JustM1ke

I sort of wanted to replicate this PC idea but instead of using the traditional noctua colors, I wanted to go down the chromax-black path. The normal Noctua NF-A20 comes with the proper-length rubber fan mounts and extra cabling while the chromax-black has less accessories and costs more, at least they have 4x 6 colored anti-vibration corners. I knew the chromax-black version didn't come with the rubber fan mounts, so I ordered the Noctua NA-SAV2 chromax-black alongside. When I got the fans and the rubber fan mounts, I was disappointed. The black SAV2's were just too short but the bigger problem was Noctua doesn't sell chromax-black versions of the SAV3/SAV4, only the traditional brown ones. I searched around for black knock-offs but I couldn't find any. At that point, I wanted to temporarily mount those fans with something. I tried the long hex screws that came with the case, which worked but required a very small screwdriver or a lot of angle screwing. Eventually, I settled on zip ties. Personally, I'm thinking of going RGB again. The CM SickleFlow 200mm looks promising since its ARGB Gen 2 with PWM versus the stock fans (CM MasterFan MF200R ARGB) being ARGB "Gen 1" with no PWM.

I'll throw my 2 cents in, Get a Z690 board over a B660 board, there almost the same price (Used & New). Used gives you even more value, you can find a ASUS Z690-P for around $150 USD. i5 for current gen (at the time) gaming, i7 for future-proofing to handle newer GPU's. Wait for RTX 4000 series because a RTX 3060 Ti is barely better than GTX 1080 Ti, for example.

I would recommend getting a Z270 board over a H270, especially one with two actual x16 slots (That run in x8/x8 mode with using both slots). H270 motherboards cost almost the same as a Z270 motherboard on the used market. If you get the right Z270 board and configuration, you get 10-gigabit USB and the ability to run 2 PCIe 3.0 NVME M.2s at full speed technically (via through an x16 slot and an on-board M.2 slot). Al KabyLake boards that feature 2 on-board M.2 slots cannot run 2 NVMe SSDs at full speed, only 1 can run at full speed due to DMI 3.0 (chipset) limitations. Sadly, with all dual CPU-linked x16 slot Kabylake boards, you cannot do bifurcation (Meaning turn the first slot into x4/x4/x4/x4 or top slot x8, bottom slot x4/x4), well in normal terms, you can only use 1 NVMe drive per CPU-linked x16 slot, even though technically both slots can run 4 total NVMe SSDs at full speed just fine. There is add-on cards that have on-board bifurcation but there either can run 2 NVMe drives at half speed for cheap or run 2 NVMe drives at full speed for an expensive price (usually costing double what the motherboard costs). If you use both on-board M.2 slots, both NVMe drives will usually automatically be set to half-speed even if your not using them at the time. I mean sure Thunderbolt 3 is cool but the add-on cards can cost the same as the board itself on the used market. Most board makers expect you to install that card into the PCIe 3.0 x4 slot that's connected to the chipset, which is also shared with the on-board M.2 slot, so if your transferring between them, Its only 16-gigabits of useable speed. If you install the NVMe M.2 into the one of the CPU-linked PCIe x16 slots and you install the add-on card into the other x16 slot (Thus eliminating the DMI 3.0 problem), 32-gigabit of useable transfer speed is possible. Thunderbolt 3 can do 40-gigabit but those add-on cards have a PCIe 3.0 x4 interface, which limits the card to 32-gigabit max. Considering modern boards are starting to come with built-in USB4 ports and even Thunderbolt 4 ports, This old add-on card hunt is kind of gimmicky at this point. TLDR: H270 boards are close in price with Z270 boards. With the right Z270 board, you get dual CPU-linked x16 slots (running in x16/x0 mode or x8/x8 mode) and even 10 gigabit USB. Kabylake boards (that even feature 2 M.2 slots) can only 1 run NVMe drive at full speed due to chipset limitations. Finding an Thunderbolt 3 addon card (If your board has a connector) is waste of money due to them costing the same as the board itself. Buying used is your best bet.

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