Evolution

[Ankylosaurus]

Hi everybody, the story of how I came to build my first PC is that in 2006 I bought a Packard Bell 6810 SLI which was a very high spec PC as store bought PC's go. However it was very temperamental and in 2010 the mobo developed faults which led to me deciding to replace it. At the time I was a total noob and didn't understand the compatibility of components but eventually I got it working and then started buying PC mags. There then followed a series upgrades until nothing was left of the old PC, by which time I had Upgrade Obsession and in November last year I decided to have an LGA 2011 mobo and i7 3930k CPU. More upgrades followed including full watercooling of CPU and GPU and the photo's below show it as it is "at the moment" - I renamed it "Evolution" for obvious reasons!
Specs are-
Coolermaster HAF-X case
MSI Big Bang Xpower II mobo
Intel i7 3930k CPU
Geforce GTX 690 GPU
32GB Gskill Trident X 1600mhz RAM (8 x 4)
OCZ Vector 512GB SSD "C" drive
OCZ Vertex 3 240GB SSD "D" drive
OCZ Revodrive 3 240GB "E" drive
Creative Fatality Pro Champion Sound Card
Corsair AX860i PSU
Lamptron FC5 V2 Fan Controller
Custom WC Loop 360mm top rad 200mm front rad



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[Calum]

High end system you have there!"
Any more details on the watercooling you've used?
And...what's the next upgrade?

[Ankylosaurus]

Thanks for your comment! The loop is -
Phobya DC12 220 pump
Phobya 150 Balancer Nickel reservoir
Phobya Xtreme 200 V1 radiator + 2 x Phobya Plexi Shrouds + 2 x Coolermaster 200mm Megaflow Fans
Hardware Labs GT Stealth 360 radiator + 3 x Phobya Nano G12 fans (push) + 2 x Bitfenix Spectre Pro 200mm fans (pull)
8mm ID 13mm OD UV Red tubing
XSPC Raystorm Chrome CPU block
Various fittings, several Bitspower but these are hard to get in the UK
Mayhems UV Red Coolant.
The last bit - the EK GTX 690 waterblock - turned up on Ebay a few weeks ago "New Other" complete with the EK backplate. The guy bought it but then (his words) "Chickened out" of installing it. The 2 items cost £130 online but I got them for £10.50 (!) and since I already had a backplate I sold that one for £10, thus the whole thing cost 0.50 pence. 

As to upgrades I can't think where to go. Only possibilities are another GTX 690 or a Corsair 900D case but I don't think they are likely.

[Calum]

Wow, that's a good deal on the GPU block, for sure.
The chrome Raystorm looks great, as does the red coolant/tubing especially with the Trident X.  A mate of mine had some old school original Trident, excellent RAM, and I used to have a set of RipjawsX.  Great looking stuff.
How do you find the Phobya pump?  I've always gone with a D5 Vario myself, never really explored other options other than contemplating a DDC but deciding against it.
Have you got a clearer picture of the res?  I've yet to see one installed in a well built system, looks good from your first pic but hard to make it out well.

As for the upgrades, yeah, there's not much you can do, more poking fun than anything another 690 is unlikely to gain you much in terms of gaming performance, and the 900D would be mostly pointless unless you needed the space for more cooling, which again is unlikely as your 360+200 should be more than adequate.  What sort of temps do you get?  Have you overclocked at all?
How do you find the Revodrive?  I found the original and the X2 very finicky, lots of compatibility problems although partly the board manufacturers' faults due to lack of space in the option ROM for booting from a PCI-E device.

[Ankylosaurus]

Hi, The Phobya pump appealed to me initially because it was cheap and because Phobya are a reliable make, plus it had the configuration I wanted (front level Inlet/ top vertical Outlet). Also I have read (never tried it) that the Phobya 260 cannot be dismantled in the event of blockage and the Phobya 400 seemed like overkill since at the time (January) I only planned to cool the CPU. It's mounted on an anti-vibration pad and has been very reliable and puts out no heat and is reasonably quiet. I have it hooked up to the Lamptron fan controller which monitors and can adjust the speed.
I would have liked (for appearance lol) the Phobya 250 res but it wouldn't fit the case unless I moved the exhaust fan outside. The only suspect points about it are the plastic mounts which have slight cracks in them (but haven't broken) and that on the inside of the top cap it hasn't been nickel plated very well so there is a small area of exposed copper which I will need to keep an eye on.
Heres' a close up of the res

As for the Revodrive it formed the mainstay of my previous rig but this rig suffered a major crash a couple of months ago and it ended up being relegated to E drive. Its a fantastic piece of gear which hasn't caused me any probs although when I got it I was worried about the amount of heat the heatsink put out, and apparently some people suffered BSOD's related to this until they cooled it with fans.

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[Calum]

That's a nice looking res.
Glad to hear the Revodrive hasn't given you any problems.

[BC_Programmer]

Since you built the machine, wouldn't it be more appropriate to call it "Intelligent Design"? 

[Ankylosaurus]

No lol! ID is a nonsensical idea put about by bible bashers. And the difference between god and me is that I exist.