vogelspinnen

The AE-5 is a pretty good soundcard too, I don't really think the difference is SNR is going to be even noticeable. The AE-9 has stuff like the breakout box, swappable opamps and RCA outputs which made me choose it over the AE-5, but if none of these matter to you I'll say go for the AE-5, you get the bonus of having RGB lighting too lol.
 
I used to hear so much about why soundcards are inferior to DACs because it's in the PC so it's subject to EMI, but after hearing a couple of friend's setups, I'll say that problem is non-existent with today's technology.

So far I've only personally had onboard audio. It wasn't terrible, as my mobo is the Aorus Z390 Ultra. Then after that I was on the Audioengine HD3s, which had their own DAC which is LOADS better. I have just finished setting up my AE-9, so far it's the best-sounding of the lot. I'm gonna clear up the place and do some fine-tuning before I report back!

Hello everyone,
 
I am new to the forum and PC building in general, but have always been an audiophile since I started modifying cars in 2005. Now when I say "audiophile", I am not a critical listener, nor do I have a listening room where everything is pitch perfect and I listen to only the highest quality music. I just really enjoy good music, good effects when I am gaming or watching movies. As such, I tend to spend way too much on audio equipment.
 
My current plan is to build a sound system that does everything. Audiophile-quality playback for music and an immersive 5.1 surround experience for games and movies. The reason I chose to go the soundcard route is because good DACs seem to cater mostly for the 2.1 crowd, except the ridiculously expensive ones. 5.1 DACs tend to have just passable-quality audio. AV receivers can do both well, but plonking a huge, chonky thing onto my desk is the last thing on my mind. The Creative Sound BlasterX AE-9 ticked all the boxes, while being able to fit in my PC case, that's a win on all fronts! It also boasts some really impressive hardware and specs, and could really be the end to all my problems.
 
Recent circumstances resulted in me given the opportunity to obtain one of these babies earlier than usual, and I can say Creative really has some top-notch service, That is already a huge plus in my book. I decided to post some photos I took and also my impressions, but please bear in mind I am not a full-on audio equipment reviewer and neither do I know a lot about hardware. I am just an average guy like most of you out there who really loves listening to good audio, so I might sound like I have no idea what I'm talking about. If you guys have any tests you want me to run or specific things you want me to take a closer look at I'll try to accomodate, but I probably will not touch the sound card once it's in my PC (in about an hour from now!) until I my Burson opamps arrive. Enough rambling, photo time!
 

 
Well, it's a box. Nothing much to say here except I am literally bursting with excitement.
 

 
Soundcard is on top, wrapped in an anti-static wrap, and breakout box is below, product is well packaged. Not too sure if the breakout box is needed for the card to work, I will mostly be using just speakers so it isn't that important to me but the volume knob is nice to have, especially since the Dynaudio speakers are quite annoying to change the volume on.
 

 
So here we have it! The AE-9 feels very solidly built and finished, even before testing it, it just feels like a quality product all around. Design is clean and modern, and I especially love the EMI shield design. Not only does the cutaway allow easy swapping of opamps, I am expecting we will be able to install larger opamps like the Burson V6 and still be able to use the EMI shield. That's really thoughtful, and I love how they pay attention to little details and not just throw in the option to roll opamps and call it a day. The breakout box is surprisingly light, but still feels solidly built. The volume knob is just a pleasure to use. Turns easily and smoothly, while clicking firmly as you go through the steps. Like I said, little details!
 

 
RCA cables are well-made too, and Creative includes both an RCA-to-3.5mm female and RCA-to-3.5mm male. A TOSLINK optical cable is also provided. The breakout box uses what seems to be a mini version of a HDMI cable..
 

 

 

 
Terminals are all gold-plated, not necessary in my opinion, but little details like this makes me feel like Creative is sparing no expense at making this what will probably the best soundcard ever.
 

 
The finish on the EMI shield is beautiful, sadly I will not see much of it because it'll be on the bottom.
 

 
Overall, my expectations are really high now. The AE-9 is a well-built card with no expense spared for quality hardware, and definitely none spared in putting it together as well. Even just fiddling with it is impressing me beyond expectations, but at the end of the day, it's all about the SOUND right? I am going to do some cable management now and plan my speaker placement and I will post more pictures and impressions once I actually get it running. See you!

Alright, Let's continue.
 
So i finished up my welds and sent the case for powdercoating, Barely fits in the car when you got other hobbies too..the fabric that once was glued have come loose so it looks like crap right now. But let's focus on the case instead 😁

 
Got it painted the same day, came out great 😃


 
I decided to make new motherboard plates so i could get lasercut grooves and holes for the wiring

 
I noticed that i havent taken any pictures of these new motherboard mounting plates that i made, sorry for that. Here is one though, had already bent up the mountings for the riser cable and gpu and begun screw down the spacer bolts for the motherboard.

 
Fitted an old board to check the cable length of the riser cable.

 
First test mount 



 
Flashy..

 
Realised i needed to do a cutout for the riser cable as it was very tight between the plate and the case itself. So here i have done that on both. Notice that they look slightly different because the gpu is inverted on one of them to get the display cables out the side and not in to the middle of the case.
 

 
Here's how the riser cable will be. Also added a plate to hold the cable down so it would look nice going up to the motherboard

 
Sanded them smooth and sent them to be painted. Looks nice

 
Installed my partners components first as she wasn't in need of it as i was for drawing parts. Notice that I've also installed the plate that covers the "shelf" where the psu and all the cables are located.

 
Thought it was about time to throw in my components aswell, here's where I noticed a small error.. 

 
Did you see it? Well, yes..my gpu is higher up. 25mm to be exactly 🙄

 
This is kinda where we at today. I have already fixed a new plate for my side which lowers my gpu by 25mm, but that will be covered in the next post. 😄

Hi all! New to LTT and I thought i should share my current build with you all. I live in the northern sweden, but i will try write it all in english for you guys.
 
My partner and i are going to renovate our gaming room, and i was first thinking about building a desk pc like so many other have done. But then i got an idea, to build something that i havent seen before. Something unique apart from wall hung pc components, a step further then that.
 
This is my first custom built pc case and there have been some errors and wrong thinking along the way. I use solidworks for making the parts and everything is then lasercut. The idea with this project is to have minimal amounts of cables visible, and you are about to see how we solved it.
 
I want to apologize in advance for any bad pictures, im not a good photographer..
Well then, here are som pictures. I will continue to add more content along the way. Feel free to ask and let me know your thoughts, I will try to answer the best i can when i have time.
 
 
I started of drawing kinda how I wanted the case to look

 
When i was pleased with the case i marked it up on the wall to see where I shall cut the grooves for the electrical hose (yes, this room totally needed renovation xD)

 
Grooves and holes cut. 50mm Electrical hose. The window is to be removed.

 
Put up some drywall. Total mess

 
Paint it black 🎵. Also new floor.

 
Ordered some photo wallpaper. We both enjoy playing diablo so that was ofcourse our first choice. Too bad there isnt very good wallpapers for diablo 4 out yet, but we are pleased with these.


 
Continued with making the desktop itself.


 
Think this will do just fine. Even a place for our doggo.

 
And here we got the main shell, it measures 600x1400mm. 

 
Made some mounting plates for the motherboard, with a distance to hide cables behind.

 
Could not wait to try and hang it on the wall for the first time. 

 
Made some more parts, laser cut ofcourse.

 
Welded in. Thought it would be good to add more fans in the middle of the case. These fans will push the air Down and up through the "shelf" pushing the hot air from the Power supplies.

 
Needed to drill some holes for the recently added fan mount. X marks the spot..


 
I think it came out pretty nice.

 
Mounted up 2 old motherboards i got laying around to see where to cut holes for the I/O plates

 
One hole cut, this was a pain i the rear to cut out afterwards..

 
Other hole also cut, didnt got the i/o plate left for this one.

 
Another view.

 
Thats all for today, to be continued

My wife picked up gaming recently, mostly because I game a lot, and she wanted to join in on my hobby. So, I decided to build her a PC. I am in the midst of starting my new business, and so I do not have a lot to spend, but I wanted something that could play triple-A titles with ease at 1080p. Also, I wanted it clean and RGB-ed. Because my wife loves RGB. After much planning, I figured I would be able to build her PC in one of the spaces in the Kallax shelf we have at home, potentially saving money on a case, while being absolutely unique and clean at the same time.
 
The first order of business was to get the parts for the PC.
 
Gigabyte Aorus Z370 Gaming K3
i5-9600K
Adata 128GB M.2 SSD
XPG 3000Mhz 16GB RAM
EVGA Supernova 1000 P2
DEEPCOOL Castle 240EX
MSI 1060 6GB ( almost immediately replaced by a 2060 Super I won from www.scooget.com. Thanks guys! )
 
The CPU is overkill, but I am planning to give her my 2080 in the future, and I believe a good CPU is worth investing in. These things last ages anyways. The Adata SSD is tiny, but I got it for next to nothing and it's enough for Monster Hunter. The PSU is waaaay overkill, but same thing, it was a deal I couldn't resist. I splurged a bit of the cooler and RAM for their bling factor, but overall everything cost me less than $500, and is ready for the 2080 when I do want to transfer it. Much of the decisions made were also simply because there were really good deals for them on the 2nd-hand market. 5 of the parts here still have warranty on them!
 
So first off, I threw everything together to just make sure it runs. And it posted!
 

 
I bought a old Kallax shelf door for $1 off someone, then drill holes into them. I bought some brass standoffs that were about twice the length of normal mobo standoffs, so I could route cables beneath the mobo. I then drilled a huge 4 inch hole in the center of the door. That is where all the cables will pass through (no photos of that because I was too tired and forgot!).
 

 
The PSU is mounted all the way at the back. It is not flush against the wall, and neither is the shelf, so there's lots of breathing room.
 

 
Cable extensions are a god send here. Besides looking good, I route them all through the 4 inch hole behind the mobo, and removing the mobo is as easy as just unplugging all the extensions.
 

 
Once all the cables are connected, I just push the entire door inwards, where it will be held by some magnetic door stoppers I drilled into the board.
 

 
Next up was mounting the radiator. I wanted it on the left side to hide all the cables coming off the mobo, and custom-made a piece of wood to fill the gap above and below it so it looks like one flush piece. I also took the chance to modify a USB hub and power switch onto it, that's my front panel IO!
 


 
Finally, I resprayed the GPU shroud because the white was just darn ugly.
 

 
Annnnnd the build is done...
 


 
....or is it?
 
2 weeks after the build, I submitted my build on www.scooget.com, and lo and behold, I won myself a 2060 Super GPU! First thing I did was but a vertical GPU mount for it, as the lack of a proper case means my GPU was just dangling off the PCIE slot, which is ok for the tiny 1060. I found a guy selling one he didn't even know what case it was for, hence the low price.
 

 
A little modification to my build, and the 2060 Super is sitting pretty
 

 
For KBM, I didn't need something good, my wife only ever uses it to click on Monster Hunter. But it had to be wireless due to the distance, and preferably neat too. I searched through all my stuff, and salvaged these parts:
 
An IKEA Lack shelf I salvaged from my bedside table. It's a 2 tier shelf, and I only use the top, so I removed the bottom for this project.
An old VESA gas-actuator arm. It was used for my monitor a while ago, but I removed it because it jiggled way too much when I was in standing-desk mode.
A VESA mount adapter for the X34P. This is supposed to be used for the X34P if you wanna mount a NUC or something, but I didn't, and it's VESA-sized, made of really solid steel, so it's perfect as other side of the VESA arm.
A Dynaudio speaker cover. This cover is used when you are not VESA mounting your Dynaudio speakers. I don't need them, and it's VESA-compatible so ta-dah, my wife has a posh mosue holder.
 
First order of business is to attach the X34P VESA adapter. The arm will be mounted on the other side, sandwiching the plank.
 

 
I cut 2 pieces of felt and lined the inside of the adapter and the speaker cover. This is where the mouse will sit.
 

 
With everything screwed together, I adjusted the screws such that the mouse sits snugly while still being easy to reach.
 

 
With the keyboard screwed in, this is how it looks like when it is stowed away.
 

 
And this is with the keyboard pulled out. With the gas-arm properly adjusted, doing so is a breeze, whereas the board is usually quite heavy when I was working with it.
 

 
And that is about it! My wife now spends hours on Monster Hunter with it, and seeing her enjoy herself makes all that hard work well worth it. This build is budget-as-heck, but hopefully my new business will pick up, and the next order of business is to get her a 4K TV.
 
I would like to specially mention www.scooget.com. While I am not affiliated with them in any way, they do run a very cool site where they have contests pretty often with great prizes. Winning the 2060 Super was the best thing that happened to me in a long while, and is just perfect for my wife's build, so yes, I am very inclined to help them promote their site in any way I can!
 
 

My wife picked up gaming recently, mostly because I game a lot, and she wanted to join in on my hobby. So, I decided to build her a PC. I am in the midst of starting my new business, and so I do not have a lot to spend, but I wanted something that could play triple-A titles with ease at 1080p. Also, I wanted it clean and RGB-ed. Because my wife loves RGB. After much planning, I figured I would be able to build her PC in one of the spaces in the Kallax shelf we have at home, potentially saving money on a case, while being absolutely unique and clean at the same time.
 
The first order of business was to get the parts for the PC.
 
Gigabyte Aorus Z370 Gaming K3
i5-9600K
Adata 128GB M.2 SSD
XPG 3000Mhz 16GB RAM
EVGA Supernova 1000 P2
DEEPCOOL Castle 240EX
MSI 1060 6GB ( almost immediately replaced by a 2060 Super I won from www.scooget.com. Thanks guys! )
 
The CPU is overkill, but I am planning to give her my 2080 in the future, and I believe a good CPU is worth investing in. These things last ages anyways. The Adata SSD is tiny, but I got it for next to nothing and it's enough for Monster Hunter. The PSU is waaaay overkill, but same thing, it was a deal I couldn't resist. I splurged a bit of the cooler and RAM for their bling factor, but overall everything cost me less than $500, and is ready for the 2080 when I do want to transfer it. Much of the decisions made were also simply because there were really good deals for them on the 2nd-hand market. 5 of the parts here still have warranty on them!
 
So first off, I threw everything together to just make sure it runs. And it posted!
 

 
I bought a old Kallax shelf door for $1 off someone, then drill holes into them. I bought some brass standoffs that were about twice the length of normal mobo standoffs, so I could route cables beneath the mobo. I then drilled a huge 4 inch hole in the center of the door. That is where all the cables will pass through (no photos of that because I was too tired and forgot!).
 

 
The PSU is mounted all the way at the back. It is not flush against the wall, and neither is the shelf, so there's lots of breathing room.
 

 
Cable extensions are a god send here. Besides looking good, I route them all through the 4 inch hole behind the mobo, and removing the mobo is as easy as just unplugging all the extensions.
 

 
Once all the cables are connected, I just push the entire door inwards, where it will be held by some magnetic door stoppers I drilled into the board.
 

 
Next up was mounting the radiator. I wanted it on the left side to hide all the cables coming off the mobo, and custom-made a piece of wood to fill the gap above and below it so it looks like one flush piece. I also took the chance to modify a USB hub and power switch onto it, that's my front panel IO!
 


 
Finally, I resprayed the GPU shroud because the white was just darn ugly.
 

 
Annnnnd the build is done...
 


 
....or is it?
 
2 weeks after the build, I submitted my build on www.scooget.com, and lo and behold, I won myself a 2060 Super GPU! First thing I did was but a vertical GPU mount for it, as the lack of a proper case means my GPU was just dangling off the PCIE slot, which is ok for the tiny 1060. I found a guy selling one he didn't even know what case it was for, hence the low price.
 

 
A little modification to my build, and the 2060 Super is sitting pretty
 

 
For KBM, I didn't need something good, my wife only ever uses it to click on Monster Hunter. But it had to be wireless due to the distance, and preferably neat too. I searched through all my stuff, and salvaged these parts:
 
An IKEA Lack shelf I salvaged from my bedside table. It's a 2 tier shelf, and I only use the top, so I removed the bottom for this project.
An old VESA gas-actuator arm. It was used for my monitor a while ago, but I removed it because it jiggled way too much when I was in standing-desk mode.
A VESA mount adapter for the X34P. This is supposed to be used for the X34P if you wanna mount a NUC or something, but I didn't, and it's VESA-sized, made of really solid steel, so it's perfect as other side of the VESA arm.
A Dynaudio speaker cover. This cover is used when you are not VESA mounting your Dynaudio speakers. I don't need them, and it's VESA-compatible so ta-dah, my wife has a posh mosue holder.
 
First order of business is to attach the X34P VESA adapter. The arm will be mounted on the other side, sandwiching the plank.
 

 
I cut 2 pieces of felt and lined the inside of the adapter and the speaker cover. This is where the mouse will sit.
 

 
With everything screwed together, I adjusted the screws such that the mouse sits snugly while still being easy to reach.
 

 
With the keyboard screwed in, this is how it looks like when it is stowed away.
 

 
And this is with the keyboard pulled out. With the gas-arm properly adjusted, doing so is a breeze, whereas the board is usually quite heavy when I was working with it.
 

 
And that is about it! My wife now spends hours on Monster Hunter with it, and seeing her enjoy herself makes all that hard work well worth it. This build is budget-as-heck, but hopefully my new business will pick up, and the next order of business is to get her a 4K TV.
 
I would like to specially mention www.scooget.com. While I am not affiliated with them in any way, they do run a very cool site where they have contests pretty often with great prizes. Winning the 2060 Super was the best thing that happened to me in a long while, and is just perfect for my wife's build, so yes, I am very inclined to help them promote their site in any way I can!
 
 

Not that it was needed, but as I was searching for a 2nd-hand PSU, it was actually cheaper than all the other 700W and 650W ones I was looking at, and it's EVGA, and still under warranty. Was too good a deal to pass up!

Thank you  I actually messed up painting it, so I ended up just decaling it.

My wife picked up gaming recently, mostly because I game a lot, and she wanted to join in on my hobby. So, I decided to build her a PC. I am in the midst of starting my new business, and so I do not have a lot to spend, but I wanted something that could play triple-A titles with ease at 1080p. Also, I wanted it clean and RGB-ed. Because my wife loves RGB. After much planning, I figured I would be able to build her PC in one of the spaces in the Kallax shelf we have at home, potentially saving money on a case, while being absolutely unique and clean at the same time.
 
The first order of business was to get the parts for the PC.
 
Gigabyte Aorus Z370 Gaming K3
i5-9600K
Adata 128GB M.2 SSD
XPG 3000Mhz 16GB RAM
EVGA Supernova 1000 P2
DEEPCOOL Castle 240EX
MSI 1060 6GB ( almost immediately replaced by a 2060 Super I won from www.scooget.com. Thanks guys! )
 
The CPU is overkill, but I am planning to give her my 2080 in the future, and I believe a good CPU is worth investing in. These things last ages anyways. The Adata SSD is tiny, but I got it for next to nothing and it's enough for Monster Hunter. The PSU is waaaay overkill, but same thing, it was a deal I couldn't resist. I splurged a bit of the cooler and RAM for their bling factor, but overall everything cost me less than $500, and is ready for the 2080 when I do want to transfer it. Much of the decisions made were also simply because there were really good deals for them on the 2nd-hand market. 5 of the parts here still have warranty on them!
 
So first off, I threw everything together to just make sure it runs. And it posted!
 

 
I bought a old Kallax shelf door for $1 off someone, then drill holes into them. I bought some brass standoffs that were about twice the length of normal mobo standoffs, so I could route cables beneath the mobo. I then drilled a huge 4 inch hole in the center of the door. That is where all the cables will pass through (no photos of that because I was too tired and forgot!).
 

 
The PSU is mounted all the way at the back. It is not flush against the wall, and neither is the shelf, so there's lots of breathing room.
 

 
Cable extensions are a god send here. Besides looking good, I route them all through the 4 inch hole behind the mobo, and removing the mobo is as easy as just unplugging all the extensions.
 

 
Once all the cables are connected, I just push the entire door inwards, where it will be held by some magnetic door stoppers I drilled into the board.
 

 
Next up was mounting the radiator. I wanted it on the left side to hide all the cables coming off the mobo, and custom-made a piece of wood to fill the gap above and below it so it looks like one flush piece. I also took the chance to modify a USB hub and power switch onto it, that's my front panel IO!
 


 
Finally, I resprayed the GPU shroud because the white was just darn ugly.
 

 
Annnnnd the build is done...
 


 
....or is it?
 
2 weeks after the build, I submitted my build on www.scooget.com, and lo and behold, I won myself a 2060 Super GPU! First thing I did was but a vertical GPU mount for it, as the lack of a proper case means my GPU was just dangling off the PCIE slot, which is ok for the tiny 1060. I found a guy selling one he didn't even know what case it was for, hence the low price.
 

 
A little modification to my build, and the 2060 Super is sitting pretty
 

 
For KBM, I didn't need something good, my wife only ever uses it to click on Monster Hunter. But it had to be wireless due to the distance, and preferably neat too. I searched through all my stuff, and salvaged these parts:
 
An IKEA Lack shelf I salvaged from my bedside table. It's a 2 tier shelf, and I only use the top, so I removed the bottom for this project.
An old VESA gas-actuator arm. It was used for my monitor a while ago, but I removed it because it jiggled way too much when I was in standing-desk mode.
A VESA mount adapter for the X34P. This is supposed to be used for the X34P if you wanna mount a NUC or something, but I didn't, and it's VESA-sized, made of really solid steel, so it's perfect as other side of the VESA arm.
A Dynaudio speaker cover. This cover is used when you are not VESA mounting your Dynaudio speakers. I don't need them, and it's VESA-compatible so ta-dah, my wife has a posh mosue holder.
 
First order of business is to attach the X34P VESA adapter. The arm will be mounted on the other side, sandwiching the plank.
 

 
I cut 2 pieces of felt and lined the inside of the adapter and the speaker cover. This is where the mouse will sit.
 

 
With everything screwed together, I adjusted the screws such that the mouse sits snugly while still being easy to reach.
 

 
With the keyboard screwed in, this is how it looks like when it is stowed away.
 

 
And this is with the keyboard pulled out. With the gas-arm properly adjusted, doing so is a breeze, whereas the board is usually quite heavy when I was working with it.
 

 
And that is about it! My wife now spends hours on Monster Hunter with it, and seeing her enjoy herself makes all that hard work well worth it. This build is budget-as-heck, but hopefully my new business will pick up, and the next order of business is to get her a 4K TV.
 
I would like to specially mention www.scooget.com. While I am not affiliated with them in any way, they do run a very cool site where they have contests pretty often with great prizes. Winning the 2060 Super was the best thing that happened to me in a long while, and is just perfect for my wife's build, so yes, I am very inclined to help them promote their site in any way I can!
 
 

My wife picked up gaming recently, mostly because I game a lot, and she wanted to join in on my hobby. So, I decided to build her a PC. I am in the midst of starting my new business, and so I do not have a lot to spend, but I wanted something that could play triple-A titles with ease at 1080p. Also, I wanted it clean and RGB-ed. Because my wife loves RGB. After much planning, I figured I would be able to build her PC in one of the spaces in the Kallax shelf we have at home, potentially saving money on a case, while being absolutely unique and clean at the same time.
 
The first order of business was to get the parts for the PC.
 
Gigabyte Aorus Z370 Gaming K3
i5-9600K
Adata 128GB M.2 SSD
XPG 3000Mhz 16GB RAM
EVGA Supernova 1000 P2
DEEPCOOL Castle 240EX
MSI 1060 6GB ( almost immediately replaced by a 2060 Super I won from www.scooget.com. Thanks guys! )
 
The CPU is overkill, but I am planning to give her my 2080 in the future, and I believe a good CPU is worth investing in. These things last ages anyways. The Adata SSD is tiny, but I got it for next to nothing and it's enough for Monster Hunter. The PSU is waaaay overkill, but same thing, it was a deal I couldn't resist. I splurged a bit of the cooler and RAM for their bling factor, but overall everything cost me less than $500, and is ready for the 2080 when I do want to transfer it. Much of the decisions made were also simply because there were really good deals for them on the 2nd-hand market. 5 of the parts here still have warranty on them!
 
So first off, I threw everything together to just make sure it runs. And it posted!
 

 
I bought a old Kallax shelf door for $1 off someone, then drill holes into them. I bought some brass standoffs that were about twice the length of normal mobo standoffs, so I could route cables beneath the mobo. I then drilled a huge 4 inch hole in the center of the door. That is where all the cables will pass through (no photos of that because I was too tired and forgot!).
 

 
The PSU is mounted all the way at the back. It is not flush against the wall, and neither is the shelf, so there's lots of breathing room.
 

 
Cable extensions are a god send here. Besides looking good, I route them all through the 4 inch hole behind the mobo, and removing the mobo is as easy as just unplugging all the extensions.
 

 
Once all the cables are connected, I just push the entire door inwards, where it will be held by some magnetic door stoppers I drilled into the board.
 

 
Next up was mounting the radiator. I wanted it on the left side to hide all the cables coming off the mobo, and custom-made a piece of wood to fill the gap above and below it so it looks like one flush piece. I also took the chance to modify a USB hub and power switch onto it, that's my front panel IO!
 


 
Finally, I resprayed the GPU shroud because the white was just darn ugly.
 

 
Annnnnd the build is done...
 


 
....or is it?
 
2 weeks after the build, I submitted my build on www.scooget.com, and lo and behold, I won myself a 2060 Super GPU! First thing I did was but a vertical GPU mount for it, as the lack of a proper case means my GPU was just dangling off the PCIE slot, which is ok for the tiny 1060. I found a guy selling one he didn't even know what case it was for, hence the low price.
 

 
A little modification to my build, and the 2060 Super is sitting pretty
 

 
For KBM, I didn't need something good, my wife only ever uses it to click on Monster Hunter. But it had to be wireless due to the distance, and preferably neat too. I searched through all my stuff, and salvaged these parts:
 
An IKEA Lack shelf I salvaged from my bedside table. It's a 2 tier shelf, and I only use the top, so I removed the bottom for this project.
An old VESA gas-actuator arm. It was used for my monitor a while ago, but I removed it because it jiggled way too much when I was in standing-desk mode.
A VESA mount adapter for the X34P. This is supposed to be used for the X34P if you wanna mount a NUC or something, but I didn't, and it's VESA-sized, made of really solid steel, so it's perfect as other side of the VESA arm.
A Dynaudio speaker cover. This cover is used when you are not VESA mounting your Dynaudio speakers. I don't need them, and it's VESA-compatible so ta-dah, my wife has a posh mosue holder.
 
First order of business is to attach the X34P VESA adapter. The arm will be mounted on the other side, sandwiching the plank.
 

 
I cut 2 pieces of felt and lined the inside of the adapter and the speaker cover. This is where the mouse will sit.
 

 
With everything screwed together, I adjusted the screws such that the mouse sits snugly while still being easy to reach.
 

 
With the keyboard screwed in, this is how it looks like when it is stowed away.
 

 
And this is with the keyboard pulled out. With the gas-arm properly adjusted, doing so is a breeze, whereas the board is usually quite heavy when I was working with it.
 

 
And that is about it! My wife now spends hours on Monster Hunter with it, and seeing her enjoy herself makes all that hard work well worth it. This build is budget-as-heck, but hopefully my new business will pick up, and the next order of business is to get her a 4K TV.
 
I would like to specially mention www.scooget.com. While I am not affiliated with them in any way, they do run a very cool site where they have contests pretty often with great prizes. Winning the 2060 Super was the best thing that happened to me in a long while, and is just perfect for my wife's build, so yes, I am very inclined to help them promote their site in any way I can!
 
 

This is pure perfectionist pornography man. Build is so effing clean, photography really does it justice, this thread hits the spots in so many ways!

Edit: everything I say below is about analog audio. When using digital audio (like the volume sliders on individual applications) then keep them at 100%, using anything other than 100% will compromise your dynamic range. So when talking about the computer's volume output, I am talking about the master slider for Windows, that is the only control that effects the DAC.
 
When using consumer -10dBV analog audio devices (which includes even high-end), you typically don't want to exceed 75% volume on your output device. The reason is that you are dealing with a limited input range. If you exceed that range then clipping happens and your audio becomes heavily distorted. It is better to lower the output so that isn't a risk. You can makeup the volume by turning up the speakers.
 
You also don't want to go much below 75% because then you are sending a needlessly weak single through the audio cables and noise will be introduced into the single. If you want the "best" approach, always leave the computer at 75% and use your speaker's volume control. Having said that, I don't even do that, if you have good quality cables and keep them away from power lines, then you are probably safe with anything between 25 and 75% without much noticeable noise.
 
In professional audio devices (using balanced +4dBu interfaces) you have a very clear standard on what is considered "line-level" and clipping should never happen (in theory at least, most pro-audio techs will still avoid 100% volume on outputs). Also, pro-audio uses balanced interfaces, which uses a positive and negative single to almost completely eliminate noise from the line. So with those kinds of connections you can easily have a cable go 500 feet even at 1% power and have no noise (which is how microphones work, their power levels are insanely low).

To be honest, I would grab a Rythmik sub, such as the FVX12, which will give you similar output, better low frequency response and much better accuracy. http://www.rythmikaudio.com/FVX12.html
 
Then for the mains, something such as the KEF LS50, which are currently 400 dollars off at bestbuy https://www.bestbuy.com/site/kef-ls50-5-1-4-2-way-studio-monitors-pair-high-gloss-piano-white/5838542.p?skuId=5838542
 
Then obviously they need an amp, such as the Pioneer SX-10AE, which has plenty of power, connectivity, and of course a subwoofer pre out. https://www.bestbuy.com/site/pioneer-2-0-ch-stereo-receiver-black/6150411.p?skuId=6150411
 
Then you buy a subwoofer cable, and a pair of speaker cables to connect it all
 
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/rocketfish-30-speaker-wire-16awg-gold/8315423.p?skuId=8315423
 
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/rocketfish-12-subwoofer-cable-gray/9807361.p?skuId=9807361

Nothing much to say about the sub though, SVS stuff is pretty solid, so that's a good choice. I would've gone for that sub if my room was so tiny.
 
Also i would recommend you audit a few brands at local retailers if at all possible, most brands will have a certain signature to their sound, that will give you a good eatimate of what kind of sound you like.

Nothing much to say about the sub though, SVS stuff is pretty solid, so that's a good choice. I would've gone for that sub if my room was so tiny.
 
Also i would recommend you audit a few brands at local retailers if at all possible, most brands will have a certain signature to their sound, that will give you a good eatimate of what kind of sound you like.

UPDATE 8.0 - MODZERO ASHEN V2.0 COMPLETE   I love building PCs, well, I love building the PCs I choose to build. The older I get the harder it is to find the time,  pull things together, the longer it takes to finish these types of projects. As time goes on new modders/system builders enter the game and raise the bar (awesome), its never been competitive amongst each other, but often your skills will be reflected by your sponsorship opportunities (makes sense). I  have always built around the products I want to use. It is those, that are often the focal point or the inspiration behind a project getting made. Be it a new case design or innovation,  a radical GPU cooler design, line of WC fittings or blocks. As such,  I can only afford to build myself a new rig every couple of years and even that is with the great support I've gained from sponsors. 100+ hours go into these (most of them) and I'm proud of each and every one. Over the last couple of years, I've been able to build a few for friends (NOT SPONSORED) which have enabled me to keep the 'MODZERO' brand (if you will) going between personal projects. As anyone with any sort of social media presence will know, content is king.    ASHEN was inspired by a set of KEY CAPS I bought for my FILCO TKL. It was made possible by PARVUM being able to provide a truly unique customer experience. Absolute customization based on pre-existing great design. They are the ONLY company that offers this and there is a reason. I believe its a near-impossible business model. With no huge investment, be able to offer, design and deliver 100% scratch/modified cases at a marketable price point is so hard to do. It's certainly hard to do it well. They are not new to this, being perhaps responsible for some of the greatest builds of the last 10 years. I'm a fanboy sure, and I'm standing by them.    SPECS   CASE: PARVUM X3.0 CUSTOM ITX
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600X
RAM: HYPERX DDR4 3200MHZ 16GB
MOBO: GIGABYTE AORUS X570I PRO WIFI ITX
GPU: AMD RX 5700XT 50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION 8GB
PSU: SILVERSTONE SX650-G SFX 650 WATT
SSD: SAMSUNG 970 EVO 512GB & 860 EVO 500GB   NOCTUA NH-D9L + NF B9 REDUX - 1600RPM PWM
NOCTUA NF-P12 REDUX 1300 PWM   EK-Vector Radeon RX 5700 +XT D-RGB - Special Edition
EK-CoolStream SE 120 (Slim Single)
EK-Torque HTC-12 - Black
EK-Torque HTC-12 Color Rings Pack - Red
EK-DDC 3.2 PWM (12V PWM pump)
EK-DDC Heatsink Housing - Black
EK-CryoFuel Clear (Premix 1000mL)     FINAL SHOTS:   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...   I'm really happy with the result, looks great! performs even better! having a CPU tower cooler (NOCTUA NH-D9L) means I've finally got airflow over the MOSFETs and that DDC pump. I can tell you... when it was just a CPU loop that bottom corner of my build would get so hot the LEDs in the RGB strip would fail! Now, with gentle airflow, it's comfortable to the touch and the temps are good.    I like it so much, I'm starting over! Not joking.    MODZERO SEVEN will be complete early next year. I'm taking all the hardware from ASHEN and putting it in another Parvum ITX case. This time, it's the Parvum R1.0 ITX. It'll house the distro from ASHEN all the X3.0 design improvements with the added benefit of housing two 240mm radiators from new sponsor Alphacool Watercooling. A full loop from EKWB and six Noctua Redux SP120 fans. oh, and an integrated Aquaero 6!   ASHEN will not be retired though, I love its retro/enterprise (ish) design and so I've designed a pedestal add-on to mount 2x 5.25" bays with hot-swap drives. A SAS controller card, Quadro GPU and more Noctua cooling goodness. ASHEN V3 will become my UNRAID server. Furthermore, MODZERO DYNO is almost ready to kick off. My Razer themed 0-11D build is set to be something rather different from my ITX norm. I'm going big, loud (design) and shiny. Be ready for it.    These three projects will be 2020 for me.    Huge thank you to the companies that have continued showing support. AMD, NOCTUA, SILVERSTONE TECH, PARVUM, GIGABYTE and EKWB!!! you guys are awesome! ❤️     J.

I used to have 3 separate amps for my car setup and never really noticed a difference, like kirashi said the RCA would have to be an absurbly different length for there to be an audible difference. Even time alignment software which causes speakers to be delayed only shifts the perception of positioning of sound, and can never go far enough to cause an audible echo.
 
Run the power cables down the center tunnel where your transmission is, and audio cables down the door sills. That's the way i always run my cables to avoid any strange interferences.

I used to have 3 separate amps for my car setup and never really noticed a difference, like kirashi said the RCA would have to be an absurbly different length for there to be an audible difference. Even time alignment software which causes speakers to be delayed only shifts the perception of positioning of sound, and can never go far enough to cause an audible echo.
 
Run the power cables down the center tunnel where your transmission is, and audio cables down the door sills. That's the way i always run my cables to avoid any strange interferences.

Color scheme is awesome, and the keanu portrait is just absolutely bonkers! Looking forward to seeing the end product!

Color scheme is awesome, and the keanu portrait is just absolutely bonkers! Looking forward to seeing the end product!

It's almost certainly a ground loop. Are all your equipment plugged into the same socket, or at least on the same ground circuit?
 
https://www.audioholics.com/home-theater-connection/ground-loops-eliminating-system-hum-and-buzz
 
Here's some reading that might help you.

And Now start with the airbrushing, ()
You're breathtaking !!!!


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That looks dope af!!

There are mid-range speakers that sound absolutely brilliant. Audioengine, JBL, Swan, Edifier, and many more make brilliant speakers.
 
If you are thinking purely about sound quality, with headphones you can generally get more for less money. But what headphones cannot replicate is a beautiful soundstage, you will always have the "sound in your head" feeling. And bass. Good headphones still sound really good down low, but never have the rumbling bass of a good subwoofer.
 
In the end, go have a few listens at retail shops and decide what you want. Headphones will be considerably cheaper and fuss-free. Most you'll need is a good DAC and amp. Speakers are pricey to begin with, then you have to deal with issues like positioning, acoustic treatment and soundproofing.