd now, buy the case in a couple months, wait for the gtx 7xx series and go with that.

any ideas?

if i went the watercooling side of things i would for sure be going with a koolance cpu 370, and possibly a mobo block (Ek maximus iv extreme).

I currently do not have a case at all, with my stuff just sitting on top of a dresser beside my computer, if i watercooled now i would probably make a primitive test bench out of plywood to support all of my stuff.

hopefully you guys can help me out

[BigPhatPaulie]

Seems like a good idea but firstly:

Why a 690? a single 680 should suffice unless your gaming at high resolutions

And personally if the watercooling parts your going to get are hot ticket items and arent in stock enough of the time then go for it, otherwise i would save and buy it all at once. Also why do you want to watercool the mobo?

Otherwise sounds good to me

[AkG]

Couple questions:
1) what resolution do you plan on gaming at? eg 24" 1080p...or 30" Dell beast?
2) why do you want to water cool. ie what do you want to ACCOMPLISH by wc'ing? Lower temps? Lower case temps? Higher OC?

Depending on your answers.....either drop a second 560 in for SLI, get a 670, or 680, or a 690.
A good SSD will set you back about 150. ALWAYS a good investment. Some recommendations are: Crucial M4 128GB, Vertex 3 120GB (or if you go to 2bills Intel 510 120GB).
The 2600K is not an overly "hot" CPU unitll you REALLY push it HIGH....so even a Corsair H80 will cover most peeps needs (lower CPU temps, lower case temps...good way to get your feet wet). Same goes for like a Antech Kuhler 920.

The 690 is OMFG expensive now, hard to find and really is overkill unless you plan on doing multi-monitor gaming....but a 670 or 680 (also a touch high as they are still very new) is much more "reasonable"....and a second 560 is down right CHEAP (but will provide less horsepower AND use more juice AND create more heat). So it really does all depend on what you plan on gaming ON.

[shelfelf]

I actually just sold my second 560 as the only benefit it gave me was in bf3. im gaming on a 24 inch 1080p, so ill probably go with my wcing option. I want to get lower temps and to OC higher, right now i can go stable with a 4.6gHz OC, but want to hit 5.0gHz, just for the heck of it.

thanks for the help!

[frontier204]

For gaming, I'm certain a GPU upgrade will do you a lot better than overclocking your CPU more. Do the water cooling only if you just want to have fun with water cooling (like I was contemplating earlier today ).

[Adzsask]

If you want to liquid cool, grab a 2nd 560Ti and a WC kit to get started into liquid cooling instead of a 680.

[shelfelf]

I think im actually going to try to run my single 560 into the ground as i already sold off my second 560 to a member on the forums here :) will watercool as i do wanna do it for the fun, always been into homebrew projects and the such!

[crazyea]

GTX 680 + Watercooling.