I have been seduced by the barrage of tech articles over the new HW releases or the soon to be released Zen/Navi articles. Im going to replace my ageing but still perfectly capable Sandybridge E i7 3930k. I think I may have sweated that asset for too long now.
Obviously with the whole work from home bit now, Im looking to downsize from a Corsair Tower to a Micro-ATX based build and as I like a challenge, Im watercooling it with a custom loop as I want a nice quiet build. I know mATX limits me a bit, but Im under pressure with all my work stuff that is now in my office which is why Im building new in the 1st place as Im not under pressure due to PC specs really right now.
I could just move all my kit into a smaller case, but it is getting on now and I feel the chances of rebuilding it into another case and everything booting back up are probably slim.
Im either going to go Ryzen 3000 or 5000 with a watercooled Navi card. I suspect I will go with a decent 3000 series CPU as prices will drop when Zen 3 comes out and I can then upgrade to a better Zen 3 later on.
At the moment the bit Im struggling with is the planning part. I can watch all the tube vids with lovely builds, the case Im leaning towards at the moment is a Fractal Design Mini C or maybe Crystal 280X, however as the videos aren't using the same hardware as I am, Im aware that my build may look different or may not even be possible due to different HW layout and maybe things can't mount the same or the tubing paths may be different.
I guess my first question is whether 2 x 240 Rads would be enough cooling for this? That is all I can get in a mini C, a 280X would allow a bit more I think.
My next question would be how do you guys plan your layout? Do you just buy all the HW, get some Flexi tubing and see where you can put stuff physically and then buy the fittings to match?
Obviously with the whole work from home bit now, Im looking to downsize from a Corsair Tower to a Micro-ATX based build and as I like a challenge, Im watercooling it with a custom loop as I want a nice quiet build. I know mATX limits me a bit, but Im under pressure with all my work stuff that is now in my office which is why Im building new in the 1st place as Im not under pressure due to PC specs really right now.
I could just move all my kit into a smaller case, but it is getting on now and I feel the chances of rebuilding it into another case and everything booting back up are probably slim.
Im either going to go Ryzen 3000 or 5000 with a watercooled Navi card. I suspect I will go with a decent 3000 series CPU as prices will drop when Zen 3 comes out and I can then upgrade to a better Zen 3 later on.
At the moment the bit Im struggling with is the planning part. I can watch all the tube vids with lovely builds, the case Im leaning towards at the moment is a Fractal Design Mini C or maybe Crystal 280X, however as the videos aren't using the same hardware as I am, Im aware that my build may look different or may not even be possible due to different HW layout and maybe things can't mount the same or the tubing paths may be different.
I guess my first question is whether 2 x 240 Rads would be enough cooling for this? That is all I can get in a mini C, a 280X would allow a bit more I think.
My next question would be how do you guys plan your layout? Do you just buy all the HW, get some Flexi tubing and see where you can put stuff physically and then buy the fittings to match?
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