New build - June 2010

Hello people

Job - Graphic Designer. Gaming every chance i have and no more Quadro for me. Too much "useless" features (for my job) at a ridiculous price. Even too, quadro for gaming isnt really... you know... using my MAC half the time for work anyways, its time to build myself a good gaming system.

Budget around 6,000 - Heres my spec so far... several question right after it.

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Chassis Model - Black OPS HailStorm Edition
Exterior Finish - Standard Factory Finish
Trim Accents - Standard Factory Finish
Processor - Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition 980X 3.33GHz (Hexa-Core) (Extreme Performance)
Motherboard - EVGA X58 Classified 3X SLI (Intel EATX X58 Chipset) (Supports Triple SLI or CrossFire)
System Memory - 12GB DDR3 1600MHz Corsair Dominator DHX (High-Performance)
Power Supply - 1000W Corsair (Dual/Triple/Quad SLI Compatible)
Expansion Bay - Internal Digital Media Card Reader (Black) (NOTE: Disables 2 Front USB Ports)
Hard Drive Set 1 - Operating System - 2x (80GB Solid State (By: Intel) (Extreme Performance) (Model: X25-M MLC Edition)
Set 1 Raid Options - Configure HDD Set 1 to a Raid 0 Config - Stripe Performance (Requires Two HDDs)
Hard Drive Set 2 - Multimedia\Data - 1x (500GB Western Digital (16MB Cache) (7200 RPM) (SATA)
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 - Blu-Ray Player/DVD Player (Play Blu-Ray and Play DVDs)
Internet Access - High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Video Card - 2x SLI Dual (NVIDIA EVGA GeForce GTX 480 1.5GB (Includes PhysX Technology)
Add-on Card - No Thanks
Sound Card - Creative Labs X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Champion (Includes Front I/O) (PCI-Express Slot Based)
Extreme Cooling - H20: Stage 6: Sub-Zero LCS Dual Loop: CPU & Dual SLI/CrossFire Video Cards & Chipset
H20 Tube Color - White Tubing with High-Performance Fluid (UV Lighting Reactive)
Chassis Airflow - Upgrade Chassis With LED Performance Fans (Red) (Up to 6 Fans)
Internal Lighting - Internal Chassis Lighting System (UV) (Creates Glowing Effect for H20 Tubes)
Enhancements - No Thanks
Chassis Mods - No Thanks
Noise Reduction - Noise Suppression Package (Optimized Airflow & Fan Speeds with Noise Dampening Material)
Boost Processor - Stage 3 - Overclock the processor between 4.2GHz to 4.4GHz (Requires i7 980X Processor)
Boost Video Card - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s)
Boost Memory - Memory Fan Kit Only (Does not include memory overclocking service)
Boost OS - FREE: Yes, Disable and tweak all of the non-crucial services on the operating system
Windows OS - Microsoft Windows 7 Professional (64-Bit Edition)

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1- The processor, is it worth taking the 980x assuming i can overclock a less pricy one to 4.0 GHz ?

2- The power supply, i was thinking about upgrading my old comp with the Corsair 1kw but for this setup so far i really dont know if its enough. Is 1200w would be overkill ?

3- Memory, there is 2 choice in the list for the 12GB at 1600. Since the price is really different for both, i wanted to know if that was really making any difference ?

4- Video cards, two EVGA 480 or two normal 480 ? any kind of difference at all ?

5- Cooling, oh god.. headache starting again! Lets split this one in multiple questions...
5a. Do i need the 6 more fans or its really going to be overkill with the stage6 cooling ?
5b. Do the 6fans are really making alot of noise ? Less noise possible for me
5c. Do you need to take care of the cooling system often ? Like changing the liquid or anything.

6- Boost OS, what does they remove exactly ?

7- Lights and effect
7a. I saw two different looking cooling tubes over the website. Slick tubes and some with "spiral" thingy tube. (kind of the same tubes covered with a dark spirals on them). What option in the list make this difference ? Silly me want them slick...
7b. Any way to work with DS to configure a little bit more the lightning ? or any anyone know a great site just so i can do it myself later work too hehe. If im about to put lights in my case, better make them look exactly like i want no ?! details freak sorry...

8- Windows, i never did the step into vista and 7.. soo i think its time now but the question is. Whats the difference between professionnal and ultimate ?

9- Video boost worth it ?

10- Do DS have any restriction with Canadian customers ? like warranty or what so ever. Sorry, half the website isnt working for me right now, cant really check easily...



Thank you for your time guys, peace

Well since your budget is that big i think you should have a good monitor with good res and want a really kick ass rig. You said your doing ur work on the MAC so i think you shouldnt need the 980X since that would be crazy overkill for gaming only cause you said your biulding a gaming system lol

Anyways back to your questions

1: Its not worth upgrading to the 980X like i said since its going way overboard for gaming unless your going to be doing some work on this computer too so if you are planning to work here, you might want the 980X

2: To power 2 480's you should go with a 1250W psu

3: If you insist on getting 12G of ram then do not touch the dominator's stick with the DS certified, not enough gain in the dominator vs the amount they are costing

4: Not much difference that i heard of except EVGA has the step up program and also their customer support is very good

5: You are getting LC from DS, the rad and fans they use i hear do not match up very well and dont work as well as if you buy custom rads and fans, you should check out some rads and fans and call DS so they can special order it for you and instal it for you. oh yea Dont get the Fan upgrade, they are very loud as i hear from almost everyone in this forum. Taking care of the LCS is easy i hear, never had one and forgot how to from what i read in the forums so others should answer how to take care of it, but i remember it seemed pretty easy.

6: Dont get the OS boost, in a OCed 930 or 980X you would def not even notice the gain and if you need something re enabled, you would have to call DS and have them walk you through it

7: Lets have someone else answer this lol but i know one thing, you can definitely have DS custum order lights you want or have them set up how you want the system to be lighted.

8: Not a big difference enough for u to waste the money haha, go check their site, they should have a comparison chart. Peopl buy proff over home because of the xp compat and its only 32 bux more so its a steal in DS

9. No, not rly worth. DS only OC's video a little so not rly anything there.

10.  No idea sorry


Hope i answered all your questions if ya got anymore just ask em and we'll try to answer em

If you want a good answer to an expensive computer like his, you'll have to wait for DST4ME because hes an expert with this stuff.

Changed the psu for the EVO and the dual SLI 480 for a single ATI 5970.

After reading the heating and pwoer hungry situation of the 480 (even more in dual) it turned me off... gonna stick with ATI untill Nvidia come up with something "better" and upgrade later. The power usage is just too monstruous for no reason... i dont know, just for the price its weird. No reason to throw money by the window.

for the rads and fans.. i was thinking about some gentle typhoon mounted on some xspc rx and a yate loon for the 140mm fan. Still looking for the reservoir if its possible to change it too. The iandh 225ml look clean !

hopefully DS can help me build the LCS perfectly and look good at the same time... and hopefully the rads will all fit -inside- the corsair 800d case (hailstorm)... questions, questions, questions !


Edited by Renyn - 29 Jun 2010 at 5:15pm

Ohh would 2x 5870 would beat a 5970 ? well, pretty sure its a yes but, really a big difference ?

im kind of curious why you dont recommend the 5970

Beside the power used by the dual 480... im kind of scared about the gpu temp.. ~45c idle... ~100c at 100%... horrible numbers for one card. Would be nice to know how they react with the DS LCS

Found someone at my work who do run dual 480. At first i was kind of worried about the noise it would make with 2 480 running high on temp... barelly couldnt hear a thing with 2 480 running at 70c/68c during metro2033 in 1920x1200 (not max setings but still) fans around 60% speed.

water cooled and im good with 2 of these !

thx guys, made me look more to gather more informations and found answer to my questions. Less headache too !!