At the start of July I re-homed my main system, and as I am lazy I am just now getting to making the log lol. My current/old setup is currently water cooled in a big Lian-Li case, however it's now 2015 and the is no need for watercooling and large cases if your prime concern is noise and not insane overclocks.
First up a shot of the current/old setup:
It's a modded Lian Li PC-G70 housing Thermochill PA120.3 and PA160.1 radiators, dual D5 pumps with EK serial top, a Bitspower tube res and fill port, in addition to many other WC and accessory bits.
Bits being kept from current setup:
New bits being added:
The DVD±RW was £4.16 from OCUK during a sexy stock clearance sale back in 2013, I figured it would come in handy at some point lol.
Okay on to the start, first I put the motherboard (complete with CPU/RAM) into the case. The case actually comes with some nice 140mm fans in the front and a 120mm in the back all connected to a built in three speed fan controller (12v/7v/5v), I had no use for it but if you don't have fan control it's a nice feature.
Here's a close up shot of the CPU/RAM, the CPU isn't actually that dirty it's just light reflecting off it, however some TIM at some point has erased all the text off the IHS lmao. The RAM is LP which is great for use with big heat-sinks (I have never been a fan of fancy RAM, it's the least beneficial thing to overclock and the one most likely to cause issues).
Here's a side shot of the case, the mobo/RAM/CPU and some empty water bottles.
Next step, install the BIIIIG heat-sink
And then remove the roof of the case because the isn't enough room to install the centre fan or reach the fan headers (could have been avoided by installing the HS to the mobo before installing the mobo, you live you learn.
Got the fans installed and connected to the CPU and CPU-OPT headers for PWN control (CPU header has the included Noctua splitter on it, for connection to the rear fan).
Installed the rear fan and connected that up as mentioned above.
Added the two front 140mm Noctuas and attached them to the CHA_FAN1 header via the Akasa splitter (NOTE: Every fan header on my board is capable of delivering 12w/1a of power, this is not standard, check your manual before using splitters). Then added my Intel 750, and a USB/ESATA backplate because I had it spare
Behold the ZeroFrozr-ness, also the 1980's nursery rhyme wallpaper
GPU installed, along with the 120mm fans (had trouble with the fan that went on the right, it appeared fine but stalled during operation, turned out the are rubber grommets pre-installed in the floor on that side for a 3.5" HDD which foul a fan, once they were removed all was fine) and the CableMod cables (these aren't extensions, they are PSU specific modular cable replacements and excellent quality, look great and 10x more flexible than the EVGA/Superflower ones).
**TBC** (I just realised I have no pics of the other side where the PSU/drives are, i'll fix that ASAP.
Epilogue:
Been using it since early July and all is good, the ASUS built in fan control is set to silent pre-set and the fans are inaudible at idle (if you put your head to casing you can hear them faintly, they are quieter than a D5 pump!), the Gaming 980ti turns it's fans off at idle completely
The fans don't even ramp up much during gaming (when I have my headset on anyway) and the temps are still cool, the CPU doesn't seem to exceed 50c so I have headroom there if it ever becomes a limiting factor.
First up a shot of the current/old setup:
It's a modded Lian Li PC-G70 housing Thermochill PA120.3 and PA160.1 radiators, dual D5 pumps with EK serial top, a Bitspower tube res and fill port, in addition to many other WC and accessory bits.
Bits being kept from current setup:
- ASUS Rampage IV X79 motherboard
- Intel 4930K IB-E i7 hex core
- 32GB (4x8GB) Crucial Ballistix LP DDR3-1600 (now called DDR3L)
- Intel 750 series NVMe PCI-E 400GB SSD
- Samsung 840 series 250GB SATA-III SSD
- OCZ Bigfoot 480GB SATA-II SSD
- EVGA Supernova P2 1000W platinum modular PSU
- Noctua NF-F12 PWM 120mm Focused Flow PWM Cooling Fan
New bits being added:
Cooltek W2 case
MSI Gaming GTX980ti ZeroFrozr
Noctua NH-D15 Dual Radiator Quiet CPU Cooler with two NH-A15 Fans
CableMod E-Series G2 & P2 Cable Kit - Black
2x Noctua NF-P14s REDUX 900RPM 140mm Quiet Case Fan
2x Noctua NF-S12B REDUX 700RPM 120mm Quiet Case Fan
Samsung SH-S222BB/RSMS 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black/Silver/Biege)
Akasa PWM splitter
The DVD±RW was £4.16 from OCUK during a sexy stock clearance sale back in 2013, I figured it would come in handy at some point lol.
Okay on to the start, first I put the motherboard (complete with CPU/RAM) into the case. The case actually comes with some nice 140mm fans in the front and a 120mm in the back all connected to a built in three speed fan controller (12v/7v/5v), I had no use for it but if you don't have fan control it's a nice feature.
Here's a close up shot of the CPU/RAM, the CPU isn't actually that dirty it's just light reflecting off it, however some TIM at some point has erased all the text off the IHS lmao. The RAM is LP which is great for use with big heat-sinks (I have never been a fan of fancy RAM, it's the least beneficial thing to overclock and the one most likely to cause issues).
Here's a side shot of the case, the mobo/RAM/CPU and some empty water bottles.
Next step, install the BIIIIG heat-sink
And then remove the roof of the case because the isn't enough room to install the centre fan or reach the fan headers (could have been avoided by installing the HS to the mobo before installing the mobo, you live you learn.
Got the fans installed and connected to the CPU and CPU-OPT headers for PWN control (CPU header has the included Noctua splitter on it, for connection to the rear fan).
Installed the rear fan and connected that up as mentioned above.
Added the two front 140mm Noctuas and attached them to the CHA_FAN1 header via the Akasa splitter (NOTE: Every fan header on my board is capable of delivering 12w/1a of power, this is not standard, check your manual before using splitters). Then added my Intel 750, and a USB/ESATA backplate because I had it spare
Behold the ZeroFrozr-ness, also the 1980's nursery rhyme wallpaper
GPU installed, along with the 120mm fans (had trouble with the fan that went on the right, it appeared fine but stalled during operation, turned out the are rubber grommets pre-installed in the floor on that side for a 3.5" HDD which foul a fan, once they were removed all was fine) and the CableMod cables (these aren't extensions, they are PSU specific modular cable replacements and excellent quality, look great and 10x more flexible than the EVGA/Superflower ones).
**TBC** (I just realised I have no pics of the other side where the PSU/drives are, i'll fix that ASAP.
Epilogue:
Been using it since early July and all is good, the ASUS built in fan control is set to silent pre-set and the fans are inaudible at idle (if you put your head to casing you can hear them faintly, they are quieter than a D5 pump!), the Gaming 980ti turns it's fans off at idle completely
The fans don't even ramp up much during gaming (when I have my headset on anyway) and the temps are still cool, the CPU doesn't seem to exceed 50c so I have headroom there if it ever becomes a limiting factor.