Need Advice On Ultimate Computer

Hi Digital Storm Community, right now I'm in the process of trying to build my dream computer that I will buy in a few months. I need some input.
My budget is 10,000.  I'm going to be playing FPS (Black Ops2, Bioshock Infinity, Crysis 3), recording game play and editing videos as well as using it for school and potentially CAD programs.  I definitely do not want a water cooled system but other than that I'm open to suggestions.  Below is the configuration that I was thinking about:

Specifications:
Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - Cooler Master Cosmos II
Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish
Processor: Intel Core i7 3820 3.6GHz (Turbo Mode up to 3.8GHz) (Quad Core) <b></b>
Motherboard: ASUS Rampage IV Extreme X79 (Intel X79 Chipset) (Features USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s) <b></b>
System Memory: 32GB DDR3 1600MHz Corsair Dominator DHX (High-Performance) <b></b>
Power Supply: 1200W Corsair Pro Platinum Series with Corsair Link (CP-9020008-NA) (Quad SLI Compatible)  <b></b>
Expansion Bay: Internal Digital Media Card Reader (Black) <b></b>
Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (240GB Solid State (By: Intel) (Model: 520 Series) <b></b>
Set 1 Raid Options: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: 1x (240GB Solid State (By: Intel) (Model: 520 Series) <b></b>
Hard Drive Set 3: Backup\Misc.: 1x (480GB Solid State (By: Intel) (Model: 520 Series) <b></b>
Optical Drive 1: DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 24x / CD-Writer 48x) <b></b>
Optical Drive 2: DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 24x / CD-Writer 48x) <b></b>
Internet Access: !PROMOTION: Killer 2100 (Optimized for Online Gaming) Lag and Latency Reduction <b></b>
Video Card: 2x SLI Dual (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 4GB (Includes PhysX) <b></b>
Add-on Card: - No Thanks
Sound Card: Creative Labs Sound Blaster Recon3D Fatal1ty Professional 5.1 <b></b>
Extreme Cooling: AIR: Stage 2: Noctua NH-D14 SE2011 Extreme Performance <b></b>
H20 Tube Color:- Not Applicable, I do not have a FrostChill or Sub-Zero LCS Cooling System Selected
Chassis Airflow: Upgrade Chassis With LED Performance Fans (Blue) (Up to 6 Fans) <b></b>
Internal Lighting: - No Thanks
Enhancements: - No Thanks
Chassis Mods: - No Thanks
Noise Reduction: - No Thanks
LaserMark: - No Thanks
Boost Processor: Standard Intel Turbo Boost 2.0 Automatic Overclocking <b></b>
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: Trend Micro Titanium Internet Security <b></b>
Office: Microsoft Office 2010 Home and Student  (Full Retail Box Packaging)  <b></b>
Game: - No Thanks
Display: - No Thanks
Surge Shield: - No Thanks
Speakers: - No Thanks
Keyboard: Corsair Vengeance K60 (FPS Mechanical Gaming Keyboard) (Black/Metal Finish) <b></b>
Mouse: !SPECIAL: Corsair Vengeance M60 (Laser 5700 dpi) (FPS Gaming Mouse) (While Supplies Last) <b></b>
External Storage: - No Thanks
Exclusive T-Shirt: - No Thanks
Priority Build: Please Prioritize: Ship Within Four Business Days After Order Is Successfully Processed <b></b>
Warranty: Life-time Expert Customer Care with 3 Year Limited Warranty

Also, please keep in mind that although my budget is 10,000 I still have to buy monitors, software, etc.  Thank you for your input.

I like your view on just because you have such a high budget doesn't mean you need to use it all you will not gain much in performance once you go over a 2500 budget

And would stage 1 oc be ok to run with stage 2 air? (Noctua NH-D14)

Hi walden_emrys,

With a budget of $10,000 I think we can do a little better than what you have. Not that your system is not good. I just think we can tweak it a bit.

Here are some of my thoughts for you to consider.

1. The Cosmos II case does not have the best main compartment cooling with the standard options. I would make some changes. Add a 200mm fan to the top. Add the two 120mm fans to the side.

The Cosmos II is a nice looking case but as far as the best case for air cooling, you can't beat the HAF-X. You can put two 200mm fans at the top and it comes with a 200mm fan on the side. To be clear, the HAF-X comes with one 200mm fan on the top and you can add a second. The HAF-X comes with a 230mm fan on the front while the Cosmos has a 200mm. The HAF-X is not the prettiest case out there but it's air cooling can't be beat.

The Aventum is withing your budget but you will have to go with LC on the CPU.

2. You have a good sized SSD with the 240Gb and I am not sure you need the 480Gb as a storage devise. You can do it but I think a 1Tb WD is a better choice. It is not as fast as a SSD but it is a lot cheaper. It is also one, if not the best, performing HDD available.

3. The suggestion of RAID-0 configuration with your primary SSD has been a bad idea until now. In the past TRIM would not work in RAID-0 but that is just now changing. We still need new BIOS and Win-8. It will work with Win-7 but Win-8 particularly addresses this problem. If you have SSDs in RAID-0 with out trim and that is what it is until just recently, your performance will drastically decrease once you have wrote to all blocks of your SSD.   

4. Your are smart to drop the Killer 2100. Just a waste of your money.

5. Win-7 Home version won't support 32Gb of memory. You need to move up to Win-7 Pro.

6. Don't get the performance fans upgrade. It will replace 200mm fans with 120mm fans. There are 200mm fans with LEDs. DS can provide what you need.

7. The D-14 is a good choice for your CPU cooler. This case should have room for it.

8. You should get Stage 1 OC. A better choice than your selection.

9. Don't forget to order your Free T-Shirt

Frank

Edited by FrankW - 29 Aug 2012 at 9:23am

Alright, I took your guys advice and here's what I came up with.  I took out the Killer 2100, I reduced the 480 SSD with a 240 SSD (I want three separate drives, one for my OS, one for school/etc, and one for games), I still want the performance fans cause I'm planning on putting three at the top, four on the side (replace the two bottom ones it comes with and adding the ones on the door), and replacing the one at the back.  I'm sticking to the Cosmos 2, because although the fans are smaller, there are more of them.  Plus the Cosmos 2 has built in air filters on all parts where air comes in.  And it's a larger case.  And it looks cool.

Specifications:
Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - Cooler Master Cosmos II
Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish
Processor: Intel Core i7 3820 3.6GHz (Turbo Mode up to 3.8GHz) (Quad Core) <b></b>
Motherboard: ASUS Rampage IV Extreme X79 (Intel X79 Chipset) (Features USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s) <b></b>
System Memory: 32GB DDR3 1600MHz Corsair Dominator DHX (High-Performance) <b></b>
Power Supply: 1200W Corsair Pro Platinum Series with Corsair Link (CP-9020008-NA) (Quad SLI Compatible)  <b></b>
Expansion Bay: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (240GB Solid State (By: Intel) (Model: 520 Series) <b></b>
Set 1 Raid Options: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: 1x (240GB Solid State (By: Intel) (Model: 520 Series) <b></b>
Hard Drive Set 3: Backup\Misc.: 1x (240GB Solid State (By: Intel) (Model: 520 Series) <b></b>
Optical Drive 1: DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 24x / CD-Writer 48x) <b></b>
Optical Drive 2: DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 24x / CD-Writer 48x) <b></b>
Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Video Card: 2x SLI Dual (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 4GB (Includes PhysX) <b></b>
Add-on Card: - No Thanks
Sound Card: Creative Labs Sound Blaster Recon3D Fatal1ty Professional 5.1 <b></b>
Extreme Cooling: AIR: Stage 2: Noctua NH-D14 SE2011 Extreme Performance <b></b>
H20 Tube Color:- Not Applicable, I do not have a FrostChill or Sub-Zero LCS Cooling System Selected
Chassis Airflow: Upgrade Chassis With LED Performance Fans (Blue) (Up to 6 Fans) <b></b>
Internal Lighting: - No Thanks
Enhancements: - No Thanks
Chassis Mods: - No Thanks
Noise Reduction: - No Thanks
LaserMark: - No Thanks
Boost Processor: Stage 1: Overclock CPU 4.0GHz to 4.4GHz <b></b>
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 Ultimate (64-Bit Edition) <b></b>
Recovery Tools: Windows Recovery Toolkit (Bundled with Windows 7 CD)
Virus Protection: - No Thanks
Office: Microsoft Office 2010 Home and Student  (Full Retail Box Packaging)  <b></b>
Game: - No Thanks
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 (Large) <b></b>
Priority Build: Please Prioritize: Ship Within Four Business Days After Order Is Successfully Processed <b></b>
Warranty: Life-time Expert Customer Care with 3 Year Limited Warranty

Also, I was thinking last night 'what if the cosmos 2 had a side door made of glass/see through material?'  Do you think that DS could make a custom door for the Cosmos 2 made out of glass?  (the door would be the same shape + size as the original metal one)


Edited by walden_emrys - 29 Aug 2012 at 12:23pm

Yes you can have ds mod the window for you. And you should also ask for scythe gt fans or some noiseblocker fans they will be a lot more quite then the ones ds uses.

I would just upgrade the fans, let's just say this I picked up a pair of 120mm nzxt 2600rpm fans same blade design as scythe and they are not as loud as the 3 1850rpm zalman fans that ds useed on my radiator. If I were you I would pick up scyth gentle typhoons 1850 rpm and have them hooked up to a fan controller, personally you will save a lot more money if you do this yourself, it is not hard to install case fans.

Originally posted by tju76 I would just upgrade the fans, let's just say this I picked up a pair of 120mm nzxt 2600rpm fans same blade design as scythe and they are not as loud as the 3 1850rpm zalman fans that ds useed on my radiator. If I were you I would pick up scyth gentle typhoons 1850 rpm and have them hooked up to a fan controller, personally you will save a lot more money if you do this yourself, it is not hard to install case fans.

alright man, going to take your advice and go with the nzxt fans
going to get 3 FZ-120mm LED at the top
four FZ-120mm LED on the side
one FZ-140mm LED in the back
and one FS 200LED in the front
all going to be blue led
(plus I'm going to put some on the Noctua NH-D14 if I'm able to put a side window on this case, looked at the side window mod that DS has in the custom area and it said only the HailStorm & 950Si cases were able to do it)

Originally posted by SpicierMire Ultimate Setup 2012?   3960X Asus RIVE 4-way SLI 680's SSD's in RAID 2133+MHz Memory Two 1200W PSU's   Ultimate Gaming PC? Not a chance without WC+OC...

I really dont want a wc pc, dont like the idea of all that water running in my system (however if I were to wc my system i would get it from DS).  But no.

I've decided to do stage 1 oc

what would be the purpose of having two psu's?  Would the system run better?


Edited by walden_emrys - 30 Aug 2012 at 4:07pm

I'm also thinking about replacing the Noctua NH-D14 with the HAVIK 140 (replacing the fans on the 140 with the FX 140LB).  Is this a good idea?  The stock fans that the Noctua come with goes about 1300 rpm while the replacement fans for the HAVIK go about 2000.  Is there any reason other than the noise that i shouldn't do this?  (The reason I'm considering this is because I don't like how the Noctua goes over the RAM)

Edited by walden_emrys - 31 Aug 2012 at 6:48pm

Alright so it seems like I'm just going to get the Noctua anyway (even though I'm not completly comfortable with it being just over the RAM).  However, I'm going to change out the fans to one NZXT FX 120mm (2600 rpm) and one NZXT FX 140mm (2000 rpm).  Also, I'm going to change the thermal paste to Innovation's IC Diamond (which gets about -8c on average compared to other thermal pastes)


Edited by walden_emrys - 02 Sep 2012 at 12:47am

Just when you think you've looked at all the current options for your computer, you find something new haha.  Was looking at the Thermalright Silver Arrow Extreme (same as Silver Arrow except for MUCH better fans) and it beats the Noctua in cooling capabilities.  I only have one question: will 32 GB of Corsair Dominator RAM (with top heatsinksoff) fit underneath it.  Can't find this info anywhere.

True, but I will add that when someone is spending a large sum of money, the extra money allows to simply buy the best of the best in the market (even if it's just for brand preference or the look of a certain item).

I have the Corsair Vengeance ram sticks, from DS,  that are about 30mm high without the heat spreader and 50mm with heat spreader.  The slot takes about 5mm.  Not exact but close.

Edited by bprat22 - 03 Sep 2012 at 6:30am

Get microsoft office from another source then ds you will get it for a lot less. And if you are looking for low profile ram then the dominator is not a good choice they are huge. Personally I would just get 2x 680 then depending on what you get for monitors etc you can easily add the third card in yourself.

If you want to have DS do all the work you can have them order the parts you want that they don't stock.  The fans, fan controller, CPU cooler and low profile memory.

Also i would get the corsair 1200i instead of the silverstone 1500.

I have another question.  I'm planning on getting a 27 inch monitor with a 2560 x 1440 resolution.  will 2 gtx 680 4gb be able to do max settings , or will I need to go with 3?  (please keep in mind I want this rig to last a few years without any major upgrades)

Edited by walden_emrys - 12 Sep 2012 at 10:27pm