New Build Sanity Check

theoperator · 27 Oct 2010 at 14:06

Planning on a new rig, after some deliberation I've come up with the following list:

Code:

Case		Corsair Obsidian 800D	£204.99
Water Cooling	TBC			£300.00
PSU		Corsair HX 850W		£145.99
Processor	Intel Core i7 950 3.06 	£244.99
Motherboard	Asus X58 Sabertooth	£159.99
RAM		Corsair DominatorGT 6GB £204.99
SSD		OCZ Vertex 2E 60GB	£99.99
Hard drive	Samsung SpinPointF4 2TB £72.99
Optical		Pioneer BDR-205 12x 	£124.98

It's a gaming rig primarily to upgrade from my now ageing Core 2 Duo box. It's my intention to watercool the rig with low noise being the number 1 goal and overclocking secondary. I haven't included a video card as I have an existing 5970 ready to go in.

I'll work out the details of the watercooling once my components are set, but I've budgeted 300 quid for the cooling bits, and plan to use EK gear as they seem popular and high quality. I hope to add blocks to the CPU, the 5970 and the Mobo chipset.

So what I'm wondering at the moment is, are these components known to get on well with one another (and my 5970), or are there better choices for compatibility, price, future proofing, and water cooling friendliness?

geoirv23 · 27 Oct 2010 at 14:18

Nice looking build, probably ott for just gaming but if you've got the money then why not.

tibbsey · 27 Oct 2010 at 15:32

If you're not super overclocking then you could probably skip the motherboard watercooling and save some cash.
That motherboard seems to be able to handle fairly extreme overclocks with the stock heatsink/pipe setup so it should be fine.

Similarly with the RAM, you could go for cheaper as you don't need it to be able to handle silly clocks.

You could even go for the i7 930, save £30~ and as you will be overclocking it at least a bit, it'll go like stink.

Having said all that though, it doesn't appear that saving money is an issue for you.

theoperator · 27 Oct 2010 at 16:09

Well, I've been saving for this one for a while, but I'd rather not spend money unnecessarily

I am also of the thinking that if I spend money now, I won't have to spend it again as soon further down the road. My last rig lasted me a good 5 years with only occasional minor upgrades so I feel fairly justified in that, but I agree there are some 'luxury' items on there that I could do without