First shot at building a computer

[Culbrelai]

Hello, I've been buying from the custom computer manufacturers for 3 of my 4 computers, the first computer I ever had being a default-floor showroom Dell that was my first foray into this awesome hobby I have now =P

I've heard thousands of times that I could've saved a lot of money by just building it myself, plus a lot of satisfaction would come from the fact that yes, I put that together, that thing that is so useful...

the two computers I currently have are... an older Desktop

i7 960 @ 3.2GHZ
12 GB RAM
1,400GB system space
ATI 5770

Its about 3 years old and the desktop is the computer I want to replace. The computer im talking to you on is my laptop, i7 2670QM, GTX 580m, 8 GB RAM, also 1400GB system space.

I learn more and more each time I build a new computer, now I feel it is time to make the next jump to putting my own together, since it doesnt seem too difficult... Although making sense of all of the wires will probably be the most difficult part for me.

These are my selected parts, currently, although I'm missing a CPU cooler.

Most are from NewEgg, and none of these parts include shipping, rebates, those little deal codes that NewEgg emails you every now and again. The shipping/deals/rebates will probably cancel eachother out. Lot of wiggle room here, the power supply is quite OP for what I want and can be downgraded if I need money for a suggested part. Budget is less than $4k, ideally around $3,500. I will most likely salvage cables and such from my old PC, including the two empty fan slots that are not filled by the Cooler Master Cosmos II by default. Should default case fans be upgraded or are they proficient?

The place I was going to buy a config similar to this from wanted $3900...

I realize I am missing CPU coolers. I wanted advice on that note. I know liquid cooling is the best for processors you know you will overclock, but with these Xeons I've heard them running at a good 60C OC'ed to ~3.5GHZ with air cooling only. What are the best CPU coolers you guys would reccomend for these, knowing I plan to OC them? The website I was using, the "best" air coolers I could find were these below. I don't want to maintain a liquid cooling system, so the maintenence free ones I prefer highly. Is it possible to use two Corsair H80s? How does liquid cooling two processors like this work? Bar liquid cooling, what air coolers do you fellows reccomend?

PROLIMATECH Megahalems Rev. B CPU Heatsink w/ Dual 120mm Cooler Master R4 Silent Fans

PartBrandPlan for SR-2 ComputerCost
Mobo
EVGASR-2
$360
Case
Cooler Master
Cosmos II
$320
Processors
Intel2x E5620
$780
Thermal
Innovation CoolingDiamond 7 Carat
$7
Video Cards
Nvidia & EVGA2x GTX 680
$940
RAM
G Skill
2x Ripjaws 12GB 1333mhz
$126
CPU Cooler????
Hard Drive
SeagateBarracuda 2TB 7200 RPM
$110
Optical Drive
LG
UH12LS29
$55
Monitor
ASUSVE248H
$205
Power Supply
SilverstoneST1500 1500W
$300
TotalTotalTotal
$3,203

Thanks for reading my wall.

[stoanee]

Are you sure you want to go the SR2 route? That is a lot of moola to lay out on older tech. What will you be using the rig for? You can build a killer single cpu rig for that kind of money.

[Culbrelai]

I think so, it allows boosting the already rock solid reliable Xeon to new levels. i7s are all good, but when overclocked require liquid cooling. The rig will be for gaming, and for programming.

Yeah, I know, the Xeons are overkill. But they won't be in the future, and with both of them overclocked to 3.0-3.5GHZ they'll outperform an even highly overclocked i7 on hyper threaded tasks...

I heard very good things about the SR-2 (minus the fact I'll need a USB 3.0 hub, eh)

IMO - New technology = expense, sometimes instability... older technology = less expense, higher reliability, better support, etc.

EDIT:

To add - if anyone knows of a better case that will fit the SR-2 that has better cooling (more fan slots, better airflow, etc) than the Cosmos II please tell me and I will look at it...

[JJThomp]

Well im assuming you are going to be gaming with SLI GTX 680's and those processors are going to bottleneck you a bit.

[Culbrelai]

Not If I overclock them both to 3.5GHZ, which I read they're easily capable of running at 60c ish clocked to.
ALSO
I found the Noctua NH-c14 that has good reviews. I hear it is large however, will two of them fit on the SR-2 with high profile ram, or will I need to get low profile RAM?

Oh, and how much bigger is the Cosmos II than my current rapidly aging (double negative, XD) desktop

I'm really logisitical minded, so only really size matters concern me, wether or not everything will fit where its supposed to.

http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t...1C5DF71820.jpg

[Generic User #2]

Originally Posted by Culbrelai

Yeah, I know, the Xeons are overkill. But they won't be in the future, and with both of them overclocked to 3.0-3.5GHZ they'll outperform an even highly overclocked i7 on hyper threaded tasks...

these tasks that require double-digit amount of threads would be what exactly?

[Perineum]

I would ditch the SR2 motherboard.

Go with whatever you want from Asus for motherboard

And I bet this: Intel Core i7 3930K 6 Core 12MB 3.2GHZ Hyperthreading Unlocked LGA2011 Processor No HSF overclocked to 4.5 would beat that SR2 setup and be an all round better performer.

[Culbrelai]

these tasks that require double-digit amount of threads would be what exactly?

Bragging, some video editing, bragging, rarring and unrarring will most likely be faster, bragging, compiling some programs...

Did I mention, bragging? XD

The i7s require extraneous liquid cooling to keep that overclock, and from what I can see those tend to fail more often than mere air coolers.

Anyway, I found a good air cooler, Noctua NH-C14. I just wonder if two of them will fit Q_q with high profile ram or not :L

Also, will the cosmos II fit in this space http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t...1C5DF71820.jpg

where my old desktop currently resides? I'm really logistically minded and im more concered about spatial issues than anything...

[stoanee]

Originally Posted by Perineum

I would ditch the SR2 motherboard.

Go with whatever you want from Asus for motherboard

And I bet this: Intel Core i7 3930K 6 Core 12MB 3.2GHZ Hyperthreading Unlocked LGA2011 Processor No HSF overclocked to 4.5 would beat that SR2 setup and be an all round better performer.

^^ I agree. If you can think of some benchmarks to run I will give them a go for you. The only thing is my SR2 is running Linux so I am not sure if you could directly compare them.

[Perineum]

The i7's get 4.5 on air pretty easy, the 2700K gets 4.5ghz with a $20 Hyper 212+ HSF