Luke Murtagh

Thanks for the reply. So I would only see a difference if I either waited for the new Ryzen CPUs or upgraded further down the line to a future Intel CPU which was PCIe gen 4? In that case I might not mind going the vertical route. Wouldn't it be running on only half the speed of the x16 PCIe slot though?

Hi all, Just a quick question. I'm getting ready for my new build once the new 30 series GPUs come out but I have a question. I had planned to use Lian Li's Vertical GPU Mount in my Lancool II Mesh for aesthetic reasons, until I realised it has a speed limitation of 8Gb/s. How much would this affect the performance of my GPU? I would like a vertical mount simply because I like the look of it but I certainly don't want to sacrifice performance. For reference the card I'm looking at is the 3080 and the CPU it'll be paired up with is a i9-10900K, and I will be gaming at 1440p. Thanks!

Hello all, I am thinking about using some Lian-Li BR120 Digital RGB fans in my next build but I was wondering how to connect everything. I was thinking about using the Phanteks Universal PWM Fan Hub and the Lamptron SP101 ARGB Hub which should allow me to control both the speed and RGB effects of the fans. Would anyone have any other recommendations? Also would the Phanteks hub work with Lian Li fans or does it only work with Phanteks fans? I presume since it has 'universal' in its name it should work but just double checking. https://www.overclockers.co.uk/phanteks-universal-pwm-fan-hub-black-ca-08x-pt.html https://www.overclockers.co.uk/lamptron-sp101-10x-addressable-rgb-hub-for-aura-fusion-and-mystic-bb-00f-lp.html Thanks!

Hello, I was thinking about a build I want to do later this year and I was originally considering going for a normal ATX case, but it occurred to me I might be interested in going for a small form factor case. I've never done one before and I'm curious to try one. Problem is, I haven't got a clue what makes a good ITX case. Could anyone recommend me one? I value performance over aesthetics if that helps. Thanks!

Good point on airflow. I'll have to do some more thinking on my case choice. Thanks for all the help!

Brill, thanks for the help. One other tangential question - how many radiators should I have? I'm thinking of going for either an i9-10900k or similar AMD CPU when they release later this year and a 3080TI when it releases as well. My case will probably be a Fractal Design Define 7XL and I was thinking of having a 480mm rad at the top and a 360 at the front. Would adding a bottom rad help as well or would it be such a minor difference it wouldn't be worth it?

I presume thats because of erosion?

Thanks for the response. To be honest I only mentioned Corsair and EK because they are two of the brands commonly sold in the UK by both Overclockers and Scan. Can you mix and match components? I realise getting a CPU block from one brand and a radiator from another shouldn't cause any issues, but is that true of every component of an open loop?

Hello everyone, Following a recent thread I posted on here a few days ago I am actually considering doing my very first open loop watercooled build but first I have one specific question - which manufacturer is better? EKWB and Corsair are the two of the more notable brands it seems when it comes to open loops, but, since I have no experience with open loops at all, I was wondering if there were any significant advantages or disadvantages to either. My initial instinct was to go with EKWB as they seem more specialised in open loop watercooling, whereas Corsair is much more broad in what it manufactures and sells. Still, as noted, this is just my initial observation, and any thoughts would be very welcome. Thanks for reading!

I'm a few months away from this upgrade anyway, as I'm waiting for the new Nvidia cards to release, as I've heard leaks suggesting the 3080TI is going to be quite an upgrade even from the 2080TI, but I'll absolutely keep the H500M and Dynamic XL in mind. Thanks for all your help!

Thanks for the advice. One other question, and I realise this is somewhat off-topic now, but what is your impression of the Lian Li O-11 Dynamic XL? Its the other case I was considering. I know its designed for watercooling but, at least according to GamersNexus, it seems to perform pretty well. I would be putting a 10900K in and an AIO for cooling it if I went for it.

Cool, thanks for the help and advice. I was also considering the ML fans as they seem to perform nearly identically (if not a bit better) than Noctuas. The only thing that was putting me off is the AIO I want to use (Ryujin 360) come with three 120mm Noctuas, and I wanted to keep a similar appearance across all of my fans. If I have the budget I may very well consider buying some extra ML fans to replace the Noctuas if I decide to use them.

Oh, the CoolerMaster page for the H500M lists support for three 140mm front fans. Even so, I'm more than happy going for three 120mm fans if needed. Any recommendation as to what fans to use? I was thinking Noctuas. I know they are quite expensive, but they seem like great performers. I believe Noctua used to make 200mm Chromax fans but I can't seem to find them in stock anywhere. I suppose they might be a discontinued product line.

Hello all, I was thinking about getting the CoolerMaster H500M for my next build but I have a question about cooling. If I replaced the two 200mm fans at the front with three 140mm fans would that negatively affect cooling at all? I know the included fans are a significant reason why people want to go for it but I'm wanting to create a build with minimal RGB and I would prefer the aesthetic of black fans. Thanks!

Hello all, I just have a quick question about my upcoming build. I want to use four ML140MM RGB and three ML120MM RGB fans around my case and I want to make sure I fully understand how everything needs to be connected in order for me to control lighting through iCUE. If I understand everything correctly I should plug the fan PWM cables into the PWM headers on the Corsair Commander Pro (using one splitter cable to connect 7 fans to 6 PWM hubs) and plug the RGB cables from the fans into two Corsair RGB LED hubs which themselves connect to the two RGB LED headers on the Commander Pro. I believe I can also plug my H150i USB connector and the USB connector from my HX100i into the two USB ports on the Commander Pro. Both the RGB hubs and the Commander Pro need to be plugged into SATA ports from my Corsair power supply, and the Commander Pro's USB cable can be plugged into an internal USB header. Is this the correct way to connect everything? Will I be able to control the lighting from all of my fans by connecting everything this way? Would I also be able to control my fan speed? Thanks!