Why an ASUS "Xtreme" System Setup?
What Would I do?
My Xtreme System would need to push the limits of its given hardware to provide the best gaming experience; while keep a low audible noise level.
Why gaming? Why not? With the recent release of the Nintendo Wii, and games such as Rock Band, Guitar Hero and World of Warcraft, the gaming community has grown to be much more widely acceptable in most social circles. Gaming is no longer "nerdy" or "for geeks only"; it is becoming one of the most favorable past times by children, teens, young adults, adults, and seniors!
Why do I want low noise levels? Again, why not? Who wants to hear loud buzzing fans these days? If I liked the sound of jumbo jets taking off all day, I would hang around airports more often; But I don't. I also like it quiet while I sleep; so when the occasion of virus scanning or hard drive defragmentation needs to be done I generally run them while I sleep to minimize the impact on my gaming schedule.
My Project goals:
-I would need to design and build a water cooling loop to keep vital components at or below the recommended maximum operating temperature. CPU and GPU would need to be liquid cooled at minimum. Other components (chipset, voltage regulators, ram, hard drives, etc..) will be cooling conventionally with heatsinks and/or fans.
-To custom build a case to house the computer components and water cooling system. The water cooling system would need to be housed completely internally; no component (including fans, pumps, and radiators) will be outside of the case (normal external peripherals are not be part of this constraint).
How will ASUS's Xtreme Design Motherboard features will aid in my project?
I have no experience over clocking any of the new LGA1156 cpu's. The new Turbo V will make adjusting cpu voltages, frequencies, and multipliers much easier and much quicker by staying within windows and not needing restart after every change.
Couple the Turbo V feature with ASUS’ Turbo key, I will also be able to save power. I will be able to turn down the clock speeds back down to stock, to help save and conserve power.
The Xtreme Phase design is not only more power efficient, but also produces less heat. Heat will be the number one unwanted by-product of overclocking. Having a motherboard with already built in features for reducing heat is one less thing I need to worry about when trying to push my system to its limits.
What I already have:
CASE: My custom made double sized monstrosity. (pic)
This is a computer case I had built from two old computer cases. A recycled case not only saves in the wallet, but also saves the environment.
Some key features of this custom case:
-Eco-Friendly: These cases would have most likely been dumped into a landfill. They are 100% recycled cases.
-Large: Right now I have it fitting comfortably a full sized ATX motherboard, with video card, optical drive, multiple hard drives, fanbus, power supply, radiator, water pump, fans, and 8 UV cathode lights. I plan to house multiple radiators and more fans to help better cool the new system!
-Portability: Well, it is large, so it actually is not that portable; But I have helped remedy this problem by adding rubber wheels under the case, as well as two large carrying handles. Coming in and out of my apartment I wheel this baby down the hallway with my monitor, keyboard, mouse, and headset on top of the case; one trip!
-Water-Cooling: I already have a water cooling setup in this case. One radiator and pump has been cut out and installed, two T-lines have been installed with a fill-port and "drain"-port. This will reduce build time significantly!
-Lighting: Eight 12 inch UV Cathodes brightly light the inside of this case. UV reactive dyes and water additives in the cooling system glow nicely with the help of these cathodes. Various internal connectors, Sata cables, and the PCB of the motherboard and Video card tend to add to the cool factor of any system.
WATERCOOLING: Currently running Danger-Den's 2x120 Radiator, Liang D5 Pump, 2x Danger Den Fill ports, 2x UV reactive Y-adapters (I prefer these to actual T-adapters for doing T-lines for fill/drain-ports). I have additional UV Dye and water additives on hand to mix a new batch of coolant. Additional Parts will be required and outlined further down.
FANS: Nexus Fan Controller and many Scythe Slip Stream (Kaze-Jyuni) 120mm Fans of various speeds. I have used many of these fans in my current and past builds. They provide awesome noise to airflow ratios (more air moves with less noise!). I like to control the higher (1800+) rpm fans with a fan bus; I like to have the fans turned down while not gaming to reduce noise so I can do other things (like sleeping!). These fans will be used to cool the voltage regulators, as well as be attached to the multiple radiators used inside the system.
OPTICAL DRIVE: Samsung Dual Layer DVD Burner SATA Black Drive. Not much is needed to be said here. It will burn and play DVD's and CD's.
HARDDRIVES: Extra storage for this project will be nice. I currently have four 500gb hard drives at my disposal to use (these include three Seagate SATAII 32mb drives, and one Western Digital Black Edition 32mb drive).
OPERATING SYSTEM: Windows 7 Professional (64-bit) edition. This is a legitimate copy purchased through Microsoft's Student Deals. This will be the OS of choice for this project, as it has added support for SSD hard drives, and will take full advantage to all 4gb of the system's ram.
MONITOR: I currently own a 21.5 inch Samsung SyncMaster 2233 monitor. It has an amazing 1080P native resolution, 50,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, and a 5ms refresh rate; this is an awesome gaming monitor.
MOUSEPAD: Currently using a Razer Mantis Control mouse pad with my Razer mouse. This should couple with the Razer Death Adder mouse very well.
HEADSET: Plantronics .Audio 750 DSP head set. This headset was a great value; the voice and sound quality from this set is amazing, and was easy on the wallet.
Additional Hardware to be purchased:
WATERCOOLING: I would need a water block designed for the Nvidia GTX260 video card, so both the GPU and RAM will receive the best possible cooling. I will also need a CPU water block to fit the LGA1156 socket. I would also like to add one additional radiator to the setup. I would like to have a radiator added right before each water block, to ensure that coolant reaches the lowest temperature when it is delivered to the most vital components of the computer. Extra Tubing and hose clamps will be purchased from the local hardware store as needed.
CASEMODDING: Black and red spray paint, black vinyl dye, and clear plexi-glass. To add further "wow" and "cool" factors to the build, I would like the exterior of the computer to be a nice solid black color, as well as the inside being a blood red color. Plexi-glass windows will cut out into the sides of the case to show off the components, and red interior.
MOUNTING: There are currently only three 3.5 inch bays and three 5.25 inch bays. One 5.25 inch bay will hold the optical drive, one 3.5 inch bay will hold the fan bus. Two 5.25 bays will need mounting adapters to hold two 3.5 inch hard drives, and two 3.5 inch bays will hold two 3.5 inch hard drives. An additional 2.5 inch mounting adapter will be needed for the Samsung SSD hard drive; I plan to mod and fabricate a mount, so the hard drive can be clearly visible from the outside through the plexi-glass window.
PAINT: Going to Lan Parties sponsored by ASUS ROG, I would like to further honor the ROG way by painting my case to match the community. I plan to dye the front panel black, and paint all the side panels and exterior pieces black. I would also like to paint the inside of the case red.
Work to be done (in no particular order):
-Install two extra radiators into the case.
-fabricate front panel to hold radiator
-Paint interior and exterior of case with separate colors.
-Cut side panels, and Install plexi-glass windows.
-Mod/fabricate 2.5 inch hard drive bay, to have hard drive visible from plexi-glass windows.
-Install all components into case.
-Dry fit water cooling loop, and later Leak test loop with hardware removed.
-Test over clocking abilities of each components (CPU, RAM, GPU), and come up with the most ideal set of settings for gaming.
This is my case as-is right now with the side panels removed. I have side panels (not shown) that currently have no moddification to them I plan on cutting plexi-glass windows into them.
Black panels in this picture shows how the window will look once I mod the side panels. I will also be painting the outside fo the case black.
Black panels in this picture shows how the window will look once I mod the side panels. I will also be painting the outside of the case black. You can also see where the additional radiator that will be installed, represented by the yellow panel. The front will need a panel fabricated and modded to hold the radiator.
This is the expected side view of the finished build. the interior of the case will also be painted red. I will also have the SSD being displayed where the green panel is shown. 
This is expected side view of the finished build. I plan to hide the cabling and the second radiator as best as possible.
This is a rough diagram of the water cooling loop will work
There will be a 2x120mm radiator before each water block. This should help cool the CPU and GPU even better! There is also a T-line fillport right before the inlet of the pump, this will eliminate the need of having a reservoir. There is also T-line after the pump, to help drain the loop.
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