Show us your PC/Setup

jvickers · May 30, 2024

pparks1 said:
I always try to find a case that has outstanding airflow. My Fractal meshify S2 is obviously all mesh in the front, and it's mesh on top.....so can get lots of airflow in and heat out. I'm running a Ryzen 5900x, with an EVGA 3080 and a Dark Rock Pro 4 cooler and I only have the 3 standard 140mm case fans in my box and it's plenty. Although I can run up to 9 fans if I like.

I haven't really had a need for front bays in a while. With NVMe and SSD's, they are small enough that you can stuff them about anywhere in a case and if I had a need for an optical drive, I have an external USB based one......although I haven't used it in years.

What are your CPU operating temps? Mine seem kind of high - in the 50s with a bunch of thing running but hitting in the 70s playing something like Lords of the Fallen. I think the highest I've ever gotten was 83C. Still below max temp, but a little high for my liking.

pparks1 · May 30, 2024

antspants said:
I like a full tower. In fact I’d like something bigger. I like the space, I have many fans setup correctly in my opinion but I also have many drives. I can’t stand tight spaces, They do my head in.

A glass door refrigerator would be cool.

Nothing wrong with having space if you need it. I've just found for myself, I don't have a lot of need for extra space. My current case can hold 9 case fans, but I only run 3. I can run 3 x 3.5" hard drives, but I run 0. I can run 2 x NVMe drives...but I only have 1 at present. I do have 1 extra sata SSD and it's literally just hanging out behind my mobo....since it has no moving parts and such it doesn't really need to be mounted.

My experience with really big cases in the past was cables that were too short and having to come up with all sorts of extensions. The smaller midsize towers and such have offered me sufficient room to work in and cable manage nicely. My current case is somewhere between a midtower and full tower. It's made to support water cooling and such, but that's not something i'm into.

antspants · May 30, 2024

pparks1 said:
My experience with really big cases in the

It takes a bit of shopping sometimes that’s for certain

pparks1 · May 30, 2024

jvickers said:
What are your CPU operating temps? Mine seem kind of high - in the 50s with a bunch of thing running but hitting in the 70s playing something like Lords of the Fallen. I think the highest I've ever gotten was 83C. Still below max temp, but a little high for my liking.

I idle in the mid 30's. I haven't watched all that much while gaming, but my fans don't ramp up much at all on my cpu cooler or case, so i don't think i'm getting in the upper 70's. I'll have to watch sometime.

I do have a slight undervolt on my 3080, and I have the EVGA OC switch flipped so my fans run all the time, just at a really low RPM. My video card usually only gets to around 50-55C while playing CoD.

jvickers · May 30, 2024

pparks1 said:
I idle in the mid 30's. I haven't watched all that much while gaming, but my fans don't ramp up much at all on my cpu cooler or case, so i don't think i'm getting in the upper 70's. I'll have to watch sometime.

I do have a slight undervolt on my 3080, and I have the EVGA OC switch flipped so my fans run all the time, just at a really low RPM. My video card usually only gets to around 50-55C while playing CoD.

I'm never in the 30s. On startup, I might be in the mid-40s. Still, it sounds like our max temps could be comparable. I'm not sure why I hit 83C. The thermal paste on my CPU is pretty recent. Attaching the liquid cooler was a pain, so I might have botched the spread. As long as I'm below the max operating temp, I guess I'll leave well enough alone.

I have a Zotac 3060 that runs in the high-40s to low-50s. I think it's just poor cooling on the card because my ASUS 4070 runs around 33C and doesn't hit 50 playing a graphics-intense game.

pparks1 · May 30, 2024

jvickers said:
I'm never in the 30s. On startup, I might be in the mid-40s. Still, it sounds like our max temps could be comparable. I'm not sure why I hit 83C. The thermal paste on my CPU is pretty recent. Attaching the liquid cooler was a pain, so I might have botched the spread. As long as I'm below the max operating temp, I guess I'll leave well enough alone.

I have a Zotac 3060 that runs in the high-40s to low-50s. I think it's just poor cooling on the card because my ASUS 4070 runs around 33C and doesn't hit 50 playing a graphics-intense game.

Those temps seem outstanding for an ASUS 4070 video card. Without the undervolt, my 3080 was running around 65-70 which isn't terrible by any means, but I prefer having it running in the low 50's. It cut my power draw by nearly 100 watts, and had practically no impact on my FPS.

I just used the paste that came on my Dark Rock Pro 4 cooler, and that machine is now 3.5 years old. Machine has been rock solid for me, very happy with it.

johnlgalt · May 30, 2024

Scannerman said:
I never could comprehend the reason for making a desktop PC so compact that any attempt at working on it consistently resulted in cramped fingers and potential damage. Where's the advantage in this? Apart from risking damage to one's hands and components while removing and installing hardware other considerations include proper cooling and airflow. A PC that can 'breathe' is a happy PC. Like you, I'm not suggesting that anyone who wants a mini or a micro is out of their minds. I realize user preference prevails; but from the standpoint of a PC builder I don't get a whole lot of satisfaction from building them. Admittedly, some feel intimidated by a large PC. To each their own. I positively love EATX boards. They usually feature so many more options than standard ATX, Micros, and Minis. A standard ATX is fine but that's where I draw the line on personal builds. The client gets what the client wants.

I suspect that part of it is that many people who build / have a SFF rig built for them don't actually do a lot of the work on things themselves, treating the builds more as an OEM build which they build and then use as is for however long, unlike (seemingly) you and I, who readily tinker with our builds as the need arises.

I may be wrong about this, but that is my gut feeling about it.

Also, yeah, EATX FTW. Hence the need for a large(r) case to begin with lol.

Scannerman said:
One is compelled to wonder however, what with all the components and features they're trying to cram onto a teeny tiny system board these days and popping it into an enclosure with virtually zero air flow just how long a system like this is expected to last. Anyway, I took a playful poke at you just for fun. And remember, that handle is made of metal so if you ever want to put it back on feel free to do so without shame. My personal abomination weighs in the ball park of at least 60 pounds now that I've upgraded it with SSDs but it still runs a number of mechanical drives as well. I can't imagine lugging that thing up the stairs without a handle.

SFF have started to make a little more sense now with integrated water cooling, such as AIO for CPUs and GPUs, not to mention things like the smaller sizes of SSDs (and even smaller sizes for NVMe drives). But even then, as a person using a nice, rather large AIO for my CPU, I gotta have my large case, even if all my drives are NVMe drives now lol.

antspants said:
but I also have many drives.

That was one of the reasons I started with larger cases. I used to have 4-5 spinners, first as system drives, then as local storage.

My current build is ... not because of that though. I have 6 TB inside and 3 more outside - but all 6 drives are NVMe drives, so.... I could stuff all those into a case smaller than a phonograph and be satisfied lol.

pparks1 said:
I always try to find a case that has outstanding airflow. My Fractal meshify S2 is obviously all mesh in the front, and it's mesh on top.....so can get lots of airflow in and heat out. I'm running a Ryzen 5900x, with an EVGA 3080 and a Dark Rock Pro 4 cooler and I only have the 3 standard 140mm case fans in my box and it's plenty. Although I can run up to 9 fans if I like.

Yeah. I'm running the bigger brother, the Fractal Design Define 7 XL (with the smoked glass). I recently updated my build to (finally!) remove my 5.25: Blu-Ray burner, because I replaced the NZXT Krakek X73 AIO (360) with a newer Arctic Liquid Freezer III (420) AIO, and since I mount the rad at the top. out came the burner.

I was initially looking at something more expensive, like a LianLi or Phantek, when I built the rig 3 years ago, but a buddy of mine mentioned his Define 7 and I speced it out, and was quite happy with its versatility - especially with the 'rack' that swings around to become a 9 or 10 bay 5/25" rack for HDDs if you want to use it like that - so this case, even if it gets replaced in the future, has great potential for a second life for something like a home-brewed NAS.

Scannerman · Jun 6, 2024

Not really mine. PC was built by my 11 year old daughter. A year later she decided to upgrade it so I selected some parts for her and she went to work. She let me put in the rear exhaust fan and I surprised her with the power cable adapter. She liked it but she wagged her finger at me anyway and reminded me that it was her build and hands off.

Enough power for most games.

About as pink as it gets

Power on without the glass.

Power on with glass.

Isometric view

Didn't like the Dell monitor

A blurry night view.

DennyZenny · Jun 6, 2024

Scannerman said:
Not really mine. PC was built by my 11 year old daughter. A year later she decided to upgrade it so I selected some parts for her and she went to work. She let me put in the rear exhaust fan and I surprised her with the power cable adapter. She liked it but she wagged her finger at me anyway and reminded me that it was her build and hands off.View attachment 98504
Enough power for most games.

View attachment 98505
About as pink as it gets

View attachment 98506
Power on without the glass.

View attachment 98507
Power on with glass.

View attachment 98508
Isometric view

View attachment 98509
Didn't like the Dell monitor

View attachment 98510
A blurry night view.

This is a great build! You can never go wrong with pink.

antspants · Jun 6, 2024

DennyZenny said:
You can never go wrong with pink.

Yes, you could. You could be made to take 4 teenagers to one of her concerts. (Actually happened)

Scannerman · Jun 6, 2024

DennyZenny said:
This is a great build! You can never go wrong with pink.

Thank you. Personal Computers are just that. So if you're into purple or pink or whatever you think suits you best personalizing your PC is 100% appropriate. Myself, I'd have little use for a PC like this. I doesn't even have a blue ray player; but for my daughter who needs a DVD ROM when you can do everything from a USB stick these days? (Well, almost everything.) She has a weakness for those bulky Japanese anime games and she plays a lot of Mine Craft so she does need a modest graphics card. The Radeon RX 580 seems to do the job for her despite being somewhat dated. I really had fun watching her put it together although the temptation to get my hands in there too occasionally earned me a slap. lol Basically all I was allowed to do is advise her. She did a great job for a first time build.

Scannerman · Jun 6, 2024

antspants said:
Yes, you could. You could be made to take 4 teenagers to one of her concerts. (Actually happened)

You poor man.

MrPig · Jun 16, 2024

WIP!

Make it work then make it pretty! Toying with water cooling for the CPU

Scannerman · Jun 16, 2024

Where is the water block? Where is the conduit?

MrPig · Jun 16, 2024

Not fitted yet. I'm planning the layout after I finished the general build.

Scannerman · Jun 16, 2024

It looks like you have the case upside down. That CPU fan looks like it belongs in a server room. I'm not surprised that you want to experiment with water cooling. Those fans are really loud. Myself, I would give up on the water cooling idea and go with a good Noctua cooler or something very similar. Fans need not be loud to be effective anymore. But, that is me and user preference prevails. That looks to be a Gigabyte system board. What model is it?

antspants · Jun 16, 2024

Scannerman said:
That looks to be a Gigabyte system board. What model is it?

Gigabyte MW83-RP0 Workstation MB

Scannerman · Jun 16, 2024

antspants said:
Gigabyte MW83-RP0 Workstation MB

Aaah, 'tis a Xeon! This explains a lot. My Work Station can run Xeons too but it still has that K chip and I'm happy with it. Well, this pretty much explains MrPig's approach with water cooling. I'm guessing some future overclocking is in order. With enough RAM you could run a pretty decent RAM drive on that thing but I digress.

MrPig · Jun 17, 2024

The case has the option to flip the motherboard tray 180°. Puts the mobo power sockets at the bottom & the front panel connections at the top.
Not overclock capable mobo, friend put together a ASUS Ace & it gets VERY hot & flaky with a mild overclock.
Fan was cheapest option purely for building the box & it is noisy! Have seen 4677 water blocks but I would like one with a integrated pump to simplify the layout.

Scannerman · Jun 17, 2024

MrPig said:
The case has the option to flip the motherboard tray 180°. Puts the mobo power sockets at the bottom & the front panel connections at the top.
Not overclock capable mobo, friend put together a ASUS Ace & it gets VERY hot & flaky with a mild overclock.
Fan was cheapest option purely for building the box & it is noisy! Have seen 4677 water blocks but I would like one with a integrated pump to simplify the layout.

I did wonder whether that was a reversible/invertible type case. (Expensive) Yes, that is a server system board and evidently it is built strictly for Xeon CPUs. I had no idea whether the UEFI/BIOS even gave you the option of overclocking but sometimes you have this option, even on boards like this. My X99E WS gives me that option which afforded me the ability to OC my CPU from 3.2 GHz to 4.0 GHz. Still, that is a fine looking board and comparatively speaking it is light years ahead of my old ASUS work station.

Personally, I've never been a big fan of water cooling. Even water cooling enthusiasts like Jay from Jay's Two Cents have encountered water cooling disasters that make me shudder. Have you looked into the NOCTUA line of air cooling? They are notorious for manufacturing quiet, highly effective air cooling solutions and are, as a rule, much cheaper (and simpler) than elaborate water cooling systems. The good thing about having a huge air cooled, multi-finned heat sink on your CPU is that even if the fans fail your CPU still has a measure of protection. Not so much so with water cooling. If the pump fails you can be in big trouble. You definitely have a big enough case there to handle a full-sized NOCTUA cooler. Anyway, it's your build. Please keep us posted with pictures so that we can watch your progress! Looks like you're off to a good start with EATX. I love those big boards!

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