Excited about new build, but need some advice

[Booska]

I just ordered this parts list from NewEgg and I'm really looking forward to putting it all together! This will also be my first attempt at overclocking:
- i7 5960x
- Asus RampageV Extreme
- EVGA 120-G2-1300-XR 80 PLUS GOLD 1300W NVIDIA SLI Ready and Crossfire Support
- 2 x SanDisk Extreme Pro SDSSDXPS-960G-G25 2.5" 960GB SATA 6.0Gb/s Internal SSD
- G.SKILL Ripjaws 4 series 64GB (8 x 8GB) 288-Pin DD4
- 2 x EVGA 06G-P4-4995-KR GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB 384-Bit
- Corsair Hydro Series™ H100i GTX Extreme Performance
- LG Black 16X BD-R 2X BD-RE 16X DVD+R 5X DVD-RAM 12X BD-ROM 4MB Cache SATA Blu-ray Burner WH16NS40 - OEM

I haven't ordered a case, monitors, keyboard/mouse, or extra cooling system yet because-
1. I don't quite know what to get yet, though I'm leaning toward the Corsair 900D chassis.
2. I am in the process of moving to Ireland and it doesn't make much sense to spend the money for those things and then extra to ship them overseas. Those items are large and relatively inexpensive, except for the monitors, so I figure I can just get them over there.

The funny thing is that I'm not a gamer at all! I hope that's not too heretical to mention here 🙂 But I got these parts to build a great V-Ray, Arnold, and Octane renderer as well as to allow me to build the large, hi-res scenes I need for my work in 3DS Max and Maya. However, they are including a free copy of Metal Gear Solid V, so who knows? I might find I enjoy it. I worked in the game industry for 12 years and got pretty burned out, though.

Anyway, my question is this:
The system I have now uses a Quadro K5000 and I'm wondering if I could stack that on top of the 2 GTX 980 Tis and SLI them together? I was told it wouldn't be a problem so long as they could use the same driver. But I would like to hear what you guys have to say about it. The other option would be to leave it in the other machine and use it as an extra render node.

Also, if any of the parts I chose stand out as weak links or incompatible in some way, please let me know! My budget for a new system is $10k and so far I'm up to $4.8k. So I have a little room to play. But I still need to get the other stuff I mentioned too.

Thanks in advance for any advice you have! All the best from Seattle (for the next week or so) 🙂

[kkn]

sli the 3 cards i have no experience whit, but the TI's will sli together, its the K5000 i cant go good for since ive never used cards like that.

case? you need a E-ATX case to fir your mobo in, and the 900D is more aimed at the custom watercooling guys since it have a "basement" to mount radiators in and good space inthe top inside of it to mount a 60-80mm rad.

so i would get a case that is not that HUGE like the 900D is ( you will have problems "hiding it" so to say ) and waste of monney for your purpose.

i would say you need a case whit good airflow and fans that is silent and pushes good air on low rpm ( not aiming for 200mm fans here ).

maby a cheep fan controller to controll the fans? so you have the option to have it on low speed when doing easy things and ramp it up when doing heavy rendering and things like that?

the dimentions of the 900D is W - 255mm , L - 650mm , H - 690mm and weight is a ton almost.

[Booska]

Ah, okay. So the Extended ATX part of the Asus Rampage V Extreme stats refers to the size of the motherboard. And that in turn defines which chasis will fit it. Is that right? Thanks for the info! You probably just saved me a big headache! 🙂

Asumming that I could fit all 3 cards together in an SLI, wouldn't it get too hot just with air cooling? I was under the impression that water cooling is the way to go for maximum cooling.

[kkn]

yes the E-ATX states the form factor of the motherboard.
and what to look after when you are getting a case.
menny cases can fit several types of sizes boards.
example -> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129224 <- this supports Micro ATX / ATX / Mini ITX / E-ATX / XL-ATX motherboard sizes.
and this is a full tower case

example -> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119260 <- this supports Micro ATX / ATX / Extended ATX ( full tower case )

example -> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139038&ignorebbr=1 <- this supports Micro ATX / ATX / Mini-ITX and is a ATX mid-tower case

so as you can see there are cases to pick from but you have to look at the form factor of your motherboard and on what form factor the cases supports.
http://www.newegg.com/Computer-Cases/Category/ID-9
there are cases that have PSU instaled and there are those who dont have it instaled ( including in the price ).

and yes there will be a bit hot in there if the GPU's are going to be on full load over time ( 1-2+ hours ) so thats why i recommended a case whit good air flow in my last post.


for custom water cooling you will void warranty if you start to take off the stock coolers on the GPU's ( just to have stated it ).

now HERE you will see things will start to cost.

for each OC'd component you will need 2 fan slot's of radiator surface to cool the component.
you will need the case for it ( for example the 900D you was thinking of )
you will need radiators.
you need blocks for all the components you are going to cool ( CPU + GPU blocks ).
you will need a pump and a reservoar to fill the coolant in.
you need tubings.
you need fans.
you need fittings.
you need a drain point on the lowest point in your loop.
i would recommend a good fan controller.
i would recommend temp probes in the waterloop to monitor the water temp.
you will have to change the coolant once a year.
if i was going to guess the price? i would guess up to $1000 for it all, thats just a estimate guess, it can cost more or less then the amount i posted.

[Booska]

Thanks for the advice! I don't want to go too far down the rabbit hole with this. I'm only looking for stable overclocking functionality and for everything to stay cool for renders and fluid dynamics sims that will have the components maxed for 48-72 hours at the most. I don't care what my machine looks like, so long as it meets those performance requirements. So I will most likely be sticking to standard cooling kits.

[kkn]

Booska wrote:
So I will most likely be sticking to standard cooling kits.

a case whit high preshure fans will push air tru the system and change it out too cool it down .
so a case whit good airflow and fans witch pushes good air = i would recommend.

and for the CPU mabye a large AIO cooler?

[01_Wolverine]

Did you consider the Swiftech h220x?? All the reviews i seen were positive

http://www.overclockers.com/swiftech-h220x-cpu-liquid-cooling-kit-review/

[ghillieG]

"The system I have now uses a Quadro K5000 and I'm wondering if I could stack that on top of the 2 GTX 980 Tis and SLI them together? I was told it wouldn't be a problem so long as they could use the same driver. But I would like to hear what you guys have to say about it. The other option would be to leave it in the other machine and use it as an extra render node".

SLI requires a multiple of the same model, any spec difference would default to the lower specification, and scaling is a diminishing return
in terms of performance.
Another possibility would be to consider a single Titan Z, Titan X.
Titan will support up to four monitors.
G-Sync will make a big difference for Gaming.
An additional Render Node seems like a very good idea.
Also Folding may be worth looking into, though it sounds like you may already have it.

"Thanks for the advice! I don't want to go too far down the rabbit hole with this. I'm only looking for stable overclocking functionality and for everything to stay cool for renders and fluid dynamics sims that will have the components maxed for 48-72 hours at the most. I don't care what my machine looks like, so long as it meets those performance requirements. So I will most likely be sticking to standard cooling kits."

The 900D is an outstanding case, engineered for cooling.
With separate compartments, isolating the PS from other components.
Also the 900D has accommodation for two separate PSs.
Redundancy! Not a bad idea.
If you do not want/need multiple storage/optical drives consider the 750D.
The 750D supports a triple 120 Rad at the top of the case.
OCs will generate a lot of heat.
The i7-5960K alone without any OC will generate lots of heat.
Make cooling a priority.
You will not regret having a good WC loop.
Let us know how well you like Ireland, sounds great!

[Booska]

Thanks, guys. I will mull over the options you have given me here and post the results when the time comes! 🙂

[jaguarcult]

Sounds like a great build, One change I would consider is bumping up to the Corsair Hydro 110 GTX from the 100 GT. I have a similar setup but with a 5830 CPU and I'm using the same cooler you spec'd out and I'm finding that I could use that extra cooling capacity from the larger brother. So much so that I'm swapping out to the larger one in the next couple of weeks. If you do this swap within 30 days with Newegg they will allow it without a restocking fee.

Good Luck and enjoy your new build