PC Building V4 - "ok SSDs got cheap, now do RAM next" - Hardware & Software

So, brought to you by Shitty Drawing Skills™ and OneNote, here's my current dilemma as far as cases go https://i.imgur.com/q4BOpCd.png (measurements not to scale) Unless the case is only like 15 inches high, top I/O does me little good, and I'm severely limited by case height in general. What do you guys recommend, with these measurements in mind?

My stepdad gave me a new Corsair liquid cooling H55 and it is really bloody loud. Even when at low RPM. I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong... my temps are fine, but it makes far more noise than a stock cooler.

Make sure you dust it, dust buildup can cause turbulence. You could also try replacing the fan entirely. There's no shortage of excellent fans on the market.

I sprayed it out with my air duster yesterday, and I'm not even joking, it got even louder somehow. But yeah, thanks, I'll swap out the fan, I can't imagine the fan in a cheap water cooling unit is particularly great.

Hello PC building friends, I'm at a crossroad and I'm not sure how to proceed without making a financial mistake. My friend was selling off his NZXT S340 for cheap, so I bought it, we took it to my house to dismantle and put my PC parts in but I realised my current mobo is relatively old (2012, socket 1155) and doesn't have USB 3 headers, so he said he'd sell me his motherboard (2014, socket 1151) and CPU (i5 4460) for really cheap, I buy it and we put it all together, runs fine, no problems but then I compare specs to my old CPU and the one I just purchased. My original CPU (I5 3570k) seems to have better performance than the one I just obtained (i5 4460), and is the unlocked version so overclocking is an option. I really don't want to downgrade performance on my CPU, so I'm debating selling off the motherboard + CPU I got and buying a nicer socket 1155 mobo with USB 3 headers and some nicer features, but I don't know if it's a dumb idea to spend time and effort using this 3570k I've had since 2013, but I do a LOT of CPU intensive work and being able to overclock now I've purchased some watercooling is important. Any thoughts?

I personally would recommend staying with your 3570k and if you absolutely must upgrading the mobo to meet your new requirements. The 3570k is more powerful in all fields than the 4460 but particularly as a workstation processor, overclocking is only going to widen that gap. It sucks but in my experience this stuff happens with PC building sometimes, especially when you're buying parts and upgrading not just buying a whole new system every time you upgrade. I personally recently had to buy a new mobo despite not changing CPU just because I cut corners and ended up with a cheap mobo that can't overclock.

I can sell this motherboard + CPU for profit anyway, and then whatever my old motherboard will get me on top. Incredible how I can spend money to make my PC slower with newer parts, huh. Thanks for the advice, you're right about the gap, it's not a huge amount now but its enough to cause concern, and with OCing it's definitely going to be worth it.

https://imgur.com/a/s06Iazk

You'd be fine just keeping your old mobo and getting an extension card. Overclocking potential on your old board isn't as good as it could be, but it's not worth getting a new one just to improve it. It's not like you can't overclock, it's just that you can't overclock as much as on other boards. This is assuming you don't care about aesthetics either.

I just did this actually, swapped mobos out, so now I've got the z97 and 4460 sat on my desk, planning on selling them. However my old motherboard doesn't have enough fan headers and with my wireless card it's getting super cramped/ugly. I think once I've got the z97/4460 flipped (friend gave me full permission to just resell them as he gave me a good deal) I'll buy myself an asus sabertooth z77 and sit pretty for a while. Thanks for all your advice!

Silverstone PCI Express Card with Dual Internal 19pin USB 3.0 Co.. + https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIACJF7D12000&cm_re=5.25_bay_usb_3.0-_-9SIACJF7D12000-_-Product ?

Planning on getting this next month: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/vxvLFt Any suggestions to improve it without adjusting the price much? (Going to be re-using SSD, so that's why it's not there)

The S340 is an older case with a direct successor in existence, the H500, but it you like the S340 then that's totally okay. Everything else is fine but I'd recommend going with some DDR4-3000 or 3200 RAM. The most obvious place to get the money for that is by knocking the CPU cooler down a notch or two. The Cryorig H7 is a cheaper and very good tower cooler.

So I just built my first PC with a non-stock cooler and I'm wondering if I used enough thermal paste - it's a 8700K with a Noctua NH-U14S (big air cooler) since the temps are really strange It's idling at 36-40 C @ ~500RPM, in games it gets up to about 60C, and the Prime95 "maximum heat" test gets it up to 75C @ 1200RPM and stays there. What weirds me out the most is the high idle temps but relatively low load ones, and how it seems to jump from 40 to 75 C instantly when I start the test. I haven't ran it for very long but seeing as it hasn't overheated and crashed immediately I should be okay, right? Should I even care about idle temps when the load ones are safe?

Good catch! Made some adjustments: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/X9q3NQ

High-end CPU coolers actually have very low thermal capacity but very high dissipation, which results in the near-instantaneous spiking to temperature that you're seeing. You are 100% fine. This threw me for a loop a few days ago when I got my first high-end cooler as well. Also, Prime95 is an unrealistic thermal load, it's borderline a heat-generation exploit that abuses FPUs (as I understand it). No "legitimate" workload will ever exhibit that behavior or generate that much heat. I'd recommend OCCT for a more realistic thermal torture test.

It's also why big liquid coolers don't list their TDP since the TDP is constantly shifting. A liquid cooler has immense heat capacity and how much heat it can absorb depends on the temp of the liquid. It cools worse the hotter the liquid gets. it's why you gotta load a liquid cooler for like half an hour or more to hit steadystate

Yep, the relationship between thermal capacity and thermal dissipation is kind of weird. Within the last week I've run the same benchmarks on both a Wraith Spire and a Dark Rock 4, both on a 2600X. The Wraith Spire maxed out at 89C while the Dark Rock 4 maxes out at 70C. Both idle around 40C. However, while the Dark Rock 4 spikes from 40C to 70C in around two seconds, the Wraith Spire takes about 15 seconds because it spends so much time filling the thermal mass of the copper core before the heat can reach the fins to dissipate it. Interesting stuff.

First post from my new Ryzen build! I'm having trouble re-activating Windows 10. I tied my license to the Microsoft Account I'm using way before the hardware swap, but I am not getting the I changed hardware on this device recently prompt in the troubleshooter - just a generic activation failure Am I SOL?

yup, thx

Looks great! Personally I'd go with a Ryzen 2600X and X470 motherboard but that's personal taste, really. I see no issues with this.

noticed that i can buy a rx 580 8gb for not much more, but yet again the psu concerns me (piece of garbage says 600w but it's +12V1 value is a pathetic 456W

1060 6GB vs RX 580 is really a toss-up. They average out to be almost identical but they perform radically different in some games. Look up benchmarks and tests in games you play.

Yeah, I'd still be hesitant to use that trash PSU. It's voltages are all over the place and can't nearly do 600w in any sane configuration. I'd look into replacing it as well, and I'd hate to put new hardware on something so shoddy.

Well, first I need to know how much it would cost , if I have to get a better PSU for the 580 then the 1060 is cheaper

My comment was more on getting a new GPU in general. Unstable voltage like what's seen in at least the 500w version of that raidmax when put under any reasonable load can seriously degrade the lifespan of components.

Hmm, yeah I should probably future-proof that one. Our power grid is garbage enough, I don't want that to stack with a garbage PSU any reccomendation?

SeaSonic M12-II/S12-II is a great budget option

That stuff can really depend on the country, they should check prices on whatever site/store they buy from, then compare that to reviews from Jhonnyguru.

Yeah, if you can post any sites you can order from or physical stores with online inventory I could definitely find you whatever the cheapest quality units tend to be for the market.