Power Build + component questions

Ehsteve · June 14, 2015

So I've be squirreling away funds for quite some time now, and reckon that now is the time to move ahead with a build I've had in mind for a while now, made even more imperative with the annoucement of Fallout 4. It's not that money's no object here or there's a strict budget, it's more what I would consider a reasonable outlay for the kind of performance expected. Suggestions are more than welcome, mainly because I have enough room to bump it up to 2011-3 (MoBo, CPU, RAM), but haven't felt compelled to fork out the extra $1,500 or so to upgrade from 1150. It will be overclocked within reason, but the idea is to have solid and silent performance.

So without further ado: the building plan:

CPU: Intel i7 4970K

MoBo: Asus Maximus VII Hero

GPU: EVGA Geforce GTX 980 Ti Hydro Copper x2 SLI (release imminent)

RAM: Corsair 16GB (2x8) Vengeance Low Profile

Drives:

- Samsung PRO850 128GB (boot)

- Seagate SSHD Hybrid 2TB x2 (storage and backup)

PSU: CoolMaster V850 (could upgrade to a V1000, but at the moment the 850 seems to be sufficient for power usage)

Sound: Creative Soundblaster Z

Network: Asus PCI-e AC68
Case: Corsair C70 Vengeance Black

Case will be watercooled using:

Koolance RP-1250 pump reservoir combo

Koolance compression fitting w/ black finish

Koolance CPU water block

Koolance 240mm 30FPI radiator x2 (installed on top [exhaust] and bottom [intake] of case)

EVGA's pre-installed EK water block

PrimoChill PrimoFlex clear tubing (10mmx16mm)

Replacing all stock case fans [x3] and radiator fans [x4] with Noctua Industrials (non-PWM [3-pin] for radiators, PWM [4-pin] for case).

The reason I'm going for the pre-installed cooling block on the CPU is mainly because it actually reduces the cost of the water cooling without impacting quality and removes an additional point of failure in the build process (installing the block personally), also the overall design is just beautiful.

So there are a few questions just to address some concerns I have:

- When testing components with a pre-installed water block (in this case the graphics cards) will I have to build the water loop just to test if the components are functioning or should it be a short enough process that just seeing if the components aren't DOA won't damage them as they do not have a fan block to cool them (even though they're not running benchmarks in this state).

- If the water loop doesn't have to be built to test the graphics cards, then should I build the CPU fan, test the component, uninstall the fan block, then install the water block when it comes time to finally fit the tested component in the case.

- With the Maximus VII Hero, it looks like the spacing between the top and middle PCI-e slot is about double the normal spacing on a motherboard. I have not come across this before so I am convinced that a standard 1-slot threaded coupling for the SLI graphics cards will be long enough to bridge the gap (and instead require the adjustable 2-3 slot coupling). Can anyone confirm this?

So any suggestions or comments are again very much appreciated.

Sam Z Man · June 14, 2015

Looks great but get a 1000 watt PSU (I would go with EVGA personally), because if your going to water cool it, there's no point if you can't up the voltages and overclock it to insanity.

Ehsteve · June 14, 2015

Hrm, EVGA does have the 10 year warranty for a couple of bucks cheaper but the PSU is larger plus there's the gaudy bright red cables. Or I could spend some more to get the Corsair HX1000i. Honestly it's a die-toss to see which one ends up making the cut.

After that there's still the question about the GPU threaded coupling (due to the staggered construction of the PCIe slots on the Asus Maximus VII Hero). I'm wanting to get this right because I'm having to purchase the pieces from America to Australia and the time/money makes it a rather annoying matter if I get it wrong. Could just get both a 1 slot and a 2-3 slot fitting, but spares are only useful if...well there's a potential use for them, and the unused piece would probably end up rusting in a box.

Also regarding the EVGA hydro coppers, is it possible to test the components without having to construct the water cooling loop early? I've done the 'test with fanblock, remove fanblock, install cooling block' dance before, but never with one with a preinstalled cooling block. The EVGA cards just look so damn good.

Ehsteve · June 20, 2015

Okay so after a little more thought I've gone ahead and ordered the following:

CPU: i7 4790k

MoBo: Asus Maximus VII Formula

GPU: Asus Geforce 980 Ti [reference] x2

RAM: Corsair 16GB (2x8) Vengeance Low Profile

Drives:

- Samsung PRO850 128GB (boot)

- Seagate SSHD Hybrid 2TB x2 (storage and backup)

PSU: EVGA SuperNova 1000 P2
Case: Corsair C70 Vengeance Black

Still using Kolance for water cooling.

Instead of going the EVGA Hydro Copper (due to a couple of factors such as supply to Australia [extremely limited] and the LED lighting [wanted to go for an LED-less design]) I went for the Asus Geforce and will be adding in an EK waterblock in the same black acetal block as the hydro copper. Though the hydro copper classified backplate was a work of art, I can live with the plain look from a standard EK acetal backplate. In addition this allays my concerns about testing a card with a pre-installed water block.

The EVGA power source was mainly chosen because there was a fairly cheap black sleeved cable package available for their modular power supplied alongside great performance and their warranty.

Ehsteve · June 22, 2015

Water cooling parts arrived at the doorstep today (ahead of the rest of the rig).

Now I've measured out the bottom of the case, and test fitted, and actually it will impossible to bottom mount the second radiator with a PSU longer than about 160mm modular. Now given that the completed rig will not be overclocked to insanity (not touching the RAM at all, mainly just tweaking the CPU and GPU for best performance/silence balance) all the time (only if needed) I managed to get away with a Seasonic 860 Platinum which fits in that space, and has a set of CableMod Cables available.

Even factoring capacitor degradation and general wear over time, an 860W should be sufficient for all but the absolute high end of overclocking. Hopefully they come out with a 1000W sometime in the future with the same low profile and options for CableMod sleeved kits, but until then this will work fine.