Case and CPU Cooler Upgrade Suggestions

[DocSwag]

The noise of my current system as well as the fact that I'm planning a gpu upgrade soon so overclocking my cpu might be useful means that I'm looking at upgrading my case and cpu cooler. I have a $200 budget to do so.

 

This is my current system:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor  (Purchased For $0.00) 
Motherboard: MSI - Z170A KRAIT GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  (Purchased For $0.00) 
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws 4 series 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR4-2666 Memory  (Purchased For $0.00) 
Storage: Sandisk - SSD PLUS 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (Purchased For $0.00) 
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (Purchased For $0.00) 
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 970 4GB SSC ACX 2.0 Video Card  (Purchased For $0.00) 
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  (Purchased For $0.00) 
Total: $0.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-05-15 21:51 EDT-0400

 

(don't judge some of the parts, I was young and dumb when I bought them anndddd let's just say I didn't realize I shoulda gotten help from a forum.

 

I'm leaning towards a Define S for the case right now. I like the looks of it and it's pretty silent. I have a CD drive and the define s doesn't support cd drives, but at the same time I don't use it much and I have a sata to usb adapter I could use if I ever need to use it. I was originally gonna get a define r5 before realizing a define s is just an r5 with more drive bays, for the most part, so now I'm leaning more towards the Define S.

 

As for the CPU cooler I'm currently looking at a D15 or Dark Rock Pro 3, and I'm leaning more towards the DRP3 ATM. As far as I can tell the Dark Rock Pro 3 is only a little worse when it comes to temps (probably not enough to impact OCing), whereas it is somewhat noticeably quieter. Looks isn't a big factor but it's somewhat a factor and the DRP3 definitely looks better compared to the poop brown noctua fans . Not considering AIOs at the moment since the air coolers are quieter while being pretty much as cool.

 

On that note, does anyone have any suggestions for the case or cooler? Thanks  

[Herman Mcpootis]

i'll vote for the enermax t50 for the cooler, only slightly behind the D15 but costs $50.

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/8041/enermax-ets-t50-axe-cpu-cooler-review/index6.html

https://www.directron.com/etst50awvs.html?aff=2

[The Sloth]

5 minutes ago, DocSwag said:

As for the CPU cooler I'm currently looking at a D15 or Dark Rock Pro 3,

i would highly suggest a dark rock pro 3, it looks really nice.

for the case 

s340, air 540, h440 or fractal define s for a plain build. 

[The Sloth]

1 minute ago, herman mcpootis said:

i'll vote for the enermax t50 for the cooler, only slightly behind the D15 but costs $50.

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/8041/enermax-ets-t50-axe-cpu-cooler-review/index6.html

https://www.directron.com/etst50awvs.html?aff=2

 

but looks really ugly 

[Herman Mcpootis]

1 minute ago, nerdslayer1 said:

but looks really ugly 

how? looks pretty nice to me

[The Sloth]

1 minute ago, herman mcpootis said:

how? looks pretty nice to me

Compared to a dark rock pro 3... nope, if OP can afford it a dakrock will look much better. 

[MicrowavedGerbil]

I think the DRP3 is a good choice for the CPU cooler. 

 

Case is a matter of personal opinion, although you have a pretty cool build so something with tempered glass would be good. The Corsair 400C White or NZXT H440 is a good choice to go with your motherboard. Maybe throw in a light strip or two.

[DocSwag]

6 minutes ago, herman mcpootis said:

i'll vote for the enermax t50 for the cooler, only slightly behind the D15 but costs $50.

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/8041/enermax-ets-t50-axe-cpu-cooler-review/index6.html

https://www.directron.com/etst50awvs.html?aff=2

5 dB more though, kinda puts me off. Compare to DRP3 and it'll be close to 10 dB difference.

[DocSwag]

1 minute ago, MicrowavedGerbil said:

I think the DRP3 is a good choice for the CPU cooler. 

 

Case is a matter of personal opinion, although you have a pretty cool build so something with tempered glass would be good. The Corsair 400C White is a good choice to go with your motherboard. Maybe throw in a light strip or two.

I personally like the brushed aluminum though , just a matter of personal opinion.

[MicrowavedGerbil]

3 minutes ago, DocSwag said:

I personally like the brushed aluminum though , just a matter of personal opinion.

If you like brushed aluminum, then the Define S would be a pretty good choice. The Corsair 450D is also a good brushed case and has drive bays. It's also a bit smaller.

[DocSwag]

9 minutes ago, MicrowavedGerbil said:

If you like brushed aluminum, then the Define S would be a pretty good choice. The Corsair 450D is also a good brushed case and has drive bays. It's also a bit smaller.

Eh, don't like the uneven front . I'm a picky guy  

[LogicalDrm]

DR3P is good option if you are willing to take looks before noise levels. In performance there are many dual towers at par, so those two + price are ones to make difference.

8 hours ago, herman mcpootis said:

i'll vote for the enermax t50 for the cooler, only slightly behind the D15 but costs $50.

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/8041/enermax-ets-t50-axe-cpu-cooler-review/index6.html

https://www.directron.com/etst50awvs.html?aff=2

 

Those noise levels though. Just look at fan noise under OC load. 14db difference between D15 and that. Its like someone shouting compared to normal talking.

[DocSwag]

2 hours ago, LoGiCalDrm said:

DR3P is good option if you are willing to take looks before noise levels. In performance there are many dual towers at par, so those two + price are ones to make difference.

 

Those noise levels though. Just look at fan noise under OC load. 14db difference between D15 and that. Its like someone shouting compared to normal talking.

Looks isn't a huge factor, noise probably matters a little more to me. What are some of your other suggestions that have similar noise levels at similar temps?

[LogicalDrm]

1 hour ago, DocSwag said:

Looks isn't a huge factor, noise probably matters a little more to me. What are some of your other suggestions that have similar noise levels at similar temps?

There are Cryorig R1 Ultimate and Phanteks PH-TC14PE. In this review you can see pretty much all you need http://www.anandtech.com/show/9415/top-tier-cpu-air-coolers-9way-roundup-review/12

Note worthy though, max fan speed of R1 and TC14PE are much slower than DR3P and D15.

[DocSwag]

36 minutes ago, LoGiCalDrm said:

There are Cryorig R1 Ultimate and Phanteks PH-TC14PE. In this review you can see pretty much all you need http://www.anandtech.com/show/9415/top-tier-cpu-air-coolers-9way-roundup-review/12

Note worthy though, max fan speed of R1 and TC14PE are much slower than DR3P and D15.

Looks to me to be noise vs performance, and for me noise is a bit more of a priority ATM  

[LogicalDrm]

8 minutes ago, DocSwag said:

Looks to me to be noise vs performance, and for me noise is a bit more of a priority ATM  

Except with Noctua where its noise+performance vs looks. D15 is still best overall air cooler with noise and performance.

[DocSwag]

3 hours ago, LoGiCalDrm said:

Except with Noctua where its noise+performance vs looks. D15 is still best overall air cooler with noise and performance.

Still a bit louder than DRP3 though. I originally was gonna go D15 but after further research I started leaning towards DRP3 instead.

[LogicalDrm]

5 minutes ago, DocSwag said:

Still a bit louder than DRP3 though. I originally was gonna go D15 but after further research I started leaning towards DRP3 instead.

Looks so indeed. I haven't noticed that before.

[DocSwag]

4 minutes ago, LoGiCalDrm said:

Looks so indeed. I haven't noticed that before.

Yeah, I always thought the D15 was the ultimate air cooler before at some point in time someone else on the forum told me the DRP3 is actually slightly quieter.

[WoodenMarker]

On 5/16/2017 at 0:03 PM, DocSwag said:

Yeah, I always thought the D15 was the ultimate air cooler before at some point in time someone else on the forum told me the DRP3 is actually slightly quieter.

--'Slightly' being the keyword here. The NH-D15 is about as quiet and has better mounting hardware for a more consistent mount and is much easier to install. It's the king of air coolers and hard to go wrong with.

Depending on what review and benchmark you're looking at, people claim that one cooler is quieter than the other. It may have to due with differences in hearing or other components affecting acoustics.

 

The Define S is a great case if cooling is the top priority. It has many fan mounts and is the the reason I'm using one myself.

[DocSwag]

9 minutes ago, WoodenMarker said:

--'Slightly' being the keyword here. The NH-D15 is about as quiet and has better mounting hardware for a more consistent mount and is much easier to install. It's the king of air coolers and hard to go wrong with.

Depending on what review and benchmark you're looking at, people claim that one cooler is quieter than the other. It may have to due with differences in hearing or other components affecting acoustics.

 

The Define S is a great case if cooling is the top priority. It has many fan mounts and is the the reason I'm using one myself.

Thing is, you can also apply the nh d15's cooling performance relative to the DRP3 in the same light. The NH-D15 is SLIGHTLY cooler than the DRP3, it doesn't actually matter that much. In practice it's usually about 3C difference, which isn't gonna be that big of a deal. I won't argue with the mounting point though, I've heard the be quiet mounting system is a literal pain the arse and that noctua's is pretty easy.

 

Was planning on asking this later but might as well ask you now, I got four silent Wings 3s a while back and the Define s comes with 2 fans, should I just stick all 6 in there are run them at low rpms? The other problem is I'm not sure how to control them, I assume the two fans that come with the case are 3 pins, but all the SW3s I have are PWM. I'm using a PWM fan hub connected to one of the two PWM fan headers on my mobo right now, and it's not an issue as my CPU cooler only has one fan. I already purchased the DRP3 but it has two fans, both of which are PWM. If I plug both into the CPU fan slots, I can't control the SW3s (mobo only has 3 case fan headers, if I used PWM fan hub all the fans would run at max speed) so I'm unsure of how to arrange them.

 

Basically:

Mobo has two CPU (PWM) fan headers and 3 case fan headers.

 

CPU cooler has 2 fans, which would occupy both.

 

I have 4 PWM case fans, which should use PWM fan headers.

 

I only have one PWM fan hub.

 

How the hell do I connect them all  

 

Not entirely sure if there's any issues with controlling PWM fans off of voltage controlled fan headers, if there isn't I could plug one of the DRP3's fans into a case fan header.

 

Otherwise, the best solution I can think of is get another PWM fan hub, and use one as a hub for the DRP3 fans and one as a hub for the SW3s.

[WoodenMarker]

33 minutes ago, DocSwag said:

Was planning on asking this later but might as well ask you now, I got four silent Wings 3s a while back and the Define s comes with 2 fans, should I just stick all 6 in there are run them at low rpms?

If your main concern is noise, just run all SW3's.

[DocSwag]

9 hours ago, WoodenMarker said:

If your main concern is noise, just run all SW3's.

The problem is, even if I wanted to do that I would have issues. I have 4 SW3s and a DRP3 with two fans. My mobo only has 2 CPU fan headers and 3 case fan headers. I have one PWM fan hub. I could use the hub with the DRP3 fans, which would allow me to control both and a SW3 via PWM, but idk if using PWM fans on voltage controlled fan headers has any issues. I could use the fan hub on the four SW3s, but that would mean I only have one CPU fan header for the two CPU fans, so I'd have to plug one into the case fan headers, which again, I'm not sure if there's any issues with that .

 

My main question isn't which fans I should use, but how I can actually plug all of them into my mobo  

[LogicalDrm]

2 hours ago, DocSwag said:

The problem is, even if I wanted to do that I would have issues. I have 4 SW3s and a DRP3 with two fans. My mobo only has 2 CPU fan headers and 3 case fan headers. I have one PWM fan hub. I could use the hub with the DRP3 fans, which would allow me to control both and a SW3 via PWM, but idk if using PWM fans on voltage controlled fan headers has any issues. I could use the fan hub on the four SW3s, but that would mean I only have one CPU fan header for the two CPU fans, so I'd have to plug one into the case fan headers, which again, I'm not sure if there's any issues with that .

 

My main question isn't which fans I should use, but how I can actually plug all of them into my mobo  

 

Connecting PWM fans to 3pin headers means you loose PWM control, and depending on mobo they might not be controllable. Connecting 3pin fans to PWM headers means they either run at full speed, or you can select headers to act like DC controlled and allowing you to control them like 3pin/DC.

 

From manual it seems like that mobo doesn't give option to select between DC or PWM on PWM headers. So easiest way would be getting Y-splitter (as for some reason doesn't come with one). You could then have all fans from two CPU headers. Or if you can handle less controllability, connect some case fans to additional headers.

[DocSwag]

4 hours ago, LoGiCalDrm said:

 

Connecting PWM fans to 3pin headers means you loose PWM control, and depending on mobo they might not be controllable. Connecting 3pin fans to PWM headers means they either run at full speed, or you can select headers to act like DC controlled and allowing you to control them like 3pin/DC.

 

From manual it seems like that mobo doesn't give option to select between DC or PWM on PWM headers. So easiest way would be getting Y-splitter (as for some reason doesn't come with one). You could then have all fans from two CPU headers. Or if you can handle less controllability, connect some case fans to additional headers.

Do you think maybe I should test it out and see if I can control the pwm fans off the case fan headers first? If it doesn't work I could get a pwm splitter, if it does then that will be that