I built a machine in a 4000D last year, very good-looking case. Used the older 400D for a long time and it felt a little cramped for airflow, I rate the build and finish of the 4000D though. You may want to invest in some magnetic fine mesh filters if you're in a dusty/pet hair-heavy environment as it's a fairly open ventilation case. I bought a Demciflex kit as they were cut to size for the 400D holes and had magnetic edges for zero-effort install.
I'd contend for thermals and at-the-wall power usage, you may be better going AMD, either AM4 or (more likely) AM5. Intel's 14th gen is the last of the current chip design
and socket type. 15th gen ("Core Ultra Series 2") won't be supported in LGA1700 sockets, although most coolers should carry across. If you intend on keeping the machine but upgrading just the CPU in a couple of years' time, AMD AMD5 is realistically currently the only platform to allow you to do this for more than one upgrade cycle. AMD have confirmed support for AM5 to at least the end of 2025.
For longevity, I'd personally recommend AM5 despite a couple of growing pains I've gone through (long first boot times due to memory training, slightly obstinate support for EXPO RAM profiles on my chosen sticks - definitely no Precision Boost Overdrive support for that RAM yet.
I decided on AM5 for my new machine instead of a 13th or 14th gen Intel, upgrading from overclocked i9-9900K. I had a bit of a budget blowout and bought an AMD R9 7950X, Asus ProArt X670-E and an RTX 4090 because I don't want to upgrade for at least four years. I also frequently game in VR (Reverb G2, 4320x2160 at 90 fps with various simracing titles, MSFS and so on).
I could have eked out a little more absolute gaming power with an X3D chip but I didn't want the stacked chip design - you have to run the Windows Xbox Game Bar app in Windows to manage dual CCD-equipped X3D CPU P- and E-core allocations and core parking. I just wanted identical all-core clocks and predictable performance for all my workloads, and I slightly undervolt (
very easy with AMD) for a further reduction in thermals.
I would suggest considering a 360 AIO and top mounting it. Both AM5 and 13/14th gen Intel are
hot chips, though Intel runs hotter more quickly and seems more demanding to cool. I run the EK Nucleus 360 AIO RGB version and really like it; ocUK seems to only sell the blacked-out 'dark' variant. Decided on the EK as it performs particularly well in comparative benchmarks (check gamersnexus vids where it regularly tops the charts) and is a
great price -
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ek-w...ll-in-one-cpu-water-cooler-360-hs-016-ek.html . It's not not Corsair so no iCUE/LINK, you have to manage fan curves off the BIOS headers, but I'm more than happy to do that for the performance vs price ratio. A 360 Corsair AIO was almost 3x the price for comparable performance.
I bought the Corsair HX1000i PSU in the end for Corsair iCUE support so I could monitor power consumption (same with the RAM as it was also QVLed for my slightly picky motherboard) but also had other Corsairs like the RM850X, SeaSonic, EVGA and Cooler Master units on the shortlist.
If you're planning on running a very power-hungry CPU and GPU at full beans for 4K gaming without undervolting anything, you may be better running a higher-rated PSU at a slightly lower duty cycle for power factor efficiency. a 14700k will eat 300-350 watts under full load stock clocks, 4080 a max of 320 watts stock clocks, at which point you're already edging towards a PSU power limit for an 850 watt unit, unless you power limit the CPU and undervolt the GPU. I've undervolted my 4090 to about 85% and save 80-100 watts; the R9 7950X runs between 180 and 220 watts full load and always under 90 celcius.
WD Red SSDs have a superb lifetime guarantee on bytes written, but almost any mainstream PCIe 4.0 SSD will be decent at this point. I like Samsung Pro SSDs for the warranty - 980 Pro would be my recommendation. I also have a Corsair MP600 Pro NH (TLC NAND) in my current machine as it was on offer, the CORE XT (3D QLC) and a bit cheaper with less TBW endurance. (
https://www.corsair.com/uk/en/explo...een-the-mp600-core-gs-pro-pro-nh-and-pro-lpx/) WD Red are great for TBW guarantee in 24/7 usage environmnts, a colleague I trust rates them highly for his enterprise uses.
Order Corsair Force MP600 PRO NH 2TB NVMe PCIe 4.0 M.2 Solid State Drive (CSSD-F2000GBMP600PNH) now online and benefit from fast delivery.
www.overclockers.co.uk
