Cases Silverstone FT03 build (now turning into post your pics of FT03 builds thread)

[jonnym]

Now that will be interesting! What mobo are you using (according to the Thermalright website, see HR-02 MCL.pdf link at the bottom), pretty much any H67 Micro-ATX board is going to have problems with the PCI-E slot, while the P67 M-ATX boards should be fine...

What RAM are you using - tall heatspreaders?

Looking fwd to the pics dude

[Da_Rude_Baboon]

Its a P series and I use Corsair Vengeance with the tall heat spreaders. Scan's courier has failed me how ever. It is being delivered to my work between 17.30 and 18.30 today but I finish at 16.30 so unless I'm going past work this weekend I will not get it until Monday.

[Da_Rude_Baboon]

Fitted the new HSF last night.



Before with the Titan Skali.



Skali and the FT-02 together.



From above.



The side



In the case



View around the socket showing the ram clearance

For such a big heat sink it was a suprisingly painless to fit and comes with an extra long screw driver as you need to screw through the height of the heatsink to reach one of the mounting screws. I have not had time to stress out the PC and get load temps yet but it idles the same as the skali and sometimes lower. With the front panel removed it was idling around 40c but that dropped to 34c with the panel in place and more direct airflow. It comes with everything you need to mount either a 120mm or 140mm fan as well so you can convert it to an active heatsink easily enough.

[jonnym]

Great work & great pics D_R.

The HR-02 is one big momma... Fits like a dream though, and must make for a pretty quiet system!

I wonder whether the temps would be lower or higher if you swapped out the CPU bracket fan for a fan on the HR-02 itself (assuming there's enough clearance on the RAM)?!

Excellent stuff.

Let us know the load temps when you get a chance

[r3loaded]

That looks pretty nice. I'm personally considering moving the CPU fan from the heatsink itself to the angled bracket - it'll certainly solve the RAM clearance problem. Or I might get an Antec/Corsair water-cooler later on..

[Da_Rude_Baboon]

Originally Posted by jonnym

I wonder whether the temps would be lower or higher if you swapped out the CPU bracket fan for a fan on the HR-02 itself (assuming there's enough clearance on the RAM)?!

I think the CPU would be lower with a 140mm fan on the heat sink but i'm not sure what would happen to the rest of the case temperatures. The 140mm bottom of the fan would sit lower than the fins on the heatsink so the socket area would get airflow. The bottom pick on the install instructions shows a 140mm fan fitted. [PDF]

[jonnym]

As long as you're happy with the temps, idle & load, job's a good'un.

You're running a 2600K, I think? Any overclock?

Like I said, bet it's pretty quiet!

[Da_Rude_Baboon]

2500k and its at stock atm until I record a base line load temp and I am completely satisfied that everything is 100% stable. I briefly turned on the AI overclocking feature on the motherboard and it would push the CPU to 4.1Ghz so I expect there to be some head room over that with a manual OC.

Using the OCCT extreme test the temps maxed out at 78c with the Skali so it will be interesting to see how the HR-02 compares. Something is making more noise than it should so I need to fine tune the fan settings.

[Elladene]

I have been monitoring this thread for a while. I do not wish to take off topic but wanted some help/ reassurance.

I am no expert would like to take the plunge on a new system. To mitigate my lack of expertise I would like to plaugerise the builds mentioned here (primarily Da Rude Baboon).

I live in Bermuda and therefore parts are very hard to come by. I will ship in from the US, but I can do this only once really (without a huge delay), so I need to order it right first time.

My need is maximum quiet/ maximum power (the age old trade off).

I would be obliged if someone could confirm my parts list is complete/ answer a couple of questions:

PSU: Silverstone Strider 600w + optional short cable kit (Is this PSU quiet?);
CPU: i7 2600k
MB: P8P67 - M - Pro ( i will not manually overclock, do I need pro?);
Ram: 2 * 4GB Corsair Vengeance 1866 (Is this the correct Ram?);
SSD: Best I can but with money left over;
HDD: 1TB Samsund spinpoint (is this a quiet HDD?);
Cooler: Thermaltake HR02 fanless heatsink;
Optical: Slotloading drive (to be found via web);
Cables: Slimline SATA to SATA adapter, 3 * 15cm straight SATA cable.

Hope you can help with questions/ confirmation re above.

My last question is GPU: whats the best/ quietist that will fit into the case. I see a number of these on this thread (KFA2 GTX 560, eVGA GTX 570, Saphire 5870 HD Vapour-x). Which is the best for fit (must) and the power/ quiet trade off (and indeed the rear exhaust seems recommended).

I appreciate the help. I am very much a beginner re comp build so do need the help.

[r3loaded]

CPU: Do you need to run "professional" software? (stuff like video editing/3D rendering/CAD). If not, save a fair bit of money and get a 2500K. If you're not going to overclock (and never wish to), save some more money and get a non-K model CPU.

Mobo: The main difference between the Pro and non-Pro models is that the Pro allows for SLI and can accordingly configure its PCIe lanes in 8x/8x mode instead of 16x/4x. I decided to pay the extra £7 for the flexibility.

RAM: 1600Mhz is all you really need. The Vengeance RAM does look nicer, but beware clearance issues with CPU cooler fans. As you're planning on the fanless HR02, this won't be an issue.

SSD: OCZ Vertex 3 is coming pretty soon, so you might want to wait for that. If you need one right now, it's either the Crucial C300 or the Vertex 2E you want to look at.

HDD: My F3 is pretty much inaudible above the sound of the fans, though you can hear it when it spins up if you're paying attention.

GPU: The case allows for 14 inches of room, so I'm guessing even the upcoming Radeon 6990 will fit in. I have a KFA2 GTX 560 which vents into the case, but it's not particularly a problem as the fan in the bottom blows it out anyway. Performance-wise, for 1080p resolution a GTX 560 is plenty.

[Elladene]

Perfect info. Thx. I feel comfortable (and excited) to begin placing orders. Unfortunately, it will be a long wait to get the parts from store to my front door. At least I can get things rolling. I would like to, but do not have the patience, to wait any more for anything. Maybe I'll upgrade some bits in 12 months.

Once again, thx.

[Da_Rude_Baboon]

Hi Elladene. I'm glad my posts have been useful to you. Is the PSU quiet? I'm not 100% sure yet as something in my case is making more noise than I like and I haven't worked out if its a fan, PSU or just the fact my computer sits on the desk (my old one was on the carpeted floor) and something is vibrating. The odd thing is the noise is a constant and does not change under load. Its like fan noise but with an odd rumbling. Tonight I'm going to unplug the fans and stop the PSU fan to see if I can work out what it is. Its not loud and I only notice it if I'm trying to sleep with the computer on.

I was playing Napoleon: Total War last night and my GPU was loud during play. I have never heard its fan spin up like that before but I don't think I've played a game which stresses it so much either. I would follow Silverstones advice and try and find a GPU which expels hot air out the rear of the case. I used the Vapour-X as its what I already had.

[morkfromork]

Some nice builds in here. When i first saw the ft03 i did not like it at all. But the more i see people using them and posting there pictures the more i like them. Might have to start looking at changing my raven rv02 and getting one of these.

Still think the hwite one looks nasty but the black one is sexy.

[Da_Rude_Baboon]

Ignoring my previous intentions I ran the OCCT PSU test which puts the maximum strain on your CPU and GPU with the CPU over clocked (via autotune in the BIOS) to 4.1GHz last night. CPU temps after an hour were 64C and the GPU was 70C. Quite impressive for a passive setup and you could feel the heat coming from the computer.

The PSU is pretty quiet and I have identified the GPU intake (case) fan as the cause of my noise.

[Fingers66]

Originally Posted by Da_Rude_Baboon

...<snip>...The PSU is pretty quiet and I have identified the GPU intake (case) fan as the cause of my noise.

Is it the fan itself or is it causing a resonance through the case panel?

[Da_Rude_Baboon]

I don't know yet as its quite a 'congested' part of my build. I have the sata cables and several power cables routed through that area so it's not an area you can clearly see. The fan bracket is removable so it may be slightly loose or a screw that is not fully tightened. The case panels are very rigid so I would doubt the fan would cause any resonance there. I used the highly scientific process of plugging in the fans one by one until the noise started. I could investigate further or I could play Napoleon:TW and N:TW keeps on winning!

[Rhinogobius]

Would like to know if you solved that noise issue, just about to build same set up and wonder if worth buying 3 replacement fans before i start. I am thinking of 3 x Noiseblocker BlackSilent PRO-PL2 which seem to have good balance of noise / airflow. Also how would you rate the noise of the fans which come with case, as i normally run fans of fan controllers and these just seem to connect to PSU and run on full. Thanks.

[GiantKiwi]

Considering making my rig slightly smaller, this case could be useful for it. So, 1. does anyone know if its possible to fit a corsair h50 at the top of the case in push/pull? I'm considering changing the motherboard i've got (rampage III extreme) for its smaller dimensioned sibling the III gene, my only worry being that an i7 950 does have a tendency to run rather hot. Also would like to attempt to fit my 2 6970's in the mix (yeah this could start to get fun) would it be possible?

so basically it will be this:

Current Rig:

Core i7 950
Corsair H50 /w Push/Pull
Rampage III Extreme
24GB Patriot Viper II Sector 7 1600MHz DDR3
2x XFX HD6970 CF
Corsair Pro Series Gold AX850
Coolermaster Stacker 832SE

change the motherboard to Rampage III Gene and change the case to the FT03, and keep everything else.

Would have hyperthreading on, but probably not bother with much or any overclock due to stability issues related to the RAM slots all being full.

thoughts?

[Bindibadgi]

I wouldn't put in two graphics cards - the second would be pulling air off the side of the case as there's very little ventilation other than from the base.

Or, drop them for a HD 6990. A little slower but single PCI-E slot.

[GiantKiwi]

Originally Posted by Bindibadgi

I wouldn't put in two graphics cards - the second would be pulling air off the side of the case as there's very little ventilation other than from the base.

Or, drop them for a HD 6990. A little slower but single PCI-E slot.

only problem with that is i will need a sale on the current GPU's before i can afford that :/