Random Hardware topics

[Colif]

So I was bored and I was looking at some details for the case I am going to buy, and one thing led to another and I looked up problems people have with case

1. Some found the pwm/argb cables for the fan hub too short but I don't expect to have same problem, their headers were at opposite ends of the motherboard whereas on mine they almost right next to one another... that and I don't have any argb fans so not really fussed about connecting it yet
2. Some found their motherboard didn't recognise the USB 2 connection for the Display on side of case, that sounds more like a BIOS problem really
3. Some found fans rattled... erm, I don't need that again

So if number 3 happens again, I did some research on fans (getting to be an expert) and it was a short search as I had brands to ignore:

1. Arctic - P12 fans seem to die too fast (I do have 4 spare P12 ARGB fans I could put in if necessary... shame i don't have the passthrough cable anymore.)
2. Lian li - fans died within 3 months, also need to use their hub to control
3. Corsair - I don't want more fan hubs and most of their fans won't work without one.
4. Thermaltake Swafan - only available in a 3 pack and needs its own hub
5. and when you are looking for white fans, Noctua as well. I thought about them but you would see them through front of case.

So after a short search I came to
Bequiet Silent Wings Pro 4
The 120mm fans are actually quieter, have higher static pressure and are better performing than their 140mm versions. Which is strange, as 140mm generall are able to push out more air at a lower speed. The 120mm fans do have more fan blades though.
White reverse blade 120mm fans are even rarer and I might just have to use

1. a Silent wings pro 4 there too.
2. Or just two Noctuas as its harder to see fan blades on bottom of the case.

Choosing a white case can have its disadvantages I guess

But I see if I have any problems. Not rushing into replacing them before I get the case.
After last year I don't want to think about fans, took me months to get a silent PC
I didn't want to have to replace fans that came with the case. Shame no reviewers mention anything about noisy fans
Shame there is no fan free version of case. I have to hope the fan problem is limited.

 

[ZedClampet]

I am currently planning on talking to Thermaltake tomorrow and then returning/refunding the desktop I just bought. Among other things:

No documentation came with the PC
The fans weren't connected
The PSU is upside down, which I understand, but it isn't optimal to intake hot air right next to the GPU
The motherboard, which wasn't listed, is hot garbage, and I still haven't even figured out what it is.
There is a part of the case missing, and a cable is sticking out of it. I have no idea what is going on there.
The advertising for the PC said there were 14 USB ports. There are 3.

Grand finale!​

None of the GPU ports are accessible--at all. They are completely enclosed in the case.

Now, I admit that it's been many years since I had a desktop. Also, I'm a blathering idiot. It is very possible that my last three points are a misunderstanding on my part that could possibly have been avoided if documentation had been provided. However, as of now, I'm not impressed

Edit: It's just occurred to me, in bed, that maybe one of the corners of the modular case is actually supposed to be removed somehow, and I might find all the missing ports there. It was just included installed for shipping purposes. I mean, who would completely enclose the GPU ports? I guess I'll see in the morning.

Geez, can you imagine how disastrous it would be if I had succeeded in getting the parts to build my own? Note to self: don't ever do that, stupid. You can't even figure out a pre-assembled (mostly) desktop.

 

[Colif]

Fans is a problem. Perhaps not enough if you can simply attach them. Just shows lack of attention to detail.

PSU upside down... does case have a vent underneath that would let it intake air? If not, would explain why its facing inside. Its got a fan inside so realistically its not going to hurt it that much, it would exhaust it out the back anyway.
My last PC had its PSU facing inside mainly as the vent it was meant to push air out of didn't line up with the fan inside the PSU. PSU was too short I guess. Didn't bother the case at all as the 3 x 180mm fans intaking air overpowered it.

Documentation:
Unless its a pre made model from someone like Dell or HP, then a lot of the time all you would get are just the manuals for each piece of hardware and tbh you not missing a lot.

Some have quick start guides but very little else.

Reminds me of an old story... guy gets PC home, turns it one and says Entertain me... its not a TV after all.

Its not like a laptop where you get a booklet, but you should be able to figure out what motherboard you have.

The motherboard, which wasn't listed, is hot garbage, and I still haven't even figured out what it is.

Use search on desktop to find System Information, the motherboard model should show in the top area next to system model

Tell me the maker and the model name and I should find the manual.

There is a part of the case missing, and a cable is sticking out of it. I have no idea what is going on there.

Edit: It's just occurred to me, in bed, that maybe one of the corners of the modular case is actually supposed to be removed somehow, and I might find all the missing ports there. It was just included installed for shipping purposes. I mean, who would completely enclose the GPU ports? I guess I'll see in the morning.

Case,... so I have to go from memory?

I think its a Thermaltake Tower case but I am not sure of its size, as they make small, medium and large, but they all seem to have same internals

It has a 90 degree rotation on the motherboard, so it should look exactly the same as mine above, all your connections are on the top of the case, is the gpu standing up in a corner?

The Tower 300 Micro Tower Chassis

The Tower 300 Micro Tower Chassis The Tower 300 is an m-ATX case with a classic vertical case design and comes in an octagonal prism shape. It supports up to a 420mm AIO radiator on the right side and can accommodate up to eight 120mm/140mm fans. With a s

thermaltake.com.au

it would appear you just need to take the top of the case off to access the cables.... notices a fan there... um, what a dumb case...

To access the backplate for both motherboard and the GPU, you need to:

1. take top of case off
2. remove the 2 thumbscrews holding the fan bracket in place and flip it up to reveal the motherboards back panel and GPU outs.

You will find the missing USB slots on the hiding backplate of the motherboard.

Dear Thermaltake, how do I connect my Wifi antenna? where am I supposed to run all the cables?
At least Thermaltake realised you need to connect Power... but how do you get a picture?


My case at least came with a simple cover that was easy to remove to access its backplate, and had a place for all the cables to get out.

old photo, hasn't been plugged in for almost 5 years now.

Building own PC with someone who knows what they are doing is a better idea. You also control what parts go in, you wouldn't be wondering what motherboard you had. Or potentially other questions. Like where were the USB ports hiding

 

[ZedClampet]

Okay, I have verified that all the issues listed above are accurate and identified the problem. The problem is that the GPU doesn't fit in the case the way it was designed to fit. The motherboard should have been turned 90 degrees. In that position, the extra USB ports, HDMI and Display ports would have been...surprise!...accessible through the part of the case that is "missing".

@Colif the reason I don't know what the motherboard is is because the monitor I bought requires an HDMI connection, and I can't get to it without taking out the GPU, which makes getting to it pointless.

So tomorrow morning, I'm calling Amazon, then I'm packing this crap up and sending it home. And this will be the last desktop I ever own.

 

[Colif]

Love to see photos of what they did.

I worked out the case was 90 degree rotated, how did they install it?

Shame gamers nexus hasn't bought that model to test.

I edited my last post after I remembered what your case looked like. Then i sat there wondering how you meant to even get GPU cables out of it. Even if it did have the part you missing.
And gl using WIFI antenna... there must be somewhere to route them through. Build guides just gloss over the details.

Not all desktops are bad but its your choice. Pre builts are more likely to be bad though... you don't have the control over parts.

I was wondering, why put a GPU in that doesn't fit... then I remembered pre builts not all built with care, profit is more important to some. Shove it in, who cares if it dies fast.

 

[ZedClampet]

Love to see photos of what they did.

I worked out the case was 90 degree rotated, how did they install it?

Shame gamers nexus hasn't bought that model to test.

I edited my last post after I remembered what your case looked like. Then i sat there wondering how you meant to even get GPU cables out of it. Even if it did have the part you missing.
And gl using WIFI antenna... there must be somewhere to route them through. Build guides just gloss over the details.

Not all desktops are bad but its your choice. Pre builts are more likely to be bad though... you don't have the control over parts.

I was wondering, why put a GPU in that doesn't fit... then I remembered pre builts not all built with care, profit is more important to some. Shove it in, who cares if it dies fast.

So apparently while I slept I kept thinking about this, and I woke up remembering I had a conversion cable for the monitor, and I decided I was just going to keep the desktop and buy a new case, so I came downstairs and hooked up the monitor, keyboard and mouse and plugged it in.

I turned it on and nothing happened. No power. This is actually a good thing, though. Because if you return a working computer to Amazon, they charge you a 15 percent restocking fee, which I was going to argue over since the product page advertised a bunch of ports that aren't usable on this.

I looked at the connections, and it looks like the PSU is connected properly. It just doesn't work. The whole thing is just ridiculous.

 

[ZedClampet]

full refund. UPS is picking up the computer tomorrow at no charge.

 

[neogunhero]

What a strange situation you were in. I expected a few issues with prebuilt PC's like unknown brand mobo and memory, but the issues you described sound like things I would have done when I built my first PC at 12 years old, total incompetency.

If you go the prebuilt route again, my assumption is that you may get a better experience buying straight from builders' websites instead of Amazon, though Amazon may have a much better return policy. My guess is that buying them on Amazon, they are just sitting in a warehouse ready to go. Buying from a builder directly may have them make your PC to order, so as long as they are experienced, you're getting a PC built just for you, and may have better customer support.

 

[Colif]

If I had to use a prebuilt, I would make sure none of the companies that fail the tests on this playlist were picked
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsuVSmND84QuM2HKzG7ipbIbE_R5EnCLM

Looking at list they actually liked a thermaltake system but it uses a different case

Then I would only use a company that

1. Lets you pick the parts from am extensive list, so that you can customise it if you want
2. Shows you what all the parts are and doesn't have a moving list of motherboards it might include
3. Tells you if any of your picks don't make any sense

But thats not really a prebuilt, its more a custom PC. Semi custom if you just change one or two parts.

Companies like that do exist. Especially if they don't want to have to support their hardware constantly after its made.
I know someone whose last 3 PC were made this way and he hasn't had any problems with the parts or build quality in the last 17 years. Hard to convince him to change when its worked so well.

Not sure you could convince me to buy a PC off Amazon.

 

[ZedClampet]

Looking at list they actually liked a thermaltake system but it uses a different case

With the possible exception of the motherboard, which I was disappointed didn't have an extra m.2, and the non-functional PSU, the rest of the components were solid. Had the PSU worked and they had used a proper case, I probably would have been very happy with it. But their product page was very misleading. There was a reason they only gave the chipset instead of the exact motherboard, and they listed all the ports even though most of them couldn't be reached.

I think maybe the problem was that they wanted to get a bunch of PCs out with the new GPUs and made a terrible decision on the case and then were rushed when building the PC.

 

[ZedClampet]

If I had to use a prebuilt, I would make sure none of the companies that fail the tests on this playlist were picked
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsuVSmND84QuM2HKzG7ipbIbE_R5EnCLM

Looking at list they actually liked a thermaltake system but it uses a different case

Then I would only use a company that

1. Lets you pick the parts from am extensive list, so that you can customise it if you want
2. Shows you what all the parts are and doesn't have a moving list of motherboards it might include
3. Tells you if any of your picks don't make any sense

But thats not really a prebuilt, its more a custom PC. Semi custom if you just change one or two parts.

Companies like that do exist. Especially if they don't want to have to support their hardware constantly after its made.
I know someone whose last 3 PC were made this way and he hasn't had any problems with the parts or build quality in the last 17 years. Hard to convince him to change when its worked so well.

Not sure you could convince me to buy a PC off Amazon.

Also, I just went to Amazon and all the Thermaltake PCs now have better cases, so maybe they didn't have proper cases at the time. You would think they would have just waited.

However, while they make the display and hdmi ports available, they are still enclosing all the usb ports on the motherboards.

 

[Colif]

Their Performance and Signature editions both use cases with normal backplate access, from what I can tell

Performance uses

Versa H16 TG ARGB Micro Tower Chassis

Versa H16 TG ARGB Micro Tower Chassis is an m-ATX case with a tempered class left panel and a mesh front panel, and comes with three hydraulic bearing 120mm ARGB Lite Fans at the front and the rear.

www.thermaltake.com

Signatures uses

View 270 TG ARGB Mid Tower Chassis

Built for amazing viewing, the View 270 TG ARGB Mid Tower Chassis is an ATX case that features tempered glass front and left panels, and comes with a pre-installed a CT140 ARGB Sync PC Cooling Fan at the rear.

thermaltake.com.au

And while their website still shows the case you got for the Special edition on the front page

When you click link you get this one instead

Core P6 Tempered Glass Mid Tower Chassis

The Core P6 TG is a transformable CEB Mid Tower Case that can be either a closed or open styled case with Tt LCS Certification.

www.thermaltake.com

Perhaps they got enough push back from users for using that dumb case

 

[Johnway]

i've been window shopping again for hardware parts and visualizing what needs to be done. At this point, i suspect my PC is a complete write off, all new parts will be required. But i still entertain the idea whether i could upgrade it in parts instead.

Phase 1: AMD 9800xd + Motherboard, mem and maybe M2 drive.
Phase 2: graphics card.

Already have a 1500psu

I am hoping to just to add it into my current be quiet! Silent Base 600 Windowed Chassis , but i suspect i need more fans etc as the parts run hotter. But will my case have the capacity for more fans? or better yet, will the default fans be enough? Hopefully so, but i don't know.

Edit: looking around i'll go with PCGs suggestion of the other be quiet! case. but that said, are there any other cases that are silent as these cases?

Be Quiet! Shadow Base 800 FX review

Quiet simplicity.

www.pcgamer.com

The second is of course the graphics card. i still want to go Nvidia route, but the problem is that the offerings are in the 50 x0 range is disappointing. That said, even if i bought a 5060 it would be a massive improvement over my 1070, but the difference between 5060 - 5070 is huge.

 

[Colif]

Silent Base 600

looks like you could add one extra exhaust fan on the roof, but case doesn't seem to offer many options for extra fans

I was tempted to get a light base 900

LIGHT BASE 900 silent PC cases for your PC from be quiet!

900 FX Black | 900 FX White | 900 DX Black | 900 DX White

www.bequiet.com

but not because its quiet, I assume the fans do most of that work, but because it offers 3 different layouts

If your fans are quiet enough, you don't really need a closed off case anymore. I generally can't hear mine at all. Unless CPU is busy. Sure can't hear the 3 intake fans. I only know they are working from temperatures inside case.

I may end up replacing all the fans in my next PC with Bequiet Silent Wings4 fan as a few people have had problems with the installed fans. I won't know until I get the case as it doesn't have a fanless version.

I don't expect it to be that quiet since it comes with 6 installed fans

FLUX PRO - Antec

www.antec.com

My new PC is pretty concrete now. Just need to wait a month to get it

https://au.pcpartpicker.com/list/xfYwHW

Not sure about GPU apart from the obvious, get the 16gb version.

 

[ZedClampet]

I've kind of half-heartedly looked at pre-builts this morning, but I'm vastly pickier than I was originally, so I'm probably going to end up building if I decide to go the desktop route.

However, right now I've basically decided I don't need a new computer.

 

[Colif]

I can hear my pc but its not a fan noise as such, more a downside of having a glass side to the case.
Electronic noise escapes the glass. That and its full of vents anyway.
If you want silent, you don't really want a glass side

https://www.silverstonetek.com/en/product/info/computer-chassis/SETAQ1/

at least my concern about front panel being glass was corrected by video:

You don't appear to be able to get the Shadow Base 800 FX without a glass side panel

SHADOW BASE 800 FX | Black silent PC cases from be quiet!

Impressive lighting, exceptional airflow

www.bequiet.com

only two variants, Black & White.

The PC I showed a picture of at top of this post has sound proofing on its sides to help make its 3 x 180mm fans less noisy. But its a 15 year old design now.

Emphasis on many new cases is making sure they have high airflow. Silent cases tend to work against that approach as many have closed off fronts to reduce noise but the front is best place to input air.
In theory they could make an Lian LI 011 Dynamic with a non glass side panel as it inhales air on rear side panel. They don't sell them though, you would have to make it.
Its why Bequiets cases aren't all black boxes anymore, they need to compete.

using 140mm fans means they don't have to run at anywhere near full speed to provide plenty of air. I have 3 in my case now and they only running at 337rpm now which is just above 20% of their max speed. Still enough to keep PC cool.

And a 9800x3d runs cooler than my current CPU. So I wouldn't worry about it over heating in there.

Easiest way to make a silent PC is fill it with Noctua fans, and use a fanless PSU such as:

X Silent Edge Platinum 850 Power Supply

Introducing the X Silent Edge Platinum, the industry's first PSU to achieve 850W. The Edge features totally silent and dustless performance, innovative heat pipe technology, advanced heat dissipation, 80 Plus Platinum efficiency and an active bridge rectifier. With these features, the Edge...

www.coolermaster.com

Or if fans are too loud, just go nuts