New Build, First Raid, Case Mod Options and Fun Stuff.

[Furian]

So Good Morning and Hello to all my fellow RoG'ers!


So I am building a System with these components. (listed below)

CASE- COOLER MASTER COSMOS 1000
PWR- ANTEC 750W
MOBO- ASUS Crosshair V
SINK- CORSAIR H100
CPU- AMD FX8150
RAM- CORSAIR DOMINATOR 2133 8GB
GPU- (2) ASUS 7970
HDD- 3TB/WD/CAVIAR + (2)1TB/RAPTOR
SSD- (OCZ) AGILITY 2 90GB(x2) + 240GB AGILITY 3
MON- LG/IPS236

I have several plans for this build, heavy modding included.
Taking notes of what has been done with the case including new techniques to improve it's efficiency in cooling, I have decided to do some of these modifications to update my case.

I also plan on upgrading the Power Supply as I get the new drives in and the secondary 7970 in the system.

The CASE

Now I know and understand I could just dish out the money to just upgrade to a newer case that has a lot of great features, after all USB3.0 and T-Bolt Ports on top of your case seem like a great idea, but this is my baby and I want to update it to my hearts content.

First plans are to Modify the Top Exhaust

Cut out about 1/4 inch around the existing exhaust and outfit the area with a new pressed steel piece designed to fit the H100 I am putting into the case. At this moment after trying to mount it, I am left with gaps around it as well as only being able to mount it using 4 screws. There aren't any issues with that except the gaps which are hindering the performance of the overall cooling.

I am also looking into having the port holes cut out for better cable management of the CPU pin connectors at the top as well as have added slots for the ATX motherboard. I am currently taking measurements of this and working with a machine shop to have the edging match that of the newer Cosmos 2.

I also plan on drilling out the rivets, taking the interior of the case apart and having a local shop here Powder Coat it in a Low Gloss Finish. The Handles and the Door Panels will also be Powder Coated and the Remainder of the case will receive a High Gloss House of Colour "Grabber Orange" Coat of Paint.

As far as helping the interior Match a bit, throughout time I will Anodize the Heatsinks in Orange for the DOMINATOR's, and also the Crosshair V. For the exhaust fans I will be utilizing the Cougar Black/Orange Fans, from which I have heard/read great reviews.

I am also looking to Utilize the Grommets for the Port holes mentioned above, hopefully CM can help me with this. And I need the communities help in looking for a Grommet that will fit the rather large openings it currently has for cable management.

Another thing at the top of my head was to look into the structure and possible modding of the USB interface at the top of my case to allow for USB 3.0

The RAID

The second information I needed was to help with the RAID setup for the system.

I am currently thinking that this

7 - 6Gb/s SATA Connections

Windows OS, Beta Games, Adobe Master Collection and Other Applications - OCZ Agility 3 240GB

RAID 0
Music, Drop Box and Work Folder (Large Adobe Files [Sound, Video, Imagery]) - WD RAPTOR 1TB x2

RAID 0
Steam Games, Wow Main Client, Other Large Capacity Games - OCZ Agility 2 90GB x2

[1st Disk - Movies, Shows, Photos][2nd Disk - Backup Music, Games Files, Work Files] WD 3TB Caviar Black 64MB Cache x2

type of configuration will work for my purposes.

What I want to know of this,

Is it possible to have two different RAID 0's on this board?
- If not, then I will replace the Agility 2's for a Large 240 Agility 3

Is this an optimal setup for my usage?
- Since I do it all from this computer I want to make sure it can handle anything I throw at it for quite some time.
I think the storage upgrade is definitely a great idea as well as upgrading to the 8 core Bulldozer (I plan to upgrade as the newer AMD Procs come out and sell the older proc to keep the system as up-to-date as possible.)

Things I'm using the computer for are
- Gaming (CoD, L4D2, Crysis 2, WoW, SC2)
- Light Server Duty (Feeding Movies/Music to my Network for use in the bedroom.)
- Video Editing (After Effects)
- Audio Editing (Pro Tools HD)
- Encoding
- Decoding
- Rendering
- Web (HTML5, Javascript, Flash and CSS3)
- Word Processing (like it matters... lol)

I appreciate all the help and comments/suggestions and opinions I will be receiving (hopefully!)

- Furian

[HiVizMan]

You can have more than one RAID array on a single system.

I have RAID 0 stripe for OS
RAID 1 for data all on the same system now.

[johndoe]

The PSU doesn't need to be upgraded for CF:

http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon...sfire-review/7

Though, it wouldn't hurt to get a better unit.

As for the CPU, if you already have Phenom 2 chip, then there's no point in getting BD as it doesn't perform any better in games;

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/434?vs=435

Might as well get a 1100T as it beats the FX-8150.

[Furian]

That's good to know then as I begin updating the Storage for the computer that I'll be able to do that. Kudos! ^_^

Well, as for upgrading the PSU I don't plan on getting the second card anytime soon And the current power draw isnt too bad. In fact I may even have to wait for the next architecture from AMD due to what I spent and am spending on the case. I will upgrade definitely once I buy the drives and before I add anything else to the system.

As for the CPU, already purchased it and after years of being on my Core2Duo e7500 this thing is a breath of fresh air. So I am very happy with the results. And remembering that as the next AMD CPU Architecture comes out I will be selling this CPU as I upgrade to their next top of the line.

Thanks for the advice!

Any Case modders out there interested in what I'm doing to the case? Hoping to see a few comments about it. ^_^

[Myk SilentShadow]

Your setup sounds pretty sweet. Make sure you post pics for us please! love your name by the way (huge fan of Ridd.ick, can't wait for the next movie )

[Zka17]

Any Case modders out there interested in what I'm doing to the case? Hoping to see a few comments about it.

Not sure yet how you want to cut for the H100 on the top... Could you provide a sketch for it?

How you're planning to mount the Cougars? I mean, how will be the airflow in the case (where will be intakes and exhausts)?
I assume that you will put Cougars on the H100 too (maybe even push-pull), and that whole setup will exhaust. Do you think that you have enough intakes for that case? Are you planning to cut additional intakes?

[johndoe]

Don't put Cougar fans on the H100, they aren't suited for rad usage as they're low pressure (2.2mm H2O for Ball, less than 2mm pressure for HDB bearing fans).

The stock fans that come with the H100 are great to use for a rad. IIRC, they push 7.3mm which is about twice as much as a regular high speed 120mm fan (like an FM121).

Unless you're looking into replacing them with a Delta or some sort, most fans would be a downgrade from the stock H100 fans. The H100 actually comes with great fans.

[Zka17]

Well, Johndoe, I agree with you in that the H100 has a pretty high fin per inch (if I recall correctly, above 20) radiator, and as such, it requires high static pressure fans. Also agree that the Cougars are not the best ones regarding the static pressure.

But I can not agree with you on that they would not be good for radiators! First of all, one advantage of the water cooling is the low noise - did you hear the H100's stock fans working? Na, that's a lot of noise! Did you compare the stock fans to Cougars? Not a coincidence that people are using Cougars in push-pull over the push only stock fans... - just check the net!

So what do you choose: best cooling performance with the noise, or slightly lower cooling and silence?

In case of Furian, the Cougar-orange of the blades would go nicely with the paint...

[johndoe]

Yes, I regularly hear my H100's fans. I got one in my secondary machine, and they aren't anywhere as loud as you make them out to be. A single FM121 drowns 4 Corsair fans at full blast.

As for the Cougar fans, the HDB version has a very low 1.73mm pressure. People are using them because they have no idea what H20 per cube pressure is.

If he wants the best fan combination for the H100, then he should get PWM Delta's and undervolt them. Because Delta's push more pressure than those slow fans even when they work just as slow.

[Zka17]

Johndoe, I'm not able to talk about Cougars objectively, since I love them... This said, I still disagree with you...

For me a silent fan starts at 20dB and goes below. The H100's own fans are rated 22-39dB. And not sure which Delta fan you're talking about exactly... - as I know, Delta's are pretty high speed ones, and such, they could be loud as well. By the way, the Cougar Vortex HDBs are really rated at 1.73 for static pressure (17.7dB), but the Vortex PWM is 2.2 (17.9dB) - this is the one people are using for H100.

Just think about, all those people who "have no idea what H2O per cube pressure is" share their builds with Cougars - with pretty good temperatures... Using better static pressure fans they all could get perhaps better temps (few degrees lower), but with higher noise - that's the point where you are making compromise!

Let me give you an example from my experience! Here is a screenshot from stress-testing one of my previous builds:

Attachment 8111

That's an Intel Core i7-920 C0 cpu OC'd at 3.8GHz. Over 40% gain and the temps are still in the lower seventies (room temp was 22C, Vcore was 1.42V)! The cpu was chilled by the exactly same setup as you can see here (two Cougars push only, H100's pump at balanced setting): http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread...untry=&status=

So, could I get better temps with higher static pressure fans? Perhaps yes - but why?! These are good enough... That system was running several months without any problems - I took it apart only because i upgraded the mobo and cpu.

In conclusion, let Furian to decide! He can setup his H100 with Cougars, if that's not enough, he still can put back the Corsair fans... or even get some Delta's...

Johndoe, based on our conversation here, I would be curious on your opinion about my current project (http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread...untry=&status=)... What do you think, the Cougars would be enough for the BlackIce SR1 rads?