Project Newbie H10

[Kushiro]

hi guys,

First of all sorry if this is in the wrong place.

Anyways this is my PC for 2014 onwards, the specs are as follows;

Case: NZXT H440 Black/blue
CPU: Intel Core i7 5630k
Mobo: Asus Deluxe x99
ram: G.skill 4x4GB 2666Mhz
SSD1: OCZ Vertex 4 128GB
SSD2: Crucial MX100 256GB
SSD3: Crucial MX100 256GB
HDD1: Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 3TB
HDD2: Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 3TB
HDD3: Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 3TB
HDD4: WD Green 5400rpm 3TB
HDD5: WD Green 5400rpm 3TB
GFX1: Gigabtye GTX 980 4GB
GFX2: Gigabtye GTX 980 4GB
GFX3: Gigabtye GTX 980 4GB
PSU: Corsair AX1200i
AIO: NZXT Kraken x61

Anyways the stuff arrived today

Intel Core i7 5930k

I went with this one instead due to the 5960x being unavailable until next month and I am just too impatient.

G.Skill Ripjaws4 4x4GB

Went with these as they were the fastest set there were avaliable, was hoping to get my hands on some of the dominators to suit the Mobo, unfortunately no luck.

Corsair AX1200i

Asus Deluxe x99

Chose this over the Rampage V as I didnt like the colors and also the rampage is e-ATx and it wouldnt fit properly in the NZXT H440

NZXT kraken x61/Corsair H110

was deciding between the two, and am going to use the Kraken instead.

Gigabyte GTX 980 4GB reference model

Although there are 4 only 2 or 3 will be going into this specific PC, was originally planning on getting 2 Asus GTX980 Strix cards, however they were not avaliable until next month and since the H440 doesnt have the best airflow, I decided to just switch to the reference model.

NZXT H440 Black/Blue

I was originally planning to get the white/black version, which would have been a better choice, as the blue on this case does not look the best.

Anyways thanks to anyone who bothers to actually read the entire OP, I will be honest though i really only created this thread to gloat since there is really no point in having all this when you cant brag about it haha.

Going to start assembling the PC and will upload a pic when its done, also my apologies for the bad quality photos, unfortunately my camera has decided to start acting up.

 

[MadShadow]

Jesus Christmas, those are some epic specs. Lets see some more

 

[Tripp]

a h110 and a x61???

 

[Pr3d4t0r]

how are you having hdd configured? all stand alone? running array on multiple brands and especially rpm is going to be a pain imo, not to mention seagate are bad quality cheap drives, wd green is alot better for storage although blues or nas reds would be better.

quad sli 980 is kinda waste, but this time, more cards = more perfomance so i can't argue that.

also really intrested how you ended up getting h110 and kraken?

 

[MadShadow]

PLEASE get a nice SLI bridge

 

[Kushiro]

At the moment all the HDD's will be used as standalone drives (for about 2-3 months) after that I will build the seagates into a RAID array and have the Green WD drives act as backups.
I was planning on having this PC act as a media center of sorts and hey you can never have too much storage right?

Also as stated in the OP even though there are 4 980's only 3 will be used, the other one is for a seperate PC

Here is a pic of it more or less completed:


and just for your entertainment, my non existent cable management skills:



I intend to watercool this PC either sometime at the end of the year or when the new 16nm cards come out. Will be my first attempt at full acrylic tubing. Its going to be called Newbie H20 (that was my err attempt at humor )

The reason I ended up with both the kraken and the h110 is because I originally ordered the h110, however I told them that I wanted to cancel the h110 and get the x61 instead, of which they agreed to, however after I send the payment through they say the h110 had already been dispatched alongside the x61 (talk about dodgey).

And I am getting an SLI bridge!! Haha its on its way along with an led strip and braided cable kit for the corsair 1200i

Also I do not know where you got the impression that the Seagate are bad and cheap, however I have found them to be great, they are a tad noisy at times. I have never had a seagate drive fail on me. Only a WD 2.5" once.

 

[paulstung]

Epic specs mate, but too much colour for me, blue, red, green and white.

 

[Kushiro]

Yea I know where your coming from, I should have definitely stuck with the black and white version of the case. Now if only the GEFORCE GTX logo could change color. Either way the colors are going to decrease when i decide to water cool this PC.

I think I will also change the Ripjaws to a set of dominators when they are available in my area.

 

[paulstung]

You could always just paint the Ripjaws, and the GTX logo, I'm sure I've seen a mod guide on how to make it frosted looking, I think the guy just sanded the green off. Getting them wet will sove that though.

 

[Kushiro]

True, I will take it under consideration. Im just not 100% sure I am going to keep these cards, as I may end up just switching them when the next gen comes out and watercool those, while these GPU's are nice they arent really much of a difference compared to my 290x's, the reference cooler compared to the one on my 290x is simply amazing though

What color would you suggest though out of interest?

Also anyone had any luck with the vibrations produced by mech drives in this case? I am having a look around, just thought I would post too. I like the seagate drives, though they are pretty damn noisy. Probably going to get some rubber washers and see if it helps.

 

[paulstung]

I'd go for blue mate, I'm not sure if you can get Plastidip in Aus or not, but you could do the ram, GTX logo, and the white on the motherboard. Or leave the white, and go 2 sticks blue, and 2 sticks white, and have one of each on either side. Ans cover the SLI bridge in white vinyl, maybe if your very steady handed cover the GTX logo with it too.

As far as drives go, I was thinking about the 440, as a media / server, and was concerned about how the drives mounted so decided against it. How bad is it ?

 

[Kushiro]

well it would really depend on how many drives you want, either way the mounts are great if you just want it to be secure, however silence or isolation, you best look elsewhere or mod it in some way. I will tell you now that the vibrations are pretty bad and negates pretty much any effect the silencing of the fans had.

Anyways so far PC has been great, temps on CPU not going above 43c (hottest core), room temp was about ~24 with duct heating on. As for the GPU's I do miss some features from AMD, most notably the ability to power down unused GPU's and lack of the need for a bridge. I think I may just remove all the Mech drives and get an external bay (such a waste of the sata ports on the board tho).

I have to say though, these Nvidia reference coolers are simply amazing, the chip itself too. The gpus are automatically going over 1400 on the core with temps on the hottest card being 81c (max) and the coolest card being only 63c. This is after a roughly 9 hour loop of Unigine valley (my favorite).

For those who are considering getting 3 980s, I would suggest just sticking with 2. I used 3 simply so that I could get the 60FPS mark easier, however the power consumption, temps etc are just not worth it. Not sure why even though i am getting more performance from this setup, my trifire 290x's seemed a tad smoother, not sure if there is some sort of setting or something that is causing it.

Unfortunately one of the GPU's have coild whine, tough nothing severe like the coil whine I got when I have my 7970s and 290x. Can barely hear it.

 

[paulstung]

one of my 7950's was as loud as hell, but the other silent, but my 2 290's are both silent. It's an odd one coil whine on how random it can be, from one card to the next.

 

[Kushiro]

Completely forgot about this, though for anyone still interested, here is the rig in tri-sli, not very clear, however unfortunately I have already dissasembled and rebuilt it in my new white/black h440

This is the white one:

Gaming desk:

still in the process of moving, so am making do with this desk. A bit cramped though. I have decided to stay on 1 or 2 GTX 980's and instead leave my H20 build for either when the 980ti/titan 2 comes out or the 390x and watercool 3 of those, as the 980 is not doing great at 4k, it seems as though the 256-bit bus is indeed causing some problems, though I am not 100%, 4GB is just barely enough for some games as well.

All the stock fans that come with the case have now been replaced. There are now 3 Nocuta Redux fans acting as intake at the front and 2 Phanteks PH-F140SP in push config on the H110 along with another Phanteks PH-F140SP as the exhaust. It probably looks like there are a lot of LED's in the case, but there is actually only 2 Phobya LED Flexlight High Density 60cm White. The photos just cant seem to capture the light properly, as it looks a lot more even that it may appear.

Still waiting on the 3000Mhz Dominators, though may just watercool the g.skill modules to rid the build of the red heatsinks.

EDIT: Also the card did not have coil whine, as it turns out and they were also not clocking over 1400 valley seemed to read wrong the cards were actually throttling, though I managed to get them to maintain base clock by setting the fan speed to a max of 67% 2 cards still got to the low 80's after 20+ hours, but at least it didnt throttle during normal use/gaming sessions.

 

[Kushiro]

Wasnt sure where to open a thread, so I thought I would post here instead.

Does anyone happen to know where I would be able to order some 90 degree internal USB 3 headers?

 

[Excalabur50]

The rig is coming along nicely there glad to see you managed to swap out the sli bridge, how you finding the performance of the tri sli not hampering things too much? Looking good bud

 

[Kushiro]

Thanks for the compliment, very much appreciated. Though I'm not sure if you missed it, but I have since pulled out 1 of the 980's, as I was not liking the temps. I also got a new H440 as I didnt like the blue, the old one is now housing a server.

Tri SLI performance wasnt great, in fact I found it disappointing. Even after setting fan speeds to max and ensuring the GPU's didnt downclock, I still got some stutter and performance wasnt better than my trifire 290x's.

The green sides drivers were also a let down. I expected quite a bit more after seeing people constantly praising them, however it would seem their driver department was a lot better at their job back in the 500 series.


OH and I got the second standoff sent out today, luckily there wasnt a huge queue. There is also the number 2 inside, just so that you know whether you receive the first one or not.

 

[Excalabur50]

You're a bloody champion for that and it seems tri anything just dont really work for day to day tasks hope the build goes well for you are you still thinking about putting her underwater or leave on air

 

[Dawelio]

This is the white one:

This just looks absolutely stunning, holy crap that is good looking!... this image is actually convincing me of going with white led fans or strap to put in my upcoming main PC, rather than blue.
To enhance the blue in the PC.

Where exactly did you put the light to get this effect?... as it looks like you have putted led strips around the inside of the side panel window. Or am I wrong here?...

Really nice one dude and thanks for posting this image to inspire me!

 

[Kushiro]

You're a bloody champion for that and it seems tri anything just dont really work for day to day tasks hope the build goes well for you are you still thinking about putting her underwater or leave on air

I am definitely not going to water cool the 980s, as I am not too happy with their performance. At the moment I am just waiting for the next gen cards, then I will decide whether or not I will proceed with the H2O build. I hope the standoffs and your other parts arrive soon looking forward to seeing yours with the MSI 980's. Real shame that MSI's own card cant be used on their high end M/B....

Also thanks for the compliments Chrazey and the led strips are around the edges of the motherboard. The lighting is just a bit off cause of the camera