My 3 Year PC Refresh

My parts have arrived for my latest PC build! Every 3 years or so I decide to completely refresh my system, which is to last another 3 years (with a little updating as required). The motherboard failing on my current rig accelerated it somewhat. Now that I've justified it, here's the spec:



CPU - Intel i7 LGA1155 2600k 3.4Ghz

Motherboard - Gigabyte P67A-UD7 (B3 Version)

CPU Cooler - Coolit Vantage Liquid CPU Cooler

RAM - Viper Extreme 2x4GB PC3-16000C9

Case - Silverstone Fortress FT02B-W (Rev 1.7 + AP181's)

GPU - Gainward 570GTX Phantom

SSD - OCZ RevoDrive 120GB PCI-E

PSU - Corsair Pro Series AX1200W Modular

Optical Drive - LG Blu-Ray Writer SATA, BH10LS30

Lighting - Akasa 12" White cold cathodes (dual).

Here's what that looks like in the boxes



I'm going to be a bit busy

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Moved to correct section, make sure you post a proper build log fella.

I don’t get it what people see in all in one “watercooling” s!««# systems?

Start building it and take pictures, videos!

ciksas said:

...I don’t get it what people see in all in one “watercooling” s!««# systems?

Click to expand...

sealed units require no coolant maintenance, and in push/pull config they are very good

Coolit lcs, h50,.. simply isn’t worth to be classified as water cooling and p/p isn’t as good as air cooler which also doesn’t need maintenance. And the fans that you get are simply laud.

tinytomlogan said:

Moved to correct section, make sure you post a proper build log fella.

Click to expand...

Thanks Tom, I admit I wasn't sure where to share this. I wasn't planning on doing a major build log as I have done in the past, but I'll share my thoughts on the build and the performance that I get out of it. I'll post some pics so you can see how well the Gigabyte P67A-UD7 goes with the Gainward Phantom (I thought the exact same as you did in your review), in a FT02B case...it is nice

ciksas said:

I don't get it what people see in all in one "watercooling" s!««# systems?

Start building it and take pictures, videos!

Click to expand...

It's horses for courses cikcas. My last build was a major six parallel loop affair with a custom reservior, modified Aquacomputer cpu block, x2 655 pumps and all sorts. As impressive as it looked it failed in one major aspect - noise. Those pumps, the gurgling of the reservior and the fans on the Thermochill radiator all added up. Glad I didn't have a week bladder ! It made a nice water feature though! So this time I thought I'd go with an all in one unit. I got the Coolit Vantage because of it's ease of install, the LCD readout, lowish profile and it looks sweet on the motherboard. Whatever overclock I get on the 2600k I'll make a consession for because of all the other benifits. I'll be as surprised as you if I get to 5Ghz!

A little update for you:

The Coolit Vantage is out of focus, but you get the idea.



Everything is black...



A straight on shot for you....



A looking up inside shot. I wonder if removing that white label off the radiator for the Coolit will void the warranty?



Uploaded with ImageShack.us I tried to use the Squish to upload the images, but it failed on the last of the images and it was a bit slow.

Initial thoughts and ramblings:

I've only taken a tempory look at cable management. I can do a lot more with the cables from the AX1200 and the case, but I want to get the build/software finalised before I start making anything pernament.

The radiator for the Coolit was very tight in the space allowed in the case. I got it in though with zero clearance. I also removed the shroud/spacer on the radiator and put in the original fan from the case for a push/pull config. Hopefully that will help.

The Silverstone FT02B-W case is awesome. It is so easy to work with, lots of space and some great features, I highly recommend it.

The Gainward Phantom takes up 2.5 slots, so I'll have to move it to the other x16 slot when the time comes to add another. That will mean the Revodrive may have to be moved also (it's currently in the PCI8_2 slot). Talking of the Revodrive, I'm looking forward to see how it performs!

That's all for the moment, got more to do!

The case looks amazing(all black and gold) even with no cable management and the coolit installed

Liking the black and gold! Keep it up. One small suggestion, try to manage some of the cables a little bit better

Very nice mate, loving the black n gold UD7 and Phantom, Ax psu combo

Like others have said the black and gold looks good and goes together well, the UD7 looks like it was made for that case.

Cheers for the good words guys. The pc is now sat to my left with the covers off and all that black feels like it's absorbing all the light in the room .

Nice black and gold you got goin on there.

Very nice