I've built in the TU150 using the D15, let me know if you have any questions.
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Building a new desktop
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Indeed I do
- What ram are you using and does the CPU fan have any issues? Since you're not using a rear fan how's the air movement/cooling. As noted in an earlier post, I'll be opting for corsair low profile ram LPX
- What MB are you using? I found that for ITX builds the MSI MB seems like it would be best for me,
- What CPU are you using and how's your temps?
- Looks like you're using extension cables - correct?
- Glass side or metal side?
- Did you put your CPU cooler on the MB before putting it in the case? Looking at these larger coolers and the cramped space I'm not sure if I'll access to the stand offs if I try to build out the MB before putting it in the case.
- Are you dealing with GPU sag? I'm not sure its a TU150 specific issues, but of the reviews/YTs I've seen, some mentioned or showed off GPU sag on the larger GPUs
Of the builds I've seen on pcpicker yours is one of the best, very clean, well ordered
I'll start by saying I don't have this build anymore, the case for me had a few limitations with cooling. Mainly all of the hot air from the GPU is pulled through the CPU cooler.
Here's the full spec:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 3.8 GHz 12-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 CHROMAX.BLACK 82.52 CFM CPU Cooler
Motherboard: Asus ROG Strix B450-I Gaming Mini ITX AM4 Motherboard
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory
Storage: Sabrent Rocket 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 8 GB WINDFORCE OC 3X Video Card
Case: Lian Li TU150 Mini ITX Desktop Case
Power Supply: Corsair SF 750 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular SFX Power Supply
Here's some info from my build:
Thanks!
If I was in the market for an ITX build now, I'd take a good look at the Cooler Master NR200P.
Here's the full spec:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 3.8 GHz 12-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 CHROMAX.BLACK 82.52 CFM CPU Cooler
Motherboard: Asus ROG Strix B450-I Gaming Mini ITX AM4 Motherboard
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory
Storage: Sabrent Rocket 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 8 GB WINDFORCE OC 3X Video Card
Case: Lian Li TU150 Mini ITX Desktop Case
Power Supply: Corsair SF 750 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular SFX Power Supply
The cooling in the TU150 decent, the exhaust is the limitation as you've got to pull all the air through the cooler that then exhausts out the back. RAM wise I went with Corsair LPX like you.
See above.
3900x.
Here's some info from my build:
Glass
See my build notes above.
There's always a little sag with GPUs TBH.
Thanks!
If I was in the market for an ITX build now, I'd take a good look at the Cooler Master NR200P.
Thanks, that was very helpful
I like Optimum Tech and Hardware Canucks for their case reviews. Here's Optimum Tech's review of the NR200p What is surprising is the air cooler size limitations. It seems you cannot fit a Noctua NH-D15, 15DS and a couple of other Noctua coolers, the Dark Rock 4 and Dark Rock 4 Pro don't fit either.
The guy really does like this case, and it has some nice additions to be sure
Here's Hardware Canucks
Here's what I'm wondering with the humongous cooler, its able to pulled the temp from the CPU into the large array of fins, but moving cool air across those fins are limited by a single CPU fan, and the front fan - as you mentioned. If I go with the Noctua 15DS, I'lll have room for a rear fan, along with the front fan.
I might have missed it but what are your temps at idle and under load for the 3900x?
I've seen that case, and I'll re-research it but for some reason (fair or unfair), I've never liked Cooler Master products they seem very garish, cheap and I'm not a fan of the design language. With that said, the NR200P does look to be a nice case and may be able to breath better then the TU150
I like Optimum Tech and Hardware Canucks for their case reviews. Here's Optimum Tech's review of the NR200p What is surprising is the air cooler size limitations. It seems you cannot fit a Noctua NH-D15, 15DS and a couple of other Noctua coolers, the Dark Rock 4 and Dark Rock 4 Pro don't fit either.
The guy really does like this case, and it has some nice additions to be sure
Here's Hardware Canucks
You can fit a rear fan, albeit a smaller 15mm with the DH15. The S I think moves everything over towards the rear more so you may not be able to fit a fan.
Ryzen is weird, so the idel temps are higher than you'd expect, so around 50 to mid 50s. It went into the 70s under load.
I'm the same, but the NR200P is different. They finally went with a well thought out, clean case.
eg.
True it cannot fit the bigger coolers, but you can go with a 240mm rad if you don't want the glass side.
Ali from Optimum tech is a great reviewer.
Wow the D15S is hard to find. MicroCenter has the non-black Chomax version for 109 and here's the only black one in googling. Its from newegg and the price boils down to gouging OR the tarriffs being in affect. I suspect the latter. The other issue is the 5 to 23 day turn around time. I suspect its closer to the 20 days then 5 days.
I'll probably either get the non-black one, but I really don't want to do that, or opt for the D-15 and work with that
I'll probably either get the non-black one, but I really don't want to do that, or opt for the D-15 and work with that
It seems the chromax black is in demand/short supply and are being gouged. The "regular" brown color d15s and d15 can be had on Amazon for one day delivery.
My cooler does this as well. My MB (TUF Gaming) has two ports for CPU fans but the cooler has the Y Splitter too. I don't recall how I hooked it up but a bad fan or an issue with the splitter could be a problem.
Thanks for the help, I took the cover off and tried a few different things and...
It seems that it just doesn't want both cooler fans plugged into the same socket regardless of the fact DarkRock provide a splitter to do precisely that. If I plug either fan into the splitter it detects the fan, plug in both and it doesn't.
With it set to Auto in the BIOS for the type (PWM/DC/Auto) it still won't detect saying it is not running but when I change it to PWM even though the fan does run at lower speeds than the 200 min in the BIOS it does detect it and allows it start up fine.
Still not perfect but it does at least mean it is now working, well one of the fans is, I can't be sure if the middle fan is running although I am sure I can sense a change in vibration when touching it. Without taking it out I can be sure, hence the DRP4 is a pain, not easy to work with due to the size. There is no way I can pop the fan out to see it working without taking the MB out.
But at least it's progress
Nah, this is price gouging driven by demand. As Thysanoptera mentioned, the brown version of the D-15S is easy to find. I looked at the prices of Noctua's benchmark 120mm brown fans:
- NF-A12x25: all-purpose model, out of stock from manufacturer; available from third-party Amazon seller at $85(!)
- NF-F12: high static pressure model, $20
- NF-S12A: sound-optimized model, $20
The latter two are the same normal price as they were six months ago. No tariff price increase has kicked in.
The NF-A12x25 should realistically be around $24-25. Right now there's a >+200% markup. If you want to know if there's price gouging or some more benevolent price increase, just look at other products from the same manufacturer.
If a manufacturer increases the prices for an entire product family, it is in their interest to make some sort of statement to explain why.
Today following ASUS's footsteps, ZOTAC and EVGA did that for their graphics cards:
ZOTAC and EVGA increase prices of for their GeForce RTX 30 graphics cards - VideoCardz.com
ASUS and EVGA increase GPU pricing in the US Following ASUS’s decision to increase PC component pricing in the US, ZOTAC and EVGA are following the suit. It almost felt like PC stores started to see increased stock of graphics cards by the end of 2020, but at the beginning of 2021, the GPU...
Note that the +25% "List 3" tariff increase doesn't automatically translate into the same percentage increase in price. It's up to each company to decide how much to increase based on other costs, currency fluctuations and gross margin. In the case of EVGA, it looks more like a +8% price increase on their GPUs, not +25% or more.
Perhaps these companies are hoping that the incoming administration will scale back the "List 3" tariffs or remove them altogether. That remains to be seen but most observers expect the incoming administration to handle trade affairs differently than the current administration.
In any case, you are best putting things in various wishlists and wait for them to return to more acceptable prices. Assuming you don't want to reward the gougers it is likely you will not finish your build until August or September.
You should consider a first choice, a second choice and possibly a third choice for each major component. Due to your timing, you missed the opportunity to take advantage of extended return windows that many shoppers enjoyed in Q4 CY 2020.
I would plug in each CPU cooler fan into the motherboard fan header directly to see if the motherboard correctly powers it and can read the rotational speed. Start with the inside 135mm fan since that's the primary device and you can't see if it's working from the outside.
You could temporarily unplug one of the case fans and use that header for testing the other fan. That would also allow you to confirm the motherboard's fan headers are functioning correctly.
The technical specifications on the be Quiet site indicate that the both fans are PWM type and different top rotation speeds (1200 rpm for the 135 mm unit, 1500 rpm for the 120mm unit).
You should consider contacting be Quiet technical support. It's not like you are the first person ever to plug this into an ASUS motherboard. Likely this has been tested heavily with various motherboards from all of the major manufacturers.
I found amazon is getting Noctua NH-D15 chromax.Black later this week, I put my order in and if things fall into place I should have it by Monday or Tuesday. The good news is Amazon (not a seller on Amazon) is selling them for 100 dollars. 150 (or more) dollars less then what people were trying to get.
I still may opt for the BeQuiet CPU cooler Dark Rock 4 Pro, simply because its a cleaner look for such a small enclosure. The Noctura popped up on my radar and I couldn't let that pass.
I'm doing more due diligence on the other components, that is ensuring that I'm setting myself up for success, i.e., MSI motherboard vs. Asus. Ensuring the memory I'm picking is not just compatible but running fairly quickly, etc etc.
I still may opt for the BeQuiet CPU cooler Dark Rock 4 Pro, simply because its a cleaner look for such a small enclosure. The Noctura popped up on my radar and I couldn't let that pass.
I'm doing more due diligence on the other components, that is ensuring that I'm setting myself up for success, i.e., MSI motherboard vs. Asus. Ensuring the memory I'm picking is not just compatible but running fairly quickly, etc etc.
Reviews are such that there's virtually no difference between the DRP4 and D15, though reviewers have scored Noctua higher because of mounting hardware is better and/or slightly easier to install the cooler
Performance wise they are the same, however I think the Silent Wings on the Dark Rock have a better sound profile to my ears.
I've of course built using the Dark Rock Pro 4, I do like the look of it, but it does show up dust easily.
I do like all black no RGB builds as you can see.
Silent Wings all round, have to match the fans with the CPU cooler for OCD purposes
That's the theme I'm going with, I just ordered the PSU and extension cables from Amazon. The rest of the stuff will be ordered from newegg.
I have to say I'm really impressed with Microcenter's prices. Visiting that store is like a kid going to a candy store Next time I need to go there without my family, so I can spend more time just poking around.
One thing that seemed unusual was the sheer volume of Ryzen motherboards and CPUs They had all the shelves fully stocked with all different types, several end caps and even MOBs just stacked up in the aisles (3+ feet high).
Conversely they literally had zero Intel motherboards, I couldn't find a single one, regardless of form factor. Likewise with the CPUS - Intel vs. AMD's. There was only a couple of I5-10600ks left to buy, but you had the pick of the litter for any Ryzen chipset, each Ryzen model had a full display case.
My un-educated opinion is that it seems Microcenter has been selling more Intel CPUs/Mobs then ryzen. I've been monitoring Microcenter's CPU stock and its been flucuating, i.e., getting a shipment and then watching the stock drop down to almost zero. I had to time my visit there so I had the best opportunity to buy a cpu. Sadly, that wasn't the case with motherboards. The one I wanted never came in, so I'll have to get that at newegg or amazon.
Next time I need to go there without my family, so I can spend more time just poking around.One thing that seemed unusual was the sheer volume of Ryzen motherboards and CPUs They had all the shelves fully stocked with all different types, several end caps and even MOBs just stacked up in the aisles (3+ feet high).
Conversely they literally had zero Intel motherboards, I couldn't find a single one, regardless of form factor. Likewise with the CPUS - Intel vs. AMD's. There was only a couple of I5-10600ks left to buy, but you had the pick of the litter for any Ryzen chipset, each Ryzen model had a full display case.
My un-educated opinion is that it seems Microcenter has been selling more Intel CPUs/Mobs then ryzen. I've been monitoring Microcenter's CPU stock and its been flucuating, i.e., getting a shipment and then watching the stock drop down to almost zero. I had to time my visit there so I had the best opportunity to buy a cpu. Sadly, that wasn't the case with motherboards. The one I wanted never came in, so I'll have to get that at newegg or amazon.
I am sure that's true. Whilst there are many reasons to go for AMD I am finding that builders are sticking with Intel, those purchasing systems off-shelf are more mixed.
For those I know that are building with Intel the reason simply appears to be familiarity over anything else, that is they have built with Intel, never with AMD. Which is a fair reason, I look at AMD and see good things but revert back to Intel for that same reason of familiarity regardless of how lacking as a reason that is.
That was definitely one of my major criteria. I was researching intel vs. ryzen all the way up until last night. In a weird twist, there's too many choices with ryzen, b550, a320, x570. 3700, 3200, 2600, etc etc. I wonder for the average hobbyiest that can be overwhelming as well.
For me, I had to narrow down my research to B550 mother boards and in comparing the I5-10600k, the only CPU from AMD that was similar in terms of price, cores and threads was the 3600 and comparing those two, the results were very similar. Granted the Ryzen TDP is much much lower, but as you mentioned. I'm very familiar with intel and that goes a long way.
Poking around Microcenter is something of a hobby of mine lol. Totally get it.
Microcenter has bad prices for some things but you really can't beat the CPU/MOBO bundles and even without that they continually have the lowest CPU prices of any retailer.
The only thing I don't like about them is they appear to pay their sales staff on commission so sometimes they can be quite pushy. I don't tend to buy stuff there unless I online order it as a result. Actually that probably saves me a lot of money from impulse buying.
Microcenter has bad prices for some things but you really can't beat the CPU/MOBO bundles and even without that they continually have the lowest CPU prices of any retailer.
The only thing I don't like about them is they appear to pay their sales staff on commission so sometimes they can be quite pushy. I don't tend to buy stuff there unless I online order it as a result. Actually that probably saves me a lot of money from impulse buying.
I have to say I'm really impressed with Microcenter's prices. Visiting that store is like a kid going to a candy store
No question, I saved over 40 dollars on the I5 compared to newegg.
Agreed, I find the sales staff to be overly pushy and/or hovering over you waiting to put their sticker on your products. I've found some sales people to be incredibly helpful but many times, they're just interested in pushing a solution to put their sticker on w/o really listening to me. I have the best time just looking not interacting with the sales staff
Fun fact - their computer systems are not connected nationwide, when the cashier asks you for like email etc every store has its own database. I've been to it in Dallas, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Kansas City, Chicago, Baltimore and the one that close to DC, Newark and one of those on Long Island, Denver, St Louis, Phily and probably more that I don't remember. When I travel I check if there is Microcenter in the area and get a hotel near it, or just stop by when passing through.
EDIT - Denver and Detroit too, unfortunately I live 2 hours away from the nearest one.
EDIT - Denver and Detroit too, unfortunately I live 2 hours away from the nearest one.
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The AMD ecosystem isn't that complicated if one follows a methodical analysis.
A year ago Windows 10 to me was something installed on a VirtualBox instance in order to run the Windows versions of Excel and Quicken.
I started investigating custom PC building about nine months ago after the initial COVID-19 lockdown knowing it was an Intel v. AMD choice in motherboard chipset architecture which dictates the CPU decision. Initially I had no bias. The fact that all of the PCs I built in the late Nineties had Intel Pentium CPUs on ASUS motherboards had zero influence on my methodology last year.
There were two main reasons why I went with AMD.
First, the newest AMD motherboards (B550, X570) support PCIe 4.0 Gen4 m.2 NVMe SSDs. That means blazingly fast disk access. While you can upgrade a CPU or GPU on an older motherboard or upgrade your broadband connection, there's no affordable and effective way to increase storage performance if you have already maxxed out the chipset's limit.
My current Sabrent Rocket boot drives get 5000 MB/s read performance on my B550 motherboards whereas they would max out around 3500 MB/s on an older chipset.
Even better the newest wave of NVMe sticks reach 7000 MB/s read. For my work-in-progress mid-tower ATX build, I'm holding off on buying a boot SSD as I wait for more SSDs at this speed to show up thus when prices start dropping from competition.
Second is performance-per-watt. While this seems like a mostly relevant consideration for mobile devices (notebooks, smartphones, tablets, etc.) it is particularly important for compact PC builds. Yes, you can get more performance with a 10900 but that has a 125W TDP (per Intel). You pay for performance with fan acoustics.
So I ended up getting AMD's top Zen 2 CPU in the 65W TDP category: the 3700X (8 core, 16 thread). With my 240mm cooler this CPU tops out at 63°C completely maxxed out (CPU benchmark software, Handbrake encodes). During gaming it's probably around 55-58°C.
As for the two chipsets the X570 is the premium chipset but for SFF builds that are gaming focused the B550 is quite capable. I figured I could save $100-150 by going with a B550 board and allocating that money to faster m.2 sticks.
Having narrowed down the chipset to B550 I simply looked at ASUS motherboards to identify planks with the right headers at a suitable price. Thus I ended up with two ROG Strix B550 motherboards (one for my mini-ITX build, one for my ATX build). ASUS did not have an ideal micro-ATX B550 board so I ended up with a MSI MAG Mortar.
My CPU upgrade path is very clear: Zen 3 generation Ryzen CPU running at 65W, hopefully another 8 core/16 thread model. This should give me Resizable BAR when paired with my planned Ampere GPU upgrade. This is plug-and-play since all three of my motherboards have the BIOS update to support this. I expect to spend very little time tweaking the fan curves.
AMD is expected to move to the new AM5 platform after this generation so it made no sense to get motherboards running an earlier generation 400-series chipset.
The Ryzen 3600 has been the top selling CPU at Amazon since last summer. In fact, I believe all of the top 10 selling CPUs on Amazon are Ryzens. Unsurprisingly the 3600 had been repeatedly identified as the top gaming CPU pick by Tom's Hardware and many other publications.
This all shows up in the rise of AMD-powered PCs in Steam's regular surveys.
Eventually my 3700X will end up in my non-gaming mini-ITX daily driver build. My current Sabrent Rocket 5000 MB/s boot SSD in my gaming PC will be cloned to a 7000 MB/s boot SSD. The 3700 MB/s secondary m.2 stick that holds a bunch of games will be cloned to the now-free Sabrent Rocket. Just by rotating my m.2 SSDs I expect about +35% disk read improvement. With a 400-series chipset I wouldn't bother.
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Thought I'd post a picture of my messy build even though it's an ATX form factor. It's utilitarian and sits under my desk. I don't have to look at the messy interior. The AIO came without the logo, but since it was around Thanksgiving, I opted not to return it and to use as is. The case for all it's messy glorious-ness runs cool, but I wish I bought a different case...one with room for a 240 or 360 radiator for the AIO.
One thing though, the system booted up the first time without any issues.