Build Advice Violet Haze - Custom Build i7 *Revised Specs*

850W should be plenty unless you plan to run a peltier-cooling system (doubtful).

A UPS is a separate device from the PSU. For those I'd have a google around for a decent review of one. If you have regular power cuts, prepare to buy new ones on a fairly regular basis. Frequent discharges don't do the batteries any good at all.

The Xonar and a 5.1 setup will be fine. You could even use the onboard audio from your mobo without trouble.

 

Noooo, I am actually going to get a proper sound card in this build. I have always used onboard sound; so now as I'm moving into Next Gen territory I'm opting for a sound card. Even though the Rampage II Onboard sound is supposed to be rather good, I still will go for an actual sound card.

One question though, If I do choose Xonar, do I opt for PCI or PCI-express cards? Which would be best with my chosen motherboard!

Thanks once again!

 

I'd probably go for PCI-e, and stick it in the white port at the bottom - keeping it away from the graphics and other stuff.

 

What is the actual difference between PCI and PCI-Express anyway? Speed?

Also, based on my specs and the speakers I'm getting, what would you say would be the best Xonar to go for?

I apologise for the 1000000 questions! & Thanks!

 

Xonar DX cheesecake

 

Haha DX or DX2?

PCI or PCI-Express?

 

I've got the DX and love it, though mine is pci, not pci-e... people have had trouble with the pci-e versions apparantly though... I myself own the 1tb seagate hard-drive, and love it! Much faster than my old 250 gb one, and makes less noise, would def. stay away from the 1.5tb drives, heard bad things about them.

 

Thanks for that.

What kinda problems have people been having with PCI-express?

I thought PCI-express was better than just PCI?

 

This UPS was just released recently, it might fit your system nicely

http://www.pcpower.com/products/power-protection/

 

Will I need a PSU too? Like the Corsair HX1000

Or does UPS do what a PSU do aswell?

Thanks!

 

No, you'll need both.

 

Oh really? I don't think that UPS will fit in the Lian-Li PC-P80. Not with all the Watercooling components and the rest of the stuff? Well it may, but it would be cluttered and the more space the better air/water cool!

 

No you will still need a Power supply. This just sits between the wall socket and your computer, saving you from a hefty bill if you get a lot of spikes or failures.

 

They're to very different standards, which only share a common name. There's a third standard PCI-X, which is NOT to be confused with PCI Express.

PCI Express (PCIe) does give you a lot more bandwidth and also speed. PCIe uses the concept of lanes, that is point-to-point connections not unlike HyperTransport, if that means anything to you. If you read things like PCIe x4 or PCIe x16, that means that either 4 or 8 lanes have been combined/grouped into one. PCIe is also backwards (and up to a point, forwards) compatible. You can use a PCIe 2.0 card in a PCIe 1.x slot and vice versa. There will be some speed penalties, but that's about it.

As for a dedicated sound card, you might want to stick with on-board sound for Vista and beyond. The reason is that Microsoft has killed off all hardware audio processing in favour of pure software processing. Especially if you're contemplating using digital audio a dedicated card makes next to no sense any longer. Analog output might still benefit from better DAC components, but probably not by much.

 

So you are saying with the build I'm going for there is no point getting a soundcard? Xonar or X-Fi or not.

But surely with the speakers i've chosen, I'll need a soundcard for optimum performance?

You've helped clear things up but confused me further haha!

 

Very much depends on the way you plan to connect your speakers (and they seem very nice ) to your pc/soundc card.

If you choose to connect the two digitally by either coaxial or optical cable (and this is preferable) then you would need to have a sound card that can encode either DD/AC3 or DTS signales on-the-fly, since you can only send a pre-generated surround signal via S/PDIF (the protocol used for digital connections). Otherwise you will only get a stereo signal from e.g. games.

The card that comes with your chosen motherboard is more or less a dedicated sound card already. I cannot right now figure out if it supports either DD/AC3 or DTS encoding. The audio chip used does, but ASUS have a tendency to block or allow certain functionality in their drivers.

My suggestion for your "Lament Configuration": Don't get a sound card right away and check out the "on-board" sound first. It's extremely easy to add another sound card later on.

Either an ASUS Xonar or a Creative X-Fi Titanium would be a decent buy. Oh, and by the way, even though ASUS claims the included card is an X-Fi card it's not true.

 

Yeah the speakers are absolutely outstanding! My friend has them and they literally blow your mind! He connects his directly into his soundcard!

'Lament Configuration' Haha, love it!

Yeah, what I will do then is put the soundcard on hiatus and check out Rampage's Onboard sound.

If it is sufficient with the speakers then I will hold on with a card, but if I think I could get more then I'll purchase one.

Thanks for the help my friend! Appreciated.

 

I'm glad to help help out (if I'm actually doing that and not simply confusing you even more ).

You've actually got an impressive "to buy" list. I'm agreeing on most of the choices, but might I inquire about the PC-P80? Is that the look that you're after? Otherwise, might I suggest an alternative? Lian Li is top of the heap in either case (pun not intended )...

 

i'd go for 2 1T HDDs too. i own a spinpoint F1, and it is a wonderful disk. quite fast and quiet enough. onboard sound is decent enough these times, so i agree with Azrael for trying out the onboard first.

about the case: you don't have to take that tank that is the armorsuit. azrael's suggestion is a nice one, and i would like to add the antec p182 or p183. i have the first one, and it's a dead silent case with some nice features and a great cooling (e8500 on stock cooling never goes over 40°; 4850 on stock never over 55°, whichever benchmark). but i'm not too sure for its suitability for watercooling.

just my 0,02

 

If you're watercooling it, you obviously want to overclock it, so make sure you get the retail i7-920, not the OEM version. The retail version is QPI unlocked. See this thread.

Also, scan are listing the best stepping chips seperately in their price list as well, so you can ensure you get a D0 (SLBEJ) chip that will definitely hit 4GHz, even on air with a decent cooler.

Have you ever used the G9 mouse? I find it VERY uncomfortable, yest others find it the opposite. It may be worth trying one first. Great mouse, but weird shape, and some hate it. If you find it uncomfortable, the G5 is available at some ludicrously low prices these days, and still a very capable gaming mouse.

Why Vista Ultimate? Pointless.. I only got it because it was thrown in as a deal... otherwise I'd have got Home premium.


I love these Spinpoints, but if the new 1Tb 7200.12s were out when I built this, I'd have bought them, even though they are more expensive. Either drive is a superb choice, but if I were building this rig again today, I'd have opted for the 7200.12s instead of the F1s.

I'd not wait for 1.5s. Get 2x 1Tb and a single 1.5Tb for back up. Even when both drives are full, ghost just about compresses the back up enough to fit both 1TBs on a single 1.5Tb. You'll never completely fill both drives before an upgrade anyway.


Any reason for 12Gb? I do a load of graphics work being a photographer, and I've never felt my 6Gb is a problem. Do you actually need it? There's a dollop of cash to be saved right there.