The Prodigycal's Son: Personal Upgrade Journey

[Heesleemer]

Hi guys, not too spectacular of an upgrade, but I thought I should document it for S&Gs.

This will just be a log of my upgrades in this build, as it is an ongoing process, Probably upgrade the GPU that has an AIO on it eventually, maybe next generation.

 

Storage:

 

Basically I'm running out of storage, and I have been expanding externally, which is a pain, so since black friday is coming up I'll be picking up some more 3.5 inch drives, but this case storage wise is not that great. Which leaves me to figure out how to mount at least 3 drives. 

I was using the bracket to mount my SSDS and the laptop storage drive, but...

1. it's ugly

2. cables got in the way.

3. I added an H90 to cool my cpu, thus not allowing me to fit 3.5 inch drives on to the back of the bracket. 

 

So I have to come up with a more exotic option. I got a pair of Mountain Mod 120mm HDD fan mounting brackets, but clearance is VERY tight, so I may use that as a template to make my own bracket (shouldn't be hard, I was just too lazy). Depending on clearances I may be able to add another bottom intake to cool the HDDs, if not it's too tall, then no fan, it's not that big of a deal. 

 

I've also "ghetto" mounted my ssds in the back with double sided tape to free up space, this involved cutting out the original SSD tray that is built into to the side panel, I may be throwing my laptop HDD in the back to act as a clone back up of my ssds once I get the larger drives in place.

 

the drives will be going in between the PSU and cooler. 

 

Issue i see may be heat, but I'll probably be getting WD reds, which would help with that. I will eventually upgrade the PSU (it's a CX 600 for all the haters) for quieter and cooler operation. 

 

Cooling:

Formerly had a 200mm fan as a bottom intake and a 140mm noctua redux fan as exhaust (meh)

Hyper 212 evo --> h90 w/ noctuas in push pull

stock bitfenix fans (wow these are quiet!) --> Noctua (louder but way better air flow)... Still waiting on one more NF-F12

 

Only thing I may upgrade in the relatively near future is the GPU. 

 

Hackintosh:

 

So I'll admit, I got this case because it looked like a mac pro, and I like handles. 

Since this is a z97 board, it has an m.2 slot, which I will throw OS X on (Yes, I use os x, but I am a recent PC convert, if anyone cares)

I'll use this thread as a log of whatever problems i have. 

 

 

 

[Heesleemer]

also, any PSU suggestions? I fear modular may interfere with the GPU. 

[W-L]

also, any PSU suggestions? I fear modular may interfere with the GPU. 

 

If you don't mind modding you could get a silverstone SFX PSU and create a mounting bracket for it in the case to give you more working room in the small case. Maybe go for one large storage drive instead of multiple smaller ones to save space.

[Heesleemer]

If you don't mind modding you could get a silverstone SFX PSU and create a mounting bracket for it in the case to give you more working room in the small case. Maybe go for one large storage drive instead of multiple smaller ones to save space.

 

Hm, that is an option, making a bracket shouldn't be too hard. but if possible I'd rather use an atx one for simplicity's sake 

 

Well ultimately I plan on getting THREE 2 or 4 TB drives and put them in raid 5. 

[Heesleemer]

2nd Noctua fan installed.

 

ran in to some hickups, bios keeps resetting itself... I'm thinking the Cmos battery is dead... but we shall see, thank you ASUS customer support.

 

 

The brackets from Mountain mods came in. Now I need to figure out how to mount this while reducing vibrations (since it is not going on top of a fan, nor do i think that would fit). 

 

 

And Adata Premiere Pro m.2 drive has been bought, got a really good deal on it. 2 for 100, brand new 256 gb ones. 

[W-L]

Hm, that is an option, making a bracket shouldn't be too hard. but if possible I'd rather use an atx one for simplicity's sake 

Well ultimately I plan on getting THREE 2 or 4 TB drives and put them in raid 5. 

 

That's going to be quite a squeeze to fit all that in there, have you considered setting up a NAS or external RAID enclosure it would leave you a lot more breathing room inside.

[Heesleemer]

That's going to be quite a squeeze to fit all that in there, have you considered setting up a NAS or external RAID enclosure it would leave you a lot more breathing room inside.

 

Tight, just the way I like em. it will be glorious. @W-L

 

 

It will be a tight squeeze, but I don't think airflow would be an issue. I'm going to flip the brackets around so the drives channel the air flow from the top to the rad. worst comes to worst if I really want more space, i can take one of the NF-A14s out and just have one of them spin slightly faster. As for heat, what I'm actually worried about is the PSU being that close to the HDD since it's only a CX, it does heat up the case internally more than I would like. 

 

yes, I will be building a nas once my cross country move is finalized. I am going to try to build my parents/sister one, depending on black Friday deals.

[W-L]

-SNIP-

 

Haha, but yeah if you have a plate or set of brackets to mount the drive securely to the case with some airflow across them it would probably work. You might want to look into some cable management though for 4 extra drives.

[Heesleemer]

Haha, but yeah if you have a plate or set of brackets to mount the drive securely to the case with some airflow across them it would probably work. You might want to look into some cable management though for 4 extra drives.

 

It it supposed to have a fan mounted at the bottom, however, clearance issues. A thin 120 may fit, but I'm not to inclined to go out and use a thin 120 fan, 

 

as for cable management, absolutely, I was really hoping i could put the drives in upside down, unfortunately the holes don't line up so I may need to drill into this shinny finish mountain mods put on. I'f not, zipties for life. The prodigy M is already a pain to cable manage in the first place. 

[Heesleemer]

any advice on HDDs? I'm leaning to WD reds. 

[W-L]

any advice on HDDs? I'm leaning to WD reds.

WD Red or NAS drives are good, they're designed for a set from 1-8 drives together in a drive cage.

[Heesleemer]

ghetto mounts, with rubber washers (too thin, but works a bit).

The HDD i have in here is a 7200 rpm loud ancient thing. unplugging that soon. 

[Heesleemer]

automotive Sound dampening foam bought, Adata premiere pro m.2 ssd here (i'm guessing oem, since it had windows on it). Impulse bought a nepton 140xl (cheap). EVGA 80+ platnum 750w psu in the mail. 

 

This is turning into a rebuild. 

 

With that said i may have a deal on a 290x for $220 usd, should i take it over my 960? (and use my 960 for my itx build)? 

[W-L]

automotive Sound dampening foam bought, Adata premiere pro m.2 ssd here (i'm guessing oem, since it had windows on it). Impulse bought a nepton 140xl (cheap). EVGA 80+ platnum 750w psu in the mail. 

This is turning into a rebuild. 

With that said i may have a deal on a 290x for $220 usd, should i take it over my 960? (and use my 960 for my itx build)? 

 

For sure if you can get a 290x for that price not bad at all, probably want a blower card though since it would kick out a ton of heat if it was a downdraft card in a small case.

[Heesleemer]

For sure if you can get a 290x for that price not bad at all, probably want a blower card though since it would kick out a ton of heat if it was a downdraft card in a small case.

 

it's an xfx double dissipation one, I'd prefer to avoid amd blower coolers, just personal sound tolerance. 

[W-L]

it's an xfx double dissipation one, I'd prefer to avoid amd blower coolers, just personal sound tolerance. 

 

True most blowers do sound like mini jet engines. 

[DDynamite]

Btw I will also be building something like this next month. I just wanna ask if the corsair h100i gtx will fit even with 1 5 25 inch hard drive installed

[Heesleemer]

Btw I will also be building something like this next month. I just wanna ask if the corsair h100i gtx will fit even with 1 5 25 inch hard drive installed

When I originally had my fan controller I had to hack saw half of it off so it didn't interfere with fans

So no the fan and rad would go into the 5.25 bay

You may be able to ghetto mount or mod it to the bottom of the case

Another issue I run into (which I have read about) is while this case doesn't fall over, with the drives not mounted to the drive bracket, it leans .. Which is annoying

[Heesleemer]

update, sound dampening foam with aluminum (automotive) not as effective as I wanted, although the hum is much lower. 

[Heesleemer]

Update: PSU does not fit. since the PSU is worth more than the case, I may buy a new case 

[W-L]

Update: PSU does not fit. since the PSU is worth more than the case, I may buy a new case 

 

Time for a 900D 

[Heesleemer]

Time for a 900D 

seems reasonable. maybe a Caselabs Merlin SM8... but that's pushing it on how tight everything will fit. 

[Heesleemer]

one of the best purchases I've made for this PC. Gave my H90 to a friend, got this. 

Tempted to go back to air cooling on my itx rig. 

 

All my storage is SSD based. waiting on NVME to drop in price... 

 

I also painted parts of the case, pics coming soon, need to finish the feet and handles