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New V351 build - some advice needed

B

Bipolarbear

n00b
Joined
Dec 25, 2008
Messages
61
Hi All,

I'm seeking some advice on a SFF build I plan on completing in the next week or so. I will be using the system for a mixture of productivity work, gaming, ripping / encoding of SD/HD movies and folding. I will be using the system with a 24", 1920x1200 monitor, which I have already purchased and should arrive this week. I am located in Australia, Brisbane to be exact.

I plan on using the Lian Li v-351 case as I see it's very popular in this forum and seems to be well built and reasonably priced. My initial intention was to base the build on the new i5-750 and the Gigabyte UD-4 mATX board, both of which were very cheaply priced. However, when the DFI mATX i7 board came up very, very cheaply on Ebay I couldn't resist - so I guess it's i7 all the way now.

My questions are as follows:

1. Processor/cooler. I plan on using the i7 920 d0 stepping, preferably picking one up off Ebay for, hopefully, less than AU$300. I plan to pair this with the Corsair H50 cpu cooler. I'm quite sure I've seen this combination referred to in this forum but does anyone have any personal experience / knowledge of whether the H50 and v-351 play nicely together? My plan was to place the 120mm rad at the front of the case where the 2x120mms reside at the moment. Also, does anyone have any views on how the H50 would handle temps on the 920, specifically when overclocked to circa 4ghz?

2. Memory. I've read that if you are planning to overclock a 920 to around 4ghz, you should be using 1600mhz ram. Is this correct? I've been looking at the Ripjaw 6gb kits or, alternatively, there are a few 3x1gb kits going cheap on Ebay, around AU$70. Was thinking of picking up two of these. How does the new x58 handle all of the memory slots being filled? I'm not looking for super expensive ram.

3. Graphics card/s. In the past I've used the 4850, 4890 and GTX 260. 4890 impressed me with its overclockabilty and value, whereas GTX 260 impressed me with its folding potential and quiet cooler. Folding @ home is very important to me, which is why I'm leaning towards the idea of 2x gtx 260s in SLI. They can be had very cheaply on ebay now, I figure I could pick two up for around AU$300. I'm assuming this combination would handle most games played at full hd res? I like AMD graphics cards, and the 5850 is in my price range, but until they're folding performance increases I can't really go with them. Does anyone have any view on whether this will improve significantly with the GPU3 client, rumoured to be coming out soon?

4. PSU - I imagine that since I'm planning to o/c the 920 and the graphic card/s, I should look for a ~750w PSU, as SLI/Crossfire is certainly a possibility. Quietness is important to me here. Any recommendations?

Sorry for all the questions but I'm looking to pull the trigger on this hopefully tomorrow and don't want to regret any of my purchases. This is to be a relatively cheap build (hopefully) but I want it to last me for at least 2-3 years. I'll put up a build log later this week as I think the combination of H50/4ghz 920/SLI'd gtx 260s in the V-351 should be an interesting one, if I can get it to all work together properly.

Thanks in advance guys
 
2. Memory. I've read that if you are planning to overclock a 920 to around 4ghz, you should be using 1600mhz ram. Is this correct? I've been looking at the Ripjaw 6gb kits or, alternatively, there are a few 3x1gb kits going cheap on Ebay, around AU$70. Was thinking of picking up two of these. How does the new x58 handle all of the memory slots being filled? I'm not looking for super expensive ram.
Click to expand...

I was running 6x2gb OCZ memory in my X58 setup and I found it to be a really good value. The kit that I was using was rated at 1066, and I am pretty sure that was limiting my overclocking. If you stick to 1600mhz rated memory you shouldn't have a problem.

4. PSU - I imagine that since I'm planning to o/c the 920 and the graphic card/s, I should look for a ~750w PSU, as SLI/Crossfire is certainly a possibility. Quietness is important to me here. Any recommendations?
Click to expand...

Check out the new silverstone strider plus series of PSUs. They are quite affordable, and the combination of price, performance, convenience, and efficiency can't be beat IMHO. Also, it is 100% modular, and you can use the optional SFF cable set which is a huge plus in a smaller case.

Sorry for all the questions but I'm looking to pull the trigger on this hopefully tomorrow and don't want to regret any of my purchases. This is to be a relatively cheap build (hopefully) but I want it to last me for at least 2-3 years. I'll put up a build log later this week as I think the combination of H50/4ghz 920/SLI'd gtx 260s in the V-351 should be an interesting one, if I can get it to all work together properly.

Thanks in advance guys
Click to expand...

I look forward to seeing the build log.
 
If you plan on using the H50 on the v-351 your gonna have to make a custom back plate for it. As it is now the PSU is positioned above the cpu with no rear 120mm exhust fan for the case. The psu needs to be relocated above the pci-e slots and a 120mm mounting hole added in it's place. Check the Lian Li V-350 thread for more info on the back plate (post #13 or #16 I think).

EDIT: sorry I just saw that you plan to mount the 120mm in the front of the case. Ignore my post :)

The only problem I can see from mounting the rad in the front is outside air flow to the fan/rad. Those are some very small vents on the side of the case where the fan will be drawing from ?
 
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Thanks for the replies guys-

Winhyun - I hadn't given much thought to the issue of the H50's airflow through the front of the case - it's a good point. In the main v-350 thread I had seen a couple of people using 1x120 or 2x120 rads at the front of their case. Won't be any use forking out for the H50 if it will be strangled for air. The alternative is a NhU9b or nhu12. Though people seem to recommend the latter, it's been my experience that involving the PSU in the cooling of the cpu never ends well. Any thoughts on whether the NHu9b would be able to handle a 4ghz 920?

Pangzi - thanks for the tip on the Silverstone Striders. Looking into that now.

Cheers
 
No problem. Good luck with the build. Looks like it will be a pretty sweet little system.
 
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