So, first post to LTT forums for me - but since I have just completed my system build (well, mostly), i'm keen to share in it's awesomeness:
My old system was a Core i5 3570k with stock cooler, - a Radion RX 480 8gb and a Coolermaster Silencio 550 case.
I dusted that out and swapped the boot drive with a WD Green 480gb SDD, stole the 3tb WD Blue data drive (and the original 128gb OCZ SSD boot drive) for the new machine.
So i set out to build a mid range system. Gaming wasnt the top priority but was reasonably important - so I on balance, I decided to go the Ryzen route. As for GPU, I went with a RTX 2060 - price wise was close enough to the GTX1060 but seemed to pull in better results in the benchmarks I've seen.
The Ryzen 5 2600X seemed to top the value bang for buck ratio, so I went with that, along with an MSI Mortar B450 Mobo.
Storage wise, aside from the re-purposed two drives from the old PC, I added a new boot drive - a Corsair MP510 980gb M.2 NVME SSD.
RAM - 4 sticks of 8gb Corsair Vengeance LPX 3000mhz totalling 32gb.
The GPU is a Pallit Geforce 2060 - not the factory OC variant.
The case is an Antec DP501 - the kids helped choose - they went for the RGB funkiness, which sort of led me down a rabbit hole of RGB funkiness. More on that in a bit.
Cooler wise, I replaced the stock AMD cooler with a Thermaltake Floe Riing RGB 280 TT Premium Edition AIO. I also replaced the case fan with 3 Antec RGB Prizm 120mm fans, and the pack also came with 2 RGB strips.
Power is provided by an Antec 550w EarthWatts 80+ Gold semi-modular PSU.
The aforementioned re-purposed drives are now configured with the AMD StorMI tiered storage acceleration software you get free with AMD motherboards, with 2gb of cache RAM in the mix, these are acting as my Data drives.
I've yet to sort of proper backup - although I have copies of all data on my other PC at present.
Finally, I added an Asus Bluetooth USB stick to use with the XBOX one Gameplad I also bought on Ebay.
So, TL,DR
New PC:
CPU: Ryzen 5 2600X
Mobo: MSI Mortar B450 Mobo
RAM: Corsair Vengence LPX 3000
GPU: Pallit Geforce RTX 2060
AIO: THermaltake FLoe Riing 280 TT Premium Edition.
Fans: Antec Prizm 120
PSU: Antec Earthwatts 80+ GOld 550w
Storage; 1x Corsair MP510 980gb M.2 NVME, 1x OCZ 128gb SATA 2.5" SSD, WD Blue 3tb HDD.
Case: Antec Dark Phantom 501 RGB .
RGB Nightmare:
So - during the case build, i went down the RGB rabbit hole. It was for the kids, honest! (thats' what I tell the wife, anyway).
I didn't realise just how much of a mess the RGB scene is with PC building! Argh!
Apart from the differing standards in terms of software, the slew of different connectors, and then the RGB vs ARGB headers, and the lack of options for people without ARGB on their Mobos!
So all my case fans and RGB strips are ARGB. My case has an ARGB hub built in, my set of fans and strips came with an ARGB hub - BUT my mobo is 12v RGB only! Maybe I should have done more research, but I only discovered there was a difference when I attempted to plug in the 3 pin connector onto my apparently 4 pin RGB headers on the Motherboard.
Then there is the Thermaltake Riing software -and the control hub that comes with the AIO . It does not have the option to sync with non Thermaltake RGB - except that from Razer.
Currently I have all my ARGB connected to the case hub - (and managed to snap off one of the 6 headers int he process) - and that is controlled by a dedicated case Colour mode button.
I have no software control - and have been hunting to find a way around this.
In the end, I settled on an Asus Rog Aura Terminal . This connects either internally or externally, and allows you to connect ARGB lighting rigs through it's 4 ARGB headers, but I am where I am.
It would have been cheaper to have bought a Mobo with ARGB headers in the first place, but I really, really didn't want to deconstruct the entire PC just to get ARGB headers and spend another tonne and a half on new premium mobo!
But this looked like the only USB controllable solution on the market, so in the name of RGB, it had to be done.
Other's exist, but they use proprietary connectors. Corsair, Thermaltake, Coolermaster, - all have USB controllable RGB header hubs, but they are exclusively for their own fans - or single RGB colours rather than ARGB.
Once the ROG Aura terminal has been installed, I'll still have the AIO fans that dont sync up - as the Thermaltake hub they came with doesn't have an ARGB controller option!
But I'll be in a better position than I was either way.
Would Linus and co be up for a quick feature on the nightmare of RGB eco-systems ? I know you did a video a couple of years ago - but things have evolved since then!
Final steps to finish this off:
Proper cable ties - the cable management is a bit all over the place, but all hidden behind the Mobo.
I'll upload some beauty shots of the final build later.
