No, no, it's those little plush toys in front of the computer that are protecting her from monsters.
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Building a new desktop
- Thread starter maflynn
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If I was going to put any RGB into the system, it probably would be ram modules. I've not decided what ram types, but I think corsair is on my short list. What types are those that have the RGB that doubles as a night light
These are Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO from Bestbuy, they have them usually in stock in store. Surprisingly bright.If I was going to put any RGB into the system, it probably would be ram modules. I've not decided what ram types, but I think corsair is on my short list. What types are those that have the RGB that doubles as a night light
A SFF case has fewer modding options but there are alternatives to the popular addressable RGB lighting PC peripherals especially if you are just looking for basic illumination rather than programmable seizure-inducing disco lights.
Most LED PC strip lights are about 30cm long. Whether or not you can implement these in your SFF build is highly specific to the case design.
There are dumb LED lights like this:
DS PC LED Light Strip Computer Lighting White with Magnetic Back, Molex Connector, 2pack LED Strip for PC Case Lighting Kit (30cm,18leds,S Series)
DS PC LED Light Strip Computer Lighting White with Magnetic Back, Molex Connector, 2pack LED Strip for PC Case Lighting Kit (30cm,18leds,S Series)
www.amazon.com
which simply require a SATA Molex connector. I have a bunch of these installed in my micro-ATX and mini-tower ATX case.
You can also add an LED light to an existing fan. I have one 140mm in my NZXT H1 and one 120mm in my micro-ATX build:
Phanteks Halos 120mm Digital LED Fan Frame, Black (PH-FF120DRGBP_BK01)
The Phanteks' Halos DRGB fan frames complements any system build with ambient illumination. Using high density LEDs, the Halos can illuminate different varieties of fans including high performance fans made from PBT material. The Halos RGB fan frames bring elegance and style to your system withou...
www.amazon.com
The construction and size of the NZXT H1 case makes installing 30cm strip lights an impossibility. Instead I ended up using 12V LED boat navigation lights:
Shangyuan LED Interior Boat Lights, Utility Slim Strip Bar Light Fit Courtesy Lighting Cockpit Lights Navigation Light White (Pack of 2)
Shangyuan LED Interior Boat Lights, Utility Slim Strip Bar Light Fit Courtesy Lighting Cockpit Lights Navigation Light White (Pack of 2)
www.amazon.com
No disco light capability just plain illumination. Velcro tape makes installation a cakewalk and also reduces the chance of rattling generated from case vibrations.
I've used black electricians tape to reduce some of the light output on some of these LED lights, a poor man's version of movie light "barn doors."
I really like the "dumb" LED strip lights and LED boat navigation lights for indirect lighting. I consider the heat generated from these dumb LEDs as practically nominal. If you have decent airflow, they certainly won't be a problem.
You can still use regular PC addressable lights for accents and key components.
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The more I look into the Dark Rock 4 Pro cooler, for this ITX build the more I'm doubtful it will fit
That front fan looks to be blocking the ram slots. BeQuiet's site indicates the motherboard's ram slots with this cooler could be "constrained" I could flip it around and go with a pull type cooling but what little I know that's less affective.
Instead I'm looking at the Noctua The NH-D15S chromax.black Reviewing PCPicker's site This seems like a compatible cooler and reported temps on that site seem to show 70c to 80c under load for I9-10900k and i7-10700K processors. I don't see my exact combination. Also it appears the brackets for Noctua are superior to BeQuiet's In seeing some reviews of the BeQuiet's coolers the securing method produced some flex/sag and it was a difficult to install. I've only heard good things from Noctua and i've used them in the past as well.
That front fan looks to be blocking the ram slots. BeQuiet's site indicates the motherboard's ram slots with this cooler could be "constrained" I could flip it around and go with a pull type cooling but what little I know that's less affective.
Instead I'm looking at the Noctua The NH-D15S chromax.black Reviewing PCPicker's site This seems like a compatible cooler and reported temps on that site seem to show 70c to 80c under load for I9-10900k and i7-10700K processors. I don't see my exact combination. Also it appears the brackets for Noctua are superior to BeQuiet's In seeing some reviews of the BeQuiet's coolers the securing method produced some flex/sag and it was a difficult to install. I've only heard good things from Noctua and i've used them in the past as well.
I currently use the Dark Rock 4 Pro, it is a beast in terms of size. I usually use Noctua but went for this as it was quieter and in my view, it is compared to the D15S which I had before, but both are good.
Installation is a pain with the DR4P, no doubt about that and it takes up a ridiculous amount of space. No flex/sag issues.
As it happens I have some new case fans arriving from Amazon today which I will be installing later, will take some pics of the cooler to show you how tight it is.
Looks like I may be able to use the DR4P if I opt for low profile ram like Corsair Vengeance LPX but I'm not sure and I'm not sure I'm willing to take a chance.
Conversely I found the D15S and things look a little more spacious - not sure if that matters. Its hard to compare these builds because of varied components. As you can see in this image, the ram is uncovered and the person is using the Cosair LPX ram.
Funny enough as I look through pcpicker's completed builds here's a Dark Rock 4 Pro in a TU150 and you're right, It is a beast. The ram slots are under the right most fan and/or beginning of the cooler. This particular builder used a gigabyte MB and gskill RGB ram, which is a waste, since its completely covered.
Conversely I found the D15S and things look a little more spacious - not sure if that matters. Its hard to compare these builds because of varied components. As you can see in this image, the ram is uncovered and the person is using the Cosair LPX ram.
If I was going to put any RGB into the system, it probably would be ram modules. I've not decided what ram types, but I think corsair is on my short list. What types are those that have the RGB that doubles as a night light
Amazon sells a 10-pack of flexible USB-powered lights for about $7. I bought a pack and sprinkled them around the house as night lights. I have glowy parts in my build too but didn't go hog wild.
If the CPU is in stock right now, buy it. The AMD 5950x is selling on Amazon for $1,299. MSRP is $799. Chip demand is insane right now. The Comet Lake K processors are hard to get. The 65-watt parts can be had though. I don't think that the supply situation will be any better when Rocket Lake comes out as there is some shortage of substrate materials that Intel mentioned this past weekend.
That's why we have shortages and price gouging in GPUs and CPUs. Meanwhile, Apple is merrily rolling along making 5nm M1 chips.
Not to derail the thread, but we got our kids the flexible LED lights for their bedrooms that stick on the wall - I finished painting one daughter's room this weekend and taking those lights off was a royal pain. Peeling them off was easy peasy, getting the residual adhesives off was not. I spent more time scrapping, using goo-gone and trying to clean that up then actually painting it seems.
Back to the PC, I can see some LEDs on the ram, but I'm probably going to go with the low profile ram that I listed above. I'm leaning heavily towards the D15S, given the tight confines of the motherboard
Here's my perspective, I did a little (very little) research and Rocket Lake brings PCIE 4.0 to the table. While I'm building a gaming rig, that will do other tasks like LightRoom and light PS work I'm not a hard core gamer that needs a 3090. Now with that said I'm more likely to buy a processor that is not only in stock but on sale. Rocket Lake will be priced at a premium and supply will most likely be constrained.
I've heard conflicting info on whether I should get extension cables for the TU150, I may spring for that if I want to try to enhance the color/theming of the inside. Right now its a minimalist black so I'm wondering if a splash of color on some power cables may be in order (I doubt it but I have time to look into it)
I have lots of plugs in my MB to add lights and I may add them at some point. Right now the system is under a table but the light is helpful in providing some illumination.
I guess you could look at all-black systems on google images to see what color schemes work. Maybe a single color like purple, orange, yellow instead of the rainbow.
That's what I was doing yesterday, so far nothing really impressed me. Microcenter has basic black and a few colored extension cables. Its one of those nice to do things but I'm not holding back because I'm unsure about the cables.
I've seen some really really nice looking computers from people who theme properly. There was a build in an H200 I saw on JayzTwoCents build reactions that has me scouring for ideas, I will try to find it later... it was black on white with teal cables and fit with the desk and plants and such the user had perfectly. Really made me reconsider my stance on tempered glass and also made me reevaluate whether I want to stick with the NCase long term.
I think that having the right case helps so that you can have some of the lighting outside the case too.
I used that as part of my review process I think. I had a recommendation from a builder but looked around anyways.
It's great to have a system with great thermals, especially when coming from Intel Macs.
Completely agree with the DRP4 being last on ease of install, it's really a bitch
I certainly get better temps than he does though, although in a sealed case with all the case fans I have (5) that is probably the difference.
The only reason I didn't go for the D15S at the time is that damn awful cream and tan fan being on show
I know, I know, colour doesn't make it hotter but the DRP4 was a bit cooler.My system runs very cool, mainly because of three case fans, lots of rooms, running a 65 Watt CPU and a 75 Watt GPU. There's not much in there to get hot. It doesn't run like those with much higher clocks but it provides enough horsepower at very, very low noise levels.
Also, something to bear in mind, certainly with the DRP4, probably others but only seen it on this one.
The issue is pretty clear
It thinks there is no CPU fan, the problem is that the Asus Rog motherboard I have only goes as low as 200 rpm for monitoring, on startup the CPU fan does not go that fast. It, therefore, does not think it's working and won't let the machine startup. I have to disable low rpm monitor completely to make it work but means I cannot monitor the CPU fan.
Still to look into it in more detail to see if there is some other fix. When I had fewer case fans it registered, probably as the heat build-up was quicker and it spun faster than 200 rpm.
Definately there and definitely running I can see it, but so slow even at idle.
The issue is pretty clear
It thinks there is no CPU fan, the problem is that the Asus Rog motherboard I have only goes as low as 200 rpm for monitoring, on startup the CPU fan does not go that fast. It, therefore, does not think it's working and won't let the machine startup. I have to disable low rpm monitor completely to make it work but means I cannot monitor the CPU fan.
Still to look into it in more detail to see if there is some other fix. When I had fewer case fans it registered, probably as the heat build-up was quicker and it spun faster than 200 rpm.
Definately there and definitely running I can see it, but so slow even at idle.
Either in AI suite or Bios run the Q fan tunning or whatever this is called. This will come up with minimum DC voltage or PWM duty to spin the fan (you need to know which one is PWM and DC and set it so). Make sure this value is the minimum allowed across all CPU tempand run with that custom profile instead of one of the predefined ones.
The alarm is just an alarm preventing booting. IMHO this fan is really not spinning if it shows 0rpm, you can of course open the case and verify. Most likely 200rpm is the minimum speed, it cannot maintain lower rpm.
EDIT - just noticed that you had a look and it is spinning. That’s weird.
I think there may be something else I am missing, when I run the fan tuner I can clearly hear and see all other fans spinning up to full as it tests, but the CPU fan just sits there at the same speed at all times. Will need to open it up again but there is only one fan connector intended for the CPU and that is the one I am using.
So maybe the fan is busted
I had a look at the manual of this cooler (DRP4). It uses Y split to connect two different fans to the same header, so the rpm you see is from only one of them (from the one that is connected to splitter plug with full 4 wires). Are those original fans that came with it? Swap them on the Y-splitter and see what happens. Better yet - hook them up individually to the CPU header and see what are their minimum rpm. Just make sure PWM is selected.
Thysanoptera is on the right track.
Some of these AIO coolers use a Y-splitter so the AIO CLC pump and fan use just one motherboard header instead of multiple headers.
On the Y-splitter if one male plug has four pins and the other has three pins, pair the four-pin connector with the fan. That will let the mobo control the radiator fan speed via PWM. The three-pin connector is likely just wired to provide power (+12V, -12V, GND). In that case the AIO pump is intended to run at full speed.
Also, look at your motherboard's user manual carefully. Some motherboards have fan headers that provide different amounts of power. Look at all of the various cooling devices you have and plug the one that draws the most power into the header that provides the most power regardless of how it is named. On my MSI mobo I have five fan headers:
Thus the 240mm AIO radiator pump plugs into PUMP_FAN1; this is configured in the BIOS to run at 100% regardless of the temperature. The two 120mm radiator fans use a Y-splitter and are connected to CPU_FAN1.
Cooling devices like ordinary case fans can go on the regular fan headers. If you run out of headers, use a Y-splitter for the case fans. In my micro-ATX build, there are two identical Noctua exhaust fans on the case top. I use a Noctua Y-splitter so the mobo only needs to control the speed of one fan, the other will run at the same speed (SYS_FAN1).
SYS_FAN2 is for the GPU AIO radiator fan and SYS_FAN3 is for the GPU VRM fan. All of my fan headers are fully utilized so the GPU radiator pump is gets its power directly from the PSU and runs at 100% speed all the time.
Some of these AIO coolers use a Y-splitter so the AIO CLC pump and fan use just one motherboard header instead of multiple headers.
On the Y-splitter if one male plug has four pins and the other has three pins, pair the four-pin connector with the fan. That will let the mobo control the radiator fan speed via PWM. The three-pin connector is likely just wired to provide power (+12V, -12V, GND). In that case the AIO pump is intended to run at full speed.
Also, look at your motherboard's user manual carefully. Some motherboards have fan headers that provide different amounts of power. Look at all of the various cooling devices you have and plug the one that draws the most power into the header that provides the most power regardless of how it is named. On my MSI mobo I have five fan headers:
- CPU_FAN1: 2A, 24W
- PUMP_FAN1: 3A, 36W
- SYS_FAN1: 1A, 12W
- SYS_FAN2: 1A, 12W
- SYS_FAN3: 1A, 12W
Thus the 240mm AIO radiator pump plugs into PUMP_FAN1; this is configured in the BIOS to run at 100% regardless of the temperature. The two 120mm radiator fans use a Y-splitter and are connected to CPU_FAN1.
Cooling devices like ordinary case fans can go on the regular fan headers. If you run out of headers, use a Y-splitter for the case fans. In my micro-ATX build, there are two identical Noctua exhaust fans on the case top. I use a Noctua Y-splitter so the mobo only needs to control the speed of one fan, the other will run at the same speed (SYS_FAN1).
SYS_FAN2 is for the GPU AIO radiator fan and SYS_FAN3 is for the GPU VRM fan. All of my fan headers are fully utilized so the GPU radiator pump is gets its power directly from the PSU and runs at 100% speed all the time.
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@Erehy Dobon he's got air cooler, but with two different fans, 135 and 120 mm. PWM fans, if you disconnect PWM line, run at 100% speed. My guess is this is setup so that one fan runs 100% all the time, and the other is stopped acting as a booster when temperatures are high. @LeeW sees the fan running, so that would be the small one, on the outside, while the big one (sandwiched between heatsinks) is stopped (I don't think there is easy way to see if it is running). I would just swap the cables.
Ah, I did not know it was an air cooler with different sized fans. But yes, swapping the cables would be the first thing to try.
Whatever fan is on the inside is likely the one that is supposed to be running 100% of the time because it provides a constant amount of air circulation as close as possible around the heatsink. It's also drawing air through the stopped blades of the outside fan.
Whatever fan is on the inside is likely the one that is supposed to be running 100% of the time because it provides a constant amount of air circulation as close as possible around the heatsink. It's also drawing air through the stopped blades of the outside fan.