Thread: PC-Pad |OT| Unlimited Power
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Alright, I went full on Blitzkrieg. German superiority, preparing for the incoming 5090. I'll drastically change my PC and just ordered:

BeQuiet! Dark Base Pro 901
To have more space and more options for my build, my current case is the BeQuiet! Silent Base 800 which was released back in 2015 and I purchased it back then. It's old and things moved forward, it's also beat up and missing some stuff because I moved three times since I bought it and changed hardware multiple times.

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With a BeQuiet! Dark Power Pro 13 1300W PSU to have enough power for potential OC and future upgrades.

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And I'll also change my CPU cooling. Currently have a huge dual fan air cooler on my CPU and it's crammed in there. The yuge and hot 5090 will sit right next to it and heat that thing up. So I'll switch to water cooling for my CPU, using the - of course - BeQuiet! Silent Loop 3 360mm. I initially wanted the 420mm because of the added cooling performance, but went with 360mm because the 420mm is too big, only fits in the front of the case, while the 360mm fit in the top and the side. I'll put it in the side, to have additional fans for the case in the top.

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That'll create significantly more space above the GPU for air to flow and be sucked away.

All that shit will arrive till next weekend, will share the result when I installed everything. Yes, stupidly expensive overkill shit but I need that.
 
Ok I have a weird idea but that could work out.

I want the most silent operation, therefore using a bunch of large fans at low RPM makes sense. BeQuiet! Silent Wings 4 PWM are practically inaudible at lower RPM, having a bunch of them will provide a lot of air while being silent.

Now, for the CPU, I"ll use an AIO, GPU will have a normal cooler. Here's the going all out cooling idea:

Front:
3x 140mm intake
for maximum air flowing in

Side at the front:
360mm AIO for the CPU, exhaust
Using cool air from the front, pushing the warm air out of the side of the case, not into it. Reducing the overall heat build up in the case. The fans being smaller sized, they won't suck too much air out, still enough from the front going into the case.

Bottom:
140mm intake, for fresh air going into the brutally hot 5090 GPU, with the lowest front fan pushing the fresh air towards the GPU.

Top:
3x 140mm
The first one intake, to provide cool air. I saw that in an analysis from Noctua, doing that reduces the temps of the CPU, meaning the water cooling can run at lower RPM.
Other two fans are exhaust, sucking away the hot air from the GPU

Back:
Another 140mm exhaust

Messy visualization:

Nnif6ue.png


Alternative would be to:
1. The AIO on the front side could be intake, pushing the warm air into the case.
2. Putting the AIO in the top as an exhaust, but that would mean it would try to cool the CPU with air coming out of a 5090.

Opinions/Thoughts?
 
Ok I have a weird idea but that could work out.

I want the most silent operation, therefore using a bunch of large fans at low RPM makes sense. BeQuiet! Silent Wings 4 PWM are practically inaudible at lower RPM, having a bunch of them will provide a lot of air while being silent.

Now, for the CPU, I"ll use an AIO, GPU will have a normal cooler. Here's the going all out cooling idea:

Front:
3x 140mm intake
for maximum air flowing in

Side at the front:
360mm AIO for the CPU, exhaust
Using cool air from the front, pushing the warm air out of the side of the case, not into it. Reducing the overall heat build up in the case. The fans being smaller sized, they won't suck too much air out, still enough from the front going into the case.

Bottom:
140mm intake, for fresh air going into the brutally hot 5090 GPU, with the lowest front fan pushing the fresh air towards the GPU.

Top:
3x 140mm
The first one intake, to provide cool air. I saw that in an analysis from Noctua, doing that reduces the temps of the CPU, meaning the water cooling can run at lower RPM.
Other two fans are exhaust, sucking away the hot air from the GPU

Back:
Another 140mm exhaust

Messy visualization:

Nnif6ue.png


Alternative would be to:
1. The AIO on the front side could be intake, pushing the warm air into the case.
2. Putting the AIO in the top as an exhaust, but that would mean it would try to cool the CPU with air coming out of a 5090.

Opinions/Thoughts?

I'd be worried that the side AIO would be immediately exhausting the front fan airflow, even if the side fans are smaller. Those fans would be competing and it may lead to weird acoustics.

I'd start by installing the CPU AIO on the top with the front, back, and bottom fans as you describe in the diagram. Test with your new gear and see how temps are. Your CPU on a 360 AIO will probably be fine, even with GPU heat being carried through the radiator since your CPU will not be maxed out when gaming. This would also create a positive airflow situation, which could help with dust ingress in non-filtered openings.

You can always grab more fans and mess with the setup later if you're not happy with the temps and acoustics.
 
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I'd be worried that the side AIO would be immediately exhausting the front fan airflow, even if the side fans are smaller. Those fans would be competing and it may lead to weird acoustics.

I'd start by installing the CPU AIO on the top with the front, back, and bottom fans as you describe in the diagram. Test with your new gear and see how temps are. Your CPU on a 360 AIO will probably be fine, even with GPU heat being carried through the radiator since your CPU will not be maxed out when gaming. This would also create a positive airflow situation, which could help with dust ingress in non-filtered openings.

You can always grab more fans and mess with the setup later if you're not happy with the temps and acoustics.

Yeah, valid concern and thanks for the advice!

I really don't want to put the AIO on the top because I have a 13600k and the 13gen CPUs are infamous for running hot. The 5090 cards are like hair dryers, I saw comparisons between a 4090 and 5090 in the same rig, with the latter causing a ~12C temperature increase on the CPU. The 5090 is insane under load and significantly heats up the nearby components.

I'll just do some testing, might make the AIO on the side front intake. I doubt they'll generate too much heat and there'll be enough fresh air through the other fans to mostly negate that. And making all the top fans exhaust.

The real question here is, if I can come close to a silent build. From the PSU and all the PC fans, that should be possible. All Silent Wings, inaudible at low RPM. The AIO will surely create some noise, but I read that you can lower the voltage to make the pump really quiet. Same for the 5090, I'll undervolt the GPU, resulting in way less heat and lower fan speeds.

This will be interesting and fun!
 
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The case, PSU and AIO arrived today, surprisingly. Earlier than slated.

So I started building and oh my God do I hate it. All these tiny ass screws, so many parts and STUFF. The case is incredible and offers tons of options, but just laying it all out and understanding it took quite some time.

Moving my motherboard to the new case was cool though, because the Dark Base Pro 901 allows you to take the motherboard plate out, and you can work freely on it, very convenient. The case is also huge with a lot of space.

So far, I :

- removed everything from my old case
- installed the mobo and GPU
- replaced my CPU air cooler with an AIO, installed the radiator on the front side of the case

Didn't have more time, unfortunately. Tomorrow will hopefully connect all of my drives, install the PSU, do the cable management. The additional fans will likely arrive tomorrow as well, so I'll install them too. Then let's see if it all works and get into the fine tuning, temps and noise.
 
The case, PSU and AIO arrived today, surprisingly. Earlier than slated.

So I started building and oh my God do I hate it. All these tiny ass screws, so many parts and STUFF. The case is incredible and offers tons of options, but just laying it all out and understanding it took quite some time.

Moving my motherboard to the new case was cool though, because the Dark Base Pro 901 allows you to take the motherboard plate out, and you can work freely on it, very convenient. The case is also huge with a lot of space.

So far, I :

- removed everything from my old case
- installed the mobo and GPU
- replaced my CPU air cooler with an AIO, installed the radiator on the front side of the case

Didn't have more time, unfortunately. Tomorrow will hopefully connect all of my drives, install the PSU, do the cable management. The additional fans will likely arrive tomorrow as well, so I'll install them too. Then let's see if it all works and get into the fine tuning, temps and noise.

Never seen that case. Looks pretty cool.

Recently did a build in an H6 flow. First time I did a dual chamber case. Was a lot of fun!

But I'm still doing cable management haha. Never ends.

Post pics when it's done.
 
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Never seen that case. Looks pretty cool.

Recently did a build in an H6 flow. First time I did a dual chamber case. Was a lot of fun!

But I'm still doing cable management haha. Never ends.

Post pics when it's done.

I'm always very interested in that stuff, please share! I'll post some pics of my set up as well when it's ready.
 
Connected various stuff on my new build yesterday. The case has two USB cables for the mainboard but my mainboard only supports one, so I can't use all the USB ports on the front. Not a big deal though.

Booted it up, but there's nothing on the screen, something went wrong, gotta check the GPU.
And the noise is too high even on the lowest fan settings that you can select on the case. Gotta tinker with that. There are just the standard three fans so far, 5 more will arrive today and I'll install them, then see what I can do about temps and noise.
 
Connected various stuff on my new build yesterday. The case has two USB cables for the mainboard but my mainboard only supports one, so I can't use all the USB ports on the front. Not a big deal though.

Booted it up, but there's nothing on the screen, something went wrong, gotta check the GPU.
And the noise is too high even on the lowest fan settings that you can select on the case. Gotta tinker with that. There are just the standard three fans so far, 5 more will arrive today and I'll install them, then see what I can do about temps and noise.

You'll want to be controlling fans in bios won't you? I have 6 140mm in and 5 140mm out. All running silently. I've set it up so the aio ones can theoretically go higher if temps justify it, but it's never needed to, and that's with a 9800x3D. :)

No sign of my 5090 been dispatched yet. I did find out the Trio PCB is exactly the same as the Suprim one, so that's good.
 
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You'll want to be controlling fans in bios won't you? I have 6 140mm in and 5 140mm out. All running silently. I've set it up so the aio ones can theoretically go higher if temps justify it, but it's never needed to, and that's with a 9800x3D. :)

No sign of my 5090 been dispatched yet. I did find out the Trio PCB is exactly the same as the Suprim one, so that's good.

Yeah I'll do it via BIOS. I'll have 4 140mm out, 4 140mm in but also the 360mm AIO on the side blowing in. So 11 fans overall, just like in your build, I want them to run on very low RPM via BIOS, should still be enough airflow. Will also lower the voltage on the AIO pump a bit, I read that you can do that without sacrificing much performance but the operation will be more quiet.
 
The PC space, for some reason, still has a long way to go in terms of ease of use. All the documentation and manuals are shit, even in premium products.

Building the PC with the Dark Base Pro 901 was not a good experience. Had to figure out a lot on my own, disassemble and reassemble stuff. I don't understand how they can't even describe the features and what you need to do.

The super premium expensive PSU is weird as well, just from a user experience. Mobo is written on the connectors for the mobo, with a cable that goes into the mobo, there's mobo written on it. Same for the VGA cables. Ok, so I expect that level of ease and clear guidance for all the important parts. Exact same amount of pins, perfect fit, all easy to understand even for dummies.

Now there's a cable that says CPU, obviously the cable for the CPU power in the mobo. But nothing on the PSU says CPU for some reasons. And there's no slot that's the size of that connector. Which is weird because the rest is clearly described. My old PSU simply had a cable coming out of it for the CPU. You'd expect the three main components GPU, Mobo and CPU to be clearly marked tbh.

And the list goes on. It's not a big deal because it's not my first system and I understand that shit, but I totally understand how people don't want to be bothered by this stuff, there's definitely a barrier of entry.
 
The PC space, for some reason, still has a long way to go in terms of ease of use. All the documentation and manuals are shit, even in premium products.

Building the PC with the Dark Base Pro 901 was not a good experience. Had to figure out a lot on my own, disassemble and reassemble stuff. I don't understand how they can't even describe the features and what you need to do.

The super premium expensive PSU is weird as well, just from a user experience. Mobo is written on the connectors for the mobo, with a cable that goes into the mobo, there's mobo written on it. Same for the VGA cables. Ok, so I expect that level of ease and clear guidance for all the important parts. Exact same amount of pins, perfect fit, all easy to understand even for dummies.

Now there's a cable that says CPU, obviously the cable for the CPU power in the mobo. But nothing on the PSU says CPU for some reasons. And there's no slot that's the size of that connector. Which is weird because the rest is clearly described. My old PSU simply had a cable coming out of it for the CPU. You'd expect the three main components GPU, Mobo and CPU to be clearly marked tbh.

And the list goes on. It's not a big deal because it's not my first system and I understand that shit, but I totally understand how people don't want to be bothered by this stuff, there's definitely a barrier of entry.

My next PC (in a month or two, planning a super build as I mentioned) will be custom built ordered. As long as I can get them to use the exact components I want, I'm happy to let them build it for me.

It took me a day to build my current PC, about 4 years ago. And tbh it's not something I enjoy anymore. Especially all the cable management, the mobo pins, and all that. I've been doing my own builds for 20 years, but with these prices nowadays, I want someone to assemble everything professionally, test it properly and deliver it as it should be in top performance.

Once I had to return a mobo 3 times (was unstable) and that shit takes time and often money. Especially if sth goes wrong and if you bought components from different shops, it's a pain to figure out which one is causing the issues.
 
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My next PC (in a month or two, planning a super build as I mentioned) will be custom built ordered. As long as I can get them to use the exact components I want, I'm happy to let them build it for me.

It took me a day to build my current PC, about 4 years ago. And tbh it's not something I enjoy anymore. Especially all the cable management, the mobo pins, and all that. I've been doing my own builds for 20 years, but with these prices nowadays, I want someone to assemble everything professionally, test it properly and deliver it as it should be in top performance.

Once I had to return a mobo 3 times (was unstable) and that shit takes time and often money. Especially if sth goes wrong and if you bought components from different shops, it's a pain to figure out which one is causing the issues.

Yeah I'd like to avoid all that shit as well. But that's a fuck ton on money. A new system with a 5090 costs over 5k Euro, featuring a 9800x3D we're talking over 6k.

I'll keep my case and PSU, they're future proof. Will upgrade my CPU in two years or so. Makes no sense for me to buy completely new systems.
 
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Another super fuck up at the end of my build.

Doing a few benchmarks, I noticed CPU temp jumping to 100C. Which I couldn't explain, I mounted the AIO correctly, screws tight with perfectly applied paste. Fans running.

Disassembled, checked, tried. Turns out it sat a bit loosely on the CPU without enough pressure. But there was no other way of assembling it differently. Nothing on Google, nothing in the manual.

Turns out I just had to press that thing against the CPU at the end and it kinda sucked itself to the CPU. Now get 50 - 60C when playing at super quiet operation.
 
Damn you Steam, I will never, ever get round to playing these games and the same applies to 90% of my Library.

Kingdom Come Deliverence, Hitman WOA, Heavy Rain and one of the Battlefields for £10.

Edit: Robocop deluxe edition for less than 10 quid, another one added to the "Tried benchmark and first mission, then never opened game again" pile.
 
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@regawdless what are your thoughts about cost to performance now it's in your hands? Insane performance, insane cost. Any reflections?

This is the second gen for me with high pricing. I think I've become desensitised to it. Intrested in your thoughts coming for a 3080.
 
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@regawdless what are your thoughts about cost to performance now it's in your hands? Insane performance, insane cost. Any reflections?

This is the second gen for me with high pricing. I think I've become desensitised to it. Intrested in your thoughts coming for a 3080.

There are multiple factors to it. Pure performance numbers wise, I posted results from a bunch of games 3080 vs 5090 on my rig in the GPU OT.

For many years, I had a shitty case before with loud fan noise and not so great temps.

Now I have a huge tower, with amazing cooling. So the whole experience is very different on an emotional level. You turn on this large beast with the blood red lighting, synchronized across all components. With a large window looking into it and there's nearly no noise at all, I only hear the pump of the AIO a tiny bit. At the same time, it's this large powerful GPU, beautiful case, temps usually in the 50C region. That alone is extremely impressive. That positively impacts my emotional response to the GPU purchase because it all happened at the same time.

GmLi9fWWIAALKov


Pricing wise, tbh at some point I zoned out. It's such an absurd price that I stopped caring if it's more expensive or not. On any rational level, totally retarded to pay 800€ more than MSRP when the MSRP itself was already crazy high. I had the same GPU for over four years now, the card showing its age more and more. I was still sour because of the lacking performance increase of the 40xx cards, where only the 4090 stood out, but they introduced a hefty price bump. Now with Lackwell, only the 5090 really stands out. It's all disappointing from an upgrade perspective, and nothing makes financial sense. So I just accepted that value is fucked and went with the best performance increase option. Helps that I got a very well paying job last year, otherwise that would've not been possible.

So I'm pretty much ignoring value and price because I want the best experience. And the performance is definitely great, I'm very happy with it. Really impressed by the cooling of the Gaming Trio OC combined with the sheer power. Like, I can play path traced Cyberpunk maxed with DLAA with more fps than I had with the 3080 in DLSS performance mode. In combination with the new DLSS model, image quality is as big of an upgrade as the additional frames. I don't have that much time for gaming anymore and I don't want a compromised experience when sacrificing my valuable time for gaming. That's the gist of it, and the card is absurdly powerful.

Half-Life 2 RTX alone will be bonkers!
 
There are multiple factors to it. Pure performance numbers wise, I posted results from a bunch of games 3080 vs 5090 on my rig in the GPU OT.

For many years, I had a shitty case before with loud fan noise and not so great temps.

Now I have a huge tower, with amazing cooling. So the whole experience is very different on an emotional level. You turn on this large beast with the blood red lighting, synchronized across all components. With a large window looking into it and there's nearly no noise at all, I only hear the pump of the AIO a tiny bit. At the same time, it's this large powerful GPU, beautiful case, temps usually in the 50C region. That alone is extremely impressive. That positively impacts my emotional response to the GPU purchase because it all happened at the same time.

GmLi9fWWIAALKov


Pricing wise, tbh at some point I zoned out. It's such an absurd price that I stopped caring if it's more expensive or not. On any rational level, totally retarded to pay 800€ more than MSRP when the MSRP itself was already crazy high. I had the same GPU for over four years now, the card showing its age more and more. I was still sour because of the lacking performance increase of the 40xx cards, where only the 4090 stood out, but they introduced a hefty price bump. Now with Lackwell, only the 5090 really stands out. It's all disappointing from an upgrade perspective, and nothing makes financial sense. So I just accepted that value is fucked and went with the best performance increase option. Helps that I got a very well paying job last year, otherwise that would've not been possible.

So I'm pretty much ignoring value and price because I want the best experience. And the performance is definitely great, I'm very happy with it. Really impressed by the cooling of the Gaming Trio OC combined with the sheer power. Like, I can play path traced Cyberpunk maxed with DLAA with more fps than I had with the 3080 in DLSS performance mode. In combination with the new DLSS model, image quality is as big of an upgrade as the additional frames. I don't have that much time for gaming anymore and I don't want a compromised experience when sacrificing my valuable time for gaming. That's the gist of it, and the card is absurdly powerful.

Half-Life 2 RTX alone will be bonkers!

Great write up and agree with all of it. One thing to note as well is it's almost a one time buy in. When the 6000 series launches you can choose to upgrade to a 6090 for a very minimal upgrade cost. A small fee every two years isn't bad at all IMO.
 
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Ordered a SIMAGIC set for Saturday delivery. I hope it's worth the £1,750 and it's a massive leap from the G923.

I got the Alpha (15nm) and a 330mm wheel with hub, plus the P1000 pedals (dual, no clutch).

Can't wait for Saturday!!
 
Steam Spring sale I have picked up so far:
Penny's Big Breakaway
Final Fantasy Rebirth(CD Keys)
Silent Hill 2
Assassin's Creed Mirage
Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered

with this and Rise of The Ronin and Assassin's Creed Shadows I should be set for gaming for a good while
 
Flashy! And that looks like a looot of good airflow! How are your GPU temps during gaming?

I reserve this guy for mostly RTS and stuff I really want M&KB. Which tends to be older games these days. Avowed got it to about 62 on the GPU. Living Room PC has a 4090 that I have been using mostly.
 
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Ghost Sector is a survival horror game where you play as M-07, a prototype machine trapped in a cybernetic facility during lockdown. Outsmart the automated defenses, search for answers to your origin uncovering secrets, solving puzzles, and upgrading your abilities while managing your finite energy.

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Coming Q1 2026
 
There are quite a few games that I want to play now with my new GPU. Curiously, a good chunk of the most impressive ones are from MS like Hellblade 2, Indiana Jones and STALKER 2. Oh and the upcoming Doom game with path tracing.

I guess going with GamePass makes the most sense, by far the cheapest way to experience those games.

Phil Spencer won.
 
Yooo finally, took long enough! Windows basically ignored the RT train for years and let the others do the work.

Now they'll add some good support, natively. Will still take many months, but there's light at the end of the tunnel.

Microsoft DirectX Raytracing 1.2 and Neural Rendering Brings up to 10x Speedup for AMD, Intel, and NVIDIA GPUs
 
Yooo finally, took long enough! Windows basically ignored the RT train for years and let the others do the work.

Now they'll add some good support, natively. Will still take many months, but there's light at the end of the tunnel.

Microsoft DirectX Raytracing 1.2 and Neural Rendering Brings up to 10x Speedup for AMD, Intel, and NVIDIA GPUs

Up to 10 times speed up? x for doubt.