Rig 1 - Benktlottie's PC

Rig 1 - Benktlottie's PC

Uses?

Daily use, surfing and benchmarking.

Cost?

£2100

Components?

AMD64 3700+ San Diego @ 260x11 = 2860MHz

DFI Lanparty NF4 SLI-D Motherboard

1GB Mushkin Redline PC4000 @ 1.5-2-2-5 @ 520MHz

 2 x 74gb WD Raptors (RAID0) HDD

2 x INNO3d NVIDIA 6800GT SLI (running @ 435/1100 with NV5 Silencers)

NEC 3500A 16x DL DVD-R +/-

TAGAN 480w Power Supply

Lian-Li v2000 Aluminium Case

17 LCD Philips 170C5 Monitor

Zalman Reserator water cooling

Why AMD or Intel? Why Ati or Nvidia?

Chosen the AMD and NVIDIA combination as I wanted to run SLI configurations !  I was an early adopter, and when I took the plunge there was no Intel SLI board, and no ATI SLI graphics cards.

Works okay?

Yes, absolutely!  A bit noisy, but then there are 7 fans in there !  For the overclocking I do when benchmarking, its needs to be cool.  The RAM, when overclocked to 3.6v gets too hot to touch, so the 2 x 80mm fans keep the temps down to 30-35 degrees C.  The 2 x 120mm fans provide additional cooling to the graphics cards, and I never go over 60 degrees C.  The Zalman Reserator is a very under-rated piece of water-cooling.  My old AMD64 3200 never went over 40 degrees under full load, and idled around 20-25 degrees C.  And its dead silent.  The DFI NF4 motherboard is the best Ive ever used.  Its it so overclocker friendly you couldnt ask for more.

Dislikes?

Nothing in there that hasnt been tested to max.  Its a perfect machine.

Modifications?

First came the water-cooling for the processor.  I had a 3.4ghz Extreme Edition processor in there before shifting to AMD chips.  The processor was always hot, as I overclocked it to 3.8ghz.  I wanted something quick and easy, as this would be my first water-cooling experience.  The Zalman Reserator seemed the most straight forward, and also came with attachments for all socket on the market at the time.  I havnt looked back since buying it !  The Extreme never went above 42 degrees C, even when playing HL2 for 5 hours.  So when I shifted to AMD, I could wait to see what the temps would be like.  I used my wifes AMD64 3800 first.  I never saw that go over 40 degrees C, even when o/cd to 2.65ghz.  Even when playing HL2 for hours.  Then I chucked my old AMD64 3200 Winnie in, and again, it has handled the temps well.  I overclocked the Winnie to 2.65ghz, and set the voltage to 1.6.  The temps, even when using PRIME just dont exceed 40 degrees C.  Now thats good.
Next thing I modified were the graphics cards.  I noticed the stock coolers were blowing the hot air into the case, which was making everything very warm indeed !  I replaced the heatsink and coolers with NV5 Silencers, they blow the air out of the case.  I used AS5 paste, and it took about 3 weeks before I really saw the benefits.  I was quite disheartened when I didnt see quick results.  Before applying the silencers, I was able to reach 410/1100.  Once the thermal paste had set in, I am able to overclock them to 435/1150, which I am very happy with.  Its was a bugger fitting them in the DFI mobo.  Its a bit of a squeeze, but with some gentle persuation, I got them side by side.  Its strange, on the ASUS A8N-SLI, there appears to be more room, they fit no problems at all. 
The next thing to change were the fans.  The stock fans blow air into the HDD compartment and there is another which sucks air out of the mobo compartment.  It was too warm in there.  So added a Thermaltake 120mm fan to the mobo compartment.  These shift 70cfm with only 21db.  Just class.  I then added 2 x 80mm fans to keep the RAM cool.  The temps were displaying as 60-65 degrees C (@ 3.6v), and adding the fans has reduced the temperature dramatically.  Were now looking at 30-35 degrees C !  Then I added 2 x 120 Thermaltake fans blowing directly onto the graphics cards.  I secured then with Velcro tabs, stuck onto the inside top of the case.  Unorthodox, but they not fallen down off once.  There just enough space to secure 2 of these in that part of the case.

3DMark Scores?

3dmark01 31039
3dmark03 24059
3dmark05 11064
Aquamark3 104045

Future upgrades?

I may invest in 2 x 6800 Ultras, but this is a long shot.  My wife is OK with me buying bits all the time, but I have spent a lot in the last 6 months, and its becoming increasingly difficult to convince her these bits are needed !  After the Ultras, I may purchase 4 x 36gb Raptors, and use the 2 x 74gb Raptors I currently have in mine in the girls machines (one in each).  I feel the HDDs are the weakest link at the moment, I am sure performance would increase with 4 x Raptors in RAID0.  Well, I know performance will improve in that config !!!  ;-)