ronstew

How much better is the 2-SSD solution? I just installed a 1 TB WD Blue in the only M.2 slot on my board. I could add a SATA drive. I do minor Premiere and OBS work. A 10% speed increase would not be worth much at this stage, but 40% might be interesting. (Ryzen 3600, 32 GB of 3200 DDR4, Radeon Pro WX 3200).

I am overthinking, of course. The motherboard (that is behind a fence in a UPS yard 10 miles from here) is an ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming-ITX/TB3. There is a known issue with chipset overheating and noise from its SB fan, which is a 40-mm, 3-pin affair. Apparently, removing the guard around the fan is a viable solution to both problems. But at least one modder has substituted the fan with a Noctua model, and I would like to do that too. Here's the thing: I have a spare 4-pin header, so if I can get the motherboard to adjust speed based on SB temperature, I can have a speed adjusted fan on the SB. So I bought a Noctua PWM fan. If I am wrong about this, can I use the PWM fan with the non-standard 3-pin header for the stock fan? The PWM fan was only 5% more than the FLX one. As I said, overthinking. But it is fun, and I am learning. Ron

How does one go about doing that? I have not looked at electrical connectors in 20 years, but I remember something about Molex connector tools being very expensive.

Any thoughts on custom cables? I am posting this in the hopes of starting a general discussion, but I also have a particular reason for raising the topic. My specific interest is a new build in an SG13 case (very small) with a Corsair SF series power supply. Corsair provides shorter-than-usual cables with this PSU because it is intended for small form factor (SFF) builds. Build logs that I have read indicate that the stock cables are stiff and hard to route nicely. I am looking for more flexible wires. Colour choice might be nice, but I would probably stick with one colour per cable. This is a productivity build, and I am not considering aesthetics beyond having an efficient, neat build with good airflow and good serviceability. I am aware of cablemod.com, but have no opinion on that particular business. Ron

Everything is ordered, and I have a couple of parts in hand from my local Canada Computers. Everything should be here in a week, providing international and/or transcontinental ground shipping goes okay. I am told that I have to type this: @Fasauceome Any thoughts on custom cables? I am aware of cablemod.com. I am in Vancouver, BC. I'll try to put together a decent build log.

Thank you Zeus & Al.

Term starts at the beginning of September.

Ahh, young grasshopper. New parts are always coming out shortly. Seriously, I need this running reliably before the start of the term.

Windows: Good point. I will be doing something like that. Mobo: Yes, but Thunderbolt. Thank you.

I am looking for your comments. Can you believe it? The first personal computer I used was my Grade 12 Computer Science teacher's Apple II Plus in 1980. We coded on a PDP 8 in that course. Nowadays I teach introductory digital electronics, lectures and labs, at a good technical college. But I have never built my own computer. I have to teach online because of covid, so in the fall I am going to use my Yoga P40 only for screen sharing with its pen interface. I need a second rig (with its own login) for the web cam and class management. So I thought I'd build a good productivity computer to last at least 5 years. And I want it to be small. I think I'll mount it to the underside of my desk. Budget (including currency): CA$2000 Country: Canada Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Solidworks Premiere Pro Photoshop OBS No modern games Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): I have 3 monitors already. I'll likely get a Logitech Bluetooth mouse/keyboard combo to free up USB ports. I use a wired 3dConnexion Spacemouse. USB webcam and separate USB microphone. Looks like 2 front and 4 rear USB A ports, as well as the single rear-mounted Thunderbolt 3, so all the USB ports will be tied up.. I need to be able to transfer video from my old HDV camcorder, so I need Thunderbolt 3. And that establishes the mobo. I am particularly interested in your comments on the Radeon Pro WX 3200. PCPartPicker Part List Type Item Price CPU AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor $229.29 @ Amazon Canada CPU Cooler Noctua NH-L9i 33.84 CFM CPU Cooler $53.25 @ Vuugo Motherboard ASRock X570 PHANTOM GAMING-ITX/TB3 Mini ITX AM4 Motherboard $389.99 @ Newegg Canada Memory Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory $179.00 @ Canada Computers Storage Western Digital Blue SN550 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive $159.99 @ Newegg Canada Video Card AMD Radeon Pro WX 3200 4 GB Video Card $292.39 @ Amazon Canada Case Silverstone SG13 Mini ITX Tower Case $130.97 @ Amazon Canada Operating System Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit $139.75 @ Vuugo Case Fan Noctua NF-A14 PWM 82.5 CFM 140 mm Fan $31.44 @ Vuugo Case Fan Noctua NF-A9 PWM 46.44 CFM 92 mm Fan $22.17 @ Amazon Canada Custom Corsair SF 450 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular SFX Power Supply Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts Total $1628.24 Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-07-27 21:19 EDT-0400 I am likely to get the CPU and mobo from B&H. The case is more like $71 from Amazon.ca. I am getting the 92 mm fan to replace the thin one on the cooler. I want to place my orders in the morning. Anything I am completely screwing up? Ron