Migrated Coffeelake PC to the O11DW

AINExe · January 12, 2021

I was GPU-less since September last year, as I sold my 1080 Ti Strix after Ampere was announced. Didn't expect stock would kill itself, so I didn't get a 3080 until mid-December, and glad I got the one without the red lip. Didn't install it to my PC until just now since I wanted to get all the parts I have before I started switching cases so I would cable manage everything in one go.

So, literally just hours ago, I finally finished switching cases from the Phanteks P350X to the O11DW. My main gripe about the O11DW, that while it is quite roomy, it has bare bones routing or tie points for cable management, the middle and upper top are what you get. It took me hours, first by remaking my cables, and actually managing the cables inside the case, whereas my P350X my only issue was that it was tight but I managed it. Second issue was the HDD/SSD mounting at the back plate, it was flat enough that it was difficult to insert SATA power connectors to the drives. I had to route the connector under the drive, luckily SATA cables are flat. Third, is a small thing but it can be attributed to the Motherboard/fans, but USB 3.1 connectors is impossible to connect to the header if it's at the bottom and if you have fans there. Asus moved the USB header to the side near the 24-pin on Maximus XII series it seems.

I actually liked how it turned out. I think there's a certain aesthetic to fans having no LEDs and how white accentuates the color of other sources of LEDs. After I bought the O11DW, originally I was gonna buy RGB fans like the UniFans, but I got the idea for this theme after I saw some O11DW builds on PCP using only Arctic P12 white fans and some LEDs. The Phantek's LED strip is probably the thinnest LED strip that's diffused that I know of, if anyone can suggest another I can check it out so I can make the LED strips more subtle. The 3080 + cables are a tight fit btw, almost hitting the glass. Since they're PET cables as well, it's stiff, so I had to really flex it back.

Still somewhat WIP. I plan on either buying additional 16GB ram for production work as 16GB alone isn't cutting it anymore for me, or getting a Dominator Platinum RGB White 4x8GB. Might still try to make the LEDs' cables hidden. Also gonna do some cable management on my desk, buy some desk wire clamps for my cables and an aluminum bracket for my surge protector under my desk. Might also make/have someone make a custom GPU bracket for me, as the FTW3 is a lot heavier than my 1080 Ti Strix.

Still rocking the 8700k, originally I was going to switch to the 3900 earlier last year, but I was spending so much on my audio hobby left and right, that I already spent more than my entire PC is now. Although I might switch to AM4 this year, preferably 5700 if that comes out, or go broke 5900. Alternatively not at all, since there's a chance I'll be living in Japan this year or the next, so might build a new PC altogether, just going to bring my drives and GPU with me.