Help! I have custom PC fever.

[nixnerd]

Got two monitors in today! Two Acer 23″ IPS LED flat panels! Awesome!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009483

I got my case too but it’s the wrong one :( Now I have to make a return on Amazon. Lame.

[__]

Hey, those are pretty cool. Not bad pricing, either.

Limit 5 per customer.

Lame!

[nixnerd]

Lame!

I know… I wanted 12. Oh well.

They’re actually really nice. Very vivid colors and now that I see how awesome IPS is… I get it. My TN laptop doesn’t even come close. I remember doing graphics work and noticing that on a solid color, the top of the screen was a different color than the bottom. I no longer have that problem.

For me… two 23″ monitors is a LOT of screen space. I look forward to gobbling up every pixel with Vim, Firefox, Chromium, 3 urxvt terminals and a SICK custom Conky.

[nixnerd]

Guys, I’ve got a bit of a dilemma…

I ordered this case. But I got this case.

I really didn’t want a window. I personally think it looks childish. But… I’ve got it now and sending it back will be a hassle. What do you guys think? Return it or keep the windowed version?

If I keep it, the company said they’d refund 10% for my troubles. So, keep that in mind.

[nixnerd]

You know what? I’m going to go full-blown nerd and keep the windowed side panel. Why the hell not? I’ve kind of always wanted one but I felt like “No, I need to be a grown up.” But you know what? I like looking at circuitry and I have a pretty nice mobo en route. All my stuff is black and all my LEDs are blue, as is my mobo. Plus, I have a really cool exhaust fan with a blue ring around it. I’m going to keep this piece of art and proudly display it.

Plus, if I get sick of it, I’ll switch which side its on and hid the window.

[nixnerd]

This will also help me keep an eye on dust. And, if I REALLY want to nerd out, I can build a little Lego command station inside the case………… no. That’s a terrible idea. Just put that one away Joe. Boyhood is over.

[Anonymous]

Greetings Joe_Temp,

I like the windowed case myself. I’m in the over 50 catagory so I guess if liking it is nerdy, I’m an old nerd! LOL

I have sorta the same thing going on with mine. I did a poor job of putting the side back on mine after a cleaning and it fell of last summer. I’ve yet to put it back, but it is “securely leaning” up against where it should be. I say securely because I have a book that is keeping it from sliding. Sure, I should take the second or two to put it back, but I figure I’m at least getting better air flow. ;)

Best Regards.

BTW, years ago I had a PC that had an “Intel inside” sticker in the little squares that used to be on the early cases. My son had a Mattel toy that had a sticker on it that inspired me to make a “Mattel inside” sticker which I proudly affixed over the original.

[nixnerd]

@michael1961 Everything about that story is awesome. I love that you haven’t closed your case in so long. I’m WAY too anal for that. I wouldn’t be able to sleep.

Just an update to anyone who cares:

All my parts are either here or ordered. Well, not entirely true. I still need a CPU cooler, 2 exhaust fans and some ram sticks… but that’s it. I think I’m going with the Corsair H75 for a CPU cooler and Corsair Vengeance for my RAM sticks… mainly because my entire build is black and blue… gotta stick with that theme. Plus, they’re fast and have badass heat sinks. For my exhaust fans, two Corsair AF140 quiet editions.

I’m going with 4 intakes and 2 exhausts. 2 of the intakes will be a push/pull static pressure/high airflow combo over the H75 radiator. All air is going from front bottom to back top. I plan on overclocking my FX6300 to 4.5 GHz, so this will be important.

I’m going to start a new thread when it’s complete. But part of the built is having pimp custom configs. Those might take a little while.

[nixnerd]

Oh… and all my intakes are 120mm. My exhaust fans are 140mm. I figure since the 140’s have the same airflow at a slower RPM, 2 of them will keep the configuration roughly even on intake and exhaust. Plus, I want everything as quiet as possible, so I’ll put the quietest fans where there’s the least sound dampening.

ALL fans are going to be quiet editions. Plus, I’ve got the Fractal Design Define R4… which is built to be silent. I really shouldn’t ever hear it.

On a side note, I’ve noticed that everyone mounts their hydro coolers up as the exhaust. WHAT?!?! This seems really stupid to me (sorry if anyone does this). It just makes no sense. Exhaust is going to be the hottest air in the case. #1 because it’s higher and #2 because it’s had a chance to get passive heat off the components.

I’ll be BOTTOM mounting my H75 toward the front. This will suck in nice cool air from under the case and propel it up toward all the components. I’m not worried about dust because my case came with air filters. Awesome.

And you know I’ll have a sweet Conky config to monitor temps!!!

[__]

On a side note, I’ve noticed that everyone mounts their hydro coolers up as the exhaust.

You’re talking about the radiator, right? The radiator should be at the exhaust. If it’s at the intake, it will act as a heater: you’ll take in cool air, heat it as it passes over the radiator, and then blow all that hot air back onto your components.

unless I’m misunderstanding you…?

edit

actually, after some quick research, this seems to be a contentious issue: people on both sides swear that their solution is the only one that makes sense. I don’t have enough experience to reach my own conclusions.

Things people seem to agree on:

• overall airflow is -generally speaking- more important. So, if your radiator fan orientation screws up the flow, then it’s wrong.
• regardless, your case should have a slight negative net pressure (more exhaust than intake).
• benefits/drawbacks also depend on your specific setup. Pointing the radiator fans at your graphics card, for example, is counter-productive.
• strictly speaking, the best-performance solution is to mount the radiator in a separate compartment (or externally).

You’ll have to see how hot your cpu actually runs once you overclock it, too.

[nixnerd]

There’s only one logical solution: Try a bunch of configurations and test it!

I mean, I could totally see it going either way. I’ve heard so much stuff about ventilation… I don’t really know what to believe. It’s like when I used to play a bunch of golf… everybody was full of little tips and tricks and it all kind of seemed to be really specific to them. You know, their swing, their driver, their stance, their stature, their preferred balls, etc. I think it’s going to come down to my case and my setup. I don’t think there is one universal answer.

I’m buying a good mix of fans. Static pressure, high airflow, 120’s, 140’s, etc. The goal is to mix and match until something works.

To be totally honest, I’m not really that worried. I’ll have plenty of airflow, I live in Colorado (pretty cool for the most part), I work downstairs where it’s cool and the H75 looks really legit. Plus, I’ll have a constant monitor on temps… right on my desktop. And, I’ll set some kind of kill switch in my BIOS or otherwise that shuts the computer down at 90 degrees. Will I ever get to 90 degrees? Hell no. I don’t do anything intense enough to make that happen. MAYBE if I decided to create some sick Codepen with a ridiculous amount of crazy JS… MAYBE that would happen. But… it would probably put more stress on my GPU than anything. The reality is… Linux is LIGHT and I barely ever get a fan burst now with only 2.7 GHz.

[nixnerd]

I barely ever get a fan burst now with only 2.7 GHz.

WRONG! I have even less. Here is what I get when I run lscpu:

Architecture:          x86_64
CPU op-mode(s):        32-bit, 64-bit
Byte Order:            Little Endian
CPU(s):                4
On-line CPU(s) list:   0-3
Thread(s) per core:    2
Core(s) per socket:    2
Socket(s):             1
NUMA node(s):          1
Vendor ID:             GenuineIntel
CPU family:            6
Model:                 37
Model name:            Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU       M 450  @ 2.40GHz
Stepping:              5
CPU MHz:               2400.000
CPU max MHz:           2400.0000
CPU min MHz:           1199.0000
BogoMIPS:              4789.41
Virtualization:        VT-x
L1d cache:             32K
L1i cache:             32K
L2 cache:              256K
L3 cache:              3072K
NUMA node0 CPU(s):     0-3

I GENUINELY feel that my laptop is fast. I really do. I never have any issues. But… I can’t imagine what 4.5 GHz with an SSD and 8GB of RAM will feel like.

[__]

But… I can’t imagine what 4.5 GHz with an SSD and 8GB of RAM will feel like.

Yeah. 4.5 GHz running Arch with BSPWM.

» brain meltdown «

…can’t wait till I have enough extra $$ to build something nice.

[nixnerd]

…can’t wait till I have enough extra $$ to build something nice.

Go hustle and get 1 PHP or Python job and BOOM! New computer.

Yeah. 4.5 GHz running Arch with BSPWM.

Yeah… literally, I don’t know when the next time I’ll need to buy a system will be. Probably never. Unless I get into way more graphical work. I could see myself switching to a more powerful processor or maybe upgrading the mobo but scrapping the whole system? Nahh. Not unless it’s destroyed by a natural disaster.

I’m going to have SLIGHT positive pressure. We’ll see how that works out. If it’s not cool enough, all I need to do is throw another 140mm exhaust fan on top and I’ll be negative. But… I’ll have to be diligent about cleaning the case/filters.

[nixnerd]

BTW… is it weird to have like $200 in cooling apparatuses for a $100 CPU?

I mean… I guess other components need to be cool also.

Edit: While they’re not as prone to heat failure as a CPU, HDDs need to be cooled also. Since all my long-term storage will be on HDDs… I should probably invest in good fans. Processors can be replaced. Data cannot and is priceless.

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