Professionally Extreme Gaming Build :)

Just going to follow the standard format since it's been layed out :)

Budget:
Around $6000. Would like it to be lower, but willing to go a bit higher. I only need a tower, I already have monitors and peripherals.

Expectations:
My current system is antiquated, to say the least. Currently my favorite hobby, as well as secondary source of income, is from being a professional gamer. The market is moving, and I know that I need to expand my distribution in forms of expanding my YouTube channel and being able to host a high-quality stream for the games I'm playing. My sponsors are really pushing me on this.

I need to be able to fraps AND stream games in high/ultra quality, such as BF3, WoW, SC2, D3, CS1.6 (yeah not intensive), and future games.

I also need this computer to have longevity; at least 4 years.

Usage:
I'm going to be using this computer upwards of 12 hours a day, most days around 6. It needs to be high performing and consistent, as well as quiet and aesthetically pleasing for when I have guests.

Special Needs:
I'm going to be recording everything to my SSD's due to the performance gap compared to HDD writing. I'm initially planning 240gb of SSD space (I've grown accustom to having small disk space), though I'm unsure of how much space I'll need / be consuming with fraps at 60 fps on 1900x1200 or higher. I also need multitasking power to do all that has been mentioned, as well as potentially running 2-3 game clients simultaneously.

I'll also be rendering videos and projects quite a bit, and I'll probably want to be playing/streaming while doing so with little to no downtime, if possible.

Saved Ticket #: 665505 is my current WIP.

Specifications: The components that I've definitively chosen are the Rampage IV Extreme board as well as the 3930k. SSD/HDD's are up in the air, as well as PSU (though 1200W seems to be a well rounded number). I currently have selected dual 590's in quad SLI, though I'm waiting to compare to Nvidia's 680 SLI or 690 quad SLI when they're released soon (I prefer green over red :) ). I definitely want high performing liquid cooling on both my CPU and GPUs. I'm also unsure about which case I'll be sticking with, though out of the available on the DS site the Cosmos II is my favorite.

As a side note, I chose so much RAM because I'm unsure of what is going to be consumed by my everyday processes. If what I have is far more than enough, then I'll gladly run my game of the week off the "remainder" of the RAM itself.

Questions I Have:

1. I'm unsure of how DS does their waterblocks for GPUs; if they're custom made and/or outsourced. How soon after Nvidia's 6 series is released will waterblocks be available for liquid cooling solutions through their "stage 6" option?

2. Is DS willing to use cases not provided on their website? I'm still deciding between the Cosmos II and the SilverStone TJ11W-B, which isn't listed.

*how cool would it be to have a Cosmos II design with the top I/O functionality and air flow of the TJ11W-B? *


Any feedback is appreciated :)

Edited by nemex - 15 Mar 2012 at 8:34pm

Taking a look at your configuration...

The CM Cosmos II is a nice case, to be sure. Personally I don't like the aesthetic as much and would prefer the Corsair 800D, but either will handle the dual loop LC.

The Rampage IV is nice, and being an ROG product it'll handle all kinds of gaming well. But as BF3Addict mentions, the P9X79 Deluxe will serve you just as well. Up to you, in the end.

64GB of RAM? Even with running 2-3 game clients and Fraps, that's feels a bit excessive to me. I'd top out at 32GB maybe, since 16GB could get strained with all those clients running.

The PSU size is determined mostly by the number of cards you put into it. The 1200W is needed for tri-SLI, but you only need the 1050W Corsair Pro 1050HX for a dual card setup.

I would recommend the Intel 520 SSDs over the Corsair ones, just due to some firmware improvements Intel has made that the Corsair ones lack. I don't know if the Corsair firmware has TRIM support in RAID 0, but the Intel ones do, and TRIM support is what you want to keep your drives' longevity up. Or you could go with a single 240GB and not worry about it.

As BF3Addict says, the 590 is pretty much garbage. You'll see better returns out of either a tri-SLI 580 setup or a dual-CF 7970. I haven't seen much in the way of reviews comparing those two, but a dual 7970 beats a dual 580 very handily, and the dual 7970 is so powerful that most boutique manufacturers don't even go tripe-CF on it. A really nice dual 7970 review can be found here.
I would suggest also waiting to see how the Kepler cards compare, as information on the cards is supposed to be released next week, although slides for the 680 have already been leaked. The 680 looks to be a beast of a card, moreso than the  7970.
Whichever card you go for, you'll see better returns with the 7970 or 680, for future-proofing. They're both PCI-E 3.0 cards, like the motherboard, so when such a time comes as graphics cards exceed the PCI-E 2.0 x8 bandwidth, having a 3.0-capable board and cards will benefit you.

Given the stress your system will be under, it probably wouldn't hurt to bump the LC to include the chipset.

There's little reason to go with "performance" fans on the system, because you'll have most every heat source water-cooled. All they do is add noise and lights. But that's personal preference moreso, as I imagine you're used to living with jet engines when you game ;)

In the notes, remember to mention that you don't want your CPU OC to exceed a vcore of 1.4v

OC the video cards, not usually worth it. The 7970s have a huge headroom for OC though, and I imagine the 680s will as well. Personal preference again, and it's free to boot. Utilities exist to shut down the OC if you don't see enough performance gains to warrant shortening the life of the cards.

Windows 7 Ultimate vs Professional is a wash for me. Over Professional, you get BitLocker and some other miscellaneous additions, that for home users don't amount to the extra $30.

And last but certainly not least, you forgot your t-shirt!


With suggested changes, here's the new configuration: 665574
It comes in at $300ish cheaper. If you still want the 64gb of RAM, that'll make the configuration some $60 more expensive, but you get better video cards and chipset LC as well.


Edited by kenage - 16 Mar 2012 at 7:21pm

Build 665622
Cost 5,616

So a couple things I did with this build was to go with the hailstorm case, primarily designed for LC. STage 6 cooling for CPU, chipset and GPU's. Since you're only playing on one monitor atm a dual 7970 setup would destroy.

Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - Black OPS HailStorm Edition
Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish
Processor: Intel Core i7 3930K 3.2GHz (Unlocked CPU for Extreme Overclocking) (Six-Core)
Motherboard: ASUS Sabertooth X79 (Intel X79 Chipset) (Features USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s)
System Memory: 16GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested)
Power Supply: 1200W Digital Storm Certified (Dual/Triple/Quad SLI Compatible) (Silent Edition Highly Recommended)
Expansion Bay: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (240GB Solid State (By: Intel) (Model: 520 Series)
Set 1 Raid Options: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: 1x (2TB Hitachi/Seagate (7200 RPM) (32MB Cache)
Hard Drive Set 3: Backup\Misc.: - No Thanks
Optical Drive 1: Blu-Ray Player/DVD Writer (Play Blu-Ray and Burn DVDs) (ASUS BC-12B1ST)
Optical Drive 2: - No Thanks
Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Video Card: 2x CrossFire Dual (ATI Radeon HD 7970 3GB)
Add-on Card: - No Thanks
Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio
Extreme Cooling: H20: Stage 6: Sub-Zero LCS Dual Loop: CPU & Dual SLI/CrossFire Video Cards & Chipset
H20 Tube Color:Blue Tubing with High-Performance Fluid (UV Lighting Reactive)
Chassis Airflow: Upgrade Chassis With LED Performance Fans (Blue) (Up to 6 Fans)
Internal Lighting: Internal Chassis Lighting System (Blue)
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
Boost Video Card: FREE: Yes, Overclock the video card(s) as much as possible with complete stability
Boost Memory: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my memory
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)
Recovery Tools: Windows Recovery Toolkit (Bundled with Windows 7 CD)
Virus Protection: - No Thanks
Office: - No Thanks
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: Digital Storm T-Shirt - Black (Large)
Priority Build: - No Thanks, Ship Within 5-15 Business Days After Order Is Successfully Processed
Warranty: Life-time Expert Customer Care with 6 Year Limited Warranty


Edited by Avelict - 16 Mar 2012 at 9:51am

Thanks for the advice so far. I'm not going to be ordering a final system until I get definitive information on Nvidia's 680 price and performance in SLI versus the 7970 CF.

Lol Im sure Alex already knows pricing details.

But prelim 680 testing came out, and it's a 30% jump over the 580's, which is very impressive in one generation imo. And in almost every game the 680 outperformed the 7970 by 10+ fps. So excited!!!