Carbide 500R silent built

qbazdz · 19 Oct 2011 at 11:52

Project Log: AuricShadow

Hi Everyone

This will be a small build log of my new build - finally moving from my good old laptop (HP 8510p with 8510w mod) to a proper PC

I've been planning this for a long time now and finally the hardware is on its way! Some hasn't been finalized as I need to do one more comparison (motherboards) but then its just this waiting time!

The rig will be used for a bit of gaming (Witcher 2!) and my main design & photo work so it's a bit more like a workstation-gaming rig

Now for the hardware I've gone with:

- 2500K - could spend a bit more and get the 2600K but I honestly don't see the point
- mobo - Z68 for sure, still doing a bit of a research and will make up my mind soon!
- MSI 6950 Twin Frozr III 2GB - one now... 2nd to Xfire them in a few months (well, unless the HD7xxx are going to be muuuch faster I might get one of these than)
- XFX 850W XXX Silver+ PSU
- 8GB 1866MHz CL9 Corsair Vengeance

- 128GB Crucial M4 SSD
- F3 1TB HDD
- Sony Optiarc 7260s-0B DVD-RW
- Asus Xonar STX card
- Corsair Obsidian 650D case ... (thats a change after a disappointment over a 500R)
- Corsair H100 cooler

The build will probably take about a week-two to complete to the initial usable state

as I will have to be patient and wait for the hardware...
After that it will be time to take measurements for sleeving, see what can be improved in terms of making is near silent (fans, mods, controllers, etc.)

I've got access to sound level monitor and other 'lab' equipment which some of you might find interesting as Im going to compare initial with 'pimped up' build lol

Can't wait!!!!!

PS. Still thinking about an appropriate name for the rig... I was thinking about something like corsaiRRR X3, as there are 3 Corsair parts and also the PSU is an XXX model

what do you think?

qbazdz · 19 Oct 2011 at 15:30

Thanks Apem.
Ive got the XFX on order already but Im hoping there should be nothing wrong with it! Anyway, this particular one is suppose to be one of the best PSU in this range.

qbazdz · 19 Oct 2011 at 17:24

Well, I'll see how bad the stock fans are and then upgrade accordingly

Also, never had a problem with my F3... and Ive got it in a caddy now, 30cm from me, being used and cant hear a thing.

Silent 'mode' is usually for the evening anyway so I wont disturb others but Ill see what I can do

500R arrived... disappointed with the quality to say the least... seems like I will be changing to 650D in the end...

qbazdz · 22 Oct 2011 at 09:37

Well... looks like there will be a change of the case... Carbide is going back on Tue, new 650D should arrive shortly!

Can a mod please change the topic's title to: Obsidian 650D quiet built

qbazdz · 25 Oct 2011 at 12:12

Update

New case arrived, courier hasn't picked up the 500R yet so I took a pic for comparison

Now just waiting for the mobo and CPU.. oh! and decided to go with ASRock Extreme4 in the end... Ive got a color theme in mind and thought that doing another blue-black one would not be of interest to anyone

qbazdz · 25 Oct 2011 at 12:23

From a quick look inside the 650D is in the box with the front up so thats why they look a bit odd

Its amazing how much extra bulkier the box is with just extra 1in L, 0.9in W, 0.5in H of the 650D.

Also, one thing that was quite awkward on the 500R box... no side opening for your hands!!!!

More to come later as I will get started with taking pictures and jogging some notes down with thoughts about each part I got myself

qbazdz · 25 Oct 2011 at 12:57

We shall see! Tested the PSU and fans of the H100 yesterday and they are terrible... definitely need to get GTs!

qbazdz · 27 Oct 2011 at 16:18

Finally all the important stuff arrived

can start building today, shame I have to be at work tomorrow :/

Anyway, a bigish update coming later this evening... maybe by then a mod could change the topic for me please....?
New topic: Project Log: AuricShadow

UPDATE!!

Let's go then!

So what I got in the end:
- 2500K
- ASRock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3
- MSI 6950 Twin Frozr III 2GB
- XFX 850W Silver 80+ PSU (P1-850B-NLG9, new black version)
- 8GB 1866MHz CL9 Corsair Vengeance
- 128GB Crucial M4 SSD
- F3 1TB HDD
- Sony Optiarc 7260s-0B DVD-RW
- Corsair Obsidian 650D case
- Corsair H100 cooler
- TP Link High Gain N wireless adapter

- Asus Xonar STX card (hasn't arrived yet! grrrrr)

I will be writing up a few thing on each of the components as I want this built to be a small review of them all at the same time.

Enjoy the pics of most of the kit

qbazdz · 30 Oct 2011 at 14:56

Update coming later today from my assembly last night

so busy with other stuff that didnt even get to install Win7 on this

qbazdz · 30 Oct 2011 at 20:22

Hotwired said:
Is it me or does the number of boxes vs number of power supplies in this picture not compute :confused:[/QUOTE]

LOL :) This PSU comes in the big silver box (left) and has a black sleeve kind of thing over it (right, rotated 90deg). Then inside the big silver box there is a flat silver one which holds all the modular cables :)
I guess Ive set this up to be so confusing ;)

[quote="bastic, post: 20442030"]do you plan to water cool GPU's ?
if not, it wont be quiet ;D[/QUOTE]
I only need this to be quiet when at idle or when not doing a lot.
I still want it to be quiet when doing stuff but I can live with a bit of noise.
Custom WC loop is going in as the next step after a fan + fan controller upgrade. I would imagine it in 2-3 months, not longer than that.

[quote="G-Dubs, post: 20442065"]Looks very nice, and some nice photography, what camera/lens are you using?[/QUOTE]

d700 + 28mm AI-S :) love this combo for closeups and wide angle shots.
I'll probably take some later with 50mm and 85mm.

Off to download some RAWs from yesterday :)

qbazdz · 31 Oct 2011 at 09:36

Stew' see post #20

Time to get a fan controller and GT's!!!

qbazdz · 31 Oct 2011 at 21:10

Another portion of pics

At the moment apart from the top 200mm fan replaced by H100 rad its all with stock fans. I will report noise and rest of comments once I get windows installed and everything prepared for benching.
At least I know that the chip will do 50x multi and seem to clock to 4.8GHz easily (well, bios at least). Temps with 5GHz were reasonable as well - about 50C

Started off with getting all the cables from the front panel neatly routed to the back of the case... and stupidly enough I thought Corsair has made a nice, neat hole for this...

well... no - this hole was for the lock of the side panel and after being almost done I had to unplug everything, reroute and plug in again! At least there is an opening next to it which I used

I also wonder... why all of the holes without rubber covers could not have been done like the one at the back for the 8pin power supply... nice touch Corsair but get the others like this as well!

<----- Pr0n! below

of naked hardware

>

As always I check the TIM on chipset and if the other heatsinks are well placed so got the Z68 chip naked and cleaned

so I could apply the ICD7

Same was for the 6950

MSI has overdone it a little bit.

Cleaned and ready for a fresh nice TIM!

I should have probably waited with this, run tests with stock TIM and then re-test with ICD7 but I forgot

</ ----- Pr0n! above

of naked hardware

>

Mobo in, and before mounting the H100 I checked if for the future I would have enough space for a full size rad with one set of fans.
There is 70mm of space from the top mesh to the edge of the mobo, so with a bit of luck, you can get it in as long as the power section cooling will not be in the way.

Almost there... cleaned up and tidied the cables

All ready to be powered up!

Sorry for the quality of some pics.. had a really lousy light, and now until the weekend it all has to be with the incandescent only as work is keeping me away from my new baby

at least at the start I had some decent conditions and the colors look pretty good

Enjoy

more still to come - Win7 first though... at least it only takes about 10min to load hahahahaha

qbazdz · 1 Nov 2011 at 10:08

Yeah, shame you can only do it on flats

qbazdz · 1 Nov 2011 at 22:23

Sure Little_Crow.
This is pretty much a copy of what Ive posted in another thread about it:

My few thoughts on this case:

I am hugely disappointed with the quality. I love the looks but the quality of the materials and assembly was below the quality of what I expect from Corsair especially at the price that this retails at!
I am a designer myself and I am quite particular at the components I choose for my PCs and Carbide 500R was going to fulfill all my needs if it had been of better quality.
There was a lot of nice features and small finishing touches that made me think it was going to be a great product but at the same time all the flaws and the lower than expected quality of the product outnumbered the good things.

Good:
- black, space saving (flat) cables bundled together and protected with soft wrap to prevent damage to the case when in transport
- accessories in a box of the size od the hdd with holes in the right spots - great thinking
- space for H100 up in the top! superb!
- fantastic holes and grommets for cable management
- looks and overall design, simple yet effective
- rubber washers for fan mounts

Bad:
- internal paint scratches easily
- flimsy, think steel in the top where the rad can sit
- cheap, rough feel of the plastic on the front of the case
- above plastic upon touching gets some white marks (almost like it worked as a fine sanding paper and was sanding my fingers of leaving 'dust' on it
- hard drive bays very flimsy and can get skewed permanently
- too small clearance for hdd bays when assembling or disassembling giving scratch marks and taking paint of when doing so
- bended mesh has sharp edges and you can cut your fingers on them
- why can't you fit a bigger rad in the top!?!?! oh whyyyyyyyy?

That is about everything that comes to my mind at the moment.

Ive been comparing it to a Zalman Z9+ at the time as Ive recently built two rigs with that case and found it the best bang for the buck and the build quality for the money was fantastic.
I was expecting at least the same built quality from 500R.
I was looking at the 650D initially but didnt really like the top flap and design of the top panel. I have say now that it is actually better than on any pictures.
Dont expect neither 500R or 650D to be quiet with stock fans. These will need an upgrade for sure.

I am now glad I went with 650D as it is miles better in terms of size, build quality and frankly... looks than 500R.

I will do a separate write up on the case and will list what Ive noticed but now Im just eager to start checking the cpu out and get fans changed.

I know how to sort the whizzing sound for the front fan without cutting the mesh for now so this is another task.

If you want to know any more specific things just let me know.

qbazdz · 1 Nov 2011 at 23:34

I changed the topic but it still displays the old one :/ I can see the new one on the bar just where the 1st post is but that is it.

qbazdz · 8 Nov 2011 at 11:52

Hi Guys!
Im very sorry but I wont be able to update this thread with anything significant for the next 2 weeks (untill 22nd, Tue).
Firstly the fan controller I got didnt work when I finally plugged it in and secondly some private stuff is going to occupy quite a bit of my time.

In the meantime I will try to write up a few things and also prepare the 'spec' for testing noise and performance of the case/cooling and upgrades I prepared for them.
Stay tuned

qbazdz · 12 Aug 2012 at 15:41

Time to resurrect this old thread

I finally decided to move into WC as per my thread here:
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18421381

I already have just a few things and I am currently sleeving my new PSU, but some other stuff should be arriving with me around mid of this week.

In general the plan is:
1. Sleeve the PSU - black/gray/gold theme to match the part inside the case.
2. Remove front and rear fan grills to get some extra airflow.
3. Fit a set of DIL switches for all the lights for the case (cpu, gpu, res, fan controller) - I want to be able to quickly turn off and on all the led's as well as each individual thing. I want this to be hidden under the hot-swap bay cover

4. Drill some holes for res fill port and fan controller (my current holes are not perfect).
5. Change front panel LEDs from white to yellow to match my lighting

6. Fit the bits!
7. Do any extra adjustments required

Pics to follow soon

qbazdz · 13 Aug 2012 at 09:36

I tried spacing it out a bit and it did help, but the main problem is the impaired flow - one user reported a big increase of flow through the case and for me it's even more important as I'll have GPU block only and need some air to cool the RAM on gfx (small BGA heatsinks will be on, but they still need to have air movement to work well

)