Current setup

Just a quick pic of how my current setup looks.

Going for a Black to White look from left to right.  As you can see, I'm still looking for a motherboard =P

Impatience and feedback on GK104

So yesterday I got sick of waiting for the inevitable upgrade of my motherboard and CPU and decided I would just "port" my old computer Vesy into her new body retaining what I could and beefing it up with the new parts.  I started working on it at about 11am and finished completely at about 11pm.  Here are some pics of the process:

 First tower I ever built in.  Won't make the mistake of buying just coz its the only one accessible.

The internals.  What a mess....

 Here's my old Asus P6T Deluxe v2.  Not a bad board.  It's missing SATA III and USB 3.0 which are about the only things that are worth upgrading for.

 Vesy, meet your new body!

 Set up the motherboard and seated the GPUs.  Made an absolute NOOB mistake of not putting in the raising screws onto the chassis before I seated it.  Had to redo that.  As you can see there's still some daylight at this point.

 Here we have it set up cables and all.  Sun is now gone, hence flash.  So neat, so clean.  Don't mind the lone HDD.  That's gonna be gone the moment I get an SSD.

 Door closed and all assembled.

 Vesy lives!!!  The UV light was probably a bit much.  The idea was to light up the white parts of the internals.  Unfortunately there isnt much white yet.  Not until the upgrade anyway.  Also seems that not everything white will light up.  Need to figure out lighting at a later point.

At this point, the computer started but there was no monitor signal.  This was about 9pm.  After another couple hours of trouble shooting, it ended up being as simple as removing the motherboard battery for a few seconds.











So my GPU performance is now enormous.  SLI was a little tricky to get my head around but its all good now.  The GTX670 is amazing.  It has HD Audio bitstreaming as well as not having the silent stream issue that previous nvidia cards suffered from.  Some games still see some slowdown but I suspect the SLI profile isn't kicking in.  BF3 singleplayer is a constant 59fps though which is perfect.

New indecisions regarding Z77 vs X79

Having researched long and hard, whilst also waiting for the release of several motherboards, I am now quite on the fence of whether or not I should go for the X79 option or the Z77 option.  The main thing that keeps X79 so enticing is the fact that 40 PCIe lanes are just perfect for the set up I'm going for.  Also the incredible impact Sandy Bridge E can bring to CPU heavy games such as Battlefield 3.  On the other hand, Z77 has started to look more and more like an worthwhile choice.  Especially with the Asus Maximus V Extreme soon to hit shelves.  The gaming performance will likely match and even surpass SB-E in most titles.  Along with a thunderbolt port, a PLX chip for better multi card PCIe support, and an mSATA mPCIe combo card, Z77 has never looked so good.  Right now I think it's just become a race to see which one is released in Aus first.  Also price wise, it needs to be significantly less inflated over the US pricing for me to consider.

So here are the contenders:

ASRock Extreme 11.

It has almost everything I ever wanted in a motherboard.  The only thing that would top it off would be a dedicated HDMI out that could carry the Sound blaster signal. Pricing shouldn't exceed $500 otherwise this board would definitely be pushing beyond what people will be willing to pay.

GA-X79-UP4.

Previously mentioned, barebones type board with 2 important things; 8 DIMM and 4 way SLI capability.  Not that I'd use 4 way sli, but because that extra x16 slot would come in useful for something.  Also the ultra durable 5 temperature reduction should allow me to run my fans a little slower if they seem a bit noisy.  Needs to be priced a little below $300 to make it a steal.

ASUS ROG Maximus V Extreme.

The Z77 killer board.  A gaming board with Thunderbolt was already pretty enticing.  Add 4 way SLI, and the ability to add an mSATA SSD and it's almost too good to pass up.  If priced close to the $300 mark this one will be a keeper.

The Little Details

With the finalisation of my build looking likely in 2 months, the nitty gritty details such as cables, fans and lights are the final pieces of the puzzle.

Cables

The Corsair AX1200 individually sleeved modular cables will be the best bet for PSU custom cables.  They are simpler, turn out cheaper than buying individual extensions, and don't add any possible weaker links in the chain of power that extensions do.

That takes care of the power cables so all that's left are the internal connector cables, i.e. Power/reset pins, internal USB headers , fan headers, and SATA cables.  After a bit of research, Bitfenix makes an Alchemy line of cables that are all sleeved and has all the above covered.

Fans

All fans need to be pushing decent air as well as remaining as quiet as the other components I have chosen.  A great resource I found was this MASSIVE roundup review of chassis fans: 393 Case Fans Reviewed

Nexus Real Silent Case Fan 120mm Black/White would make a suitable black and white fan to use for the case interior where LED lights aren't needed.

Nexus Silent Fan White LED 120mm would be the perfect window fan as it is transparent and lights up white.  The PWM version is also tempting.

Xigmatek XAF-F145x as the PWM intake fan would be ideal if the NZXT Havik's speed adjustments match it as they seem to be identical in design and may be from the same OEM.  There are a few different versions.  The main ones of interest are the 1451 - Black, 1452 - Black with white fan, and 1454 - Transparent black with white LED.

Xigmatek CLF Crystal 140 White for any 140 mm LED fans required.

These fans should be more than enough to keep my system cool using the positive flow diagram previously referred to, whilst also keeping noise to a minimum wherever possible.  They'd also provide ample lighting for the inside of the case.

Parts arrived

So nearing the end of my trip here in California, I've managed to get a good chunk of my parts ordered in and received.  I have my 2 x GTX 670 DirectCU IIs, the Corsair AX1200 PSU, 4 x 4GB Corsair Vengeance Arctic White DIMMs.  Also got my Wyse moogle kit infor my keyboard =)

When I get back to Sydney the only things I'll really need are the CM 690 II Advanced Black and White case, the NZXT Havik 140 CPU cooler, the GA-X79-UP4 (I'm still waiting on a release date for this thing), and an SSD which I am still up in the air about.

The Samsung 830 or Intel 520 seem to be the best bet for MLC flash longevity, however with SLC coming to the consumer market in the form of the SuperSSpeed S301, it may just be worth holding out for. 

I am still waiting on another order to arrive.  The XIM Edge console mouse and keyboard adapter.

I'll have a little update on this when I get to test it out =) From what I've seen it is a huge upgrade over the original XIM.

Will post pics when I'm safely back in Aus putting this thing together.