New PC build [1000-1300 EURO]

heredith

oops.. you can ignore question 2... I answered that one myself... the motherboard can only take 16GB so I may as well just get it now and that'll be the end of it.

BloodBath

The black version should still be fine. My only issue was spending €125 on a cooler that you aren't really taking advantage of. Sure it will be silent but you could throw a cheap ass 212 evo in there, turn down the fan speed a little, and it would still be silent or close enough to it. Anything below 30db is virtually silent in a living room. This is assuming it would fit.

The H100 is a great cooler but I'm not sure how great it will be with those fans on it. Silent for sure but the graphics card is going to be at least 30db anyway so it really doesn't need to be that quiet.

Go for a 660ti or a 7950. It's not worth the extra for the higher end cards.

Serephucus

You're telling me that if you take a Hyper 212 EVO with one 600RPM fan on it, that it will cool as well as a H100i with two 600RPM fans? Not bloody likely. Where watercoolers excel is low RPM.

Heredith:

Black/white is really up to you. When I get a Prodigy I'll be getting a white one for noise reasons, but my build will be quiet different to yours sound wise. I'd still lean towards the white one. If there's not enough airflow, there are a couple of ways you can increase it. I also think the white looks better, but again, that's personal preference.

Our points (Mine and BloodBath's) with regard to the H100i were the same: It sort of sucks with stock fans (the fans that come in the box with it) which is why I included much better fans. If you use the much better fans, it'll be an excellent cooler.

Yup, the board only takes 16GB. If you want you can buy it now, but it doesn't make much different. It's a ten second job to open the case and pop in another RAM stick if you decide you need more down the line.

The reason I picked that Gigabyte card is that it's got two big fans on it, vs. the standard one small fan. The two bigger fans will be quieter, and they work well with the case considering one side of it is full of ventilation holes. This way you get a bunch of cold air being pulled in, and getting blown straight over the card, which should keep it very cool.

As regards the 660 Ti/670 (Gigabyte does the same version of both, so no worries there) or a 7950, I'll leave that one to you. I think I've derailed your thread enough as-is. :P

I hope that's everything. Feel free to fire more questions at us.

heredith

Thanks very much for the comprehensive answers..

need to go and digest this and will get back to you if I have any more questions, but I think you two answered most of my questions are answered...

To be honest, I do like the white case myself... looked at it again...think it would look good...

as for the graphics card?...

http://lb.hardwareversand.de/2048MB/59042/Gigabyte+GeForce+GTX+670+OC%2C+2GB+GDDR5%2C+2x+DVI%2C+HDMI%2C+DisplayPort.article

would this one be compatible? It has three fans instead of the two on the 660ti, but I suppose thats a good thing... and I presume it would still fit?

Serephucus

Yup, should be fine.

Make sure to post pictures when you get it built. I'm actually quite jealous.

BloodBath

You're telling me that if you take a Hyper 212 EVO with one 600RPM fan on it, that it will cool as well as a H100i with two 600RPM fans? Not bloody likely. Where watercoolers excel is low RPM.

No I'm saying the 212 evo is already a very quiet cooler. 31db at the max setting.
http://lb.hardwareversand.de/Intel+AMD/59387/Cooler+Master+Hyper+212+EVO++-+Intel+AMD.article

It includes a pwm fan which is adjustable so you don't have to replace it. 31dba is already near silent. You could drop the fan speed a small bit to get it to 20gb if you wanted. You still won't hear it over the card or psu.

I'm saying that those silent scyte fans are virtually useless on a radiator as they have very low cfm and almost no static pressure.

heredith

I will do... just have to pursuade the girlfriend now to help me pay for it... that could be a bit of a challenge!

I reckon it could be a couple of weeks before I get the money together.

Is it awkward paying hardwareversande? - is there a whole other thread about that, that you know of?

BloodBath

No it's very easy with online banking.

Good luck. Kinda jealous myself.

Serephucus

BloodBath wrote: »

No I'm saying the 212 evo is already a very quiet cooler. 31db at the max setting.
http://lb.hardwareversand.de/Intel+AMD/59387/Cooler+Master+Hyper+212+EVO++-+Intel+AMD.article

It includes a pwm fan which is adjustable so you don't have to replace it. 31dba is already near silent. You could drop the fan speed a small bit to get it to 20gb if you wanted. You still won't hear it over the card or psu.

I'm saying that those silent scyte fans are virtually useless on a radiator as they have very low cfm and almost no static pressure.

Right, a few problems here:

1) You take the specs as being true, odds are they're not.
2) You've obviously never used GTs. They're absolutely fantastic fans, and by far the more recommended for watercooling radiators. I've used a bunch of different fans - Noctuas, Zalmans, Akasas, you name it - GTs are far and above the best I've used, both in terms of noise and performance.
3) I think you would. I can hear my server's 120mm fan at 5V over the other two case fans and 80+ Gold PSU.

heredith

When you are talking about the GT fans and replacing the stock fans - are you only talking about the ones around the case?

I mean I am not replacing the Corsair one that comes with the cooler unit?

Just want to get that clear... I presume that all of the fans other than the ones in the case are ok?

Serephucus

No, I included four, so you'd replace the two with the Corsair cooler, and the two that came with the case.

Believe me, it'll make a big difference.

heredith

Its all coming a little clearer now... ok. ok... I just looked over the list... I suppose I better get a DVD player/burner too... any particular brand that are good?

heredith

And will I just leave the fans on the graphics cards as they are?

Serephucus

You'll need something like this:

http://lb.hardwareversand.de/USB/56465/Asus+SDRW-08D2S-U+Lite+Schwarz+Slim+DVD+Brenner.article

Because using the H100 means you loose the optical bay. No great loss really. I don't have one in my build at all any more.

Edit: Yeah, the graphics card stays as-is.

heredith

http://lb.hardwareversand.de/2400+Low+Voltage/72730/8GB-Kit+Corsair+Vengeance+schwarz+PC3-19200U+CL10-12-12-31.article

why would someone get this ram over the ram you selected.. I can see that the bus speed is faster... but does that make any kind of a difference?

heredith

Serephucus wrote: »

You'll need something like this:

http://lb.hardwareversand.de/USB/56465/Asus+SDRW-08D2S-U+Lite+Schwarz+Slim+DVD+Brenner.article

Because using the H100 means you loose the optical bay. No great loss really. I don't have one in my build at all any more.

Edit: Yeah, the graphics card stays as-is.

yeh your right I suppose... I could just leave it in a drawer until I need it...

I suppose I was thinking i definitely need it to install Windows onto it...

BloodBath

Well it goes against anything I learned about water cooling. I think those fans have something like 0.015 static pressure. You want fans with static pressures above 1.0 to push air through radiator fins effectively. That combined with the really low cfm means there's almost no air passing through the fins.

That dbm rating for the 212 evo is pretty accurate. It all depends at what distance you take the reading but I haven't seen any tests showing it above 35db at full speed.

I also own one at it is definitely the most quiet component in my pc.

Serephucus

That's the only time I used mine. It's been sitting in a box for three months ever since.

As regards RAM, no reason really. It looks pretty, that's about it. It's a 2x4GB kit though, so you'd be limited to 8GB max, just to mention.

Edit: Fans, static pressure is dependent on speed. You can have fans with 2.5mm H20, but they'll probably spin at 2000RPM. A lot of radiators now-a-days are designed for low speed fans, meaning they have a low fin density. In that case, you don't need a huge amount of pressure at all. In fact, the lower a fan spins, the higher its relative pressure. Think of it like torque in a car engine.

heredith

There is some serious amount learning going on here for me!

Thanks for all the input...

As regards the RAM - I am happy out with the RAM you suggested... I was just trying to understand why there are things like that one with the big black radiator and they cost extra...

Serephucus

Ah, sorry, I forgot exactly what RAM it was I specced you, as it was from another build.

The RAM you linked is much faster. It's 2400MHz vs. the (I think) 1333MHz stuff I linked you. It makes very little difference though. Where RAM speed really comes into play is heavy benchmarking and the like, games don't see a whole lot of benefit. That said, RAM a little faster than that couldn't hurt.

http://lb.hardwareversand.de/1600+Low+Voltage/63657/8GB+Corsair+Vengeance+Low+Profile+schwarz+PC3-12800U+CL10-10-10-27.article

That's middle-ground RAM. It's the sweet spot really in terms of speed an cost for Ivy Bridge. Slower RAM would see about a 5% (at most) hit in games, and faster RAM is quite a bit more expensive.

http://lb.hardwareversand.de/1600+Low+Voltage/58866/16GB-Kit+Corsair+Vengeance+Low+Profile+schwarz+PC3-12800U+CL10-10-10-27.article

That's the 16GB kit, if for whatever reason you want 16GB now.