New quiet watercooled buld. Need advice.

[David M]

This will be my fourth build, thanks to all the help I have got from people on this forum. I am looking to build a fast but relatively quiet Intel/nVidia based computer. I don't have a specific budget, yet I am not looking to make a cutting edge computer. I would like to come in under $4000 if that is possible. So what I am looking for is a high end, watercooled, very quiet, overclockable, SLI gaming computer without going to extremes. The primary purpose of the watercooling is to keep things quiet so my wife does not complain about the noise (as she does now with my current computer)...but since I am watercooling, I may as well crank things up.

I have been able to figure out pretty much everything I want except the motherboard, RAM, case, hard drives and optical drive.

Build:
CPU: Intel Duo E6850...I plan on overclocking this above its $1000 brother.

Motherboard: Unknown, It needs to be SLI, with an Nvidia chipset? An Intel chipset is less compatible with nVidia graphics cards....is that correct? I really need help here. Is it better to wait for the new 780i series chipset?...than to go with the current 600 series chipset?

I do like ASUS boards but from what I have been reading is that the Striker Extreme suffers from stability problems....true? Who else makes a really good Intel/nVidia/SLI board that is designed for overclocking?

RAM: No idea. Is DDR3 getting faster? I know the price is high still. I would be willing to pay for DDR3 if it makes a noticeable difference otherwise DDR2 would be fine.

Case: I would like a high end Lian-Li, Silverstone or other similar type black, boxy, conservative, aluminum case without the "Pimp My Ride" look. What can I say? I'm a boring person. . The case needs to be full tower so my PSU and my future graphics cards can fit. It also needs to be a full tower so my watercooling radiator can fit and still clear my graphics cards. (Lian-Li and some Silverstone cases have upside down mobo configurations.)

PSU: PC Power and Cooling 1200 Watt. I know this is overkill for now, but I am looking forward to the new Three-way SLI systems when they become more mainstream and the G92 GPU's are on graphics cards capable of three-way SLI. I don't want to have to buy a new PSU when this technology arrives. They will require this type of PSU.

Graphics cards: eVGA 512 8800 GTS. These I already have and plan on watercooling them The fans are on the noisy side when they are cranked up.

Drives: Looking for a fast one terrabyte or 750 gig drive. Not interested in a WD Raptor drive.

Optical drives: Need a DVD/CD burner-drive. Prefer to not purchase a Sony. Don't want a HD-DVD or Blu-Ray player. Any recommendations?

Watercooling:
I already have this 700 watt radiator and I like it. http://www.koolance.com/water-coolin...product_id=215 Its quiet up to about setting 7 on a 10 scale. I plan on getting more cards in the future which means more heat and cooling any noisy fans which come stock with the motherboard in order to silence them. So I need a larger radiator and thought this 1000 watt radiator may be a better solution: http://www.koolance.com/water-coolin...product_id=564 I will need to cut a hole in the top of my case which I am okay with. Any opinions on other watercooling systems that look good and are very quiet?

I will need some cooling blocks for the graphics cards, CPU and the chipsets. Dangerden or Koolance seem to be pretty good...is there another company to look at?. I don't need to go to extremes with the watercooling, so I figure 3/8 tubing is adequate.

[Dave21]

For the ram, I recommend going with corsair xms2 ddr800 2 gb. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145034

I wouldn't recommend going ddr3 yet as you wouldn't notice much difference. The 2 gb of ddr2 ram will be more than sufficient.

For the motherboard, you might want to also check out evga. Either the 680i or 780i are good choices. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813188013

Are you seriiously going for triple sli? I think it's a waste of money. Not worth it for performance. Once the 9800 comes out, it will blow your 2x8800gts to dust for about the same price. I think a 700 w corsair PSU will be ok but it's your personal preference.

Why not go for the new E8400 3.0 GHz? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115037

I read that you can overclock that baby to 3.9 GHz.

For HDD, check out http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148274
It's just released with the 32 mb cache. Good buy.

For the case, check out http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811112141

[David M]

Thanks Dave

A few more questions:
I was comparing the Intel E6850 to the Intel E8400. With the 8400 being cheaper I was thinking, Ok, whats less about the 8400? I found the 8400 has MORE L2 cache (6 versus 4) than the E6850. Everything else appears to be the same..is that correct? Why would the E8400 sell for less, $230 versus $308?

Edit: I found this article comparing the E8400 with the E6850. http://en.expreview.com/?p=68&page=5 The difference is in the 45nm vs 65nm size. The choice becomes obvious. The 8400 is a slightly faster CPU for games and gaming benchmarks ...and for significantly less money. Plus as you said, it has lots of room for overclocking. The 8400 already produces 10% less heat.

The Lian-Li case you found is perfect...thanks for that. Somehow I missed it on their website. The horrible English on the Lian-Li website is really funny sometimes. I hope I do not offend anyone...but it IS funny.

I did not know about the next generation of graphics cards. I will wait and see what three way SLI can do when the new cards are out and if it is worth the price/performance. Thanks for the warning.

Although the 1200 watt PSU I picked out is expensive at $500, I think I am going to stick with it in case 3-way SLI does become something worthwhile with the next generation of graphics cards and the technology matures. Maybe one day the hardware will be available to play Crysis with the game settings turned all the way up? I know three 8800 Ultras can do that now but not for less than $1800...whew! I think power supplies are just going to get larger as the newer games demand more cards and more powerful cards. One day we may need to plug our gaming computers into a dryer outlet.

I am debating between the eVGA 780i SLI board ($260) and the eVGA 680i SLI ($220) http://www.evga.com/articles/385.asp
http://www.evga.com/articles/329.asp

Any opinions on a physics card?

Dual boot?....I figure Vista will eventually get better. So I may as well partition the drive for both operating systems now. I am hoping to use DX10 when it gets better and faster than DX9. Opinions?

Cool picture: http://en.expreview.com/?p=68&page=7

This is what I have so far:
Motherboard: eVGA,780i, 132-CK-NF78-A1, $280. http://computers.pricegrabber.com/mo...132-CK-NF78-A1

CPU: Intel Duo E8400, $230
http://computers.pricegrabber.com/pr...3/search=E8400

Graphics cards: (2) 8800 GTS 512 with G92 GPU. These I already have.
http://computers.pricegrabber.com/vi...0+gts+512/rd=1

RAM: (4) OCZ Technology FlexXLC Edition 2GB PC2-9200 DDR2 DIMM Memory Kit, Total $370 for 4 Gigs http://computers.pricegrabber.com/la...ry/m/30709626/

Physics card: Either ASUS Phys X P1 or BFG Ageia PhysX, $150,
http://www.pricegrabber.com/search.p...rd/topcat_id=6

PSU: PC Power and Cooling Silencer 1200 watt, $500
http://www.pcpower.com/power-supply/...cool-1200.html

Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31000340AS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive ,$300, http://computers.pricegrabber.com/ha...ype=bottomline

Case: LIAN LI PC-A70B Black Aluminum ATX Full Tower Computer Case, $240.
http://computers.pricegrabber.com/cases/m/47163906/

OS: Windows XP Professional W/SP2, $90, http://software.pricegrabber.com/win...oduct/sv=title

OS: Windows Vista Home Premium, $100, http://software.pricegrabber.com/win...oduct/sv=title

Optical drive: Lite-On LH-20A1H Dual Layer DVD±RW Writer, $40
http://computers.pricegrabber.com/dv...oduct/sv=title

Radiator: Koolance, KIT-1000BK Kit, Black, $300
http://www.koolance.com/water-coolin...product_id=564

Cooling blocks for graphics cards: (2) VID-279,$93
http://www.koolance.com/water-coolin...product_id=598

Cooling block for CPU, CPU-305-V10, $50 X 2
http://www.koolance.com/water-coolin...product_id=210

Cooling blocks for Northbridge and Southbridge: (2) CHC-120-V06, $40 X 2
http://www.koolance.com/water-coolin...product_id=393

Total $2843