The last time I built a new PC was a few months before FFXIV launched, so nearing 2 years ago.  Didn't need to upgrade yet, but I really wanted an Ivy Bridge CPU since I passed on Sandy Bridge.  Was using an i7 875K and I had the money so why not!   And while I didn't build this new PC for any specific game, I'll certainly be playing GW2, D3, and many others this year including checking out FFXIV 2.0.  Before anyone says it, yes this PC is extreme overkill for just gaming, but I like having a PC that runs everything well aboce excellent for next 4+ years before upgrading again ~ at least thats hopefully the plan this time.

I did finally decided to get an SSD, and yes they are much nicer than I thought,{definitely get one if you can afford too} at least as far as using Win 7 goes.  Still installing software and the like and setting up my HDDs for storage and whatnot, but I'll be sure to test out some heavy loadscreen games on it soon.

I know some people don't like to hear their case fans, so don't copy this build if it does, cause it makes a lot of noise ~ like a furnace, but it doesn't bother me.  It has 10x 120mm, 5x 140mm and 3x 230mm fans...not including the 80mm turbine fan on the heatsink, the 120mm on the PSU and the one on the GPU.

Oh yeah, routing all the cables took about 5hrs, as it was difficult to keep a clean look all-the-while having enough length to reach all the hardware.  It really is a massive case, with some cables just barely reaching, but I wouldn't settle for any hanging loose or stretched across the interior of the case.  Its all about the air flow and keeping it clear so temps stay as low as possible.

Here is what I bought: {many of these parts I got cheaper than linked, from promotions, bundles and discounts...}

• Rosewill Blackhawk Ultra Case ~ $153.00
• ASRock Z77 Extreme6 ~ $169.99
• Intel i7 3770K 3.5GHz CPU ~ $350.00
• EVGA GTX 680 ~ $500.00
• Samsung 256GB 830 Series ~ $303.00
• 16GB Corsair Vengenace RAM ~ $81.00
• Corsair AX850 PSU ~ $177.00
• Thermaltake SpinQ VT ~ $53.00
• Saitek Cyborg V5 KB ~ $46.00
• 12x 120mm Rosewill RFX Fans ~ $77.00
• 100 Black Case Fan Screws ~ $12.00
• 2x 4-Pin Molex to 5x 3-Pin Case Fan Connector ~ $15.50
• 30ft Black Cable Sheathing ~ $14.50
• 1in Mounting Bases, Cable Ties & Elctrical Tape ~ $6.00
• 10" NZXT 8-Pin Motherboard Power Extension ~ $8.00
•  Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound Paste ~ $6.50  

Thus far ~  $1972.50

-Minus $300 {from selling my GTX 580}

Total ~ $1672.50

Parts that I already owned:  {older and discontinued, but still work fabulously}

• Creative X-Fi Extreme Gamer 7.1
• Creative Inspire P7800 90 Watts 7.1 Speaker
• ASUS 24X DVD Burner

Pics of my build through to completion:

Thanks for looking...

Originally posted by Aori
 Does it sound like a jet engine or does the case absorb sound?

Its pretty damn loud, or rather much louder than my previous build that only had one 120mm on the side.  Plus I'm only sitting about 3ft from the case, but once I get my 7.1 Surround System cranked up and into a game you don't hear it.  Like I said though, it doesn't really bother me.  I actually kinda enjoy hearing it.  Its like using an ambient noise maker that helps me sleep too.

Originally posted by IceAge
What's your CPU and GPU temperature? And I like your case :) I might buy one if I find it where I stay!

This is at idle, havn't done any benchmarking or played any games yet, thus I'm not sure what temps are at a full load.  Still setting some things up.  I didn't buy the best CPU heatsink, wanted to get a Noctua but it wouldn't clear the high-profile RAM I bought without breaking off about 5 fins, so it could be a bit cooler, but its decent enough.  The Ivy Bridge CPUs do run a bit hotter than Sandy Bridge too, though I've read thats only when OCing over 4.5GHz, but I guess we'll see once I get a game installed.

That case is so big that it manages to make a full size ATX motherboard look small.

There are a lot of things in there that fall under the category of, "You could argue that it's a waste of money, but it's not like there's better stuff to spend it on if your budget is $2000 excluding peripherals".  Because what else is there to get?  A Seasonic Platinum?  SLI?  (It's hard enough to find one GTX 680, let alone two.)  Quieter fans?  You're certainly not getting that kind of airflow in a case designed to be quiet.  You've already got the top of the line processor and video card, a good SSD with 238 GB of capacity, and a very good power supply, so it's not like you're skimping on stuff that matters to make room for a zillion fans.

Are you overclocking it?

Originally posted by Quizzical

Are you overclocking it?

Only the GPU atm, {^see screenshot above}  but I'm considering taking the CPU up to at least 4.0GHz.  Its already extreme overkill as is, but we'll see how temps are at 4.0 and decided from there.

Installed the Heaven benchmark 3.0 and gave it a run through to see if upgrading to the i7 3770K made much difference.  And for comparisons sake, here are some past runs from my previous build.  The 680 is OCed in these benchmarks. {see image a few posts above for specs}

My old PC running the i7 875K and the GTX 580

Old PC again with i7 875K but with the GTX 680

New PC with i7 3770K and the GTX 680

Not a massively huge difference, but every little bit counts!

edit: nvm, thought u were using 32bit windows lol, then i read the rest :D

as someone who used to build cpus for work ,  i see few issues, total overkill on fans, probably will do more harm than actually good, but i might be wrong, still overkill, im fairly confident if you would take 90% of them and leave 0-1 top 1-2 on side, you would have maybe 2 celcius higher temp

nice wiring but bit useless with huge case, no sli card, no sound card, no extra cards,

gona be painwhen you will need to add something to get wires untied

huge cpu cooler + all needless side fans and no oc..disapointed, overclocking is best part of building new pc, so much fun, not to mention benefit, 3k cpu is far from overkill considering that there are few games supporting more than 2 cores, and still very many with just 1 core support, so having 3 or 4k is huge difference

i still miss the point of this topic, you spend so much money to build mediacore rig, with flashy lights and fan fest

Congrats, nice build.

I think you need one of these -

or these

Just set it on top and watch it spin.

Originally posted by Smikis

as someone who used to build cpus for work ,  i see few issues, total overkill on fans, probably will do more harm than actually good, but i might be wrong, still overkill, im fairly confident if you would take 90% of them and leave 0-1 top 1-2 on side, you would have maybe 2 celcius higher temp

I think the point of the huge number of fans is more "wouldn't it be cool to have a huge number of fans?" than "I need a huge number of fans or things will overheat!"  That's the principle behind a lot of weird case mods, and there's nothing wrong with it.

Couldn't say whether having this many fans is bad or good, but I suppose whomever designed this case did so for a reason, so it can't be all bad.

Don't really see the need for SLi when a single best-of-best GPU is plenty considering that our selection of PC games are mostly console ported, and don't require that much to run.  SLi I only see necessary for those looking to increase their e-peen benchmark scores.

I do have a discrete sound card{see images} ~ Creative X-Fi Extreme Gamer 7.1 w/ a Creative 7.1 Speaker setup.  What extra card do I need?  None that I can think of.  I do have an extra 3x HDD for storage, a 1TB, a 320GB and a 300GB.  And should I need to run a new cable, its not very difficult to remove those ties, and run the new cable or just ziptie a new cable along said wiring.

Take it you missed the part where I said I'm still setting up my PC, and havn't yet gotten to the point of OCing, but then again with such a powerful PC in as is stock settings is already extreme overkill, so why bother OCing if it makes little difference.

The point ~ have you never gotten excited about something new and wanted to share it with others?  It may not be exciting to you or maybe you're jealous thus being a hater instead...anyway... 

Originally posted by Quizzical

Originally posted by Smikis

as someone who used to build cpus for work ,  i see few issues, total overkill on fans, probably will do more harm than actually good, but i might be wrong, still overkill, im fairly confident if you would take 90% of them and leave 0-1 top 1-2 on side, you would have maybe 2 celcius higher temp

I think the point of the huge number of fans is more "wouldn't it be cool to have a huge number of fans?" than "I need a huge number of fans or things will overheat!"  That's the principle behind a lot of weird case mods, and there's nothing wrong with it.

Precisely...

Originally posted by Khrymson

 

The point ~ have you never gotten excited about something new and wanted to share it with others?  It may not be exciting to you or maybe you're jealous thus being a hater instead...anyway... 

My thoughts exactly. Point was he was excited about it and wanted to share, dont be a jerk about it.

For you build, I would of went a different route but I do envy that you had that much money to play with. Nice setup mate, hope ya keep enjoying it.

Originally posted by lokiboard
Nice build.....Suggestion....since I see no sound card

Hehe...see images in the OP again, and post 15 above^  

I do have a discrete Sound Card  ~  the Creative X-Fi Extreme Gamer 7.1 w/ Creative 7.1 surround speakers!

Updating OP...

In that case, why don't you get a sound card?  (kidding)

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Part of the point of having a huge number of fan mounts is so that you can get the airflow exactly where you need it.  If you've got 2 or 3 video cards and want to blow air in between the cards, then no matter which motherboard you have, which PCI Express slots the cards use, which video cards you use, and where the fans on the cards are, you can position fans to get the airflow exactly where you need it.

And part of the point of such cases is to do what you did:  fill all the fan mounts so that people can look at it and say, whoa, that's a lot of fans.