Looking for opinions on my first build

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giggsy11

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Aug 26, 2009
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Hi everyone,

I'm looking to build my first gaming computer and i'm just after some advice of how i can improve it.

One of the important factors in the build is silence (hence the case) but i've been worrying about the H100i and the fact it will likely be positioned under the roof of the case which may lead to extra noise, anyone have first hand experience of this?

I have a 256 ssd already which i will use as my main drive and i went with an 850 watt psu as i may want to add a 2nd 780 ti into the system at a later date (and i plan to OC the cpu). I also heard good things about the motherboard and the processor, some may say i don't need 16gb RAM at 2400mhz but i have room in the budget so i may as well get it if it's going to be faster (if only marginally)

Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated :)

Cheers.

PCPartPicker part list

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£227.94 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£78.73 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Asus MAXIMUS VII HERO ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£155.87 @ Aria PC)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2400 Memory (£128.59 @ Scan.co.uk)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£35.94 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Ti 3GB Superclocked ACX Video Card (£496.47 @ Ebuyer)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case (£83.90 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Corsair RM 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£106.13 @ CCL Computers)
Optical Drive: LG UH12NS30 Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer (£39.48 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £1353.05
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-12 22:42 BST+0100
 
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jimthenagual

jimthenagual

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Apr 8, 2012
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Looking good. I have that case and it does a great job of keeping things quiet (although I didn't take the windowed version as I wanted the sound dampening foam on the side panel instead). However it's not going to do anything for blocking the sound of the H100i as I believe you have to remove the sound dampening foam at the top in order to install it. And it does get loud. On my previous system I swapped out the H100i stock fans that came with it and used the SP120 Quiet Edition fans, and that helped. I also wasn't too aggressive with my OC so temps stayed pretty low (fans never needed to go to max rpm).

Also, I'd suggest considering a different power supply. The RM850 uses some cheap capacitors in its construction. If you are wanting to stick with corsair, the following are considered high quality

AX series
GS series (GS600 / GS800)
HX / HX v2 series
RM 450 / 550 / 650w models (Made by Channel Well Technology)
TX / TXM series

If it doesn't have to be corsair, then consider this one
EVGA Super NOVA 850W
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-power-supply-220g20850xr
 
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giggsy11

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Many thanks for the replies so far...

I did like the look of the NZXT H440 case so i might have a closer look at that although it says it's not compatible with the rest of my build on part picker?

I think i'll go with the advice here too and swap the corsair psu for the EVGA Super NOVA 850W, and i ill purchase the quieter fans, maybe even a quieter case fan too.

 
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legend001523

legend001523

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Jun 3, 2014
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Oh it's cause you have a optical drive, if you take the optical drive out, it'll be compatible with the h440
 
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giggsy11

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Ah yes, well I'm not 100% about ditching the optical drive but i guess with digital downloads they are needed less and less, and i've not used mine for a while and i do like that case, i like the fact i can put the 2x120mm fans in the roof and there not visible, and i trust this would be quieter solution? and i'm assuming the default case fans that come as standard will be fine and won't need replacing.

So this is the final build i've put together using some of the suggestions in this thread, i've included 2 replacement quiet fans for the H100i, an internal wifi card (as my usb stick is pretty old) and i've swapped out the corsair psu for an EVGA, i'm also going to buy an 8gb usb stick to make a bootable windows (as my disks will now no longer be usable :p)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£239.94 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£78.73 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Asus MAXIMUS VII HERO ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£155.87 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£35.94 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Ti 3GB Superclocked ACX Video Card (£496.47 @ Ebuyer)
Case: NZXT H440 (Black/Red) ATX Mid Tower Case (£84.00 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£94.99 @ Amazon UK)
Wireless Network Adapter: Asus PCE-N53 802.11a/b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter (£26.98 @ Amazon UK)
Case Fan: Corsair Air Series SP120 Quiet Edition (2-Pack) 37.9 CFM 120mm Fans (£19.34 @ Scan.co.uk)
Total: £1232.26
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-13 11:04 BST+0100

I have one other query regarding the installation of fans that confuses me, i see a lot of talk about 'push/pull' and how to setup the fans in the case, is this something i need to worry about or do i leave everything at default? simply replace the fans on the H100i and let it do it's thing? i just see a lot of talk about how to configure them and i'm not sure exactly how to do that, this is my first pc build from scratch (previously i had only replaced a psu, graphics card, hdd & memory in a computer)

Any more advice would be great. :)

 
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giggsy11

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So the 2 x 120mm fans in the roof of the case will be blowing air onto the cpu and the rest of the system and the fans in the front of the case will also be blowing air around the rest of the system?

So i just need to make sure the fan at the back is pushing air out of the case? How do i actually tell the fans to do that? or is that the way its configured by default? Sorry but that's the part that's got me confused.
 
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legend001523

legend001523

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It will be doing that by default
 
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giggsy11

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Ok i've been looking more into how to setup the fans in my system and i see more and more people saying i should have the top 2 fans as an exhaust along with the rear fan, that leaves the front 3 fans as intake fans, does this sound like the best way to setup?

I was also going to buy replacement corsair quiet fans to replace the stock corsair cpu fans and then 1 to replace the rear, my understanding is i should use AF fans for exhaust and SP fans for intake? So i should buy 3 AF fans to replace the rear and roof fans?
 
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