New Build (finally) Need advice.

[Fanatical Meat]

Almost been 10 years on my current system which wouldn’t have been possible without @VirtualLarry advice to change the cmos battery.
Machine is equally used for work which is web stuff and some light office things like excel or word, internet browsing and games.
I don’t have a firm budget as of now mid range or slightly above is great.
I want water cooling, I like how Corsair has a 5 year warranty. Don’t bother suggesting huge air coolers, I don’t like them and I want an option to add 4 sticks of ram.
I have no RGB desires other than it would be useful if a fan turned red if cpu was hot and another turned red if chipset was hot but certainly this isn’t required.
I do not want a case with a window, I’ll use a windowed case if the window can be put on the right side and smooshed against my desk to never be seen again.
Build should happen by end of September.

I already have:
Seasonic 850 gold power supply

I will have today 36GB of memory that crucial lists as support by every Asrock board and some MSI boards. I didn’t check any others, appears to be e-die.
Ballistix Sport LT 32GB (2 x 16GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3200 (PC4 25600) Desktop Memory Model BLS2K16G4D32AESB

I’ll be going to microcenter for motherboard/cpu combo
I’m thinking a 3700x

Asrock X570 steel legend. Will this have enough PWM headers for fans & a pump? *Likely an open box*

ASRock X570 Steel Legend AMD AM4 ATX Motherboard - Micro Center

Get it now! Supports AMD AM4 Socket Ryzen 2000 and 3000 Series processors Power Phase Design Supports DDR4 4666 (OC) PCIe 4.0 x16, 3 PCIe 4.0 x1, 1 M.2(Key E) For WiFi AMD Quad CrossFireX and CrossFireX Graphics Output Options: HDMI, DisplayPort 7.

www.microcenter.com

Corsair H115i Pro (always wanted to do water cooling)

Are you a human?

www.newegg.com

Case I’m leaning towards be quiet because the top fan is covered. My cat loves to claw at screens, really want a fractal design define R6 but I know the cat will claw the crap out of it. Quiet is more important than cool but I don’t want something monstrously hot either

Be quiet 801

Are you a human?

www.newegg.com

I really like this case but I’m back to open fans on the top which I know will get ruined.

Phantek

Are you a human?

www.newegg.com

Video card will likely by my current 280x

Storage I’m not sure on, I’d like 1TB of storage. I’m up for NVME suggestions, I’d like to keep the cost under $150(ish) is there any real world difference between a good ssd vs 3.0 NVME drive vs a 4.0 NVME drive?

Bonus items:
I’d like as many fans PWM controlled as possible
I’ll likely put the radiator in the front and add another 140mm fan, add a 140mm fan on top total of 5 fans with 3 blowing in 2 blowing out.
Should I add a fan near the power supply?
Should all fans be on the same PWM or should radiator and chipset be on separate PWM controls
Give me any suggestions regarding the above items


Now to summon some posters I respect
@VirtualLarry
@Markfw
@aigomorla
@DrMrLordX
@Thunder 57

 

[Markfw]

If you are going for a 570 board, you really need a v4 nvme drive to appreciate the speed, The Corsair 1tb mp600 is $230, and worth every penny. For the case, you need a water cooling friendly one. That bequiet looks great for a radiator. My favorite though is

Are you a human?

www.newegg.com

I have 2 of these. But you would need to go down to a 240mm rad, not 280.

And you don;t need any exrtra fans. But time to dump that video card !

 

[Markfw]

Oh, and I have heard the Corsair fans are loud. I am deaf, but I like my EVGA280 rad.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Oh, and I have heard the Corsair fans are loud. I am deaf, but I like my EVGA280 rad.

Yes, appears the Corsair fans are very loud at full speed. I can change them if that becomes problematic, I don't think they run at full speed unless you put the pump into high performance mode.
Any suggestions on fan placement? Should all the fans be in the same PWM header or should pump be in CPU/Water header and fans be in a different header, as in the corsair & corsair fans work on the CPU header and the other fans work on a motherboard header.
I really don't want a window on the case.
I know the video card needs to go, however it works good enough for now. I'll change to something else next year or maybe do a 1660ti if the price drops around the holidays.
Video cards are so unexciting today.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

If you are going for a 570 board, you really need a v4 nvme drive to appreciate the speed, The Corsair 1tb mp600 is $230, and worth every penny. For the case, you need a water cooling friendly one. That bequiet looks great for a radiator. My favorite though is

Are you a human?

www.newegg.com

I have 2 of these. But you would need to go down to a 240mm rad, not 280.

And you don;t need any exrtra fans. But time to dump that video card !

I forgot that case has 3 fans, with an additional 2 on the Corsair. I guess I'll move one front fan to the top. Same total 5 fans, 3 blowing in, 2 blowing out.

Any thoughts on this drive?

Micro Center - Computers and Electronics

Micro Center - Computers and Electronics - Thousands of products to buy: desktops, laptops, monitors, build your own PC parts, upgrades, digital imaging, printing supplies, portable devices, audio equipment, software, video games, movies, tech books, plus repair service, store hours, directions...

www.microcenter.com

 

[Markfw]

I always put the pump on its own circuit to enable separate "fan control". I always want the pump@100%. For that matter, even when I could hear I put all fans on 100% to get the lowest temp. Under 70c would be my target. ZAs for the drive ? looks like a clone of the MP600 See if you can find a review. If the budget is tight, I would get it, as a slower v4 is still faster than a fast v3 (for the most part)

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I always put the pump on its own circuit to enable separate "fan control". I always want the pump@100%. For that matter, even when I could hear I put all fans on 100% to get the lowest temp. Under 70c would be my target. ZAs for the drive ? looks like a clone of the MP600 See if you can find a review. If the budget is tight, I would get it, as a slower v4 is still faster than a fast v3 (for the most part)

Sort of have a feeling these drives will be sub $100 soon. Hate the idea of paying $200+ for a drive that will net me a minimal daily use performance gain.
I’m very tempted to keep my sata 3 drive in place for the immediate future. That drive is getting small and ideally I’d like to gift the old machine to a friend so his 3rd daughter can play games with him & her sisters. That’s the main reasons why I’m looking at getting a new drive

 

[DrMrLordX]

I want water cooling, I like how Corsair has a 5 year warranty.

Do you want custom or AiO? Also, is noise a factor?

Seasonic 850 gold power supply

Overkill, and not in a bad way. You'll be fine here.

Ballistix Sport LT 32GB (2 x 16GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3200 (PC4 25600) Desktop Memory Model BLS2K16G4D32AESB

Overall it should do well on Ryzen 3000. Don't forget to hand-tune it with Ryzen DRAM Calculator.

Will this have enough PWM headers for fans & a pump?

Just gonna throw out an idea: aside from the pump, you may wish to get a separate fan controller. Sometimes PWM headers on motherboards don't work out as well as you'd like. If it's a good controller, you can use it with other builds. Downside: fans are no longer controllable through UEFI (if that matters).

Corsair H115i Pro (always wanted to do water cooling)

That unit reviews well, and it's 280mm which (in my opinion) is the ideal size for AiOs given the limited pump power. 360 and 420 units seem to underperform.

Be quiet 801

Should be sufficient. Looks good. Make sure you make airflow a priority since you want to keep case temps (and thus chipset) temps low. Though I think an MSI board will let you reduce fan speed pretty effectively. Some folks with the cheaper Gigabyte x570 boards are finding that the fans can be hard to control sometimes.

Video card will likely by my current 280x

Storage I’m not sure on, I’d like 1TB of storage. I’m up for NVME suggestions, I’d like to keep the cost under $150(ish) is there any real world difference between a good ssd vs 3.0 NVME drive vs a 4.0 NVME drive?

PCIe 4 drives won't show extra performance in real-world usage unless you are doing a ton of sequential read/write operations. Load times etc. won't be any better.

NVMe is marginally better than SATA3 SSDs. As for someting in the $150-ish range, this is over budget, but:

Samsung 970 Evo 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive

pcpartpicker.com

$170 for an Evo? I paid $200+ for mine. That's a pretty good price. You might do better with a BPX Pro. But I'm having problems finding those! Same with the SBX, also widely unavailable.

I’d like as many fans PWM controlled as possible

Again, look into a separate controller. Short on time, but we can research this later if necessary. See what you can dig up on your own first. Might want to put the pump on the board though. I think the Corsair software will freak if you don't.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

@DrMrLordX ill keep a custom loop for the next project, noise is a factor regarding aio choice.
The case has a switch on the front for fans, like high/medium/low. Do you think the cases controller is a smarter way to go for the non pump fans or do you mean for all the fans?
I’ll likely do the Asrock steel legend board regarding chipset fan control.
Any fan placement tips you can offer?

 

[Charlie98]

It’s been a while, but my Fractal cases came with a manual fan controller mounted at the rear, if memory serves it can control 4 fans (all on the same circuit.). I usually run mine at 50-60% in the winter, 100% in the summer, so reaching the back of the case isn’t an everyday thing. My Defines don’t have a top vent, but that might not be the hot setup for a rad.

 

[DrMrLordX]

ill keep a custom loop for the next project, noise is a factor regarding aio choice.

Yeah that Corsair unit should be fine for a 3700x.

The case has a switch on the front for fans, like high/medium/low. Do you think the cases controller is a smarter way to go for the non pump fans or do you mean for all the fans?

If you don't mind losing PWM functionality then those controls are fine. If you want to spend a little (and get Corsair Link integration):

Are you a human?

www.newegg.com

Note there are cheaper products out there, but they might not do everything you want.

Any fan placement tips you can offer?

Well you're going to have the top of the case closed-off, right? At that point you're basically stuck with the old windtunnel strategy, which should be fine actually. Personally I'm in love with side case fans now, but that requires a conscious choice to get a case designed around that idea. Anyway have your AiO in an intake position if possible. Might want to go positive-pressure as well. Try to get some (relatively) high static pressure fans for intake, or just go with whatever ships with the case. Doesn't seem like you're going to be dumping a heck of a lot of heat inside the case as it is.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Yeah that Corsair unit should be fine for a 3700x.



If you don't mind losing PWM functionality then those controls are fine. If you want to spend a little (and get Corsair Link integration):

Are you a human?

www.newegg.com

Note there are cheaper products out there, but they might not do everything you want.



Well you're going to have the top of the case closed-off, right? At that point you're basically stuck with the old windtunnel strategy, which should be fine actually. Personally I'm in love with side case fans now, but that requires a conscious choice to get a case designed around that idea. Anyway have your AiO in an intake position if possible. Might want to go positive-pressure as well. Try to get some (relatively) high static pressure fans for intake, or just go with whatever ships with the case. Doesn't seem like you're going to be dumping a heck of a lot of heat inside the case as it is.

The Commander Pro thing looks interesting and a fun thing to obsess about. I, a little confused about the temperature sensor part. I assume it’s some sort of cable. Would I just run that near let’s say the chipset or video card and figure out what temp the outside should be?
Top of the be quiet case has room for 3 140 mm fans however the vent is on the back and I think a little bit in the front. More closed than open.

 

[DrMrLordX]

The Commander Pro thing looks interesting and a fun thing to obsess about. I, a little confused about the temperature sensor part. I assume it’s some sort of cable. Would I just run that near let’s say the chipset or video card and figure out what temp the outside should be?
Top of the be quiet case has room for 3 140 mm fans however the vent is on the back and I think a little bit in the front. More closed than open.

In modern cases, you usually use top and back for exhaust and side + front for intake. So you could try running your AiO in exhaust duty since you aren't dumping much heat into that case anyway. Assuming, you know, no cat damage.

Also I think you would have to buy your thermistors separately but I'm not 100% sure about that.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

In modern cases, you usually use top and back for exhaust and side + front for intake. So you could try running your AiO in exhaust duty since you aren't dumping much heat into that case anyway. Assuming, you know, no cat damage.

Also I think you would have to buy your thermistors separately but I'm not 100% sure about that.

I’ll admit I’m boarder line analysis-paralysis regarding the case.
You have me seriously thinking of the be quiet silent base 900. Has a side fan that can be open, semi open or closed. I was turned off by this case because to add a 3rd front fan you need to remove the drive bay (which isn’t needed) and deal with that fan not having a filter.

 

[DrMrLordX]

I’ll admit I’m boarder line analysis-paralysis regarding the case.
You have me seriously thinking of the be quiet silent base 900. Has a side fan that can be open, semi open or closed. I was turned off by this case because to add a 3rd front fan you need to remove the drive bay (which isn’t needed) and deal with that fan not having a filter.

Depending on the size of the side fan, you might not need that third front fan though. I only have one on my case. But the side fan is 230mm so I'm covered.

 

[Thunder 57]

@DrMrLordX ill keep a custom loop for the next project, noise is a factor regarding aio choice.
The case has a switch on the front for fans, like high/medium/low. Do you think the cases controller is a smarter way to go for the non pump fans or do you mean for all the fans?
I’ll likely do the Asrock steel legend board regarding chipset fan control.
Any fan placement tips you can offer?

Thanks for the shout out. I'm a little late to the party, and it looks like you've gotten some good advice. If you haven't seen this, it is the definitive AM4 motherboard guide. The board looks appropriate for your purposes. Didn't cheap out on the VRM's, nor did they go overkill.

I don't do AiO water, but I've heard good things about Corsair. For reference, this is my current case. It's a bit dated perhaps, and I never would have gotten it if I couldn't turn off those LED fans. It has the type of high/medium/low setting for fans though, and I like it. It helps a bit with cable management and fans connected to the motherboard. I've never had problems with top fans and I keep crap on top of my case too, just nothing too heavy/bulky or it defeats the purpose.

I guess that's a long winded way of saying I like the case controller and it is a viable option for you.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Thanks for the shout out. I'm a little late to the party, and it looks like you've gotten some good advice. If you haven't seen this, it is the definitive AM4 motherboard guide. The board looks appropriate for your purposes. Didn't cheap out on the VRM's, nor did they go overkill.

I don't do AiO water, but I've heard good things about Corsair. For reference, this is my current case. It's a bit dated perhaps, and I never would have gotten it if I couldn't turn off those LED fans. It has the type of high/medium/low setting for fans though, and I like it. It helps a bit with cable management and fans connected to the motherboard. I've never had problems with top fans and I keep crap on top of my case too, just nothing too heavy/bulky or it defeats the purpose.

I guess that's a long winded way of saying I like the case controller and it is a viable option for you.

Ha thanks man.
I did some googling today, appears people are complying Asrock chipset fans are blocked by the graphics card. Think they are internet whining or do they have a good point. Fan looks pretty high on all Asrock x570s

 

[Thunder 57]

Ha thanks man.
I did some googling today, appears people are complying Asrock chipset fans are blocked by the graphics card. Think they are internet whining or do they have a good point. Fan looks pretty high on all Asrock x570s

I've only had one ASRock board but I loved it. I wanted to get one for this build but they didn't seem to have a good middle option regarding VRM's. If you are concerned I could look at some other boards and pick a couple I would consider if it was me.

Other thoughts:

I wouldn't worry about memory. That was more of a Zen 1 type thing. I have M-die RAM and a 2600X, I set the XMP and it took the 3200MHz and timings no problem. Also, how much gaming do you do and at what resolution? I'm guessing you do as you have a 280X. If you're OK with eBay you could pick up an RX 580 for about $100. Or check FS/FT here. Anandtech's Bench can give you a rough idea of how that would compare to your current card.

OTOH, if you even want to upgrade in the first place, we should be getting small Navi soon. That would presumably perform better than a 580 but less than Vega, with some nice power savings. You already have an awesome PSU but still, less heat, less noise, generally speaking.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I've only had one ASRock board but I loved it. I wanted to get one for this build but they didn't seem to have a good middle option regarding VRM's. If you are concerned I could look at some other boards and pick a couple I would consider if it was me.

Other thoughts:

I wouldn't worry about memory. That was more of a Zen 1 type thing. I have M-die RAM and a 2600X, I set the XMP and it took the 3200MHz and timings no problem. Also, how much gaming do you do and at what resolution? I'm guessing you do as you have a 280X. If you're OK with eBay you could pick up an RX 580 for about $100. Or check FS/FT here. Anandtech's Bench can give you a rough idea of how that would compare to your current card.

OTOH, if you even want to upgrade in the first place, we should be getting small Navi soon. That would presumably perform better than a 580 but less than Vega, with some nice power savings. You already have an awesome PSU but still, less heat, less noise, generally speaking.

I’m going to wait, I have a feeling cards will be better when new consoles come about.
I’ll upgrade if needed as of now the 280x is good enough (barely)

 

[VirtualLarry]

Memory should be easy-peasy with Ryzen 3000-series CPUs. I'm using two 2x8GB kits (32GB total) of Trident RGB 3600 @ 3600 (DOCP in Asus parlance). Unless you want to go 4000 or faster, then I have no idea with four sticks.

Anyways, as far as the case goes, I recommend a case with a top vent and a magnetic removable dust filter, that can mount a 240/360/280mm AIO rad.

I have a pair of Rosewill Magnetar cases, and they were really easy to build in, and are really solid cases overall, I ran into temp issues in my desk cubbies, because there's absolutely no top venting, and there's like an inch or two above the line where the rear exhaust fan vents, so the heat accumulates.

My current rig is in a Rosewill Stryker M, which has room on the top vent section for a 360mm rad., and a pair of 5.25" bays besides! (Just in case I need them.)

 

[UsandThem]

I’ll admit I’m boarder line analysis-paralysis regarding the case.
You have me seriously thinking of the be quiet silent base 900. Has a side fan that can be open, semi open or closed. I was turned off by this case because to add a 3rd front fan you need to remove the drive bay (which isn’t needed) and deal with that fan not having a filter.

The third fan is behind a filter as well.

The 5.25" drive bay covers have a filter built into them. While it's not as fine as the removable front filter, but it still catches things like pet hair and such. I don't notice much dust getting into my case from that area, and I clean them out when I clean the other filters.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Unless you want to go 4000 or faster, then I have no idea with four sticks.

I just want to point out that DDR4-4000 is not really a thing on Matisse thanks to async mode penalties. I have no idea what kind of performance you'd have to push to get sufficient performance in async mode compared to synchronous DDR4-3800 or so (which is pretty rare in and of itself; 1900 MHz fclk isn't easy). DDR4-4400 did not impress me much. And yes, I have achieved that, albeit with crappy timings based loosely on XMP settings.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

The third fan is behind a filter as well.

The 5.25" drive bay covers have a filter built into them. While it's not as fine as the removable front filter, but it still catches things like pet hair and such. I don't notice much dust getting into my case from that area, and I clean them out when I clean the other filters.

How does that 3rd filter work?
I can’t find any documentation or pictures regarding it.
Also does the dark base 900 have a fan control switch like the 801 has, is it in a accessible location?

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I've only had one ASRock board but I loved it. I wanted to get one for this build but they didn't seem to have a good middle option regarding VRM's. If you are concerned I could look at some other boards and pick a couple I would consider if it was me.

Other thoughts:

I wouldn't worry about memory. That was more of a Zen 1 type thing. I have M-die RAM and a 2600X, I set the XMP and it took the 3200MHz and timings no problem. Also, how much gaming do you do and at what resolution? I'm guessing you do as you have a 280X. If you're OK with eBay you could pick up an RX 580 for about $100. Or check FS/FT here. Anandtech's Bench can give you a rough idea of how that would compare to your current card.

OTOH, if you even want to upgrade in the first place, we should be getting small Navi soon. That would presumably perform better than a 580 but less than Vega, with some nice power savings. You already have an awesome PSU but still, less heat, less noise, generally speaking.

I’ll likely pull the trigger this week. Appears a good amount of people don’t like the fan placement on the ASRock boards but I really like the cost and it appears all ASRock x579 boards have t topology which is something I prefer to have.
If it sucks blocking the fan with the graphics card I’ll move my 280x to the bottom 4x slot. Highly doubt there would be a performance loss. For the future I’m thinking I couldn’t use a riser cable (the cables to move the graphics card to 90 degrees for display) to move the card down a slot or two. Can you think of any random issues I may run into. I know you need shielded cables and don’t go super cheap on them. I’m thinking something strange like card won’t fit or block some something critical. I’m not saying move card to 90 degrees, I’m thinking move it to a slot that won’t block the chipset fan


All but positive I’ll use a Phanteks 600s case.

Edit for reference:
Cable like this but not this exact one, they have pcie 4.0 compliant & certified versions. Just grabbed this one because I am lazy.

10 cm - PCIE 3.0 16x Shielded High Speed Riser Cable Premium | Straight Socket

Over 64GB/s via rare shielded Twin-axial wires and dedicated power lines for lossless signals at range.

linkup.one

 

[VirtualLarry]

I'm definitely not a fan of PCI-E risers, even the shielded PCI-E x16 cable ones. Too much signal degradation, IMHO. There was a thread on here, some fellow couldn't get his newer GPU to detect properly, older one worked fine. Probably the difference between PCI-E 3.0 and 2.0/2.1, and the riser cable interaction. Worst part was, it was a mini-ITX case, and the riser cable came with the case.

"Hard" PCB-based riser (right-angle (?)/left-angle (?)) ones, IMHO, are better, but still subject to some signal issues.

If your PC is use for "real work", involving GPU Compute applications, I wouldn't use a riser, if I were you. I have enough issues with doing GPU compute on my PCs (*when using dual GPUs), without riser issues.

But if you use it lightly / for gaming, and just want to "show off" with the face of your GPU, then I guess it could be acceptable. Just use the most expensive / highest-quality / best-reviewed riser cable that you can.