B-Wootang
Description
Hello,
This is my 2nd build. Some of the parts of this build are split from a previous build I have here on PCPP. (Old Build: http://pcpartpicker.com/b/tmt6Mp). I currently live at home and the office space is owned by the family. So as a choice to not share, the little monster is hooked up to my room to a 1080p led T.V. I know that this build is a little over kill for 1080p, but I do have my heart set on a 1440p 21:9 Monitor. I love to game, and I want my games to run as good as Bacon is delicious. I use it mostly for college work, gaming, and media viewing. I planned this build for a while a choose items based on their appearance before their performance.
CPU:
I choose AMD for personal reasons and I kept it from my older build. I feel like there are too many Intel builds and just wished to be different. I know that the top comment is going to be that I should have gone with Intel at this level of performance. I agree that Intel can offer greater performance. I, however, didn't wish to spend the extra money on an I7 and I do not see a major gain in purchasing an I5 when I currently owned the 9370.
The 9370 is at its stock clock of 4.4GHz with the 4.7GHz Turbo core. AMD cool and quiet works really well as the CPU stays nice and cool until I throw some really stressful things at it. I have yet to find something that it has difficulty with. It's always really snappy and performs really well. I'm happy with it.
CPU Cooler:
The X61 is a bit pricey for what it is, but the software integration it has does help make up for it. It does a wonderful job of keeping the 9370 cool. I replaced the stock NZXT fans with Noctua fans. The entire cooling system is nearly silent and the performance it offers is wonderful, especially with the Noctua fans.
I love having the NZXT logo glow and having the option to pick which color I wanted. It took me 5 minutes to get it to match the blue lights on the GPUs.
Motherboard, Ram, and Storage:
The motherboard, Ram, one of the SSDs, and the HDD are from my old build. The Motherboard is very pretty in person. The heat-sinks are gorgeous and there is just the right amount of blue and the ram compliment it very well. Right now I’m running crossfire in 2.0 PCI-e X16 and x4. The second x16 slot is too close to the other x16 for most graphics cards, especially ones this large. It's not even visible with the first, card plugged in and I can't see how it would even be usable with a smaller card. Then the x8 slot is so close to the bottom it would require a case that supports Eatx and would most likely block the usb plug-ins. It doesn't seem to have a major hit on performance but I’m sure it’s lower than it should be.
The Samsung Evos are a great, no issues and do what they are supposed to. They are fast; I've had faster... but that drive burned out in a month (dang OCZ). Originally had Crucial SSD but I put those in my brothers PC. The HDD is just your standard storage for pictures, music, and movies. It was basically picked because it has blue in the description. I will be upgrading this 2 or 4TB SSHD in the future because I've almost maxed the 1TB.
Like everything else the Ram was picked based on color. They also have a very good speed and were the lowest latency at that speed when I purchased them. They work great. Started with 8gb, only got 16gb to max out the slots for a better appearance.
Video Cards:
The Vapor-x and Toxic cards from Sapphire have some of the best looking coolers on them. The R9 290s run great in Crossfire and quietly. It fun to watch them heat up, because the color on the sapphire logo changes colors as they heat up. The top card always changes about 10 seconds before the bottom card. They are in x16 and x4 PCI-e 2.0.
3D mark
Firestrike : 11578 Cloudgate: 21337 that other one: 109477
Fur Mark
1080p preset: 1st run 7220, 2nd run 7350
Cooling Fans:
The Noctua NF-A14 industrialPPC-2000 PWM fans are amazing. They have been greater than I expected. They make little to no sound under 1000rpm and aren't bad until they hit full speed. Which, they have never exceeded 1500rpm in my current set up, they run at 1020rpm at my current PWM setting and are very quite. With the x61, they keep the system really cool, even with the 9370. The Alpenföhn Wing Blast 2 are very good fans and are PWM, something that I really want every fan to be.
Case:
I feel s340 is the ultimate budget case but it is still a budget case. The metal on the top of the case is very thin and would resonate with the previous fans I had in it (Areocool DS 140 and Cougar Dual-X 140, both very nice) resulting in clicking noises and vibrations. I had to apply sound dampening foam to rid it of this problem. The SDD slot also do not sit flush and are slightly cooked, not a major issue but it does bug me a little bit. The side widow also accumulates micro scratches ridiculously easy (was dumb and used a wet paper towel to clean it once, never again) but this is probably a issue with most PC windows. Other than that its great. NZXT did a great job with the layout and the wire management. It's stunning in person, especially for those of us who like more plain cases with 90 degree angles. so it loses just one star. ..... going to put the s340 on ebay in March, I found a new case I just have to have: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gShKOco2kzE
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