3D Modeling/Gaming Build

DarthDudo

New member
Hey guys been a while since I posted on here been busy with college, work and moving house anyway currently using an Asus laptop and im in desperate need of an upgrade, here's what I have planned to order in the next few weeks, is there anything you would change?Trying to build a quiet monster hence the "silent" case and the after market gpu coolers and Corsair air series fans, also be gaming on a 27" 2560x1440 screen. Dont have a budget obviously the cheaper the better but It really needs to pull its weight in 3DSMax\maya etc aswell as be a good gaming performer at the resolution I mentioned anyway let me know what you think :)

CASE: Corsair 550D
CPU: 3770K w\ H80i
MOBO: Asus P8Z77-V Premium
RAM: 16GB Dominator Platinum 2133 1.5V
GPU: Asus Gtx 670 4GB SLI w\ Arctic Cooling Xtreme III's
PSU: Corsair AX760
SSD: Corsair Neutron GTX
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Green
Misc: Corsair Sp120's and AF120's Quiet editions
 
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Looks good, just a few points I'd personally change.

1. Dominator Platinums are kinda overpriced; you pay for the looks. Since your case doesn't have a window anyway, you might as well grab a cheaper 2133MHz kit.

2. How big is that SSD? The WD Caviar green is only 5400 RPM so you'll want to make sure that all your programs and games fit on the SSD.

3. Imo, Corsair fans aren't all *that* quiet, nor the best. I think you'd be better off with a set of Noctua (or comparable) fans. You won't really see them anyway in that case so the colour doesn't matter, right?

Oh, and personally I'd go with the EVGA FTW 4GB+ cards. The cooler has an exhaust design, which pushes the warm air out the back of your case. Since you have a 'silent' case, it might become a hot box when you have 2 GPUs in there that keep throwing warm air in any direction.

The stock cooler design (like EVGA) is not the quietest, but it's just my personal 2 cents... :)
 
Looks good, just a few points I'd personally change.

1. Dominator Platinums are kinda overpriced; you pay for the looks. Since your case doesn't have a window anyway, you might as well grab a cheaper 2133MHz kit.

2. How big is that SSD? The WD Caviar green is only 5400 RPM so you'll want to make sure that all your programs and games fit on the SSD.

3. Imo, Corsair fans aren't all *that* quiet, nor the best. I think you'd be better off with a set of Noctua (or comparable) fans. You won't really see them anyway in that case so the colour doesn't matter, right?

Oh, and personally I'd go with the EVGA FTW 4GB+ cards. The cooler has an exhaust design, which pushes the warm air out the back of your case. Since you have a 'silent' case, it might become a hot box when you have 2 GPUs in there that keep throwing warm air in any direction.

The stock cooler design (like EVGA) is not the quietest, but it's just my personal 2 cents... :)

Very good point on the dominators and the fans but I am quite anal in the fact that I will "know" there are ugly noctua fans in my case :P am planning on running all corsair fans at 7v anyway so hopefully shouldnt be a problem

SSD wil either be 2x240GB NOT in raid or 1x480GB depending on which is cheaper at the time the Caviar Green is purely for storage :)

As for the GPU's I will be removing the HDD cages so GPU's will be getting more direct airflow I dont think I should have a problem with temps but I do appreciate the advice!

games don't really care much about harddrive speed. only the loading time decreases.

Should have plenty storage on the SSD for all the games I actually play so these loading screens you speak of will be non-existent :D
 
I'd want my loading times to be quick :D

Tbh, if you don't play the absolute newest games like Far Cry 3 and Crysis 3, you could probably get away with 1 GPU. Could always buy one now, and another one later?

SSD will be plenty, I think :p Would personally go for 2x240 over 1x480, in case one of them fails (just in case, better be safe than sorry imo :))

Btw, there are also other silent fans out there like NoiseBlocker, BeQuiet, Nexus and Bitfenix (Spectre (more silent) or Spectre Pro)). I've heard that the Silverstone AP fans are also not too loud :)
 
Only fans I have ever used to be honest where Spectre Pro's and at 12V they were not that quiet at least not as quiet as I would have liked but I bought them because they were led not for their acoustics :p

Far Cry 3 is actually what Im looking forward to playing most at 1440p also noticed scaling doesnt seem to be very good in it at the moment but I think it will crush a 670 on its own at that resolution at least judging from benchmarks that is

Yea last SSD I had was Samsung 830 256GB and I ran out of space way too soon so I made sure first thing on my list was high capacity SSD and I was leaning more towards 1x480 then maybe if I do manage to fill it add another down the road but I guess each has there own benefits thaks for the food for thought :D
 
Forgot you were using a 1440p monitor, but in that case SLI woulnd't be overkill at all :p

I have a pair of Spectres (regular ones) in my i3 system and they're pretty quiet but if you feel more comfortable with the Corsair ones, then by all means buy those. They're not bad fans anyway :p

Yeah, drives can fill up a lot faster than you'd think. SSDs are a lot more reliable these days anyway, so I guess you'll be fine with one drive as well ;)
 
Do you think for an extra 150 euro I should get 4GB 680's instead?Thinking Im gonna need all the juice I can get looking at benchmarks for Far Cry 3 :/
 
Hmmmmno, I do not :p

The difference between between a 670 and 680 is actually really small, especially when you consider the price. €150,- more for 3-4 fps is not worth it imo.

Truth is that FC3 is a very demanding game on 1080p, let alone 1440p.
 
Is FarCry 3 working with SLI yet? I haven't played it in a few weeks on my xfire system and dual card setups weren't working then anyway.
 
Is FarCry 3 working with SLI yet? I haven't played it in a few weeks on my xfire system and dual card setups weren't working then anyway.

Wasnt aware of that issue from a quick search I have found a few fixes guess Ill just have to wait and see which is a little disconcerting :(
 
I'd personally dump the Arctic coolers and stick with the stock ones as they're really quiet and perform well. Also, sticking 2133Mhz Dominator Platinums without a window is a waste of money. They won't perform better and it's just, yeah, unless you really want them to be there. And I'd go with an H100i as well, just cause you'll be able to run an overclocked CPU at full load with fans on minimum. Which in turn will be as quiet as it can possibly get.

I've got quite a similar setup. You can check it here --> http://forum.overclock3d.net/showthread.php?t=51383

3dsMax is just flying. On 1440p with a single 670 DCII I get ~ 40fps all maxed out apart from AA.

I do agree that SP120's aren't exactly dead silent. At 7v they're still probably the loudest thing I can hear in my setup. However, I'm suspecting it might only be one of my fans that is a bit louder cause it makes a bit of a whine. Should maybe try running them straight from molex with the speed reducer rather than H100 + speed reducer. Anyway, the CPU is cool and the GPU never goes above 69 C°. I do make them spin up a bit when it does get to ~ 69 though, so they jump around at that point, but I can't hear them while playing anyway and on idle they're probably the quietest moving thing in my rig.
 
I'd personally dump the Arctic coolers and stick with the stock ones as they're really quiet and perform well. Also, sticking 2133Mhz Dominator Platinums without a window is a waste of money. They won't perform better and it's just, yeah, unless you really want them to be there. And I'd go with an H100i as well, just cause you'll be able to run an overclocked CPU at full load with fans on minimum. Which in turn will be as quiet as it can possibly get.

I've got quite a similar setup. You can check it here --> http://forum.overclock3d.net/showthread.php?t=51383

3dsMax is just flying. On 1440p with a single 670 DCII I get ~ 40fps all maxed out apart from AA.

I do agree that SP120's aren't exactly dead silent. At 7v they're still probably the loudest thing I can hear in my setup. However, I'm suspecting it might only be one of my fans that is a bit louder cause it makes a bit of a whine. Should maybe try running them straight from molex with the speed reducer rather than H100 + speed reducer. Anyway, the CPU is cool and the GPU never goes above 69 C°. I do make them spin up a bit when it does get to ~ 69 though, so they jump around at that point, but I can't hear them while playing anyway and on idle they're probably the quietest moving thing in my rig.


Very nice rig mate :D

Im very glad to hear 3ds runs well and we are using the same monitor ;) one less thing to worry about

I noticed your using the SP performance editions and running them at 7v im getting the quiet editions and running them at 7v using bitfenix 7v molex to 3x3pin wont be using the h80/h100 hub at all so hears hoping no whine etc

The only reason I dont want to use the h100 is I would be forced to remove the roof panel and with it off I tink it looks ugly as sin to be honest maybe I can mount it in the front :p anyway Im not planning on extreme clocks or volts

Or another solution is to get another case one that has a window so I can justify that Dominator memory :p
 
Stay the eff away from Arctic cooling and just get cards that are cooled properly out of the box such as MSI's Twin Frozr range.

The VRM modules and vram modules need to be fixed on with thermal epoxy and you can't get it off, voiding your warranty (even EVGA won't stand for that).

Not only that but they are prone to warping your PCB.

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/4gb-...-gpu-915mhz-boost-980mhz-cores-1344-dp-dl-dvi

Something like that will be better than Arctic any way.
 
Stay the eff away from Arctic cooling and just get cards that are cooled properly out of the box such as MSI's Twin Frozr range.

The VRM modules and vram modules need to be fixed on with thermal epoxy and you can't get it off, voiding your warranty (even EVGA won't stand for that).

Not only that but they are prone to warping your PCB.

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/4gb-...-gpu-915mhz-boost-980mhz-cores-1344-dp-dl-dvi

Something like that will be better than Arctic any way.

Had no intentions of using the thermal adhesive arctic supply I was going to use double sided thermal tape :) and thats the exact card im getting im just paranoid that my computer will sound like a jet with two gpu's :p also I think it will really fill out the box with those massive coolers but maybe im just mad still thinking about aesthetics even thought I wont actually be looking into the case :lol:

I even thought of a way to mount the h100 on the front all it would take is a good 25mm fan shroud and the pump should reach the socket if not add another one :p from what I understand of shrouds these also increase cooling performance and reduce the noise of the sind generated hitting the fins on the rad.....yea I really must be mad
 
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Sorry, the ~40fps I mentioned were not in 3dsMax (this is what happens when men think of several things at the same time), but in Farcry 3 maxed apart from AA. If I leave fraps on in 3ds max as far as I remember it was way above 40, but then they probably have a cap as well. Anyways, I had no lag whatsoever when I was learning to make a car model.

Yeah, maybe get a case with a window, if you're spending all that money on these parts. + get a matching color motherboard, I'd say get one of the Asus ROG's, as the price at a quick glance is around the same depending on what you get, but then you'd end up with almost the same rig as me + 1 GPU and a bigger SSD and I'd be jealous :D
 
Sorry, the ~40fps I mentioned were not in 3dsMax (this is what happens when men think of several things at the same time), but in Farcry 3 maxed apart from AA. If I leave fraps on in 3ds max as far as I remember it was way above 40, but then they probably have a cap as well. Anyways, I had no lag whatsoever when I was learning to make a car model.

Yeah, maybe get a case with a window, if you're spending all that money on these parts. + get a matching color motherboard, I'd say get one of the Asus ROG's, as the price at a quick glance is around the same depending on what you get, but then you'd end up with almost the same rig as me + 1 GPU and a bigger SSD and I'd be jealous :D

Hahah you guys really want me to drop them arctic coolers dont ya's :p

Okay Ill relent and get a case with a window, now which one that has the same cooling layout (front 2x120mm top 2x120mm h100 compatible) a nice window and still be a mid tower?
 
Is FarCry 3 working with SLI yet? I haven't played it in a few weeks on my xfire system and dual card setups weren't working then anyway.

Yup. It took a while but they finally got it sorted in the latest drivers.

Even with the fix and the SLI indicator on I wasn't seeing any more than around 40 FPS.

It's fixed now though :)
 
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