I've always loved working with Computers. Back in the Day, my first PC was a Vic 20, I thought I was in heaven.
Through the Years I've owned several and the thing most lacked where originality. They where all whatever the manufacturer decided I wanted but came miserably short to say the least.
After spending so much on a system, it's always been an irritation that I had to upgrade the thing before the new Case smell went away. Everyone knows what I'm talking about. You buy a Dell or Gateway with a screaming M-Board just to have everything else come in way under the Wire. 500MB of Ram, dinky Video Card, the list goes on and on. Then you try upgrading just to find you're throwing money at a dead Cow, pun intended. Time and again I've had to fix mine, as well as all my Friends and Family's Rigs. The only thing I haven't done is build one from scratch. I have upgraded the heck out of allot though...
After working hard all my life I have the opportunity to build what I want, no holds bared. I've read and researched, posted on Boards, talked, listened and I finally had to come to the point where the talk was over, I took a deep breath and put it all on the line and made the order.
Some might say Wow and some snub their Nose at the choices I made but bottom Line, it's mine. I made the choices and I'll have to deal with the consequences. I tried to get the most power, with the least chance of compatibility Migraine. Computers aren't perfect, just like the Picture of a Big Mac has nothing to do with what you get in the Box. But I figure if you stick to an idea line, you'll be less likely to have configuration problems down the Road.
CPU: Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6800 Kentsfield Quad Core 2.93GHz. (O/C to 3.2 GHz)
Motherboard: EVGA nVidia nForce 680i SLI ATX.
Memory: 4X 1Gig Corsair Dominator DDR2 1066MHz PC 8500 dual Chanel (matched set).*
Video: 2X EVGA nVidia GeForce 8800 Ultra 768MB Cards in SLI.
DVD Drives: Philips Blu-Ray DVD burner SATA / Philips 20X DVD burner SATA.
Hard Drives: 3X Western Digital Raptor 150GB 10,000RPM SATA.
CPU Cooling: Ultra ChillTEC fully regulated TEC CPU cooler.
Power: Ultra X3 1,000W Modular Plug Power Supply.
Operating System: Windows Vista Ultimate. (64 bit)
Case: Gigabyte Aurora 570.
Monitor: Gateway 24'' LCD FDP2485W.
UPS: CyberPower intelligent LCD series 1,500VA.
* When installing more than 3 GIG of RAM under the Vista X64 O/S you must first install with less than 3 GIG.
After booting the O/S you must go here to download the expanded RAM drivers:
www.support.microsoft.com/kb/929777/en-us
Once the new drivers are installed, Vista X64 will recognize up to 8 GIG with no problems.
The Case:
With any good build it all comes down to Home sweet Home. If the House isn't big enough for the new Family moving in, there's gonna be trouble. The Case has to be one of the most overlooked items in a build. Even such Co's as Dell and Alienware stuff their systems in Cases that just barely accommodate. They both try to compensate with some sort of water cooling system and tons of fans. A good size Case with an efficient air flow design means EVERYTHING in how well your system will operate and keep itself cool. No matter what Case you chose, make sure it has adequate ventilation no matter what other goodies come on it or in it.
My biggest concern has to do with the 2 8800 Ultra Video Cards. Using a total of 4 power connectors and running 768MB of over clocked ram a piece, these Cards are like space heaters for a Case. It came down to 2, after looking at what seemed like a Million Cases, I was left with the choice of the Antec P182 and the Gigabyte Aurora 570. I really love the Antec but after analyzing the features of both it came down to which one will work best for what I want, my system needs. First off, if you're going to do an SLI system build, forget Mid Tower Cases. You're going to need lots of space and excellent airflow. The thing that I didn't like about the Antec is P/S placement. Heat rises and even though Antec does a great job in isolating it from the rest of the Case, it's still going to produce heat and it will end up finding its way to where it's not needed. Also, the Antec just had a cluttered feel to it. I'm not saying it's not a good Case, it's just the elimination process I had to go through in order to make sure I got the right one for what I'm about to move in. They both have also put allot of thought into water cooling with pre-drilled Holes for Tubing and nice rubber grommets. I guess this choice has to do with personal preference. Both will work well and there are some other monster Cases out there to chose from. I narrowed it down to these 2 over quite a few rules. Space, airflow, ease of use, structural integrity, upgrade ability and looks. Another place Antec fell short was Structural integrity. The Case itself is very strong, but the front Door just has a feel of something that won't last. I did love the fact that you can open the Door completely. It swings all the way around and sits beside the Case, out of the way. If Antec had made the Door stronger, I'd have went with the Antec, that's how close it came to the 2 I chose from.
Gigabyte Aurora 570. What can I say. Anyone who either uses this Case or has looked close at it knows what I'm talking about when I say, it's got room! It's so open and everything is laid out like a savvy Tech was given free reign over building a custom Case for themselves. Other than the swing around Door on the Antec, I also really liked the Top mounted Fan. When I spec'd this Case out I looked at allot of P/S's as well. The Antec has a 120MM Fan on Top (an excellent feature) so I looked for a P/S that could do the job of Top Case ventilation as well. The Ultra X3 has a 135MM Bottom mounted Fan so this was another plus for the Gigabyte. With the P/S being kept at the Top of the Case and the Ultra X3's 135MM Fan, both my problems are solved. I get to keep the warm P/S on Top and have the 135MM (larger than the Antec's 120MM) Fan at the Top of the Case too.
Another plus for the Gigabyte Case is the Motherboard Tray. This thing is made for just about any Motherboard you'll ever want to put in a Case. The Antec has a very nice Motherboard Tray, but it's limited as to what kind of M-Boards you can put in it.
You can see how the P/S and 135MM Fan work very well at the Top of the Gigabyte Case.
As for clutter, both do an excellent job, I just like the Gigabyte better. If you look at them together you might be able to see why I made the choice I did.
The 2 have excellent Airflow design but I think Antec went too far in isolating the P/S and placing the Fans where they did. If you look close at the Gigabyte, the 2 X120MM Fans at the rear are placed right above where the 2 8800 Video Cards will be going, keeping the radiating heat away from the rest of the Case. I did like how Antec isolates the Hard Drive Case at the bottom as well but it takes away space from the rest of the Case. I guess that's why I think it looks more cluttered than the Gigabyte Case. The Gigabyte has a nice 120MM Fan in Front for H/D cooling and with the 2 Case Fans as well as the 135MM P/S Fan and massive Side Vent Grille, H/D and video Card heat shouldn't be a problem. Antec got an A+ for their design, but it just wasn't enough to sway me from the Gigabyte. As you can see, allot of thought went into what Case I chose, it's that important.
Gigabyte gives you a Plexiglas Window to replace the Grille if you want to show off but I want cooling, not Rig Case peeping Toms, LOL! If Gigabyte hadn't had the large Vent Grille on the side of the Case I would have went with Antech Hands down because of its excellent flow through design, or had to adjust Fan choices and settings because of the imbalance. I did however replace the Gigabyte Fans with, you guessed it, Antech Fans... If you're reading this and go with the Gigabyte and use the clear Plexiglas then be very careful of your Fan settings.
Another very important thing to remember. Never put more exhaust Fans than you have intake Fans, unless the Case has an adequate Side Vent, or other means of good ventilation. If you do then you'll have hot spots, as well as an over heated P/S. Why the P/S? because on the other side of the P/S Fan is a vent to the outside. If you have too many exhaust Fans running and no where for the Air to get into the Case, the Fans will over power the P/S Fan and try to suck Air in through the rear Vent on the P/S, causing static Air flow and damaging over heating will occur, burning up your P/S and possibly causing damage to the M-Board and other components due to P/S failure. Ventilation is a 2 way Street, always. Whatever you're pulling out of the Case MUST be brought in at the same rate. No matter what Case you go with, this is the most important point and one that can't be stressed enough. Cool looks are one thing. Cool working conditions for your hardware is the deal breaker in choosing a good Case.
The Motherboard:
This was a very hard choice. It came down to the EVGA nVidia GeForce 680i SLI and the Asus PN 32-E SLI with nVidia 680i Chipsets. Wow, what can I say this was a very hard choice and I did most of my research on this because it's the base of operation so to speak. Like the Case I chose, allot went into this choice as well. This is where my opinion of staying with similar manufacturers comes into play. Asus makes some very powerful Motherboards with Intel Chip sets and I might have went with them, but the Rig I'm building has a theme and I want to stay as close as possible to eliminate compatibility Migraines.
The big turn off with the Asus had to be the Heat Pipe and Heatsink configuration. Asus assumes that you'll be using the OEM CPU cooler so they surround the Socket with all the heat Pipes and Heatsinks to take advantage of the airflow. Do I have to spell out what the Word assume means Asus? Most high end builds are not going to use the OEM CPU cooler so your assumption to surround the Socket with all that heat was crazy! It also eliminates allot of cooling options because there's not enough room to put anything close to the Socket. You're basically forced to either use the OEM cooler or run Water cooling and put a big Fan over it to keep the heat out of the Socket area...
EVGA has had a Rocky start entering into Motherboard design but unlike Asus, they don't have the rep, yet. I feel that with EVGA's entry into M-Board manufacturing, they're more hungry than Asus and are trying allot harder to get the quality Geeks expect. If I was buying this system say 6 Months ago, it would be Asus Hands down. EVGA has really worked hard on Q.C. And it shows. I don't think anyone would go wrong with either choice. We'll see after burn in and some play Time if I made the right decision.
Another great feature of this Board is the Third PCIe Slot. It's only 8X but it's a very nice addition. Why? Because it allows you to add a Physics or Third Video Card. When adding a Third Video Card you have the choice of using it for another Monitor separate from the SLI Cards or you can slave it to the SLI Cards and use the resources of the Card to aid the others. It also gives you the choice in adding a Physics Card like the Ageia. There's really not much reason to get the Ageia Physics Card, yet. But in the future when more Games and other software manufacturers start adding Code to utilize the resources of a Physics Card, you'll be ready with a M-Board like this.
CPU:
I was really on the Wire with this. I know that Intel is slated to release the new line of CPU's at the end of July but I'm the wait and see kind of Guy. The QX6800 has impressed me, allot. The cost is a bit to take but progress comes at a cost. I still don't think the new Intel CPU's will be cheap when released. I've caught allot of Flack over not waiting because allot are saying that the new CPU's will be more powerful and half the price, we'll see. One thing I don't like is the lack of a Track record. Who knows just how great the new Intel CPU's will perform. The QX6800 has already established itself as the King of the Hill. I figure if the QX6700 can be O/C'd to 3.4GHz then the QX 6800 should handle 3.5-4GHZ easy. Like the M-Boards, if this was last Year I'd be going AMD. AMD, are you listening???
Memory:
Talk about variety, good lord! It came down to another 2. Corsair and OCZ. I'm an old Timer and from all I've read about, Corsair is still the can't be beat manufacturer of Memory. OCZ is great, but I've read some bad reviews about customer service. I guess it's all a personal preference. I went with 4 GIG just to see how it runs. I might go up to 8 GIG in the future if need be. That's the great thing about the system I'm building. It's made for future upgrades.
Video:
What can I say about the GeForce 8800 Ultra? They're over priced MONSTERS! I have an 8800 GTS 640MB Card in my old Rig and it's nothing but awesome! Experience with the 8800 GTS is what made me really think about Cases. The 8800 GTS in my Mid Tower is like a space heater. 2 8800's in a Mid Tower? Forget it unless you're going to Water cool the whole thing, and don't mind dealing with cramped spaces. Also, with a 24'' Monitor, I'm going to need allot of power to get the best F/R's. I'm also going to be running a second 20'' Monitor for video editing.
Hard Drives:
Another what can I say moment, and another area I caught allot of Flack over. These H/D's are over priced SATA screamers! Although not allot of storage space. I'm going to use One for the Boot Drive and the other Two for storage. Dumb choice? We'll see...
DVD Burners:
I like Phillips and I like the idea of SATA DVD drives. Blu-Ray is new and I do allot of professional video editing. It''ll probably sit idle for a while but has more ability to be upgraded in the future than Sony. Sony just didn't impress me and this is the only thing I looked at as to price. The Second Phillips DVD burner is just a really nice, reliable unit. I've bee using one for a while now and it's just one of those units that does what it's supposed to do.
CPU Cooling:
This had to be the most argued point of this build. My thoughts as to CPU cooling are this. Redundancy and Failsafe. I wanted the simplest most failsafe system I could find. Water cooling has the highest rating on redundancy in my Mind. Tubes, Pumps, Radiators and all that water! I know that some Water coolers have non conductive liquid but you still have to constantly check it to make sure it's Topped off. Add to that the risk of Pump failure and your Rig becomes a big Baby needing to have a sitter whenever it's turned on. I might have went with Water cooling if the manufacturers would think! All the Water cooling systems I looked at have no software that monitors core temps and automatically shuts the system down in case of Pump failure or lack of Fluid. Some People told me to go with a good Air cooler. Yes, they make some awesome air coolers but they're also HUGE. They have to be for any kind of O/Cing. After the Smoke cleared and I ran out of Aspirin, I went with the Ultra ChillTEC. Why? Low redundancy and a high failsafe rating in my Mind. I wouldn't have went with a TEC a while back because it had bad condensation problems. TEC's are so efficient they over cool a CPU when not needed, causing condensation and possible water damage to the Motherboard. The new generation of TECs have regulation circuitry that keeps the TEC turned off until a certain core Temp is reached. When this happens, the TEC is turned on thus super cooling the CPU when it needs it. I've had allot of People Poo Poo TECs saying a good air cooler will provide the same Temperature regulation as a TEC. Those People just don't understand how a TEC works. If you put a TEC on a CPU and never O/C or run extremely CPU taxing software you can be lulled into thinking the TEC doesn't work. To the contrary, because the newer TECs are regulated, they don't start working until the core temp reaches over 40deg C. The harder the CPU works, the harder the TEC works as well. If you never tax your CPU, you'll think air cooling works better because the core temp is kept lower at idle than the TEC. Air cooling has the least redundancy but doesn't cool as well as water and TEC systems when O/Cing.
TECs score highest for failsafe in my Mind because of several issues, especially with the Ultra model. The cooler has 2 sets of Heatsink Fins. One for regular air cooling and the other for TEC heat dissipation. If both the TEC and Fan fail, there's still a good heatsink with large Fins to keep the CPU from burning up at idle. Also, with the Ultra there's a nice user interface unit that fits into a 5.25'' Bay. It shows all the important info needed in real Time. Core temp and TEC working condition. They use a funny little worker with a Shovel to show how hard the TEC is working. It all comes in a nice package and unlike Water cooling, you know at a glance what's going on without installing more CPU taxing software. Vigor Gaming makes one almost identical to the Ultra, but the Ultra won out because it has a nicer looking Fin shroud. If you're not going with a Windowed Case then either will do. Also, for the size, this thing really isn't any more heavy than the big air coolers and with the mounting hardware, the weight is distributed well across the Motherboard.
Power supply:
I went with the Ultra X3 1,000W P/S for 2 reasons, Headroom and modular Plugs. I know that a good 650-850W would most likely handle a system like this but being an old Time Electronics Tech I know a little about Power Supplies.
It's not that you need that much power but has to do more with clean Voltage. This system will use around 500W average so 650W is really cutting it close and the 650W P/S will have to work harder to keep up thus causing more heat in the Case. Power Supplies also have the cleanest Voltage when used in the mid Wattage range of the supply. It's where all the parts come together best to do what they're designed to do. If you look at Specs they tell the tale. A 1,000W P/S running at 500W is at its sweet Spot where a 650-850W P/S hits it's sweet Spot at around 325-425W respectively, not even close to what a high end system needs. It's all about headroom and clean Voltage. Another thing to take into consideration is if you're going to use 2 video Cars in SLI. If you are then you need very stable Voltage. The Ultra X3 has 1 12V Rail, unlike some others who use 2-3 even 4 Rails. If you get power from separate Rails powering 2 separate video Cards, there might be problems in syncing so beware of multiple Rail P/S's when going SLI.
Does an Audiophile buy a 2,000W Amplifier to bust their Eardrums? No, they buy it because when the Amp is running at 800-1,000W, there's enough Headroom to anticipate peak loads. It also means that the Amp sounds smoother and more stable at lower volumes. Also, an Amps P/S will make or break it. If a high power Amp has dirty Voltage in the P/S, you'll hear it and when the Amp needs the extra current and it's not there, the Amp will Clip (Overload the P/S Circuit), causing severe damage to small components like the Tweeters. Let's say that while your Rig is sitting idle, everything comes on at once or you have a drive that has Motor problems and draws more current than usual. If your P/S is right on the edge, it'll clip causing catastrophic P/S failure. This will cause possible H/D damage as well as Motherboard, RAM and Bios damage. With the Headroom of a larger P/S you'll have a chance to deal with a problem safely without risking possible damage to hardware as well as the Motherboard. Also, a higher Wattage P/S will run cooler and last longer than one running close to Max output.
I also love the modular design of the power plugs. I can run most of the Cases Cabling directly to the P/S without the tangle of Wires to deal with. The plugs on the Back of the Ultra X3 are standard so everything that can be run direct plugs right into the P/S, eliminating Case clutter. Only the Wires you need are used. Its about Time someone did this. Kudos to Ultra and the others for finally building a user friendly P/S.
Monitor:
When choosing a Monitor, the best thing to do is go look at them. Take your favorite DVD and a CDr with your favorite Pictures. Make sure you have a blend of bright and dark Pictures so you can judge contrast. They all have good response Times unless you're looking at really cheap ones.
I chose the Gateway for not only Picture quality but aesthetics as well. When it's on, the Frame fades into the background and doesn't distract me with bright Button lights and do dads. It's just a nice Monitor and the 24'' cost the same as most high end 22'' Monitors. It also has a very neat security feature. If the Monitor is unhooked. It'll only work for an Hour when hooked back up. It asks for a Pin#. If you don't have one, it shuts itself off. Great if some jerk steals your stuff. The look on their Face when the Monitor shuts off, Priceless! It would be even cooler if Gateway hid a Dye Pack behind the Screen, LOL!
UPS:
If you're running any kind of Rig without some kind of surge protection, you're just looking for trouble. If you're running a high performance rig without a UPS then you're begging for trouble as well. Not only does a good UPS protect your Rig from surges, it also protects from Spikes and Brownouts. A good UPS will also condition the Line Voltage to give your P/S the cleanest signal possible, helping it produce the cleanest Voltage to your system. A bad Brownout will do more harm to any computer based electronic component than Lightning. Why? Because a Brownout is a silent killer. Small Brownouts will wreak havoc on a P/S, causing huge Falls and jumps in Voltage without you even knowing it. A Computers life depends on clean constant Voltage to work properly. If the Voltage varies too much, it could cause serious damage to the system.
Operating System:
It has to be Vista Ultimate. I know it's buggy but it's the new O/S. Just like XP, once the Bugs are ironed out, it'll be fine.
If you are going to use more than 3 GIG of RAM with Vista X64, please go up and read my side Note about RAM and Vista X64.
This system has been a long Time coming for me. I'm waiting on NewEgg to ship it all out. I have the Case, P/S and TEC, just waiting on the Guts.">
When it's all put together and the burn in is complete, I'll be updating this Blog as to how this Rig performs.
Update:
I got all the Parts Today and put it all together. As you can see in the Picture below space is a big issue with an SLI system build. This is why I went with the Gigabyte Case. It's longer than the Antec and you can see it looks like it fits well. Try picturing this monster in a Mid Tower and you can see why I say it's crazy to try a Mid Case SLI build.
I looked at Ailenware and VooDoo and they stuffed the Cases they use to facilitate the SLI system. No wonder their big Rigs come with Water cooling, they need it.
Remember looking at this Picture that the Gigabyte is a big full size Case. That's why everything fits so well.
I'll have another update when I get up the Nerve to turn this thing on and start the burn in.
New Update:
The burn in went very well and here are the first Benchmarks.
3-D rendering Benchmarks:
It's kinda hard to read, Sorry. Anyway, using PassMark with the resolution set at 1920X1200 in native 32 bit mode with everything maxed out, 7 Planes, 600 Trees etc... Even though it's a 64 bit program it won't run Benchmarks in 64 bit with Vista X64, bummer...
I know the Numbers are hard to read so I'll spell them out so Y'all won't have to strain your Eyes. Simple 3-D rendering = 2322.1 fps. Medium 3-D rendering = 772.3 fps. Complex 3-D rendering = 74.4 fps
These are un tweaked Benchmarks after a 36 Hour burn in, not too bad. I did run a second Benchmark for 60 Sec and got 79.3 fps on complex 3-D rendering. In some scenes the Frame rate wet as high as 91 fps on Complex but then again we have to be realistic and average the whole thing out so 74.4 ain't too shabby for a Virgin BIOS.
After tweaking the video a little, no O/Cing. I've managed to raise the F/R's a little.
After making adjustments and testing I can say that if you're going to be using 2 video Cards in SLI, alternate Frame rendering is allot better than split Frame rendering in 2 ways. First, you'll get a little bit better F/R and second, the video is allot smoother because both Cards are rendering a full Frame, instead of a split Frame. The only thing to watch out for is compatibility. Some software doesn't play well with alternate Frame rendering so be careful when adjusting this setting. One program that doesn't work is Windows Media player 11.
My new Benchmarks for complex rendering are as follows:
Vertex and Pixel shaders on, 100% settings 7 Planes 600 Trees 1920X1200 4x sample = 82.0 FPS
The first Benchmarks where split Screen rendering so with alternate Frame rendering I gained almost 10FPS
I also tried it out with Vertex and Pixel shaders off and wow what a difference:
Vertex and Pixel shaders off, 100% settings 7 Planes 600 Trees 1920X1200 = 553.3 FPS
This really shows where new software and Games are gobbling up video Card resources. The new Shader technology gives us allot more realistic Game play, but at a big cost.
New SLI Benchmarks:
Well, as for alternate Frame rendering, it works great in some applications but not all. As drivers improve this will become less of an issue but for now, it can and does cause Headaches. So far, the best, most stable configuration has been in single GPU mode. What this means is that the system utilizes 1 video Card for rendering and the Second acts as a slave. The second card is utilized for its resources to aid the performance of the second, kind of like a Physics Card, but different. With this setup I'm getting 73.4fps in complex 3-d rendering within PassMark and 56fps in 3-DMark6. My total score in Mark6 was 13346 with my settings as they are.
RAM Benchmarks:
Nice transfer rates. Keep in Mind this is all with a Virgin BIOS, no O/Cing.
RAM Benchmarks O/C:
The new Benchmarks aren't bad, but not too impressive as to what the set cost from Corsair. If I had the Money I'd buy OCZ and compare the 2. Anyone out there got 4 Sticks of OCZ they'd lend me? LOL! I don't know if OCZ would do any better or worse. Maybe I'm just being a Brat. It's still not too bad though and after stress testing for 36 Hours all is smooth and stable.
CPU Benchmarks:
Once again, sorry for the crappy Image. Here's the stats. I over Clocked the CPU to 3.2GHz. The O/C Benchmarks are in bold.
Integer Math: 1277.4 MOpS 1408.8
Floating Point Math: 1711.8 MOpS 1887.7
Find Prime Numbers: 869.6 OpS 952.6
SSE: 10066.9 MMpS 11068.2
Compression: 15739.7 KBpS 17167.5
Encryption: 82.8 MBtpS 90.5
Image rotation: 5633.0 IRpS 6131.3
String Sorting: 6878.5 TSpS 7175.9
As you can see the QX6800 is quite the adding Machine. After over Clocking, I ran several stress tests for 36 Hours to make sure everything was stable. The system ran smooth and flawless with only a +2 deg C increase in CPU Core temp. Before O/C the CPU Core temp was 32 deg C during stress testing. After O/C the Core temp was 34 deg C during stress testing. It surprised me at the jump in performance from 2.93GHz to 3.2GHz and the QX6800 didn't run much warmer which really surprised me as well. I was anticipating a Core temp increase of at least 5-8 deg C, I was very pleasantly surprised. I can't say for sure if it has to do with the CPU design or the TEC design. Either way, the jump in performance didn't cause any ill affects at all.
Final thoughts:
There's nothing quite as satisfying as doing something on your own and building your own Rig is right up there with learning to play the Guitar. When you build your own System you learn what makes a PC tick. New Plug and Play technology allows anyone with minimal Tech knowledge to put a Rig together with few Headaches and actually teaches a Person what makes their PC run and how to take care of it properly. I've seen so many Rigs come into my little Shop where a Friend or Family member asks the immortal question, "It just stooped working. Can you fix it?" Most People buy a PC, plug it in, use it, and never think about what's going on inside the fancy Metal Box. I'll open one up and can't believe my Eyes that the thing is even running. So much Dust and Dirt that I can't even see a M-Board, let alone work on it. After Vacuuming, brushing, blowing and scrubbing, the Components become visible. Usually after a thorough cleaning the Rig will run OK, most of the Time. When a Rig gets like that the most likely cause of system failure is heat. Thermal breakdowns account for most system failures, running a close second to Mall-ware, excessive installs and un installs etc... When a Person builds their own Rig they take notice of what's going on inside the Box and will have a better understanding of why it's important to maintain their new Rig. It makes them aware of what it takes to make a Rig run and in gaining knowledge from building it themselves, they gain an appreciation of just how all the parts come together and work to produce the Pictures on their Screen. Well, some do anyway...
Another aspect as to building your own Rig is gaining the knowledge of which Components do what. That way down the Road if something does happen, you have the ability to recognize what's causing the problem an fix it yourself, saving you allot of Money and aggravation dealing with a PC repair Shop. Most Computer Shops want to sell you things you don't need and trust me on this, most know as much or less than you do about your Rig. They know just enough to sell you things you don't really need or want, that's how they make their Money. Some also talk you into thinking your Rig is so broken and out of Date that the best thing to do is buy a new one. They make an offer to buy yours for next to nothing making you feel relieved to at least get something out of your old Rig. You get a new Rig and the "Computer Technician" takes your old Rig, invests a few Dollars in RAM and re-sells it at an enormous profit. In building your own, you know what makes it tick. You know if performance deteriorates what's causing it.
But pre built Rigs come with a Warranty! Well, so does all the Hardware you buy for your Home built Rig. In fact the Warranties that come with the hardware are more Times than not, better than the Warranty a Co built Rig offers, and you don't have to pay extra for it.
But My Rig will be down if I have to send a Part back to be fixed! OK, what do you think will happen when you send the whole unit in for service when something goes wrong? At least you're just shipping the offending Part, you still have your Rig and if it's something inexpensive, you can replace it and still use your Rig while the Part is being fixed. I've done that before. I had a video Card go down on me and it was under Warranty. I sent the video Card to be replaced and in the mean Time, purchased another that same Day. I have to have my Rig running because it's the Heart of my business. In the mean Time I got the replacement Card. I then put it on eBay for auction and only lost $10.00 in the deal, not bad, and I was able to continue using my Rig in the mean Time. If I had purchased a Co Rig I'd have had to send the whole thing in when the Video Card went down, losing my ability to work. It would have cost allot of Money to ship it because that's not included in the Co Warranty and who knows how long it would have taken to get it back, in one Piece. I had a Friend who had to get his Co Rig replaced 3 Times because when it go to Him, it was in Pieces. The first one he got, he plugged it in without checking it out first and all Hell broke lose. When the Smoke cleared he opened it up to find everything a shambles. During shipping all the internal components where damaged. The M-Board was cracked as well. This went on 3 Times, until he Finlay got one whole. I told Him the reason he finally got it in One piece must have been for the fact that they Guy in the Shipping department must have been fired... An assembled Rig has allot of sensitive Parts inside. If not handled with care they can and will be damaged. Receiving your Rig in Parts is allot better because the single parts are much more protected than a fully assembled Rig.
But I just don't know how to do it! Trust me on this. If you have the slightest Mechanical knowledge, dexterity, and a good Internet connection, you most certainly can build it yourself.
Burning and Bench Marking. These are great tools to make sure your system is stable and running smooth. As for bragging rights well, does it really matter? I don't think so. I'd say a good over Clocked system with a single video Card could kick this systems Butt. Do I care, not really. I stress tested and Bench Marked to get an idea as to how everything is working, kind of like taking your Car to a Mechanic for a tune up. Does a tune up make your Car faster than others? It does to a point, but don't expect your newly tuned Hyundai to take a Mustang Cobra in a drag race. it just means your Car is running as good as it can. The same goes for over Clocking. You can add a Turbo to your Hyundai and get allot better performance, but the Engine won't last as long as a properly tuned stock Engine. Tweaking within the OEM limits will make a system run faster and smoother, but extreme over Clocking will shorten a systems life dramatically. It's cool to get a system to run blistering Frame rates, but in the real World it's not going to matter, unless you just want to brag about your F/R's to your Buddies. Does a Game running at 100fps look better than a Game running at 60fps? No. In fact, a smooth system running a Game at 40fps looks allot better than an over Clocked system running 120fps because your pushing the limits so far you'll get all kinds of flickers and odd looking Pixels here and there. Why? because other factors like your Monitors performance as well as other system resources can't keep up and will show their limits when one component is pushed to the limit. Bottom Line, if you build your own Rig and tweak it within OEM limits, you'll get allot more joy and stability out of your new system than if you try pushing it too far to keep up with your Friends Benchmarks. Just enjoy your new Rig and stop thinking of what your Frame rates are while playing Half Life 2, just enjoy it.
Thanks to Newegg.com for all the support before and after purchase, ultra fast Shipping and use of the empty Case Photos.
Update:
After buying allot of Garbage trying too keep the GPU's cool I decided to make my own.
Here are the Parts I used:
I had to cut out the 2 Holes on the back of the Case to allow fro ventilation:
Then I used the supplies and hot melt Glue to make the exhaust Fan:
Here's how it fits into the Case:
It really has made all the difference in the World as too cooling.
My GPU temps went from 60c idle 78c load to 48c idle 59c load.
The Antec Fan is very quiet at high speed and it draws massive amounts of Air out of the Case and video Cards.
I know allot of you will say there's no way this would work and that a Squirrel Cage Fan is the way to go but trust me, I've spent too much money on all the available cooling solutions out there and this has by far surpassed anything I've found.