Long Live Matisse (aka My Sandy Bridge was dying)

[texas-nightowl]

Parts have been ordered.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor  ($327.99 @ Amazon) 
Thermal Compound: Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut 1g 1 g Thermal Paste  ($8.58) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte X570 AORUS ELITE ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($199.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory  ($84.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Corsair MP510 480 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($64.98 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Sabrent Rocket 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($106.69 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11 GB FTW3 GAMING iCX Video Card  (Purchased For $0.00) 
Case: Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case  (Purchased For $89.99) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS Plus Platinum 650 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  (Purchased For $0.00) 
Case Fan: Noctua NF-A14 PWM chromax.black.swap 82.52 CFM 140 mm Fan  ($24.90 @ Amazon) 
Case Fan: Noctua NF-A14 PWM chromax.black.swap 82.52 CFM 140 mm Fan  ($24.90 @ Amazon) 
Monitor: Dell AW3418DW 34.1" 3440x1440 120 Hz Monitor  (Purchased For $0.00) 
Custom: Rosewill RCFC-17001 PWM Fan Splitter Cable, Black Sleeve, 3.94", 2 pack version  ($7.50 @ Amazon) 
Total: $940.51
Prices did NOT include taxes! Ouch!
 

 

 

I ended up buying everything on Amazon. Price was usually within a dollar or two but when it wasn't, the 5% cash back I get from using my Amazon Visa made up for it.

The parts I already had include:
1080ti : purchased used earlier this year (think I paid $575)
PSU : purchased earlier this year when I got the 1080ti (was around $100)
AW3418 : also purchased earlier this year...reason for getting the 1080ti! (was around $750 or so)

Everything should be here Wednesday, so I will be building at the end of the week! Haven't done this since fall of 2011!

[Tacos4all]

Looks like a beast. Must be very exciting for you. I love the prospect of a new build. And you said it's your first build since 2011!? Wow that's quite a long time. I know some of us in the PC building community have a terrible addiction to upgrading every couple of years. I keep telling myself my i7-7700K is still plenty for today's games, and it is, but then I see things like the Ryzen 7 3900X from AMD or the i9-9900KS from Intel and I get that itch. Meanwhile you've been on Sandy bridge all this time, really speaks to the longevity of these components. I used Ivy Bridge, an i5-3570k, until 2017 when I finally upgraded, but that was only 5 years. But I would say it was a more worthwhile upgrade considering hyper threading and much higher clock speeds on the 7700k in comparison. 

[texas-nightowl]

3 hours ago, Tacos4all said:

Meanwhile you've been on Sandy bridge all this time, really speaks to the longevity of these components. 

 

I don't know if it speaks to the longevity of these components, or the fact that my use didn't tax them too much, or the fact I was broke!  Let's call it a combination!

 

I almost went with the 3600 on this build instead of the 3700x, but I'm hoping this build will basically last me another 5-6 yrs (with gpu exception possibly).  So, we will see!

[texas-nightowl]

Well, I've started!  I'll have some pictures later hopefully. (I did snap a few with my iphone but haven't otherwise checked them yet.)

 

Started with the motherboard...cpu, cooler, ram, and nvme drives are installed.  (For cpu cooler, I cleaned off the pre-applied stuff and then did the 2 line method based on pics of io die and chiplet location.)

 

Case...standoffs are installed and front case fans placed.

 

Next up...remove the PSU from my Sandy Bridge and move it over then install the motherboard in the case.

 

So, there is the quick progress report.

[DoctorNick]

Lookin good! Love the case too. The size is just perfect

[texas-nightowl]

Quick update. Everything going well so far. I finished putting it together and it booted first go. Everything seems stable so far. I have not stress tested yet...but I've installed windows (twice...but that is another story) and everything is working so far!

 

I'll have to decide if I am going to "stress" test it or not.  Otherwise, next step is to get my old PSU into my old system and start comparing and moving data.

 

The Meshify C did feel small a couple of times in comparison to my old case (Corsair 400R) but really, since I'm using 2 nvme drives and no other drives so far, that helped a lot in terms of having to manage fewer cables.

 

It would have been nice if my PSU cables had been slightly less stiff. It's still possible I might try to find replacement PCI-E cables for my video card, because my cables are going to be pressing against the glass window. I'm glad I did not buy the evga powerlink though...no way for it to fit between the video card and my front fans!

[texas-nightowl]

Do you want pics?

 

Yes?

 

Parts received yesterday.  Not included - the PSU and GPU I am re-using.

[texas-nightowl]

Not pretty, but my thermal paste application...it seems like X is most commonly recommended currently, but I went with double lines based on pics I had seen showing the IO die and chiplet locations.

[texas-nightowl]

Cooler, ram, and nvme "drives" all installed.

[Zando_]

1 minute ago, texas-nightowl said:

Cooler, ram, and nvme "drives" all installed.

Oooooooo that motherboard actually looks pretty damn good! 

Also heck yeah on the Meshify C, I just got a Meshify C Mini in and I can't wait to build in it, they're extremely well designed and built cases. 

[texas-nightowl]

My baby...and main distraction. He's almost 13 now.

[texas-nightowl]

GPU in!  Not much to spare though! I liked the idea of an EVGA Powerlink, but glad I didn't bother! It would not have fit!

[texas-nightowl]

5 minutes ago, Zando Bob said:

Oooooooo that motherboard actually looks pretty damn good! 

Also heck yeah on the Meshify C, I just got a Meshify C Mini in and I can't wait to build in it, they're extremely well designed and built cases. 

Have to admit part of the reason I went with the Aorus was that I didn't like the "camo" of the Asus Tuf and it just looked more refined than quite a few. Like not crazy!

 

The Meshify is my first Fractal and I am impressed. Coming from such a larger case though, I can't imagine going down to the Mini!

[Zando_]

4 minutes ago, texas-nightowl said:

Have to admit part of the reason I went with the Aorus was that I didn't like the "camo" of the Asus Tuf and it just looked more refined than quite a few. Like not crazy!

 

The Meshify is my first Fractal and I am impressed. Coming from such a larger case though, I can't imagine going down to the Mini!

Lol yeah, it's quite small compared to the Evolv ATX my main rig is in. I'm putting an mATX X58 rig in it, should be fun. They're really well thought out cases, like you saw with your GPU they're pretty much the exact size you need to fit in some pretty damn beefy hardware and still keep it in a very compact case. 

IIRC the absolute madlad @For Science! is doing a full custom loop with dual 1080 Tis in a Meshify C, if you do the work you can fit some insane setups in these cases. I have my folding rig in a Define S, much bigger case but still incredibly well made and really well thought out (looks just as clean too, is quiet af as well). Fractal just does a really, really good job with their cases. I've built in a few of the Node 304s for work too, similarly excellent experience there. I'm a bit of a fanboy of theirs now tbh, prefer Fractal for really clean builds and Phanteks for more extreme/fancy ones (they're similarly well built and usually almost as well thought out). 

 

also love the dog pls give pats for me

[texas-nightowl]

These PCI-E cables are going to cause me trouble when I go to put the glass side back on.  I may have to find some replacement cables that are more flexible. All the Seasonic cables are very stiff.

[For Science!]

This is like the Meshify C fan club, love it! I think with a bit of convincing (pulling and pushing) the pcie power should fit in the compartment fine. @Zando Bob I really like Fractal's stuff too, although the more recent stuff (Vision,Vector) has not been really great imo.

[texas-nightowl]

Temporary spot while I do installing and data transfer stuff!

[Zando_]

Just now, For Science! said:

This is like the Meshify C fan club, love it! I think with a bit of convincing (pulling and pushing) the pcie power should fit in the compartment fine. @Zando Bob I really like Fractal's stuff too, although the more recent stuff (Vision,Vector) has not been really great imo.

Haven't seen much of the Vision and Vector series, what's up with them? 

 

Also yos Meshify C gang 

[texas-nightowl]

1 minute ago, For Science! said:

This is like the Meshify C fan club, love it! I think with a bit of convincing (pulling and pushing) the pcie power should fit in the compartment fine. @Zando Bob I really like Fractal's stuff too, although the more recent stuff (Vision,Vector) has not been really great imo.

 

I've wondered if it would be a problem to cut off the rubberlike material where the cables go from sleeved to unsleeved to give me more flexibility. That is like 2" long and contributes to the stiffness/inflexibleness of those cables.

[texas-nightowl]

By the way...it is absolutely true that using a rubber squeegee (like you would use for cleaning windows) on carpets really picks up dog hair.  In case anyone needs to know.

[For Science!]

4 minutes ago, Zando Bob said:

Haven't seen much of the Vision and Vector series, what's up with them? 

 

Also yos Meshify C gang 

Bad implementation of tempered glass without consideration for airflow, and the vector just looks a bit too non-scandanavian

Vector

 

Vision

[For Science!]

4 minutes ago, texas-nightowl said:

 

I've wondered if it would be a problem to cut off the rubberlike material where the cables go from sleeved to unsleeved to give me more flexibility. That is like 2" long and contributes to the stiffness/inflexibleness of those cables.

Not sure about seasonic, but usually there are some fat capacitors that lie under these big heatshrink (at least for corsair anyway) and so the result will be really fugly if so and so I wouldn't recommend it.

[Zando_]

Just now, For Science! said:

Bad implementation of tempered glass without consideration for airflow, and the vector just looks a bit too non-scandanavian

Vector

-snip-

Vision

-snip-

Vision doesn't look any worse than other TG cases though, but oooof the Vector... doesn't even look like a Fractal product tbh, looks like older NZXT stuff and the Corsair's higher tier SPEC series. 

[texas-nightowl]

3 minutes ago, For Science! said:

Not sure about seasonic, but usually there are some fat capacitors that lie under these big heatshrink (at least for corsair anyway) and so the result will be really fugly if so and so I wouldn't recommend it.

Well...nuts.  I may have a spare cable or two (meant for standard 2.5" and 3.5" drives) that I could cut up first to see. Otherwise, I'll just have to see how much I can work those cables.

[For Science!]

11 minutes ago, texas-nightowl said:

 

I've wondered if it would be a problem to cut off the rubberlike material where the cables go from sleeved to unsleeved to give me more flexibility. That is like 2" long and contributes to the stiffness/inflexibleness of those cables.

Another consideration is to route the pcie cables upwards into the same grommet as the 24-pin, this is what I do in my office computer (also meshify C, ha) and it looks much sleeker, maybe the cables can be managed better too.