Phenom Build With Potential 290

Aemon

Aemon

Aemon

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Joined
3 Apr 2009
Posts
51
Hi.

I've been patiently waiting to purchase a new PC and get a Phenom and had a build set with a 7970. Then the Rx series got released, so I'm going to pick up one of those. I'm potentially thinking of getting a 290x but don't know if thats even going to fit at the moment.

The Sapphire and the Phenom obviously haven't been released yet so I don't know if anyone will know yet. With this build does anyone see any potential issues with fitting and sizing such as the corsair, gpu and case? As this is my first SFF build and I need to purchase soon within 30 days.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire Radeon R9 280X Toxic OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Card £269.99
1 x Intel Core i7-4770K 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £259.99
1 x Asus Z87 MAXIMUS VI GENE Intel Z87 (Socket 1150) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £169.99
1 x Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TE250BW) £149.99
1 x Corsair Professional Series AX 760W '80 Plus Platinum' Modular Power Supply (CP-9020045-UK) £139.99
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C10 1600MHz Dual Channel kit (PV316G160C0K) £119.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 3TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST3000DM001) HDD £99.95
1 x BitFenix Phenom MATX Cube Case - Midnight Black £74.95
1 x Prolimatech Blue Megahalems CPU Cooler £52.99
1 x Prolimatech Blue Vortex Blue Wings 120mm Fan £10.99
1 x Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g) £8.99
Total : £1,370.41 (includes shipping : £10.50).



Thanks
 
With that particular 280X and an CPU air cooler, i would recommend mounting two 120 fans exhausting in the top position of the Phenom.

Looks like a powerful build though, and as for the GPU, the BitFenix Phenom specs say 32cm gpu length max and the Sapphire 280x is 31.1 cm ish. So it will fit, but that isnt to say it will work in that postion, you'l have to decide that yourself.

Whilst the no reference triple slot/dual/triple fan GPU coolers are effective in ATX cases, it throws out a lot of air for some mATX cases to handle, but as i mentioned, two powerfull 120s up top could help alleviate that. But no reviews yet for the mATX Phenom so i might be just my pesimestic speculation on how it would handle those type of gpus. Anyways hope that helps :)
 
The 280x you've chosen is 308 mm in length, the Phenom M can take 2 320 mm GPU's.

Cooling shouldn't be an issue if you fit a big 230 mm fan in the bottom of the case.

The CPU cooler is 158.7 mm tall but should just fit as the Phenom specs again say 160 mm.

I assume you've chosen a 760w PSU to allow for Crossfire in the future?
It might be a tight fit with the GPU as it's 160 mm in length which is the limit according to the Phenom M specs, but that doesn't usually account for modular connectors, which add another 10 mm or so of inflexible length.
Not a lot you can do about it though as 750w is what you want really for Crossfire, and as far as I'm aware all the good quality 750's are semi or fully modular.

Edit:

Perhaps this Seasonic might be easier to work with due to being semi modular and only 1 row of connectors against the bottom edge of the PSU compared to the Corsairs two rows at the top edge.

From looking at the case I assume the PSU's intake fan sits against the front and exhausts out the bottom. Thus connectors along the fan edge of the PSU would be closer to the front of the case and easier to put around the GPU(s).

YOUR BASKET
1 x Seasonic G series 750w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £119.99
Total : £130.49 (includes shipping : £8.75).

 
Last edited:
Thanks both, for the advice.

I'm mainly going with the corsair as I've heard good things about the fans being quiet keeping the system cool and I'd like the flexibility in the future to go crossfire.
If I wasn't going Crossfire which good quiet, smaller PSU would be a good choice?

Also I'm planning on putting 2x 3tb Hard Drives in the bottom where the 230mm fan would go, covered by the heatshield.
 
I believe the Corsair AX series (excluding i) are actually Seasonic inside anyway, so they are excellent quality :)

I've read complaints about the hybrid fans actually being annoying as they ramp up quite sharply after 60/70% and the noise is more noticeable because of the silence before. I've also heard they can keep switching on and off.

With a single 280x you wouldn't even reach the 70% load required to make the fan come on, but if you added a second GPU it would take you over that limit and the fan would likely come on during gaming.

I believe this is only 140mm in length so would give plenty of room for cables :)

YOUR BASKET
1 x Seasonic S12II 520W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £59.99

 
Possbily thinking of going for the Prodigy M now, as I saw the reviews for the Phenom, I was hoping it was pretty much prodigy without the handles.

Thanks for your advice.
 
I was initially under the same impression. The canuck review shows its quite different, no where to place harddrives on the bottom. They mount on the side on the phenom, on the Prodigy there's the ability to route cables round the back. Not so on the Phenom which is a little dissappointing for airflow
 
Aemon said:
I was initially under the same impression. The canuck review shows its quite different, no where to place harddrives on the bottom. They mount on the side on the phenom, on the Prodigy there's the ability to route cables round the back. Not so on the Phenom which is a little dissappointing for airflow
Click to expand...

you can mount 2 drives on the floor of the phenom, 4 on the hdd panel (2x3.5 & 2x2.5) and then 2 in the optical drive slot (1x3.5 & 1x2.5)
 
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