building a new computer..

[Steve]

Have you bought that cooler already mate? If you have, see if you can cancel it before it's sent out.

 

 

 

However, the ETS-T40 produced a result equal to a fail in our LGA2011 system, as it was unable to prevent our toasty CPU from reaching the temperature at which it automatically clocks down.

 

 

 

With that said, it's not recommended for LGA2011 systems, as it simply cannot cope effectively enough with the heat that chips using this socket produce. In particular, overclockers using such CPUs will obviously want to steer clear.

 

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cooling/2012/12/06/enermax-ets-t40-ta-review/3

[chile]

damn thats pretty cray, cheers for the info. luckily i hadnt bought it yet as ive been looking for case fans to bunch together on amazon for free postage.. do you have any reccomendations?

[Steve]

I really like Nexus fans. They're extremely quiet, come with silicone mounts to mount them in the case so that any vibration isn't transferred into the chassis and you can get PWM versions too. If you don't know, PWM fans have their speed controlled by the motherboard, rather than spinning at a fixed speed, so they will spin up when the system is under load, then spin slower if you're just browsing the web or whatever. Nexus fans do not have very high CFM ratings (how much air they push), but I've always used them and I've never had any issues with temperatures with my PCs. Noctua fans are also very good.

 

Also, check the mounting holes on the case, because often there will be more than one set in each fan mount position so you can choose from a couple of different sizes of fan. If your case has that, then go for the biggest fans that will fit in any particular spot, because a bigger fan shifts more air at a slower speed.

 

As for a CPU cooler, you're somewhat limited because of your choice of RAM. I would have recommended something like Be Quiet's Dark Rock Pro 2, which is about 55 quid at Amazon, but it almost certainly won't fit into the case because of the heat spreaders on top of the RAM. I don't really want to recommend anything, because I can't be sure of what will fit. I would recommend signing up to a decent PC enthusiast forum and asking there. I bought low profile RAM precisely because of this issue, but you do have to sacrifice a little bit of performance when doing that.

[chile]

thanks for the info. damn didnt realise the ram would cause problems like this.. i guess i'll wait until the mobo and ram arrive and fit them into the case to see and possibly measure how much space i have free. i read that there are blower and sucker case fans? i always assumed that you just bought fans and put them into the places provided and that was it lol. pwm fans sound really cool.. i'll check out those brands thanks again

[Steve]

When you look at the edge of a fan's surround, there is an arrow on it that shows you the direction of the airflow. You can mount a fan either way round, depending on whether you want it to suck air into the case or blow it out.

 

For a setup like yours, you would probably want to go with negative pressure cooling. That means that your exhaust fans have a combined higher CFM rating than your intake fans. This creates a kind of vacuum effect inside the case and will suck in cool air through all of the openings/vents. For a beefy rig, that's the way to go and the only downside is that it can cause more dust to get sucked inside the case, although your case comes with dust filters to help stop that.

 

If you're going to fit a fan (or fans) to the side of the case, don't go with ones that have a high CFM rating, because that can actually disrupt the "front to back/top" airflow through the case and have a negative effect overall.

 

Basically, you want cool air sucked in through the front, over the components, then the warm air is exhausted out the back and maybe the top. That's where I would start and if you have any issues with GPU temps, consider adding a side fan. Try and do the best job you can of cable management, because poor cable management means that cables will disrupt airflow, plus dust will settle on them over time. Good cable management also makes it easier to replace or add a part later on, because you won't have a big bundle of spaghetti to deal with.

 

Ideally, you want the inside of your case to look something like this: -

 

http://i.imgur.com/JKV0Oe7.jpg

 

Rather than like this: -

 

http://i.imgur.com/MxC6gKl.jpg

 

It's a good idea to take your time and figure out where you will run each cable before you connect them up, but you can easily unplug any cable at one end to re-route it if you need to.

[chile]

yeah can defo see how cable management can effect air flow from those two pics lol. i have 12 cable ties (4 from the mobo and 8 from the PSU kit) and a few extra plastic wire things so gonna try do as clean a job as possible. im actually thinking of buying a pack of 100 more cable ties so i dont have to be conservative about how i use them. I found a vid of a guy using a pretty big cooler master cpu cooler in his x79 rig with the same ram i have (his cable management sucks) -

 

 

least that shows though that there is some room left.. i just gotta look into it ... is a weird looking cooler, kinda long and thin

 

the case actually came with 2 fans already and theyre placed on the front and rear so i might leave it to see how it functions with just a cpu cooler.. and yeah if theres issues with the gpu ill go with your advice and add a side fan with a lower cfm rating.. i like the idea of adding an exhaust fan from the top part of the case since hot air rises and i guess the gpu will be emitting heat directly below

[Steve]

Yeah, see how you go with the included fans. Once it's built, you'll want to do a stress test to max everything out and check the temps, so if there are any issues they will become apparent then.

 

Here's a video of a build that's using the same case as you: -

 

 

From 1 minute on, he shows the cable management.

 

Basically, let's say you have a component that plugs into the motherboard. What you want to do is connect the cable to the component, run the cable through the nearest hole to get it down behind the board, then up through the hole that's nearest to where the cable plugs into the board itself. Then repeat that with each component/cable. You will probably have to do a bit of rearranging and plugging/unplugging, but it's not that important what it looks like underneath the board IMO. It's more about keeping the main area inside the case as free of cables as possible.

[chile]

that looks so good, real clean job.. the geek in me is kinda looking forward to building it and doing the cable management part lol

[Frost]

Got an arctic cooler freezer 13 pro for you Chile. Totally free, pick up from cottingham. Quite big though, might not fit

[Frost]

http://www.arctic.ac/en/p/cooling/discontinued-products/cpu/365/freezer-13-pro.html?L=1

[chile]

yeah looks like its not gonna fit but thanks for the offer. im actually thinking of getting the corsair h60 now. looks quite petite. saw a tutorial video on how to set it up and it looks pretty easy. overclock3d gave it good marks too http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/cases_cooling/corsair_h60_aio_review/6

[Frost]

yeah its a big bastard, wont fit in anyone's computer that I've offered it to, haha.

[chile]

ended up going for -

 

cpu paste

Arctic Cooling MX-4 4g Thermal Compound

 

cooler

Corsair CW-9060007-WW Hydro Series H60 High Performance 120mm Rad All-In-One Liquid CPU Cooler

 

Upper exhaust fan

Nexus - Case Fan - 120 mm - PWM - 76 CFM max - D12SL-12 PWM

[Steve]

Are you still going with Windows 7 as your OS? Don't forget to install the 64 bit version! Your license key covers you for both versions.

 

My advice would be to do this: -

 

Download the 64 bit version of Windows 7 that has Service Pack 1 integrated into it. That has 2 advantages. When you install Windows and run Windows Update for the first time, there will be far fewer updates to download and install. Also, if you install SP1 after installing Windows, it creates a folder that's several hundred MB in size that's like a backup of the changed files. You can get legit Windows 7 SP1 images from Digital River (Google it), but make sure you get the correct version (i.e. Home Premium, Professional or whatever you have a license key for).

 

Update the MOBO BIOS before doing anything else. The most recent BIOS for your board was released 1 week ago and improves system stability and fixes a bug, so it's worth installing. It's easy to install. You just download the file, pop it on a USB stick, boot the PC up and enter the BIOS, then you can update from there.

 

Check for new firmware for your SSD. Do this early on, because updating the firmware on an SSD carries a small risk of data loss.

 

Personally, I like to grab the latest drivers direct from the manufacturer of the components, rather than from Asus. I would only use the ones on Asus's web page if you run into issues, because they can often be out of date.

 

This is the best order to do things: -

 

1. Install BIOS/firmware updates before installing Windows if possible.

 

2. Install Windows and run Windows Update a few times. For some reason, with a fresh install of Windows it doesn't always pick up all the updates if you just run it once, so run it 2 or 3 times until it says that no updates are available.

 

3. Install any remaining firmware updates.

 

4. Install the drivers for your hardware. Windows will have installed drivers for most/all of your hardware, but they may not be up to date. It's really up to you whether you stick with the drivers provided by Windows Update or you install the latest drivers provided by the manufacturer of each piece of hardware. I prefer to do the latter. The drivers provided by MS are WHQL certified, which means that MS have tested them to make sure they're stable under the particular version of Windows you're using, while newer drivers may not have gone through that testing, but yeah - it's up to you what you do there. Make sure you check Device Manager to make sure there's no drivers missing for any of your hardware.

 

5. Stress test. Run Prime 95 for a good couple of hours at least, along with software that monitors the CPU temps, such as Core Temp. If the system is stable, none of the Prime 95 tests fail and the temps are good, run a GPU stress test. OCCT is good for that.

 

6. Install all of your software and customise the OS/interface to your liking.

 

Job done!

[chile]

nice one steve i'll get on dloading the bios update and firmware for the ssd. I still have a wait to go as most of the components are estimated to arrive on friday, and i have yet to buy the CPU as i have to wait until wednesday this week for new funds to come in, so probably be waiting till next monday/tuesday til everythings ready. on the plus side it gives me lots of time to do things right

[chile]

i got the new graphics card + soundcard drivers and mobo BIOS/chipset so far. There doesnt seem to be a firmware update for the ssd i have ( 256GB - SDSSDP-256G-G25 )

[chile]

Do you know if theres a rule of thumb for case fans? for example.. ive noticed theres a sticker side then a blank side.. now the front side fans are set up on the none sticker side and they apparently draw air into the case.. so im assuming that setting them up sticker side would draw air out of the case right? Below shows the front fans im on about..

 

[Frost]

if you look very closely there should be tiny arrows showing which way the air will flow and which way the fans spin. Usually like this: http://img.afreecodec.com/images/v3/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/coolingfan3.jpg

 

Remember to think about positive/negative air pressure in your case, less scary then it sounds: http://www.technibble.com/case-cooling-the-physics-of-good-airflow/

[chile]

nice one frost, i didnt see that at all lol

[Steve]

Ahem.....

 

When you look at the edge of a fan's surround, there is an arrow on it that shows you the direction of the airflow. You can mount a fan either way round, depending on whether you want it to suck air into the case or blow it out.

[Steve]

I just had a look at the manual for your MOBO. Much like mine, it has different types of SATA ports - 3 different types in fact.

 

Intel 6 Gb/s

Intel 3 Gb/s

Marvel 6 Gb/s

 

Make sure you hook up any SATA devices to the appropriate ports. Here's some benchmarks that shows how each port type performs: -

 

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/motherboards/2011/11/30/asus-sabertooth-x79-review/5

 

So, for example, I would hook up the SSD to one of the 6 GB/s Intel ports, so you can get the maximum performance out of it.

[chile]

 

Ahem.....

 

When you look at the edge of a fan's surround, there is an arrow on it that shows you the direction of the airflow. You can mount a fan either way round, depending on whether you want it to suck air into the case or blow it out.

 

 

oh blimey.. i even remember reading that sentance too but didnt click i guess. Yeah i was looking up sata stuff yesterday night as i got stuck at this point. I figured that SSDs would use 6gb so have that hooked up, but left the hdd as is. I'll check that article out, thanks!

[Vet]

Chile, I noticed you wanted to increase your rendering speed for video.

 

Asides from the actual PC you're building the codec used and certain settings can greatly increase the quality/speed of your final output.

 

I use Sony Vegas Pro 12 primarily (and Avid secondarily)...holler if you want some tips on the video side of things.

 

- B

[chile]

nice im on vegas 11. yeah tips would be cool once me rigs sorted, thanks man

[chile]

finally ordered the cpu and optical drive