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Removeable drive bays and other fun stuff

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  • Systems
  • Components
  • Graphics
  • Performance
  • Cases
  • Graphics Cards
Last response: in Systems
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July 6, 2014 11:56:52 PM

Hello friends, I have done a medium - large amount of reading with regards to components and performance and sizing and I am having specfic problems visualizing how all the internal parts (specifically the 293mm GFX card) that I wish to include in my build will fit inside the case.

First things first here is my parts list (feel free to include off topic concerns about my part selection) http://pcpartpicker.com/p/BrYcGX This is intended to be a gaming build.

It has come to my understanding that the case I have chosen, the NZXT Phantom 410 has capacity for gfx cards up to 230mm and the one that I have chosen is 293mm and thus drive bays within the case must be removed in order to create 63mm of space. So i checked out the case in question and it turns out that the upper drive bays can be removed as per the following video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeVnlKRQYrk (5:36).

Now the problem that I cannot answer is as follows : is this sufficient to support the 293mm card, as in are these the right drive bays being removed and also will this impact the ability for my case to house the 2 drives that I have selected (there are 2 additional drive bays below the 5 removed ones but honestly I'm still not 100%)

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Separately I am very interested to hear opinions on the GPU selection itself my build has in mind the ability to overclock if wanted but I am also concerned in general about noise associated with non-overclocked running of such a GPU. Noise restriction has lead me to select a liquid CPU cooler (albeit a fairly inexpensive one) which may actually be too cheap of an option to keep the system quiet.

Again on the topic of GPU I concluded after reading the 2014 june article on this site concerning GPU performance vs cost that the radeon r9 290 is the card to go for however the thing that somewhat confused me is the way in which this card is manufactured, it seems as if many different makers make slighlty different versions of the same base chipset (MSI, sapphire, HIS, gigabyte, ASUS, etc..) and in choosing between those I was admittedly fairly uninformed thus (and possibly solving the original spacing problem) I am very open to suggestions as to which r9 290 I should chose.

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A note on RAM in general in gaming builds, I have selected to run DDR3-2133 / 2x4GB, and my research tells me that for gaming builds in general large amounts of RAM are often unnecessary
my question here is as follows.

What areas of gaming performance will be impacted by having only 2x4GB DDR3-2133 RAM, and also if my Mobo supports 4x240pin then there will be 2x240 pin slots left over that can be potentially filled in the future?

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I had a lot of fun doing all the research both through books at my local library and through TOMS hardware reviews, it was a great relief to see that after selecting CPU, mobo and GPU that the same general products were being used in cost efficient builds supposed by more experienced TOMS users than I. For all those who take the time to analyze my build and make comments and criticisms I thank you very much for your time and for helping me learn a thing or two, it has never been my intention to come to this forum uneducated in matters which I am wanting to discuss and I hope that through this post those who respond will see and respect that. ;)  .

More about : removeable drive bays fun stuff

July 7, 2014 10:47:48 AM

One extra detail, coupled with a bump (posting late at night on west coast times is a bad idea)
my budget is in the region of 1200-1500$
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a b U Graphics card
July 7, 2014 12:39:42 PM

1) Yes, the top bays are the ones to remove to give the GPU space. You can still fit your two drives in the bottom bays, your SSD will need an adapter (but I think the case comes with one included).

2) I've read one or two reviews on the HIS card and it seems decent enough.

3) Intel CPUs only support native RAM speeds up to 1600mhz so any faster then money wasted, unless you OC the RAM but really anything faster than 1600mhz the performance increase is minimal (not noticed in gaming).
Oh, and yes if you have two remaining slots left in the motherboard for RAM then you can fill them up :) 

So, I edited your build with more (16gb- more RAM is beneficial to the life of your SSD), 1600mhz RAM, a cheaper, higher wattage (OC headroom) but still on par XFX PSU and then with the money left I added a H100i for the OC'ing ;) 
These prices can only be achieved if you order from 3 different shops though...



[PCPartPicker part list](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3PxrRB) / [Price breakdown by merchant](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3PxrRB/by_merchant/)


| | **Total**
| Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available | $1302.07



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July 7, 2014 2:13:40 PM

SethJPC said:
1) Yes, the top bays are the ones to remove to give the GPU space. You can still fit your two drives in the bottom bays, your SSD will need an adapter (but I think the case comes with one included).

2) I've read one or two reviews on the HIS card and it seems decent enough.

3) Intel CPUs only support native RAM speeds up to 1600mhz so any faster then money wasted, unless you OC the RAM but really anything faster than 1600mhz the performance increase is minimal (not noticed in gaming).
Oh, and yes if you have two remaining slots left in the motherboard for RAM then you can fill them up :) 

So, I edited your build with more (16gb- more RAM is beneficial to the life of your SSD), 1600mhz RAM, a cheaper, higher wattage (OC headroom) but still on par XFX PSU and then with the money left I added a H100i for the OC'ing ;) 
These prices can only be achieved if you order from 3 different shops though...



[PCPartPicker part list](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3PxrRB) / [Price breakdown by merchant](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3PxrRB/by_merchant/)


| | **Total**
| Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available | $1302.07





Thanks a lot for the response, I have been talking to a friend of mine who has recently built a gaming rig himself and he recommended that I switch off of the intel cpu to the AMD FX-8350 black which offers higher Ghz for less money I have not yet decided on a mobo pairing to support that so as such I am also considering

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/xRK8bv

( I still need to choose a motherboard and I cant really see a logical downside from changing away from intel, even though my instinct says to stay with intel :(  ) If I did switch to AMD

On the topic of the h100i, I am hesitant to use such a large cooling system as space within the case will likely be an issue especially with the 293/287mm gpu I am planning to use

One last issue is future proofing in general, how would TOMS users rate the future proofing of the i5 based build vs the amd build as well as the standalone future proofing of either.

Thank-you, friends.

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a c 250 U Graphics card
July 7, 2014 4:34:18 PM

Your build is fine. I would stick with the i5 rather than the 8350. You don't need a h110i. The i5 will power graphics cards for at least 5 years.

Your 290 will fit in your case along with your SSD and HDD

Your RAM will work just by enabling XMP in bios

8gb is enough ram. 2133 will make a slight improvement to game fps (1 or 2 fps)



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