Post your gaming setup!

[Deleted]

Actually, between the Thermal Armor, the RAM, and the backplate on the graphics card, that's one damn awesome looking rig. The blue light from the fan is just icing. I really should get some backplates for my 580's actually, and perhaps see if i can get hold of some strips of black aluminium, solder it onto the backplates in such a way that it covers the side of the cards (with space for the tubing of course).

Although soldering wouldn't be stable enough i imagine

It would void your warranty too. If you have the money to grab a new one without a problem when it flops, go for it

[Xuvial]

Being i've already fitted waterblocks to all 3 cards, i imagine the warranty is already void

Didn't those waterblocks come with backplates?? I know EK's gtx580 block has backplates...

[Cyanotical]

ek sells backplates too

[DeltrusDisc]

Mushkin RAM = sexiness

gtfo poser! >

[Xuvial]

CoreTemp has been going berserk on me recently often flashing 98c on all cores. I don't know whether this is instability or what, dialed the OC back to 4.5ghz @ 1.32v (proven 100% stable) and it still kept showing me 98c randomly on cores.
I've since stopped using CoreTemp and am now using RealTemp, it's showing temperatures a lot more sensibly.

[DeltrusDisc]

RealTemp ftw dawg. Sorry to hear you had to downclock that gorgeous 4.8GHz. =/

[Deleted]

Neat. Now when it comes to the case...

I agree with most you said, but there are some things I'd like to comment on. I got plenty of screws for my PSU actually, I even got 4 left after mounting it (I only used 4 screws for my PSU though, some might use more; my old computer had 9 I believe). At glance, I too liked the fan controller. It's a neat add-on, and it does it's job well, but it just feels a bit too plastic for my taste.

I agree that cable management is easy with this case, but the "door mechanic" isn't that spectacular. Sure, it makes opening the case for a quick glance very easy, but that's about it. Don't get me wrong, the feature is nice, but it doesn't really add anything in itself.

Also, should be noted that all my fans (except the side-panel ones) were connected properly. The front fan is not at all blocked by the main HDD cage, but is mounted on the other side (between the main frame and the exterior panel). Mounting that fan was really easy as you don't even have to open up the computer; just pop out the front panel and mount the fan.

I had no issues with my 8-pin connector. Sure, there wasn't much space (even less with the cooler mounted) but after some minor fiddling it was in place. No bending or stretching required. And agreed on the HDD cage; it could have just as easily been an accessory and not pre-mounted. When I saw the amount of screws I decided to leave it in there...

Also, I agree that the HDD brackets were a bit hard to figure out. Basically, you need to align the holder with the screw-holes and then push them in one at a time. However, the 5.25" bays I totally agree with; the lock mechanic didn't feel sturdy enough so I ended up screwing my DVD reader/writer in place. So much for tool-less design. I also agree with the dust filter comment, but given the price of the Phantom there is room to purchase a few on the side.

[Kaiser499]

My (old) heatsink got a bit larger.
(I had the 212+ turned that way as an experiment, normally I had it turned 90 degrees of that, but temperatures were the same either way in my case)


Going from CoolerMaster Hyper 212+ to a Noctua NH-D14 (with 2x Arctic Cooling AF12PWM on both heatsinks) = ~9C cooler temperatures when running Intel Burn Test w/AVX Linpacks. (time to push the overclock higher)

I also put in some G.Skill Ripjaws X series 1600MHz 1.35V DDR3 RAM to replace my 1333MHz sticks. Mainly because my HTPC needed a RAM upgrade, and I figured I'd just move the sticks I had in my gaming PC over to my HTPC and get some faster RAM for my gaming rig (not that it *needs* faster RAM... it's one of those "because I can!" things )

Damn that's sexy, how much did that cost? You should build me one.

[Drunkenvalley]

--SNIP--

I hear there are about three different editions of the case, with extremely minor differences. In some, there's just a lil' bit more clearance between top and rear fan apparently, and extremely minor changes like that. So it's not really surprising imo that some accessories or jobs done prior to acquiring the case differed a little.

All the fans meant to come with the case were mounted in the case, but only the rear exhaust fan's cable was connected. The top fan's cable was, to my surprise, already placed where it should be, but not connected. The sidepanel's cables were not connected either, which was a plus to be fair. Problem with mounting the front fan wasn't to do with placing the fan, but with actually being able to screw it or secure it in place, which was blocked by the main HDD cage in the case I worked with.

Speaking of HDD cage... Reason I didn't like the added HDD cage wasn't that it was pre-mounted, but that there were 10 screws to get it loose. That was just way too much. Four from below and 6 from the backpanel? Sheesh.

The 8pin connector was in fact, in my case, literally impossible to thread through its' hole on the mobo tray without flexing the motherboard a little. Once done though there were no real or serious issues related to the cable.

Personally, I found the plastic was fine. It's clearly not a computer case you're meant to move around, evidenced by the rubber feet that requires outright lifting the case, the general lack of support for moving it much if at all, etc. Though I could've appreciated a "rough," not mirror, finish to the case that could handle some fingerprints without looking dirty as hell.

[Deleted]

<SNIP>

Alright, fair enough. I didn't know there were differences between the case versions (I got the all-out black one myself). And it was my point exactly regarding the HDD cage; instead of mounting it in the case with 10 screws, let it be an optional accessory; if you want to have it there you can screw it in place yourself, it's not like the average user will utilize all those HDD trays anyway.

My fan cables were connected (except for the side-panel ones) so it could be that the connectors had just fallen out (i.e. not properly connected in the first place). And I could screw the front intake fan in place from the "outside" with four longer screws (afaik included with the case). Now that I recall, there could have been a few more of those screws included because I had to use a "custom solution" to mount my 200mm side panel fan.

[Drunkenvalley]

When mentioning the HDD cage's screws I mean more like it could do with, like, the 4 that secure it to the bottom of the case.

Anyway, it was a pretty good case to work in overall. The result was beautiful, but some points were rather comical. (Such as the 8pin connector.) The hd-audio cable (for frontpanel) was by default ziptied with all the other cables, but was too short to reach it's intended installation point... so I was forced to remove the ziptie so I could pull it to the back of the case.

Mostly minor problems though, none of which are really worrying.

[Asera]

My new soundcard, together with my new headphones, arrived yesterday so I spend today installing it and cleaning my rig. Also made a nice little podium (bench) for my computer to stand on. This also allowed me to flip my PSU, which not only cleared up my cable mess a fair bit (of course increasing the mess behind the motherboard tray), but it knocked a good 5-6C off my GPU at max load.

Really liking the compressor my father bought a few days ago. Makes cleaning so much easier, although it's a small hassle dragging my computer over there but I can live with that.


Some pics:

Random thought from my experience, I would try plugging your headphones into the rear ports just to make sure the front ports don't have some weird quality issue. Every time I try to use front ports on my SB X-Fi, the sound quality is far worse than using the rear ports.

Althought that's most likely my card.

But just saying just in case!

[Deleted]

Random thought from my experience, I would try plugging your headphones into the rear ports just to make sure the front ports don't have some weird quality issue. Every time I try to use front ports on my SB X-Fi, the sound quality is far worse than using the rear ports.

Althought that's most likely my card.

But just saying just in case!

Actually, my headphones are plugged into the rear port; they are the only item plugged into my soundcard at this point. My Plexgear 2.1 speakers are plugged into the MoBo (let's me easily switch between heaphones and speakers) and my skype headset (G330) is connected via USB.

[BicycleMafioso]

Random thought from my experience, I would try plugging your headphones into the rear ports just to make sure the front ports don't have some weird quality issue. Every time I try to use front ports on my SB X-Fi, the sound quality is far worse than using the rear ports.

Althought that's most likely my card.

But just saying just in case!

I haven't had this issue, either with Onboard or with my Xonar DX. Just adding my experience to the pool.

[Asera]

I haven't had this issue, either with Onboard or with my Xonar DX. Just adding my experience to the pool.

Yeah it's most likely the SB X-Fi's front panel header being bad.

[DeltrusDisc]

Yeah it's most likely the SB X-Fi's front panel header being bad.

That's one thing I wish more soundcards came with. =/

Now, off to work, again. See you all later! <3

[Asera]

That's one thing I wish more soundcards came with. =/

Now, off to work, again. See you all later! <3

Work on a Sunday?!

What about football!

[BicycleMafioso]

That's one thing I wish more soundcards came with. =/

What? You want more soundcards to come with a bad front panel header? ._. I'm sorry, but that doesn't make much sense.

[Asera]

I think he means a front panel header in general.

[FlawlessSoul]

A number of cases don't have shielded frontpanel cables - the original releases of Corsair's cases didn't, for example. The USB3 kit for the 700D/800D had a shielded frontpanel audio cable, and resolved al the issues I was having with noise for my SB X-Fi.