Last time I did this Core2Duo was a new thing...

Conanius · 8 Apr 2020 at 23:23

So the last time I built a PC it was using an Intel Core2Duo "Wolfdale" E8200 back in 2008.

Since then life (family!) has been my real focus and I haven't got near gaming nor tinkering with home IT as much as I wanted.

We started our own company back in 2018, and now I'm doing more from home and less on site work with clients, I wanted a really quick home PC. I wanted something that would last a few years, be brilliant at day to day office work, with capacity for a bit of very casual gaming (1440p), but also running several VMs 24/7 for the home network.

I've gone for:

Case - Lian Li PC-011 Dynamic in Black
PSU - Fractal Design ION+ 660P 660W 80 Plus Platinum Rated Fully Modular
CPU - AMD Ryzen 9 3900X
Motherboard - Gigabyte X570 AORUS ELITE
RAM - Team Group 8Pack Edition 32GB (4x8GB) DDR4 PC4-28800 C16 3600Mhz
GPU - Aorus Radeon RX 5700 XT
Primary Storage - Patriot Viper VPN4100 Gen4 1TB SSD
Secondary Storage - 2x Toshiba 4TB X300 (RAID 1)
CPU Cooling - Fractal Design Celsius S36 360mm All in One Water Cooler
Case Fans - 6xAkasa AK-FN059 120mm Ultra Quiet Venom Viper Cool Fan

Based on the reviews, it looks like the best layout will be 3 fans on the bottom, 3 on the side, all 6 pulling air in, and then the 360mm Radiator on the top pushing out.

I had wanted to get a vertical GPU mount, but seemingly now where has any stock.

I'll sort out some pictures and a build log once it all arrives - looks like next week based on OCUK backlogs at the moment.

ALXAndy · 9 Apr 2020 at 14:45

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/cabl...1-x-displayport-1-x-hdmi-black-cm-170-cm.html

Should work fine.

orbitalwalsh · 11 Apr 2020 at 00:18

@Conanius

Would get the Aorus AIO personally

https://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/cases_cooling/oc3d_2020_cpu_cooler_roundup/9

Would suit the all Aorus build quality and oerforms strongly

Had the case myself with 9x silent wing 3 fans and custom AIO set up ... Best fan layout is actually 3 bottom fans as intake and 6 fans as exhaust (all lowest speed ) but this will be a negative pressure flow meaning dust will enter via all unfiltered areas as well !

Got demciflex filters for my case from South Africa ordered in . Airflow through the filters is twice that of stock

ezekial · 11 Apr 2020 at 00:55

Good psu choice. Nice to see you not going 1200w

Conanius · 12 Apr 2020 at 08:49

Thanks for all the replies folks. Hopefully this is all arriving on Tuesday - Ideal as I need to get a couple of new VMs for work running.

ALXAndy said:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/cabl...1-x-displayport-1-x-hdmi-black-cm-170-cm.html

Should work fine.

Thats useful to know - I'll see what temperatures I get to start with and then reassess.

orbitalwalsh said:
@Conanius

Would get the Aorus AIO personally

https://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/cases_cooling/oc3d_2020_cpu_cooler_roundup/9

Would suit the all Aorus build quality and oerforms strongly

Had the case myself with 9x silent wing 3 fans and custom AIO set up ... Best fan layout is actually 3 bottom fans as intake and 6 fans as exhaust (all lowest speed ) but this will be a negative pressure flow meaning dust will enter via all unfiltered areas as well !

Got demciflex filters for my case from South Africa ordered in . Airflow through the filters is twice that of stock

Interesting. To be honest I couldn't see *that* much difference on the AIOs when you get to ~£100 spend. It appeared to be deminishing returns when you spend much more money. I can't justify spending double the money for a couple of degrees and some shiny fans !

The fan config will be something I play around with, but several reviews suggested the way I've proposed. The only way they got cooler was having the side panel off.

ezekial said:
Good psu choice. Nice to see you not going 1200w

Thanks. It seemed to review well, and back in the days of Barton Socket A Athlons I got burned (literally) with cheap high wattage PSUs (QTEC 550 anyone?)

Conanius · 17 Apr 2020 at 22:40

So slight delay updating this as it has been a busy week....

Kit arrived nice and early on Wednesday morning. I was immediately impressed with the quality of the case. I'd been tempted to spend less money - but the extra cash was justified !

Build was really straightforward.

RAM, CPU and M2 SSD fitted.

The case has two 3.5" drive caddys in the back. This is a really nice touch. The huge space in the back for cable management keeps the main space in the case looking really tidy with zero effort.

Motherboard in, and a great picture to see just how many options you have to keep the cabling nice and tidy. Ironically my AIO fan cables are messy in the top. I'll flip them round to tidy that up.

The cooler in the top. You can see the magnetic dust cover on the top of the case. Really nice touch. There is one of these on the bottom too.

Finally with the GFX in - gives a great idea of just how much space you need for cards like this ! I'm a bit disappointed I couldn't do a nicer job with the PSU cables... I might get some better quality cables...

In my haste to get it all ordered, I didnt think about the fan control for the other 6 fans. I've ordered a simple Thermaltake fan controller that I'll plug into the motherboard for PWN control.

Once I've got that I'll do some proper benchmark tests to see what it is capable of.

Until then, I'm really impressed with it all. Highly recommended !

orbitalwalsh · 20 Apr 2020 at 08:51

Sorry, missed this. Looking nice !

Paid a small fortune for Demciflex filters for the case South Africa.. airflow and filtration improves a lot !!!

Recommending on getting some Halo ARGB fan covers for some lighting

improves the looks of the fans too

Want best temps for CPU, rad at the side . Intake will provide the cool air the exhaust at the top .

Minibiker · 20 Apr 2020 at 09:08

Looking good @Conanius good job!

Conanius · 9 May 2020 at 09:19

orbitalwalsh said:
Want best temps for CPU, rad at the side . Intake will provide the cool air the exhaust at the top .

So I did this move yesterday - and now I can't fit 3 fans on the top. The fixings for the rad on this AIO are at the top, so the fan has nowhere to site (facepalm).

On the plus side temps are a bit lower - so I might now swap the top fans for 2x140.

orbitalwalsh · 9 May 2020 at 11:04

Conanius said:
So I did this move yesterday - and now I can't fit 3 fans on the top. The fixings for the rad on this AIO are at the top, so the fan has nowhere to site (facepalm).

On the plus side temps are a bit lower - so I might now swap the top fans for 2x140.

Should be able to have rad on the side and 3 fans at the top...
Have you mounted the rad in the PSU chamber and fans in the main chamber ?

Still have fans in pull and works just fine

Conanius · 9 May 2020 at 15:30

orbitalwalsh said:
Should be able to have rad on the side and 3 fans at the top...
Have you mounted the rad in the PSU chamber and fans in the main chamber ?

Still have fans in pull and works just fine

I've only had a quick look, but I can't see how I'd achieve that without having to undo the loop....

orbitalwalsh · 9 May 2020 at 19:14

Conanius said:
I've only had a quick look, but I can't see how I'd achieve that without having to undo the loop....

Get a snap up of how it's looking now and will explain

Conanius · 23 May 2020 at 21:08

Sorry for not updating this.

I took the case apart today, took the fans off the rad, and tried to reseat it feeding the rad through the gap into the back panel space and screwing the fans on the front. the rad is *just* too big to fit properly.

I've gone back to Rad on the top, pushing air out, and then all other 6 fans blowing in. Temps are good - I'll leave it with that