Computer Specs

[GozmitJosh]

Sold my alienware laptop for $800 a few weeks ago, checked newegg and other online stores and was able to custom build this bad boy for under $1,000!!! Lots of coupons and mail in rebates along with promotional deals...etc...etc

Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case with Upgraded USB 3.0

ASUS P8Z77-V LK USB 3.0 Motherboard

Intel Core i5-3470 Ivy Bridge 3.2GHz Quad-Core
(Overclocked it myself to 4.2GHz)

ASUS GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB TOP with SLI Support
(bought 2 of them and SLI'd, ASUS already overclocked it but i overclocked it even more)

OCZ SSD 2.5" 120GB SATA III

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB)

CORSAIR 750W SLI Ready Power Supply

KWorld Hybrid HDTV Card PC150-U PCI Interface

Logitech Wireless Solar Keyboard

Logitech Wireless Trackball M570 Mouse

Along with a 42" TV from Vizio used as my monitor with surround sound.

Here is a benchmark from the Unigine Heaven Benchmark
Link


Needless to say, my BIOS boot time takes longer than booting into windows
With all this crammed into this midsized tower, all PCI slots are filled i believe if not then there is no way i would be able to add anything else. My temps stay extremely cooled just by fans, played crysis 2, diablo 3, battlefield 3 all maxed settings and never once hit any high temps on anything.

[SE7EN]

That is a very nice rig you have put together, can we get some pics? (definitely enjoy a slideshow of build logs photos)

[GozmitJosh]

Top View

Side View

Other Side View

Front View

Inside

[Dragon Mech]

thats one heck of a rig man!! what kind of sound card are you useing?

[stinow]

That's a bad boy indeed; congratulations mate!

[GozmitJosh]

thats one heck of a rig man!! what kind of sound card are you useing?

None Just the sound from the motherboard, i honestly don't have any space for an optional sound card unless i buy a different motherboard, these 2 660 TI's are even too big for a mid size computer case.

But i have NVIDIA High Definition Audio.

I do have $600 Headphones from Germany that make up for it. Beyerdynamic DT 770's.

[Hot Trout]

That is a nice build and a good choice of components to combine. I would suggest getting some water into that rig and driving the CPU and bus speeds up a little.

Nice and good luck with it

[GozmitJosh]

Im a noob when it comes to water cooling, i dont know a thing :/, what do buy how it works nothing :-D

But my cpu and gpu are overclocked right now and at idle my cpu is running at 43 C My motherboard is at 22 C and both my video cards and hard drives run at around 30 C

I have played plenty of games and so far have not had any temperatures high enough that would worry me, i don't even feel any hot air blowing out of the case. Unlike my laptop which was way overheated, hate to be the guy who bought that

What should i consider when looking at water cooling? Do they fit most cases? Or does the case have to be made for it?

[SE7EN]

What should i consider when looking at water cooling? Do they fit most cases? Or does the case have to be made for it?

The biggest concern for custom-loop water cooling is internal radiator/fans, which would replace the fans on your case. They usually come in sizes of 120, 240, and sometimes 360 mm. The ones that are 120mm can usually replace any fan in your case, most commonly your rear exhaust or even top. The 240 and 360 mm radiators would replace 2 fans that are in a row, either side by side or up and down. You can also get external radiator/fans, and those would run through holes in your case, and either stand-alone, or be attached to the back of your case.
The other thing to check for space on is the reservoir, which can be placed in the bottom of your case, in a drive bay, or even externally also. Their location isn't as important as the radiator/fan, as they don't require exhaust, so they can be stuck anywhere you have room.
Another option is a closed-loop system, such as Corsair's hydro series. It is a safer (it's single piece, so you do not have to worry about not properly attaching the hoses like with a custom-loop system. Also custom-loops require full take down and cleaning of tubing and other various parts occasionally) and usually cheaper method for an inexperienced installer, as all you do is place the cooler block on the CPU, secure it, and then attach the radiator/fan. They already have a patch of thermal paste on them, so you don't even have to worry about spreading the TIM correctly. While they are not quite as good as a custom-loop system can be, they are a lot better than an air cooler. The main downside to it is you would not be able to use it to cool your graphics card with it (and I believe you can only water cool certain makes of GPUs anyways), as you have to buy custom waterblocks for your specific GPU and a closed-loop system is single-piece that you cannot take apart.
If you have good temperatures running at full load, it probably wouldn't be a priority, as water cooling can POSSIBLY make other parts on your motherboard run hotter, as you might be moving a fan that is indirectly blowing on them (as long as your case has good cooling this usually isn't a problem though) but on the upside, water is a lot more quiet than air.
Hope this answers some of your questions about water cooling and gives you warnings of stuff that you might not know.

[GozmitJosh]

Thanks! That did answer a few of my questions

I guess since all my extra hard drive bay space is being used to keep my wires out of the way i don't think i would have enough room to fit a reservoir in the case. I wouldn't like an external placement either. So i think i will hold off on water cooling, until i either get a bigger case that allows me to put in the 2 660 Ti's i have along with ample space for the water. Considering i have great air flow right now i think it's best, i was looking into getting a nicer cpu cooler to install.