One of the members at Team Exile5 Esports as decided to build an extreme pc, so i thought the GameSpot community should get the insider on whats happenening!

nicej's Cosmos II Extreme Gaming Computer Build 2012

That time of the decade has come where I dish out a little extra for a complete new rig. It happened in 2005, and it is happening now! Every 5-7 years I find my self throwing away copious amounts of savings for what I consider a gaming computer that will last me for the ages to come.

In '05 I had built a similar extreme build with what you would consider best available parts at that time, dual 8800GTX's etc, it had lasted me ~5years, with minor upgrade for BC2; and now I am making a similar build but minus dual GPU's, holding off for the "real" GTX680's that I've heard may be called GTX685 which are due in Q4 2012.

So for now, these are my current complete parts list inclusive of everything that is bought and installed:

Hardware:
Case: Coolermaster Cosmos II
PSU: Coolermaster Silent Pro 1300M
Mobo: ASUS Republic of Gamers Rampage 4 Extreme
CPU: Intel 3930K
GPU: Gigabyte HD7970 Overclocked @1Ghz
RAM: 32GB (4x 8GB DIMMS) Corsair Dominator 1600Mhz @10-10-10-27
SSD: Kingston HyperX 120GB (x2 in RAID0), Intel 520 60GB (boot)
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB (x2, considering RAID5)
Sound: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium FATAL1TY Champion Edition
Optical: Sony BD5300SOB Blu-Ray 12x Writer Internal Drive

Still undecided on Monitor to be honest.

Cooling:

Water Cooling:

Pump: Alphacool VPP655 Variable Pump
Pump Mod: Bitspower Pump Mod Kit - Acetal Top, Chrome pump housing
Radiators: Black Ice GTX Xtreme 240 (Black), Black Ice GT Stealth 360 (Black)
Reservoir: Koolance TNK-501 Single 5.25" Reservoir
Mobo Block: Koolance MB-ASR4E ASUS Rampage IV Extreme
CPU Block: Koolance CPU-370
Tubing: PrimoChill PrimoFlex PRO LRT Tubing 3/8" ID 5/8" OD with 1/8" Wall
Coolant: Distilled Water
Additive: IandH Dead-Water Copper Sulfate Concentrate

Fittings: Bitspower G1/4 Matte Black 3/8 Compression Fitting (x5), Bitspower G1/4 Matte Black Dual Rotary 45 Degree 3/8 Fitting (x6), Bitspower G1/4 Matte Black Dual Rotary Angle 3/8 Fitting (x3), Bitspower G1/4 Silver Shining 3/8 Compression Fitting (x2), Koolance Drain Valve VLV-XTSPLB, KOOLANCE VL3N-F10-16S (x2 QDC female), KOOLANCE VL3N-M10-16S (x2 QDC male)

Air Cooling:

Case Fans: 200mm Front intake BitFenix Spectre Pro Black Tinted, 120mm Side door intake Scythe Ultra Kaze (x2, blows directly onto GPUs), 120mm Rear exhaust Scythe Ultra Kaze

Radiator Fans: Scythe Ultra Kaze (x4) in push+pull configuration on bottom 240 Radiator, Scythe Gentle Typhoon 3000 (x3) in pull configuation on top 360 Radiator

Yes, there is a total of 11 very high performance, very loud fans in the machine.

Additional bits and pieces:

Cabling: BitFenix 8pin EPS 12V Extension Cable 45cm Black, BitFenix Sleeved 24pin ATX Extension Cable 30cm Black, BitFenix 4pin ATX Extension Cable 45cm Black, BitFenix Sleeved 6-Pin VGA Power Cable 45cm Black, BitFenix Sleeved 8-Pin VGA Power Cable 45cm Black, BitFenix 3pin to 3x3pin Fan Power Splitter Black

Fan Grills: ModSmart 120mm Black Wire Formed Fan Grill (x6, to make sure no potentially damaging particles get sucked through the radiators)
Internal Powerboard: Bitspower X-Station Power Extension II UV

Cables are all individually sleeved.


So as of now, the rig is 80-90% complete, last night I did a leak test for about 12 hours, and this morning I had done a boot test and everything seems to be OK. Tonight I went to my buddy's place to pick up a genuine Win7 Ultimate 64bit Install Disk.

Once a few remaining items arrive in the mail from PCCG I will be able to start cabling and cable management (assuming this will take some time), boot up, install Windows, and start overclocking, benchmarking, and stability testing. I'm aiming for 4.8-5Ghz @≤1.45V for 24/7 use.

It may seem complete, but there is still a while until I will be comfortable to start using it 24/7.

Don't ask how much I've spent! I'm trying to avoid buyers remorse!

Here are some pics

So make sure you stay tuned by checking out:

http://niceedge.blogspot.com.au/

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=702152

http://www.team-exile5.org

Looks like a waste of money 2 me.

Looks like a waste of money 2 me.

zaku101

[QUOTE="zaku101"]

Looks like a waste of money 2 me.

jcbullen

Useless watercooling systm, useless SSD, useless ram, WAY 2 many fans.... No point in watercooling your whole system when you really only need the cpu. Other than a 32gb OS SSD ur just burning cash. I don't even think the builder knows what's he doing with the SSD drives or the HDD, has 60gb for the OS then the rest of the SSD for what? Then the 2tb for games in raid 5, whats the point of doing raid 5 for that? Way 2 many fans for a water cooled system. I only have 2 in my case only on the cpu fan, cool as can be 3.2ghz-4.2ghz. Also whats the point of all the fans when you're systems fully water cooled? Also whats the point of the water cooled system if you've only got one GPU to cool? It's a nice build but the money used to build it could easily been used to build an even better system for the same price or much less.

This system is by no means for gamers, but rather for photoshop or something...

Reasons, Lacks more than 1 GPU, Raided wrong & lacks actual understanding of use of space, more ram then you'd ever use playing games in your lifetime, more cooling management required then needed. Only the cpu and gpu need it and it doesn't make sense going with only one gpu for watercooling. Meaning only the CPU would need the water cooling because everything else would be fine due to the number of fans in the case.

This build clearly wasn't thought out...

Hi Zaku! For the purposes of this post I'm going to ignore the parts where you say "useless" and try to guide you towards a different perspective. Here's some clarification: The 60gb SSD is the Boot drive. You seem to be under the impression that a 32gb ssd for a boot drive is sufficient, well I assure you my 60gb boot drive is 42gb filled. There is a lot of drivers and tweaking software that you can get from rog.asus.com. Additionally, when you have 32GB of ram, the Boot disk requires more space than if you had smaller amounts of RAM. The two Kingston HyperX's are by no means a useless ssd. They use the same controller as the Intel, and you may be surprised to know, they perform better too. They just don't have the build quality like the Intel does. The purpose of the 120gb x2 ssd's are for RAID0 purely for gaming files. The 2x 2TB storage drives are for storage purposes. The mention of RAID5 was if I had gotten a THIRD 2TB drive. Apparently you didn't know that three drives are required for RAID5. It's okay we learn things everyday. I have since decided not to get a third 2TB drive, because I think 4TB is enough space for the time being. With that out of the way, let me address your cooling remarks. It has become apparent to me that you have absolutely no experience or knowledge about watercooling at all. First of all, I have two radiators, a 360 at the top and a 240 at the bottom. You need fans to cool your radiators. The 240 has 2 fans pulling air and 2 fans pushing air through it. The 360 has 3 fans pulling on it. So as you can see, the radiators ALONE require me to have 7 fans. The remaining fans are irrelevant because at this point any fan added makes very small incriments in towards the final dB output. Now let me address your concerns about only the CPU and GPU needing cooling. I will preface this by saying that at the end of this year I will be watercooling two GTX685's. I am not sure if you realise how power hungry a socket2011 CPU can be especially when overclocked. That power translates into very hot VRM components and chipset. Therefore I am watercooling the motherboard as well. As for your 32GB of ram question. You are right in saying that 32GB of RAM is pretty much overkill for gaming purposes. However I assure gaming is not the only thing this computer will be used for. Furthermore, apparently you hadn't considered this, but I will be making a RAM Disk (if you don't know what that is, good is your friend) and by doing so about half of the 32GB will be used for that. Stick to your $1,000 systems. I hope I was able to teach you something on a fine morning like this.nicejnicej

Well you must have a lot of junk on that SSD of yours because a clean windows 7 install only takes 14-16gb, meaning you've got more than half of it for junk. Not so sure what kind of junk you're grabbing off ofrog.asus.com but just stick to using the bios bro. Those SSD for gaming are mighty useless when games these days range from 10gb-30gb. Give my brother a few days and those drives are going to be full. It's like either picking 8-12 second faster load times or already having 2 fukin GPUs in the damn thing already. Also I wouldn't toss anything on those SSD knowing how many bugs they have and their failure rate.

Now the two HDD should be used for gaming, Raided in raid 0 and all your junk and games can go on them while your 32gb SSD hold ur windows files. Then trade those useless SSD for dual GPU. If you even like your junk fromrog.asus.com you can install it on these drives.

Also bro I have awatercooled system and it sure as hell doesn't have 11fans in it more like 2 on the cpu radiator and that's it. No other fans in the case If you need 11 to achieve the same cooling have at it. My AMD955 Cpu is OC from 3.2ghz-4.2ghz at 1.55v at its load is 55C, I've even done 4.0ghz on the stock air cooler.

Also watercooling the GPU and board is just stupid you'd be limited by other factors rather than heat such as hardware... Your GPU 80% of the time will be limited by voltage and other factors, not heat. If people can get their 2500K to 4.5ghz by just chaning the MP on air but aren't limited by heat.... I am not quite sure what you paid for other then a few pipes?

Also I do know what a Ramdisk is I use to run a minecraft server off of one. It made me realize how useless more than 1gb of it would be.. I sure as hell don't know what a gamer would do with it other than install one game onto it then have to save and reload it each time the pc turned off. Other than going through that trouble it's totally useless, especially since you've already purchased the 120x2 SSD why..?

All I learned from you was you sure like to wasting money on useless things.

I also learned if I had the same budget I would have made the same system benchmark for benchmark for 1k less. It'd also be quiter and much lighter..

[QUOTE="nicejnicej"]Hi Zaku! For the purposes of this post I'm going to ignore the parts where you say "useless" and try to guide you towards a different perspective. Here's some clarification: The 60gb SSD is the Boot drive. You seem to be under the impression that a 32gb ssd for a boot drive is sufficient, well I assure you my 60gb boot drive is 42gb filled. There is a lot of drivers and tweaking software that you can get from rog.asus.com. Additionally, when you have 32GB of ram, the Boot disk requires more space than if you had smaller amounts of RAM. The two Kingston HyperX's are by no means a useless ssd. They use the same controller as the Intel, and you may be surprised to know, they perform better too. They just don't have the build quality like the Intel does. The purpose of the 120gb x2 ssd's are for RAID0 purely for gaming files. The 2x 2TB storage drives are for storage purposes. The mention of RAID5 was if I had gotten a THIRD 2TB drive. Apparently you didn't know that three drives are required for RAID5. It's okay we learn things everyday. I have since decided not to get a third 2TB drive, because I think 4TB is enough space for the time being. With that out of the way, let me address your cooling remarks. It has become apparent to me that you have absolutely no experience or knowledge about watercooling at all. First of all, I have two radiators, a 360 at the top and a 240 at the bottom. You need fans to cool your radiators. The 240 has 2 fans pulling air and 2 fans pushing air through it. The 360 has 3 fans pulling on it. So as you can see, the radiators ALONE require me to have 7 fans. The remaining fans are irrelevant because at this point any fan added makes very small incriments in towards the final dB output. Now let me address your concerns about only the CPU and GPU needing cooling. I will preface this by saying that at the end of this year I will be watercooling two GTX685's. I am not sure if you realise how power hungry a socket2011 CPU can be especially when overclocked. That power translates into very hot VRM components and chipset. Therefore I am watercooling the motherboard as well. As for your 32GB of ram question. You are right in saying that 32GB of RAM is pretty much overkill for gaming purposes. However I assure gaming is not the only thing this computer will be used for. Furthermore, apparently you hadn't considered this, but I will be making a RAM Disk (if you don't know what that is, good is your friend) and by doing so about half of the 32GB will be used for that. Stick to your $1,000 systems. I hope I was able to teach you something on a fine morning like this.zaku101

Well you must have a lot of junk on that SSD of yours because a clean windows 7 install only takes 14-16gb, meaning you've got more than half of it for junk. Not so sure what kind of junk you're grabbing off ofrog.asus.com but just stick to using the bios bro. Those SSD for gaming are mighty useless when games these days range from 10gb-30gb. Give my brother a few days and those drives are going to be full. It's like either picking 8-12 second faster load times or already having 2 fukin GPUs in the damn thing already. Also I wouldn't toss anything on those SSD knowing how many bugs they have and their failure rate.

Now the two HDD should be used for gaming, Raided in raid 0 and all your junk and games can go on them while your 32gb SSD hold ur windows files. Then trade those useless SSD for dual GPU. If you even like your junk fromrog.asus.com you can install it on these drives.

Also bro I have awatercooled system and it sure as hell doesn't have 11fans in it more like 2 on the cpu radiator and that's it. No other fans in the case If you need 11 to achieve the same cooling have at it. My AMD955 Cpu is OC from 3.2ghz-4.2ghz at 1.55v at its load is 55C, I've even done 4.0ghz on the stock air cooler.

Also watercooling the GPU and board is just stupid you'd be limited by other factors rather than heat such as hardware... Your GPU 80% of the time will be limited by voltage and other factors, not heat. If people can get their 2500K to 4.5ghz by just chaning the MP on air but aren't limited by heat.... I am not quite sure what you paid for other then a few pipes?

Also I do know what a Ramdisk is I use to run a minecraft server off of one. It made me realize how useless more than 1gb of it would be.. I sure as hell don't know what a gamer would do with it other than install one game onto it then have to save and reload it each time the pc turned off. Other than going through that trouble it's totally useless, especially since you've already purchased the 120x2 SSD why..

All I learned from you was you sure like to wasting money on useless things.

Quite a bit of butthurt QQ jealousy in this thread.

To the OP, very nice machine.