Windows Working on my first solo build

[Corey]

This will be my 2nd complete build that I've done. The first one I did back in 2008-2009 after graduating high school (yes I'm getting old ). A friend who has been into PC's a long time helped pick out the parts and helped me put it together. Back in 2016 I did a semi new build. I think I bought new case, gpu, hard drives, monitors and maybe psu. The other parts were bought 2nd hand from my friend who was building a new pc so we just kinda threw his ram, mobo, and cpu in there.

 

Recently my gpu died. (MSI R9 390). This got me really considering a new build since I didn't build a whole new pc back in 2016. Welp... that's exactly what I have started to do. I'm excited because this time around I have been doing the research myself on what all is out there and figuring out what will work best for me. I've been taking it slow because I'm not really in a rush, but also because I picked the worst time to build a pc. Due to COVID-19 pc parts have been flying off the shelves so it sucks I decided to pick this time to build one.

 

 

 

I probably started the build off wrong because I did not set a budget lol. Even though I did not have a budget in mind I was not going to be buying top of the line stuff. I was going to pick up parts that were good quality and can last me a long time without paying top dollar.

 

I've attached a picture of everything I have purchased so far. I'm off to a solid start. I've purchased some important and hard to find pieces already and I'm able to use my gpu in my current pc. I have a little buyers remorse on the nvme ssd since I wasn't trying to buy top of the line, but my Samsung attachment got the best of me.

 

 

 

My plan is to finish it off with probably a B550 board, a pcie gen 4 nvme, and some 3600 cl16 ram. My biggest struggle at the moment is deciding on a case!

 

Feel free to comment with suggestions. I'd be interested to hear peoples thoughts on x570 vs B550 and case preferences. I'll be updating this topic as I go. Hope over the next few months I will have everything purchased. *knocks on wood*

 

[RedBaird]

1 hour ago, Corey said:

I have been doing the research myself

That is what I did in 2011 and this ASUS Rampage III Extreme is still running, but getting "long in the tooth".  I would have to add a 2nd GPU to play the recently 'free GTA'. 

 

BTW, neither ASUS nor Microsoft says that this mobo is win10 compatible, although I am running Win10 pro ATM.    (I should check that again.)

 

Have fun with the planning and the processes of building the unit!  

 

BTW, I had installed water-cooling because I expected to try over-clocking some time in the future, BUT, the cpu was "locked". 😮 

Edited June 13, 2020 by RedBaird
BTW

[Corey]

10 minutes ago, RedBaird said:

That is what I did in 2011 and this ASUS Rampage III is still running, but getting "long in the tooth".  I would have to add a 2nd GPU to play the recently 'free GTA'. 

 

BTW, neither ASUS nor Microsoft says that this mobo is win10 compatible, although I am running Win10 pro ATM.    (I should check that again.)

 

Have fun with the planning and the processes of building the unit!  

 

Thanks! Looking forward to it. Back to Windows XP for you LOL!

[Professor Tony]

Definitely a good start. I am happy with my 2070 super and you also cant go wrong with the 970 evo. Cant wait to see what the final product looks like. The x570 would give you more versatility in the long run, but as you are not looking for best of the best the B550 would be a better choice. It is going to give you the best bang for you buck assuming you dont need the PCIE gen4 for something else.

[Corey]

I finally decided on a case! I spent a lot of time going back and forth on this decision. I was really looking for something that was aesthetically pleasing, good air flow, and a nice to have was a USB-C connection on the front of the case. The 3 main cases I was looking at was Fractal Design Meshify C (no USB-C), Fractal Design Meshify S2, and Lian Li O11 Dynamic. I was really close to pulling the trigger on one of the Fractal Cases, but it seemed liked the Meshify C was pretty small, and the S2 had a large blank space towards the front for custom water loops (that I had no plans of doing). I had heard great things about the O11 Dynamic and I could see me building a nice looking PC inside of it. My only issue with that case was that it was going to cost me more $$$ in order to build in it since I would need to buy fans. After looking at some builds people had done in the O11 dynamic I knew I had to get it. In order to get the look I was going for I decided to splurge a little bit on QL120 fans from Corsair. Luckily, I found them on sale on Amazon for about $30 off a 3 pack. I was excited to save the $60! To go with the fans I also bought the Corsair Commander Pro fan controller. The reason I went with the QL120's is because of the LED's on the back side of the fan. Everything I had read on the O11 Dynamic said that for most people the best fan setup was to have the bottom and side fans set to intake and for the top AIO to be set for exhaust. In order to have fans intake the back side of the fans would need to show in the case. For fans like the LL120's there is only LED's on the front side so this would really limit the lighting effects.

 

This build is definitely not a budget friendly build. I could have easily gone with a cheaper case that came with fans and that would have saved me quite a bit of money since I would not would not have to buy additional fans or a fan controller. I guess it really depends what you are looking for. Someone who is looking for a pure gaming machine and doesn't matter what it looks like could invest the money I spent on fans and a fan controller to get a better GPU.

 

Anyways, here are the pics! Even though I am lacking a lot of parts I went ahead and put the fans in. This look is definitely unlike anything I have ever had before. I usually go all black, but I thought the white would turn out for a really good looking build in the end.

[CaRaNo]

Almost bought that case myself 👌 really nice

[Heaven:)]

I've just built a new system for myself.

 

Here's the images.

https://imgur.com/a/YqHVMAn

 

Specs:

 

I9 10900K

EVGA RTX 2080 Ti

32gb corsair vengeance pro

1tb M.2 Samsung 970 pro

Corsair 1000w P+ PSU

2 EK radiators for watercooling

many EK waterblocks

The ROG 180hz monitor

Corsair k95 pro

steelseries sensei 10

Edited July 8, 2020 by Heaven:)

[Gameplan]

Nice! how's that keyboard? I have the K70, and it's been great!

 

[Corey]

It's complete!! I'm very pleased with how it turned out. All in all it was a incident free build (besides me accidentally touching the pre-applied cpu paste on my aio ). That probably worked out for the best anyways because that gave me a chance to remove the stock paste on the aio and replace it with something potentially better. I haven't had a chance to game on it yet since I just finished it tonight, but my temps were hovering around 26 - 30 degrees Celsius with no load. Hoping this pc will last me for awhile, but guess we will see There's always new tech coming out so it's only a matter of time before mine is outdated.

 

Here is the final list of parts.

 

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Corsair iCUE H150i RGB PRO XT 75 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler
Motherboard: MSI MAG B550 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard
Memory: G.Skill Trident Z Neo 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory 
Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive 
Storage: Sabrent Rocket 4.0 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive 
Video Card: EVGA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 8 GB FTW3 ULTRA GAMING Video Card 
Case: Lian Li PC-O11 Dynamic ATX Full Tower Case
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G3 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply
Case Fan: Corsair iCUE QL120 RGB 41.8 CFM 120 mm Fans 3-Pack
Case Fan: Corsair iCUE QL120 RGB 41.8 CFM 120 mm Fans 3-Pack
Custom: Corsair Fan Controller Commander Pro (CL-9011110-WW) 
Custom: CableMod E-Series PRO ModMesh Cable Kit

 

[Haruhi Suzumiya]

Nice job man!  I was checking out that case at Microcenter, pretty dope, and really like the white lighting!  Bet that thing could host a full on mini rave in your room.  You might have just inspired me to quit procrastinating a new build.  Can't even play on half full servers :'D

 

I hope that isn't the "desk" you have to play from!

[TulsaGeoff]

Looks sick man! Congrats!  The sleeved white cables are beautiful and make that build. Nice work!

 

Edited July 25, 2020 by TulsaGeoff

[Corey]

10 hours ago, Haruhi Suzumiya said:

Nice job man!  I was checking out that case at Microcenter, pretty dope, and really like the white lighting!  Bet that thing could host a full on mini rave in your room.  You might have just inspired me to quit procrastinating a new build.  Can't even play on half full servers :'D

 

I hope that isn't the "desk" you have to play from!

 

 

Thanks! Yes, the fans have a lot of cool lighting effects, but I'll probably stick with the white color for most occasions until I'm feeling festive. I can see some cool Halloween and Christmas theme lighting coming soon 🤣.

 

Don't worry it's not my computer desk. I took over my wife's table she had a sewing machine on since I was still using my old pc during this build process. I plan to get it all moved over soon.

1 hour ago, TulsaGeoff said:

Looks sick man! Congrats!  The sleeved white cables are beautiful and make that build. Nice work!

 

Thank you! I think the cables really help tie in the black and white theme.

[Snuffs99]

Looks really nice with high spec parts, should be proud.

 

Now i must stress that the temps are more than fine and if your happy with them temps then leave well alone.....But i'd of thought they would be a bit less than that given the amount of case fans and the space within the case.

 

I can see the 6 intake fans on the pics you've posted but does it have any fans blowing the air out at the top where your rad is? 

Might be worth a play about and maybe put the rad behind the 3 side fans with them sucking cold air through the rad. heat rises and although you have lots of air coming in the warm air will be at the top where the rad is.

Getting the right air flow can give better temps if done right.

 

Just a thought.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 25, 2020 by Snuffs99

[Corey]

3 hours ago, Snuffs99 said:

Looks really nice with high spec parts, should be proud.

 

Now i must stress that the temps are more than fine and if your happy with them temps then leave well alone.....But i'd of thought they would be a bit less than that given the amount of case fans and the space within the case.

 

I can see the 6 intake fans on the pics you've posted but does it have any fans blowing the air out at the top where your rad is? 

Might be worth a play about and maybe put the rad behind the 3 side fans with them sucking cold air through the rad. heat rises and although you have lots of air coming in the warm air will be at the top where the rad is.

Getting the right air flow can give better temps if done right.

 

Just a thought.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks Snuffs. It is something I will definitely keep an eye on as I start using the PC more. I went with one of the more recommended setups with the fans and radiator. 6 intake on the side and bottom and the 3 fans on the radiator are blowing out the top. I know it is recommend having the fans on the radiator as intake to get the best cooling performance, but from the comments and videos I watched with this case it appeared that having the fans blowing out would still provide decent results all around. This setup may be the cause of the temps being higher than you anticipated. I also have to keep an eye on the temps as I did have a little difficulty getting the AIO pump tightened on the cpu so that is another factor.

[Snuffs99]

Yeah was literally just a suggestion mate, with the rad at the top and fans sucking air out your effectively pushing warm air through the rad is all. Its certainly nothing to worry about though, idle temps of 20-30C for Ryzen 7 are very, very good mate.

Going off your idle temps i'll say it will prob peak around the 40-50C mark under 100% load, again that would be classed as very good temps IMHO.

Ryzen CPU's have a max die temp of 90-95C so you've a long, long way to go before you should worry, i doubt it will ever go over 50 if the airflow is right. 

 

Looks really nice mate and a system that you can be proud to show off.

 

 

Edited July 26, 2020 by Snuffs99