New Rig

[Ash]

As some of you know I've been debating for about six months now on whether to buy a new PC or to build one outright.  After listening to the advice of others and taking in all the information I decided to build it myself.  I had looked at all the major specialized PC makers including ibuypower.com and almost purchased something a couple of times but I held out and waited.  I knew I wanted the new Sandy Bridge-E CPU and I wanted something that would handle gaming over three monitors.  I also wanted to make damn sure that this new machine would be as future proof as a computer could be because I don't plan on making this type of purchase again for at least 5-7 years.  

I scoured each and every custom PC site for the right build at the right price but never was satisfied, I think I even spec'd out this exact build from Maingear.com and the total came close to $4,000.  OUCH!  

Anyway I bit the bullet and started buying components back in October and took advantage of the recent Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals and so the last piece arrived this evening.  

The picture below is just the first of several to come.  I've decided to document the build process in case anyone is interested and because this will be my first computer build in over a decade so there's sure to be issues.

I will eventually be adding a water cooling system for the 2 video cards if I see that it is necessary.  I will also be installing a OCZ RevoDrive at some point to use for certain applications and games.



Here is a link to the full-size photo
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a283/Shinzui501/New%20PC/newPC.jpg

Here is the parts list for the the picture above:
1)Case:  SilverStone FT02 (Motherboard rotated 90 degrees to allow for natural vertical heat dissipation)
2)Motherboard:  Asus Rampage IV Extreme LGA2011
3)CPU:  Intel I7-3930K LGA2011
4)GPU:  PowerColor Radeon HD 6970 (Qty. = 2)
5)RAM:  Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1866 Mhz (Qty. = 32GB)
6)PSU:  Corsair Gold Series AX1200
7)CPU Cooler:  Corsair H80
8)HDD:  Corsair Force GT SATA3 120GB SSD
9)NIC:  VisionTek Killer 2100 Gaming Network Card (I'll admit this was a frivolous purchase but it was on sale)

Sorry for the long read, hope you stick around for the final product.

[Jeyk]

I thought I was hot shit with my build until I browsed through your list!  This certainly looks like it will shape up to be a stellar rig.  

At some point, would you mind listing (or just PM'ing me) individualized prices for the parts you purchased?  Also, which monitors do you plan on going with?  Have you considered 120Hz displays (3D capable)?

Please do document the process, I'm quite eager to see how it goes, as well as the end result.  Congratulations!

[Anamodiel]

Wow, that's a lot of RAM. I'm jealous.

[Tbone]

And you guys laughed at me when I got 12 gigs!

[Da6onet]

If you don't mind, I'm using you as an example for comparison so my wife stops bugging me because I spent splurged and spent $600 when I built my computer instead of $500.

[NoCry]

looks good old chap. looks amazing actually.

[Ketamininja]

Almost looks nicer set out in the pic than it would be in the case!!


I'm sure it's been mentioned in previous threads, but you need a specific driver to display on 3 monitors.
Most drivers only allow for2 displays (even though you may have more than 2 physical outputs on the card).

My machine here has 5 outputs in total(!), but only two can work at any one time.
I was very sad about that.


I can't recall which cards/drivers allow this... also my data may be out of date.
Please feel free to correct my info!

[Fuse]

Just curious... but what exactly do you plan to do with that rig?

[Manic Velocity]

Just curious... but what exactly do you plan to do with that rig?

Watch porn.

[Fuse]

duh.

[likwidtek]

I'd really like to give you some advice on the water cooling.  Just don't bother.  It looks awesome without a doubt and the epeen factor is incredible.  BUT.  It is an enormous pain in the ass when you want to troubleshoot and upgrade, very expensive and not worth it.  This has been the opinion of literally every single friend of mine who's had a liquid cooling rig.  

One thing that really bummed me out about running crossfire or triple monitor was that I couldn't do both at the same time.  If I wanted the extra horse power of crossfire, I had to step down to only 2 monitors.  Not sure if this is still the case but it was not very long ago.  Big bummer.

And yeah, LOL @ that network card.  In my research they seem to just be snake oil.

One last piece of advice.  I wouldn't overclock until you need the extra power.  Make that bad boy last as long as possible.  

A lot of it seems like overkill (RAM) but it should future proof you for a good while.  I love getting or building new gaming rigs dude.  Half the fun is planning and designing.  Can't wait to hear how it runs and performs.

[Ash]

And you guys laughed at me when I got 12 gigs!

  And don't think I didn't think of that when buying the 32GB's.

Just curious... but what exactly do you plan to do with that rig?

Well besides the porn I'll be using it for gaming, graphic and web design work and for setting up virtual test environments for work.  It will definitely be well used.  

...Also, which monitors do you plan on going with? Have you considered 120Hz displays (3D capable)...

I have 3 19" monitors (non-widescreen) with my center screen being a Sony and the other 2 are Dell UltraSharp's.  My overall resolution will be 3840 x 1024.

...One last piece of advice. I wouldn't overclock until you need the extra power. Make that bad boy last as long as possible...

That's pretty much what I had planned on doing a couple years down the road so I could get that "Hey, it's like a new computer" feeling again without the extra expense.

[Ghisteslwchlohm]

You need a specific driver to display on 3 monitors.
Most drivers only allow for2 displays (even though you may have more than 2 physical outputs on the card).

I was able to hook up 3 monitors to my system and they all worked. Maybe I already had the drivers, but I didn't have to do anything for it besides buy the extra cable.

[ReReminiscence]

I was going to build mine as well but my parents said they would rather me buy a prebuilt one for the warranties tech support and all that jazz. My set up is this for what I'm getting for Christmas


Case   1 x CoolerMaster HAF 922 Gaming Case-Black
Case Lighting   None-
iBUYPOWER Labs - Noise Reduction   None-
iBUYPOWER Labs - Internal Expansion   None-
Processor   1 x Intel® Coreâ„¢ i7 980 Processor (6x 3.33GHz/12MB L3 Cache)-
iBUYPOWER PowerDrive   None-
Processor Cooling   1 x Certified CPU Fan and Heatsink-
Memory   1 x 6 GB [2 GB X3] DDR3-1600-Corsair XMS3 Dominator w/DHX technology
Video Card   1 x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 - 1.2GB-Single Card
Video Card Brand   1 x Major Brand Powered by AMD or NVIDIA-
Free Stuff   1 x [Free Game Voucher] - Batman Arkham City-Free with Purchase of NVIDIA GeForce 5 Series Video Card
Motherboard   1 x ASUS Sabertooth X58-
Motherboard USB / SATA Interface   1 x Motherboard default USB / SATA Interface-
Power Supply   1 x 850 Watt -- Corsair CMPSU-850TXV2-
Primary Hard Drive   1 x 60 GB ADATA S511 SSD-Single Drive
Data Hard Drive   1 x 1 TB HARD DRIVE -- 32M Cache, 7200 RPM, 6.0Gb/s-Single Drive
Optical Drive   1 x [12X Blu-Ray] LG BLU-RAY Reader, DVD±R/±RW Burner Combo Drive-Black
2nd Optical Drive   None-
Flash Media Reader / Writer   None-
Meter Display   None-
USB Expansion   None-
Sound Card   1 x 3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard-
Network Card   1 x Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100)-
Operating System   1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium + Office Starter 2010 (Includes basic versions of Word and Excel)-64-Bit
Keyboard   1 x iBUYPOWER USB Keyboard-
Mouse   1 x iBUYPOWER Internet Mouse-
Monitor   None-
2nd Monitor   None-
Speaker System   None-
Video Camera   None-
Advanced Build Options   1 x iBUYPOWER Specialized Advanced Packaging System-Protect your investment during transportation!
Advanced Build Options   1 x Tuniq TX-2 High Performance Thermal Compound-The best interface between your CPU and the heatsinks
Advanced Build Options   1 x Professional wiring for all cables inside the system tower-Basic Pro Wiring
Advanced Build Options   1 x Professional wiring for all cables inside the system tower-Achieve exceptional airflow in your chassis
Case Engraving Service   None-
Warranty   1 x 3 Year Standard Warranty Service-
Rush Service   1 x Rush Service Fee (not shipping fee)-No Rush Service

[Ketamininja]

You need a specific driver to display on 3 monitors.
Most drivers only allow for2 displays (even though you may have more than 2 physical outputs on the card).

I was able to hook up 3 monitors to my system and they all worked. Maybe I already had the drivers, but I didn't have to do anything for it besides buy the extra cable.

Nice! Ha, now that I think of it I think it might only be if you try to mix onboard and add-in card outputs. D'oh