My personal computer has gone through a number of rebuilds over the years, including hardware upgrades, case changes, etc. Recently I acquired, hands down, my favorite case of all time, the Silverstone FT02. So i decided it's about time i give my personal rig a proper build.
I must say, the 3 AP180's are simply beautiful, I've gone through a number of silent cases in the past; however, no amount of dampening can match the performance of a larger, slower, well engineered fan.
Old Hardware:
- Asus P8Z68M Pro
- Intel i7 2600k
- Corsair H80i (with 2x AF12PWM fans)
- 4 x 4GB Mushkin Blackline
- HD6970 Asus DCu II
- 3 x 120GB Vertex 3
- 1 x 500GB WD 7200rpm 2.5" drive
- XFX XXX 850W 80+ Silver
- Antec p180 mini white
New Hardware:
- Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3
- Seasonic X650 Gold
- Noctua NH-D14
- HD7870 MSI Twin Frozr
- Asus Xonar DG
- Lamptron FC6
- Silverstone FT02
Justifications:
- The 2600k offers plenty of performance for what i need to do.
- SSD's were from a friend, running in raid 1 for data security.
- WD drive is used as a scratch disk, performance and data security were not a big concern. 2.5" for heat output and silence.
- Moving up to the FT02, a m-ATX motherboard seemed inappropriate.
- The Lamptron fan controller was free and it fit the case styling so it used it. Gigabyte didn't offer fan control features on par to Asus so it gave me finer control as well.
- Not much of an audiophile but the major benefit from the Xonar sound card was in Microphone gain. It was a lot more sensitive and improved the recording from my shitty headset mic over onboard sound.
- The H80i was a huge disappointment for me. prior to it, i ran the CoolIT-ECO and Kuhler H2O 920. There was a consistent hum of the pump when it ran, while it wasn't loud, it was high pitch enough, to keep me thinking about it.
- I was extremely impressed with the FT02's directional air flow through the case, and with the disappointment in the H80i, i wanted to increase redundancy and silence by perhaps going passive. The NH-D14 seemed like the obvious choice with its large surface area and availability. I considered the Phantek and Thermalright; however, the styling of the Noctua was subtle, and perfectly inline with the minimalist styling of the FT02
- The XFX psu worked fine; however, for some reason when placed vertical in the FT02, the fan made a ticking noise. So i decided to go full modular with Seasonic, the hybrid fan mode is great. less fan noise where ever possible. Modularity makes sleeving much simpler. Other than that, they are both Seasonic at heart.
- HD6970 and HD7870 are pretty heads on when it comes to performance. The main reason was that the Twin Frozr was dual slot and more energy efficient. Less heat, Less noise, Less opportunity for PSU fan to turn on.
Pics and Updates to come ^-^
Feel free to critique or ask about my experiences with any hardware.