2012 build I'm shooting for this year

 

 

How often should you check for leaks?  What air cooled HSF would you use on this rig?

 

However, if the unit leaks at the block, where it meets the CPU, then you're in trouble, even if you check for leaks frequently. The moment liquid is out of the block and on the motherboard, chances of frying the board skyrocket.

 

Technically, the liquid should be non-conductive. However, the reason why most boards end up fried is that the dust build up itself has materials that are conductive. When the liquid leaks and covers the dust, this is enough to cause it to become conductive.

 

Therefore if I can make a single suggestion for making sure even in the worst case scenario of a serious leak, damage could be avoided by keeping the dust build up on the motherboard to a minimum.

 

It would be a good idea to purchase an anti-static brush and frequently clean your system, brushing off the excess dust off the motherboard. Make sure that you clean everything else first (case, fans, etc) before you begin brushing, that way you don't stir up any leftover dust back onto the board.

 

Every single CM HSF uses the same bracket system, whether you get 212, EVO or any other.

 

As for the Sabertooth vs Rampage IV, Sabertooth is a solid board meant for good performance, relability and compatibility in mind. For example, Sabertooth provides certain ports that are not found on the Rampage such as PCI slot, 1394 Firewire connector, etc. Meanwhile, Rampage aims to be the latest and greatest in terms of highest performance you can have. It has plenty of overclocking tools, and is geared towards the latest technology, therefore things such as PCI slots are missing. However, you do get extra features such as a bluetooth module and others. It also has Dual BIOS which can be handy if you do overclocking and things go wrong.

 

If those small differences do not matter, than my suggestion to go with the board that's least expensive, as these 2 aren't exactly miles apart in terms of features.

I started off with the following heatsink: THERMALTAKE Silent 1156 Cooling Fan

 

Vedran built his system using the following heatsink: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO CPU Cooler (an additional fan was added to it, creating a push/pull setup)

 

My idle temperatures were at 30-33c, as to where Vedrans where at 26-29c. That's a nice change based on the small increase in size and additional fan. However, when compared to Noctua and Prolimatech coolers, typical temperatures are around 25-28c on average. That's a very small decrease in temperature for paying almost 100-150% in price.

 

It was not until we were intrigued by liquid cooling where we say the largest difference. Both Vedran and I cool our processor and graphics cards in a single liquid cooling loop. Even with including the heat generated from our graphics cards, our CPU temperatures are anywhere between 26-30c at idle. 

 

I could go on all day about the differences between liquid cooling and air heatsinks, but really the point I want to make is this: Besides choosing a more moderately-sized heatsink and fan for safe shipping, there comes a limitation point for air heatsinks that cannot be beat. The coolermaster heatsinks seem to just touch that limitation, without a bloated price tag. Unless you plan on going with liquid cooling, you might as well save yourself the $30-$60 and keep your CPU in tact during shipment.

 

 

 

 

Cooler Master 200mm fans are usually around $25-$35, depending on where we can purchase them from. We don't have to purchase them directly from Cooler Master, many different places should list them and offer the fans, separate from the cases. I personally do not understand why case manufacturers, such as Cooler Master, Antec, NZXT, etc...do not offer more large side fans with their cases. Though they are typically not required entirely, it would still be a nice option to have and add to the "what if" factor.

 

Is there a particular reason as to why you require a larger 200mm fan? Most cases that provide the option for larger fans will also allow many smaller fans, although that tends to introduce more dust into the system. (If they are used as intake fans; the more intake fans, the more dust that will accumulate). So, if it is an intake fan, then one larger 200mm fan would be better to reduce the amount of dust. If it's an exhaust, you would be better off using many, smaller fans since they would push more air than a single, larger fan could.

 

 

 

G-skill has a bit lower profile than Corsair thus making it easier to install certain CPU coolers that would otherwise be in the way.

 

As for the 690GTX, I'm unsure of our actual stock number but these are supposed to be coming in fast given just a week or 2 from what I gather. This cards are going to crank out some insane numbers, I'm pretty excited to get a couple in RMA for testing and benchmarking purposes.