[OcUK Staff Builds] rjkoneill's FT01

[rjk]

Love that case. One of the nicest I have seen in a long time, and not badly priced either. Only thing that concerns me slightly is I have read a couple of reviews that didn't rate it too highly for air cooling.

v nice idd m8, hmm *looks at wallet*

Its a great case - not ideal for watercooling
but BRILLIANT for air
i dont know who reviewed it as bad for air cooling - but they are very very wrong

it is one of the best aircooling cases imo - i see all the usual cases everyday at work and nothing comes close tbh bar maybe a 1200 - and thats not exactly anywhere near this build quality wise

with my fan controller the fans in this are barely audible

if i put it on high - still not much of a volume increase

those two big fans do a great job of cooling the hardware down

my northbridge temps have lowered by 13'C average at 100% prime load since switching from my old cosmos

 

[rjk]

just done a big games session and 3 hours of prime

CPU temps havent gone above 48'C with all fans on low for all that time

 

[rjk]

especially at it's current price point.

agreed - it is incredible value for money imo

as for tidying up the cables behind - 'see no evil-hear no evil'

im not too fussed as long as every cable is behind the motherboard tray
they fit nicely - its refreshing to see a case that works well with a non modular psu


heres some pics of my rig as it stands

i think the nvidia price drop must have got to me...

 

[rjk]

thanks mate!

if you like this... why not check out the 'OcUK build log' thread

there are quite a few of my systems in there

in other news - just finished pushing my new 280

a massive improvement over the 9800gtx

P14188 3DMarks

edit*
P15079 3DMarks

got it up to around 710 on the core

put the fan on full and whacked up the fan controller on the case

kept the card nice and cold - 50'C on the core
[60'c with the higher clocks - much higher if i turn the case fans right down

a testament to the case imo

 

[rjk]

Claimed ^

And I have to agree. Stunning stuff.

thankyou - i would like to think that the effort ive put into this has been echoed in the standard ive built your system too - im very jealous - it should perform very very well

Amazing work rjkoneill

thanks - still got some things to add/change - will keep it updated as i go -

got a very good idea but dont know how it will work in practice so im going to test it out before i do it on my case... stay tuned!

Think I will ask for you to personally build my rig for me when I order at the end of January!!

no problem mate - give ocuk a call when you order it and ask to speak to Rich - then i will know to look out for your build

what you thinking of going for?

 

[rjk]

all this talk of i7 is giving me upgraditis...

 

[rjk]

got some new stuff
just waiting for an i7 mounting plate for my waterblock
then i can get it built and benched!!!

Locky reccomended this batch - 3838B
its a Costa Rica chip - dont get them too often - but his does 4.2GHz - so i thought i would go down that route

and here is the rest...

stay tuned for the full build!

 

[rjk]

Make your mind up you had the RAM on the MM said you weren't going to go I7 just yet

got a good deal on the board so i sold my old kit for enough to get a chip/triple channel kit

couldnt resist - you know what im like!!!

Lovely stuff!

Can't wait.

will keep you posted !!!

 

[rjk]

well my i7 kit is all installed

having to wait to put it under water
basically missing the i7 mounting plate for my EK Supreme waterblock
bit annoyed about the wait

in the meantime i came up with an idea to get the system up and running so i can at least run it at stock...

just unplugged the pump as i need to drain my loop
the mounting plate of the ek supreme is held on by the same screws that hold the block together - so i need the block to be empty before i take the old plate off as i dont fancy sloshing Feser all over my new kit

so i didnt have to take the board out to mount the block i installed the original EK mounting hardware onto the P6T Deluxe
then i cut the pushpins from an unused stock i7 cooler at work and slotted it onto the chip
held it in place with the ek springs and screws

not a bad idea as when my waterblock is set up then i can easily change it over without having to upset the board etc

the i7 runs at stock at the moment as i dont want to overclock it on the stock cooler

max/min temps are good as it is
32'c idle
65'c load [prime 4 hours]

so its ok for gaming on and all that
hoping for a nice little drop with the watercooling and perhaps some headroom for a nice overclock

ran it through vantage and the i7 at stock thrashed my cpu scores from my E8600 [4.5GHz], Q9450 [3.2GHz] and Q6600 [3.6GHz]

im expecting it to do better when the water gets sorted

motherboard temps are very very good
everything is very cool and is running at 3-5 degrees over the ambient temp

goes to show silverstone really arent messing with this positive airflow thing


also - found these interesting videos today that shows the effects of possitive pressure airflow from this case for anybody interested [bit geeky but still...]

VIDEO 1
VIDEO 2

 

[rjk]

it really really isnt [assuming no sarcasm... ]

just a cheapo sony cybershot from the supermarket - nothing special - and i know jack all about photo compsition

my motto is that:
if you point camera at computer and picture of computer comes on the camera screen then all is good

 

[rjk]

I wasn't being sarcastic.

The fact that you've done it with a cheap camera is even better. Your shots have come out much better and appear more 'solid' than many of the hardware photos on this forum.

oh - cheers mate

must be the luck of the draw i guess
the 'auto' function on the sony cameras really do make it point and shoot

i only got one because i saw some photos taken by another member [Big.Wayne i think] of his rig and they looked great
so i went for that

like i say though - im a point and shoot kind of person!

I've been looking for a good build using this case. Glad I saw this one.

there is so much more you can do with it
its just really easy to keep neat
i build in cases all day that have such serious design flaws and its so refreshing to use one myself that just works a lot better

only problem is - i have a matching 280 to go in for SLI

but it doesnt fit - need to find a new place for the pump

 

[rjk]

heres the final i7 build with water installed

its priming as i type at 3.8ghz

using it for every day at that

but i have a 4GHz profile set up which im still tweaking - it boots fine
just crashes in vantage physx test and prime

so i guess its back to the drawing board on that

still learing what everything does at the moment but its easier to clock than a core2 imo

 

[rjk]

having a nightmare clocking this thing

so ive settled for 3.8 [dont need more than that]

anyway
with the imminent arrival of my new graphics card - i needed to make way for it and move my pump

the hard drive bays were the only thing stopping me
so i cut the large one in half and attatched it to the top of the bay struts

its more sturdy than i first imagined

means i can move the pump below it

and stick the second 280 in

 

[rjk]

no its fine - i stuck my current card there to test it

currently have a 8800GTS there as a physx card atm

the good thing about the p6t is that with it not being a trisli board that you get a good clearence between the bottom card and top card so hopefully the airflow will be a bit better

 

[rjk]

i would sooner cut the case than sacrifice the ability to use a second card

besides
you get two hard drive cages

one holds 4 drives
one holds 3 drives
i only used the three drive cage
so i decided to cut up the 4 drive cage

it was very easy to do with a hacksaw

 

[rjk]

no worries
i have to say - from using them at work - the 1200 is the king of aircooling

the advantage of this case is that it comes close to the 1200 in terms of airflow but is very quiet compared to the 1200

i just prefer the way this case looks tbh
it looks like a cut down tj07 - thats what attracted me to it

 

[rjk]

the temps are 34 idle

mid 50s after 3 hours gaming

under prime they reach 75 max

that is with all fans set to low on the controller

a lot better than most imo

a 240 would struggle to fit

there really is no room in the case now

could probably get another 120 in by the rear fan but i personally dislike thin radiators
and i also dislike having a rad in that position

i was thinking of watercooling my cards and having them on a loop to a triple/double tfc mounted on the back - but i really cant be bothered with the hassle of watercooled cards as i swap out too often

 

[rjk]

here it is

finished now [hopefully]

just getting a new monitor so that i can take advantage of the sli

then thats my upgrades done for a while [well, a few months anyway ]


heres an arty photography shot for Chimerical

 

[rjk]

Very nice! Would look good with thodr gpu's under water also

whilst that idea is [very] tempting i would want a 120.2 feser rad at a minimum to cool them both down

that would have to be mounted outside the case as there is no room inside for one

its cramped with an sli setup and one waterloop - if it was a TJ07 i would be looking at it as an option [well it would be a crime not to tbh]

i swap my graphics cards out too much to bother buying blocks and another loop [then trying to cram it all in!]

lol nice - very nice.

loving the look of the sli

its a good layout for two card sli on the p6t especially for stock aircooled ones as they have a one slot gap to draw air in

most of the tri sli x58 boards [rampage2/gigaextreme/evga] are bunched together allowing little airflow

i find the temps are the same on both cards as they were with just one card

so its either a credit to the board layout or credit to the airflow in the case

 

[rjk]

need to take the pink camo sticker off the second card

it looks...

well a bit naff really!