My new rig from OC UK

[jc0]

Hi all,

Nobody likes a show-off but I thought I'd share my new gaming pc with everyone/anyone who's interested, particularly as it would be a crime to let the superb building work by the Overclockers UK guys go unseen. I'm a bit of a closet-geek and don't really know anyone else who would appreciate the beauty of this system!

It's was originally a "Hydrophobia" system but changed pretty much everything in it (no doubt to the annoyance of the sales team but they didn't show it ) apart from the CPU! I had to purchase the graphics cards from elsewhere unfortunately as OC UK didn't have any 670 4GB cards with reference coolers in stock at the time (this is no longer the case).

The build-quality is really superb and it runs like a dream. Wish I'd gone for the white coolant but oh well! Had a small problem with the watercooling when it arrived but the tech support was superb and it was resolved quickly.

Then spec is:

Intel i3570k 3.4 GHz @ 4.6 GHz
ASUS Z77 Sabertooth Mobo
Corsair TX 850W PSU
Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 8GB (2x4GB) 1600MHz
Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD
Seagate Barracuda 500GB HD
EVGA 670 FTW 4GB SLI
CoolerMaster CM Stryker Case
XSPC Rasa 750 RX240 Water Cooling Kit

All comments/suggestions welcome!

A huge thank you to the build team for doing a really top-notch job of putting this system together.

 

[jc0]

Thanks RJC! The first couple of photos are really blurry, no idea why.

 

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It cost me around £1700 - a bit less as I sold the surplus 'Assassins Creed 3' and 'Borderlands 2' vouchers that came with the 670s. It's a lot of money to spend but I'm hoping it'll be running the latest games at max settings for at least 3 years and I'll get my money's worth! I also sold my old Core 2 Duo rig for £300 ish so I think I actually did pretty well, price wise (can you tell I've been thinking of ways to justify it to myself!?).

 

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Hey Doomedspeed, cheers!

Yeah absolutely - watercooling the GPUs was in the original plan/spec but I was then told by the tech guys at OC UK that I'd need more water-cooling components to cool SLI graphics cards as well an overclocked CPU. I was happy with that but I was then told it would be a struggle to fit the extra rad/pump in the CS Stormtrooper case (my original choice before swapping to the Stryker!) and that they would recommend the HAF-X. Thing is, I take my PC into the living room quite a lot to plug in to my plasma TV and really wanted a case with a handle. So to cut a long story not particularly short, I decided on stick with aircooling the cards. They're very quiet/completely inaudible over the radiator fans and the temps are decent. I think it'll also be a lot more straightforward when it comes to selling them on.

 

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Thanks stevejigga and djshauny1!

I'm embarrassed to admit that I'm only gaming at 1080p at the moment

I was about to order a Dell 2710 so that I could play at 1440p but then saw that a new Apple Thunderbolt display is imminent and, being a bit of an Apple fanboy, I want to see how that shapes up before buying anything else. If it looks as good as the new iMacs and has a decent response time then I'd be very tempted. I'm not particularly clued up on displays so would appreciate any advice. I also wanted a decent amount of future-proofing which is why I went with the SLI 670s which admittedly, at the moment, are overkill.

I'm going to upload some more pics tonight as those first two are pretty terrible.

 

[jc0]

Yeah, it'd take a fair amount more kit to get those 670's dripping. You certainly did the right thing.

Only just realized the case had a handle.

Yeah selling air cooled cards seems to be a lot easier, for obvious reasons. Though in SLI you'll have no need to part with those for a long while.

Cheers Doomedspeed! I wrestled with the air/watercooled GPUs decision for a while so it's good to get affirmation from someone else. Watercooled GPUs would have looked awesome but there was just one too many cons against the pros. The CPU runs really cool as well with the loop dedicated solely to it. I ran Prime95 for about 6 hours and the hottest core got to about 65 degrees. They sit at about 45 playing FC3 and BF3.

 

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Yeah I am tempted to push it a bit further but I don't really know what I'm doing! Last time I OC'd a CPU, it was an AMD Athlon 1.4GHz!! I remember just changing the FSB speed and maybe the multiplier and that was it. The BIOS on the ASUS seems far more complicated than I remember and I wouldn't know what to do with the voltage settings and all that stuff... I'm not sure I'd see any FPS increases either but I might be wrong about that.

I'm far more tempted to follow this GTX 670 overclocking guide and get those cards pushed up to their limit. The guide says it will take 3 hours per card to properly but that will give you the best overclock the card is capable of to 0.1% or something crazy like that. Given that the EVGA cards have a 3 year warranty, I think it makes sense to push them as far as they'll go as early on as possible. I'll see how they cope with Crysis 3 at 1440p, everything turned up full...

 

[jc0]

Thanks for advice mate, I'll definitely bear that in mind. I originally had the KFA2 670 EX OC 4GB cards in the spec but removed them when I read those non-reference coolers are terrible in an SLI setup where they don't blow the heat out of the the exhaust - especially as I don't have a side fan. I had to ask the sales guys to take them out of the spec and I bought the EVGAs from somewhere else. I wanted the whole thing building by OC UK but I'm glad I made that decision in the end.

Here are some more photos. The last one is gratuitous showing off so my apologies, but I love my 55" Panny (it actually comes out look pretty small in the photo) and wanted to show why the case handle was a deal-breaker!

 

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Thanks TwsT, much appreciated.

 

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Cheers rjkoneill, very kind of you to says so! The TV install is pretty nice. There's a HDMI socket behind the tv which runs to the corner of the room where I use a Yamaha amp as a hdmi switch for the sky box, my media server and my pc when I'm using the TV for gaming. The only bad thing is that I don't have surround sound yet - just a 2.1 focal dome setup. I will turn it into 5.1 at some stage - probably when we re-decorate - but I can't face all the channelling and mess at the moment!

 

[jc0]

Hi JoeF1 - yes the only difference is the colour. It also comes with the windowed side-panel as standard which the ST doesn't. I chose the ST first because I didn't know they made it in white. When I saw the Stryker, I switched to that because white goes better with our decor etc. The included side-window was a deal-clincher as I wanted to be able to see the watercooling and sabertooth board.

 

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Cheers Rich! Great being able to show it to people who appreciate stuff like this. The misses just stares blankly at me when I try showing it off to her!

 

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Yeah they're the 4GB FTW cards.

Thanks HecFam - it does look pretty cool with the white light. Just wish I'd gone with white coolant for the watercooling loop.

 

[jc0]

the top cards peaks at around 74 degrees playing FC3 but usually doesn't get above 65-68. This is with the standard fan profile.

 

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Thanks Smoogels and Medoway I still wish I'd gone with the white coolant but apart from that, I'm extremely happy with how it all turned out. I love the look of the case and the Sabertooth motherboard all lit up.

I've had chance recently to clock some hours gaming on it and it's running beautifully - not a single crash or lockup *touch wood*!

 

[jc0]

Really nice setup

When you come to do your first maintenance clean out on the PC, definitely go for the white coolant, it'd really set it off

Hi Space Monkey, I was wondering about that actually. I've never had a water-cooled system before... how often does it need to be cleaned out? Are there any guides anywhere on how to do it?

 

[jc0]

Thanks for the nice comments guys. The handle was a necessity and one of the main reasons I chose the case - I have to be able to carry the PC into the living room so that I can plug it into our 55" panny. It weighs a hell of a lot btw!

Here is the full spec:

Intel i3570k 3.4 GHz @ 4.6 GHz
ASUS Z77 Sabertooth Mobo
Corsair TX 850W PSU
Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 8GB (2x4GB) 1600MHz
Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD
Seagate Barracuda 500GB HD
EVGA 670 FTW 4GB SLI
CoolerMaster CM Stryker Case
XSPC Rasa 750 RX240 Water Cooling Kit

 

[jc0]

Did the lights come with the build mate? Looks stunning!

Thanks mate! The build was originally based on the Ultima 9000i Hyrophobia system but I pretty much changed every single component in there apart from the CPU. I added the lights in last-minute (they're Akasa and cost around £12) as I thought I might as well illuminate the inside if I was having a windowed-case. I was really pleased with how it turned out. OCUK did an amazing job on the build.

 

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What games are you currently playing man?

Hey NathWraith, I just completed Far Cry 3 last night - I have some more side-missions to do but the main story is done. I really enjoyed that game actually after an initially slow start and the graphics looked incredible on ultra. I also have Assassins Creed 3 and Hitman Absolution on the go but neither of those have really caught my imagination so far. I bought Skyrim when I was gaming on my old rig but found it really hard to get into also. I'm sure it's a great game judging from all the positive feedback but it just hasn't really 'hit' me. I haven't done any crafting and don't really understand it to be honest. Maybe I should give it another go? The last game I really enjoyed apart from FC3 was Dishonored - loved it.

I'm really looking forward to Bioshock Infinite and might give Tomb Raider a go. Any suggestions would be most welcome!!