Help me perfect my blackout microATX build

[RomHeu]

Hello!

 

I recently built my new PC, which I will use half to play CSGO, half to work on macOS (hackintosh).

 

It already works well, but I'd like to perfect it:

• improve cooling, mostly to make it quieter
• improve cable management

How would you achieve that?

 

In addition to this open question, I have a few more specific questions:

1. Which way to install the power supply? (fan upwards, so towards the inside of the case, or fan downwards, so towards the floor?)
2. Any tips to measure the lenght of CableMod custom cables?
3. What should I do with these ugly USB cables?

Config for reference:

• Fractal Design Define 7 Mini
• Seasonic Prime TX-750
• MSI B660M Mortar WiFi (I so wish it had the black heat sinks of the non-WiFi variant!)
• Intel Core i7-12700K
• Noctua NF-U12A Chromax.Black
• 2x16GB=32GB Crucial DDR5-4800
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 2060 (While waiting for a reference design AMD Radeon RX 6000 series for macOS.)
• Crucial P5 Plus 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD
• Sonnet Solo10G PCIe

Thank you for your tips. Don't hesitate to be neat picky!

 

 

 

[Dukesilver27-]

Add 1 more intake, if you want quieter operation you could only adjust the fan curve, I hardly hear my PC even at heavy load, you have to find the balance between cooling performance and noise.

As for cable management, seems pretty tidy to me, there's only so much cable management you could do with certain parts.

6 minutes ago, RomHeu said:

In addition to this open question, I have a few more specific questions:

1. Which way to install the power supply? (fan upwards, so towards the inside of the case, or fan downwards, so towards the floor?)
2. Any tips to measure the lenght of CableMod custom cables?
3. What should I do with these ugly USB cables?

1, Fan downwards, the fans pull air, so you don't want it to pull air from your GPU, besides the case has perforated bottom panel for the PSU.

2. First you decide how you want to cable manage, then estimate how much additional length you need. Don't over estimate, otherwise you'd have a lot of extra cables cluttering your case.

3. Nothing you can do, or buy adapters to make it look somewhat

better.

[RomHeu]

On 3/15/2023 at 1:11 AM, Dukesilver27- said:

Add 1 more intake

Do you mean one more 140mm fan at the front? What about 3 120mm fans?

Would you buy something else than Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM or NF-A14 PWM? (Chromax.Black variants obviously ;-))

 

On 3/15/2023 at 1:11 AM, Dukesilver27- said:

As for cable management, seems pretty tidy to me, there's only so much cable management you could do with certain parts.

I don't quite like the flat CPU and PCIe cables, the CPU cables even make the cover hard to close!

 

On 3/15/2023 at 1:11 AM, Dukesilver27- said:

1, Fan downwards, the fans pull air, so you don't want it to pull air from your GPU, besides the case has perforated bottom panel for the PSU.

That's what I did, with the same rationale, despite the PSU manual saying otherwise, thank you.

 

On 3/15/2023 at 1:11 AM, Dukesilver27- said:

2. First you decide how you want to cable manage, then estimate how much additional length you need. Don't over estimate, otherwise you'd have a lot of extra cables cluttering your case.

Is there any tip for a good estimation? I would like to use something like a cord, with the same kind of behavior than a PSU cable, to be able to truly measure.

 

On 3/15/2023 at 1:11 AM, Dukesilver27- said:

3. Nothing you can do, or buy adapters to make it look somewhat better.

Are you aware of some kind of angled adapter or small extension flexible cable that would let me plug the case cables at the back?

[Dukesilver27-]

27 minutes ago, RomHeu said:

Do you mean one more 140mm fan at the front? What about 3 120mm fans?

Would you buy something else than Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM or NF-A14 PWM? (Chromax.Black variants obviously ;-))

From experience, 3x 120 and 2x140 doesn't make a difference, so go with whichever you prefer. As for Noctua's, I never recommend them since they're expensive therefore bad value, the whole quite thing is really doable for any decent fans like Arctic P12. You just need to adjust fan curve.

36 minutes ago, RomHeu said:

I would like to use something like a cord, with the same kind of behavior than a PSU cable, to be able to truly measure.

Well yea, that's the only way to estimate cable.

 

38 minutes ago, RomHeu said:

Are you aware of some kind of angled adapter or small extension flexible cable that would let me plug the case cables at the back?

I've seen someone use it, now that I think of it, I think it probably came with the case, so it is custom made. IDK if it is sold anywhere tho.

[RomHeu]

Hi!

 

Thank you @Dukesilver27-!

 

I bought a set of Noctua Chromax fans and accessories.

 

Here is the result, just before I remembered I had previously bought the NA-HC8 heatsink cover.

 

I didn't expect that 2 x 140mm fans at the front would require the removal of one of the power supply chamber dividers, which somewhat breaks up the monolithic design I was hoping for, and maybe negatively affects cooling?

 

Anyway, now my PC is almost inaudible at idle. With 100% fan speed, it is significantly cooler under load, so it doesn't thermal throttle anymore, even after 20 minutes of Cinebench, but it is also significantly louder under load. Do you have any suggestions for customizing the fan curve? (CPU fan curve is the default, System 1 and 2 are my first shot)

 

And do you have any BIOS settings to draw my attention to? Multicore enhancement, XMP profiles (useful with DDR5 4800?), SecureBoot (MSI B660M Mortar WiFi)… I lost track!

Next steps are:

• finding a "founders edition"/reference design or another good looking Radeon RX 6000 series GPU
• installing macOS on another M.2 SSD
• buying a set of custom CableMod cables, to enhance cable management

 

[RevGAM]

I was going to suggest the Phanteks T30, which is one of the top 120mm fans and has a switch to adjust RPMs to one of 3 choices 1200, 2000 & 3000), which would give you options for sound control but also to be able to ramp it up if it's thermal throttling. Another great fan choice that's quiet is be quiet! Silent Wings 4 (Pro or not).

 

The U12A is a fine cooler - I have it - but I believe you'd do better with the ThermalRight Peerless Assassin. The DeepCool AK/AG620 is also great,  as is the be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4,  but the 620 is loud, while the DRP4 is quiet. 

[RomHeu]

Thank you for suggesting other fans, some of which I didn't know. But I think I'm quite settled with my Noctua set, which was pretty expensive, and I quite like the company.

 

What I could still improve, though, are fan curves and maybe some other BIOS settings.