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So finally, After 3 and a bit years of not logging onto this forum. 
(I know right).
I've gone and done myself a build! Took me a while, after losing my 4690k set-up I ended up with a 3470k - GTX970 and 8GB of DDR3! Which yeah, isn't the greatest by nowadays or even then days standards.
This machine has now been given a new case and some fans etc to spruce it up and given to Miss Darkzy as is perfectly adequate for her Sims, COD4 and various mmo's.
Anyway I suppose a spec list is in order of current build, and upgrade routes etc that I'm intending on taking. Any advice or anything you think can be improved or done better please please let me know. Unfortunately after being out the game for so long my knowledge is feeling pretty limited.
This is primarily a gaming rig, I might stream a little in the future but even so I have no issue turning settings down.
Specs:
Case: Kolink Observatory in Black.
PSU: CoolerMaster Masterwatt 650 - Semi-Modular 80-Plus Bronze.
Motherboard: GigaByte X570 Aorus Elite.
CPU: AMD Ryzen 3600 currently at stock cores.
RAM: Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO DDR4-3600.
GPU: Gigabyte AORUS GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER 8GB.
SSD: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500GB NVMe M.2 SSD.
HDD: Seagate Barracude 7200RPM 1TB HDD.
CPU Cooler: Deepcool Castle 240 AIO.
Monitor: Acer Nitro VG271P 144Hz 1080p 27" Monitor.
Mouse: Corsair DARKCORE RGB SE Wireless.
Keyboard: Corsair K70 MX Cherry RED, RED Illumination.
So, After days of figuring parts to go to which etc. Admitedly the case being one of the hardest choices (which i'm still not sure i'm happy with). Parts arrived, me feeling like it's Christmas of course! And on with the build.
Unfortunately knowing that this will be updated across probably the next 3 months I did not take a obscene amount of photo's. But here's what I took. Sorry for not amazing quality - Shot on my OnePlus 6T
.
So this is the machine that I was running before... Yeah, don't ask.. No comments. Yes that is 2 power supplies, (970GTX) and pretty shameful to be showing on a forum tbh haha
GOODIES!!!
Boxes upon Boxes!
Ooooh Shiny, also a fingerprint magnet.
Finally a power supply, a half decent one.. 2 Purchased, one for this build and one for hers
Oooh pretty GPU
Right, Lets get to business. First was to bust open the packaging on this fine specimine.
So far so good
The powerhouse, Oh Intel, You just couldn't compete £ for £... I'm sorry
Fitting was a doddle, still scary having those pins on the chip, not the board
The RAM, Very pretty if I must say so myself. Not much to see here.
Like a mirror.
Finally installed into the case, time to do the wiring.
Luckily, the hidden end. Cable management was never my strong suit. But I did - Okay.
24 pin and 2 x 4 pins run for mobo power, USB headers, front audio and front panel pins done.
All Done, 240 AIO Castle RGB cooler installed (this things ******* cool, one of the best lighting effects on the pump i've seen. Some-what hypnotising)
Also GPU installed, PCI-E power plugged in. UGH this is were I couldn't win. No matter what way the cables get run it looks awful, CableMod extensions are in the very close pipeline!
well, lets have a look. (more better quality pics coming, waiting on decent lighting and camera)
Bios seems to be okay, sometimes finicky and a lot of "hidden" settings which should be in plain site IMO. But still, nothing like the blue background with white writing days. Also, new monitor! Massive difference here, having never used a higher than 75hz refresh panel. this thing is night and day didfference. Buttery smooth.
Ooooh all running, with pretty lights (excuse the reflections, again better camera and picture quality soon - In time for the next upgrades) Windows installed and jeeeez. Well, have a look and i'll wrap up.
And bonus photo of the mouse, a refurbed unit aquired for very cheap compared to RRP (more that 50% saving) and not a mark on it!
SO...
To wrap up, I had mad mad mad amounts of fun building this PC, even down to chasing fingerprints off the tempered glass, might sound silly but I remember my first proper "gaming" case was a NZXT M59. TBH I never had the fingerprint issue until now.
Performance wise, i'm still figuring out and seeking advice on benchmarks to use etc? But from what I can tell for the games I'm playing (BF5, Escape from Tarkov, GR: Breakpoint, Apex, PUBG, Metro Exodus etc and the odd MMO). It's amazing, smooth and quick. But then again from a 3470k and 970, i'd expect it to be.
That's it. As I say I have some future plans,
These include:
Custom WC loop, Including the GPU. Potentially going to try to find a way to repurpose the castle AIO pump/block as the effect is AWESOME! but if I can't I can't.. Project for another time.
Braided custom cables, because.. No one likes the stock ones, am I wrong?
Vertical GPU riser, because even without the WC for it.. The fans on this Aorus 2060 Super are a really funky design. And why WC a GPU if you can't see it (again this is all my opinion)
Some sort of stand off system for the front glass panel, a common problem it seems for this case.. Unfortunately, it's not a very temperature efficient case, namely: The front panel is so close to the front fans, the case can not push cool air through the system.
Not massively but my Ryzen 3600 even with power plan settings and setting the VCore in bios to lower. is idling at ~39 degrees C ish. As soon as the front glass panel is removed it will drop and average to ~32-33 and with OC'ing the 3600 in mind, I'd like the best air flow possible.
So I will be figuring someway to increase the gap between fan and panel by using a 10mm standoff or longer thumbscrews with a nylon spacer. Any suggestions or previous experience on this would be muuuuuuch appreciated.
Obviously all updates will be logged, hopefully a bit better and less slap-up than this one
Anyway, it's 1.45am and I've prattled on enough. Let me know what you think, look forward to any constructive thoughts.
Darkzy
(I know right). I've gone and done myself a build! Took me a while, after losing my 4690k set-up I ended up with a 3470k - GTX970 and 8GB of DDR3! Which yeah, isn't the greatest by nowadays or even then days standards.
This machine has now been given a new case and some fans etc to spruce it up and given to Miss Darkzy as is perfectly adequate for her Sims, COD4 and various mmo's.
Anyway I suppose a spec list is in order of current build, and upgrade routes etc that I'm intending on taking. Any advice or anything you think can be improved or done better please please let me know. Unfortunately after being out the game for so long my knowledge is feeling pretty limited.
This is primarily a gaming rig, I might stream a little in the future but even so I have no issue turning settings down.
Specs:
Case: Kolink Observatory in Black.
PSU: CoolerMaster Masterwatt 650 - Semi-Modular 80-Plus Bronze.
Motherboard: GigaByte X570 Aorus Elite.
CPU: AMD Ryzen 3600 currently at stock cores.
RAM: Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO DDR4-3600.
GPU: Gigabyte AORUS GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER 8GB.
SSD: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500GB NVMe M.2 SSD.
HDD: Seagate Barracude 7200RPM 1TB HDD.
CPU Cooler: Deepcool Castle 240 AIO.
Monitor: Acer Nitro VG271P 144Hz 1080p 27" Monitor.
Mouse: Corsair DARKCORE RGB SE Wireless.
Keyboard: Corsair K70 MX Cherry RED, RED Illumination.
So, After days of figuring parts to go to which etc. Admitedly the case being one of the hardest choices (which i'm still not sure i'm happy with). Parts arrived, me feeling like it's Christmas of course! And on with the build.
Unfortunately knowing that this will be updated across probably the next 3 months I did not take a obscene amount of photo's. But here's what I took. Sorry for not amazing quality - Shot on my OnePlus 6T
.So this is the machine that I was running before... Yeah, don't ask.. No comments. Yes that is 2 power supplies, (970GTX) and pretty shameful to be showing on a forum tbh haha
GOODIES!!!
Boxes upon Boxes!
Ooooh Shiny, also a fingerprint magnet.
Finally a power supply, a half decent one.. 2 Purchased, one for this build and one for hers
Oooh pretty GPU
Right, Lets get to business. First was to bust open the packaging on this fine specimine.
So far so good
The powerhouse, Oh Intel, You just couldn't compete £ for £... I'm sorry
Fitting was a doddle, still scary having those pins on the chip, not the board
The RAM, Very pretty if I must say so myself. Not much to see here.
Like a mirror.
Finally installed into the case, time to do the wiring.
Luckily, the hidden end. Cable management was never my strong suit. But I did - Okay.
24 pin and 2 x 4 pins run for mobo power, USB headers, front audio and front panel pins done.
All Done, 240 AIO Castle RGB cooler installed (this things ******* cool, one of the best lighting effects on the pump i've seen. Some-what hypnotising)
Also GPU installed, PCI-E power plugged in. UGH this is were I couldn't win. No matter what way the cables get run it looks awful, CableMod extensions are in the very close pipeline!
well, lets have a look. (more better quality pics coming, waiting on decent lighting and camera)
Bios seems to be okay, sometimes finicky and a lot of "hidden" settings which should be in plain site IMO. But still, nothing like the blue background with white writing days. Also, new monitor! Massive difference here, having never used a higher than 75hz refresh panel. this thing is night and day didfference. Buttery smooth.
Ooooh all running, with pretty lights (excuse the reflections, again better camera and picture quality soon - In time for the next upgrades) Windows installed and jeeeez. Well, have a look and i'll wrap up.
And bonus photo of the mouse, a refurbed unit aquired for very cheap compared to RRP (more that 50% saving) and not a mark on it!
SO...
To wrap up, I had mad mad mad amounts of fun building this PC, even down to chasing fingerprints off the tempered glass, might sound silly but I remember my first proper "gaming" case was a NZXT M59. TBH I never had the fingerprint issue until now.
Performance wise, i'm still figuring out and seeking advice on benchmarks to use etc? But from what I can tell for the games I'm playing (BF5, Escape from Tarkov, GR: Breakpoint, Apex, PUBG, Metro Exodus etc and the odd MMO). It's amazing, smooth and quick. But then again from a 3470k and 970, i'd expect it to be.
That's it. As I say I have some future plans,
These include:
Custom WC loop, Including the GPU. Potentially going to try to find a way to repurpose the castle AIO pump/block as the effect is AWESOME! but if I can't I can't.. Project for another time.
Braided custom cables, because.. No one likes the stock ones, am I wrong?
Vertical GPU riser, because even without the WC for it.. The fans on this Aorus 2060 Super are a really funky design. And why WC a GPU if you can't see it (again this is all my opinion)
Some sort of stand off system for the front glass panel, a common problem it seems for this case.. Unfortunately, it's not a very temperature efficient case, namely: The front panel is so close to the front fans, the case can not push cool air through the system.
Not massively but my Ryzen 3600 even with power plan settings and setting the VCore in bios to lower. is idling at ~39 degrees C ish. As soon as the front glass panel is removed it will drop and average to ~32-33 and with OC'ing the 3600 in mind, I'd like the best air flow possible.
So I will be figuring someway to increase the gap between fan and panel by using a 10mm standoff or longer thumbscrews with a nylon spacer. Any suggestions or previous experience on this would be muuuuuuch appreciated.
Obviously all updates will be logged, hopefully a bit better and less slap-up than this one
Anyway, it's 1.45am and I've prattled on enough. Let me know what you think, look forward to any constructive thoughts.
Darkzy
