6 years on - time for upgrade!

[maloflora999]

Hi all,

For the last six years I've been very happy with my last build for gaming. It's driving an Alienware ultrawide monitor (AW3821DW) at 3440x1440:

• Intel Core i7-9700K 3.6GHz
• Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Master Intel
• Gigabyte Aorus RGB 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 3200MHz
• And since 2021: an NVIDIA RTX 3080 Founders Edition

But it's time for an upgrade! And I'm very taken with trying out a Lian-Li all-white build as a new experiment and to show off my innards a bit more.

How would this basket work? Any bottlenecks / alternatives / incompatibilities I need to be aware of? Budget around £2k.

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Phanteks AMP 1000W V2 80PLUS Gold Power Supply - White (SKU: CA-0C6-PT) = £169.99
• 1 x Lian Li O11 Vision - White (SKU: CAS-LIA-00951) = £129.95
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Eight Core 5.00GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DT-AM) = £359.99
• 1 x Asrock B650E Steel Legend WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-18U-AK) = £299.99
• 1 x Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-44800C36 5600MHZ Dual Channel Kit - White (CMT32GX5M2B5600C36W) (SKU: MY-4CZ-CS) = £149.98
• 4 x Lian Li UNI SL120 INF Reverse Blade Addressable RGB White 120mm Fan (SKU: FG-01V-LL) = £29.99
• 1 x WD Black SN850X 1TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (WDS100T2X0E) (SKU: HD-590-WD) = £104.99
• 1 x Lian Li Galahad II Trinity SL-INF AIO 360mm ARGB CPU Water Cooler - White (SKU: HS-00P-LL) = £169.99
• 1 x Asrock Radeon RX 7900 GRE Steel Legend 16GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-ASR-01794) = £544.99

Total: £2,061.82 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

A few questions as well, if that's ok. I should say I have another M.2 1TB drive I'll be fitting as well.

• Am I right in thinking I can drive all the Lian-Li fans from the fan hub included in the Galahad AIO?
• For looks, I'd like the keep the motherboard in the high position. Should I use the AIO as exhaust to the side x3, and put 3 fans in the bottom (reverse) and one at the back (also reverse) as inputs, to keep a bit of pressure internally?
• It's not available at OC, but is there any reason why I can't go with this 'more white' motherboard instead of the steel legend: Gigabyte X670E AORUS PRO X AMD Ryzen DDR5 ATX Motherboard?

Thanks in advance for any help!

maloflora

 

[Tetras]

And since 2021: an NVIDIA RTX 3080 Founders Edition

Asrock Radeon RX 7900 GRE Steel Legend 16GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-ASR-01794) = £544.99

According to TPU's database, the 7900 GRE is just 10% faster than a 3080. I'd personally either do your upgrade and keep hold of it until the next gen cards release, or just wait until the next gen CPUs & GPUs.

If you wanted to do both, then I'd get something like this:

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 7700 Eight Core 5.30GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DV-AM) = £314.99
• 1 x Asus ROG Strix B650-A Gaming WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-6JY-AS) = £199.99
• 1 x TeamGroup Vulcan EXPO 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C38 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (FLABD532G6000HC38ADC01) (SKU: MY-0B2-TG) = £99.95
• 1 x MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER Gaming X Slim White 16GB GDDR6X PCI-Express Graphics (SKU: GRA-MSI-01750) = £1,049.99
• 1 x WD Blue SN580 2TB SSD NVME M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-WDC-00541) = £112.99
• 1 x Lian Li Lancool 216 Mid-tower PC case - White (SKU: CA-7B9-LL) = £114.95
• 1 x Phanteks AMP 1000W V2 80PLUS Gold Power Supply - White (SKU: CA-0C6-PT) = £169.99

Total: £2,070.84 (includes delivery: £7.99)​

Using either the stock CPU cooler in the box, or a white peerless assassin (reviewed here).

 

[Quartz]

Intel's Battlemage GPUs and Nvidia's high-end 50 series GPUs are slated for late this year so now is not the time to be buying a new GPU.

 

[maloflora999]

Thanks both! Very helpful feedback. In which case I might make the rest of the build and then just slot the 3080 FE in (even though it's not white!). And then wait for the GPU upgrade later this year.

If so, I'd really appreciate any thoughts on my questions earlier!

 

[Tetras]

If so, I'd really appreciate any thoughts on my questions earlier!

It's not available at OC, but is there any reason why I can't go with this 'more white' motherboard instead of the steel legend: Gigabyte X670E AORUS PRO X AMD Ryzen DDR5 ATX Motherboard?

No, it should be fine. The main difference between X670E and B650E is that you get more PCI-E lanes and this usually amounts to an extra M.2 slot, which I believe is the case here (X670E Aorus Pro X has 4 and the B650E Steel Legend has 3), but you'd need to check if the other important features (for you) are the same e.g. USB ports, LAN and what not. The X670E Aorus Pro X also appears to have WIFI7, while the Steel Legend is 6E.

 

[Craig_d1]

regarding aio/fan orientation...yes, it's how I'd do it...360mm aio on the side exhausting, with 3 at bottom drawing air in and 1 at back drawing air in to get positive air pressure in case...so bottom and back would be reverse fans to get the nice looking side inwards. As far as am aware the fan controller that comes with the aio is the same that comes with the fan triple pack so s/b good to go, as each controler can take 4 sets of fans daisychained (max 4 fans per daisychain)...I've got the fans, but not the aio so can't 100% confirm that but from looking at aio says comes with a controller

edit please read

...below provoked prawn shows what comes with the 240mm aio 34 sec into vid...yhough same but started watching and different from the controller that comes with the triple pack...got a bit halfway through and he said you can do it with workaarounds, butI'll need to watch fully and concentrate, and having to run out at mo

 

[maloflora999]

Brilliant thanks both! I have been looking at those provoked prawns videos, and he's got lots on how to install and wire up the fans. I think it's to do with whether it's a single connecter for power and RGB or two split ones. The triple pack has the single, but the individual fans and the AIO hub have the double. I'm assuming I can daisy chain the three single fans at the bottom and take a single connection of each type into the AIO hub. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong!

 

[Craig_d1]

back and just watched fully. So at the end he said he didn't use the controller that came with the aio, but the controller that came with a triple pack, making me think it might not work with the controller from the aio. That one looks like the original infinity fans when the 1st came out, where you still had to wires from the fans, 1 for rgb, 1 for power,which kind of makes semnse if you want the fans from the aio controlled by the mobo....whereas the new infinity fans just have the 1 cable that combines both pwm and rgb so controller box only has the 1 input per set so to speak...no idea on the reverse fans, came out after my build but assuming like my fans, and don't know if they're backward compatible with old wiring connection
that's a tough one whether you'll need to purchase a new control box for the reverse fans or not, or whether yuo get spare cables which are compatible with the new fans...sorry, wasn't much help in the end with that. Annoying that you can't buy a triple revers fan pack with connect box included

 

[Craig_d1]

ok, from vid below the reverse fans come with the dual cable connector...so from my viewpoint that means they should be useable without the l connect box, but later on shows he did purchase the newer connector box and connect the fans to that with the new cables...def more complicated than I thought it#d be

 

[maloflora999]

In this video, at around 5'00 he shows the 360 AIO SL-INF with the other type of connector with the dual cables. I think that means the single reverse fans daisy chained (not the triple pack) should be connectable to this kind of hub. I think!

 

[Craig_d1]

In this video, at around 5'00 he shows the 360 AIO SL-INF with the other type of connector with the dual cables. I think that means the single reverse fans daisy chained (not the triple pack) should be connectable to this kind of hub. I think!

yup, that's how I view it too...ties up with the 2nd vid that shows the reverse fans coming with the dual cable, so i think it should all work if lian li provide those little adaptor cables that are in in the 3rd vid....either that or you do as i did and just buy an air cooler and a triple pack, and forget the aio. 7800x3d doesn't really need an aio...it would mean the bottom and side would both be reverse blade intakes, air cooler then you can put a single or dual exhaust on back

another setup would be same..6 intakes and then put a 240mm aio on the back exhausting as below

 

[maloflora999]

Yes! Just to chase this down finally I think. The AIO manual: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UgTpJFkwk4YVWHfIV7oGUrWDJxXh8xwU/view shows 3 of those (R) adaptors apparently in the box that would allow you to plug in three other fans (although in my case I'd propose 3 daisy-chained fans and one separate one = 2 connections needed).