Son's PC build revisited - from Christmas 2018

sparkyb

sparkyb

sparkyb

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Hi,

Please can you help me?

Just before Christmas I posted about my son wanting to build a pc for Christmas. But unfortunately he left it too late and I didn't have enough money at the time. Since then I have helped him out by adding to his Christmas money and he now has £950, he is happy to wait a little bit longer for more cash and get better parts. I haven't looked at the parts in depth at the minute, but he has seen a case that he really likes and i was wondering if you could help me with a few questions please?

He likes the Lian Li PC-011 Dynamic, particularly the Razer version (with the mouse);

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/lian...d-glass-razer-deathadder-mouse-ca-77h-ll.html

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/lian-li-pc-o11-dynamic-midi-tower-black-window-ca-76s-ll.html

I think the case is built for liquid cooling, but i was planning on going with air cooling, a Ryzen 7 2700 CPU and graphics card (not yet decided);

  • Is this case ok for air cooling? (he is not planning on overclocking)
  • Is it possible to mount a rear fan?
  • Do you know when the Razer case is out, its pre-order at the minute?
  • Does the Razer logo light up or is just reflective from the RGB lights?

I think I might get the case first if its suitable and then the parts later when we have decided on what to get.

The original post from last year:

https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/t...istmas-present-please.18839637/#post-32347771


Thank you,

Mark
 
Hi

There is another listing of that case, but without the Mouse. It says ETA 5th March 2019 for the pre-order date.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/lian...ower-case-black-tempered-glass-ca-77d-ll.html

It should be fine with an air cooler. There are 9 fan mounts in total (3 at the top, 3 at the bottom and 3 at the side). I guess it depends on how many you want to add as it doesn't come with any fans installed. I am sure @orbitalwalsh can give you a better view of this case as he owns the standard pc-011.

It looks like the Logo is just a sticker/transfer. The RGB strips are at the right side x 1 and at the bottom x 2.
 
my advice: probably best to manage your son's expectations. £150 is a lot to spend on a case.
spending 15% of the budget on a case would mean you'd need to make sacrifices elsewhere.
 
Hi lee32uk,

Thank you. That's great, pre-order is a lot closer than I thought, he really like the case so I will try and get one for him - Hopefully the mouse version as he hasn't got a mouse.

I am not sure of the number of fans to use. It will definitely be 3 on the side, he wants to add the Corsair LL120 RGB dual light loop rgb fans in that position. I haven't thought about the bottom fans yet, but I will be adding ones on the top.

Ok, I will see if I can get in contact with orbitalwalsh

Thanks
 
tamzzy said:
my advice: probably best to manage your son's expectations. £150 is a lot to spend on a case.
spending 15% of the budget on a case would mean you'd need to make sacrifices elsewhere.
Click to expand...

Hi, its ok. I am helping him out by giving him money and he is happy to wait longer to build up more cash to get a better PC.

Do you think the case is not worth the price then?
 
sparkyb said:
Do you think the case is not worth the price then?
Click to expand...
on the contrary, i think with the mouse as a freebie, it's well worth it.
if it was a budget of £2000-3000 one could splurge out on the case, but with a budget of £950...and having spent £150 on the case, that could mean the difference between getting a 2600 vs 2700/x, or a rx580 vs a vega 56.
budget will need to be balanced somehow. and it will not be in the favour of performance.
as with all rgb bling bling, and kids being kids, i suspect that within a month or two, the rgb lights will be off, when its novelty wears off.
 
tamzzy said:
on the contrary, i think with the mouse as a freebie, it's well worth it.
if it was a budget of £2000-3000 one could splurge out on the case, but with a budget of £950...and having spent £150 on the case, that could mean the difference between getting a 2600 vs 2700/x, or a rx580 vs a vega 56.
budget will need to be balanced somehow. and it will not be in the favour of performance.
as with all rgb bling bling, and kids being kids, i suspect that within a month or two, the rgb lights will be off, when its novelty wears off.
Click to expand...

You hit the nail on the head there, kids love the rgb. Personally I wouldn't bother myself, however the lights do look good!

I also hadn't realised that the prices didn't include VAT, should have looked closer. So like you say the case it pretty expensive.
 
Start by picking the essentials for the build IMO - fans, flashy case etc, can all be added later down the line - birthdays, christmas, etc. If it looks amazing but struggles in the games he's playing it will be a waste.
 
sparkyb said:
He likes the Lian Li PC-011 Dynamic, particularly the Razer version (with the mouse)

I think the case is built for liquid cooling, but i was planning on going with air cooling, a Ryzen 7 2700 CPU and graphics card (not yet decided);
  • Is this case ok for air cooling? (he is not planning on overclocking)
  • Is it possible to mount a rear fan?
Click to expand...
Design wise that case is very mediocre for air coolnig and even overall made for bling bling ping pong gaming trinket look and fashion.

While number of fan positions is high, almost all are in wrong places far away from parts needing airflow.
Making it harder to have any kind controlled airflow through the case for cooling where it's needed.

And then fans are very seriously restricted by those completely retarded grilles blocking 2/3rds of the hole.
That means either little airflow, or lot more than necessary amount of noise from higher RPM and pressure needed to force air through that restriction.
Which sabotages cooling per noise efficiency also with water cooling.
So despite of plenty of positions for radiators can't exactly call it that good design even for water cooling.

No wonder that gaming trinket company Razer (I just call with Finnish word raastin) liked to have it sold with their name.


As for that bundled mouse, Razer uses mostly their own pecualiar shape.
So it might not be that comfortable and some fashion hype certainly isn't reason for buying one, if there's already other mouse which is known to fit into hand.



sparkyb said:
he wants to add the Corsair LL120 RGB dual light loop rgb fans
Click to expand...
And that's another money sink and method used to sucker money for cheap products.
That 40k hour MTBF is in class of Scythe Slipstreams!
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/cors...ual-light-loop-rgb-led-pwm-fan-fg-06b-cs.html

For comparison no fashion hype Arctic Cooling gives 10 year warranty for these fans:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/arctic-cooling-p12-pwm-pst-black-fan-120mm-fg-04h-ar.html
Or six for these:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/arctic-cooling-f12-pwm-fan-120mm-fg-029-ar.html
 
I think I might stick with the Lian Li case as my son likes it - he is fine with waiting a bit longer until he has enough money for what he wants, so that's not really an issue.

My main concern was if the case wasn't really suitable for air cooling and if I we might end up with problems because of it?
 
sparkyb said:
I think I might stick with the Lian Li case as my son likes it - he is fine with waiting a bit longer until he has enough money for what he wants, so that's not really an issue.

My main concern was if the case wasn't really suitable for air cooling and if I we might end up with problems because of it?
Click to expand...

Bottom to top air flow design . Should in theory have the best cooling . Want to run positive pressure , lots to do unfiltered vents at the back of the case if you run negative ( a lot of dynamic cases are run negative, why... Because the 3 fans on the motherboard try are set to their open pretty side and exhaust air out )
 
orbitalwalsh said:
Bottom to top air flow design . Should in theory have the best cooling . Want to run positive pressure , lots to do unfiltered vents at the back of the case if you run negative ( a lot of dynamic cases are run negative, why... Because the 3 fans on the motherboard try are set to their open pretty side and exhaust air out )
Click to expand...

Hi Orbitalwalsh,

Thank you, that's given me a bit more confidence in the case - what did you mean by lots to do?

Do you have this case using air flow? if so, what is it like please?
 
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