Project: Rosso

[rpg]

I thought I'd get this thread going even though I'm still waiting on Asus to supply retailers with their Rampage III Extreme boards. OcUK are expecting it early May so hopefully I'll have it within the next couple of weeks.

I've been planning to do this build for quite some time now as I decided to play the waiting game for Fermi, which for most people, turned out to be a complete waste of time. So I decided to go the 5870 route instead. One thing that annoyed me though (when I decided not to go with Fermi) was that I could have bought all the products for my build 6 months ago, so I decided to wait a couple more weeks for Asus' 2nd revision of the 5870. There's not much difference apart from a larger fan and copper fins but it should give me a little extra headroom when overclocking.

Anyway, here's the spec of the build:

- Asus Rampage III Extreme Motherboard
- Intel Core i7-930 2.8GHz
- 6GB G.Skill Ripjaws PC3-16000 2000MHz
- Asus ATi Radeon HD 5870 V2
- Noctua NH-D14 Dual Radiator CPU Cooler
- CoolerMaster SickleFlow Red LED 120mm Fans (x2)
- Lian Li PC-P50R Armoursuit Mid Tower Case
- Corsair HX-750W Modular PSU
- Samsung B2230H 21.5" 1080P LCD (Not pictured)
- WD Caviar Black 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache
- Microsoft SideWinder X4 Gaming Keyboard
- Logitech MX518 Gaming Mouse
- Logitech X-140 2.0 Speaker System

As you probably guessed from the title, the theme of the build is red. Since the R3E and the 5870 are primarily red I decided to stick to this colour with the other components. The G.Skill RAM has some red on the heat spreaders and the case and LED light colour of keyboard is red also.

I bought a couple of extra Coolermaster black (with red LED's) fans to replace the absolutely horrible yellow/brown colour of the stock NH-D14 fans. Pics to follow of this when I get the motherboad.

The next thing to sort out was the case. The PC-P50R is a well made nicely designed case but is unfortunately ruined by the AMD dragon window on the side. This had to go. So I did some research and even though Lian Li's website does not have the PC-P50 as a compatible case, the W-LM2AB-1 side window is a direct replacement.

Before:

After:

Much better!

Next up was the PSU. The HX-750W has a blue sticker which doesn't really work that well with the red colour scheme. So that had to go too. I read a thread in this section before where Diggsy had very kindly offered to create some Corsair PSU images in the OP's requested colour, in vector PDF format. I contacted him through trust and he e-mailed me over the files. Many thanks Diggsy if you're reading.

I then had stickers made up with Diginate and decided to get five made in gloss and five made in matt; I wasn't sure which would look better. Why five? It was ~£1 extra to get 5 instead of 1, you effectively pay them for their time instead of the stickers. It was £16 incl. shipping for the 10 stickers. If anyone want's red HX-750W stickers (gloss or matt), let me know!

Before:

After:

I chose the matt on my PSU as the original Corsair sticker was matt, but they look equally as good (I put a gloss sticker on the other side of the PSU to see what it would look like).

Unfortunately I don't have much more to add at the moment as I'm pretty stuck without a motherboard! But, once I get it I will take pictures throughout the build until it's finished.

Thanks for looking.

 

[rpg]

Cheers fellas, hopefully I'll have some more updates next week.

Chris, I had almost discounted the case myself but after a bit of searching, I saw a picture of the red version with a window instead of the dragon panel, so I knew it was possible. I eventually found out which panel I needed to order (W-LM2AB-1) and ordered it here from a retailer in the UK. I paid about £35 for it delivered, which wasn't too bad.

 

[rpg]

Verrry nice build, gagging for a SSD though

LOL, I knew I forgot something. Intel X-25M 80GB on the way also. I was contemplating the 160GB but it's just a little too much for me at the moment. I'll install the OS and 1/2 of my favourite games/programs which will still leave enough space to keep it running fast and reliable.

 

[rpg]

Thanks guys, hopefully I'll get the board before mid-May so I can keep the thread up to date.

have you got a pic of what the gloss looks like?

I took a picture without the flash first and it actually looked the exact same as the matt sticker. The only way to actually see the gloss finish was to use the flash. However, if you're just looking at the stickers under normal lighting, it's very hard to tell the difference between the two, they both look the same.

 

[rpg]

Cheers fellas, I'm looking forward to it too. But unfortunately, I'm still waiting on Asus to supply OcUK with the Rampage III boards; it's been nearly two months since I ordered! I'm currently 3rd in the queue so I should get mine in the next shipment.

 

[rpg]

Well, the board finally arrived last Monday and I was delighted, however it arrived on the afternoon of the first day of my exams, so I couldn't touch it! Exams are over now, so I'm ready to get this going.

Along with the R3E I got the Samsung monitor, and the 80GB X-25M arrived a couple of weeks back.

The Canadian GP and the Germany match will take my away from this today though, but I'll be back with some updates tomorrow.

also, is there a solid side pannel for the PC p50? as I'm not really a fan of the lian li window

Yes, there is indeed. Here it is.

 

[rpg]

You have all the bits ready to build and you'd rather watch telly? Pfft! I don't know how you manage.

LOL, I know, it was a tough decision! The F1 was an easy choice, but I might ditch the Germany match...

Anyway, just for you Muel...

As I mentioned before, I just can't understand Noctua's choice of fan colour for the NH-D14. Like just look at this. What colour scheme or case could this possibly go with?

So they had to go, and a set of black Coolermaster fans took their place. They're about 700rpm faster than the Noctua fans so I'll have to monitor noise and see if I can live with it. But the black is definitely nicer than the browny-orange anyway.

 

[rpg]

Yep, as Diggsy mentioned, I have a few left but won't be back in the UK to ship them until the 6th of August unfortunately. If that's ok and you're interested, you can send me a message via trust.

I have completed the build and the machine is running very well. I have lots of pics to upload which will be done this weekend. I'll post up some temperatures and performance stats also for those interested.

 

[rpg]

So it only took me two years to upload them, but here's some pics of the final build. @acme15, you're responsible for me pulling the finger out!

The Asus R3E eventually arrived. Aesthetically, I'm sure you'll agree it's pleasing; simple colour scheme (black/red) with some fairly sharp looking heat-sinks.

Next up. RAM fitted (G.Skill Ripjaw 2GHz), along with CPU (i7-930), coupled with the NH-D14.

Then it was mounted into the case.

Wires tidied up a bit.

WD 1TB HDD fitted along with Intel 80GB SSD (X-25M).

Side panel on.

All done!

At this stage, I know many of the parts are dated, but it's still a very fast machine and more than capable of anything I've thrown at it. Even recent games/programs still run with ease. I monitored temps for the first while but that got old quickly as I realised I had very little to worry about, due to the more than adequate airflow throughout the case.

I must get a picture at night with all the red LED fans active - there's 7 in total; 2 x 140mm, 5 x 120mm. It looks fabulous through the side panel.