Hi all, I’ve currently have the overwhelming urge to have a tinker with my machine. The last time I built a computer was back in 2011, and at the time used an old 2007 era alienware tower that frankly looks hideous and reclaimed what I could from it (not a lot as it turned out so 1500quid well spent) then added new parts. Last year I added an R9 290 and a new power supply so the current specs are as follows:
Asus P8Z68-V
I5 2500k @ 4.5ghz
8gb Ram
Corsair RM650 80+gold
Sapphire R9 290
M4 60gb SSD
250gb HDD
BR optical drive
Typically computer only gets used for gaming at 1980x1080 on 144hz screen, and doesn’t really have any performance issues.
I’m tempted to build a new system for no other reason than I’m bored and have always fancied a water cooled machine with a custom loop so my questions are
1) As I’m not really struggling performance wise is there anything worth upgrading or am I better of waiting for the next gen of cpu’s & GPU’s launch (Thinking skylake & r390)? Or go with what’s currently available and add a second R290 in which case would my PSU be undersized?
2) If I keep the current system then I really would like to at least re case it, which seems like a convenient time to maybe water cool it. If I do go down this route will I be able to reuse the equipment in the loop in a future upgrade? Assume I would need a different cpu block and pipe runs but could radiators, pumps and res be reused?
3) My preference would be to build a smaller form factor than the current ridiculous sized alienware case I have, appreciate that the mother board is ATX, but is there any way I could get it and the R290 into a MATX case
Would love some feedback on the above, if a water cooled MATX is viable would anyone like to have a go at putting a spec for a discrete and quality installation together
Many thanks in advance
Fritzo
Asus P8Z68-V
I5 2500k @ 4.5ghz
8gb Ram
Corsair RM650 80+gold
Sapphire R9 290
M4 60gb SSD
250gb HDD
BR optical drive
Typically computer only gets used for gaming at 1980x1080 on 144hz screen, and doesn’t really have any performance issues.
I’m tempted to build a new system for no other reason than I’m bored and have always fancied a water cooled machine with a custom loop so my questions are
1) As I’m not really struggling performance wise is there anything worth upgrading or am I better of waiting for the next gen of cpu’s & GPU’s launch (Thinking skylake & r390)? Or go with what’s currently available and add a second R290 in which case would my PSU be undersized?
2) If I keep the current system then I really would like to at least re case it, which seems like a convenient time to maybe water cool it. If I do go down this route will I be able to reuse the equipment in the loop in a future upgrade? Assume I would need a different cpu block and pipe runs but could radiators, pumps and res be reused?
3) My preference would be to build a smaller form factor than the current ridiculous sized alienware case I have, appreciate that the mother board is ATX, but is there any way I could get it and the R290 into a MATX case
Would love some feedback on the above, if a water cooled MATX is viable would anyone like to have a go at putting a spec for a discrete and quality installation together
Many thanks in advance
Fritzo
