PC upgrade suggestions - need some advice

Thanks for the suggestions.

I've now bought the WD SN770 1TB as £70 is a good price. Of the 3 motherboards you suggested I'm veeering towards the ASRock Z790 Riptide as it has everything I need and the 8 SATA connections negate the need for a PCI SATA card.

Still needing to decide on the rest.
 
Thanks to some suggestions by Tetras, so far I've bought:

Boot drive - WD_BLACK 1TB SN770 M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4 NVMe

RAM - Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 5600 (PC5-44800) C36 1.25V

PSU - Corsair RM850 850 Watt 80 Plus Gold Fully Modular ATX Power Supply


Still welcoming suggestions for the following items: (remember, the CPU will be either a i5-13600K or a i7-13700K)

Motherboard - Tetras suggested 3 mobos but the one that stuck out was the ASRock Z790 Riptide as it has 8 SATA connectors & and a PCIe-1 slot, which will take care of my
current components without the need for any additional PCI cards. I think the ASRock Z790 Riptide is a good choice, so can anyone make a case for another mobo??


CPU cooler - Tetras suggested the Scythe FUMA 2 cooler but also asked whether or not it would fit. The answer to this is, I don't really know!

Here's my current Raijintek Themis CPU Cooler sitting on top of my i5-4670 (excuse the mess of cables, I'll be tidying this up big time... :D )

The Raijintek Themis is (WxDxH) 127×75×155 mm. I think the Scythe FUMA 2 might fit, as long as it doesn't foul the GPU if it is placed in the PCIe slot immediately below? Some pics
online of this cooler seem to show no GPU card immediately below it. :confused: I'm a bit confused by all this and whether or not my GPU would fit on the top PCIe slot on the ASRockZ790 mobo??

Also, I need an air cooler, end of. With my current i5-4670 CPU and 6 case fans, the CPU sits around 22-27°C idle.

PC-case-inside01a.jpg


Any advice greatly appreciated!
 
Pangoly shows the board as compatible with the cooler (fuma 2), but unsurprisingly your case isn't listed (not sure how reliable this site is).

I don't think it's likely that the cooler would foul the primary PCI-E slot, most boards have an M.2 slot above it nowadays.
 
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james73 said:
Still welcoming suggestions for the following items: (remember, the CPU will be either a i5-13600K or a i7-13700K)
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Honestly you need to get a new case.... seriously I've had one of those big old chieftec cases in the past (used to hold my dual athlon mp rig) and imo that will not cope with a current gen cpu. We've seen posts about people with overheating 13th gen intel in modern cases let alone a case from nearly 20 years ago.

As for the cable mess.... here I was thinking my hidden mess of cables in the back of my case was untidy.....they're tidier than the ones in your picture and I can't even see them lol
 
lsg1r said:
Honestly you need to get a new case.... seriously I've had one of those big old chieftec cases in the past (used to hold my dual athlon mp rig) and imo that will not cope with a current gen cpu.
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Thanks, but can you provide evidence of how my case (with it's 6 case fans) won't "cope with a current gen cpu" when it's managed to keep my wee i5-4670 CPU under 30°C for 98+% of the time for the last 8 years? I look forward to your response with bated breath.




lsg1r said:
We've seen posts about people with overheating 13th gen intel in modern cases let alone a case from nearly 20 years ago.
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Really? Can you provide links to these disasters please? Preferably with an example that's relevant to this thread. Thanks.
 
james73 said:
Thanks, but can you provide evidence of how my case (with it's 6 case fans) won't "cope with a current gen cpu" when it's managed to keep my wee i5-4670 CPU under 30°C for 98+% of the time for the last 8 years? I look forward to your response with bated breath.
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Those temps are very unlikely imo, unless of course your pc isn't doing anything for 98+% of the time... in which case you don't really need an upgrade.

An i5 4670 is nothing like a 13th gen cpu when it comes to the heat it's going to generate under load... but then if it's just going to sit idle.....

Really? Can you provide links to these disasters please? Preferably with an example that's relevant to this thread. Thanks.
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They're on this forum....

Look if you don't want to take notice then ignore me, just don't say I didn't warn you, when you find out I'm right.
 
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james73 said:
Thanks, but can you provide evidence of how my case (with it's 6 case fans) won't "cope with a current gen cpu" when it's managed to keep my wee i5-4670 CPU under 30°C for 98+% of the time for the last 8 years? I look forward to your response with bated breath.
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Your i5 4670 doesn't produce enough heat to be a real issue with probably just half your fans. That's not the same if you have a new CPU which hits 70C+ almost instantly (and if that was in a modern system case) whilst gaming, or 90C+ if working a full load.

For reference to a near identical system to yours, I have an i5 3570. It sits there under an Arctic Freezer 34 cooler, with fans (Arctic P12s) barely moving (25%) in a more modern case than yours, but not as modern as todays cases. And it can sit there chilling at 50C odd maximum with a full work load.

For reference to a more modern system that you're thinking of getting, I have a Noctua U12A sitting on top of a 7950X, not the same CPU as yours but a good example of a "modern" system and in the same ball park as your proposed CPU in terms of temps. Sitting inside a Lian Li Lancool 3 case, with 7 Noctua A12x25 fans available to blow through it. When I hit the CPU hard, the motherboard sends the CPU fans to full, the other fans are also controlled to near full or full speeds depending on what I'm after. And the CPU STILL hits in the 90C+ region and stays there whilst the workload remains.

Remember, that's a modern case, with some of the best fans out there, laid out in one of the highest airflow setups available, going all out. And then the CPU hits 90C+... What do you think is going to happen inside that existing case of yours? Which looks like you have some 40mm fans for exhaust at the back, and some 80mm fans at the front for intake, with a 120mm fan on the CPU cooler.

If you're lucky, it'll throttle and just downclock hard (so you won't be getting much out of the CPU despite the money spent). If you're unlucky, you might find yourself with a new open flame barbeque.

As @lsg1r said, if you're not going to hit your CPU hard, whether for gaming or work, then there's little to no reason to upgrade at all. If you are, don't skimp too harshly on the case. That existing cooling setup might cool that old CPU (which were much cooler normally), but it won't make a dent into the modern CPU's (which runs like a furnace).
 
Ok ok, I get the hints. Christ on a bike! :D

So, what new case would you guys recommend? I'd like a tower/tall case and I still want to use my DVD drive. Had a quick look online and there's a Be Quiet! tower case that looks decent.


And a new case will mean I could get an AIO water cooler for the CPU rather than an air cooler.
 
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Apologies if I was a bit short with anyone. No offence intended, it's just I felt like I was under a bit of an attack over my old case, something that has served me well and that I wasn't expecting to consider replacing. :( All opinions all are welcome.

I've been considering new cases and Overclockers have a few by Fractal Design. There's the Fractal Design Pop XL Silent Tempered Glass Full Tower (comes with 4x120mm fans £114) and the Fractal Design Define 7 XL Full-Tower (comes with 3x140mm fans £260). Has anyone got any opinions on either of these? The Fractal Design Define 7 XL Full-Tower is tempting to me as it's far more spacious and I intend to keep my next case for quite a while. Every penny's a prisoner, as far as I'm concerned....


I've decided that I'll be getting a i5-13600K CPU. Probably next month once Christmas is past.


So that just leaves suggestions for a motherboard - the ASRock Z790 Riptide is the current favourite - a new case, and a CPU cooler.

A new case will allow me to consider an AIO cooler as well as an air cooler.

The Fractal Design Pop XL Silent Tempered Glass Full Tower case can fit up to 6x120 mm or 5x140 mm fans and can fit a water cooler radiator up to 280mm long when using the 2x5.25" bays.

Whereas, the Fractal Design Define 7 XL Full-Tower can fit up to 9x140mm or 11x 20mm fans and can fit a water cooler radiator up to 360mm long when using the 2x5.25" bays. (As I said before I want to keep my DVD drive AND I also have a cheapo 5.25"-wide multi-card reader thingy. This is handy as I have a few different cards that I need to copy to and from).

I think the latter case, although huge and quite pricey, would possibly be better for using an air cooler on the CPU? I could buy the Scythe FUMA 2 and add some more case fans?


Any advance on the ASRock Z790 Riptide mobo, the Scythe FUMA 2 CPU cooler and the Fractal Design Define 7 XL Full-Tower case?


Any advice greatly appreciated!

:)
 
james73 said:
Apologies if I was a bit short with anyone. No offence intended, it's just I felt like I was under a bit of an attack over my old case, something that has served me well and that I wasn't expecting to consider replacing. :( All opinions all are welcome.
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I'm not exactly a case/cooling enthusiast, so disregard at your leisure, but my opinion is that though it's completely true that the thermal load has increased massively on modern CPUs (due to their mega clocks and core counts), a lot of the heat (especially on AM5) is due to design decisions and the difficulty getting the heat out of the die effectively. The contact the cooler has with the IHS is important and the ability to handle the dissipation, but while the case airflow increases the effectiveness (especially on air) it won't stop an AM5 CPU being a hot *******, it's just how they are.

If you fit a Scythe Fuma 2 to a 13600K/13700K, then again, it's going to be hot, but it will be manageable in games and probably photo editing (because it's mainly single core, from my understanding). Not sure about video and sound editing.

Having a typical thermal load greater than 100 watt (for the CPU, at least) was fairly unusual during the Intel (quad core) stagnation era (from 2010 until 1st gen Ryzen) and that's still rarely exceeded (or not by much) during gameplay, so 10+ year old cases are fine with that, but they're not designed for a CPU that can chomp down 250 watts in multi-threaded load. 140mm fans (standard on many cases now) can shift 4x as much air as 80mm fans, or e.g. 2/2.5x inaudibly, so that goes a long way to handling a 200+ watt CPU, or 300+ watt graphics card. If you were going for a more modest 65-watt (TDP, not actual power usage) CPU, like a 12400 or 5600 non-X and only gaming, I wouldn't give two hoots about the case. My fastest PC is in an Akasa Mirage and that's 14 years old :D
 
Eh, I don't think anyone was upset, more concerned about the potential safety and investment issues that were raised as red flags when the case originally wasn't being considered for an update to help tackle the heat from new tech you are aiming for.

Of the two cases you've highlighted, the Define 7 would be the better choice, as the Pop Air XL Silent may be more silent but the blocked off front panel reduces the amount of air that can be pulled through the front section of the case. Although if you're waiting long enough, there's a new case coming from Antec thar might be superior to either case. Only we don't know when the release date is, only that its in 2023 and soon.
 
Ok, so far I've bought:

Boot drive - WD_BLACK 1TB SN770 M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4 NVMe

RAM - Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 5600 (PC5-44800) C36 1.25V

PSU - Corsair RM850 850 Watt 80 Plus Gold Fully Modular ATX Power Supply

Case - Fractal Design Define 7 XL Full-Tower (with 3x140mm fans included)


What I will be buying when my xmas bonus comes in (unless I get a Clark Griswold Jelly of the Month club....
tirade.gif
):

CPU - i5-13600K

Mobo - ASRock Z790 Riptide


Still welcoming suggestions for the following items:

CPU cooler - The Scythe FUMA 2 Rev B air cooler seems a good choice here.

BUT, looking at this page linked to by a member on this forum the best airflow for the Fractal Design Define 7 XL case was determined to be as shown in the image below. Basically 7x140mm case fans.

The Scythe FUMA 2 Rev B has 2x120mm fans included, so my question is what would a good AIO 280mm alternative to the Scythe FUMA 2 Rev B be?

A 280mm AIO would have 2x120mm fans already attached, so that might negate the need for the 2x140mm upward facing case fans as shown below.

fracktal-air-flow-define7-3front-boden-2deckel01.jpg




3 or 4 off x 140mm case fans - This is dependant on ^the above question.


Any advice greatly appreciated!

:)
 
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An aio cooler will give your build a cleaner look than a big air cooler if you have a windowed case.

280mm aio up top and 3 x 140mm fans in the front would be my choice but even if you go air 3 x140mm at the front and one rear. Air cooler alternative take a look at the Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE

Some will say pit the aio in the front for the coldest air but as long as you have decent airflow a few degrees temps ain't worth worrying about .
 
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Thanks mickyflinn.

I have zero interest in looks when it comes to this sort of thing. I just want the best performance I can get.

Also, I'm actually looking at 4 x 140mm fans at the front, 3 on the front & 1 on the bottom.
 
Update, parts bought:

Boot drive - WD_BLACK 1TB SN770 M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4 NVMe
RAM - Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 5600 (PC5-44800) C36 1.25V
PSU - Corsair RM850 850 Watt 80 Plus Gold Fully Modular ATX Power Supply
Case - Fractal Design Define 7 XL Full-Tower (with 3x140mm non-PWM fans included)
CPU cooler - Scythe FUMA 2 Rev B
Extra case fans - 1 off 140mm non-PWM (same model as provided in the case) + 3 off 140mm PWM fans


What I will be buying:

CPU - i5-13600K
Mobo - ASRock Z790 Riptide

Some bits are already here so it's just a case of waiting to put it all together with my exisiting parts.


There is one other thing I'd ask for suggestions on and that's the placement of the case fans. I've now got 4-off Fractal Dynamic X2 GP-14 (1000 RPM) fans, and 3-off Fractal Dynamic X2 GP-14 PWM (500-1700 RPM) fans.

Initially, I thought putting the PWM fans at the bottom of the case would be best in case I need to draw more cold air in via increasing the PWM fans (A), but I was forgetting about the heat generated by the GPU and CPU so maybe (B) would be better to vent the hot air out the top and rear?

:confused:

Any advice greatly appreciated! :)

fracktal-air-flow-define7-3front-boden-2deckel02a.jpg
 
Are the fans identical other than the PWM? I think I'd go with A, so that you can have a stronger intake, if necessary, since the CPU cooler, PSU and graphics card will exhaust too.
 
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