Apparently I have just built a PC

[xShadow]

Actually out of the things you guys linked, I think I'm most interested in the Phanteks PH-TC14PE at the moment. It looks like it's cooling it as well, if not better, than those water cooled ones... but it's much quieter. Also, I just tried setting the stock fans on this case to a lower setting from the front panel and I pretty much can't even hear it at all. It's literally disappeared (next step, rip that fucking power LED connector out because I like to put my computer to sleep when I go to sleep and that shit is annoying). I'm quite startled at not only the noise difference but how high quality these stock fans that come with this case are, considering I got it for like 90$. I'm starting to wonder if these guys are losing money making these?!

I think if I combined that with a good quiet cooler, this setup would be very interesting; are there any good, quiet fans that are alternatives to that Phanteks that are also more than viable for overclocking?
I don't really care about how quiet it is while gaming obviously, I'm just wondering what will be the best choice while I'm just listening to music or watching anime and using the CPU semi-lightly (which I hope that's almost everything considering I'm going to have an overclocked--not yet but will be--Haswell i7...). It's fine if that's not possible, but it'd be nice.

Or is it possible to say take that Kraken or something else and then just shove a better and quieter fan onto it? Does such a thing exist?




Utter side note, I ran the Windows performance rating thing and got a 7.9 in everything but RAM and CPU. I'm not quite sure what kind of CPU I need to have in order to get a that last 0.1 on the CPU rating. Like, overclocked Xeon or some shit? Hahaha...

[Gh0st93]

Get the h100i it has a lot of software bundled with it so you can adjust pump speed, monitor temps and control fan speeds digitally. Also put on a pair of noctua fans and never hear it while reaping the benefits or water cooling.

[Saras]

Actually out of the things you guys linked, I think I'm most interested in the Phanteks PH-TC14PE at the moment. It looks like it's cooling it as well, if not better, than those water cooled ones... but it's much quieter. Also, I just tried setting the stock fans on this case to a lower setting from the front panel and I pretty much can't even hear it at all. It's literally disappeared (next step, rip that fucking power LED connector out because I like to put my computer to sleep when I go to sleep and that shit is annoying). I'm quite startled at not only the noise difference but how high quality these stock fans that come with this case are, considering I got it for like 90$. I'm starting to wonder if these guys are losing money making these?!

I think if I combined that with a good quiet cooler, this setup would be very interesting; are there any good, quiet fans that are alternatives to that Phanteks that are also more than viable for overclocking?
I don't really care about how quiet it is while gaming obviously, I'm just wondering what will be the best choice while I'm just listening to music or watching anime and using the CPU semi-lightly (which I hope that's almost everything considering I'm going to have an overclocked--not yet but will be--Haswell i7...). It's fine if that's not possible, but it'd be nice.

Or is it possible to say take that Kraken or something else and then just shove a better and quieter fan onto it? Does such a thing exist?




Utter side note, I ran the Windows performance rating thing and got a 7.9 in everything but RAM and CPU. I'm not quite sure what kind of CPU I need to have in order to get a that last 0.1 on the CPU rating. Like, overclocked Xeon or some shit? Hahaha...

Noctuas are pretty much as good as it gets. And yes, you can replace the fans.

As for fractal, don't worry about them losing any money. The R4 is pretty much the de facto non flashy enthusiast case at the moment. Sales is something they've plenty off.

[Gh0st93]

(click to show/hide)

Actually out of the things you guys linked, I think I'm most interested in the Phanteks PH-TC14PE at the moment. It looks like it's cooling it as well, if not better, than those water cooled ones... but it's much quieter. Also, I just tried setting the stock fans on this case to a lower setting from the front panel and I pretty much can't even hear it at all. It's literally disappeared (next step, rip that fucking power LED connector out because I like to put my computer to sleep when I go to sleep and that shit is annoying). I'm quite startled at not only the noise difference but how high quality these stock fans that come with this case are, considering I got it for like 90$. I'm starting to wonder if these guys are losing money making these?!

I think if I combined that with a good quiet cooler, this setup would be very interesting; are there any good, quiet fans that are alternatives to that Phanteks that are also more than viable for overclocking?
I don't really care about how quiet it is while gaming obviously, I'm just wondering what will be the best choice while I'm just listening to music or watching anime and using the CPU semi-lightly (which I hope that's almost everything considering I'm going to have an overclocked--not yet but will be--Haswell i7...). It's fine if that's not possible, but it'd be nice.

Or is it possible to say take that Kraken or something else and then just shove a better and quieter fan onto it? Does such a thing exist?




Utter side note, I ran the Windows performance rating thing and got a 7.9 in everything but RAM and CPU. I'm not quite sure what kind of CPU I need to have in order to get a that last 0.1 on the CPU rating. Like, overclocked Xeon or some shit? Hahaha...

(click to show/hide)

Noctuas are pretty much as good as it gets. And yes, you can replace the fans.

As for fractal, don't worry about them losing any money. The R4 is pretty much the de facto non flashy enthusiast case at the moment. Sales is something they've plenty off.

To add to that they (fractal) also sale the same fans as in the case so I would pick some of those up (the ones in the case are 140mm I think so buy those) Just to have as backup and you can add one or two extra for the best airflow possible.

Edit : Also don't forget we want pics!

[Honemi]

Actually out of the things you guys linked, I think I'm most interested in the Phanteks PH-TC14PE at the moment. It looks like it's cooling it as well, if not better, than those water cooled ones... but it's much quieter.

I think if I combined that with a good quiet cooler, this setup would be very interesting; are there any good, quiet fans that are alternatives to that Phanteks that are also more than viable for overclocking?
I don't really care about how quiet it is while gaming obviously, I'm just wondering what will be the best choice while I'm just listening to music or watching anime and using the CPU semi-lightly (which I hope that's almost everything considering I'm going to have an overclocked--not yet but will be--Haswell i7...). It's fine if that's not possible, but it'd be nice.

Or is it possible to say take that Kraken or something else and then just shove a better and quieter fan onto it? Does such a thing exist?Utter side note, I ran the Windows performance rating thing and got a 7.9 in everything but RAM and CPU. I'm not quite sure what kind of CPU I need to have in order to get a that last 0.1 on the CPU rating. Like, overclocked Xeon or some shit? Hahaha...

Yeah. Most, if not all, CPU coolers, water or air, allow you swap in other fans.

Noctua make great fans. bitFenix also make quality, quiet fans. Antec TrueQuiet 140mm is a great fan; the 120mm is less worthy of praise. Phanteks fans are also really good. Scythes are also good. At 120mm, not many fans beat what Nexus puts out, but good luck finding them. Corsair makes good fans as well. Next to the competition, they won't knock your socks off, but they're good little performers.

The stock coolers on the Noctua, Cooler Master, and Phanteks are decent and should be very quiet. The Kraken X40 with stock fans on its Extreme setting will probably be unbearable for most people, but its Silent setting is decently quiet with great thermal performance. You probably won't need to replace the fans on the recommended air coolers., and for the Kraken X40, I guess quiet fans are due if you're going to leave it on the Extreme setting. I forgot the Corsair H90 existed when I recommended the Kraken X40.

Again, I'd recommend a Kraken X40 H90 for overclocking, H100i (or H110) for aggressive overclocking, or H60 (or Air-Cooler) for light overclocking or stock. You will probably need an aftermarket fan for a H100i, though. The H110 approaches the H100i performance while being as quiet as the H90 which is pretty damn quiet for AIO liquid cooling.

If you really just want an aftermarket CPU fan cooler for your CPU cooler, SilentPCReview have marked down some of their favorite fans.

SilentPC Review Recommended Quiet Fans

[xShadow]

Sorry for the late response, but I've just been reading over the options and I'm honestly still not sure what to go with. What annoys me about all these coolers is that none of them have a reduced price package with JUST the block, so that I could buy my own fans without having to waste money on their fans. Microcenter's not making it easy because their prices are trash for CPU coolers for some reason. Frys isn't doing too good either. Since I'm taking a vacation day off on Friday (4 day weekend yeah!), I'm probably gonna go either tomorrow or Friday to go return this CPU cooler and look for another one. If they have online price matching, I'll try to get it there. If they don't, I'll go to Frys, because I know they have online price matching. If both options fail, I'll order from Newegg, but that means I'll be running on stock (OH GOD THE HORRORS... though this thing isn't much better) for some days.

I'm leaning towards the Kraken X40, because it doesn't look like the X60 or the H100i have a major advantage over it, temperature wise. It's cheaper, and it's cheaper to buy a big, quiet fan for it instead of buying two fans for one of those big blocks. I might also buy another fan for the front of the case, because it looks like the hard drives that are closer to the top are much hotter than the ones I have towards the bottom. You guys said Noctuas are pretty good for quiet, but I'm also fine with the ones that came with this case, especially in the quieter settings. I'm hoping that they're cheaper to find; I'll have to look them up.

What I think I'll do is mount the x40 on the back in intake mode and then mount two fans on the top in out mode. Pretty much: front, back, (maybe) side: in. Top: out. PSU: I have no fucking clue.

Sound like a plan?

[Gh0st93]

(click to show/hide)

Sorry for the late response, but I've just been reading over the options and I'm honestly still not sure what to go with. What annoys me about all these coolers is that none of them have a reduced price package with JUST the block, so that I could buy my own fans without having to waste money on their fans. Microcenter's not making it easy because their prices are trash for CPU coolers for some reason. Frys isn't doing too good either. Since I'm taking a vacation day off on Friday (4 day weekend yeah!), I'm probably gonna go either tomorrow or Friday to go return this CPU cooler and look for another one. If they have online price matching, I'll try to get it there. If they don't, I'll go to Frys, because I know they have online price matching. If both options fail, I'll order from Newegg, but that means I'll be running on stock (OH GOD THE HORRORS... though this thing isn't much better) for some days.

I'm leaning towards the Kraken X40, because it doesn't look like the X60 or the H100i have a major advantage over it, temperature wise. It's cheaper, and it's cheaper to buy a big, quiet fan for it instead of buying two fans for one of those big blocks. I might also buy another fan for the front of the case, because it looks like the hard drives that are closer to the top are much hotter than the ones I have towards the bottom. You guys said Noctuas are pretty good for quiet, but I'm also fine with the ones that came with this case, especially in the quieter settings. I'm hoping that they're cheaper to find; I'll have to look them up.

What I think I'll do is mount the x40 on the back in intake mode and then mount two fans on the top in out mode. Pretty much: front, back, (maybe) side: in. Top: out. PSU: I have no fucking clue.

Sound like a plan?

The x40 is a good cooler as is the H80i, But with the i7 4770k I would still strongly recommend the h100i or the kraken x60. The X40 can keep up to there low power temps while the x40 is running on high. Also Yeah fans aren't cheap but $130 or so total for a cpu cooler is a drop in the bucket in comparison to a $330 dollar CPU. I would either put on the H100i or H80i with these or these fans. Now for either the Kraken X40 or X60 I would use these. But I would also remind you that you can just use the stock fans and change them later if they are not to your liking.

Also for case fans these are fans that are in your case to start with.

[xShadow]

Well, two questions:

1. If I get the quietest fan on the market, what do I care about what rpm it needs to operate at to keep up? I mean looking at some of the full blast benchmarks it doesn't look like the x60 does but like 2 or 3C better.

2. Considering I would have to stick the x60 or the h100i on top, won't the minor advantage in cpu temp be outweighed by the horrible airflow (it will have to be acting as exhaust for the system...).

[Gh0st93]

Well, two questions:

1. If I get the quietest fan on the market, what do I care about what rpm it needs to operate at to keep up? I mean looking at some of the full blast benchmarks it doesn't look like the x60 does but like 2 or 3C better.

2. Considering I would have to stick the x60 or the h100i on top, won't the minor advantage in cpu temp be outweighed by the horrible airflow (it will have to be acting as exhaust for the system...).

1. That is more then likely the "extreme"  profile on the X40 compared to the low or silent (could also be balanced) profiles of an X60. Also essentially the higher the rpm the higher the noise.

2. It is not always good to use AIO or really any kind of radiator as intakes, Some times it doesn't change things but other times it will. Plus you have to consider this you will have between two and three fans pushing in new fresh air so you want as many to pull them over the parts and into the case, thereby giving you complete and balanced airflow.

 You also have to keep in mind that heat rises and the hot air from your sli cards would be pulled back in through the radiator and right back into  the case. ( this is if you use either the x40 or H80i as intake from the rear.) Which could lead to increased temp. ( I know what I said earlier but running sli changes things.)

[xShadow]

www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/nzxt_kraken_x40_review,14.html

I was looking at this actually. Their extreme modes are like 3 c off, on an overclocked proc. Most places seem to also suggest that the x40 outperforms the h100i with stock configuration, and then blows it away with 2 fans. Right now it just looks like the better choice.

[Gh0st93]

Well after Re-familiarizing myself with the kraken x40, And considering your wants/needs. I would say buy the Kraken x40 and two Noctua NF-A14 FLX Fans set it up as exhaust and reap the benefits of a cool and quiet pc.

[kitamesume]

Well, two questions:

1. If I get the quietest fan on the market, what do I care about what rpm it needs to operate at to keep up? I mean looking at some of the full blast benchmarks it doesn't look like the x60 does but like 2 or 3C better.

2. Considering I would have to stick the x60 or the h100i on top, won't the minor advantage in cpu temp be outweighed by the horrible airflow (it will have to be acting as exhaust for the system...).

1. you lose out on peak cooling capacity.

2. depends on your fan settings and setup, a balanced intake and exhaust won't suffer any airflow, although the HSF would suffer a slightly elevated temperature on it's intake side since the system already pre-heated it.


i suggest keeping the fans and buying fan controllers, although that should be unnecessary since the motherboard should be able to control it with it's headers.
lowering them to minimum RPM should net you the same results as buying a quiet fan, but you can still crank it up later on when the need arises.

[xShadow]

Well, two questions:

1. If I get the quietest fan on the market, what do I care about what rpm it needs to operate at to keep up? I mean looking at some of the full blast benchmarks it doesn't look like the x60 does but like 2 or 3C better.

2. Considering I would have to stick the x60 or the h100i on top, won't the minor advantage in cpu temp be outweighed by the horrible airflow (it will have to be acting as exhaust for the system...).

1. you lose out on peak cooling capacity.

2. depends on your fan settings and setup, a balanced intake and exhaust won't suffer any airflow, although the HSF would suffer a slightly elevated temperature on it's intake side since the system already pre-heated it.


i suggest keeping the fans and buying fan controllers, although that should be unnecessary since the motherboard should be able to control it with it's headers.
lowering them to minimum RPM should net you the same results as buying a quiet fan, but you can still crank it up later on when the need arises.

Keeping which fans? The x40 only comes with one.

[Gh0st93]

So did you buy a Kraken x40?

[xShadow]

Yep. Microcenter even price matched Newegg's 83 dollars, which was almost 30 dollars off of their price. I used the extra 30 dollars to buy two fans of this brand to use somewhere in the case:

It was mostly an afterthought type thing since I didn't have much time, so I'll have to record their noise levels and such over the next few days.. Before I checked out I had him check out what printers they had (the aforementioned printer; family member birthday present). Ended up getting one of these for 99$ refurbished. Thing works fine, too. Pretty slick deal.

So, story time:

(click to show/hide)

So I installed the Kraken, the thing is working fine, etc etc, install case fans the work fine, etc etc... But I notice my hard drives are having major heat problems. Some of them are 49+C and that's definitely not healthy for HDD's, according to the Google study. I think the problem is that having them packed so close together isn't a good idea (which kind of makes me now start wondering about this case design...), so I spread them out in a fairly tactical manner in order to minimize heat buildup. Looking at temperature monitor the highest one I see is at 38-39C, and this is fine.


Unfortunately this is where things turn bad...
So what's the problem? Welp, during this operation I managed to make the front 2 usb 3.0 (USB 2.0 is fine) ports on my case unusable. Well, not the case's ports itself. Those technically are quite fine. The problem is that the connector that goes into the MB from the front USB 3.0's comes loose fairly easily when doing anything involved, and this time when putting it back in I applied too much force (those five words...story of my life right there...) and somehow totally ending up bending the pins. so I cussed and then tried to get them unbent (for hours), somehow, and ended up snapping one pin at the end. At one point it looked like I had them all straight and shit, but eh the thing just wouldn't go in. Welp, unless I feel like ripping this plastic thing off and using the raw pin connectors on the MB, it looks like I'm not going to have front USB 3.0 access.

I'm actually pretty bummed out about this. Not because I care about 2 ports that I can't use when I wasn't going to use them anyway (I have nothing that's USB 3.0 atm...), but just that it looks like this build's not gonna be a perfect one either. Something always gets fucked up. Oh well, I'll get over it.... I think this is the least fucked up any of my builds has been anyway. =\ I really like this motherboard but I wish they shoved that port somewhere else, and that the cable was securable somehow... just having it push in and hope it stays pushed in is bleh.


Well, at least the rest of it works.
Anyway, I believe you mentioned that you wanted pictures in one of your posts, so here you go:

(click to show/hide)

Also, here is the 3Dmark 11 demo score. I'm not sure how people with the same setup score like 3000 higher than me though. It says they're all running at stock; is it bullshitting me or am I missing something. The gaming performance so far has been quite amazing though.

I'm also not sure whether my fan setup is optimal. I have the two on top and the CPU one on the back all blowing air out. Both the top fan and the back fan are connected to the CPU cooler's fan control (which is currently in silent mode). The two in the front near the HDD's are blowing in air, and so is the on the side The GPU seems to be maxing out at around 79 C when doing that 3Dmark benchmark, and the i7 at 55 C. The idle temp on the i7 now is about 31.5 C. I guess I have a bit of room for overclocking, even if I leave it on silent mode.

Build is pretty much done though. Thanks for all the help.

[Gh0st93]

Honestly the great thing about fractal is they have good customer service. I would call them up explain the entire situation and tell them about the hard drives heating up. Say the case is faulty and they may send you a brand new one.

[kitamesume]

Also, here is the 3Dmark 11 demo score. I'm not sure how people with the same setup score like 3000 higher than me though. It says they're all running at stock; is it bullshitting me or am I missing something. The gaming performance so far has been quite amazing though.

I'm also not sure whether my fan setup is optimal. I have the two on top and the CPU one on the back all blowing air out. Both the top fan and the back fan are connected to the CPU cooler's fan control (which is currently in silent mode). The two in the front near the HDD's are blowing in air, and so is the on the side The GPU seems to be maxing out at around 79 C when doing that 3Dmark benchmark, and the i7 at 55 C. The idle temp on the i7 now is about 31.5 C. I guess I have a bit of room for overclocking, even if I leave it on silent mode.

Build is pretty much done though. Thanks for all the help.

probably mint CPUs, or tuned OS.

try:
1) back intake | Kraken X40
2) do a little cardboard modding - add a channel so the exhaust side of kraken x40 goes only towards the top of the case
3) top exhaust
4) you need fans on the front as intake so the HDDs wont get scorching hot, also you can stack the HDDs like this.

[Gh0st93]

(click to show/hide)

Yep. Microcenter even price matched Newegg's 83 dollars, which was almost 30 dollars off of their price. I used the extra 30 dollars to buy two fans of this brand to use somewhere in the case:

It was mostly an afterthought type thing since I didn't have much time, so I'll have to record their noise levels and such over the next few days.. Before I checked out I had him check out what printers they had (the aforementioned printer; family member birthday present). Ended up getting one of these for 99$ refurbished. Thing works fine, too. Pretty slick deal.

So, story time:

(click to show/hide)

So I installed the Kraken, the thing is working fine, etc etc, install case fans the work fine, etc etc... But I notice my hard drives are having major heat problems. Some of them are 49+C and that's definitely not healthy for HDD's, according to the Google study. I think the problem is that having them packed so close together isn't a good idea (which kind of makes me now start wondering about this case design...), so I spread them out in a fairly tactical manner in order to minimize heat buildup. Looking at temperature monitor the highest one I see is at 38-39C, and this is fine.


Unfortunately this is where things turn bad...
So what's the problem? Welp, during this operation I managed to make the front 2 usb 3.0 (USB 2.0 is fine) ports on my case unusable. Well, not the case's ports itself. Those technically are quite fine. The problem is that the connector that goes into the MB from the front USB 3.0's comes loose fairly easily when doing anything involved, and this time when putting it back in I applied too much force (those five words...story of my life right there...) and somehow totally ending up bending the pins. so I cussed and then tried to get them unbent (for hours), somehow, and ended up snapping one pin at the end. At one point it looked like I had them all straight and shit, but eh the thing just wouldn't go in. Welp, unless I feel like ripping this plastic thing off and using the raw pin connectors on the MB, it looks like I'm not going to have front USB 3.0 access.

I'm actually pretty bummed out about this. Not because I care about 2 ports that I can't use when I wasn't going to use them anyway (I have nothing that's USB 3.0 atm...), but just that it looks like this build's not gonna be a perfect one either. Something always gets fucked up. Oh well, I'll get over it.... I think this is the least fucked up any of my builds has been anyway. =\ I really like this motherboard but I wish they shoved that port somewhere else, and that the cable was securable somehow... just having it push in and hope it stays pushed in is bleh.


Well, at least the rest of it works.
Anyway, I believe you mentioned that you wanted pictures in one of your posts, so here you go:

(click to show/hide)

Also, here is the 3Dmark 11 demo score. I'm not sure how people with the same setup score like 3000 higher than me though. It says they're all running at stock; is it bullshitting me or am I missing something. The gaming performance so far has been quite amazing though.

I'm also not sure whether my fan setup is optimal. I have the two on top and the CPU one on the back all blowing air out. Both the top fan and the back fan are connected to the CPU cooler's fan control (which is currently in silent mode). The two in the front near the HDD's are blowing in air, and so is the on the side The GPU seems to be maxing out at around 79 C when doing that 3Dmark benchmark, and the i7 at 55 C. The idle temp on the i7 now is about 31.5 C. I guess I have a bit of room for overclocking, even if I leave it on silent mode.

Build is pretty much done though. Thanks for all the help.

Ok some quick first notes you appear to have 2 different sets of ram running at different timings, that is a "no-no". You also have drivers that aren't approved by 3dmark, (they are probably just betas) . Also even with these two things you still out score 86% of all results.

[xShadow]

Honestly the great thing about fractal is they have good customer service. I would call them up explain the entire situation and tell them about the hard drives heating up. Say the case is faulty and they may send you a brand new one.

But the case is still just fine, it wouldn't do me much except having to reinstall the thing to ask them to send me a new one. The problem is I fucked up the pins on the MB for that port in the front. The actual port on the case is still quite fine. They'd have to send me a new MB to fix that up.

Oh god no, now I've got soldering on pins somewhere in my mind, crap. Flushing away silly thoughts, flushing them away. Now I know a little of how OCD people feel...

(click to show/hide)

Also, here is the 3Dmark 11 demo score. I'm not sure how people with the same setup score like 3000 higher than me though. It says they're all running at stock; is it bullshitting me or am I missing something. The gaming performance so far has been quite amazing though.

I'm also not sure whether my fan setup is optimal. I have the two on top and the CPU one on the back all blowing air out. Both the top fan and the back fan are connected to the CPU cooler's fan control (which is currently in silent mode). The two in the front near the HDD's are blowing in air, and so is the on the side The GPU seems to be maxing out at around 79 C when doing that 3Dmark benchmark, and the i7 at 55 C. The idle temp on the i7 now is about 31.5 C. I guess I have a bit of room for overclocking, even if I leave it on silent mode.

Build is pretty much done though. Thanks for all the help.

probably mint CPUs, or tuned OS.

try:
1) back intake | Kraken X40
2) do a little cardboard modding - add a channel so the exhaust side of kraken x40 goes only towards the top of the case
3) top exhaust
4) you need fans on the front as intake so the HDDs wont get scorching hot, also you can stack the HDDs like this.

As noted, I did have two fans in the front as intake; they still overheated until I stacked them like you see in that picture. You suggest a 2-skip-one setup. I'll keep that in mind for when I need another HDD in there, but for now this works fine for 5 HDDs and one SSD.. As for flipping the direction of the Kraken fan towards the top exhaust, that's the original setup I was considering... how many degrees do you think that setup is going to cut it down, and is my current setup still running too hot for what it is?

Actually, probably more important question: what's the max target temperature I should let this thing hit?

(click to show/hide)

Yep. Microcenter even price matched Newegg's 83 dollars, which was almost 30 dollars off of their price. I used the extra 30 dollars to buy two fans of this brand to use somewhere in the case:

It was mostly an afterthought type thing since I didn't have much time, so I'll have to record their noise levels and such over the next few days.. Before I checked out I had him check out what printers they had (the aforementioned printer; family member birthday present). Ended up getting one of these for 99$ refurbished. Thing works fine, too. Pretty slick deal.

So, story time:

(click to show/hide)

So I installed the Kraken, the thing is working fine, etc etc, install case fans the work fine, etc etc... But I notice my hard drives are having major heat problems. Some of them are 49+C and that's definitely not healthy for HDD's, according to the Google study. I think the problem is that having them packed so close together isn't a good idea (which kind of makes me now start wondering about this case design...), so I spread them out in a fairly tactical manner in order to minimize heat buildup. Looking at temperature monitor the highest one I see is at 38-39C, and this is fine.


Unfortunately this is where things turn bad...
So what's the problem? Welp, during this operation I managed to make the front 2 usb 3.0 (USB 2.0 is fine) ports on my case unusable. Well, not the case's ports itself. Those technically are quite fine. The problem is that the connector that goes into the MB from the front USB 3.0's comes loose fairly easily when doing anything involved, and this time when putting it back in I applied too much force (those five words...story of my life right there...) and somehow totally ending up bending the pins. so I cussed and then tried to get them unbent (for hours), somehow, and ended up snapping one pin at the end. At one point it looked like I had them all straight and shit, but eh the thing just wouldn't go in. Welp, unless I feel like ripping this plastic thing off and using the raw pin connectors on the MB, it looks like I'm not going to have front USB 3.0 access.

I'm actually pretty bummed out about this. Not because I care about 2 ports that I can't use when I wasn't going to use them anyway (I have nothing that's USB 3.0 atm...), but just that it looks like this build's not gonna be a perfect one either. Something always gets fucked up. Oh well, I'll get over it.... I think this is the least fucked up any of my builds has been anyway. =\ I really like this motherboard but I wish they shoved that port somewhere else, and that the cable was securable somehow... just having it push in and hope it stays pushed in is bleh.


Well, at least the rest of it works.
Anyway, I believe you mentioned that you wanted pictures in one of your posts, so here you go:

(click to show/hide)

Also, here is the 3Dmark 11 demo score. I'm not sure how people with the same setup score like 3000 higher than me though. It says they're all running at stock; is it bullshitting me or am I missing something. The gaming performance so far has been quite amazing though.

I'm also not sure whether my fan setup is optimal. I have the two on top and the CPU one on the back all blowing air out. Both the top fan and the back fan are connected to the CPU cooler's fan control (which is currently in silent mode). The two in the front near the HDD's are blowing in air, and so is the on the side The GPU seems to be maxing out at around 79 C when doing that 3Dmark benchmark, and the i7 at 55 C. The idle temp on the i7 now is about 31.5 C. I guess I have a bit of room for overclocking, even if I leave it on silent mode.

Build is pretty much done though. Thanks for all the help.

Ok some quick first notes you appear to have 2 different sets of ram running at different timings, that is a "no-no". You also have drivers that aren't approved by 3dmark, (they are probably just betas) . Also even with these two things you still out score 86% of all results.

Well, the drivers are just NVidia betas, I don't think that'd hurt my score much. As for the RAM: it's Corsair's XMS line, and I forgot what the hell I had to do to get them running in 1600. I think it was fucking with the voltage or something. The exact pair of sticks I got aren't even on Newegg anymore, but this post may be talking about the same pair, and 1.65 or 1.7 sounds familiar for some reason.

Either way though, I thought 1600 just goes down to 1333 on the other pair when doing that. This MB's bios has so many overclocking options... I'll have to dig out where I can set the RAM voltage.

[vuzedome]

The top exhaust fans, I suggest losing one or both. You need more air to reach your radiator.
You can mount your radiator at the back or top, perhaps top is a better idea because hot air goes up.
Well this is just opinion, you're free to try it or leave it as it is.
Just remember that your radiator needs as much air as it can get.

Flip your PSU upside down if your case has an opening for the PSU air intake at the bottom of the case.