New build, €2500 budget.

frozenfrozen

1. What is your budget? [€2500~]

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? [Gaming/Video editing/3D Modelling/Internet]

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? [No]

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? [Keyboard mouse] (If possible state brand and model of the parts to ensure compatibility)

5. Do you need a monitor? [Yes]

5a. If yes, what size do you need. [19'/20'/22'/24'/etc.] Very tempted to get a catleap.

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? [1920x1080/1440x900/etc.] 1680x1050, plan on going 1200p or 1440p

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? [Keyboard/Mouse/Wireless Card/Card Reader/Speakers/etc.] Card reader

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? [Yes]

8. How can you pay? [Bank Transfer/Credit Card/Laser]

9. When are you purchasing? [In 14 days]

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? [South Dublin City/Cork City/Kerry/etc.] Clare.

Extra things.. I'm quite interested in the idea of dual booting hackintosh on this for Prores 422, this doesn't effect choosing components, but it's something to keep in mind, (hence the SSD for main os, then 2 storage but 1 can be a secondary os disk, or I've got a couple old raptors laying around which can be used.)

Build I've been looking at:
Ram: 32GB Mushkin Enhanced Blackline Frostbyte #994055 (4x8GB) 1600 (PC3-12800) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM CAS 9-9-9-24 1.5V

Item|Price
Intel Core i7-3930K Retail, ohne Kühler, LGA2011|€510.53
Special item: Corsair Hydro Series H100 (Sockel 775/1156/1366/AM2/AM2+/AM3/FM1)|€80.77
ASUS SABERTOOTH X79, Sockel 2011, ATX, DDR3|€284.57
2 x WD Caviar Black 1TB SATA 3 8,9cm(3,5")|€206.32
Samsung SSD 830 128GB SATA 6GB's Paper Box|€112.34
4 x NOCTUA Lüfter NF-S12B ULN|€67.88
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€1281.40

So out of that I'm missing a monitor, graphics card, psu and case. For the case I was thinking of doing a power pc g5 casemod, which would shave a bit off the price (I already have the case.) I've probably forgotten something quite important too.

I'll need an Nvidia card as I want to use the mercury rendering engine in cs6. The 680 has nerfed compute performance, and isn't supported for hackintosh as of now, but the 580 is loud and power hungry. So I'm really confused about what to do for that.

glynf

You should check out a 580 twin frozr or maybe twin frozr III 570's SLI. The MSI aftermarket cooling & noise is a hell of a lot better/less than the stock cards.

Those G5 mods are sweet, you could get a cheap case for now & use the guts in your mod when you modded the mac?

A good quality corsair 850W or similar silver/gold certified would be loads.

frozenfrozen

glynf wrote: »

You should check out a 580 twin frozr or maybe twin frozr III 570's SLI. The MSI aftermarket cooling & noise is a hell of a lot better/less than the stock cards.

Those G5 mods are sweet, you could get a cheap case for now & use the guts in your mod when you modded the mac?

A good quality corsair 850W or similar silver/gold certified would be loads.

And the twin frozr looks pretty sweet too! That's a good idea about the case, I could get maybe a lan case or something, so if I ever need to bring my pc somewhere (I don't know... maybe somewhere like a lan! :P) I won't have to bring the absolutely ridiculous weight of the mac case. 850w sounds good to me, so this

glynf

Have the same PSU for the last month or so and no issues so far.

Give a look at these:

PowerMac G5 case mod.

Another one

and another

Basically theres loads of modded ones out there, some are excellent, some with watercooling as well. I was half looking for a dead G5 for a while,, now I'm thinking TJ11 watercooled for next build (once I can get a TJ11 for <500:()

Edit; If you are looking at a G5 mod, you might want to do a bit of research re. cooling solutions, 500 series even with decent after market cooling can produce a lot of heat.

frozenfrozen

It's certainly going to be a lot of work to get it functioning but I really like the idea of using the case. It's a complete bitch to strip out, though! Everything has at least 6 screws in it and they're all different sizes and shapes. Spent about an hour yesterday with my hand in a ridiculous position underneath the pipes of the heatsinks trying to get out some screws.

Cooling is going to be quite a problem, even though theres some room in the budget to maybe watercool the whole thing, I just don't think I would be able to pull it off. mounting two rads in a custom case would ruin my life. The front and back are completely covered in holes so hopefully I'll be able to get some decent airflow. I may have to cut a few holes in the bottom but it's way too soon to tell. I could completely strip the inside and just put a smaller case inside there... ! It could be like a russian doll, and on the very inside after about 6 layers i could have a netbook.

Fully watercooling a TJ11 would be so amazingly expensive! It would probably be the same price to have a years supply of LN2 to keep it cool :P

glynf

Cooling the G5 would indeed be a bitch, and maybe not ideal for what you want to put in it. It would be a good bit of work, and its no fun if its too easy

2,500 is a nice budget, you could get a decent case in there anyway.
If it was me, I'd decide on a monitor & resolution and work back from there.

Do you plan on gaming? I think a GTX 580 will just about cut it at 2560x1440 (Catleap res. if you go with one) if you want decent FPS (45+) with current titles, but probably won't cut it with new games in 12 months time.


The TJ11 build is a bit off. I'm hoping I can get my hands on a reasonably priced one & a sh!t load of moolah:) Think the rest of the w.c. gear should come in under 600 though.

frozenfrozen

Building is 90% of the fun .

I only ever play counterstrike source like once a month at the very most, so new titles aren't really a problem. The newest thing I'll be playing is counterstrike:go which I'm sure I would be able to push 100+ frames at the least with a 580 @ 1440p. One thing I'm a bit wary about is the fact that if the catleap dies in a year I can't do anything, but if I got like a dell ultrasharp, it would come guaranteed with no dead pixels, no bleed, good stand, etc. But the price difference is just so huge.. I might be better off going with a smaller dell U24 to have the peace of mind that it won't go bang in a month.

You're still looking at close to a grand on a case and cooling if you don't get a really good deal on the TJ11! :O. Good idea waiting for the **** loads of money part!

frozenfrozen

I think this is my final configuration: Item|Price
Intel Core i7-3930K Retail, ohne Kühler, LGA2011|€527.79
ASUS SABERTOOTH X79, Sockel 2011, ATX, DDR3|€287.63
2 x WD Caviar Black 1TB SATA 3 8,9cm(3,5")|€203.76
4 x NOCTUA Lüfter NF-S12B ULN|€67.88
Corsair Professional Series Gold AX850, 850 Watt|€170.88
Samsung SSD 830 256GB SATA 6GB's PC Upgrade Kit|€242.54
MSI N580GTX Twin Frozr III 15D5 Power Edition/OC, 1536MB, GDDR5, PCI- Express|€402.81
Corsair Hydro Series H100 (Sockel 775/1156/1366/AM2/AM2+/AM3/FM1)|€94.89
32GB-Kit G.Skill RipJawsZ C3-14900U CL9-10-9-28 (DDR3-1866)|€220.11
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€2237.28
I'm missing a case, and I really have no idea what to get, I've got 300ish left in the budget for my monitor and case, so I may have to expand my budget a little bit. The case will be only temporary, but having said that I would still like to get something decent as I'll be able to reuse the case in future and or if my G5 mod simply doesn't work. Size doesn't matter although it obviously has to be at least full atx, and needs to be able to hold a H100 in push pull configuration. Anyone have any ideas as to what would meet my needs?

Skylinehead

http://www2.hardwareversand.de/Midi/50916/Corsair+Carbide+Series+500R+White%2C+ATX%2C+ohne+Netzteil.article
Not sure if it's a bit expensive for a temporary case, but it works very well with the H100.

Craig B

First off, nice build. Are you using the noctua's for the H100 or case cooling?
Also I recommend the HAF X, that case is meant to be a beast when it comes to liquid cooling.

glynf

You're going with the mac mod, nice.:)

Instead of a very basic case, maybe look at spending on some thing decent like a €100-150 Lian-li/Bitfenix/Silverstone-something that will take the mobo but you can sell on easily?

Some cases out there are always in demand second hand-especially good watercooling ones for e.g. the TJ 07.

frozenfrozen

Skylinehead wrote: »

http://www2.hardwareversand.de/Midi/50916/Corsair+Carbide+Series+500R+White%2C+ATX%2C+ohne+Netzteil.article
Not sure if it's a bit expensive for a temporary case, but it works very well with the H100.

It looks good but i think you have to mount the radiator on top (according to the first page of google, that is!)

Craig B wrote: »

First off, nice build. Are you using the noctua's for the H100 or case cooling?
Also I recommend the HAF X, that case is meant to be a beast when it comes to liquid cooling.

Noctuas for the h100, I really don't know what else to do for the case, I presume stock case fans will be grand for the rest of it. If not I'll take 1 or two of the noctuas from the h100 and cool the case.

The HAF X is a lovely case but it's a bit flashy looking for me (Which you can probably see by me wanting a G5 case!) It's also kind of expensive.

having just said the HAF X is flashy I really like the look of http://www2.hardwareversand.de/Midi/53632/NZXT+Phantom+410+Midi+-+White+%2C+ATX%2C+ohne+Netzteil.article however lots of people seem to not like the build quality. and it's still not cheap at 100.

At the end of the day I really don't care what my case looks like, though. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm what to do

frozenfrozen

glynf wrote: »

You're going with the mac mod, nice.:)

Instead of a very basic case, maybe look at spending on some thing decent like a €100-150 Lian-li/Bitfenix/Silverstone-something that will take the mobo but you can sell on easily?

Some cases out there are always in demand second hand-especially good watercooling ones for e.g. the TJ 07.

Yeah I didn't think about doing that, what case would be good for this? I really have no idea about what one to choose.

Craig B

Well I said the HAF X cause its really good at cooling and will be great to sell on, stick in up on adverts for 100 and you get most of your investment back. Maybe even 120.
And if you do get it be sure to show the push/pull cause thats something I'm gonna do when I get my build with the HAF X

frozenfrozen

Craig B wrote: »

Well I said the HAF X cause its really good at cooling and will be great to sell on, stick in up on adverts for 100 and you get most of your investment back. Maybe even 120.
And if you do get it be sure to show the push/pull cause thats something I'm gonna do when I get my build with the HAF X

I just looked at some proper pictures of it, not like the ones on hardwareversand, and I must say it looks a lot nicer than I thought. I think I might just go with it. Thanks .

Craig B

frozenfrozen wrote: »

I just looked at some proper pictures of it, not like the ones on hardwareversand, and I must say it looks a lot nicer than I thought. I think I might just go with it. Thanks .

No bother, just if ya can could ya make a vid of the H100 push/pull so I can get an idea of what I should be doing in a few months when its build time.

frozenfrozen

Craig B wrote: »

No bother, just if ya can could ya make a vid of the H100 push/pull so I can get an idea of what I should be doing in a few months when its build time.

It will either be the HAF X or a Storm Trooper, but it will be the same idea definitely for both. I will certainly do that, and I'll take note of any things you may need to look out for also. .

Craig B

Thanks!