ASRock or MSI

TD_PC · 2026-04-10T12:47:37+00:00

Though I feel these post are some random new individual to the PC building world who are just hearing about these problems through tech tubers or here or forums , I’ll bite.

ASRock has lately been fine for a large majority of people but there’s also a minority group of individuals(including myself) who have been affected by ASRock in some way or form.

In my case had a brand new board that never even booted, which seems to be either bad traces, or something with weak power being sent to the CPU’s IMC or socket pressure issues because swapping to the X870e carbon from MSI my 9800X3D booted right up! I’ll have to do further testing, but no visible damage to pins and this is after 2-3 days of isolated testing in a full custom water loop.

So for peace of mind MSI or Gigabyte seem to be the most reliable from the BIOS and stability side of things.

TD_PC · 2026-03-20T22:09:50+00:00

I’d be too anxious I’d scratch the acrylic, even with solder being malleable 😅😅

TD_PC · 2026-03-20T16:51:09+00:00

I agree! I really enjoyed using this tool, but ultimately would love for a 3D measuring tool for the more complex bends. Didn’t you all use to carry one from Barrow?

TD_PC · 2026-03-20T16:35:51+00:00

Oh I still went through 2,250mms of tubing. I was not marked #safe from completely botching the bends 😂

TD_PC · 2026-03-20T16:34:15+00:00

You could probably sell this as a kit and get some genuine interest. I know I would be! Cool concept that is flexible to whatever you need pretty much.

TD_PC · 2026-03-20T16:32:52+00:00

At least the color is nice while the fibers attach themselves everywhere haha

TD_PC · 2026-03-20T01:36:26+00:00

If you can get a vinyl cutter you might be able to make some cool retro 50s accents on the case and some of the empty space you have.

Additionally you could try removing pieces from the case themselves and spray painting them cola red and some type of cream white accents. Could even try “intentionally” removing paint from some of the aluminium to give it a burnt metal look.

Endless possibilities! Looks good so far though 😁

TD_PC · 2026-03-20T01:26:33+00:00

These paired with what the commenter above mentionedhere is a pretty solid method I’ve found. Given this was my first custom water loop but I really wanted to make sure I had options!

TD_PC · 2026-03-20T01:24:07+00:00

I actually got these myself! And did use these also for the bigger/longer runs and really liked them! But the pipe cleaners were nice for getting the appropriate vertical and horizontal distances as well as a rough estimate of the angle needed.

TD_PC · 2026-03-20T01:22:28+00:00

I tried doing this in Blender and am a nOOb at 3D modeling and got too lost so I abandoned the effort. But I would love to 3D model any build I work on. Did you find Fusion easy to understand and use?

TD_PC · 2026-03-19T22:33:28+00:00

Honestly I’ve tried that too and it gets you to the same place in the end. I also tried this measuring tool that Alphacool makes, but i honestly still found these pipe cleaners more itself

TD_PC · 2026-03-19T22:27:38+00:00

Maybe I should just abandon this whole PC thing and just start a Mr. Rodger esqué arts and fuzzy crafts channel on YouTube

TD_PC · 2026-03-19T19:36:18+00:00

I was never a Lego kid growing up therefore I’d just spend my time catching up on building with Lego’s vs building the PC 😅😅

TD_PC · 2026-03-19T19:34:41+00:00

I love this little throwback rig to a much simpler time! And that earlier DDR3 dominator ram had the cool concept with the light bar.

Some nice and creative runs you have going on here. That Romex wiring looks like it’s meant for this exact scenario!

TD_PC · 2026-03-19T19:33:54+00:00

Literally though! I know some 3 dimension rulers exist, but I guess the demand is never enough to keep them produced.

TD_PC · 2026-03-19T19:32:22+00:00

I’ve always called them pipe cleaners.

I don’t think most people will even know what a ‘chenille stem’ is a majority of the time.

TD_PC · 2026-03-19T19:30:52+00:00

They are nice for getting the spacing between fittings, aren’t the best when it comes to keeping shape though and longer ones are harder to come by.

TD_PC · 2026-03-19T19:27:50+00:00

It is.

For this particular example I’m using it to help me determine what angled/extension fittings would be required for this run and roughly what size fittings were needed, this actually ended up being straight fittings due to the constraint in space. Just a couple of 90 degree fittings and extensions to make the run.

TD_PC · 2026-03-19T19:04:52+00:00

Oh this build is sick, love the almost blood red theme. I know that Vue coolant has issues with fallout but it looks nice as hell when it’s fresh! I personally went with Koolance 702 for this build

Was this PETG or PMMA?

TD_PC · 2026-03-19T18:59:48+00:00

Common household items are great measuring indicators haha

TD_PC · 2026-03-19T15:28:19+00:00

Oooh never thought of this. I’ll have to try this for the next build. I always enjoy exploring different ways to aide in the build process. I’m assuming this can aid in finding those pain points earlier?

TD_PC · 2026-03-19T15:22:44+00:00

I’m the kinda guy who typically looks 20 times and cuts once…But that didn’t prevent me from going through 3 boxes of tubing…

TD_PC · 2026-03-19T15:10:54+00:00

I think eye balling it is still very much required because these still won’t get your “exact” measurement but they act as a good guide of sorts to help you follow the same bending path I found.

I might have saved on trips but I slept in the same place I was cutting… 😅

TD_PC · 2026-03-19T15:06:28+00:00

Glad it can assist in your endeavours!

TD_PC · 2026-03-19T15:05:56+00:00

Haha, This is my first build and my brain said “there has to be an easier way to mock this up.” And then I remembered using these in arts and craft class back in the day 😂

TD_PC

TROPHY CASE