6 years on - time for upgrade!

maloflora999 · 27 Apr 2024 at 12:07

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

maloflora999 · 27 Apr 2024 at 15:51

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!

maloflora999 · 27 Apr 2024 at 18:05

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!

maloflora999 · 27 Apr 2024 at 21:04

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!

maloflora999 · 28 Apr 2024 at 15:24

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).