BoringBadger

yes, they look amazing, and I REALLY like the fact that they use Noctua fans ? well, I guess I'd have to go that route... I just ran one single benchmark run of RDR2 (seems to run properly for me and looks gorgeous), everything set to highest possible, 2560x1440 (vsync on becaus I got it connected to HDMI at the moment so no gysnc yet), and it's starting to hit 60°C I'll have to think about that over the weekend...

Alright. So, after a couple more days of waiting (and suffering incredible pain as you might imagine) I finally received all the components I wanted - sort of. One final change has been made - I've picked a different motherboard... AGAIN.... So - new graphics card has already been mentioned, it's an Asus ROG Strix 2080ti OC Edition New motherboard: Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Hero WiFi. This has been a last minute surprise change and here's how that happened: I had the Strix E-gaming already reserved but when I called in to confirm pickup it has already been sold... I know right... long story short after a lot of anger on my side, calling multiple different vendors to check availability of the E-Gaming (and none of them having it in stock or available next day) I decided to go with the Crosshair VIII Hero instead... and that's that. Got everything put together, currently setting the system up, installing all sorts of updates and such. The Aura works flawlessly with the case and it looks awesome. I've never been ad advocate of RGB lighting but I indeed like that. Unfortunately the D15 covers up a lot of the RAM and the backlit Hero logo on the motherboard which is a shame in my book I'm not sure if I should get an AiO for the CPU as it'll be another source of noise. I immediately noticed that when I turned on the Asus system - in idle it's absolutely silent. When thinking about the Aorus card... well, it made a lot of noise for sitting in idle... that's why I'm a little hesitant about an AiO. Plus I'd probably get one of those fancy Asus ones which come in at a hefty price tag (just for the hell of it because I've already gone basically all Asus) For example the ASUS ROG Ryujin 360 is priced at 240€ which is imo quite expensive... but it looks very nice and comes with Noctua fans as a standard which would be excellent wouldn't add anything to the "it's dim inside" situation. Factoring in the Noctua fans I'd most likely get anyway it's basically 180€ (3 fans, each priced 20€ as I'd get the regular NF-F12 Chromaxes not the industrial PPC ones). It is their top-tier AiO but still, 240€ is quite steep. Currently the CPU is hovering at "idle" (downloading stuff and having a couple chrome tabs open) at about 40-45° which I'm not sure is acceptable for a 3900x & D15?? [Edit] CPU all stock, only D.O.C.P. enabled for full RAM speed @ 3600 [/Edit] Haven't stress tested or played any games yet - currently installing RDR2, wish me luck haha That's it so far, I'll report back on performance once everything is set up properly - FINALLY it's all together and running ?

The "problems" seem to be coming from the GPU, the board seems to work fine. I got an Asus board in my current build (Maximus VIII Ranger) I actually liked the bios when I played around with it for tweaking the 6600k. The AI Suite that did come with it has always worked fine for me but I'm not sure it's still the same nowadays - I have no experience with the Aura software as well. Havent looked at the Prime Pro yet but at the Strix board - I'd go with the Strix-E as it's only a few € more, seems to have better VRMs and also features wireless (as said, no need for wifi but bluetooth would be nice for instance for connecting my mouse (mx master) for a dongle-less life. So it's not only me disliking the software it seems...

I haven't got anything planned in particular at this point but as the case offers the option why not consider it - that's what I was thinking. Would have gone with an ultra low power system without a GPU, potentially powering it with an external brick PSU and a Pico PSU inside that's merely the size of the 24pin connector with a small curcuit board attached directly to it - basically just for the fun of it. As I haven't measured the idle power draw of the full system I can't tell for sure but maybe it would save some power too, but mostly for the fun of it (I do realise it would probably take years to actually save some money with that considering the upfront cost of the mini-build) Not preserving that space I could fit some serious radiator in there. After some more fiddling around and even more thinking about it today I'm considering sending the GPU and motherboard (the two Gigabyte/Aorus parts) back for a refund. The software is far from ideal and userfriendly, the fans (all of them) do basically whatever they want spinning up randomly, it doesn't always properly recognize plugged in fans (the CPU fan for instance, plugged in 4pin, sometimes I get a speed reading, another time I don't) - everything up to date. The lighting control is somewhat a pain and even worse: some LEDs are not mapped correctly - for instance: when changing the Aorus Text logo colour on the side facing outward (GPU mounted horizontally) in the software some LED in a fan changes. When changing an LED in a fan one of the down facing LEDs change... like... why? I don't know if there's other, better softwares with different manufacturers (oh please let there be) but for nearly ~1500€ for the card and ~300€ for the mainboard I allow myself to expect a little better implementation and usability tbh - I am honestly not really willing to compromise on usability for that kind of money, it better works the way it's supposed to. Any suggestions what brand to go with? Asus Aura seems to work with the case so that could be nice - anyone got experience with that? - Phanteks site says: "Asus Aura Sync Addressable" MSI Mystic also supposedly works but as far as I understand only in rainbow mode? I am not really interested in the rainbow mode - Phanteks site says "MSI Mystic Light Sync Rainbow"? Thinking about the "D15 taking up too much space"-dilemma and a proper AiO also not being cheap I also came across the "full custom loop"-thought again which would basically mean grabbing the problem by it's neck and shoving more money down it's throat hoping it would all end well ? Was thinking about Alphacool radiators with a bunch of Noctua fans stuck to them in combination with EK-RGB blocks (which are also Aura compatible as far as I've read?). I know, I know, I already had the custom loop idea discarded right in the beginning. Thoughts on that? Thank you for taking the time to read through my ranting and still wanting to help me out

so - I got all the components on hand and everything assembled - everything's being recognised properly, ram works without any problems with XMP profile enabled. Havent tweaked the CPU so far at all. Infinity Fabric clocked @1800, 1:1 ratio with the ram. The Cablemod cables look awesome - I did get the carbon colored ones. Haven't got the front RGB working right now, I'm sure I missed a connection as I didn't connect every single wire upfront- I'll have to rework that but that's more of a weekend project than "hurry, I have to see it working"-after work mid week thing. Well, I was feeling giddy when I finally had all components on hand, I'm sure you know the feeling - getting all the RGB linked up and functioning properly is a whole other story i recon ^^ I haven't even got the fan speeds dialed in right now - they're just doing whatever. Also I'm trying to get my way around the RGB Fusion software... doesn't seem to be too user friendly... But I came across a major issue: I can't vertical mount, not even in this admittedly big case. The D15 just takes up too much space. At the moment I got everything put together "the normal way" so GPU horizontally mounted. Sooooooo... I know an AiO for the CPU has been suggested... now I'm on a mission to find one that fits BUT (!) I would really like to keep the Mini-ITX space available for some time in the future. Does anyone know how much space the it needs? can there still be a 240 rad up there (thinking about the GPU). I'll probably post some photos when it's all set up the way I want it to be, right now it's as said just put together, windows installed and such but nowhere near ready to be my daily driver configuration wise.

again thank you @Plouffe I decided to go with the Evolv X in the end as I really like the looks of it ? should be available for pickup today in the afternoon (like the rest of the components that are still missing) so this odyssey finally comes to an end - it started to get tiring and annoying waiting for components and not knowing which case to pick after that potential vert-mount "issue"? thank you all =)

you were too quick for me with that response, I literally edited that in a couple seconds before you answered, as I just saw it also mentioned above, but thank you as well for mentioning it seems to perform very similar to the P600s while looking nicer the data supports that claim I recon but that's my least favorite of the above as it offers a lot less space above the motherboard The Evolv X seems to be quite a famous case ?

thank you for your suggestions. I'm currently looking at 4 different cases Phanteks P600S (thank you @Plouffe) ~150€ Phanteks Evolv X (again thank you @Plouffe) ~205€ Fractal Design Vector RS Blackout TG (either light or dark tint, price difference is neglectable. ~180€ Fractal Design Meshify S2 Black TG (again either light or dark tint) ~150€ I'm leaning more towards 1, 2 or 3 as they offer a lot more radiator space above the motherboard should I go with an AiO. Should one of the AiOs fail in the future also more space for a custom loop rad. The Phanteks cases seem to have slightly better airflow / temperatures than the Vector RS (according to HardwareLuxx, a german site I consider trustworthy, more on that in the spoiler at the bottom) I will not use the drive cages in either of the cases. The Phanteks cases allow slightly taller CPU tower coolers (190mm vs 185mm with the Fractal cases - conflicting info, different source says all allow 185) which in turn would mean: I could stick with the D15 and have a little more space to snake the tubes around the GPU when front mounting the GPU AiO (I guess all three would allow that in the end). The Phanteks cases support triple vertical slot so I could maybe push the card a tad further from the motherbaord (300mm riser cable on hand) or even: in Nr. 1, 2 or 3 I could probably top-mount the GPU AiO (above the D15 when sticking with it) which would allow the fans facing the "right" direction pushing air out which again would free up the front to stick some fine Noctuas there to get some filtered positive pressure going ,which is nice imo. Thoughts, ideas, comments, threats anyone? ? HardwareLuxx Spoiler:

Thank you for the input, this would technically be an option, although I wanted to avoid it. I'd have to change case for a second AiO as well as the H500i only supports 280 front but no top radiator. Any suggestions for a case with vert mount and proper radiator / AiO support? I still only got a reservation for case and motherbaord (which should be available for pickup tomorrow) so I could still change form factor. I will not need more expansion slots (given proper ethernet on board and ideally wireless - I'm mainly interested in bluetooth, but wifi won't hurt either).

Good day to you. Unfortunately the shop which I ordered the motherboard, RAM and case from couldn't manage to get the items available last thursday, last day before the extended weekend, thanks for that ((that's the only missing parts by now - those and the cablemod kit, also ordered at the same shop -.- )) as this delay got me some more time to think about the build I came across a potential major issue: I plan to vertical mount the GPU and use my D15. As it's an AiO GPU (Aorus Extreme Waterforce) it has two tubes coming out of it on top (when vert-mounted) right underneath the D15 and I'm very concerned about clearance between the D15 and said tubes. Any ideas or experiences with that issue? I've seen some pics online with basically zero to only a few mm of clearance as the D15 is a behemoth (with air cooled cards, so no tubes) NZXT H500i 2080ti Aorus Waterforce AiO Noctua D15 If I can't vertical mount the GPU because of that I might as well change the case for something else with better airflow.

I'm not sure of you'd get the "spare" fan clips when you buy a D15s, you'd have to look that up. Edit: looked it up, you DO get spare fan clips, I strongly assume they're the same 120mm mounting clips. "Scope of delivery: Fan clips for second fan" stated on the D15s product page. Picked up the NF-F12 today, cooler on hand for a couple days - loosely test fitted: it works. It even says on the Noctua page, we could just have looked it up, duh: "Fan compatibility: 140x150x25 (with 120mm mounting holes)" But oh well, now I know for sure. Heres some impressions. As said I didn't fully clip the fan to the cooler, I just set in on there. Open spoiler for photos

I'm happy to help. If you got the space and budget for a D15 I'd go with it as it is top notch - it probably won't get better than that with air coolers (I got to admit, I do like that cooler and you can't ever have enough cooling power -- worked with the D15 before, it was a breeze to install and keeps noise and temperatures under control) As far as I've read (not sure where though) you can also use the factory fan-clip that comes with the cooler for the 120mm fan. That saves on extra work and you don't need to MacGyver something to hold it in place ? - can't confirm myself yet but seems plausible, I hope I can confirm next weekend, I'll let you know if you're interested.

as for everything: it depends... What are you planning to do / play with it? There are indeed some games / programs that support one but not the other and vice versa. Is you PC capable of properly driving a VR headset? Have you got enough open floor space to get into room scaling / moving around? Make sure you're really sure you want one. I early adopted on the HTC Vive and it spends most of the time collecting dust tbh...

for your monitor / considering your tables depth I can highly recommend one thing: get a monitor arm (or wall mount if applicable) it frees up desk space underneath the monitor you can possibly push it back a little more as it gets rid of the stands you gain a lot of desk real estate as many monitor stands are quite deep / protrude a lot in front of the monitor surface taking up a lof of space it allows you a lot more adjustments height-wise most monitors support Vesa mounting other than that you only have to pay attention to the max weight supported of the mount I got myself an Acer Predator XB1, the 27" IPS model, quite some time ago. 2560x1440, 144Hz (OC to 165 possible), G-Sync. It's not cheap but I never regrettet getting it. There's a TN version as well which has fast reaction time and is cheaper - TN though. If you got the budget for it definitely go IPS or VA. G-Sync would also definitely be nice going with an Nvidia card.

I just configured and ordered a 3900x system myself and after literally days of searching and looking at QVL lists and such I decided to go with this RAM: G.Skill Trident Z Neo, 2x16GB Kit, 3600 CL16-19-19-39, F4-3600C16D-32GTZNC with an X570 Aorus Ultra. If you google "G Skill QVL" you will find the G.Skill RAM configurator which helped me decide on this. You can enter your board model and it'll tell you the compatible kits G.Skill sells, if you don't want to go with the RGB hypetrain. Two sticks seems to be the way to go as I learned the following from @dizmo "Get dual channel memory. IIRC AM4 isn't quad channel." This RAM is supposed to work well with Ryzen3000 / X570 but I can't tell you and personal feedback yet as I haven't received most of the components. Seen it in a video work well though on a X570 board. If you're going with the Noctua D15 as I am, it's a great cooler, you must not forget the RAM clearance. I've decided to change the outer fan on the D15 for an NF-F12 which allows max 45mm RAM clearance while not making the D15 taller than the 165mm it already is on it's own. 45mm allows the Trident Zs to comfortably live there being 44mm tall. When picking a case you'll need to keep an eye out for max supported CPU cooler height as this is indeed an issue with the D15. After hours of browsing I decided to pick the NZXT H510i which does support ATX motherboards while not being an enormous case but still allowing just enough clearance for the D15 (at least the datasheet says so, I'll find out next week ) Considering the PSU: I decided to go with the RM750x in the end because it's got 2x 4/8-Pin ATX12V, and my motherboard does have 1x 8-Pin EPS12V, 1x 4-Pin ATX12V. Maybe also take that into consideration for whichever motherboard you choose. As said, I went with the X570 Aorus Ultra. The RM650x does only have 1x 4/8-Pin ATX12V My 2-cents on the RM750x: I don't like the cables that come with it at all. They're very stiff and ghastly looking with weird 6+2 splits with the 2pin tapped straight into the 6pin and daisy chained connectors which makes it ugly looking imo. I'll get myself a Cablemod replacement for those. But I've learned it's supposed to be a very good PSU. Kudos for this go to @brob you can find my build planning here if you're interested: https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/1116726-high-end-rig-start-from-zero/?tab=comments#comment-12996488