9800X3D Noctua Build

[Nitefly]

Thought I’d document my triumphs and failings of building a new PC (with photos)!

I’m currently rocking a 5950x and a 3090 in a Lian Li OD-XL case, which was the first PC I ever built myself, but I was never really ‘that’ satisfied with the setup. I used an NZXT Kraken AIO and I found using all the wiring and software for this a bit of a faff. The case itself was a little noisy, probably too many fans on the go but no dampening, plus lots of the knobs broke or didn’t fit together so well. So-so build quality etc…

That informs my new choices for a 9800X3D and (eventually a) 5090 build:

- less fans but good airflow
- no AIO… air cooling
- a nicer case with some sound proofing if possible.

This is what I’ve landed with (some parts still arriving):

- Be Quiet! Dark Base Pro 901
- 9800X3D cpu (obvs)
- Asrock 870E Nova motherboard
- Noctua NH-D15 G2 LBC cooler
- Gskill 6000 CL28 ram
- 6x Noctua 140mm NF-A14x25 G2s (!)
- WD SN850X 4TB M2 storage
- NZXT C1500 ATX 3.1 PSU (which has 2x native 12V-2x6 slots… just in case!)

… so that’s a whopping 8 fans… oh my! It might not be very colour coordinated with all the brown plus the purple / blue highlights of the motherboard, but we’ll see

Here’s my initial gathering of bits and assembly. Two fans already in place.

The case is absolute lovely - totally different league to the Lian Li. I have no doubts that this was the right choice (I’m even more sure of this now, @GordyR !).

At the top there is space for 3x 140 fans but I’m just going with one, leaving sound proofing in place:

At the front, there’s room for 3 x 140 fans… plus an additional one at the bottom. So that’s where the other 4 are going:

^I quite like that angled vent thing, which should help push the air towards the GPU.

The overall aim then is front/bottom intake with rear/top exhaust. I think this will work well.

It’s not been without faff though, just getting those two fans on… I wanted to go screwless if possible but unfortunately getting the rubber mounts to work was impossible because of the metal in the way of the right handed screws. I actually had to remove the motherboard tray, install the fan, then put the tray back in. Here’s the offending piece of metal:

The other fans are still out because I’ve ordered some ‘NA-IS1-14 Sx2’ mounts to help reduce the noise on the intakes - looking forward to seeing how these work.

No pretty photos yet because my desk is a dump, but I’ll update the thread as other bits land and the build continues next weekend… wish me luck

 

[Nitefly]

Looking forward to the build .

Not a fan of brown fans in a white build but I shall reserve judgement until ...

Haha I quite like it but how it’ll clash with the bling of the motherboard and ram is another matter

 

[Nitefly]

Couldn't post bigger pictures or is it just on my end , out of interest why you choose Noctua? I like the look of build with lian li case on overlockers website with that cooler

Sorry, I’m sure they are massive - not sure how to resize using BB code

I just like the aesthetic of them, plus supposedly leading in ‘being quiet’ / efficient.

 

[Nitefly]

The offsets arrived… seem very basic but hopefully do the job:

It’s never easy though is it…

The fans came with the rubber fasteners shown on the left below. The offsets came with the fasteners shown in the middle. But I also purchased the additional fasteners shown on the right:

This was because there fasteners that came with the fans / offsets have ‘screw heads’ (?!) that are simple too large the for the amount of room in front of the dust filters.

If you have a look here you’ll see what I mean… absolutely no room for them in that bottom space where the dust filter is held in place by a magnet:

Unfortunately my plan was thwarted… because there wasn’t even enough room for those. Arse! I ended up going with a combo of screws at the bottom and fasteners at the top:

Unfortunately, I also had to go with screws for the bottom fan in entirety for a completely seperate reason; the holes were too small for the rubber fasteners to bite onto. How annoying. Here you can see the screws holding the fans in place:

Sorting that out took ages… good job I’m not attempting it all in one day

 

[Nitefly]

I've never liked them rubber bung things, why don't you like fan screws.

In truth I’d rather just use them on the assumption that they are supposed to avoid the rattle that can sometimes be caused by screws.

These case fans will always be at low speeds so doubtful there would be a difference in my use case, I suppose.

If you're dead set on rubber mounts - and I'd fire it up and check noise levels before you make that call - you can always make the hole bigger. It's possible to drill larger (you want a step drill for thin metal like a case or the hole goes triangular) but if you're only going a little larger and the size of hole is important, you could do worse than a reamer. Dead useful for 3D printed holes too. Make sure you clean us all the swarf (metal chips) as it can short things out if left floating about.

Your fan with half screws, half rubber: can you space the grill out to give you the space you need? Not sure how it attaches but often you can space it out with washers - preferably nylon/rubber so they don't conduct if they go walkabout.

If noise is a concern, have you factored in a fan controller? You could do worse than an Octo (or a Quadro if you're looking at multiple fans per channel) as it is configurable from Windows but runs independently - ie stuff still works as expected even if Windows isn't.

Thanks for the comments. Unfortunately, no, I cannot attach 3 x 140mm fans to the front grill without one of them needing to attach where the magnetic dust filter is (i.e. the area with the screws). There isn’t enough space.

Good idea re: using a drill but I think with the low speed of the case fans it’s probably not worth the hassle and I’ll stick with the screws (unless it ends up being really noisy).

As for the fan controller, there should be no need. I’d like to run all of them via the BIOS and this should be possible. I found the Lian Li fan and NZXT fan control software on my previous build a little annoying… aiming to set them all to CPU temp in the bios as see how we go.

4 intake fans = as low as they can go

2 exhausts = just under double the speed of the intake fans

That’s the plan anyway!

 

[Nitefly]

The last ‘components’ have arrived ready for the build at the weekend

The only things I’m still waiting on some (less exciting) fan extension cables and the second set of fan spacers, but those are due to arrive tomorrow / Friday… fingers crossed!

P.s. that PSU box is much heavier than it looks!

 

[Nitefly]

Get these filthy RGB fans out of my thread

We all know the Haribo was the most important part to arrive. Cannot build without it.

You may have prompted me to indulge in some pre-build snacking

 

[Nitefly]

Much panic and drama this evening as I got on with the dreaded BIOS flashback (which ASRock recommended, to my surprise).

Ooo the motherboard and PSU look very smart… reassuringly heavy:

The RGB awakens!

Oh god oh god oh god…

… seemed to work as the lights stopped blinking after around 4-5 mins. I’ll find out tomorrow!

Also got on with installing the SSD and the RAM. You can just about see it here but the RAM looks obscene… probably not the best choice aesthetically but it was the most readily available CL28 6000 kit at the time of purchase:

Let’s see if I can get it up and running tomorrow

 

[Nitefly]

All fans in place now! I’ll chop the long ends of the rubber mounts once I’m happy it’s all working.

A view from the top before a tidy:

From the front without the faceplate:

From the side:

From the front with the faceplate:

 

[Nitefly]

You've put the fan nipples the wrong w

Thanks, but they are all correct as per the manuals:

Round headed ends being case side:

Flat headed ends being case side:

The longer wibbly bits face inside the case.

 

[Nitefly]

Oops, I forgot to update this thread as I was having a mare with the CPU overheating. I'll get into what happened below

Taking the fan off the G2 to install it:

Note to everyone else, remove the plastic guard before installing it on the CPU:

As embarrassing as that was, that isn't actually what stuffed me, although it probably caused my concentration to lapse.

When I did install the G2, I didn't quite line up the screws properly, so had to pick it up and reseat it. No problem, so I thought. What I truly failed to consider was the impact that had on the plastic thermal paste guard I'd put in place. I'm pretty sure the plastic was sitting right on top of the CCD, oh no!

Well, after a lot of worrying a reseat sorted that out no problem. Here's how the rest of the build went.

Hooking up the cables. GPU-less:

Oh, hello, Lian Li and 3090... I shall extract you!

Sitting in there nicely:

Now with the GPU stand that comes with the case:

I think it looks pretty good! Take that, nay-sayers

One thing to watch out for with the GPU stand is that I've scuffed the bottom of the case (where it's sitting) slightly from getting this into place, which was annoying, so do be careful with this!

 

[Nitefly]

@Cenedd yes there are some CL28 kits out there, but at the time they weren’t readily available in the UK so I had to buy it from an international seller.

I’ll order some spray paint

 

[Nitefly]

Let us know what temps you have on CPU etc.
I'm on 900 v2, always had noctua fans and will be getting one u have for 9800x3d build too.

Hey there - with a -35 curve optimiser offset... and +200 mhz CPU boost override, I'm getting CPU temps of 51 browsing the web with chrome, as low as 43 degrees when fully idle.