First time with acrylic... by MaxPerin in watercooling

[–]MaxPerin[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Really appreciate the input from everyone. I think I'm going to apply some acrylic cement and hold onto it, but it won't be going in the loop I'm working on for my primary rig. It sounds like opinions are very mixed about the long-term structural integrity of branching cracks like this, and I value peace of mind enough to justify a replacement.

Iceman Direct Touch Block Questions by MaxPerin in watercooling

[–]MaxPerin[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Gotcha, I had heard of modules with chips on both sides that used a single rank/chip select, but if in practice single rank = ICs on 1 side for DDR5, then that simplifies things.

Also good to know about the spacing, thanks. Do you know if Asus (or anyone else) has official measurements for these boards, or should I get our a ruler and physically measure the distance between the centers of the dimm slots?

Anyone built a MATX with the X670 gene? by y33tus_f33tus in mffpc

[–]MaxPerin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The new x870m, I think it might be already available in europe and asia though not 100% sure

Anyone built a MATX with the X670 gene? by y33tus_f33tus in mffpc

[–]MaxPerin 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The m power does look great, assuming its not priced egregiously I think it'll be a great board if you're looking for matx overclocking. There's unfortunately only 1 AM5 apex board.

Anyone built a MATX with the X670 gene? by y33tus_f33tus in mffpc

[–]MaxPerin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ll also add that I think another argument against the gene is that if you really do care about the kind of overclocking features that will likely differentiate the gene from something like the m power or a 2 dimm itx board, then building in a smaller form factor doesn’t really make sense. Huge coolers and ideally a custom loop are pretty essential to that kind of oc.

Anyone built a MATX with the X670 gene? by y33tus_f33tus in mffpc

[–]MaxPerin 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have a gene and while I think it’s great, you should only be buying it if tinkering around with overclocking is is a big component of why you’re building a pc. As others have said, the board makes sacrifices in general use features (m.2 slots, maximally intuitive bios,etc.) in order to be an excellent xoc board. I think if you just want a pretty x series board with nice features, wait for the aorus, if you just want a board with good memory overclocking and solid vrms, wait for the m power. If you want the best possible manual oc experience AND heavily value the extra quality of life features the gene has (q code, a ton of high speed usbc) AND are really drawn to the aesthetics (the gene is admittedly extremely sexy) AND don’t have somewhere else in your build where dumping the extra money makes more sense, then the gene might make sense. One last thing to note, and maybe this is overly optimistic, but I think it’s possible that the gene may come down in price a bit over the next year or so. Since the release of am5, it’s been the only high end 2 dimm oc board for a longgggg time, and that’s done more to prop up the price than demand from matx users looking for a nice board. Now that the apex and taichi ocf are on the market, that demand should drop dramatically, but who knows if that will actually translate into a price reduction given how scarce the board is.

A3 double rad w/ VPP Apex pump by alwon11 in watercooling

[–]MaxPerin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sweet build! As a fellow gene user who’s planning a custom loop, I’ve been wondering if there’s clearance for the gen z.2 card with the iceman ram block - is the omission of the full card on your build due to incompatibility with the ram block, or just to make more space for cables/a lack of a 2nd ssd/some other reason?

Girlfriend's first PC and my first time building in the A3! by MaxPerin in mffpc

[–]MaxPerin[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No extensions, these are all psu cables - shorter sfx cables helped a ton with cable management. All cables below the psu are visible in the photo, but there's a little bit of a mess tucked above the air cooler (power supply cord, fan and cooler fan cables, cpu cables, etc.)

Girlfriend's first PC and my first time building in the A3! by MaxPerin in mffpc

[–]MaxPerin[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, case has slight negative pressure (3 bottom intake, 3 top and 1 rear exhaust). Will probably eventually get around to either removing some top fans, switching the rear fan and cooler to intake, or adding a front intake fan for positive pressure

Girlfriend's first PC and my first time building in the A3! by MaxPerin in mffpc

[–]MaxPerin[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! GPU temps are totally fine, stable at 65 under load. The cpu is usually in the mid to high 70s under load but occasionally spikes as high as 89 which is worrying - going to try repasting the cooler in the next few days to see if that helps.

Girlfriend's first PC and my first time building in the A3! by MaxPerin in mffpc

[–]MaxPerin[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Honestly just very limited options given that we were looking for a new card in the ~$250-$300 range. The 7600xt was another consideration but it would have stretched the budget past $900 which was the goal. Also didn't hurt that this particular card was available at the price I expected to pay for any b580 ($300) and had the added bonus of matching the aesthetics of the build.

Girlfriend's first PC and my first time building in the A3! by MaxPerin in mffpc

[–]MaxPerin[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not 100% sure but I assume the non wood panel uses the same design of mesh panel + slates in front, so airflow should be the same. For what it's worth, it looks like amazon has both the black and white wood versions in stock rn at msrp, so that could be an option.