New Rig, need some advice

[Wrexhavik]

Thanks all who come by and make a comment. Big fan of Tom Logan, love his videos, reviews, rigs, and his off the wall humor, KEEP IT UP!

I'm looking to build a new rig. Just built one last month, it's 'eh' OK, but I want to go all out and dig deep and truely make something cool. I got the 'bug' and now I really want to try my hand at sleeving and water cooling.

First, this is what I built last month:

Case: NZXT Phantom (limited edition white/red)

Power: NZXT 850W (white)

MB: ASUS P8P67 WS Revolution

CPU: i7 2600K

Cooler: Antec KUHLER H2O 620 (120mm rad, push/pull)

RAM: 4x4GB G.Skill Ripjaws 1600

Video: HIS HD 6950 IceQ X Turbo X (blue plastic fan shroud)

HDD: 2x64gb SSD in raid 0 for OS, and 1x 1TB for storage.

Ok. Case came with 3x 120mm fans, no LED, and 1x 200mm red LED top fan. Looks good but the ASUS board has blue accents and a very cool blue fade in/fade out led on board. I replaced the 2 side 120s with 1 CoolerMaster blue LED and 1 CM red LED, kept 1x120 on back, but used a blue LED 120 fan on inside of the 120 rad. To the front I originally added a 140mm blue fan, but then changed to a red one. Then I zip tied the blue one inside the 5.25 bays.

So, right now it has a pretty cool red/white/blue theme going on, but I want more BLING! I really wanted the ASUS Maximus IV Extreme but it was out of my price range at the time. My system works fine, temps are great, fan sounds quiet to low.

But I realized that the Phantom doesn't have much room to put in water cooling (I'm hooked on w/c after watching all of TTL's videos!

So, my next build is (need help here):

I bought ASUS Crossfire Formula V with AMD Phenom x6 1100T Black (black and red theme).

Next purchase is dual EVGA GTX 590s Hydro Copper 2 (when they get more in stock). I could go with 2x 580s, but heck, why not go all out and get the 590s? They will last me at least a few years, right?

Need help picking:

power (thinking Corsair AX1200) and I want to sleeve my own cables in red/black,

case (Corsair 800D or a CM HAF 932 Advanced) of course this depends on cooling, right? MB has onboard USB 3 header.

Want advice on water cooling (1x360, or 2x240s) Thinking CPU on 1 loop, and the 2 GFX cards on 2nd loop) or will 1x360 be enough for all 3? TTL's build, Shadow H2O he had 360 rad, cpu and the HD6990 all in 1 loop. Will that be good enough for my 2x590s? TTL's Snowdrift had 2x240s and he had cpu and HD6970.

Water cooling CPU block: either the XSPC RASA AMD version or the EK supreme LTX EN. Can't find Bitspower red fittings, so probably Bitspower black sparkle, clear tubing, red coolant.

Res: I could use XSPC dual bay res or (dual loop) Koolance 452 with 2x D5 pumps

OR! I can put the AMD board in my Phantom, and build the next rig with the Intel board/processor and go for a blue theme. OMG, so many choices.

I dont' want a case that is all closed up and I can't see my handiwork (Bitfenix Colossus pretty lights, but too closed up, and no room for 360 rad, let alone 2x240s), Raven (no room for w/c), Corsair 600T? Wait for a Cosmos S II? My brain is hurting from all this decision making!!

Thanks all for your comments, and have a great O/C day!

oh, and when I can figure out how to upload pics, I'll post my current Phantom rig. PEACE!

 

[ruthless_villain]

someone did a awesome watercooled phantom on here let me find it ...

http://forum.overclock3d.net/index.php?/topic/35553-xsessive/

your post is kinda confusing but... you can sleeve any psu really ... the 800d is good for water cooling mine is modded for a 240mm in the floor as well so now i only have 4 HDD slots but thats enough for most people if your having dual cards and cpu i think you could get away with 360mm rad + 120mm rad in a single loop but you would have to use a ddc-1t 18w atleast the Waterblock doesnt matter just get what ever looks nicer (get mayhems premix coolant)

and why o why do you need dual 590s i heard quad sli can make some games worse i dunno for sure tho

 

[Wrexhavik]

Thanks Ruthless.

So should I go with single 590 or go 2x 580s? I want to be able to do triple monitors and maybe 3D in the future. Also, if I do single 590 then I guess I could do OK with CM HAF 932 with 360 rad single loop, and prob same with 2x580s.

What about power? Is 1200W OK for dual 590s, or if I drop to 2x580s, get a 1000W (to handle the 2 cards and water cooling)?

 

[ruthless_villain]

AX 850 is enough for 580 sli I think

1200W is enough for sli 590s

360MM RAD + CPU + Dual 580s = Hell no

 

[AdrianD2]

Why are you going down to an 1100t from a 2600k?

 

[Wrexhavik]

Why are you going down to an 1100t from a 2600k?

Well the Crosshair V is Bulldozer compatible, so I got the 1100T in the time being, and I like the ROG "elite" status of the motherboard. Maybe Gigabyte or MSI or EVGA is better, but its what I have now. Who knows, maybe I'll build up the AMD rig with parts from my current rig, then buy the Maximus Extreme Z and put my 2600k in it.