Some issues with PC building.

[whm1974]

I've been building my own systems since 2000 and over then a refurbished laptop I haven't brought a new OEM computer since 1995/1996. Now I put together my current rig in 2013 and did the research a few years before before that. And I have some issues with the hobby as it stands today.

the Issues:

1) I don't overclock and will certainly will not use a AIO water cooler, and there are lots of other builders who are the same way. So why is it hard to find decent cases without rad vents? I don't like vents since they allow dust to come in.

2) It seems that there are too many cases available that have one USB 3 port and and one USB 2 port, why? Shouldn't there be two front USB 3 ports?

3) PCI slots on modern motherboards in 2017. I've just seen a new Z370 ASrock board on Newegg with one PCI slot. Come on this pointless. I had this issue back in 2013 trying to find boards with as few PCI slots as possible.

4) Glass side panels. Glass breaks, so using it for case panels is rather silly due to this fact.

So what issues do fellow builders have with current trends?

 

[shortylickens]

I got an open case and liquid cooling. It solved the noise issue. And fewer things to break.

 

[XavierMace]

What are you defining as a "rad vent"? Radiators mount in standard 120mm or 140mm fan mounts. Or are you suggesting you want cases with no fan mounts at all? Or want to go back to 80mm fans?

USB ports. Every case I have in this house has 2 front USB 3 ports. What cases are you buying that have one USB 3 and one USB 2? I'm going to go out on a limb and guess you're buying really cheap cases?

I'll agree on PCI slots, although I don't have any on any of my boards and I haven't seen any on the new boards I've looked at.

If you're worried about breaking the glass, don't drop your case. Or just don't buy one with glass. My primary system has a glass side panel. It's been removed quite a few times. I'm not terribly concerned about it breaking.

 

[whm1974]

I have a Corsair 300R case and it has the vent on top of the case. And I'm not buying anything, I'm just checking to see what is available.

The motherboard with one PCI slot:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157796
One of the cases I'm talking about:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119274

 

[Iron Woode]

my HTPC case has one USB 3.0 and one USB 2.0 connector. It's a thermaltake versa H21.

 

[UsandThem]

Which Z370 Asrock motherboard do you see at Newegg with PCI slots? The ones I see only have PCI-E slots.

Another thing to note while I looked at their Z370 lineup, and Newegg recommended all Skylake and Kaby Lake CPUs to go along with them. You think there is going to be some really ticked off customers on that oops?

 

[whm1974]

This one:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157796

 

[UsandThem]

This one:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157796

Good catch. I looked at the Fatal1ty, Taichi, Extreme4, Killer, and professional boards. All of those come without a PCI slot.

Maybe they put the PCI slot on a low-end board for users who have to have a PCI slot because of an old TV or sound card. Believe it or not, there are quite a few users here I've tried to help who refuse to move to a new system because they have to use those old PCI cards for some reason. A board like that might get some of them to upgrade their old i970 systems that they are clinging on to.

 

[whm1974]

Good catch. I looked at the Fatal1ty, Taichi, Extreme4, Killer, and professional boards. All of those come without a PCI slot.

Maybe they put the PCI slot on a low-end board for users who have to have a PCI slot because of an old TV or sound card. Believe it or not, there are quite a few users here I've tried to help who refuse to move to a new system because they have to use those old PCI cards for some reason. A board like that might get some of them to upgrade their old i970 systems that they are clinging on to.

Onboard sound has gotten good enough to completely replace sound cards for most people as long as they use decent speaker or headphones.

 

[Malogeek]

Radiator support just means there's space allocation for 140mm, 240mm, 280mm radiators, which can simply have fans or no fans instead. If you don't want vents at all, maybe you can seal it up with plastic? However, this means you're not planning on having any fresh air coming into the case at all? Computers generate heat, that heat needs to be dissipated. Having everything sealed apart from maybe a rear exhaust fan will generate rather high internal ambient temps, even if not overclocked. Especially if you have spindle drives or NVMe.

There's also the GPU to consider as they will generate a lot of heat to be exhausted as well.

 

[whm1974]

To be clear, it's not no vents that I want, it is just that big one on top I don't want. Aside from a small vent for PSU on top for small MicroATX cases.

 

[Iron Woode]

Onboard sound has gotten good enough to completely replace sound cards for most people as long as they use decent speaker or headphones.

my Asrock boards have the same elna realtek 892 sound and they have great audio.

 

[UsandThem]

To be clear, it's not no vents that I want, it is just that big one on top I don't want. Aside from a small vent for PSU on top for small MicroATX cases.

There are cases, like my Fractal Design R5 that have top vents if wanted, but also come with modular covers to cover the holes if not needed. I get almost no dust in my PC.

 

[XavierMace]

I have a Corsair 300R case and it has the vent on top of the case. And I'm not buying anything, I'm just checking to see what is available.

One of the cases I'm talking about:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119274

Those are called fan mounts. They aren't some sort of special thing for radiators. The 300R specifically is a bad case for liquid cooling. I've done two builds liquid cooled builds in them and wasn't happy with either. Better designed cases will either provide covers to block them (like UsandThem) mentioned or will be designed so they aren't directly exposed on the top (such as the NZXT H440).

my HTPC case has one USB 3.0 and one USB 2.0 connector. It's a thermaltake versa H21.

That would fall under the previously mentioned cheap category.

 

[Smoblikat]

I've been building my own systems since 2000 and over then a refurbished laptop I haven't brought a new OEM computer since 1995/1996. Now I put together my current rig in 2013 and did the research a few years before before that. And I have some issues with the hobby as it stands today.

the Issues:

1) I don't overclock and will certainly will not use a AIO water cooler, and there are lots of other builders who are the same way. So why is it hard to find decent cases without rad vents? I don't like vents since they allow dust to come in.

2) It seems that there are too many cases available that have one USB 3 port and and one USB 2 port, why? Shouldn't there be two front USB 3 ports?

3) PCI slots on modern motherboards in 2017. I've just seen a new Z370 ASrock board on Newegg with one PCI slot. Come on this pointless. I had this issue back in 2013 trying to find boards with as few PCI slots as possible.

4) Glass side panels. Glass breaks, so using it for case panels is rather silly due to this fact.

So what issues do fellow builders have with current trends?

Whats wrong with AIO coolers? Ive ot a couple, and they dont have the price/perf of a good air cooler, but theres nothing bad about them. "Rad vents" are just spots for fans, are you looking for a case that has no fans? I recommend a cardboard box.

There are a lot of cases with 2 front USB3 ports, its mostly low end cheap ones that have 1 USB3 and 1 USB2, personally I like having both available at the front for compatibility reasons.

Again, I wouldnt call a PCI slot pointless, I have PCI NIC's, sound cards, SATA cards etc.., its just an extra feature, dont use it if you dont like it. Most systems have a fairly limited amount of PCIe lanes to distribute, and adding another slot to the board might mean electronically limting it and one other slot to split the bandwidth. Believe it or not I would still like to see workstation grade boards with an IDE slot, again for compatibility reasons.

I dont like glass side panels, but its not an issue I have, its a style some people choose. I prefer either a solid side panel, or ill cut it out and mount acryllic in there. I prefer acryllic because its lighter, cheaper, and easier to get ahold of. Some people like RGB, I dont. That doesnt make it an issue for me, its just not my preference.

One issue I do have, and will probobly continue to have, is board makers putting 2 PCIe X16 slots right next to eachother, when they (seemingly) could have easily spaced them out 1 further so I can install 2 dual slot GPU's in there. Oh and all this low power nonsense/irrelevant turbo boost stuff. Just stop, please. Finally I hate the growing trend of video card prices, the 1080Ti retails for what, $800? A GTX 285 retailed for $380, a 480 retailed for $500, a 580 for $500, a 680 for 500, aaaannnddd then we got a $700 780Ti and a $1000+ titan, and prices have only gone up from there.

Also I guess the move to transition desktop PC's to giant SoC's is not ideal IMO either, though luckily board prices (at least for AMD) seem to reflect this.

 

[whm1974]

My issue with AIO water coolers is the chance that they will leak. I guess having two USB3.0 and two USB 2.0 front points would be nice. And speaking of lower powered CPUs, I myself prefer 65W TDP CPUs.