My First Custom Build

[Mr.WorldWide]

After procrastinating for years I finally bit the bullet back in April and built my first desktop, which I call Fractal Silencio 10.

See http://pcpartpicker.com/user/State_of_Dekay/saved/ for the parts list.

 

[leif erikson]

Sounds

How did you find the experience, what did you learn and how does it run?

 

[illram]

I'm a big fan of Fractal cases. I'm guessing it's fairly quiet--how's the STRIX when gaming?

 

[Mr.WorldWide]

Sounds

How did you find the experience, what did you learn and how does it run?

For the most part it's been positive although I've been dealing with some vibration issues brought on by the 3 3.5"HDDs, they cause the entire rig to hum rather annoyingly at times. Can't wait for high capacity SSD storage to become mainstream.

I haven't overclocked it yet since I've been busy but the stock speeds are VERY notable when encoding video, content that took two hours with my previous PC now takes about 15 minutes.

I'm a big fan of Fractal cases. I'm guessing it's fairly quiet--how's the STRIX when gaming?

The STRIX is dead silent when at the desktop, fans don't run at all, and to be honest I'm usually using headphones when ingame. That said, I can't hear the system running through the mic when I'm recording so it's very quiet. It's more likely my environment is louder than the actual system, I'll have to soundproof my room to get better.

The minute I saw the Design R5 I fell in love with it's clean simplicity and focus on silence.

 

[Zelig]

For the most part it's been positive although I've been dealing with some vibration issues brought on by the 3 3.5"HDDs, they cause the entire rig to hum rather annoyingly at times. Can't wait for high capacity SSD storage to become mainstream.

I don't think there's really much point to high capacity SSD storage, all one really needs multi-TB drives for is media.

Most people can go with SSD plus streaming media, and people who want local media can just set up an HTPC/home server with all their 3.5" drives and then SSD in everything else.

 

[Quintillus]

Were the 2x1 TBs for backup? I'm curious what the third's for. I'm wondering if higher-capacity ones might have made two good enough, and thus eliminated the humming. I do agree with Zelig that, performance-wise, SSDs are pretty much pointless for media, but they do indeed have the nice silence benefit, as well as typically lower power draw, though the lower power draw alone doesn't justify the higher cost in a desktop.

Devil's Canyon is nice, too. Micro Center had a very good deal on those a week or two ago, and I must admit I was tempted - if it hadn't required a mobo upgrade from Sandy Bridge, I might have gone ahead and done it.

Fancy keyboard, too. I read a review of that one on AnandTech. It got mostly positive remarks, except for the difference in material behind the main keyboard and the special keys on the left. Hopefully it works out for you - that's a lot higher end than my $9 Microsoft keyboard!

 

[Zelig]

Well I love silence, that's why my HDDs are all in my HTPC and various external enclosures in their own room.

It's pretty trivial to set up network backup from anywhere, and then slick cases can be picked out since you don't need support for anything over 2.5".

 

[Quintillus]

I've actually been somewhat transitioning to having my desktop double as a home server. It works decently. For development work, I can remote into it (since loading lots of small files over the network from an IDE can get a bit slow). Streaming mp3s works pretty well, although if I'm in a far corner and/or have other WiFi transfers going on, FLAC can get a bit iffy - a network upgrade would probably solve that. Streaming Blu-Ray over Ethernet works great.

A HTPC could also serve the hub purpose, but would be another box... for a first custom build, I think a regular desktop makes more sense.

 

[Zelig]

Ah yeah, bit of confusing terminology there, my box is a home server first, I just added the HTPC function to it afterwards since OS X has garbage DisplayLink support for the streaming I was doing from the server box previously, and I've got HDMI cables running through my walls already.

When I get around to switching to a desktop that supports >2 monitors I'll plug my TV/wireless peripherals back into that and switch back to streaming video over network from the server box.

 

[Mise]

I don't think there's really much point to high capacity SSD storage, all one really needs multi-TB drives for is media.

Games? Do they not benefit from SSD?

 

[Zelig]

Yeah, I don't really consider game storage requirements as "high capacity" compared to media. At most, outside of specialized scenarios (e.g. video editing where you need multi-TB SSD arrays) someone might need a pair of 1TB SSDs, one for OS/apps/documents and one for games. I guess we're still one level of price drops off that now, 2x500gb is what I'd consider "mainstream affordable".

 

[Mr.WorldWide]

Bit late but I'll try to address some observations made.

Were the 2x1 TBs for backup? I'm curious what the third's for.

One is for Steam games, one is for media, and the third is a backup drive. Zelig mentioned streaming everything, not really an option for me currently given that I use LTE internet.

I'm wondering if higher-capacity ones might have made two good enough, and thus eliminated the humming.

They are drives from my previous rig, since there was nothing wrong with them I merely swapped them over. I might upgrade in the future or might move them to a media server, we'll see.

I do agree with Zelig that, performance-wise, SSDs are pretty much pointless for media, but they do indeed have the nice silence benefit, as well as typically lower power draw, though the lower power draw alone doesn't justify the higher cost in a desktop.

Yes, I was mostly contemplating the silence factor, I don't have wired Ethernet or ac wireless so having to access my media over a low end router isn't ideal at the moment. Upgrades will fix everything but it's a work in progress.

Devil's Canyon is nice, too. Micro Center had a very good deal on those a week or two ago, and I must admit I was tempted - if it hadn't required a mobo upgrade from Sandy Bridge, I might have gone ahead and done it.

It's a bit dated now with Broadwell out but it has some pretty good clocks, 4.0 stock.

Fancy keyboard, too. I read a review of that one on AnandTech. It got mostly positive remarks, except for the difference in material behind the main keyboard and the special keys on the left. Hopefully it works out for you - that's a lot higher end than my $9 Microsoft keyboard!

I honestly wouldn't recommend it, performance-wise it's great but over 25 back lights burnt out in under a year and the macro keys on the side just make it larger than what I need. I've been looking at other mechs and might end up getting the one Zelig has even though it's 3x the price I don't want to end up with RSI so I'd be worth it. I already went ahead and bought a Steelcase Leap chair for my desk because of issues I was having with my back, 9/10, would recommend.

 

[Formaldehyde]

Your system is remarkably similar to the one I built about a year ago, including exactly the same case and memory. The only big difference is that I went with water cooling.

CORSAIR Hydro Series H80i High Performance Water/Liquid CPU Cooler. 120mm

When I bought it, it was just $100 or so though. Even so, the Intel I7 runs so hot playing World of Tanks / World of Warships, etc. that I'm really glad I did.

I also went with a 480 GB SSD. And now I only have 98 GB left... But I could easily free up another 100 GB.

I also got a Corsair K95 keyboard. While the LEDs started dying fairly soon and I could return it to get a new one, I just turned them off. It is built like a tank. I finally found a keyboard that will stand up to incessant gaming without breaking.