Planned build, advice needed for fan control

[Big Boss]

Hi all, just registered to the forums, glad to be here. I'm planning my first build in September-December following the release of Haswell E, X99, DDR4 etc. My buddy's got a gaming rig which I've tinkered about with and thought, it's time to get one for myself. This pc will be for predominantly gaming, editing, rendering. I've got the funds ready and want a high end build for maximum performance and longevity. My issue is mainly which types of fans I should get for the AIO radiator and the case itself, either 4 pin PWM or 3 pin DC, and how to power them. Straight to the point, here are my planned components.

CPU - I7 5930K/5960X
Motherboard - Asus Rampage V X99 (waiting for the reveal, fingers crossed)
RAM - Corsair Dominator DDR4
Heatsink - Corsair H100i/H105 (dependant upon compatibility)
Power Supply - Seasonic 1000/1200W Platinum
GPU - Maxwell/780Ti (SLI in the near future, hence PSU wattage)
SSD - Samsung 256Gb 840 Pro
Hard drive - Western Digital Caviar Black x 2 (Raid 0)
Case - Corsair Graphite 760T/780T
Case/ Heatsink fans - Corsair SP120 Quiet edition/AF120/140 Quiet edition (potentially Noctua redux, need to see some reviews)

I'm happy with all of the components there I'm just unsure about which type of fan to go for and how to power them. I understand The Guvnor likes to run them at 12V, or 7V via molex adapters. Is this the best way to go, and would I be better off with PWM or DC? I understand this is an ideal way of powering the fans on the hardware side of things, but what if I didn't want constant full load airflow, I'd rather not have a dedicated fan control but would like lower RPM when idle and higher when gaming etc. I apologise if this is confusing to anyone reading, I could just use some advice on which route to take. Any feedback will be highly appreciated, thanks.

 

[Big Boss]

Can anyone share some advice?

 

[YouWhat]

Well firstly, the 780 ti's you might want to either look out nearer the time if they have released cards with more than 3GB, as you wanting to play games, as Watchdogs game has shown, graphics cards are going to start needing a lot more than 3GB to play some of them, so a 4GB card would realistically be a minimum for future gaming rigs.

The H100i or the H105 will be compatable with the 2011 chips, but if you have the funds, and the ability and are into overclocking, you might want to look into building a custom water loop instead of an AIO unit.

The SSD, the Samsung 840's are still a good drive choice, although if you want or need quicker writes, I would choose the EVO instead of the pro as they are quicker at writes but the read speeds are about the same.

The hard drive, you not mentioned what size you are looking at getting, but WD Black are good solid drives, so you should have any issues with that, but if you need the data on the drives, you might want to up it to 3 of them and run in raid 5 for extra security incase 1 of them bites the dust, if that is not an issue for yourself, then 2 drives in raid 0 will run quicker.

The case, is pretty much down to personal preference, so can't really comment on that, but the 1 you have chosen is another solid and reliable choice, along with the Corsair fans, even the Noctua fans, you can't really go wrong with either.

As for how to run your fans, again is personal preference, 12v with limiters, is a tidy method with no interaction, but you could also choose to go with a fan controller instead that will take up 1 or 2 of the 5 1/4" drive bays, personally I have gone with the fan controller option on the build I have just done, and went for the Asus FrontBase, as I like the looks of it and it will interact with Maximus VII Hero motherboard I have got, and it will also work well with your choice of motherboard when Asus finally release it.

A lot of building computer is personal preference, and what you want to do with it, but above is my opinion on what you have chosen, there will be other here on the forum who will have different opinions, but at the end of the day, we can only advise you in your choices, the end descision is down to yourself.

Hope this helps you

 

[Big Boss]

Thanks for the reply YouWhat, I really appreciate it.

In regards to the graphics card, I should of mentioned I'll undoubtedly hold out for a 6GB VRAM card, I've heard rumours a 6GB Ti kingpin is in the works, but I've got a while to wait, and Maxwell may came into the spotlight soon, and we'll see what that can offer.

For cooling, I wouldn't be comfortable creating a custom loop, simply because this will be my first serious build, I don't have the expertise and would just feel much happier going for a simpler, albeit less effective, all in one cooler. I'm not going to be crazy over locking haha.

With the SSSD's, I was under the impression that the 840 Pro's generally outperformed the evo's? Maybe I'm wrong, I need to do a bit more research on that front, also in regards to the development of PCI-SSD's.

I'm happy running two Western Digital 2TB in raid 1 (incorrectly stated as raid 0 earlier) for added reliability, 2TB in total will be plenty for me.

I just can't make a decision on the fan front, it's either going to be Corsair or Noctua Redux without a doubt, but without having built a computer in the past, I don't fully understand what plugs in where on the motherboard fan wise and what's the best choice. I don't particularly want to have a fan controller in all honesty, simply down to personal preference like you say, so realistically I'm left with powering the fans at 12V/7V with limiters, or the alternative which I don't know what it is? Then it's simply between PWM and DC, which again, I don't fully understand which to go for and why. PWMs are automatic whereas DC have more control options etc, I'm lost really. Again, thanks very much for your advice, it's highly appreciated.

 

[YouWhat]

Thanks for the reply YouWhat, I really appreciate it.

In regards to the graphics card, I should of mentioned I'll undoubtedly hold out for a 6GB VRAM card, I've heard rumours a 6GB Ti kingpin is in the works, but I've got a while to wait, and Maxwell may came into the spotlight soon, and we'll see what that can offer.

For cooling, I wouldn't be comfortable creating a custom loop, simply because this will be my first serious build, I don't have the expertise and would just feel much happier going for a simpler, albeit less effective, all in one cooler. I'm not going to be crazy over locking haha.

With the SSSD's, I was under the impression that the 840 Pro's generally outperformed the evo's? Maybe I'm wrong, I need to do a bit more research on that front, also in regards to the development of PCI-SSD's.

I'm happy running two Western Digital 2TB in raid 1 (incorrectly stated as raid 0 earlier) for added reliability, 2TB in total will be plenty for me.

I just can't make a decision on the fan front, it's either going to be Corsair or Noctua Redux without a doubt, but without having built a computer in the past, I don't fully understand what plugs in where on the motherboard fan wise and what's the best choice. I don't particularly want to have a fan controller in all honesty, simply down to personal preference like you say, so realistically I'm left with powering the fans at 12V/7V with limiters, or the alternative which I don't know what it is? Then it's simply between PWM and DC, which again, I don't fully understand which to go for and why. PWMs are automatic whereas DC have more control options etc, I'm lost really. Again, thanks very much for your advice, it's highly appreciated.

If you are going for fan speed reducers via molex (4 pin fat drive plug) you will need DC fans, PWM fans are for motherboard headers, although again can be powered by molex plugs with adapters.

If you want control over the fans so they can vary, then you will need motherboard headers, or a fan speed controller, if you want a constant speed, then you will be looking at direct power via molex and adapter

 

[NeverBackDown]

The 840 pros are faster than the evos. Have no clue what ^^^ was talking about earlier.

Connecting fan headers to the board is very simple. Just take the end of the fan cable and find a 3/4 pin connector on the board labelled fan header and done. In the bios you can control it via the header number. Otherwise just wire it up to the psu directly at 7v for quiet operation or if they are still quiet at 12v then keep them there.

 

[YouWhat]

The 840 pros are faster than the evos. Have no clue what ^^^ was talking about earlier.

Connecting fan headers to the board is very simple. Just take the end of the fan cable and find a 3/4 pin connector on the board labelled fan header and done. In the bios you can control it via the header number. Otherwise just wire it up to the psu directly at 7v for quiet operation or if they are still quiet at 12v then keep them there.

Yes they are, sorry I was looking at the Basic drives, without looking at description properly :mellow: the outer cases are both the same on the basic and pro drives, so lesson for today, read the description properly even when pressed for time like was when replied

 

[Big Boss]

I think I'm going to grab some 3 pin/DC Corsair or Noctua's, and just plug into the fan headers, as show in this video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cq-zqQiY-OAat - 8:35-8:45. Then I'll be able to simply control them via the bios at stated by NeverBackDown, and if I'm not happy with that, then I've still got the option of runinging them through molex to 3 pin adapters to the psu directly.

And don't worry about the confusion YouWhat, I knew what you meant haha. Thanks very much for the help fellas, its highly appreciated for a newbie like myself.