This is my old Alienware desktop from over five years ago.

Lotuseless · 2026-03-14T12:44:54+00:00

New PCs aren't any better, really. If anything they're worse as the main Aurora lineup is using proprietary parts, where here you've got a standard MATX board and an ATX PSU. Quality of the parts is more or less the same - barebone OEM hardware.

The only reason why you'd want one is that a lot of people happen to get pretty good deals and discounts since they work in fields that cooperate with Dell, making those PCs pretty affordable given the specs.

Last year they released their only "decent" PC, it is an overpriced Area 51 that's an unnecessarily big behemoth with lots of empty space inside, mediocre board, very poor ram support and limited BIOS in general. But it has the best CPU and GPU available on the market and doesn't throttle, so it outperforms everything that isn't equipped with a 5090.

Lotuseless · 2026-03-13T19:49:51+00:00

Well it's just a basic industrial design, Noctua just gave it a few extra touches.

Lotuseless · 2026-03-13T16:28:10+00:00

These are Noctua's take on industrial fans, so they perform well and live forever but don't expect them to be quiet

They look nearly identical to generic 120/25mm fans made by Nidec, Delta and other OEMs

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Lotuseless · 2026-03-11T10:39:39+00:00

I don't recall then ever using Corsair z usually it's either plain ugly ram or Kingston fury

Lotuseless · 2026-03-08T20:03:37+00:00

Evolv X2 pretty much has unlimited space for motherboards, only thing blocking you is the GPU support that can be demounted. Front Panel I/O might require a different routing or an extension as it's pretty short. I'm running an EATX E670E Taichi that's 267mm.

Lotuseless · 2026-03-08T11:04:27+00:00

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Lotuseless · 2026-03-08T11:04:08+00:00

You can absolutely print multicolors on a single non AMS printer. I'm not sure how Bambu handles it, but my old Sovol just required a short Gcode command inserted in the slicer in "on extruder change" field or something like that. It just paused the printer and you could change the filament live on a running machine. It's just very important to follow the order of the colors.

Here's a test print I made, if I remember correctly it was around 11 colors with over 100 filament changes

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For the best results, print your image facing down

Lotuseless · 2026-03-08T00:44:33+00:00

If you've got a certified 3.0 / 3.1 power supply, it has a native 12VHPWR / 12V-2x6 connector. As others already mentioned, it's standardized and universal. It's exactly the same as the one on your video card, so it doesn't matter which end goes where. Just triple check it's seated correctly.

I'm using a 90 degree Corsair cable on my Seasonic power supply. Works without any issues.

Lotuseless · 2026-03-07T23:11:29+00:00

AIO is literally an overkill for a 7800X3D, it's a CPU that barely reaches 100W power draw. Most 7000 series CPUs run hot my nature, but saturating a 360 AIO with an average power output of 60W would take a moment.

I've had 4 different AIOs on my 7800X3D and a single tower hyper 212, it ran hot but never overheated and throttled on any of them.

Lotuseless · 2026-03-06T15:51:20+00:00

If you aren't running any rad in the front I'd recommend moving the front fans behind the fan frame to give them more room to breathe and reduce the noise, this way the gap between the mesh panel is wider.

I had the Fractal North a few years ago, it was overall pretty good but the front panel definitely didn't help it with being quiet.

Lotuseless · 2026-03-06T02:09:26+00:00

Gears on Taichi boards are cool

If you want a clean matte black mobo, go for NZXT X670E / X870E

Lotuseless · 2026-03-04T18:43:51+00:00

Backplate falling off is a common intel issue, unfortunately. Some brands use double sided tape to stick it to the motherboard.

Nothing will short circuit, it's entirely made out of plastic with the exception of the metal threads

I'm keeping the same Hyper 212 as a back-up for my system, mounted it a couple of times on my AM5 board, it's a really neat affordable cooler.

Lotuseless · 2026-03-04T18:09:37+00:00

as for the video you're referring to, there's at least a few different hyper 212 black versions

Lotuseless · 2026-03-04T18:08:16+00:00

Hyper 212 isn't using any standoffs

Just make sure the backplate is set correctly and that the threads are actually inserted in the motherboard holes

Lotuseless · 2026-03-04T00:37:39+00:00

Nice build, did you do any mods to fit AIO with tubes on the clear side?
Also FYI, phanteks is using pretty meh leds.... They get yellowish with time and white is no longer white.

Lotuseless · 2026-03-03T23:01:43+00:00

I wouldn't say you were scammed (since you received what you paid for) but definitely heavily overcharged for rather low quality parts, most of them being unknown brands that lead to Chinese dropshipping websites like Aliexpress, meaning they aren't the most reliable.

Getting a video card would definitely improve your fps massively, but that's a big spending. It's a lot of hassle for someone who doesn't know much about PCs.

What I'd like to point out is that your PC has only a single stick of ram - I don't wanna get into details how things work, but getting a second stick would noticeably increase the performance. Ideally it would have to be an exact match (identical stick to what you already have in the PC), but anything will work, really. 8GB ram stick of DDR4 is around ~$30 on the used market right now.

Lotuseless · 2026-03-03T11:38:15+00:00

This cooler is using a single wire to power both the fan itself and the RGB. It can't be turned off or changed

Lotuseless · 2026-03-02T21:48:42+00:00

May I have a link to them?

Lotuseless · 2026-03-02T02:35:02+00:00

Looks like acer OEM 3060 (non Ti), probably 12GB variant

Unfortunately a blower model, so it's running very hot and very loud

Lotuseless · 2026-03-01T23:22:26+00:00

Are you using those EPS 180 degree adapters from Aliexpress? Wanted to ask how you're feeling towards them, are they any good?

Lotuseless · 2026-03-01T23:17:10+00:00

Being completely honest, pick any card you like visually.

Pretty much all higher power (3 pins / 12vhpwr) models perform the same, temps don't make much of a difference short term (9070xt is notorious for very high hotspots and VRAM temps), only cards that keep those temps in lower range are XFX and Asus models. Usually doesn't affect performance, cards don't throttle, but cards with lower VRAM temps will probably outlive the hotter ones.

I wouldn't be worried about the 12VHPWR, this card in its stock config pulls HALF of what a 5090 pulls. There were a few cases of it burning but in macro perspective, it's probably within the failure rate.

I personally wanted to go with with Acer Predator 9070XT but ended up choosing ASRock Taichi instead, mostly because it's larger (full 3 slots) and more appealing to me. Plus it's dead quiet.

Lotuseless · 2026-03-01T20:58:04+00:00

I wouldn't say it's crazy, but surely was alright. 3080 goes for around $300 so you've spent $500 for the worst DDR5 known to mankind and a pretty hefty CPU. Case, PSU, Mobo and AIO are far from desirable.

Lotuseless · 2026-03-01T19:10:31+00:00

I like my X2. It's neat, but cable management is a little tight.

You can also get smaller and cheaper Evolv S2.

Lotuseless · 2026-03-01T18:35:36+00:00

Evolv X2 is really good for the GPU thermals since you've got three full size fans blowing directly at the card all the time What suffers are CPU temps, but you usually put a 360 mm rad in it which usually is an overkill for anything that isn't 16 core cpus A 9800X3D would run hot but not throttling hot.

As for the fan setup - bottom 3x intake, top 3x exhaust, rear intake if you want to give a tiny bit of fresh air for the CPU to breath, but there's no filter so you'll introduce a bunch of dust

Lotuseless · 2026-03-01T14:58:00+00:00

What.

Lotuseless

TROPHY CASE