Building a PC - appreciate feedback

[Austinian]

I'm not nearly so well organized...

I'd have a heart attack if my area looked like that as I like things nice and neat and in their place.

Everything is where it needs to be for maximum convenience.

BTW is that the Normandy sitting atop that black tower with the blue cables coming out of it?

That's a model of the most beautiful aircraft I've ever seen, the XB-70; atop my Zalman Reserator 1 Plus, a primordial AIO cooler that I've used for so many years I can't remember when I bought it.

 

[StIves]

If you run positive air pressure and use 3M filtrate (the fuzzy paper stuff, not household furnace filters) over the main intake, you never have to clean dust out of your PC

One 24x7 server running 3 years straight, one desktop used casually for around the same length of time. Never had to clean out either of them.

To each his own, right

And I don't care what filters you use, dust still gets into things over time. That said, I don't use filters because I don't want any air restrictions, plus I run my fans low for noise levels. And am still able to OC if necessary without heat issues.

And It's not only cleaning, it's routine maintenance checks and pin cleaning; but that's me ;-)

--

Seriously, with filtered positive air pressure, the only cleaning I have to do is to replace the filtrete every couple of months. I've looked inside the case, and do not have to clean anything. Initially I'd left a couple of PCIe slots in the case opened from when I moved cards around, and found that air had been flowing in thought those holes leading to a small mount of dust around the slot, but blanking plates fixed that.

Airflow is fine- I manually tune fans, check component temperatures.

I'm not running water cooling, so no hoses to check. After a year I checked the air cooler, and it was so clean that there was no need to use compressed air on it.

Another difference is that I don't overclock. I modestly overclocked for a while then decided against the additional heat and noise. So my system can get by with more modest airflow than something that generates a lot more heat.

Each to their own indeed, and if you're the kind of person who doesn't like to run routine internal checks, then filters and positive air pressure is great

 

[ADMint]

BTW is that the Normandy sitting atop that black tower with the blue cables coming out of it?

That's a model of the most beautiful aircraft I've ever seen, the XB-70;

Oh, the Valkyrie. That was before my time in the Air Force. I joined in 79 and retired in 05. Aircraft Maintenance.

atop my Zalman Reserator 1 Plus, a primordial AIO cooler that I've used for so many years I can't remember when I bought it.

Anyway that Zalman looks sweet. I've never done a custom watercooling setup; at this time I don't think I will as AIO's are good enough for me.

Thanks.

 

[StIves]

Another thing to consider in drives, using a Raid0 for system performance. Two 250gb will scream beyond what a single 500gb will do, or two 512gb over 1tb. As an added benefit with the Raid0, random memory sticks see less use.

? Raid 0 increases sequential transfer speeds, but limited impact on IOPS, particularly for read heavy, low queue depth workloads (most users).

The M.2 can obliterate SataIII SSDs anyway. The 950 Pro 512gb does 2600/1500 and more than enough iops for any user, and avoid any trim concerns.

Agreed.

I ran RAID 0 SSDs for a while, just for the additional capacity. I did some very casual benchmarking with Crystal Disk and filecopies, and didn't find the RAID arrangement noticeably faster than a single SSD.

I wasn't really that interested in performance though as SSD is simply fast enough for any home usage case, so I didn't test this rigorously or record numbers, nor did I look into whether this was affected by my motherboard's RAID implementation.

On RAID 0 for SSD, what you mainly get is a double chance of hardware failure.

Basically, pretty much any sort of SSD is fine, once you're on it there's no point obsessing about minor improvements, unless you are going to jump off SATA implementations.

 

[StIves]

I'm not nearly so well organized...

All that photo is missing is a cup of coffee perched atop the open case

Do you have dual CST trackballs set up there?!?

 

[ADMint]

Each to their own indeed, and if you're the kind of person who doesn't like to run routine internal checks, then filters and positive air pressure is great

I thought I was the one preaching routine internal checks

They don't bother me, and even if I took your suggestion to heart, I'd still do my internal checks. This is something I've been doing since my first 10 speed bicycle, to electronics, to being an aircraft mechanic, to cars to PC's. It's just something I like to do

But thanks.

 

[BillyBobSenna]

I have the same case. I like it very much.


Same Cooler Master case.




Top side setup.



--
Bill - Beverly Hills, MI
https://www.flickr.com/photos/wgulker/albums

 

[ADMint]

I have the same case. I like it very much.


Same Cooler Master case.

The one you show here is slightly different from the one I have. I believe the one you have is the older of the two. The big difference is the front grill and the those raised ridges. I also believe that one didn't come with clear side panel. Here's a good view of the case here - Cooler Master HAF-X review - Specifications and Features. I also thought the one I have replaced yours. That said, yes there are some similarities between the two. And yes both are good cases.

Edit: Yeah, yours is the HAF 932 as seen here. I actually noted that in my review of the HAF X here when I first got it.

--
A photograph is usually looked at - seldom looked into – Ansel Adams

 

[BillyBobSenna]

Yes you are correct. I purchased the case in early 2012 and have upgraded the system several times since. The case is built like a tank. The only issue I ever had with it was one of the connectors on the top front panel broke. Cooler Master replaced the top front panel with no hassle.

 

[Austinian]

I'm not nearly so well organized...

All that photo is missing is a cup of coffee perched atop the open case

Ha! Unfortunately you can't see it, but the case top has angles such that a cup would immediately fall off. And I'd have to constantly play Fallout 4 to keep the coffee hot.

Do you have dual CST trackballs set up there?!?

Thanks for mentioning CST; never heard of them, but they look interesting. I might get one and see how it feels. The palm rest angle looks a bit extreme, though.

These are modified ITAC trackballs; I've used ITACs for about 15 years and love them. I switch hands at the first sign of hand fatigue while on the PC.

 

[SushiEater]

Another thing to consider in drives, using a Raid0 for system performance. Two 250gb will scream beyond what a single 500gb will do, or two 512gb over 1tb. As an added benefit with the Raid0, random memory sticks see less use.

? Raid 0 increases sequential transfer speeds, but limited impact on IOPS, particularly for read heavy, low queue depth workloads (most users).

Raid 0 increases sequential transfer and random access times according to synthetic tests. But that would depend on when the test is run. If drive is half full both parameters will decrease.

SSD of course does not suffer from this at all.

The M.2 can obliterate SataIII SSDs anyway. The 950 Pro 512gb does 2600/1500 and more than enough iops for any user, and avoid any trim concerns.

For photographic use neither SSD or M.2 or RAID 0 is important. A good 7200 RPM drive is all that is needed.

 

[Mark K]

Also have you looked into or considered a 3 party cooling solution like Corsair's Hydro Series (there are others I use Corsair). In addition to providing better cooling, they provide a nice aesthetic look. However if you have absolutely no plans on overclocking you could just stick with the OEM cooler supplied with the processor. For me though, even though I'm not currently overclocking, I really like the neat look these coolers bring, so that's another reason I got one.

What's the water cooler sound like if you're in a quiet room and the case/GPU fans are not running at high speed?

I've been tempted to try an AIO water cooler for my next build, but one of the guys I know who went that path ended up ditching his as he could hear the fluid pump, which he described as "like a quiet fish tank pump" in the background.

I'm okay with constant and gentle fan noise (my fans are hand controlled to a good noise level), I wouldn't be able to deal with an audible fluid pump though.

I guess in a tropical area where I am, water cooler is essential for people like us..

 

[Simon Garrett]

I guess in a tropical area where I am, water cooler is essential for people like us..

 

[Mark K]

I guess in a tropical area where I am, water cooler is essential for people like us..