new gaming rig - cooling paranoia

Looking at this config #486223 (below)  My price range is $2500-3500.

My last DS rig #6096 was air cooled, and consistently overheated and crashed when playing WoW.  I had to leave the case open with a desk fan blowing in.  This time I want to go LC if it is 100% maintenance free.  Some posts here say it is not, but perhaps it depends on what kind you buy?  Is the Asetek in my spec below truly maintenance free?  Should I look at another option?

Not overclocking the processors - my old DS box appears to have died, either the MB or the processors (still at the fixit shop) - I think it just ran too hot for too many years (2) - but perhaps I should let DS overclock as long as I am certain I have adequate cooling this time?

A friend says I should ask for a Cooler Master HAF case instead of the Black OPS HailStorm Editrion case.  Do you agree?  If I go with the HailStorm, are the standard fans going to do the job?

Expectations: I want the rig to boot fast (solid state OS drive - woo hoo).  Primarily using rig for WoW, but also to store and retrieve photos, tunes and vids.  Some composition (Sibelius).  The video card is overkill but I hope it will last me many years of new more demanding apps.  Dual Samsung 22" LCD widescreen monitors.  And of course, I don't want it to crash when I play WoW !!  In summer, I sometimes operate in a room that is 85 degrees Fahrenheit.

Thanks!!!
BillS

Here's config #486223
Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - Black OPS HailStorm Edition
Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish
Processor: Intel Core i7 950 3.06GHz (Quad Core)
Motherboard: EVGA X58 SLI 3 Edition (USB 3.0 & SATA 6Gb/s) (Model: 131-GT-E767)
System Memory: 12GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested)
Power Supply: 750W Digital Storm Certified (Dual SLI Compatible) (Silent Edition Recommended)
Expansion Bay: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (128GB Solid State (By: Corsair) (Model: Performance 3 Series CSSD-P3128GB2) (SATA 6Gbps)
Set 1 Raid Options: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: 1x (600GB Western Digital VelociRaptor (10K RPM) (32MB Cache) (Model: WD6000HLHX)
Hard Drive Set 3: Backup\Misc.: 1x (1.5TB Seagate Barracuda (7200 RPM) (32MB Cache)
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 580 1.5GB (Includes PhysX Technology) Add-on Card: - No Thanks
Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio
Extreme Cooling: H20: Stage 2: Asetek Liquid CPU Cooler (240mm Radiator) (High-Performance Edition)
H20 Tube Color:- Not Applicable, I do not have a FrostChill or Sub-Zero LCS Cooling System Selected
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: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my processor
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: - No Thanks
Display: - No Thanks
Surge Shield: - No Thanks
Speakers: - No Thanks
Keyboard: - No Thanks
Mouse: - No Thanks
External Storage: - No Thanks
Warranty: Life-time Expert Customer Care with 3 Year Limited Warranty

yeah well 85 is worst case - perhaps best if I leave it off when it's that bad :)  Typically in summer it's not above 80 - usually it's lower (I'm in Massachusetts)

Thanks,
BillS

By "thermalelectric cooling" do you mean something like the Frost Chill Cooling or the Sub-Zero LCS Cooling that DS offers?  I'd consider a few extra bux for one of them if they are self-contained (no maintenance)

If I get one of those, will the Hailstorm case I ordered be suffficient, should I get one of the Cooler Master HAF cases, or something else?  Does it even matter?

Thanks,
BillS

You guys realize there's only a 7°C difference between a 72°F room and a 85°F room, right?

I mean, this makes a difference, your temps will be 7°C higher, but this is not a ZOMG I HAVE TO SPEND $1000 ON EXTRA COOLING situation here.


Edited by Dragoonseal - 13 Feb 2011 at 12:26am

Can you tell us the specs for your old rig?

No matter what you go with, you gonna have 85c air blow thru the rad, thats not gonna help dissipate heat very well.

the config you have is a bad idea, asetek is not real cooling system, as in it gives you the same perforance as a good cooler the D14 beats it, you want to get the OC, you pc dies because of hight temps and poor cooling, if you go with SB then cpu runs cooler and etc and that is what you want:

Here you go Ticket# 486436 --- $2877 (To see this build click here)

Copy of Specifications:
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 (160GB 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.: 1x (1TB Western Digital Caviar (7200 RPM) (64MB Cache) (Model: Black Edition WD1002FAEX)
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: AIR: Stage 2: Noctua NH-D14 Extreme Performance (Does NOT fit on the regular EVGA X58 3X SLI)
H20 Tube Color:- Not Applicable, I do not have a FrostChill or Sub-Zero LCS Cooling System Selected
Chassis Airflow: Standard Factory Chassis Fans
Internal Lighting: - No Thanks
Enhancements: - No Thanks
Chassis Mods: - No Thanks
Noise Reduction: - No Thanks
Boost Processor: FREE: Overclock the processor between 3.6GHz to 3.9GHz
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: - 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: - No Thanks
Priority Build: - No Thanks, Ship Within 5-15 Business Days After Order Is Successfully Processed
Warranty: Life-time Expert Customer Care with 5 Year Limited Warranty

I gave you the 5 year warranty so you are covered for the next 5 years.

this case two 200mm fans, and one 230mm fan, there is room on top for you to add another 200mm fan, ask DS specifically to add this 200mm fan to the top for you:

200mm Black Case Fan

Edited by DST4ME - 13 Feb 2011 at 11:32am

Hi DST4ME,

My old spec is #6096 and cost $1987 back in Jan 2008.  I did wind up overclocking the processor, and the Raid never worked so wound up disabling it.

I'll post a separate reply to your other comments.  Thanks!

System Configuration #6096:
Case: Digital Storm Twister PRO (Black Anodized Aluminum Finish)
Power Supply: 620W Corsair HX (Dual SLI Compatible) (Silent Edition)
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz (1066MHz FSB) (8MB Cache)
Motherboard: nVidia 680i LT Core 2 Quad (By: eVGA) (nForce 680i SLI)
Memory: 2GB DDR2 Corsair at 1066MHz Dominator (Dual Channel) (Extreme-Performance)
Floppy / Card: Sony 1.44MB Floppy (Black Edition)
Hard Drive 1: 320GB Western Digital (16MB Cache) (7200 RPM) (SATA)
Hard Drive 2: 320GB Western Digital (16MB Cache) (7200 RPM) (SATA)
Raid Option: Setup hard drive 1 and 2 in a Raid 1 Mirror (Hard Drive Cloning For Data Backup)
Hard Drive 3: - No Thanks
Optical Drive 1: DVD-ROM/CD-ROM (DVD Reader 16x / CD Reader 40x)
Optical Drive 2: DVD±R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 20x / CD-Writer 48x) (LightScribe Edition)
Network Card: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Video Card: nVidia GeForce 8800GT 512MB (By: eVGA) (PCI-Express)
TV Tuner: - No Thanks
Sound Card: Motherboard Multi-Channel High Definition Audio (7.1 Channel)
Physics Card: - No Thanks
Cooling: Air Cooled Stage 2 (Silent Artic Cooling Heat-sink (Copper Heatpipes)
Case Lighting: Blizzard Internal Lighting (Blue Edition) (Cold Cathode Tubes)
Round Cables: - No Thanks
User Manual: Personalized Platinum Digital Storm Binder (Includes Paperwork/Benchmarks/CDs/Manuals)
Overclock Processor: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my processor
Overclock Video Card: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s)
Overclock Memory: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my memory
Tweak Windows: - No Thanks, Please do not tweak the services on the operating system
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium
Restore Kit: Digital Storm Specialized Recovery System (DVD Image Based)
Protection: - No Thanks
Office: - No Thanks
Benchmarking: - No Thanks
Pre-Install Game: - No Thanks
LCD Display: - No Thanks
Surge Shield: - No Thanks
Speakers: - No Thanks
Keyboard: Microsoft Multimedia Desktop 2.0 (Multimedia Keyboard + Optical Wheel Mouse)
Mouse: - No Thanks my keyboard comes with a mouse
Warranty: 3 Year Platinum Care Extended Parts & Labor Warranty
Support: Lifetime Toll-Free Platinum Care Technical Support

Guys LC will not help in a warm room, since it has warm air blowing thru the rads.

Bill I see your specs, todays cpu coolers are much better, and SB runs much cooler itself, however at the end of the day we are blowing hot air no matter if we use air or lc.

I will await your response to my previous build.

Edited by DST4ME - 13 Feb 2011 at 11:54am

Keep in mind we are talking 85c air here, so does 5 x 120mm fans blowing hot 85f air on the rad help? no not much, hot air does not help dissipate heat, cool air does, like Dragoon said, the difference is not gonna be $1000 worth.

Edited by DST4ME - 13 Feb 2011 at 12:26pm

Well so you are telling me that if I had my cpu air cooled, my load temp would be 100c air cooled?

The haf x has much better airflow, you looking at total of 4 x 200mm fans, vs the 3 x 140mm fan of HailStorm in your config.

the tec liquid chilled systems are thermal exchange coolling systems, thats probably what you are thinking of.

1. NO 2600k oced is all you need, since it runs cool a 3.9Ghz and d14 should give you good temp.

2. more ram = more multi tasking, 8GB is gonna be more then enough for your use, even 6GB would be more then enough.

3. Welcome your friend to 2011 and 2011 technology, the ssd will kill the veloci 10K rpm and the black caviar is faster also, and yes I have veloci drives myslef and loved them till 2010, then in 2010 ssds got great, specially intel, and great drives like the black caviar came out.

I suggested the Intel drive, all ssds are not the same, don't make a mistake of thinking it does not matter which you get, they also differ in sizes, the smaller they go the slower they get comparing to their bigger brothers, for example 40GB intel is slower then 160GB Intel.

4. The 570 will give you what you need, 580 has nothing to offer you in wow, you can even go 560 if you like.

Whoops I see that you said that the Black Caviar 7200 would beat the 10k Veloci.

Surprising but nice to spend less on a better drive!

Bill

Most times you go for the LC for better temps, better temps are always welcomed, but mainly LC is used for high ocs, (4.2 and higher for i7 9xx, and 4.6 and higher for SB).

Bottom line is that whatever air can do, lc will do better, how much of a difference will it make in your condition? I'm not sure.

Bill its better to do it this way, get the oc, then if you don't like the temp with the oc, you just simply go to bios and with one click set bios to default (aka remove oc), now the oc is saved in a profile in your bios so anytime you like you can put it back, this way you get the oc, and get to see how the temps are, if you don't like the temps, then you just simply disable oc.

Originally posted by DST4ME Well so you are telling me that if I had my cpu air cooled, my load temp would be 100c air cooled?

Avoid VelociRaptors like the plague. Slightly faster access times than a 1TB, but going from 0.6MB/s to 0.8MB/s amounts to about jack and sh*t. Large file transfer speeds are largely identical between the two. An SSD is 100 times faster than that. The ridiculous price on the VRs make them completely stupid and pointless.

That $219 difference could get you another 100GB of SSD space or so if you shopped around.

Hi Everyone,

Wouldn't it make sense to try and lower the ambient Temperature in the room. I would spend $300 on a room air conditioner instead of operating in such high temps. Even if a window is not available there are other units that would help to some extent. It just seems like a logical thing to do.

Frank



Edited by FrankW - 14 Feb 2011 at 3:36pm

I would just like to point out that the biggest problem with higher ambient temperatures is going to be an air-cooled (stock cooler) video card. From experience living in Northern California where we get 110-115 degree days in the Summer, my biggest problems came from my video card over-heating while gaming. Sure, the fan would speed up on my STOCK cpu fan, but I never got any crashes or warnings from high temps. As long as your ambient temperature is significantly lower than the running temperature of the CPU and the box has ample air flow (not wedged into a computer desk or the like) then I'm sure you'll be fine. Keep in mind my system wasn't overclocked, but I'm fairly certain a LC system would do fine to cool your system over-clock and all.

I placed my order yesterday, then got the notice about the issue with the P67 Sata 3G  http://www.digitalstormonline.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=13564&PID=155919

I decided to wait for the fixed board, so I guess I won't see my new rig for at least four weeks, probably longer.  But I will still followup when I get it to let folks know if air cooling was sufficient for my needs, and how my core temps are with and without OC.  It will be a few more months before the acid test in an 80+ degree room.

Thanks again for all the advice.

Bill