Upcoming Build Log - NZXT Switch 810

[instinct_2k]

First of all I just want to say that I'm new to the OC3D Forums, but in the short time that I have been here - I've found SO much useful information! So thanks go to all those people that wrote the posts that I have read!

Anyway - Back to the point of this thread:

Intro

I starting a new build in the next couple of weeks (just waiting fro the final parts to arrive) and I'm wanting to do a build log to share my experiences.

I'm hoping that this build log might be slightly different to others because I'm going to build the rig in a couple of stages. the basic idea behind the build was to build an air cooled rig to start with (stage 1) - then water cool it (stage 2).

I know that that will be water cooling the rig - so many of you will be thinking "Why doesn't he just water cool it to start with??". to answer that question - Money!!! I'm also oping that the build log will be helpful to those that already have their air cooled rig, that are happy with the specs, and are looking to water cool it in the future.

The other thing that might be different to other rigs is that I'll be using a pre-overclocked bundle from Aria.co.uk. "Cheating!!!" i here you all scream - and your right!!!! I've overclocked a few of my old machines in the past - but I'm certainly no expert in that department - so for me, starting from scratch with this rig - it seamed like the easy option!

Overview

Right - This rig will NOT be a benchmark rig! It'll be my everyday machine for gaming (over 3 screens) and working from home. Therefor, I'm not concerned about getting stupidly fast clock speeds - I just want something that's quick and reliable!!

Components

Motherboard bundle:

The basis of my rig will be the Gladiator Intel i7-3820 4.30GHz Pre-Built Overclocked Gaming Bundle (Sandy Bridge-E) from aria.co.uk.
This bundle includes:
• CPU: Intel Core i7-3820 (Sandy Bridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor
• Motherboard: MSI X79A-GD45-8D Intel X79 Socket 2011
• RAM: 16GB Mushkin Enhanced Blackline Frostbyte LV #993988 (4x4Gb)
• Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock PRO 2
Aria will then overclock the above to around 4.3GHz

This should give me a good basis to build from, Yes - I know there are faster CPUs, better Motherboards, and the Cooler got all but slated in a recent review by TTL himself. But for £599.99 inc. VAT - I think it's a good deal!!

Case:

Seeing as I'm starting air cooled and then "switch"ing (pun intended) to water cooling The NZXT Switch 810 is a little bit of a "no brainer" to me!
I'm going for the standard black version to fit in the the other kit that I already have - I hope it's shininess is not too much to cope with!!!

Power:

I ordered all the bits last week - just before TTL released the review on the Corsair HX850. Having watched the video I still believe that i have selected the right PSU. I've opted for the Corsair AX850. I totally accept the the HX850 is a great power supply, and according to TTL the only reason to go for the AX series is for cosmetics (braiding on the cables) I must sat that I'm a bit of a tart when it comes to computers - everything needs to be spot on - So I'm happy I spent the extra money on the AX

Graphics:

Ok - I'm going to be gaming!!! My preference is the first person shooters. So I've looked for a card that will cope with the various Battlefield and COD games playing over my 3 matching Iiyama screens (1920x1080).
The card I've chosen is the Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 OverClock Edition. I chose this card as (according to reviews) provides great cooling of the GPU with it's twin fans, but it's PCB is still of "reference" design allowing be to water cool in stage 2 of the build. With it's ATI Eyefinity support - This should see me getting killed playing COD in 1080p over 3 screens!!!
If it's not quite quick enough - I'll just get another one and Crossfire them! (The above Motherboard has 2 PCIe slots that run at full 16x speed!)

Hard Drives:

I have no need for large storage in this rig. (I run a server at home with just over 4Tb of storage) so for me it’s all about speed! I’ve opted the OCZ 240GB Agility 3 2.5" SATA-III SSD which can read at 525MB/s and write at 500MB/s.

Contentious bit: I’m getting 2 of then with the plan to run then in RAID 0
I’m really looking forward to the upcoming video from TTL regarding the pitfalls of running SSDs in RAID, so that might change

Conclusion

I’ll start taking some photos of the components as they start to arrive, so keep your eyes peeled guys / girls!!
I’d love to read your comments and suggestions, so please feel free to do so

 

[jamesriley94]

I personally wouldnt have got the Graphics card or the SSD...

OCZ drives are very unreliable, and we generally dont recommend them to anyone here - they have the highest return rate of all SSDs on the market, and by quite some margin as well, so if you can change that, do it.

For the extra money, I'd have gone for the GTX 670 over the 7950. Having owned both, I'd definitely be wanting the best possible to be running 3 screens

Probably slightly OC on the power supply, but the AX series are very good, so you've not really made a bad choice.

Looks alright though - but for the 2 suggestions I've made, I'd definitely be thinking of cancelling or sending back the SSD before even unboxing it if that's an option. And if you're using OCZ - RAID 0 is completely out of the question because there is a 30% chance it will fail.

 

[instinct_2k]

OCZ drives are very unreliable, and we generally dont recommend them to anyone here - they have the highest return rate of all SSDs on the market, and by quite some margin as well, so if you can change that, do it.

Thanks for the "heads up" - The various reviews that i have read have been about performance rather than reliability - They are on their way to be at the moment - but there's time to do something about it!

Probably slightly OC on the power supply, but the AX series are very good, so you've not really made a bad choice.

Should leave me room for the second GPU and the water cooling kit in stage 2

I'd have gone for the GTX 670 over the 7950

I must admit that it was a toss-up between the two - having had Nvidia cards for years - I thought id' try something different (Not start a RED vs GREEN war here)

 

[MadMarc]

Why are you going with LGA 2011 when you only use a quadcore? Imo you could save quite a bit of money, without losing much performance and saving power, therefore having less heat to cool, by going with a 3770k,MSI Z77A-GD65 and then 8GB of ram and a nice cooler. Since the rig is just for gaming even a 3570k would be enough.
I wouldn't use SSD in raid as Tom said there's a lot that can go wrong, I recently built a rig for a mate with a SSD raid array and it's not working that well, I might have to get the rig back from him and spend some more time on it.

 

[instinct_2k]

Why are you going with LGA 2011 when you only use a quadcore? Imo you could save quite a bit of money, without losing much performance and saving power, therefore having less heat to cool, by going with a 3770k,MSI Z77A-GD65 and then 8GB of ram and a nice cooler.

Went for LGA 2011 so i can upgrade in the future to the i7-3930K hex core. For me - future proofing is important.

Since the rig is just for gaming even a 3570k would be enough.

The rig won't be just for gaming - I need the ability to work from home - for me that means running multiple virtual machines for development purposes - hence the 16gb of RAM

Looks like I have made a bad choice on the SSDs!!!

 

[MadMarc]

Went for LGA 2011 so i can upgrade in the future to the i7-3930K hex core. For me - future proofing is important.


The rig won't be just for gaming - I need the ability to work from home - for me that means running multiple virtual machines for development purposes - hence the 16gb of RAM

Looks like I have made a bad choice on the SSDs!!!

Then 2011 and the ram make perfect sence, why don't you just way a bit and get the 3930k, this could save you a lot of money compared to upgrading later.
Imo it's almost impossible to future proof a computer.

Setting up the SSDs can be a nightmare

 

[jamesriley94]

I'm not gunna start any red vs green war, dont worry. I started using a 670 2 days ago, never had nvidia before that.
Regardless of whether you went for 7970 or 7950 instead, I'd still want the most performance possible to be driving 3 screens.

I do have to agree that a the 3820 is kind of in no-mans-land. Same performance as the 3770k but cant OC as high, so IMO, you're better off getting the 3770k and sticking it up to 4.5/4.6ghz rather than the 3.3ghz you'd achieve on the 3820. It's not gunna make a lot of difference tbh, but you'd have saved a fair bit of money going 1155.

Also, you say the SSDs are all about speed... Assuming you do send back the OCZ, dont just look at the listed read and write speed. They're based on 1024k speeds, which no programs use. The Crucial M4 has far lower listed speeds, but at 4K performance (the data that windows actually writes in) they perform better than pretty much any other drive out there, so dont just go by the listed speeds.

 

[maniac]

looking forward to this build as I also own a Switch 810 and I'm considering to go proper watercooling in the future subbed

 

[instinct_2k]

Just a quick update...

All the parts have now arrived with the exception of the Motherboard Bundle from Aria!!! I phoned them today and they have informed me that they are currently out of stock of the memory (Nice of them to tell me that the order was delayed!!!! *COUGH*) It should be with me on Tuesday / Wednesday next week.

Over the weekend I'll start taking some photo's of the kit that I already have!! Any requests???

 

[JackyBoy]

I think you have made some good choices!

As far as the SSDs go, I think people might be over reacting slightly. I did a lot of research into SSDs before I built mine and I nearly went for the OCZ ones, but ended up with some Corsair Force GTs. I am also going to be putting these in RAID 0.

My previous build had 2 samsung SSDs in RAID0 as the boot drive running 24/7 for 4 years with no problems at all. So saying that they will have problems is speculation (unless they have owned the drives and tested them, and have found many problems) and for that reason I will be raiding my new ones too

 

[Josh Weston]

I have two SSDs in RAID0 - no performance gain seen whatsoever. Just seems to have bogged down my POST screen with annoying RAID configs, and denied me the use of TRIM

 

[instinct_2k]

Ok guys / girls / others .....

.... What should I call the rig?????

 

[GigaChunk]

Pete.

 

[yassarikhan786]

instinct_2k12

 

[Lollipop]

This case is going to be massively overused...