My Lian Li PC-A20 $2000 build

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BIG$pender

Weaksauce
Joined
Sep 12, 2007
Messages
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First, For those of you who have never owned a Lian Li case, Please save up and get one, I love mine :D

Second, The specs.
Case - Lian Li PC-A20
Motherboard - ASUS P6X58
CPU - Intel i7 950 @ 3.06 GHz
RAM - Corsair Dominator GT 6 Gb @ 1600 MHz model # CMG6GX3M3A1600C7
Video card - Sapphire Radeon 5870 Vapor-x
HDD - WD Velociraptor 300 Gb 10,000 RPM
Power Supply - Corsair 620HX Modular
Heatsink cooler - Corsair H50 With 1 Feser Noiseblocker TK-122 120 x 55 mm in pull only configuration
DVD Burner - LITE-ON 20x model # LH-20A1L-06
Airflow - 2 x Noctua NF-P12 1 x NF-P14

Now some pics
First the full case. Yeah i need to clean up the spaghetti ;)
fullcase.jpg

Back of the case, And IO shield.
casebacke.jpg

H50, And Feser fan
h50z.jpg

Radeon 5870
radeonh.jpg

Front case fans
casefans.jpg

The old Hardware, Which is now up for sale :( Any Takers?
oldstuffi.jpg


If anybody wants benchmarks, Temps, etc. from this setup, Just ask. Also I'm not entirely happy with just the Feser fan on the H50, I'll likely be upgrading to a push pull Noctua NF-P12 setup.
 
I think its awesome!
i7 950? :eek:
You better tweak the bejeezus outta that think with that Corsair sitting on it.
 
with that kind of budget i would of gone with an ssd os boot drive. ha ha. nice system though.
 
Not much components in there

dj_taboo said:
You better tweak the bejeezus outta that think with that Corsair sitting on it.
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Small and cheap water isn't that much ahead of high end air coolers. That small and thin radiator simply lacks surface area of bigger and thicker rads.
Also those particular Sapphire cards dump at least half of graphic card's heat into the case for heating itself and other parts.
 
dj_taboo said:
I think its awesome!
i7 950? :eek:
You better tweak the bejeezus outta that think with that Corsair sitting on it.
Click to expand...

It is a pretty nice build but a cheaper 920 would overclock just as well as the 950 - and do it for a lot less. Also the Corsair H50 isn't much better than a TRUE 120 or Megahalems air cooler so it's not like he's going to squeeze 5.0GHz out of it or anything.
 
You should instead get the 920 D0 and get another 5870.
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I almost went with the 920, But i was afraid with the overclocking that heat would be an issue, also wear on the mobo and CPU. I'm fine with the single 5870, it runs everything maxxed out @ 1920 x 1200 like a champ, with the exception of Crysis, Which i can still run maxxed out at around 24 FPS @ 1920 x 1200, which i find amazing :D

Why such a big case with so little going inside?
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I find fan controllers etc. to be useless, Because the noise at full RPM for all fans is still quiet. Sound cards are useless these days. Running crossfire will give me no visible difference (with the exception of Crysis) so no point in spending another $500. Also only having only one GPU eliminates microstutter. I'm also thinking a RAID array will give me minimal benifit, Cause i mean this WD Vraptor is crazy fast as it is. Also i bought this case when i was having problems cooling my 8800GTX OC2, So i was looking for a mid tower case that had good airflow, And a removable motherboard tray, This fit the bill nicely.

with that kind of budget i would of gone with an ssd os boot drive. ha ha. nice system though.
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BAH! I hear too many bad things about SSD's atm, like firmware problems, data loss, speed degredation over time, And price, So i'm gonna wait for SSD's to mature a bit, And also for 6Gbps SATA drives.

Thanks for the comments guys. Keep em coming :D In addition to the push pull fans on the H50, I'll probably also add the Lian Li dual slot cooler to suck some air away from the 5870. http://www.frozencpu.com/products/8...lot_PCI_Cooler_-_Black_BS-08B.html?tl=g43c241 I know i just put down fan controllers but this sure would look nice in my bezels http://www.frozencpu.com/products/9...ch_Display_Temp_Sensor_-_Black.html?tl=g34c17
 
$2000 on that... kind of a waste. Wrong CPU, Wrong HD, huge case with no need to wc..
 
Bigger cases = better cooling with larger fans, Room to work, And room to expand later. The Vraptor will spank an SSD in some areas, And the SSD will spank the Vraptor in others, Either way it's a bit cheaper, doller per Gb. A good 256 Gb SSD is over $700, Thats too rich for my blood.
btw the $2000 did not include the case, Power supply, Or DVD burner. I just thought you guys may want some benchmarks/temps off of this motherboard, and GPU.
 
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With $1k I would have bought 2 5870s before I bought an i7 950.

IMO / off the top of my head (not sure on total price)
i7 920 w/TRUE Black, TR Venemous, Megahalems Shadow or Noctua NH-D4 (or whatever it's called)
12gigs of ram (1333, 1600 whatever)
HX850 or HX1000 (not sure if 850 would be enough for 2x 5870s)
2x 80gb Kingston SSD's in RAID 0 as boot (TRIM f/w should be coming)
2x 1 or 2TB WD Green in RAID 5 for storage

If you would need to skimp somewhere (for my setup) I'd buy a slightly cheaper board.

In my case I'd buy 2x 295's because I Fold, but anyone who doesn't Fold I'd say get 2x 5870's.
 
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Nice rig, just built a similar system: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1479278

Nice case, a little big for me but it make cable management a snap. What are you clocking that 950 at? I went with the 920 because I plan to upgrade to the 6 core 980x in March or as soon as I see one I can order for around $1000.

Also waiting on nVidia next gen before I upgrade my GPU's as right now the only thing I'm missing is DX11 in Dirt2 which IMHO adds VERY little to the game. I got to try it out on a system I built for a friend with a 5750 and while the game ran great for a $150 video card at 1920x1200, it didn't look any better than my 3x GTX 280 setup. I'll probably pick up a 5770 and put it into my HTPC though.
 
BIG$pender said:
I almost went with the 920, But i was afraid with the overclocking that heat would be an issue, also wear on the mobo and CPU. I'm fine with the single 5870, it runs everything maxxed out @ 1920 x 1200 like a champ, with the exception of Crysis, Which i can still run maxxed out at around 24 FPS @ 1920 x 1200, which i find amazing :D
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Should've actually gone with the 920 because the issues you mention are non-issues. The 920 overclocks incredibly well and would perform just as well as the 950 while saving you a nice amount of money. Heat is not an issue if you have a good cooler.

BIG$pender said:
BAH! I hear too many bad things about SSD's atm, like firmware problems, data loss, speed degredation over time, And price, So i'm gonna wait for SSD's to mature a bit, And also for 6Gbps SATA drives.
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I don't know what bad things you heard, but an SSD would've been money well spend and would have certainly outperformed that WD Raptor. Instead of the Raptor, you would have been in a better position had you gotten a WD Black since there is only 5-10% performance difference at most and the Raptor's price/performance ratio is not worth it.

Otherwise, good build and enjoy! :)
 
What are you clocking that 950 at?
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currently just stock with turbo mode enabled, so 3.2 Ghz, Will attempt overclocking when i get my 2 Noctua fans in for my radiator, because the Feser just isnt cutting it.
Nice rig btw, the 3 XFX 280's look wicked stacked up :D what kind of load temps are you getting from them? Are they being smothered by the narrow gaps between them?
 
Sure, you could've found a better deal on certain components. I just saw a W3540 (basically a 940) sell on Ebay yesterday for $325. You probably could've found a better deal on your memory on Ebay or HardForum, but the performance you have for $2,000 is far superior than $2,000 spent at a box computer company and what you could've purchased just months ago, so enjoy it. Especially if you have the money to spend.

I got lucky and know a guy who builds super high-end systems, and every now and then, he puts together a system of "extra parts". I picked up my computer for $1,300! I added the Velociraptor from my E8600 PC, the HT Omega sound card, and Thermaltrue heat sink and put it in a new Antec 300 case, so I probably have $1,500 in total in my system. Plus I have an extra Diamond 4890 XOC as it came in crossfire, and I only need one (and can only use one if I want my sound card). I got a deal!
 
BIG$pender said:
295's fold better than 5870's?
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Anything nV > anything ATi when it comes to Folding.
The GPU2 client does not yield the PPD under ATi cards that it does for nV. Apparently OpenCL client is on the way, but right now - nV cards decimate ATi in F@h.

Sojuuk said:
raid 5 with 2 drives?!?! You must have a magical raid controller.
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My apologies, I'm a RAID n00b (just slightly above clueless in RAID education:D). I meant RAID 1, not RAID 5. :eek:
 
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