How to Build a Wicked-Fast System

Page 1 of 3

One of the best-known lines from the movie "Top Gun" comes from the Maverick character played by Tom Cruise: "I feel the need, the need for speed." For system builders working to create the ultimate gaming PCs for their customers, that line takes on mantra-like importance. You know that speed is king, of course. But what do you do when the fastest equipment money can buy is still not fast enough?

One answer is to figure out new ways to push your systems to the limit. Make your components work harder, faster, and hotter than they ever could out-of-the-box. The best way I know to do this is to move beyond the typical air-cooled system, and take the time to install a water-cooling unit.

As you know, most PCs cool themselves with air. They use one or more fans to move room-temperature air into the PC's box, where it cools the components. The hot air is then pushed out of the case as more cooler air is drawn in. But for super-fast systems, air just isn’t enough!

Instead, consider cooling your PCs' components with water. Of course, you'll still have fans in the case; in this case, the fans will cool the power supply. But with water, the heavy lifting of heat dissipation is now done by fluids. A water-cooling unit is essentially a closed system that moves cool water through tubing into the system. The cool water draws heat from the CPU (processor) and GPU (video cards), becoming heated in the process. The hot water then moves out of the case, where it is cooled, then rerouted back into the case for a new, cooling journey.

It's easier than you might think. You should be able to install a water-cooling system, including OS and driver installation, in about two hours. At the finish, you'll have an ultra-cool PC that's fast enough to please any serious gaming customer you might have. Let's dig in.

Ingredients

Here are the components you'll need for this project, along with specific products I recommend:

Case: I especially like the Lian-Li PCV-1200Plus. It's an above-average mid-tower case, constructed of aluminum. The Lian-Li case also has an unusual layout: It inverts the typical power supply and motherboard locations, which allows for superior airflow and cooling.

Processor: My recommendation is the AMD Athlon 64 FX-57 Processor. I love this processor—it's fast-fast-fast!

Motherboard: The DFI Lanparty NF4-SLI DR is a high-quality motherboard with an excellent capability for tweaking to get the most out of any processor you attach to it.

Video Cards: I recommend you get two BFG GeForce 7800 GTX OC Video Cards (with Water Blocks). In my opinion, this is simply the best water-cooled video card on the market.

Audio Card: I like the Creative Soundblaster X-Fi Fatal1ty. This sound card combines the highest quality sound with the ability to offload sound functionality from the host processor.

Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver5 is an efficient compound that fills in any microscopic crevices between the CPU and the water block, allowing the most efficient transfer of heat.

Hard Drives: You'll need two. I recommend the Hitachi Deskstar 7K500 Hard Drive. It's the biggest, fastest SATA drive currently available.

DVD Drive: The Plextor 740A Internal E-IDE (ATAPI) DVD-R/RW is a fast, stable, and reliable DVD-RW drive.

Monitor: A big system deserves a big screen. The Samsung 214T is a large (21 inches diagonal), well-designed monitor that's equally useful for playing games and surfing the Web.

Water Cooling Unit: This is the device that does the cooling. It constantly moves cold water over the CPU, pulling heat away and allowing you to push the processor beyond its rated limits. My personal favorite is the Koolance Exos-2.

CPU Water Block: The Koolance CPU-305 is an excellent, well-machined water block for your CPU.

Power Supply: Your overclocked system won't just sip power, it will chug it! The PC Power and Cooling Turbo-Cool 850 SSI is an almost thousand-watt power supply that can provide all this Recipe's rig will need.

Memory: You need something that is fast with a high tolerance for overclocking. For this Recipe, I recommend you get four Corsair TwinX1024-4400C25 Memory Sticks.

1 | 2 | 3 | Next >>

Tweet

   

More