New Build Philosophy(and my first post)

[MisterDeadeye]

*Warning*

Thread title is a little misleading, what you're about to read might just be the ramblings of a man obsessing about a new build idea, nothing particularly interesting.

*CAUTION*

Huge wall of text below.

Alright guys, so this is my first post. I've been watching LTT for a while now, and I figured this community was better than some of the other popular forums, so here it goes.

I'm building a PC. The main uses will be photo/video editing, blogging, creating YouTube content, etc., but I'm also a gamer and I expect to max 1080p when I want to. I have no interest in 1440p at the moment, so getting a better GPU or motherboard seems like a bad idea; but I may be wrong.

Anyway, the list of parts I've picked out aren't really anything special and I'm sure most of you are already aware of most of it, so I'm not going to worry about tossing in any hotlinks -- browsing on a phone isn't very efficient.

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1230v3 (already purchased)

Motherboard: ASUS Vanguard B85 (also already purchased)

GPU: ASUS GTX 970 Strix

RAM: 16GB DDR3 9/1600(no particular set for sure, ideas below)

PSU: Corsair RM650

That's the core of what I have picked out. I went with the Xeon because I don't want to sacrifice stability(due to overclocking), and a quad core, hyperthreaded, 3.3GHz -- 3.7GHz Turbo, CPU for $250 seems like a great deal to me as far as value goes. There are other positives of going with a Xeon, but they'll be largely unused, and the lack of an iGPU seems like a negative, but I wasn't planning on running the PC without a discreet card anyway.

The motherboard is also fairy barebones, with only 4 SATA III connectors(2 SATA II), no special overclocking or good audio controller equipped, etc., but again, I'm not looking for a typical gaming rig. This is from the TUF series, so it's got a decent amount of heatsinks and "toughness" features, and there's a PCIe 3.0x16, PCIe 2.0x16(always x4), a PCIe 1x1, and a PCI. Simple. Sufficient for my uses.

Where I'm looking for input is my cooling situation. As of now, the case I'm looking at is the Fractal Design Arc Mini R2. Partly for aesthetics, partly for their fans, the SSD brackets, modularity, etc.

The case comes with two 120mm fans and a 140mm fan included. My idea is to take the two 120s and put them in the front for intake. I plan on taking the 140mm and putting it in the back for exhaust. These three fans will be the main air component, so I'll connect them to the integrated 3-fan controller(5V, 7V, 12V). I also plan on putting a 120mm intake fan behind the PSU on the bottom(assuming I can find an appropriately powerful PSU at the size I would need it to be).

Now, that seems like a lot of intake for so little exhaust, right? Why not get rid of the 120mm bottom fan and call it good? Well, I plan on using the top of the case for a radiator. Water cooling? On a locked, low-level Xeon? That's the idea. The Swiftech H220-x is what I plan on using for this, in a pull configuration on the top(exhaust, sort of, right?).

Will there be too much positive pressure built up with the front, bottom of the case being full of intake fans, and essentially having only one real exhaust fan? This is what I'm trying to overcome right now. This is my dilemma.

On top of all of the intake fans, don't forget I'll have the air cooled GTX 970 in the case as well.

EXPLANATION OF CHOICES:

I should probably try to give you every bit of philosophy I have on this build so that you understand the choices I am making. I value efficiency and stability in my PC, above a few percentages here and there for performance, but I also value silence, hence the water cooling, Strix with the no-fan mode, and Corsair RM650 for the no-fan mode. While I'm browsing the Internets and messing around in Photoshop, I want to be able to turn the fans down and just enjoy my PC in its power efficient, cool state, and when it's time to game or edit video, kick up the controller a little bit.

Now, the BIOS is supposed to have individual fan control, though I'm not sure if the included software allows me to alter the parameters on the fly, but I could set up the bottom case fan to only run once things start heating up with the GPU being worked, which would presumably slow faster heat dissipation.

I've included a rough mock-up of what I'm pondering, but it's late and I'm laying in bed, so it's not perfect and the photo is just the best quality you'd find from me at 3:40AM on a phone.

TL;DR -- Look at that figure. Is this going to have too much positive pressure?

Also, I'll post the rest of the Build's plans after I can work past the issue I'm working on. Where I go with the build depends on this.

[silenthill_69]

hay mate nice to see that you have invested time & thought most people just go on part picker or whatever the hell that site is

[Tagiau]

For ram. Mushkin. Only mushkin. I like mushkin. They have a fancy name. Mushkin. We all should enjoy Mushkin, and love Mushkin. Who is with me on this enjoy and love Mushkin?

[MisterDeadeye]

For ram. Mushkin. Only mushkin. I like mushkin. They have a fancy name. Mushkin. We all should enjoy Mushkin, and love Mushkin. Who is with me on this enjoy and love Mushkin?

Yep, I'm right there with you. Mushkin. You can't say it enough, can you? Mushkin. Mushkin.

I was actually thinking about some Corsair Dominator Platinum with the white LEDs, as the build is supposed to be black/white, but I'm not sure how that would be with my water cooling tubes(not sure but I might go with white tubing), or if I should even have a water cooler at all. I'm trying to figure out where to do my lighting, but it's got to be white and subtle.

Oh, I'm also planning on at least looking at the front and top mesh plates; I want to take the filters off so I can paint them white(I'll put the filters back in obviously.

[brob]

If you want silence then a good air tower will do a better job. A Noctua NH-U12S is more than enough for the build outlined.

 

As far as airflow through the case, the system is not going to be generating an inordinate amount of head. A basic two in one out (with assist from the cpu cooler) should do the job quite nicely.

 

I am a fan of using motherboard fan headers whenever possible. Software controlled fans that follow a profile based on temperature is relatively easy to achieve and provides for an optimal airflow/noise ratio.

[MisterDeadeye]

If you want silence then a good air tower will do a better job. A Noctua NH-U12S is more than enough for the build outlined.

As far as airflow through the case, the system is not going to be generating an inordinate amount of head. A basic two in one out (with assist from the cpu cooler) should do the job quite nicely.

I am a fan of using motherboard fan headers whenever possible. Software controlled fans that follow a profile based on temperature is relatively easy to achieve and provides for an optimal airflow/noise ratio.

I've seen that Noctua before. Hmm, so is water cooling really going to be overkill? Or is it that you think the two 120mm pulling fans will be loud? They'll be controlled intelligently by the motherboard, so with the constant airflow, I don't really see the computer needing to turn on the rad fans much unless I'm gaming(will be using a headset anyway), or while processing video overnight or something. In either case, the silence isn't needed.

But, the Noctua air cooler is cheaper and simpler. The water cooling thing wasn't about getting adequate performance, it was the ability to keep the processor cooled without the fans spinning up under normal use.

Alright, so you're saying I should ditch the top mounted water cooler in place of an air cooler, and then just using the front and rear fans for intake/exhaust. Hmm. Do you think there will be a difference in operating temperatures, here? Anything more than +-2 degrees?

[MisterDeadeye]

12-hour/second page bump

[brob]

I've seen that Noctua before. Hmm, so is water cooling really going to be overkill? Or is it that you think the two 120mm pulling fans will be loud? They'll be controlled intelligently by the motherboard, so with the constant airflow, I don't really see the computer needing to turn on the rad fans much unless I'm gaming(will be using a headset anyway), or while processing video overnight or something. In either case, the silence isn't needed.

But, the Noctua air cooler is cheaper and simpler. The water cooling thing wasn't about getting adequate performance, it was the ability to keep the processor cooled without the fans spinning up under normal use.

Alright, so you're saying I should ditch the top mounted water cooler in place of an air cooler, and then just using the front and rear fans for intake/exhaust. Hmm. Do you think there will be a difference in operating temperatures, here? Anything more than +-2 degrees?

 

There is no such thing as passive cooling on an 80W cpu. CPU cooler fans will always spin, it is just a matter of how fast they have to do so. Same as an air tower cooler. And an AIO has a pump that must always be moving coolant. When one gets down to it an air tower has fewer moving parts and unlike the AIO no coolant that degrades over time.

 

The Arc Mini R2 has one intake fan in front and two exhaust (rear & top) fans. These should move enough air through the case to keep things cool. I would remove the second drive cage to facilitate air flow.

[MisterDeadeye]

There is no such thing as passive cooling on an 80W cpu. CPU cooler fans will always spin, it is just a matter of how fast they have to do so. Same as an air tower cooler. And an AIO has a pump that must always be moving coolant. When one gets down to it an air tower has fewer moving parts and unlike the AIO no coolant that degrades over time.

The Arc Mini R2 has one intake fan in front and two exhaust (rear & top) fans. These should move enough air through the case to keep things cool. I would remove the second drive cage to facilitate air flow.

You're right, the pump will probably make quite a bit of noise. I did have the H220hx picked out because you can easily drain and refill it and there's room for adding another block if I want to water cool my GPU as well, but I'll start thinking about air cooling instead.

I do plan on using one hard drive cage, so I was going to take the top one out for air flow, as well as rotating the bottom one 90 degrees, so I shouldn't have any intake issues.

Thanks for all of the advice, I'll go back and look everything over again and see if air cooling is the way I want to go. Any other input is much appreciated.

[MisterDeadeye]

One more bump for some more input

[Mistersprinkles]

I don't read posts that could be novels. 

[MisterDeadeye]

I don't read posts that could be novels.

There's always a tl;dr if your reading comprehension is sub-par. I got you, bro.