Another O11D Mini Build for a Noob!

[ConanDuck]

All,

I'm a FIRST TIME BUILDER. I've replaced ram, SSD, some minor electronic repairs in consumer electronics. Some in vehicles. Never built a computer. Part of this is to do it so I can say I did, even if its way more expensive than a PS5.

 

Time Frame: I'm not looking to build until September / October time frame at the earliest. I want to see the prices how prices for the Intel Raptor Lake, 4000 series cards, DDR5, see if LGA 1700 motherboards with DDR5 become more available before I buy 12th Gen, 3000 series, and DDR4. I might even be talked into an AMD setup.

Budget (including currency): 2000-2500ish USD. I will aim to keep it at or below 2k, as that's almost halfway to a new LS-12000 for the theater room. But since I'm planning to spending 500+ on a new GPU, I may end up north of 2000... It kind of depends on what I can get for what price at the time. I'd prefer a 3070TI, 3080, or one of the new 4070's since I think the 12GB RAM would help on the games I play (even if I don't know). I figure I could get a 3080 cheap after the 4000 series releases. I might even splurge on a 4080 depending on pricing on release and availability. I've estimated I need a at least a 3070TI by looking at Youtube videos of folks playing rust on different settings.

Country: MURICA

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Girlfriends possibly daily work PC (Her 8GB HP work laptop is terrible. She's on Teams way too much so the RAM is killing her, internet surfing, office suite), but she may opt not to use it. I would use for gaming (Rust, Doom, Battlefield 2042... I'm a combat vet so I like to shoot stuff and real bullets are expensive)

Other details: I WAS using a HP Spectre x360 15 9750-H/16GB/1650 Max-Q for gaming on a 3440x1440 monitor. So yes, I've been the guy on rust your constantly killing on low pop servers because I'm pushing 25-30 FPS and terrible. I've been having some major issues while gaming recently on the laptop.... I cooked my Spectre's SSD even on a cooling pad and now Throttlestop shows I've got an almost constant EDP Other issue.... so I'm trying to retire the laptop from gaming so I don't mess it up anymore because its boss for normal laptop duty like internet surfing.

 

Monitor: Have a <5ms 75hz 3440x1440 monitor using for work and gaming. No plans to replace soon with higher refresh rate, and I would like to max out this monitor. If girlfriend doesn't utilize for work well, may move computer to theater room after purchasing 4k gaming projector, so being able to consistently game at 60FPS 4k is a goal. I'm waiting to upgrade the projector from a cheap craigslist Powerlite 4030 until I can get a projector that can do 4k 120hz for less than 5k with good blacks (I'm a scifi guy, Stargate, battlestar, expanse, etc).

 

I'm planning to go with a 5 slot configuration on the O11 Mini so I have room to go with a 360mm AIO on the top if its better for cooling. But if I opt to go with the 280mm on the side I could go to an ATX board.

I know I could go to the I5-12600k with almost no performance loss. I'm honestly PLANNING for the I7 for the extra P cores, even if I don't use them (i figure more future proof).

I would prefer to do DDR5, to help try to future proof the computer, but as of today there are no cheap (<$200) ATX or M-ATX with DDR5 I'm aware of. And I don't think I would necessarily notice the difference between DDR4 (especially after XMP) and DDR5

I know the SFX power supply is killing me future proofing because anything over 850 watts is way to expensive. Hopefully the new master cooler 1100 is reasonably priced...

 

So... I've already got an idea of what I want. I'm not really set on anything other than probably the case. I've looked at 25 other cases and I think the O11 Dynamic mini is the best for me. I like the look, its not too huge (except wide), its not too crazy expensive, and I think I can cool it effectively.

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/VkRcxs

 

Yes I am planning some A-RGB.... But I'm not trying to blow a ton of money on it. My girlfriend will likely look at it all day every day, so it might as well look nice. I might even do an infinity mirror type mod on the front, if i feel like blowing another 100-200 bucks to do it right...

 

So my questions start.

 

I originally planned to do a 360mm AIO on the top of the case (exhaust), along with 2x120 (intakes) on the side, with 3x120 (intakes) on the bottom, and 1x120mm (exhaust) on the rear. I figured with 5 unobstructed intakes and 4 (3 of which would be obstructed by the radiator) it would give me positive case pressure to cut down on dust. I didn't pick 140mm's on the side because then its just two fan 3 packs.

 

What are thoughts on a 280mm AIO on the side (intake, with 3x120 exhaust on top) vs a 360mm AIO on top in this case? Would doing the 280mm AIO (2x140mm obstructed intakes) with 3 unobstructed intakes and 4 unobstructed exhausts still give me positive case pressure?

 

I've never used an AIO system before. If I do, what should I know about turning the PC off vs hibernate / sleep mode for AIO longevity? I would assume if the computer goes to sleep or hibernates the AIO would completely shut off, but I don't know.

 

I would want to sync the A-RGB with the motherboard, and i would prefer not to daisy chain all of them. Do I need both a SATA powered PWM fan controller AND a SATA powered RGB controller? Or should I just enjoy using like 100 zip ties and daisy chain everything?

 

I've read some that Userbenchmark.com may not be good for comparing AMD vs Intel and Nvidia. Is there a better benchmarking site to use to compare?

 

Anything else I might have screwed up or majorly overlooked?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Somerandomtechyboi]

I didnt even know corsair sells that high bin of their normal vengeance series and not their overpriced dominators, though thats most likely the binned micron b die you can find on 4000+ ballistix so go for ballistix instead, youll benifit the most by ocing upto 5200mhz but thats depending on temp and bin, youll most likely top out at 5000/5100 depending on how you tune it and thats assuming you get a good board that has good ram oc capability along with good enough cooling, btw anything over 4000mhz is not guaranteed to work out of the box so only for tuners that overclock their ram and want high bin ics, for ics like micron e/b/j, hynix djr, samsung b die, etc. They dont give a crap about voltage so run em as high as you need to, a decent safe volt to set would be 1.65v but you may wish to go higher, at your own risk cause unkown if imc starts degrading over 1.7v dram, github ddr4 oc guide and buildzoid is a good source of info on this kind of ocing shenanigans, if you are not interested in oc get regular 3200 cl16/3600 cl18 rams cause anything else is overpriced trash overclocked ballistix will decimate

 

You may be interested to go for the 12700f instead of the 12700k cause cpu overclock is dead, and if you do wanna cpu overclock ghetto loop with a massive car rad or 2 is the only option for a worthwhile overclock atleast (1.5v+ under 70c, 5.5+ p core) but still needless waste of electricity

 

Board wise just get the cheapest sht that has decent enough i/o, even a phantom gaming 4 will work

 

970 evo plus is overpriced, just get a cheaper ssd like the sx8100 at 85$ which will perform similarly to the 970

[brob]

Worry about AIO configuration once the CPU is decided. In general, so long as the hoses enter the radiator below the pump unit (cpu) when mounted vertically, placement is good. When a radiator is intake it typically cools about 1 - 2 degrees better than as exhaust, not enough to worry about for most of us.

 

I don't worry about positive or negative airflow. I'm much more concerned with establishing good airflow through the case over all components.

 

Daisy chaining is useful. Many new motherboards have multiple A-RGB headers. This means that one can optimize cable layouts and still daisy chain. You might also look at Lian-Li UNI fans. They can be clipped together to eliminate cables.

 

The best way of comparing performance are cpu reviews. But for a rough comparison I tend to start with passmark CPU and GPU compare.