High End VR Rig

[Big Head Tech]

So a friend of mine has an "old" I7-3770k, dual GTX 780's and needs to do higher end VR so he contacted me.  He can do it himself but is lazy so he has tasked me to do it.  Below are the parts and hoping that I didn't miss anything.

 

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/JNbqf8
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/JNbqf8/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel - Core i7-7700K 4.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($339.99 @ Newegg) 
CPU Cooler: Corsair - H100i v2 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($109.99 @ Newegg) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte - GA-Z270X-Gaming K7 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($151.98 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($275.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Samsung - 960 EVO 250GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  ($129.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Crucial - MX300 1.1TB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($289.99 @ Newegg) 
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB SC2 HYBRID GAMING Video Card  ($814.98 @ Newegg) 
Case: Corsair - Crystal 460X RGB ATX Mid Tower Case  ($129.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($157.98 @ Newegg) 
Case Fan: Corsair - SP120 RGB High Performance 52.0 CFM  120mm Fan  ($19.99 @ Newegg) 
Case Fan: Corsair - SP120 RGB High Performance 52.0 CFM  120mm Fan  ($19.99 @ Newegg) 
Case Fan: Corsair - SP120 RGB High Performance 52.0 CFM  120mm Fan  ($19.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $2460.85
 

 

We are going Kabylake for 2 reasons (I own 4 Ryzen chips atm).  Kabylake does push about 7-8% more FPS in gaming and for VR that's crucial and he prefers Intel.  He wants the smallest ATX chassis I could find and said if it looks kool thats great.  He wants as quiet as possible so I went AIO's for both (like mine) and an 850W PSU just so the fan runs quieter.  Storage and memory configurations were as his request.  Does the board have syncing RGB with the fans?  I went with LPX ram because I know it clears the top by about 2mm for the H100I (I own this system sans the CPU, GPU and board).

[mail929]

From looking at it it appears the fans need a separate controller to control the lights and it does not look like the Gigabyte software can communicate with Corsair fans, despite some other Corsair products being able to.

 

Source

[Big Head Tech]

4 minutes ago, mail929 said:

From looking at it it appears the fans need a separate controller to control the lights and it does not look like the Gigabyte software can communicate with Corsair fans, despite some other Corsair products being able to.

 

Source

The case has the fan controller in it (I own this setup sans the cpu board and GPU). What board works with Corsair?

[mail929]

3 minutes ago, Snaeb said:

The case has the fan controller in it (I own this setup sans the cpu board and GPU). What board works with Corsair?

The RGB controller for those fans does not connect to the computer at all and is not software controlled. It's just buttons.

[Big Head Tech]

9 minutes ago, mail929 said:

The RGB controller for those fans does not connect to the computer at all and is not software controlled. It's just buttons.

Now you mention it the button is on the controller. Is there any fan setups that are software controller such as Nzxt?

[brob]

Corsair is all about selling hardware. To control the RGB fans through software http://www.corsair.com/en-gb/corsair-lighting-node-pro is needed. http://www.corsair.com/en-us/corsair-rgb-fan-led-hub may also be needed.

 

Consider getting a 650W psu.

[Big Head Tech]

1 hour ago, brob said:

Corsair is all about selling hardware. To control the RGB fans through software http://www.corsair.com/en-gb/corsair-lighting-node-pro is needed. http://www.corsair.com/en-us/corsair-rgb-fan-led-hub may also be needed.

 

Consider getting a 650W psu.

He wants the zero RPM mode for silent operation.

[brob]

1 hour ago, Snaeb said:

He wants the zero RPM mode for silent operation.

Pretty much any current quality psu has a zero RPM mode. Consider the EVGA G2, G3, or P2 models; Corsair RMx or RMi; or Seasonic X, Focus, or Platinum series.

[Big Head Tech]

31 minutes ago, brob said:

Pretty much any current quality psu has a zero RPM mode. Consider the EVGA G2, G3, or P2 models; Corsair RMx or RMi; or Seasonic X, Focus, or Platinum series.

Thought I grabbed a G3?

[brob]

2 hours ago, Snaeb said:

Thought I grabbed a G3?

Yes, but I suggested getting a lower capacity psu. 650W provides sufficient headroom for the build.

[Big Head Tech]

1 minute ago, brob said:

Yes, but I suggested getting a lower capacity psu. 650W provides sufficient headroom for the build.

Ehh, the issue is my system which uses a ryzen 7 1700 OC'ed hits around 500W under full load, which the G3 650W won't run without a fan running because it's well passed 50%.  an 850W should keep the fan off.

[brob]

Just now, Snaeb said:

Ehh, the issue is my system which uses a ryzen 7 1700 OC'ed hits around 500W under full load, which the G3 650W won't run without a fan running because it's well passed 50%.  an 850W should keep the fan off.

Not so according to the fan graphs at EVGA.

 

500W is about 59% of 850W, which means that the fan noise will be around 28 dB. https://www.evga.com/products/product.aspx?pn=220-G3-0850-X1

 

500W is about 77% of 650W and according to the 650W G3 fan graph fan noise will be around 20 dB. https://www.evga.com/products/product.aspx?pn=220-G3-0650-Y1

 

I have no idea why there is such a difference. But the graphs do conform to experiences posted on the net.

[Big Head Tech]

1 minute ago, brob said:

Not so according to the fan graphs at EVGA.

 

500W is about 59% of 850W, which means that the fan noise will be around 28 dB. https://www.evga.com/products/product.aspx?pn=220-G3-0850-X1

 

500W is about 77% of 650W and according to the 650W G3 fan graph fan noise will be around 20 dB. https://www.evga.com/products/product.aspx?pn=220-G3-0650-Y1

 

I have no idea why there is such a difference. But the graphs do conform to experiences posted on the net.

His system with a 1080ti should use more.  Why would the fan be quieter at a higher load that makes zero since?

[brob]

Just now, Snaeb said:

His system with a 1080ti should use more.  Why would the fan be quieter at a higher load that makes zero since?

If you look at the fan graphs you will see that the 650W model tops out 25 dB while the 850W model hits 25 dB at 40% draw (~340W).

 

If the same fan model is used in both psu, then likely the 850W psu is running the fan at higher rpm. Otherwise I suspect different fan models are being used.

 

The only other explanations are that the noise measurements of one are wrong or they were collected differently. Given the various posts I've seen on the G3 and the fact that it would be poor marketing I doubt either of these possibilities to be the case.