Devil's Canyon MATX Build

[aduffalo]

Hi, wanting to go a little smaller and bring myself in to the future a bit. This will be my second build.

Wanted to ask for feedback on thoughts and any potential suggestions, comments, criticisms before I take the plunge.

 

Currently have Corsair 600T, Sabertooth Z77, i5 3570k, H100i, GTX Titan, G.Skill TridentX 2400MHz 16GB ram, 256GB M4 SSD, 1 TB WD HDD, Asus Essence STX, Corsair AX 850, 2 x SP120 on Radiator, 120mm Spectre Pro (rear), 200mm Spectre Pro (front).

 

Planned Build; ( N.B. * = to buy)

 

*Corsair 350D Case

*Asus Maximus Gene VII Z97 MOBO

*I7 4790k Devil's Canyon CPU

H100i CPU Cooler

GTX Titan GPU

G.Skill TridentX 2400 MHz 16GB Ram

*2 x Samsung EVO 250GB in Raid 0 Storage

Asus Essence STX Sound Card

Corsair AX 850 PSU

*NF-P12 PWN Rear Fan

*2 x NF-A14 PWM Front Fans

*2 x NF-F12 PWM Radiator Fans

 

Firstly, thanks for reading this far. 

First question is should I bother replacing SP120 fans on radiator?

Do I need PWM Fans? Unsure on Fans in general.

Will this all work together?

Where is the best place to sell second hand PC parts? (UK)

I'm assuming the acoustics of the 350D are quiter then the 600T as is less meshy, am I right?

 

Thanks again,

Aduffalo

[skullbringer]

First of all, its the 4790k, not the 4970k

 

Cpu and motherboard are solid high end choices, clear recommendation for those. Also the 350D is a nice case.

 

Concerning SSDs, the 840 evo is quite slow in sequential writes as it is using tlc flash. So if you need the write performance or generally would like to step up to a better, newer SSD, I'd recommend going with the MX100 from Crucial. Probably the best SSD atm.

 

If you are rebuilding your system, for me personally it would be a priority to only use on type/brand of fan and not mismatch those. IMHO replacing your radiator fans will be of a esthetic benefit. Performance wise you would get maybe a 5°C improvement. Guess NF-F12 on your H100i would be nice to have, but not an absolute must have.

 

Depending on how you want to control your fans you can decide whether to get pwm fans or not. If you want to use the temperature based control on the H100i and plug the fans straight to the pump unit, you will not be able to use pwm fans as it only has 3pin fan connectors. Also if you are already using or planing on installing a voltage control based fan controller that undervolts your fans to regulate their speed, you will need to go for a 3 pin fan or alternatively get 3 to 4 pin adaptors.

On the other hand, if you want to connect your fans to the motherboard and do all the fan controlling through that, pwm variants can have some benefits like lower minimum rpm, avoiding of possible motor noises and more granular control. Also the latest Asus Z97 motherboards feature "Fan Expert 3" technology which automatically detects whether a connector is plugged up to a 3pin or 4pin fan, allows you to create groups inside your case and profiles for different usage scenarios and generally is a pretty neat way to manage the airflow inside your system from a bios level, but also through windows. It will need some time to set up though.

 

The only other thing to point out would be that any single gpu system wont consume more than 450W, so any psu with 500W or more would be just fine. Of course, in case you want to reserve room for a possible future sli upgrade or prefer the extra headroom for more silent operation, 850W is probably the sweet spot for that. Even though, you could save quite some money by going with a more conservative option.

[aduffalo]

First of all, its the 4790k, not the 4970k

 

Cpu and motherboard are solid high end choices, clear recommendation for those. Also the 350D is a nice case.

 

Concerning SSDs, the 840 evo is quite slow in sequential writes as it is using tlc flash. So if you need the write performance or generally would like to step up to a better, newer SSD, I'd recommend going with the MX100 from Crucial. Probably the best SSD atm.

 

If you are rebuilding your system, for me personally it would be a priority to only use on type/brand of fan and not mismatch those. IMHO replacing your radiator fans will be of a esthetic benefit. Performance wise you would get maybe a 5°C improvement. Guess NF-F12 on your H100i would be nice to have, but not an absolute must have.

 

Depending on how you want to control your fans you can decide whether to get pwm fans or not. If you want to use the temperature based control on the H100i and plug the fans straight to the pump unit, you will not be able to use pwm fans as it only has 3pin fan connectors. Also if you are already using or planing on installing a voltage control based fan controller that undervolts your fans to regulate their speed, you will need to go for a 3 pin fan or alternatively get 3 to 4 pin adaptors.

On the other hand, if you want to connect your fans to the motherboard and do all the fan controlling through that, pwm variants can have some benefits like lower minimum rpm, avoiding of possible motor noises and more granular control. Also the latest Asus Z97 motherboards feature "Fan Expert 3" technology which automatically detects whether a connector is plugged up to a 3pin or 4pin fan, allows you to create groups inside your case and profiles for different usage scenarios and generally is a pretty neat way to manage the airflow inside your system from a bios level, but also through windows. It will need some time to set up though.

 

The only other thing to point out would be that any single gpu system wont consume more than 450W, so any psu with 500W or more would be just fine. Of course, in case you want to reserve room for a possible future sli upgrade or prefer the extra headroom for more silent operation, 850W is probably the sweet spot for that. Even though, you could save quite some money by going with a more conservative option.

 

Thank you so much for this, made the relevant edits.

Thanks for fan information very helpful.

I already have the 850 so will be sticking with that, used to run 2 x 680 and you never know what will happen in the future.

Would it be ridiculous to just get 3 NF-P12's (1 rear, 2 rad) rather then bother getting F12's to keep noise down slightly?#

Also my Corsair Link is absolutely shafted, only shows a red colour - any way to fix this?

 

Aduffalo

 

Thanks again.

[skullbringer]

Thank you so much for this, made the relevant edits.

Thanks for fan information very helpful.

I already have the 850 so will be sticking with that, used to run 2 x 680 and you never know what will happen in the future.

Would it be ridiculous to just get 3 NF-P12's (1 rear, 2 rad) rather then bother getting F12's to keep noise down slightly?#

Also my Corsair Link is absolutely shafted, only shows a red colour - any way to fix this?

 

Aduffalo

 

Thanks again.

 

Going with just NF-P12s instead of F12s is probably still a very good solution. Eventhough the P12s feature slighly older technology they will perform equally or even better than the F12s, especially in static pressure scanarios.

Dont know about Corsair Link, as I have no experience with it, sorry.

[IamPaddy]

The Z97 Asus maximus gene vii is amazing, I am currently using one.

[aduffalo]

Thanks for responses, will go ahead and let you guys know/see the results.

[brob]

Hi, wanting to go a little smaller and bring myself in to the future a bit. This will be my second build.

Wanted to ask for feedback on thoughts and any potential suggestions, comments, criticisms before I take the plunge.

 

Currently have Corsair 600T, Sabertooth Z77, i5 3570k, H100i, GTX Titan, G.Skill TridentX 2400MHz 16GB ram, 256GB M4 SSD, 1 TB WD HDD, Asus Essence STX, Corsair AX 850, 2 x SP120 on Radiator, 120mm Spectre Pro (rear), 200mm Spectre Pro (front).

 

Planned Build; ( N.B. * = to buy)

 

*Corsair 350D Case

*Asus Maximus Gene VII Z97 MOBO

*I7 4790k Devil's Canyon CPU

H100i CPU Cooler

GTX Titan GPU

G.Skill TridentX 2400 MHz 16GB Ram

*2 x Samsung EVO 250GB in Raid 0 Storage

Asus Essence STX Sound Card

Corsair AX 850 PSU

*NF-P12 PWN Rear Fan

*2 x NF-A14 PWM Front Fans

*2 x NF-F12 PWM Radiator Fans

 

Firstly, thanks for reading this far. 

First question is should I bother replacing SP120 fans on radiator?

Do I need PWM Fans? Unsure on Fans in general.

Will this all work together?

Where is the best place to sell second hand PC parts? (UK)

I'm assuming the acoustics of the 350D are quiter then the 600T as is less meshy, am I right?

 

Thanks again,

Aduffalo

 

Don't use RAID 0 with ssd for gaming or general purpose systems. (The configuration can in fact perform worse in certain operations and doesn't provide the real world performance improvement that one sees in hdd RAID 0. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-raid-benchmark,3485-13.html.) Get a 480GB - 512GB ssd. It will be much more robust than a RAID 0 array and will provide the same or better real world experience.

 

The Maximus Gene VII has a very good sound sub-system. You may want to consider selling the sound card.

 

I suggest not replacing stock or adding additional fans. If case or radiator fan noise becomes an issue then you can contemplate replacing the stock fans. With the addition of the two H100i fans the case will have a total of five fans which should be more than sufficient for cooling the build.

 

If you are replacing fans then PWM fans should work best with the motherboard and its fan control software.

[aduffalo]

Thanks again for responses, was aware about the raid 0 not being 'magic' but it's something I've never tried and felt should give it a go - will definitely investigate more before i decide on it though!

Are all the bays along the front of the case removable?

[brob]

Thanks again for responses, was aware about the raid 0 not being 'magic' but it's something I've never tried and felt should give it a go - will definitely investigate more before i decide on it though!

Are all the bays along the front of the case removable?

 

I don't believe that the external bay is removable but the others are.

[aduffalo]

Is anyone in favour of Raid 0?