Basic 2600K system, mostly for number crunching

 

A few notes:

 

1) I upgraded the power supply to 1000w incase I, or a kid (likely will end up with this is a couple years) wants to expand. Am I simply spending $116 needlessly by upgrading the power supply?

 

2) My main app has been programmed to take advantage of AVX.

 

3) My main app is basically all floating point. The highest possible OC is beneficial to me, but upgrading DDR3 to 2000 from 1600 will hardly matter.

 

4) I only do light gaming. The most intense games I'd play are AOE3 or SC2. So this is more video card than I need, but nice to have anyhow.

 

5) I spec'd stage 4 cooling, which does a great job on my 980X system. Am I correct that cooling the chip set (stage 5) wouldn't help me?

 

6) For $99 I can let DS overclock it to the max, and then, if I want to, experiment with tweaking it higher, myself.

 

7) I really like the HAF 932 case and size isn't an issue.

 

Am I missing anything? Thx .. neilkaz ..

< name=c =sendconfig.asp method=post>

Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - Cooler Master HAF 932 Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish Processor: Intel Core i7 2600K 3.40GHz (Unlocked CPU for Extreme Overclocking) (Quad Core) Motherboard: ASUS Sabertooth P67 (Intel P67 Chipset) (Features USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s) System Memory: 8GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested) Power Supply: 1000W Digital Storm Certified (Dual/Triple/Quad SLI Compatible) (Silent Edition Highly Recommended) Expansion Bay: - No Thanks Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (1TB Hitachi/Seagate (7200 RPM) (32MB Cache) Set 1 Raid Options: - No Thanks Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: - No Thanks Hard Drive Set 3: Backup\Misc.: - No Thanks Optical Drive 1: DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 24x / CD-Writer 48x) Optical Drive 2: - No Thanks Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections) Video Card: 1x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 1.2GB (Includes PhysX Technology) Add-on Card: - No Thanks Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio Extreme Cooling: H20: Stage 4: Sub-Zero LCS Cooling System: CPU Only H20 Tube Color:Blue Tubing with High-Performance Fluid (UV Lighting Reactive) Chassis Airflow: Standard Factory Chassis Fans Internal Lighting: - No Thanks Enhancements: - No Thanks Chassis Mods: - No Thanks Noise Reduction: - No Thanks Boost Processor: Stage 2: Overclock the processor between 4.7GHz to 5.2GHz (Liquid Cooling Upgrade Recommended) Boost Video Card: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s) Boost Memory: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my memory Boost OS: - No Thanks, Please do not tweak the services on the operating system Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-Bit Edition) Recovery Tools: Windows Recovery Toolkit (Bundled with Windows 7 CD) Virus Protection: - No Thanks Office: - No Thanks Benchmarking: - No Thanks Install/Test Game: FREE: Hot-selling game with a NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 or above graphics card Display: - No Thanks Surge Shield: - No Thanks Speakers: - No Thanks Keyboard: - No Thanks Mouse: - No Thanks External Storage: - No Thanks Exclusive T-Shirt: FREE: Digital Storm T-Shirt - Black (Xtra Large) Priority Build: - No Thanks, Ship Within 5-15 Business Days After Order Is Successfully Processed Warranty: Life-time Expert Customer Care with 3 Year Limited Warranty

I'm unfamiliar with ssd. How would it help me, considering that I don't expect to use more than 100 GB of the 1000 GB HD? If you really think I can benefit from it, please spec a basic raid for me if needed. As you see, I am not at all familiar with raid and ssd.

 

thx .. neilkaz ..

 

EDIT: I just noted the new Raid SSD thread here and will study it

 

Re HAF X vs 932. What you're telling is that, the HAF X with two top fans provided better cooling that the 932 with one top fan (am not home..and thought 932 had two also)

 

Re: Internal lighting, if I spec blue, ALL lighting will be blue?

 

Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - Cooler Master 942 HAF X
Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish
Processor: Intel Core i7 2600K 3.40GHz (Unlocked CPU for Extreme Overclocking) (Quad Core)
Motherboard: ASUS P8P67 (Intel P67 Chipset) (Features USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s)
System Memory: 8GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested)
Power Supply: 750W Corsair TX (Dual SLI Compatible)
Expansion Bay: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (80GB Solid State (By: Intel) (Model: X25-M MLC Edition) (Extreme Performance)
Set 1 Raid Options: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: 1x (1TB Western Digital Caviar (7200 RPM) (64MB Cache) (Model: Black Edition WD1002FAEX)
Hard Drive Set 3: Backup\Misc.: - No Thanks
Optical Drive 1: DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 24x / CD-Writer 48x)
Optical Drive 2: - No Thanks
Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Video Card: 1x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 1.2GB (Includes PhysX Technology)
Add-on Card: - No Thanks
Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio
Extreme Cooling: H20: Stage 4: Sub-Zero LCS Cooling System: CPU Only
H20 Tube Color:Blue Tubing with High-Performance Fluid (UV Lighting Reactive)
Chassis Airflow: Standard Factory Chassis Fans
Internal Lighting: Internal Chassis Lighting System (Blue)
Enhancements: - No Thanks
Chassis Mods: - No Thanks
Noise Reduction: - No Thanks
Boost Processor: Stage 2: Overclock the processor between 4.7GHz to 5.2GHz (Liquid Cooling Upgrade Recommended)

A few comments and then questions about cases and lighting so that I end up with exactly what I want.

 

1) If you look at the configurator and click on cooling stages you can see what DS uses. I'm home now to carefully look at and measure my two other DS computers. With Stage 4 DS removed the 932's top 230mm fan and replaced with two 120mm fans blowing inward thru the rad hung just below it.

 

2) My older computer has Asetek cooling with the upgrade to the 240mm rad and DS also installed two 120mm fans above that rad at the top of that smaller 922 case.

 

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Cooler-Master-HAF-932-Case-Review/613/3 is a review of the 932 and discusses removing the top fan and substituting two smaller ones.

 

3) Here's a review of the HAF X (942) showing that a 2nd top 200mm fan can be added. http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Cooler-Master-HAF-X-Case-Review/1003/2

 

So @ DS, my question is four stage 4 cooling if I get the HAF X case as recommended to me, will you put two 200 mm fans sucking air in through the rad and what is the added cost for the extra fan? How much cooling would I gain vs using two smaller 120mm fans? Even if it is only a degree I'd like to have the larger fans.

 

4) The review is telling me that there's air filters for most of the fans for the HAF X and those aren't present for the 932.

 

Both cases are very nice and rated great for cooling by DS so I am curious just what I am getting for the extra money for the HAF X. However, as stated, if my cooling is even a little better with the two larger top fans, it is worth it to me, since this will basically run 24/7.

 

Re: lighting.. and noting that I didn't spec no pay for any custom lighting on my two previous systems : 980X HAF932, 920 HAF922.

 

My 922 came with all blue lighting which looks really nice to me. The two top fans are blue led (but unlighted would also be OK). I added a large side panel fan blowing out (blue led) and it lowered my OC temps about an average of 1.5C (78.5C to 77C in a 21.5C ambient room)

 

My 932 lighting is a mix of red and blue, which came as quite a surprise to me. The front fan is red led, and no other fans are led. There's a blue light along the bottom of the case lengthwise. The top fans are Zalman 120mm. Anyhow, it would have been nice to have had all one color lighting, preferably blue.

 

@DS please advise about lighting, I need nothing fancy or extra but do want it all the same color. Can the front 230mm default fan be changed to blue led rather than red? Also, what is the added cost for a 2nd top 200 mm fan with the HAF X if I go Stage 4 cooling?

 

thx .. neilkaz ..

 

I do have one last (we hope) question and that is 240mm rad placement. Please bear with me in that I am not very familiar with liquid cooling (which is why I am happy to have DS do it for me). Anyhow, are the fans supposed to blow air past through the rad? This is how my two other systems are built and it there's no need for this, then it is clear that the rad has to be blocking a decent portion of the air flow from the top fans.

 

Thx .. neilkaz ..

 

thx .. neilkaz ..

 

Checking initial settings and noting DS will give some margin for stability when they send out an overclocked computer, it was at 4.9 Ghz using 1.534 V-core.

 

Last night I bumped it up to 5 GHz and P95 ran fine so today I lowered V-core to 1.51 and BSOD after 20 minutes. BSOD after nearly 2 hours using 1.52V so I am now running 1.525V and I expect no issues and this is running P95 the same3 temp as the initial 4.9Ghz at 1.534V.

 

Anyhow..enough overclock talk here and I can't say enough good things about these 2600K Sandy Bridge chips! I eagerly await the release of 8 core SB's and will purchase my next system when that happens since it will be a huge upgrade in number crunching ability.

 

DS indeed did a good job of communicating with me throughout this process ! I doubt that other companies would have been as good, and some may have just shipped it as is, with a considerably lower OC than I paid for and wanted, and just refunded my $99.

 

Total cost shipped to me was just under 3K.

 

Once my P95 testing is finished, time to load up SC2 and see how nice it looks and plays on a nearly top end GPU.

 

Thx .. DS .. this is my 3rd DS system and I look forward to being a lifetime customer as I have very high end number crunching needs.

 

Edit: running 1.53V and no issues with P95 so far.

 

The engineer in me, simply has to try to tweak things, especially since mid process I was told the it is best for the high OC to upgrade the mobo to the Maximus.

 

Not to be nitpicky, but the configurator says that the 750W PS is suitable for dual SLI (although that would only possibly be in my distant plans)

 

Very happy with my new computer .. neilkaz ..