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Hello everyone! I want to buy Fractal design define R4 without window, but there is a small issue... Black non-windowed variant is out of stock in my region. Was surfing the web for answer but still couldn't find a deffinite one. Is there a big noise difference between windowed and non-windowed versions?

This post explains every step to replace or modify the LED, that is mounted in the socket of the powerbutton of any Fractal Design Define (R2, R3 or R4) case. If you have any questions I will gladly answer them. The reason I did this is the pointy light the illuminated plastic socket emitts which could possibly blind the user or other persons in the room. Tools you need mid-sized crosstip screwdriver small flat-headed screwdriver Before you start Power off your PC and disconnect the powercord or switch off the PSU. Step 1: Removing the front cover To remove the front cover simply pull on it. On the bottom side you will find an opening which you can use to do so. Please be carefull when removing it since the frontpanel is still connected. For easy acces to the powerbutton's socket I suggest you to now disconnect all frontpanel cables and pull the front cover off of the case itself. Step 2: Removing the USB-Connector-PCB This is necessary to later pull out the socket the LED is sitting in. To remove the USB-connector-PCB undo the two screws with the mid-sized crosstip screwdriver on both sides. Then carefully pull it back a bit and then down and out. Step 3: Removing the Socket of the Powerbutton and the LED This is a critical step due to the fragility of the plastic you are about to work with. To remove the socket undo the two screws that are fixing it into place and push it down without any tools until it stops. It will barely move a millimeter but that is enough for now. Now take your small flat-headed screwdriver. To prevent scratches during the next step I suggest you to wrap plastic tape around it before you go on. If you look carefully you will notice a small gap between the front cover and the socket. That is where you want to put your screwdriver and carefully leaver the front covers's plastic up while you push the socket down and out from above. Step 4: Removing the LED from the Socket The LED is a standart round-headed 3 mm LED with flange. It is glued in with hot-melt adhesive. To pull it out do not pull on the LED's contacts but take your screwdriver, stick it in between the socket and LED's flange and carefully leaver it out. Please take note that the actual button can be easily removed towards the top by pushing on the connector-side. Step 5: Modding or Replacing the LED When choosing your LED keep the following data in mind: Voltage: 3,3 V Diameter: 3 mm As I stated in the beginning I am bugged by the pointy light of the LED. To change that I use very fine grained sanding paper to matt the LED's surface. As you can see the light is now spread more evenly. In addition to that I also matted the powerbutton's and LED's socket. This spreads the light out more evenly over the socket's surface. Step 6: Remounting the LED The LED just slides back in. If it is too loose you should consider glueing it in. Step 7: Remounting the Socket Line the socket's front-facing fin up and slide it in until it stops. Then push the socket up using the ring around the powerbutton as a guide for its final mounting position. After that screw the two screws back in by using the crosstip screwdriver. Step 8: Remounting the USB-connector-PCB Line the USB-connectors up and slide them up until the PCB finds it's place into it's mounting frame. Then screw the two wide-headed screws on each side back in. Step 9: Remounting the front cover Pull in all cables and simply push the front cover back on. Reconnect the cables and you are done. Quite an improvement I would say.

so i have a windowed fractal design r4 and i just have the 2 stock fans in it, one exhaust in the rear and one where the hdd cage was removed as an intake. when i play bf4 my pc gets REALLY toasty. like my sapphire dual x 280x is at ~74 degrees C. 1)what fans/cooling methods do you have in your R4 and what temps are you seeing under load? 2)im thinking about getting an H100i and 2 sp 120s as well as an af140 (all for intake) but then i would have WAAAAY positive pressure. what do y'all think about that plan? thanks in advance

Hi guys! I will build a new pc ,because my old is just nearly "dead". I'm looking to see what you guys think and welcome any advices. I'm from Slovakia so prices will be in €. My budget is somewhere around 700-800€. I'll be buying this pc at christmas so there will be some price drops and sales too. This PC will be used mainly for gaming and some amateur video editing and photoshop. Here are my choices: Processor: Intel Core i5-4670K (192,31€) - I chose this one because of his performance and unlocked multiplier. Cooler: I'd like to get Corsair H60 (59,05€) since i want to overclock. I wanted H100i ones but why do i have to pay more when H60 will handle good temperatures even when it will be at heavy load (not very often). Motherboard: I'm looking at something like ASRock Z87 Extreme4 (113,94€) because of her SLI compatibility and very good sound. RAM : Something like Corsair Vengeance Pro 2x4GB 1600MHz CL9 (82,00€) will be ideal i think. In future i'm planning to upgrade it to 16GB. Graphics card: Right now i'm looking at double EVGA GTX 760 ACX SC Dual Bios (227,03€) (second next year sometime around march) running in SLI mode. But I've read that prices will drop because of GTX 780 Ti and Radeon R9 290X , so maybe i will be able to buy GTX 770. But in my opinion 760 will do the job very well too. HDD: I think about an SSD such as ADATA Premier Pro SP900 128GB (77,65€) for my OS and other important software. It's pretty fast and cheap. And for hard drive i chose Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200.12 (49,34€). PSU: Since i want to have dual GPU i will need more than 650W so i think Fractal Design Tesla R2 800W (115,34€) will be good choice and it will look good with my case. Case: Fractal Design Define R4 - Widowed (93,63€) has really good noise dampening ,airflow and especially she looks very good. So here are my choices. I know that all of this cost 1050€, but as I mentioned I hope some prices will drop and there will be sales too so dont judge me please .Any tips would be appriciated. Thanks. MrHiei P.S. Sorry for my English, i'm just in 9th grade.

Cons: Arc Midi R2: Window is too dark Air 540: DUUSTT!!!! 750D: Little bit too big 350D: Perfect case but it's mATX

http://www.fractal-design.com/home/product/cases/arc-series/arc-midi-r2 This is a great case yet I heard from some people that there is not a big enough cut out for the an aftermarket cpu cooler? Is this true because I really wanted to O'c a Fx6300 and use a aftermarket cooler. If anyone has this case please answer -Thanks

Hi I plan to change the configuration of my PC. I want to build a small, strong, compact design. (Micro ATX, i5 4670k, 2xSSD, R9 290 + PSU) Therefore, I have a question. Can I put AMD R9 290 in the housing Fractal Design Core 1000? Will there be enough space (after removing the mounting HDD) for the graphics card. Thanks for all your help.

Does it use foam or rubber or what?

I need this case for a build I'm doing for a friend, I need you guys to find the flashiest craziest looking case on the market for $70 or under. It doesn't need good cable management or anything it just needs to look cool, for example he thought the Alienware aurora looked pretty cool. Please Help !

BBR4 - Hackintosh By Tommy-b-10 So I only got into custom PC's at the start of 2013, and began this build around August. I started with the goal of building an all round computer that will last me for a few good years, whilst running both Windows and Mac OSX. The parts guide on the tonymacx86.com website were extremely handy in the planning. Parts Red is for unpurchased items Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H This board was the best board I could find that supported the OSX platform, and didnt cost a butt tonne CPU: Intel i7 3770k @4.5GHz and 1.13V May as well spend and extra $100 and get the i7 than the i5. Even though I probably wont be doing any heavy editing or rendering, its nice to know I still have the options. Graphics Card: Gigabyte GTX 770 4GB 4GB will be needed to drive 1440p well. Storage: 1x Samsung Evo 250GB SSD 2x Seagate 1TB HDD I'm using the SSD partitioned into 2x 125GB partitions for the OS's, one 1TB for storage and the other as a backup drive Ram: 16GB 1600MHz GSkill Matches the colour scheme, and I find myself using the full 8GB on my current PC Case: Fractal Design R4 Black with Window Loved the front of it, and the build quality is outstanding. PSU: Silverstone Strider Plus 600W Perfect size and is fully modular CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i I wanted to be able to OC my CPU, and figured why not. The LED on the middle is perfect with the colour scheme. Also using Noctua NF-F12's to cool the rad as the H100i stock ones were too loud. Fans: 4x Corsair SP120 Quiet Edition Using as 3 intake and one exhaust. Sleeving: MDPC-X Black and Aquamarine Blue Beautiful and Cheap. Nil's does a really good job! Mouse: Func MS-3 Ever since Linus's ad for this, i have really wanted it. I like to Palm my mouse, and I have relatively large hands. Keyboard: Apple Numeric Keyboard I know people hate membrane keyboards, but I love the one on my MacBook Pro, and I prefer the numeric keyboard version. Monitor: Asus PB278Q I just love the look of the monitor. Its 27" 2560x1440 and looks amazing. Whilst its expensive, its one of the cheaper 1440p ones out there. (excluding korean) Photos Excuse the photos. Most of them are taken on a shocking old point and shoot, and the rest are iphone quality The place I purchased the case from only had the non windowed version, so I picked up a window online for $50 Package from PCCaseGear. Accidentally ordered 2 Fan twin packs. Turns out I needed them though so alls good All of the boxes for the first order Amazing case! w/o window w/ window. So much nicer. Insides SP120's installed in the front. More Soon!

Hey guys , i've been planning this build for a long time and here's my specs , i want honest opinions. I'm gonna use the PC for gaming and i plan on playing tons of titles , some big ones i wanna play is BF4, Star Citizen, Wildstar and even Skyrim. I'm hoping with the r9 280x i'll be able to play all these games on ultra with higher than 60 fps with a medium OC? Also i am a Nvidia fanboy but i'm giving amd a chance because the r9 280x is higher performance from what i've heard. I could've went with a 770 but i heard that a r9 280x is better performance than a 770 but i still do like the shadowplay feature that Nvidia has, so i'm a torn between both. What kind of features does AMD have and what's up with the mantle thing i've been hearing about, how much could that help performance? (Sorry for writing mistakes, i wrote this up quick) SPECS: [PCPartPicker part list](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1X5S4) / [Price breakdown by merchant](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1X5S4/by_merchant/) / [benchmarks](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1X5S4/benchmarks/) Type|Item|Price :----|:----|:---- **CPU** | [intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80637i53570k) | $219.99 @ Newegg **CPU Cooler** | [Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/noctua-cpu-cooler-nhd14) | $77.99 @ Newegg **Thermal Compound** | [Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5g Thermal Paste](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/arctic-silver-thermal-paste-as535g) | $8.99 @ Newegg **Motherboard** | [ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asrock-motherboard-z77extreme4) | $124.99 @ Newegg **Memory** | [G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gskill-memory-f31866c9d8gab) | $80.99 @ Newegg **Storage** | [Kingston HyperX 3K 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/kingston-internal-hard-drive-sh103s3120g) | $89.99 @ Newegg **Storage** | [Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/western-digital-internal-hard-drive-wd10ezex) | $69.99 @ Newegg **Video Card** | [Asus Radeon R9 280X 3GB Video Card](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-video-card-r9280xdc2t3gd5) | $316.13 @ Newegg **Wireless Network Adapter** | [TP-Link TL-WN722N 802.11b/g/n USB 2.0 Wi-Fi Adapter](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/tp-link-wireless-network-card-tlwn722n) | $15.99 @ Newegg **Case** | [Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/fractal-design-case-fdcadefr4blw) | $79.99 @ Newegg **Power Supply** | [seaSonic M12II 850W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/seasonic-power-supply-ss850am) | $99.99 @ Newegg **Optical Drive** | [Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-optical-drive-drw24b1stblkbas) | $16.99 @ Newegg **Operating System** | [Microsoft Windows 8.1 - OEM (64-bit)](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/microsoft-os-wn700615) | $99.99 @ Newegg | | **Total** | Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available. | $1302.01 | Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-11-04 20:00 EST-0500 |

So, I have the finstack/block for it, which is basically most of the heatsink. Yet, I need to obtain AMD mounting hardware (FM2+) and the fan mounting clips for it. Also, would it fit inside a Fractal Design Node 304? Where can I buy the mounting hardware? I am in the USA.

http://www.ncixus.com/products/?usaffiliateid=1000031504&sku=85551&vpn=FD-CA-ARC-Mini-R2-BL-W&manufacture=Fractal%20Design&promoid=1060 Great matx case for some decent water cooling. Although not as versatile, I like the slightly compacted look the Arc Mini R2 a bit more its big brother: the Arc Midi R2. Unboxing, overview, and review from LTT and HardwareCanucks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25BrUMimKTk

NCIX: http://bit.ly/1spqABd Amazon: http://geni.us/Pxp Our review of the Fractal Core 3500 is here. We love all of the Fractal people, and we all know that they have created a variety of fantastic cases – some of which have become industry standards. But does the Core 3500 meet the high standards we now expect all Fractal cases to achieve? http://youtu.be/i3FqOjxn8cQ

Hey guys! Almost done with my build, I just need to select a case and I'm really having a hard time deciding between the Fractal Design Arc Midi R2 and Corsair Carbide 500R White. I personally like the aspect of the 500R White much more, but my main concerns with it are the lack of a dust filter for the side fan and how many watercooling options there are available for it. If for the dust filter I've found places where I can order a Demciflex one that covers the side fan (hopefully it ships to my country), I do want to keep my options open for watercooling in the future, so I want to be sure the case can support it. On the other hand, the Arc R2 has been praised for the watercooling support and general performances. How do the two compare, performance-wise? I'm talking airflow, wire management, quality of components, watercooling options, features, etc. I'm interested in good airflow and as much dust protection as possible (the space the PC is in gets dusty really fast). Another question, I have been advised that due to the small size of the Arc Midi R2 and the big graphics card I want to stick in (Sapphire Radeon R9 290 OC Tri-X 4GB DDR5 512-bit), if I want to do OC I would be limited to an 180mm cooler. Is this an issue? From my research highly praised i5 coolers like the Noctua NH-D14 only go up to around 160mm. Any advice is greatly appreciated, thanks!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352022&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=7034161&SID= Linus' various unboxings and overviews: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-BnJrtXZk4 Sticking in HardwareCanucks' review since it's always pretty to watch (also because it's actually the titanium grey version):

Hey there, A little favor please? I need help finding the videos of Linus's ads with Fractal Design... The ones where he gets pied, etc. Thanks in advance... PS. I'll be using them as examples for an advertising subject that I'm taking this semester...

Hey Forum! I'm building a new PC, my first PC build in fact to replace my trusty but undoubtedly antiquated Dell Dimension 8300. I've finally decided to graduate from the Xbox One to something a bit more gutsy. I've taken my inspiration on an article done by PC World for an Ultimate AMD Gaming Build, keeping to it in the places that count and changing around some components to ones I think are a bit better. I've pretty much completed the build list but just wanted your thoughts on the components and if there is anything I overlooked or didn't consider. The PC will be used initially with a Single 1080p monitor (planned upgrade to an LG Ultrawide soon) for playing games such as GTA5, Company of Heroes 2, Gary's Mod, Far Cry 4, Dota 2, League of Legends and World of Warcraft. Besides from that I'll be using it for Video rendering and encoding, live streaming with Xsplit, Web Design and Photoshop, and of course web browsing with a bajillion chrome tabs open So here it is.. Processor: AMD FX-9590 (Already bought, got a great deal on it, great for streaming with Xsplit and Video Encoding with Handbrake. Also I picked this instead of the 8350 as it is better binned, guaranteed higher frequencies will help with IPC deficiencies, and I wanted to support AMD and buy the best processor they make. The fact that its an enthusiast grade product with a crazy TDP requiring exotic cooling makes it very interesting to me, so I sprang for it!) Motherboard: Deciding between a Crosshair V Formula Z or Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 from Asus.. the Sabertooth is about €50 cheaper where I am but the crosshair definitely has the killer looks and a better LAN NIC, not a massive thing for me but a nice addition. Things like the SupremeFX audio I'm not bothered about much. The most important thing for me is that it can support the massive 220w TDP of the 9590 and have VRMs that can cope. Memory: AMD/Dataram Performance Series 16GB CAS9 1866mhz 8GBx2 Modules (Already Bought, awesome deal at Amazon so snapped these up, will max out the 8GB per slot either motherboard so can easily upgrade later without throwing modules out of the build. Power Supply: Seasonic Platinum Series 1000w PSU (This took a lot of research, but after reading the poor performance reviews of the RM series from Corsair at HardOCP, I've settled firmly on Seasonic, rave reviews from everywhere including jonnyguru.com, pleanty of power for upgrades down the road for an upgrade to a R9 295x2, Crossfire R9 290s or anything else worth adding in the future. Graphics Card: Sapphire R9 290 Tri-X or Asus DirectCU II R9 290 (haven't decided which I prefer yet, reviews say the Sapphire is cooler for VRM temps with that cooler, Asus is more compact and cooler looking. Also haven't ruled out spending €50 more on a MSI Twin Frozr R9 290x but knowing the very negligible performance difference between the 290 and 290x I'm gonna bet that the Sapphire or Asus will be just as fast. Hoping to get a R9 295x2 at some point, prices have really come down, about €750 where I am right now which for that card is phenomenal. Case: Corsair Carbide Spec 01 [Temporary] (Got this free from a friends previous build, planning an upgrade to a Define R5 or H440 in White so looking for opinions between these. CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Nepton 120xl (Was planning on going air cooling and getting the Noctua NH-D15 which is awesome, but is only compatible with the R5 and H440, not the Spec 01, so thinking of going with this instead. SSD and Storage: AMD 240GB OCZ 2.5inch SSD + 2TB Seagate Momentus 7200rpm HDD (easy choice here, the SSD is very price competitive and looks fantastic, matches the rest of the build. Momentus for mass storage as I've had very good experiences with Seagate, priced well. So guys what do you think? I decided to go AMD on this one for a few reasons. Most of my workloads are heavily biased towards multiple threads and benefit from having more cores. The FX-9590 is very well suited for video streaming and encoding with those 8 cores, same goes for heavy multitasking. The ability to video encode, while streaming, while gaming, without slowdowns or lost frames is a big boon for me, so I'm not so bothered about the lackluster single thread performance you get from Piledriver as opposed to Haswell. Also this will be my first time buying anything AMD (with the exception of my Xbox One), so anyone out there who think's I'm an AMD fanboy, I'm not. The 6 other PCs in my house of different ages are all Intel Inside, so definitely have no fanboyism here! But I was intrigued by a few reviews (Notably Logan from Tek Syndicate) who compared the FX to some Core i7 parts in streaming and gaming, and came away with good impressions so I'm willing to give it a try. Besides its about time I gave AMD some love and bought some of their products, they're the only ones giving Intel any competition in the PC processor space and I think they deserve a bit of support don't you? Anyways enough of me rambling on, I'd love to hear your ideas and opinions guys, let me know in the comments, Thanks! -Mark H http://pcpartpicker.com/p/GxYnK8 PC World Build Guide: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2839480/red-team-rocking-build-the-ultimate-amd-gaming-pc.html Tek Syndicate Benchmarks: https://teksyndicate.com/videos/crysis-3-benchmarks-amd-fx-8350-vs-intel-i7-3770k-both-overclocked https://teksyndicate.com/videos/amd-fx-8350-vs-intel-3570k-vs-3770k-vs-3820-gaming-and-xsplit-streaming-benchmarks Price List: Processor: AMD FX-9590 - €230 Motherboard: Asus Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 - €150 -or- Asus Crosshair V Formula Z - €205 Video Card; Sapphire R9 290 Tri-X - €325 -or- Asus Direct CU ii R9 290 - €309 -or- MSI Twin Frozr R9 290x - €355 Power Supply: Seasonic Platinum 1000w - €235 I could spend €120 on a X - Series 750w but I think this could be a better investment, having more headroom if I went for additional GPU later on Memory: AMD Performance Series 16GB 8GBx2 CAS 9 1866mhz RAM - €200 SSD and Storage: AMD 240GB SSD by OCZ - €145 CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Nepton 120xl - €80 Case: Define R5 White w/Window by Fractal Design -or- NZXT H440 White Both €135

Hi! Does the Define mini C support full atx motherbords cause i´ve heard some people say that it does and by looks it seems like it actually does! Anyone who knows please help.

It's going to be for heavy gaming @ 1080p & 1440p (e.g. GTA V, Witcher III, BF4, Battlefront, Fallout 4, MGS V, No Man's Sky) and photo processing (e.g. Lightroom 6 and Photoshop CS6). The rig will have the ability to overclock its GPU and CPU. I'm living in the Philippines and so I computed the prices according to the best offers I found here. Intel i5 4690k $242 ​Cooler Master Hyper 212X Evo $37 Asus Z87-Pro $238 2 x G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory $129 (for both) Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" (Boot Disk) $143 2 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM (Storage and Scratch Disk) $109 (for both) Gigabyte Geforce GTX 970 4GB Windforce Gaming Edition $421 Fractal Design R4 (Titanium) ATX Mid Tower Case $118 SeaSonic X-750 Fully Modular 80PLUS GOLD $139 Total: $1,576 PCPartPicker I want to scale back my budget to $1,440. The extra 1TB HDD and set of ram can be purchased at a later time. Delaying purchase of those two brings down my budget to $1,457. The PSU is overkill and so I am looking for a [presumably cheaper] SeaSonic G-750 Semi-Modular 80PLUS GOLD. What do you guys think? Do you have any suggestions or comments? Neat cost-saving tips?

Hello there! I have been planning a white & black themed build for a while and I would appreciate some input on the parts. Is there anything you would change? Parts: http://www.inet.se/kundvagn/visa/3481905/2013-06-17 I'm not quite sure if the white sleeving will fit the build. I'm going for a somewhat minimalistic and simple build but packed with power. Basically not a disco build. I'm not happy with the H80i either, I think it's way to bulky but I heard that there is issues with fitting the H100i inside the R4, and I don't want to mount it in the front either. What will the build be used for? For people interessted, it will be my main workstation and gaming rig. Basically my "everything" PC. And for once I want to build a rig that I can look at and say, "yeah, I built that and I'm proud of it". Budget? I would like it to stay around the same amount as it is in the link above. Oh and while you are at it, the pricing in EU is amazing isn't it? :) So, is there anything that you would change? Any part that would go better with the overall theme of the build? Any better computer case around that has that same minimalistic and simple look of the R4 that you would recommend? The thing I'm most unsure about is the sleeving. Do you guys think the black sleeved cables will fit better?

Does anyone know where in the Uk I can buy a white windowed side panel for my Friends fractal design R3? or will the R4 window fit? Thanks ;)

I was wondering if anyone had the Fractal Design Arc Midi R2 and found a good setup for cooling their system. I have a GIgabyte WIndforce 7950 and a Dark Knight II on my cpu. Would anyone know what would be the best fan setup for cooling the graphics card? Right now I have: 140mm Spectre pro 2x 120mm CM Sickleflows 3x 140mm FD SIlent Series R2 Should I invest in more fans? I was thinking of getting Gelid Wings 12 PL to add to the system. I do care for a fairly quiet system as well. It would also be great if the system had a neutral - positive airflow to minimize dust. I am open to negative pressure if the cooling is significantly better The fan positions on the Arc Midi R2 are: Front: 2x 140mm/120mm Top: 3x 140mm or 120mm or 1x 180mm + 140mm/120mm Rear: 140mm/120mm Bottom: 140mm/120mm

This is a build log of a value and silence oriented computer with efficiency in mind, followed up by some basic overclocking of someone inexperienced. If you have any questions feel free to ask. Also: Feel free to correct my grammar. English is not my first language and I do not consider myself being particularly good at it. Edit: This article has grown quite significantly in size, since it has been first uploaded. I will continue to update this post as well as the thread with information, tips and thoughts about the products I use. Tl;dr Contents Introduction Why did I upgrade? Previous Situation My previous computer New System Specifications Computer-components and peripherals The Build Build log with commented pictures and personal thoughts Set-Up Basic computer settings and hardware configuration Power Consumption Synthetical, approximate numbers Benchmark Results Synthetical numbers with Windows Performance Index, ALLBenchmark Catzilla, Unigine Heaven and Valley Overclocking and Undervolting Settings and temperatures November 2013 Update Small report of the situation and what has changed in the four months of operation January 2014 Update Airflow personalisation, different RAM and minor modding including advanced noise dampening April 2015 Update Removed soundcard, new SSD, frontpanel mods, broken old and sketchy new GPU Introduction Why did I upgrade my PC? The performance, my previous system offered, covered most of the used applications sufficiently. However, recent purchases were giving it a hard time, so I needed to upgrade. The new system is supposed to last for some years and to be vastly quieter. I hope to get increased performance without too much of an increase in power-consumption, too. Edit (07.11.2013): Never mind. I now got a GTX 770, because I need to heat my room. Previous Situation This is an Acer Aspire X3900 (Q1 2010), my first and current PC: CPU : intel Core i3-530 (4/2 cores, 2.93GHz) GPU : Sapphire GT 320 1GB RAM : 4 GB RAM DDR3-1333MHz CL9 HDD : Western Digital Green 1TB (WD19EADS <90MB/s) PSU : 220W PSU Flex ATX ODD : noctua DVD-R/W ... wait As you may have noticed there is something off here. You need to know that I am quite picky about noise. Therefore, I prefer quiet solutions. Yet, what you are seeing on the two previous pictures is not quite quiet. In fact it turns into a vacuum-cleaner once one utilizes it. In an attempt to lower its noise-output, I did the following: placed cloth-tape on every metal surface that is touching another and is not bolted to which to reduce rattle replaced CPU-fan replaced the defected (friction bearing) PSU-fan by a temperature-regulated ball-bearing-fan (only to short the sensor with a paper-clip after finding out that the PSU is already regulating the fan) and wrapping cloth-tape around it to lower transmission of vibration placed shroud on GPU-fan to force it to pull its air from outside of the case "ghetto-mounted" a noctua NF-P12 in the ODD-bay with two packets of tissues to internally move the air and cool the chipset and ODD / case sandwiched HDD (<52°C) Since nothing really helped I got myself a Fractral Design Define R4 (very nice case), a Seasonic X-560, a Noctua NH-U12P SE2 and an Asus GTX650-DC-1GD5 (130€ launch, oh gosh). That pretty much solved my worries. Now you may ask yourself why I do use the Acer case again. Well, after 9 month of usage the PSU decided to make electrical noises. Nothing obnoxious, yet audible, probably caused by the primary ripple smoothing. Since I planned on upgrading my machine anyway and putting it into the R4, I returned the faulty PSU and rebuild my current PC to its 'personalised' default. New System Specifications CPU : Intel Core i5-4670k CPU-Cooler : Noctua NH-U12P SE2 GPU : Asus GTX 650 >> replaced with >> Palit GTX 770 >> replaced with >> Asus GTX 560 SC : Asus Xonar DX 7.1 >> removed MB : Gigabyte GA-Z87MX-D3H RAM : Samsung Green Series 2x4GB DDR3-1600 CL11 1,35V >> replaced with >> Corsair Vengeance 2x4GB DDR3-1600 CL9 1,5V SSD : Samsung 840 Basic 250GB >> replaced with >> SanDisk Extreme II 480GB ODD : DVD-R DL R/W PSU : Seasonic X-650 Case : Fractal Design Define R4 OS: Windows 7 Professional 64bit Here is a preview of the build in progress since I am waiting for the PSU to return to me. Why would they package 90€ RAM like toothbrushes? The Build The PSU has arrived and the build can go on. It is a Seasonic X-650 that the vendor send back to me. Compared to the X-560, the X-650 has got black flat cables, which to me look better than the colour-coded, sleeved ones included with the X-560. Even the 24-pin mainboard-cable has got all black wires bundled in a fairly good sleeving. The angled SATA-power-connector could not be fitted onto the surface-mounted SSD though as it would have been the case with the X-560. Therefore I had to think of another location, which I found on the ODD. Mounted like that the connectors of both of the drives line up to allow straight cable-routing. Salad. Cable-management is mostly done. I did not do an outstanding job I have to admit, but it is out of sight and not too tight of a fit. Not using any zip-ties also gives me a great amount of flexability, since i do not need to replace any of the mounting-strips if I am changing something. Soundcard and graphicscard are mounted. (I forgot to take a photo of it, but it is straight forward anyway.) Time to install the CPU-heatsink. For thermal conductivity I used PROLIMA TECH PK-3. If you are unsure as to how to apply thermal paste it can be worth to take a look at this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hNgFNH7zhQ The build is done. No Pictures of the outside; there is nothing spectacular going on there. Also I forgot to take photos again. My desk. The keyboard that you are seeing on the picture above was not intended to be a replacement for the Acer one. I just found it and used it on my old Acer PC for the software set-up of my new PC. After some use I found that for me this keyboard is vastly superior to my previous, when it comes to the typing experience. I do not know, what type of switches Fujitsu has used on this particular keyboard, but from what I have heard of the Cherry key switches, they seem to be quite similar to the Cherry MX Browns. That I found it is very convenient, too, since I where looking for a new keyboard and where considering to buy the Corsair K70, despite it having MX Red switches and only red lighting with the black base. I where struggling, because if I am going to spend that much money on a keyboard, I want it to fit all my preferences, which it did not at all points. I am eager to see what versions of the K70 Corsair will release in the future, but might stay with the Fujitsu to save money. Set-Up Mainboard Stock: All relevant settings set to 'auto' / 'default' Overclock: fBus=100MHz; nc=43-43-42-42; Uc=1,2V; nm=16 Graphicscard (GTX 650) Stock: All relevant settings set to 'auto' / 'default' Overclock: fc=1215MHz; Uc=1,125V; fm=2550MHz (5100MHz) Graphicscard (GTX 770) Stock: All relevant settings set to 'auto' / 'default' Overclock: fc=1293MHz; Uc=1,2V; fm=3804MHz (7408MHz) Ventilation 2x Front (Fractal Design Silent Series R2 140 at 5V) 1x Rear (Fractal Design Silent Series R2 140 at 5V) 1x CPU (Noctua NF-P12 at 5V) 2x GPU (NZXT FN 12RB at 5V) 1x PSU (semi-passive) Power Consumption Power Consumption at power outlet (stock system / overclocked system; GTX 650 / GTX 770) Idle: 41 - 45W / 51 - 55W Maximum with OCCT: 139 - 149W / 159 - 169W / 294 - 304W / 333 - 353W Benchmark Results How to read: Test: stock + 650 / overclocked + 650 (oc) / stock + 770 / stock + 770 (oc) (previous PC) Windows Performance Index Processor : 7,6 / 7,7 / 7,7 / 7,7 (6,9) / 7,6 Memory (RAM) : 7,8 / 7,8 / 7,8 / 7,8 (5,9) / 7,7 Graphics : 7,3 / 7,5 / 7,9 / 7,9 (6,6) / 7,9 Gaming graphics : 7,3 / 7,5 / 7,9 / 7,9 (6,6) / 7,9 Primary hard disk : 7,9 / 7,9 / 7,9 / 7,9 (5,9) / 7,9 AllBenchmark Catzilla (RC5 / RC5 / RC6 / RC6 / RC6 / 1.4) (576p: 4670k + 650, 4670k (oc) + 650 (oc), 4670k + 770, 4670k + 770 (oc), (previous system) and 4670k + 780Ti) Score : 6319 / 7233 / 19411 / 20339 (1813) / 31957 Hardware (GPU+CPU) : 6185 / 7035 / 19189 / 20096 (1891) / 31798 Physics Test (CPU) : 537 / 646 / 586 / 551 (120) / 644 Fur Test (GPU) : 485 / 533 / 1427 / 1567 (163) / 2870 Fluid Test (GPU) : 348 / 401 / 1387 / 1520 (95) / 2095 Raymarch Test (GPU) : 216 / 250 / 785 / 893 (73) / 1197 Loading Time (ms) : 10817 / 9144 / 11132 / 10855 (31786) / 10594 Unigine Heaven 4.0 (basic) FPS : 46,2 / 51,7 / 142,6 / 153,8 (16,3) Score : 1163 / 1302 / 3591 / 3873 (410) Min FPS : 25,6 / 27,3 / 28,2 / 29,9 (10,0) Max FPS : 81,5 / 92,7 / 241,9 / 296,1 (26,6) (extreme) FPS : 14,8 / 16,7 / 49,1 / 54,4 (6,0) Score : 374 / 420 / 1236 / 1371 (152) Min FPS : 5,4 / 9,8 / 19,9 / 22,0 (3,9) Max FPS : 34,7 / 38,1 / 115,6 / 135,0 (10,5) Unigine Valley 1.0 (basic) FPS : 38,7 / 43,8 / 107,3 / 106,8 (13,6) / 110,8 Score : 1620 / 1833 / 4489 / 4469 (568) / 4635 Min FPS : 20,2 / 24,7 / 24,4 / 28,0 (8,6) / 32,7 Max FPS : 76,0 / 82,1 / 170,2 / 161,7 (23,7) / 165,3 (extreme) FPS : 18,7 / 21,1 / 60,0 / 66,4 (5,2) / 90,2 Score : 784 / 882 / 2511 / 2778 (219) / 3772 Min FPS : 9,0 / 12,5 / 27,7 / 29,2 (3,1) / 36,0 Max FPS : 33,5 / 39,0 / 118,7 / 123,7 (9,3) / 157,5 (extreme hd = 1920 x 1080 p) FPS : 14,3 / 16,0 / 45,7 / 48,9 (-) / 72,9 Score : 600 / 671 / 1910 / 2048 (-) / 3050 Min FPS : 7,4 / 9,6 / 24,5 / 24,8 (-) / 34,8 Max FPS : 26,0 / 29,1 / 84,1 / 68,8 (-) / 139,9 Overclocking and Undervolting This Gigabyte Z87 / Haswell Overclocking Guide helped me out a lot. For the following results I would like to repeat that all fans are running at approximately 5V and the computer is operating at about 24°C room temperature. Result GPU (GTX 650 / GTX 770) GPU Clock: 1215MHz GPU Voltage: 1,125V Memory Clock: 2700MHz (5400MHz) Temperature: <76°C Fan (AUTO): <35% (<30°C ambient) Result CPU Multiplier: stock Vcore: 1,025V (undervolted) Multiplier: 42 (overclocked) Vcore: 1,150V Notes: AIDA64 38/38/37/36x (stock) at 1,010V after 2 hours LTT Forums CPU Overclocking Database November 2013 Update An update. While my old computer is suffering from random experiments, such as cooling the Sapphire GT 320 passively and overheating it in the process, remounting the HDD to several random places in the case to lower noise and temperatures, and peltiering the spirits out of the poor i3, there isn't much that changed during the four month period, the new computer has been running by now. Basically there are three things that changed: SSD, rear case fan and the GPU. The SSD, that I mounted on top of the ODD, had to move at some point and I didn't bother to stick it back, so it is almost carelessly chucked behind the mainboard tray. Don't worry the temperature is fine, it is an SSD after all. There is also a new fractal design Silent Series R2 140mm now mounted in the back, while the noctua moved back to its prior position. I mainly bought the additional fan, because it annoyed me to turn the fan control up to '7V' to start the noctua fan up on system start. It now sits on the CPU cooler, just because I have it. It isn't necessary at all. The major reason I even update this post is the new Palit GTX 770 (vanilla), that I got for about 260 Euro. If it hadn't been for the low price, I probably hadn't bought it. It is reasonably silent at idle, but can be heard under load. Please be aware, that I am picky about noise, so this might be a fairly silent card to you. For a more detailed subjective description go here. Thanks for reading this far. I am not sure, if anyone cares about this project, but if there is anyone I can help with this post, I am glad, I could. January 2014 Update I have re-uploaded all pictures of all my topics in high quality. (<=2MB 1600x1200p; offline compressed) It took me some time to figure out what was wrong with the picture quality I achieved, but now I know that the images where compressed online by wiping a sandy sponge over them several times and then crumbling them to the desired size. Noise I took off the fan-bracket of the graphicscard to replace the original fans due to their excessive noise-production under heavy load. After two hours of trying different ways of mounting 120mm fans onto the card itself, I gave up and thought about other ways. I came up with a mounting arm that screwed onto the PCI-covers, but it didn't fit with the materials I had and wasn't strong enough. So I decided to buy Alpenföhn's mounting system that is included with their "Peter" GPU-cooler. Currently, there are two NZXT 120mm fans mounted onto the bracket. They are connected to a 1-to-4 PWM splitter, which is connected to the case's fan controller. It also provides power to the rear and CPU fan (the second CPU fan doesn't offer a significant temperature decrease and adds noise, so I removed it), so now all fans are controlled by one voltage. With all fans at 5V and ambient temperatures around 23°C the GPU runs without throttling in BF3 (max, no AA @ 1080p) and any older games at 60 fps. Only in AC4:BF (max, no AA, no Physx @ 1080p) it starts to sweat, but still offers about 34-60 fps (avsync; 42 fps average), as it downclocks the core to 1045 MHz at <85°C. Since the fans I use aren't as quiet as I wished them to be and I assume that this issue wouldn't be solved by any other fan, I figured that further noise dampening was appropriate. For that purpose I ordered some sheets of studio noise dampening material that is usually used to cancel out echo when voice or music is being recorded. For testing I first installed the foam onto the mainboard facing panel. I didn't expect it to be very effective, but surprisingly the result was very good. To decrease the noise more effectively I scattered the off-cut of the original piece within the case. Furthermore, my brother noticed, that the front fan cover, which I assume is there to give the case a cleaner look, when the door is opened, theoretically reflects some of the noise, the front fans emit, and removing it, allowed the noise to run directly into the foam of the front door, achieving a greater noise cancellation than the stock configuration. So I removed it and experienced this assumption to be true. Side effects are easier cleaning of the filter and the now larger chamber the fans can pull their air from. The result: Sitting in front of it in a silent room the only noise I hear is the whisper quiet airflow of the six fans inside. No amount of money spend on better fans could have given me a better result and considering the price of six new fans, a tenth of it for the foam instead seems fairly appealing to me. If you feel bothered by your computer's noise, you already own reasonably quiet fans and your case supports it, I definitely recommend this method before anything else. Hardware I am now using Corsair Vengance RAM (2x4GB DDR3-1600MHz CL9-9-9-24 at 1,5V). That is, because it is faulty and my brothers machine couldn't deal with it as well as mine can. *should probably return it* Due to the new GPU cooling, the soundcard had to move down two slots. To connect it to the m-ATX board I got a PCIe x1 extention cable. It isn't particularly beautiful but serves its purpose just fine. I finally personalised the frontpanel to my preferences. The mods include matting the power LED socket, for which I have written tutorial here, and the USB ports, which I lowered into the case to fit the bevel as the audio connectors are as it has been probably intended by fractal design in the first place. There are some problems with that, however. The USB 3.0 cables make contact with the duct, if the connector socket is pushed down too far. For that reason the USB ports can be at a slight angle. None the less, I am satisfied with the result. April 2015 Update Typical April weather. It's been a while since the last update - fifteen month to be exact. In chronologic order: the changes. Since the beginning I had trouble with the Asus soundcard as it decided to occasionally turn the volume up to max on start-up, distorting all sounds until restart and therefore causing a very loud and terrifying screeching sound that was supposed to be the Windows 7 start-up-jingle. Since it was only necessary on the old board to not have to listen to obnoxious background-noises, I removed it. -------------------------------- Mid 2014 the Palit GTX 770 quit on me but that wasn't the only bad thing to happen: shortly after, the Samsung 840 Basic 250GB SSD died, too. The sudden end was probably provoked by continuously having only 0,3GB of available space left to compensate for dead sectors. "No big deal", I thought to myself "I will just return it and use an HDD in the meantime". ... But no. Apparently, if you choose \C as the data to backup in Windows, but not separately "User", it will save \C but not all of it. In my case not the userdata. Oh well. The SSD was repleaced by a SanDisk Extreme II 480GB, whilst the 850 evo I got back from Samsung went into a Lenovo ThinkPad L540. Since the GTX 770 still hadn't arrived I looked for alternatives. While asking in different computer-stores for some scrap GPUs/-coolers for a GT 320 I intended to use, I was surprised they offered me a seemingly broken Asus GTX 560 that one of the employees pulled out of his personal system. They said I could have it for a small tip and that by chance it may be still operational. A quick test at home after carefully cleaning it revealed that it was indeed still operational. The only parts broken were the fans, which I replaced a few days later with bequiet Silent Wings PWM 92mm fans. After another week a new 770 arrived at my house, but since the 560 is powerful enough for my needs and I currently need to save money I sold it. -------------------------------- Next up: frontpanel. I widened the cable-hole to allow the USB3-cables to pass through while having the ports fully seated back into the frontpanel and glued the PCB in place. I also added a few LEDs with custom acrylic glass socket around the USB and audio ports and immediately removed it again, because it looked horrible. So horrible in fact, that I didn't even take a photo. It was made from four separate layers glued together and slotted in between the ports. The LEDs were connected to 12V. Also this. I installed and removed that, too. -------------------------------- The GPU has been running fine the last two month but I still wanted to check, whether everything was alright. That is what greeted me, as I opened the case: Rubber bands don't cope well with warmth, but I didn't expect them to wear out that quickly. Since rubber bands were out of the question and I still had the custom mounting arm that I didn't use, I modified that one to carry the GPU fans. It screws onto the Alpenföhn mount. -------------------------------- I finally got around to make a proper stand for my desk, too.

At the planning stage of a new build and getting a little stuck. I chose a Fractal Design Arc Midi R2 for the case (mostly due to space restrictions) and a corsair H90 cpu cooler. In addition, I also plan to get 2x Noctua NF-A14 FLXs as radiator fans. I understand that I need to try to get positive air pressure inside the case (more intake than exhaust), but I don't know how best to achieve this. I'm not even confident that the radiator will fit in the rear of the case with both push and pull fans attached, alongside an atx motherboard. In summary, there are: 3x 140mm case fans (stock) 2x 140mm radiator fans (stock) 2x 140mm noctua radiator fans I really have no attachment to any of these components, I just want high efficiency, cooling, and minimizing dust. Any noise reduction would be bonus. So, what would be the best way to implement these fans in the case?