The "I hate this case" build

[Trymon]

I'd like to introduce my build to you and it was a big step from a AMD X2 4400+ with a GTX 480 to this setup.

But first I like to solve the question, why I hate the case. It's absolutely horrible for cable management.

 

Components:

 

• Case: Cooler Master N400 Midi Tower (Fan at front and back)
• Mainboard: ASRock Fatal1ty Z170 Professional Gaming i7
• CPU: Intel Core i5 6500
• CPU Cooler: box cooler. Doesn't look that good but is more than enough for this CPU
• RAM: 4 x 4GB Crucial DDR4-2133
• Graphics: KFA2 (Galax) GeForce GTX 960 Gamer OC Mini Black
• Harddrive 1: Samsung 850 Evo 250 GB
• Harddrive 2: Samsung 1 TB HDD (Already available from my old Laptop)
• Soundcard: ASUS Xonar Essence STX (Already available from my old PC)
• Powersupply: Enermax Platimax 600W (Already available from my old PC)
• Additional Fan for top: Cooler Master Silencio FP 120
• Additional Fan for left side: Corsair Air Series AF140 Quiet Edition

For 1080p Gaming the GTX 960 is enough and if needed I could always buy a second card. But currently I'm more than satisfied.

 

For the Mainboard I had not that much options. ASRock was the only manufacturer with an reasonable price and dual LAN with two Intel cards. All other hat a combination of Intel and Atheros Killer or Intel and Realtek. I need two Intel cards to run them in teaming mode. Currently just not possible because Microsoft changed something and now Teaming is not possible with Windows 10.

 

Unfortunately there aren't that many pictures taken during the build. I have just a few from this time and now from today where I optimized the cable management with a lot of zip tie's.

 

UPS arrived and I was just happy

 

Let's see what is in there. You might notice that the Board has the B150 Chipset. I replaced it 13 day's later to get the two LAN connector's

 

Finished build 1st result

 

Unfortunately not the ideal location for the PC but could be worse.

 

Result of today's work trying to manage the cable as good as possible.

 

I hope you like, or dislike, my little gaming machine. Not for high end 4K gaming but still gaming. 

The compromise between performance and price wasn't that bad.

[TacticalCuda]

looks nice. Then again im just a FX-8350 user so i dont know.

 

My option:

It looks nice

[Kirky2k15]

Can we all just acknowledge the elephant in the room... YOUR PC IS RIGHT NEXT TO A RADIATOR!!!

[Trymon]

What elephant? I let mice run around to prevent an elephant entering my room.

 

Yes I know but still the only location for the PC and I could keep it cool. Worse than the radiator is the summer. I'm curious how the summer will affect the cooling.

 

Current temperatures almost IDLE:

CPU: 29C / 84F

Mainboard: 31C / 87 F

Graphics: 37C / 98 F

 

The radiator doesn't anyway heat that much. It's pretty cool in the room but I like it that way.

[Brennan Price]

Can we all just acknowledge the elephant in the room... YOUR PC IS RIGHT NEXT TO A RADIATOR!!!

How can you say that, my PC is perfectly fine next to my radiator. However that is because I have my radiator turned off constantly and I use my PC as my radiator effectively. (It heats up my room very well)

[Kirky2k15]

How can you say that, my PC is perfectly fine next to my radiator. However that is because I have my radiator turned off constantly and I use my PC as my radiator effectively. (It heats up my room very well)

Are you serious??? I hope your not? I get the point about the fact the rad can be turned off but if you use your pc as a way to heat up your room there is something seriously wrong with it/you...

[Brennan Price]

Are you serious??? I hope your not? I get the point about the fact the rad can be turned off but if you use your pc as a way to heat up your room there is something seriously wrong with it/you...

Thanks m8, I get ur point too but I have a really bad case for airflow and so on. It only heats up the room because I have the side panel off constantly so that my GPU and CPU get more airflow than if the side panel was on, like I said, because of my bad airflow. I wanna upgrade my case soon though and have a lot to spend on it this time.

[Trymon]

Regarding any temperature concerns I've done a 10 Minute stress test of the CPU and the GPU.

Also the fan's are not spinning that high that it sound's like a starting jet.

 

 

[Derpologist]

Power supply cables = snakes

 

other than that, good job on the build. 

[sandboarder08]

Are you serious??? I hope your not? I get the point about the fact the rad can be turned off but if you use your pc as a way to heat up your room there is something seriously wrong with it/you...

i do the same thing. My house came with a new office put in. It has no heating device installed. I chose not to worry cause a pc with a hour of gaming will warm it up lol.

[Trymon]

Buy a dremel, a file, some sandpaper and paint. Cable management holes magically appear.

Done.

Finally this would be a reason to buy a Dremel. I'm searchin a long time for a good reason because I wanted one but had no real reason for one.

I will keep this idea in my mind even if I have to disassamble again the whole machine for this.

[LokiFire]

Bought a useless sound card but uses stock intel cooler.

[maxtch]

Bought a useless sound card but uses stock intel cooler.

 

He got the non-overclock processor. Wonder why he still got that Z170 though - are we looking at a possible future upgrade?

 

By the way I wouldn't buy sound cards anymore. I have an stereo that can take input from HDMI so yeah...

[Kobathor]

Are you serious??? I hope your not? I get the point about the fact the rad can be turned off but if you use your pc as a way to heat up your room there is something seriously wrong with it/you...

I mean, a PC produces lots of heat. Even Intel/Nvidia builds consume 400+W of power, the heat (energy) generated is just thrown out of the case. 

 

My PC consumes closer to 500W at full load, so it would heat up a small room pretty quickly. Not as fast as a radiator, but still pretty quick. 

[Heesleemer]

He got the non-overclock processor. Wonder why he still got that Z170 though - are we looking at a possible future upgrade?

 

By the way I wouldn't buy sound cards anymore. I have an stereo that can take input from HDMI so yeah...

dual lan. 

[maxtch]

dual lan. 

 

I can get server-grade quad LAN cards fairly cheap now... And those cards are usually small enough not to obstruct the air path of graphics cards, so perfect for a spacer card between two cards in a SLI/Crossfire setup.

[Trymon]

Some interesting comments I have to answer.

 

Beginning with the Sound Card. As described I had this card already in my old PC. So this Card is a few Years old and even with this Board I need it. The reason is quite simple. I have Headphones with 600 Ohm impedance. Even if there are currently some boards which could handle such Headphones the ASRock couldn't and in the past there wasn't even one board which could. Also I could use the 1/4 inch jack and don't have to use an adapter from 1/4 to 1/8.

 

Now the reason why the ASRock with the Z170. I wrote this already in the starting post. The reason was once the dual lan, and to be specific I need two Intel cards to use LACP Teaming (if just Windows 10 wouldn't prevent me from using this).
The other reason is that I have the possibility for overclocking, with a different CPU, if I like to go this way in the future. Why should I prevent myself from some option?

 

The reason for the stock cooler was already answered. It is more than enough to cool the CPU. Even with a stress test I couldn't get it above 64C / 147F

[Trymon]

I've done a small upgrade and almost it wasn't possible.

After I ordered the CPU cooler I checked the dimensions. Including the fans it is 162 mm high and after I realized this I got a small shock and checked the specs of the Tower. It supports CPU Cooler up to 164 mm.

 

Today I replaced the stock cooler with the Thermalright Macho X2.

The IDLE CPU temperature went down to 26°C and the Fans are standing still. So I reach this temperature with a passive CPU cooler.

 

This beast is dominating the whole case.

 

 

[Trymon]

Thank you but luckily I've checked the possibilities of magical appearing holes in this case and came to the conclusion: forget it.

 

There is no space for holes. Sure I could make some holes, but they won't make any sense. I should have bought the N600. This case is slightly higher and has a way better cable management.

 

But I have already a Idea for a new case. The Phanteks evolv atx is a case I could fall in love with.