mATX cube: Air 240 or Phenom M? or?

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Krymzon
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Feb 15, 2016 11:44 am
Location: Switzerland

mATX cube: Air 240 or Phenom M? or?

Post by Krymzon » Mon Feb 15, 2016 1:12 pm

Hi, I've been an occasional reader of SPCR since 2003, but I've only now registered on the forums.
Please feel free to point out any mistakes I make :)
I wasn't sure if I should post here, or in the cases section.
I'm interested in opinions on all the components, so I'm posting here.

I'm going to build a new main desktop for myself in the very near future.

My main puzzle at this point is the case. I was going to go with Corsair Air 240,
but having now read http://www.silentpcreview.com/Journey_t ... oATX_Gamer
and its associated forum thread I'm considering alternatives, particularly BitFenix Phenom M.

General purpose:
  • Quiet at idle and no high-pitched scream under load. No need for silence
  • Moderate gaming, VR, programming, sometimes number crunching
  • Calmly drive 3 monitors, one of which is 4K
Case requirements:
  • Cube, upper bounds 335mm, 335mm, 400mm, only the last of which is flexible
  • White (silver or red could be OK)
  • Good for air cooling
  • Infrequent upgrades without taking everything apart
The idea is to fit it inside a (white) Expedit shelf.
Otherwise, I would probably have chosen Phanteks Evolv mATX.

First question: Can anyone confirm the height of Phenom M?
The official measurement is 330mm, but I would need to be sure this includes the legs.
My shop of choice lists it as 345mm tall, which would be unacceptable.

Intended list of components, assuming I go with the Corsair:
  • Intel Core i7 6700
  • ASUS H170M-Plus
  • Corsair Vengeance LPX (2x8GB, DDR4-2133)
  • ASUS GTX 970 Turbo OC
  • Noctua NH-D9L (which was also used in the above review)
  • Samsung SM951 NVMe 512GB, M.2 2280)
  • Corsair RM Series RM650 (650W)
Planned upgrades over the next 1-2 years:
  • Double RAM to 32GB
  • Good Pascal GPU to drive those 4K in 3D, and for VR
  • 3x 2.5" SSD (mdadm raid5)
I am quite likely to stick with the Air 240, but I would very much like to
hear your thoughts, about the case or any other components (PSU?),
or if you know there happens to be some unusual Linux incompatibility.
In particular, is any motherboard/gfx brand currently known to have better/worse
Linux fan control?

I'm a bit rusty, since 2011 I've only built on barebones.

K

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