So I recently built a new PC, my old one uses a 4th gen Intel CPU and a 1060, was definitely due for an upgrade. Case : Fractal Era 2 (3.5/5) I was looking into SFF PCs for a while but the GPU...
So I recently built a new PC, my old one uses a 4th gen Intel CPU and a 1060, was definitely due for an upgrade.
Case : FractalEra2 (3.5/5)
I was looking into SFF PCs for a while but the GPU prices made me not bite until a friend gave me the final push to start building the PC.
The case is pretty, I like the wooden panel on top, I was thinking of either this or the Terra but the Era 2 being larger and having better airflow convinced me to take a larger case, plus I think it looks neater than the Terra...
I thought it could support mATX motherboards but it didn't, I went with it regardless because my first build idea was an ITX PC anyway.
The front IO are nice, and the way the case is opened is pretty cool, the internal brackets and components feel pretty solid, I was expecting something kinda plasticy and fragile, I was pleasantly surprised with how solid it was on the inside.
The outer casing however is flawed, the aluminum panels aren't even, and one of the corners looks like it could take a few whacking of a mallet to be flush with the rest of the case. It looks pretty but on closer inspection it is flawed.
I would look into other cases if you want an ITX builds, I didn't know about the ncased m2 or the FormD T1 at the time of buying the case, but a person I knew who worked on the M2 didn't enjoy the experience.
Motherboard : Gigabyte x870i Pro Ice (4/5)
This motherboard is fairly pricey, both AM5 tax and ITX tax, feature wise, it is one of the best boards I've seen given the features and the price, I've been avoiding Asrock boards because of the issues they had with the 9800x3D, ASUS boards are too expensive, and the MSI one I saw is close to the price of the Gigabyte, I ended up going for a pricey board because of the features, USB4 is something I see being really useful later on, when it becomes more accessible, I also have a Macbook Air but not many ways to use USB4 yet, my fastest M.2 enclosure is USB 3.2 iirc.
The IO shield on it is a bit crap, when I tried to fix it in the case, it bent inside a little bit, but I was able to bend it outside.
The BIOS software wasn't bad, I have no complaints about using it, I saw a lot of people complain about Gigabyte boards or their BIOS, but it seems like no matter which board you pick, there will always be someone with issues.
The online manual was a great help because the included manual didn't clearly show what pins or ports do what, that was mainly an issue on where to connect the fan headers and the LED/Power pins.
Also, only 1 PCIe slot, but that's a given with ITX boards.
Processor: 9800x3d (4/5)
My previous CPU was an 4th gen Intel one, so it was a huge jump, in higher end emulation that will make the biggest difference, and in pushing tons of frames.
This CPU is most likely an overkill for my setup but I think I'm more likely to load the CPU than the GPU in most cases.
The 9800x3D's price wasn't pretty though, I ended up picking this CPU based on the friend's recommendation that pushed me to buy the CPU, I think for $640(This includes taxes) it should've had 16 Cores, I do use the occasional VM, but 8C16T isn't a limiting factor, per se. I don't think I would need any future upgrade unless for some reason the 16 Cores would make a difference then a 9950x3D when it goes for cheap could be a decent buy, but I doubt I'm going to be limited by the 8 cores as I said.
The CPU gets fairly toasty though and it makes the fans make a lot of noise, it could be because I connected the CPU and the case fans to CPU_FAN, so it gets fairly loud whenever it gets to around 70C.
RAM: G Skill Flare 64GB 6000MHz 30CAS (It's RAM)
64GB is an overkill, but given how expensive everything in the PC was, I'm probably good for the lifetime of this PC.
You can argue that I should've went for faster RAM at 32GB, but I've read that the sweet spot for AM5 is 6000MHz.
GPU: PNY Verto 4070 Ti (3/5)
The GPU market is absolutely cooked, what makes this worse though is that I bought this before the RX 9070 XT reviews, I was betting on AMD Cards not being competitive and having the same availability issues as Nvidia's cards. Well I got half of that wrong, but given the current market conditions and how it differs where you live, if you can find anything for what doesn't seem like an absolute slap in the face, I would consider buying that, you don't know if you could find it again for the same price or if the next gen is gonna be more affordable or better.
12GB of VRAM is insulting, but I have yet to run to issues from VRAM, at least I don't think I can hear the fans spinning when I'm playing, probably because they get masked by the CPU fans sound instead.
I thought of getting the Ti Super or the 4080 Super but the Ti Super is an additional $200 or so, and the 4060 Super is almost 60% more expensive, I'd rather save that money for when GPUs become more affordable instead of going all out on the GPU.
Just get the 9070 XT if you have the chance.
Power Supply: Corsair SF850 (4.5/5)
I was considering either this or a Thermaltake 1000W PSU, I settled on the Corsair mainly because of them having a good track record with PSUs and it having a good Cybenetics rating.
The cables it come with are pretty neat, they made the cable management slightly more tolerable with how small or thin they are, being modular too means I only need to use like half the cables.
You can't go wrong with this power supply, though it is on the pricier side.
I was hesitant on going with liquid cooling because I've had friends that had their AIO fail on them(the pumps), that and the cooler liquid leaking was something I was concerned with. I was considering an Arctic Freeze III AIO but it doesn't fit in this case with the motherboard/gpu/cpu position set to maximize GPU space, the Atmos was the AIO I've seen used the most in Era 2 build videos, it fits but you will need to push the tubes and cables in the case as you close the case cover.
The fans are loud, but they could be the case fans, not the radiator fans.
I contemplating posting this on r/sffpc but ehhhhh Reddit.
I think unless you have a specific build in mind, go for mATX if you want a smaller build, the Ncased M2 can fit a mATX board. An ITX case is neat and tidy on the desk but it's more form over function, less PCIe slots than bigger motherboards, less slots for SSDs, more expensive than bigger boards, but maybe doing it once to see if you think it's worth giving a shot isn't bad.
Q: as a person that went with an ATX sized computer and a couple long cables to reach up to my desk, may I ask what appeals to you about small form factor PCs? I kinda liked the artistic element —...
Q: as a person that went with an ATX sized computer and a couple long cables to reach up to my desk, may I ask what appeals to you about small form factor PCs? I kinda liked the artistic element — they seem more like a showpiece than a box shoved into a corner — but all the tradeoffs didn’t seem worth it at the time.
The average ITX case is far far prettier than most ATX cases. That was the main reason, but having a smaller footprint ended up being beneficial on the desk I'm using.
The average ITX case is far far prettier than most ATX cases.
That was the main reason, but having a smaller footprint ended up being beneficial on the desk I'm using.
Definitely agree. Matx is cheaper, smaller matx cases are more common now, and you get more functionality (if so desired). Unfortunately I've been bitten by the itx bug, sooo I'm probably going to...
go for mATX if you want a smaller build, the Ncased M2 can fit a mATX board. An ITX case is neat and tidy on the desk but it's more form over function, less PCIe slots than bigger motherboards, less slots for SSDs, more expensive than bigger boards, but maybe doing it once to see if you think it's worth giving a shot isn't bad.
Definitely agree. Matx is cheaper, smaller matx cases are more common now, and you get more functionality (if so desired). Unfortunately I've been bitten by the itx bug, sooo I'm probably going to doing itx builds for the foreseeable future. The way I justify it is I buy second hand/openbox hardware, so it offsets the itx tax.
I've discovered the Minisforum BD795i and BD790 X3D a while ago and I think they would make for fantastic Terra builds or other SFF builds, especially when you consider that you get essentially a...
I've discovered the Minisforum BD795i and BD790 X3D a while ago and I think they would make for fantastic Terra builds or other SFF builds, especially when you consider that you get essentially a mobo+cpu for the price of a higher end CPU. Upgradeability aside, It seems like you aren't missing much by going that route.
I built my new PC in december as I figured everything would get more expensive for gross political reasons (I wish I hadn't been right). I grabbed an AMD 7900XT for around $600, so I can't...
I built my new PC in december as I figured everything would get more expensive for gross political reasons (I wish I hadn't been right). I grabbed an AMD 7900XT for around $600, so I can't complain too much.
Not that I think you'll necessarily have an issue, but I am also in the "no more liquid cooling" camp since every single AIO liquid setup I have owned has died and caused problems. Just keep an eye on it.
You definitely want to move the case fan to the SYS_FAN1 header to avoid that issue with the case fans. It's about midway across the top of the motherboard in the center, just to the left of the...
The CPU gets fairly toasty though and it makes the fans make a lot of noise, it could be because I connected the CPU and the case fans to CPU_FAN, so it gets fairly loud whenever it gets to around 70C.
You definitely want to move the case fan to the SYS_FAN1 header to avoid that issue with the case fans. It's about midway across the top of the motherboard in the center, just to the left of the RAM.
Since you're using an AIO liquid cooler, you don't actually have a standard CPU Fan, you'll probably want the radiator fans plugged into the CPU_OPT port next to the SYS_FAN1 port, as that's the one that is designed for a water cooler pump.
Since you plugged all the fans into the CPU_FAN port, it's trying to run all of the fans at the same percentage of speed as if it was a cooler fan directly on top of the CPU, which tend to be quieter, but higher power fans that run faster, but generally quieter.
I opened it up to do just as you said then... decided not to, I forgot I connected all radiator and case fans to that Cooler Master adapter thing to make it tidier inside and what I thought would...
I opened it up to do just as you said then... decided not to, I forgot I connected all radiator and case fans to that Cooler Master adapter thing to make it tidier inside and what I thought would be a a 10~20 minutes job is probably gonna take at least an hour.
CPU_OPT is connected to the pump's... connector because I read that's where it is supposed to be connected to.
If I'm gonna do a storage upgrade with the secondary/back of the mobo SSD, or replace the paste I'm going to rewire the fans though.
I'm in the final stages of purchasing the last little (yet so expensive?!) things for my new build. I can't put my finger on why but reading your post was strangely uplifting because the process...
I'm in the final stages of purchasing the last little (yet so expensive?!) things for my new build. I can't put my finger on why but reading your post was strangely uplifting because the process has me truly pressed. Maybe it's just seeing someone else's success? Anyway, I'm happy to see that you were overall happy with your purchases! I hope I achieve similar success if all goes according to plan.
What were the last things you needed? I assume either the CPU or the GPU, for the GPU you just gotta weigh whether to pick what is available or to wait while keeping in mind that things may not...
What were the last things you needed? I assume either the CPU or the GPU, for the GPU you just gotta weigh whether to pick what is available or to wait while keeping in mind that things may not get cheaper. Seems like people gravitating towards the new AMD cards made the Nvidia cards prices seem more reasonable though.
I picked up the MSI 5080 Gaming Trio and AMD's Ryzen 7 7800x3D. I regret the AMD purchase honestly - I think I bought it right around when the 9 series released and I thought my build was going to...
I picked up the MSI 5080 Gaming Trio and AMD's Ryzen 7 7800x3D. I regret the AMD purchase honestly - I think I bought it right around when the 9 series released and I thought my build was going to be finished before I could get a 9...but here we are many months later and I am still procrastinating on the last of my purchases. Sigh. The little things are the fans, the SSDs, a riser cable so I can vertically mount the GPU, the mount bracket, the RGB strimer cables from Lian Li...I can't figure out which cables to buy and it's causing a lot of unproductive frustration.
So I recently built a new PC, my old one uses a 4th gen Intel CPU and a 1060, was definitely due for an upgrade.
Case : Fractal Era 2
(3.5/5)
I was looking into SFF PCs for a while but the GPU prices made me not bite until a friend gave me the final push to start building the PC.
The case is pretty, I like the wooden panel on top, I was thinking of either this or the Terra but the Era 2 being larger and having better airflow convinced me to take a larger case, plus I think it looks neater than the Terra...
I thought it could support mATX motherboards but it didn't, I went with it regardless because my first build idea was an ITX PC anyway.
The front IO are nice, and the way the case is opened is pretty cool, the internal brackets and components feel pretty solid, I was expecting something kinda plasticy and fragile, I was pleasantly surprised with how solid it was on the inside.
The outer casing however is flawed, the aluminum panels aren't even, and one of the corners looks like it could take a few whacking of a mallet to be flush with the rest of the case. It looks pretty but on closer inspection it is flawed.
I would look into other cases if you want an ITX builds, I didn't know about the ncased m2 or the FormD T1 at the time of buying the case, but a person I knew who worked on the M2 didn't enjoy the experience.
Motherboard : Gigabyte x870i Pro Ice
(4/5)
This motherboard is fairly pricey, both AM5 tax and ITX tax, feature wise, it is one of the best boards I've seen given the features and the price, I've been avoiding Asrock boards because of the issues they had with the 9800x3D, ASUS boards are too expensive, and the MSI one I saw is close to the price of the Gigabyte, I ended up going for a pricey board because of the features, USB4 is something I see being really useful later on, when it becomes more accessible, I also have a Macbook Air but not many ways to use USB4 yet, my fastest M.2 enclosure is USB 3.2 iirc.
The IO shield on it is a bit crap, when I tried to fix it in the case, it bent inside a little bit, but I was able to bend it outside.
The BIOS software wasn't bad, I have no complaints about using it, I saw a lot of people complain about Gigabyte boards or their BIOS, but it seems like no matter which board you pick, there will always be someone with issues.
The online manual was a great help because the included manual didn't clearly show what pins or ports do what, that was mainly an issue on where to connect the fan headers and the LED/Power pins.
Also, only 1 PCIe slot, but that's a given with ITX boards.
Processor: 9800x3d
(4/5)
My previous CPU was an 4th gen Intel one, so it was a huge jump, in higher end emulation that will make the biggest difference, and in pushing tons of frames.
This CPU is most likely an overkill for my setup but I think I'm more likely to load the CPU than the GPU in most cases.
The 9800x3D's price wasn't pretty though, I ended up picking this CPU based on the friend's recommendation that pushed me to buy the CPU, I think for $640(This includes taxes) it should've had 16 Cores, I do use the occasional VM, but 8C16T isn't a limiting factor, per se. I don't think I would need any future upgrade unless for some reason the 16 Cores would make a difference then a 9950x3D when it goes for cheap could be a decent buy, but I doubt I'm going to be limited by the 8 cores as I said.
The CPU gets fairly toasty though and it makes the fans make a lot of noise, it could be because I connected the CPU and the case fans to CPU_FAN, so it gets fairly loud whenever it gets to around 70C.
RAM: G Skill Flare 64GB 6000MHz 30CAS
(It's RAM)
64GB is an overkill, but given how expensive everything in the PC was, I'm probably good for the lifetime of this PC.
You can argue that I should've went for faster RAM at 32GB, but I've read that the sweet spot for AM5 is 6000MHz.
GPU: PNY Verto 4070 Ti
(3/5)
The GPU market is absolutely cooked, what makes this worse though is that I bought this before the RX 9070 XT reviews, I was betting on AMD Cards not being competitive and having the same availability issues as Nvidia's cards. Well I got half of that wrong, but given the current market conditions and how it differs where you live, if you can find anything for what doesn't seem like an absolute slap in the face, I would consider buying that, you don't know if you could find it again for the same price or if the next gen is gonna be more affordable or better.
12GB of VRAM is insulting, but I have yet to run to issues from VRAM, at least I don't think I can hear the fans spinning when I'm playing, probably because they get masked by the CPU fans sound instead.
I thought of getting the Ti Super or the 4080 Super but the Ti Super is an additional $200 or so, and the 4060 Super is almost 60% more expensive, I'd rather save that money for when GPUs become more affordable instead of going all out on the GPU.
Just get the 9070 XT if you have the chance.
Power Supply: Corsair SF850
(4.5/5)
I was considering either this or a Thermaltake 1000W PSU, I settled on the Corsair mainly because of them having a good track record with PSUs and it having a good Cybenetics rating.
The cables it come with are pretty neat, they made the cable management slightly more tolerable with how small or thin they are, being modular too means I only need to use like half the cables.
You can't go wrong with this power supply, though it is on the pricier side.
Cooler: Cooler Master Masterliquid Atmos 240
(4/5)
I was hesitant on going with liquid cooling because I've had friends that had their AIO fail on them(the pumps), that and the cooler liquid leaking was something I was concerned with. I was considering an Arctic Freeze III AIO but it doesn't fit in this case with the motherboard/gpu/cpu position set to maximize GPU space, the Atmos was the AIO I've seen used the most in Era 2 build videos, it fits but you will need to push the tubes and cables in the case as you close the case cover.
The fans are loud, but they could be the case fans, not the radiator fans.
I contemplating posting this on r/sffpc but ehhhhh Reddit.
I think unless you have a specific build in mind, go for mATX if you want a smaller build, the Ncased M2 can fit a mATX board. An ITX case is neat and tidy on the desk but it's more form over function, less PCIe slots than bigger motherboards, less slots for SSDs, more expensive than bigger boards, but maybe doing it once to see if you think it's worth giving a shot isn't bad.
Q: as a person that went with an ATX sized computer and a couple long cables to reach up to my desk, may I ask what appeals to you about small form factor PCs? I kinda liked the artistic element — they seem more like a showpiece than a box shoved into a corner — but all the tradeoffs didn’t seem worth it at the time.
The average ITX case is far far prettier than most ATX cases.
That was the main reason, but having a smaller footprint ended up being beneficial on the desk I'm using.
Definitely agree. Matx is cheaper, smaller matx cases are more common now, and you get more functionality (if so desired). Unfortunately I've been bitten by the itx bug, sooo I'm probably going to doing itx builds for the foreseeable future. The way I justify it is I buy second hand/openbox hardware, so it offsets the itx tax.
I've discovered the Minisforum BD795i and BD790 X3D a while ago and I think they would make for fantastic Terra builds or other SFF builds, especially when you consider that you get essentially a mobo+cpu for the price of a higher end CPU. Upgradeability aside, It seems like you aren't missing much by going that route.
I built my new PC in december as I figured everything would get more expensive for gross political reasons (I wish I hadn't been right). I grabbed an AMD 7900XT for around $600, so I can't complain too much.
Not that I think you'll necessarily have an issue, but I am also in the "no more liquid cooling" camp since every single AIO liquid setup I have owned has died and caused problems. Just keep an eye on it.
You definitely want to move the case fan to the
SYS_FAN1header to avoid that issue with the case fans. It's about midway across the top of the motherboard in the center, just to the left of the RAM.Since you're using an AIO liquid cooler, you don't actually have a standard CPU Fan, you'll probably want the radiator fans plugged into the
CPU_OPTport next to theSYS_FAN1port, as that's the one that is designed for a water cooler pump.Since you plugged all the fans into the
CPU_FANport, it's trying to run all of the fans at the same percentage of speed as if it was a cooler fan directly on top of the CPU, which tend to be quieter, but higher power fans that run faster, but generally quieter.I opened it up to do just as you said then... decided not to, I forgot I connected all radiator and case fans to that Cooler Master adapter thing to make it tidier inside and what I thought would be a a 10~20 minutes job is probably gonna take at least an hour.
CPU_OPT is connected to the pump's... connector because I read that's where it is supposed to be connected to.
If I'm gonna do a storage upgrade with the secondary/back of the mobo SSD, or replace the paste I'm going to rewire the fans though.
I'm in the final stages of purchasing the last little (yet so expensive?!) things for my new build. I can't put my finger on why but reading your post was strangely uplifting because the process has me truly pressed. Maybe it's just seeing someone else's success? Anyway, I'm happy to see that you were overall happy with your purchases! I hope I achieve similar success if all goes according to plan.
What were the last things you needed? I assume either the CPU or the GPU, for the GPU you just gotta weigh whether to pick what is available or to wait while keeping in mind that things may not get cheaper. Seems like people gravitating towards the new AMD cards made the Nvidia cards prices seem more reasonable though.
I picked up the MSI 5080 Gaming Trio and AMD's Ryzen 7 7800x3D. I regret the AMD purchase honestly - I think I bought it right around when the 9 series released and I thought my build was going to be finished before I could get a 9...but here we are many months later and I am still procrastinating on the last of my purchases. Sigh. The little things are the fans, the SSDs, a riser cable so I can vertically mount the GPU, the mount bracket, the RGB strimer cables from Lian Li...I can't figure out which cables to buy and it's causing a lot of unproductive frustration.