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Salvinz

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  1. That's a great point. So far, the build is as follows: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Noctua NF-14 PWM 140 x 3 AMD Ryzen 7 3700X (Will look to upgrade this in the future) NZXT X63 or ACLF II or Noctua NH-D15 (From what I've read, newer Noctua's come with AMD brackets. D15's sell for $135.00 CAD) Asus TUF Gaming Plus X570 (No Wifi version) G.SKILL Ripjaws V 32 GB Western Digital Black SN750 NVMe SSD M.2 @ 500 GB (Cannibalizing x 2 500 GB SSD's from my previous setup) Asus ROG Strix RTX 2070 Super x 1 (May switch this to 2080 Super... Undecided. If I do go for a 2080, I'll have to change the rest of the build) Corsair RM750 Gold Fully Modular 80+ Gold ATX Power Supply Zowie XL2411P (Going for this due to its pricing and the fact that it's Blurbusters approved) Blue Diamond DisplayPort Cable 1.2, M/M 10 ft The budget is about 3k CAD. I wish I didn't have to get a new monitor, but I'm forced to switch out the older one. In retrospect, it's probably for the better, as the old one has burn-in issues. As for pricing, I agree, but that's par for course in Canada. Tech prices in Canada have traditionally been more expensive than what they are in America. Note: Depending on how good the offerings are on Black Friday and/or Cyber Monday, I may be able to upgrade certain components. For now, I'm taking a somewhat conservative approach. In any event, thank you for responding! Please feel free to critique the build. Any input is appreciated. Cheers
  2. Yet another piece of information I wasn't aware of... Thank you!
  3. True, we can't yet gauge the durability of the ACLF II. GN did talk about the VRM fan and I think he had a neutral to positive take on them, I can't be absolutely certain though, I'll need to watch the review again to be sure. Still, it's good to know of any possible issues. It's certainly news to me, because this is another piece of information I wasn't aware of until now. As for Arctic, I'm slowly starting to realize that they do have a positive reputation within the industry. Thank you for pointing these things out Falkentyne, much appreciated. Cheers
  4. Near as I can tell, the ACLF II's are being universally praised, and I haven't been able to find any reports of failures, be it with ACLF II's or Arctic's previous units. The strongest data point I have is that of Gamers Nexus, i.e., GN has clearly spoken about the Kraken's durability, but given that the ACLF II's are new, it's difficult to gauge its durability. This is fair, and I don't expect someone to accurately predict ACLF II's longevity, however, what I am curious about are Arctic's previous AIO's. You're absolutely right, I need to do more research on this. Given that, I was hoping to pick the brains of the more experienced users of AIO's or liquid cooling in general. That said, every piece of information helps. It's great to know that Arctic makes reliable products, this will help inform my decision. Thank you!
  5. Hello, I'll be building a new PC soon and I'm looking to finally switch from air to liquid cooling. I've narrowed my choices down to NZXT X63 or the Arctic Cooling Freezing Liquid II; the only worry being the markedly different warranties. I'm very new to liquid cooling, and this is why I'm looking at AIO's before custom loops. A 280mm NZXT X63 is $210.00 CAD, whilst a 280mm ACLF II is $170.00 CAD. Additionally, a 360mm ACLF II is $190.00 CAD. Clearly, the ACLF II wins on price to performance, however, it loses when it comes to warranty, i.e., NZXT's Kraken series offer 6 year warranties, whilst the ACLF II's are on a 2 year warranty. Note: RGB is not a factor for me. Given the notable differences in warranties, I have three questions: Does this point to Arctic having low confidence in their product? Should I be concerned over ACLF II's longevity? Is it common for AIO's to maintain optimal performance well beyond their short warranties? I have both watched and read GN's and Guru3D's review on the ACLF II, and the value proposition is tempting to say the least. The worry, however, is the two year warranty on the ACLF II. In any event, if anyone could help shed some light on this, I'd greatly appreciate it. Cheers Product in question: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPaSEGe6ML0 , https://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/arctic-liquid-freezer-ii-280-liquid-cooler-review.html
  6. Appreciate all the info everyone. Since my original post, I've read as much as I can about this. As I understand it, getting the Crucial MX300 525GB M.2 as opposed to the Crucial MX300 525GB wouldn't offer any gains, i.e., they're both identical in performance and differentiate themselves in only form factor. Given that, I've been looking at the Samsung 960 EVO 500GB (https://tinyurl.com/ydggrkfs) as this should offer me actual gains. I'm fairly certain of it's compatibility with my Z170A GAMING M5 (https://tinyurl.com/ybv98vfu) motherboard but I wanted to get a second opinion, just in case I'm missing something. My understanding so far, M.2 has three keys: B, M or B+M. B keys offering up to 10GBits/s as opposed to 20GBits/s from the M keys, and the B+M keys are flexible form factors. In my case, the Z170A has the M key and it's 2280, so I shouldn't run into any compatibility issues with the Samsung 960. If I've missed anything at all, please feel free to correct me. Thanks!
  7. Much appreciated! So now that I'm squared away on that important bit of info, there is a small complication. More than likely, I'll have to plug the M.2 into the second available slot as the first slot has both the GPU and a giant CPU cooler nearby. Now, I'm hoping that the second M.2 slot is a twin and I would loose no functionality by plugging into it. Again, thanks so much for your help so far wONKEyeYEs. Cheers Edit: I just realized my mistake by looking at the graph again. Answered my question.
  8. Thanks for getting back to me wONKEyeYEs! Looking at my motherboard manual and as I understand it, I can look forward to this setup: 1xM.2 SATA SSD + 4xSATA HDDs? In essence, I can hook up one M.2 2280, one 2.5" SSD and two HDD's?
  9. Understood... What if I was looking to install Windows on the M.2 and have the 2.5" SSD for games; would that be possible in my setup?
  10. Thanks for the info Crunchy Dragon. As for my needing two drives, I like to compartmentalize to keep things organized. Given that, I keep one drive for Windows OS and OS related applications and have the other drive(s) be for gaming, videos etc.
  11. Hello everyone! Long time lurker, first time poster. A quick brief, I'm a PC gamer who is far more comfortable in dealing with software than hardware. Boxing day will be coming up soon and I'm looking to finally shift towards SSD's. I've done some reading, however, I am in need of help, specifically around pairing certain SSD's with my motherboard. I'm uncertain of optimal settings and this is where I need your expertise. To anyone that's able to point me into the right direction, thank you so much! System Specs: CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K @ 3.50GHz Motherboard: Z170A GAMING M5 (Bios 1.60) Memory: 16384 MB GPU: GeForce GTX 1060 6GB HDD x 2: Western Digital WD Green 1TB 5400 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" OS: Windows 10 Pro PSU: Corsair HX 650w Goals: I've just purchased one Crucial MX300 525GB (https://tinyurl.com/ya5jmd9h) and looking into getting another Crucial MX300 525GB or a Crucial MX300 525GB M.2 (https://tinyurl.com/y7hgtb8f). I'd like to get the M.2 but I'm not sure exactly what I'll be giving up. Will my GPU be slower? Will I have to sacrifice both of my 1TB WD's? I'd much rather have my setup be optimal than be functional at sub-optimal settings. I did go through my motherboard manual but as I mentioned earlier, I'm not hardware inclined. Attached to this post is my motherboard manual; I believe the relevant info is on page 34. Thank you so much for any help! Happy holidays... 7977v1.0(G52-79771X1)(Z170A GAMING M5).pdf
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