The Man Cave

[~bones~]

Pretty much got everything ordered to start my new build so hopefully will get started this week - Going to be a high end build used for gaming/programming as I am converting the spare room into a man cave so pretty much gone all out and hope it will only need minimal upgrades over the next few years.

I know I've spent more in some areas than I needed to but I do plan on doing some overclocking and had the money so why not! Potentially will be watercooling in a year or so when I get bored.

It's rgb heavy so if that's not your thing this is your advanced warning

PC Spec:
Case - Lian Li 011 Dynamic
Fans - Lian Li Al120
Motherboard - Asus Dark Hero X570
CPU - 5900x
CPU cooler - NZXT Z73
Ram - Trident Z RGB 32gb 4000mhz cl15
GPU - Powercolor 6900xt Red Devil Ultimate
PSU - Corsair Rm1000x

Monitor - Samsung G9 - got a good deal on the original g9 edition so giving it a try, if I don't like it or it has any of the issues then I will likely switch out for either the AW38 or the LG38.

Desk - I will be using the Ikea Alex drawers with a kitchen worktop on top as I wanted it to be deeper than normal as I generally find desks too narrow - will be 2.2m x 85cm.

Chair - I've ordered the Secretlabs Titan 2022, if I'm not happy with it I'll send it back and likely try one of the noble chairs.

Looking forward to starting my first build in a few years and getting back into pc gaming

 

[~bones~]

Looking forward to seeing the finished setup, and to what you have to say about the G9, looking into G9 myself.

Not had a chance to update this thread as had a few problems with the build and been busy with life. Will try and get some pics and info up this weekend.

Just an update on the G9 - I managed to get the non-neo for £935. I was obviously a little worried with the amount of problems people seem to have with this monitor but other than getting issues with freesync at 240hz on the most recent drivers (this was fixed by switching to an earlier driver) I had absolutely no issues over a period of a week using the monitor. I found everything just ok, nothing about the monitor blew me away other than the size. I found I was getting a bit of nausea and eye strain using the monitor but persisted assuming I would get used to it but to be honest I didn't enjoy gaming on it, I love RPG's and had a go on the Witcher 3 and just felt like I was looking through a periscope - so for me the whole immersion just didn't work for me.

So I ordered the AW3821W to compare and see how I felt, within a day the G9 was boxed up waiting for Samsung to collect it! Not only do I find the size more useful, the colours are loads better than the G9 - for watching content such as netflix or youtube it really is in another league in my opinion - the only downside is the contrast which is why I went VA in the first place as I do notice poor contrast but I prefer that to the dull colours on the G9. Another thing is gaming on the PS5, it looks hurrendous on the G9, colours are so washed out it really isn't enjoyable to play where as on the AW38 it's not too far off playing on my OLED TV.

Some people love the G9 so I think unless you try one you won't know - samsung has a pretty good returns policy as do Dell which is why I had the opportunity to try both. I think the AW38 is a nice bit of kit and I got it at a similar price to what I paid for the G9 so it will last me a few years until new technology comes out.

 

[~bones~]

Finally got this build up and running in my new man cave - Had a few issues where I had to RMA a noisey NZXT Z73 and had two RMA two corsair PSU's for coil whine.

Really enjoyed buillding in the Lian-li 011, I can see why its such a popular case, cable management is really easy and its not difficult to get the case looking tidy. The only issue I have had is that with the 6900xt the GPU power cables are pushing slightly on the side glass - I would like to mount the GPU vertically which would solve this but I tried with the phanteks vertical GPU mount and sent it back as it was too flimsy and the GPU sagged to the point it was resting on the bottom fans so I will be looking into a better one at some point that also enables PCI 4.0.

The lian Li AL120 fans are also really nice to work with, being able to connect them with minimal wires is really useful. They're barely audible on low settings and keep temps down when ramped up to high speed. Aesthetically they are nicer than the corsair in my opinion especially when being used as intake.

The Z73 is a nice piece of kit, had to RMA my first one as it was noisey but the second one is silent. I got this on sale but even then its a lot to spend as temps won't be much if any better than cheaper options, you're paying a lot for the screen which I knew when purchasing - If I was paying full price I probably would have gone for the lian-li galahad.

The other area I splashed was getting the Dark Hero - again probably massive overkill, it looks nice but probably no better than the b550 asus boards. The main reason I went for this board is that I do plan to do some overclocking and wanted the Dynamic OC feature that is currently exclusive to this board as far as I am aware.

Originally I went with a corsair RM100x PSU, had really annoying coil whine straight out of the box, sent it back for a replacement with exactly the same issue - On both I tried disconnecting my GPU to see if that was an issue with a high power draw but it didn't make a difference. Decided to switch to seasonic to see if I had similar issues; there have been a few reports with the 6900xt and 3090 that the software in the PSU is sensitive to the power spikes and so even 1000w PSU's were shutting down. I ended up with the prime PX 1300w which has been fine, no issues what so ever with coil whine. One thing I didn't expect was the quality of the cables with this PSU are so much better than those with the corsair - they are flat making them a lot better for cable management and so look a lot tidier, so much that I doubt I will bother switching to braided cables.

Full spec below and a few pictures;

Case: Lian Li PC-O11 Dynamic
Case Fans:9x Lian Li AL120
Motherboard: Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero
CPU: AMD 5900x
CPU Cooler: NZXT Z73
RAM: G-Skill Trident Z RGB 32GB DDR4-4000 CL15
GPU: Powercolor 6900xt Red Devil Ultimate
Storage: WD Black SN850 2TB
PSU: Seasonic Prime PX 1300w

I mentioned above I originally planned on having the Samsung G9 - I just couldn't get on with the size, ended up ordering the AW3821DW for roughly the same price and IMO this blows the G9 out of the water. When I just had the G9 I thought it was ok but didn't blow me away (in fairness I haven't used a PC monitor other than at work for several years so I'm used to an OLED Tv and a Macbook display) - It was the size I couldn't get on with, the size made me feel sick when playing games and I didn't get that whole immersive feeling people talk about after 1 week of use. I also felt like I was looking through a periscope, its just too narrow for how wide it is, people talk about how the AW38's extra 1.5 inches makes a huge difference and it really does. The colours are also much better on the AW38 as would be expected from an IPS display, I can live with the poor contrast; if I want to watch a movie it will be on my TV anyway.

For the rest of my man cave I have a custom made worktop (2200mm x 850mm), I found the ikea desks not deep enough for me but they are good for the price - I have the top sat on two ikea Alex draws. I've got the monitor on an ergotron LX arm which works well and keeps the desk a l lot cleaner.

I've also got the Titan 2022 softweave chair, there are a lot of bad reviews for these but I have no complaints, the chair is comfy only thing is the armrests wobble a lot but I can live with that (probably shouldn't have to for the price though).