First-Time Builder - Gamer or no, water-cooling?

by GSM
(Chadds Ford, PA USA)

Hi Dave, and thanks for what you are doing with this, very very helpful! Couple of questions for your opinion - for Photoshop usage, lots of batch processing of large files, do I need to be looking at a gaming machine? Also, thinking about water cooling the CPU,and I have seen cases which were designed with that in mind - but is a special case really needed, just helpful, or not a big deal at all?

Gene

Reply

Lots of questions, here's my opinion. For Photoshop and lots of large files, get lots of RAM, 8 to 12GB, and a fast drive, since SSD with lots of storage is still pricey get the Western Digital black edition drives.

When it comes to cases there seems to be a bunch of mystery to some. Here's what I look for. First get something that's easily swappable if you ever want to change parts it should be easy to get in and out. Some cases are really junk when it comes to this, look for a case that will let you get to anything regardless of the other components in the case. Next, make sure you have enough air movement. To me, a front fan and rear fan are mandatory, both 120mm or bigger. That's it, the rest, pick what you like, keep in mind also you can add fans to a case, just make sure there is a space to mount them.

As far as water cooling goes, is it cool, yes it is. The thing with water is, unless you spend a lot of money on it, you can get better results on air. Do yourself a huge favour, follow advice here on how to build a computer, you'll get the best for whatever you want to spend every time. At times this will mean water, most of the time it will mean air. My current system is a 2600 sandy bridge at GHz stable on air, average temp is 28C.