A few quick pictures of my new system, will take better ones soon:













As you can see the Ninja 3 JUST fits under the sidepanel...





The Aux. power connector is located in a poor position, cannot use any fans thicker than 25mm.





The filters actually work, I was expecting them to do nothing because it's pretty much just screen door mesh.



http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=2213269







Specs:

-Intel 2500K @ 4.2Ghz
-16GB Corsair vengeance DDR3-1600
-OCZ Vertex 3 120GB SSD
-Asus Maximus IV Gene-Z Gen. 3
-Scythe Ninja 3 (hate the stupid tramp stamp tribal flame, will try to strip it)
-Corsair HX650W PSU
-Lian Li PC-A04
-Pioneer DVR-219
-Windows 7 Professional
-Dell U2412MB Ultrasharp IPS Rev. A02
-No graphics card yet (Intel HD3000), thinking of a 7xxx

Currently at 4.2Ghz, mild OC using the Asus CPU Level Up in BIOS, running at 40C on all four cores with fans at 500rpm (inaudible), full 100% load using Prime95 is around 65C. The Ninja is passive right now, probably won't feel the need to add a fan to it anytime soon. I will be changing out the top fan to a ball bearing or a Scythe Gentle Typhoon soon however, the sleeve bearing is driving me nuts with the whirring. Cable organization is a terrible in the case, the space in between the sidepanel and the mobo tray is too narrow for the ATX cable, couldn't even hide that. Thinking of swapping fans so the cables aren't tucked in yet. I cut down one of the SATA power cables and modified the length to make it fit better in the 5.25" bay area, have provisions for my Blu-Ray burner, as well as a 3.5" data drive.

Did I mention the SSD is FAST? Like holy crap fast. Before installing any programs (standard Windows installation), boot up was around 14 seconds (no optimization), currently it's at around 22 seconds, with 77 processes. Not too bad at all.

I wished I could get rid of the BIOS alarm at the beginning of each boot, I have the top fan plugged into the chassis connector instead of the CPU since the BIOS fan controller won't let me reduce my speeds below 1000 RPM.

Brendan

Perhaps replace the top fan with a quiet PWM model that doesn't tick/scrape/chug in a horizontal orientation?

A Noctua NF-F12 may be the ticket, from my past experience with Noctua fans.

You don't need the front fans. I think they might even be counter-productive.

Without the front fans producing positive air pressure, fresh air would be sucked in through the 80mm-fan-hole in the back, thereby providing some additional airflow across the mainboard VRM area. Or you could close the 80mm-fan-hole off and air would get sucked in through the ventilated PCI-covers.

Front fans are only needed to cool hard disks and to provide some directed airflow to graphics cards.
You have neither.

I may get both soon, but as of this moment, I think the temperatures and noise levels are fine. I do have a Scythe Slipstream PWM that came with the Ninja, perhaps I will try that.

Brendan

Did you change the top fan ? Can you still hear it ?

No I can't hear it, it may have been the sleeve bearings with the stock fans. I'm thinking about getting a 80-120mm fan adapter for the rear and omitting the front fans.

Brendan

My A04 will be delivered tomorrow.
I suppose that you keep your computer on your desk, since you want to silence the front of the case. But mine will be on the floor besides me. I will try to disconnect the top fan. The air forced in from the front would flow out from the top and rear.

Nope, it's on the floor, check the first pic. I find the greatest source of noise is the top fan, as it is more or less angled up facing your ear. Take care of that and all should be good. I can barely hear the front fans however.

Ugh, 3 months of use:



Simple mod for those pesky bright LEDs that leak light out of all the cracks in the case, some heatshrink covering the plastic light tubes:



Brendan

DIY monitors on your desk? (Background of this photo). Guessing DIY because of the visible plywood laminate end-grain ... Please explain!

Hard to believe this was 4 years ago: http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/multi-wa ... akers.html

Many things have changed, but the amp and the speakers stayed because they are that good.

Brendan

Some more pictures:

32GB of ram!



Had to strip one of the Vengeance sticks of its heatspreader in order to fit underneath the massive Ninja (an easy task really)



Installed some vent filters behind all the standard filters





Another clearance picture



Finally installed one of two Lian Li C-02 bay covers (will install the other one when my blu-ray drive gets here), took a bit of adjustment for a satisfactory fit, still not pleased with it but that'd require modding and slight shaving of the bracket.



Brendan

Your DIYaudio thread was a fun read - nice work on those monitors. I've built a lot of PA and bass guitar cabinets. My last home audio cabinet project was abandoned when I discovered magnepans. I own the lowly MMG's, and they are truly a joy to listen to.

Oh ... nice PC build too! Those ram heatspreaders are obscene. It's comical to see the stock sticks next to the naked one.

My uncle just got a full home theatre Maggie setup (MMG, MMGC, MC1). I'm content with the set of Dynaudio's in my living room as of right now, hifi costs a bunch.

Hifi can be crazy expensive. But the used market is a good source for bargains. I've been waiting for the right threshold/Nak stasis power amp, at the right price, to pop up on audiogon for years. Those old nelson pass designs have a cult following though, and so pricing is usually wrong for me. I missed a bargain-priced NAD 218THX by minutes a few months ago. The 218 and 208's are still quite affordable; they don't have the same "pedigree markup" as the more boutique brands.

I think you hit the nail on the head with your comment "I'm content...". IMO, stoicism is the best antidote for hedonic consumption. I am actually returning to SPCR after a length hiatus - I reached a point where I was content with all my PC's. I'm interested in Ivy Bridge though, so I'm back to study up on what's new.

Dynaudio are quite respectable - it can't be difficult to find contentment there!

I LOVE the Aleph 3's but $$$ and they don't pop up on the used market often, especially here in Canada.

Unrelated, but just finished a new build for my uncle, I think I did a fairly good job. Yes, that heatsink is fanless, running at around 37 degrees. Been spoiled by modular PSU's , non modular PSU's are a PITA.





Brendan

Just realized I should really plug up the rear hole before the adapter gets here. Air is coming in there and not through the actual heatsink, causing the bottom right corner of the sink to heat up more than the upper left.

Ingenious if I may say so, 30# test cable (believe it or not, temps did go down as the weight of the cooler was pulling the sink away from the cores on top):





Brendan

Love it.

The cable to support the HS is very sharp. I will have to keep that in mind while I'm building my new rig shortly.

Last upgrade for a while, the second bay cover.



Brendan

That system looks great? If you don't mind what is the approximate cost you put into it? I've been looking at building a new, efficient gaming pc. That set up looks really slick, curious if that sort of thing is in my price range.

Nice job

Close to a grand sadly. It'll be cheaper now, as I couldn't find 8GB DDR3 sticks back last year (and paid a premium) whereas now it's getting much more common.

Can I ask what the "30# test cable" is? It looks really neat, I'd quite like to do the same for supporting my graphics card. The little hooks look just perfect .

Here you go (Wal-Mart):



And then there were two...



Went to the NCIX warehouse sale and got a couple of things (can't believe no one picked these up, brand new unopened packages and over 50% off):









Brendan

Oh, it's fishing gear! No wonder I didn't have a clue . Thanks!

Also, careful with putting those A04s so close together ... at this rate you might have a whole herd of them in a while .

Beautiful build, big fan of this setup. I wish I could run without a discrete GPU as builds like this can stay so clean without them.

Thanks, but a discrete GPU is coming soon. Planning on a 7770 or an equivalent workstation card, and replacing the stock sink with an Arctic Cooling S1 Plus. Will build a duct directly air from the bottom front intake through the GPU sink and finally out of the case via the PCI slots.

The Lian Li is an exceedingly hard case to work with as there's no room and I had the genius idea of removing every single obstruction between the front intakes and, well, anything else which means I can't really 'hide' anything per se.















Brendan

Your case is exceedingly neat. I have the same case (but crammed full of stuff, see sig) and it is messy as heck. I should take a photo next time it's open to demonstrate the difference.