Virgil's new work mule

[knucracker]

It probably doesn't really matter.  I don't plan to bling up the inside of the case, and whatever led's are present probably won't be any issue.  Everything being totally equal I would pick a non window case, though.  Just because that window is plastic and will scratch more easily.

[Grauniad]

What I did, until some members of my household decided differently, was to leave the protective plastic wrapping on the window. Looked funky - in a good way. :)

[knucracker]

The Fractal Design Define R4 looks pretty good too:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352020

It comes in a version without the window.  Other than that, it's the extra front door padding and top panel that look like the main differences compared to the arc midi.

[Grauniad]

I have the Define R3. I think some of the upgrades in the R4 may make it better, but between the R2 and my Arc Midi, I prefer the Arc Midi. But yes, it is a nice case. I think the front door hampers airflow from the front fans somewhat. The one I have do not have a filter in front of the front fans.

It's big, though. I suggest you size it by making a cardboard model with that dimensions.  THe only bigger case is the Define XL, - that's *huge*.

Anyway, I don't think you'd be unhappy with it.  Here's Anand's review: http://www.anandtech.com/show/6102/fractal-design-define-r4-case-review-evolution-not-revolution/

Where things start to go a little topsy turvy is with cabling. The rubber-grommet lined holes in the motherboard tray seem a little on the small side, which can be a minor inconvenience. I was disappointed to see Fractal Design still hasn't really fixed one of my big problems with the R3, though: the AUX 12V routing hole above the motherboard. They increased the space between the back of the motherboard tray and the the right side panel, but that doesn't change the fact that the AUX 12V line routing hole is essentially parallel to the panel rails. In the R3 I just plain couldn't use the hole, while in the R4 I could shimmy the cable through with a little effort. This still feels like a big oversight that needs to be corrected somehow, though. Fractal Design may want to consider switching over to a hinged side panel mounting design for the next revision to clear this gap.

By and large, though, assembly was pretty easy and I can't complain too much outside of the cabling snafu. What's worth pointing out is that the R4 does not feature an IDE indicator LED despite having space for one. The LEDs surrounding the power button and breaking the center of the front door are power indicators only. This is an unusual omission that doesn't affect the usability of the case too much (many notebooks these days don't include IDE indicators either), but it's worth mentioning.

I now remember. The thing that bugs me most is you have to open the front door whenever you want to access an optical drive. And if the door is closed and the drive tries to eject, well, that's not too good.... Only a magnetic latch, but the drive better be strong and well-built to support the extra force needed.

[knucracker]

I had to look at my current case to remember.... but it has a door (half door actually) on the front.  I leave it open most of the time, but not really on purpose it seems.  I bet I've only used the bd-r drive maybe a dozen times over 4 years.  Most of that was when I first got the system.  I can't remember the last time I installed a game from optical media.  Now i'm experiencing cognitive dissonance over the bd-r drive.   It's quickly turning into a 3.5" floppy for me...  One could just put the windows 8.1 installation iso onto a commodity thumb drive and install the OS from that.  I'm still going to get a BD-R drive, though, but I almost don't need it...

[knucracker]

Unless I'm missing something I don't see an easy way to share a wish list on newegg.  I made it 'public' but they must wait a day before approving them or something since it doesn't show in the public list.  I can email myself an html wish list, but that doesn't do any good for posting here.  So, here's a screenshot of what I'm looking at so far.  If the public wish list is up tomorrow, maybe I'll be able to link to that. 

I hope I didn't leave anything obvious out of these components.  I'd have included a mouse... if I could find a cheap one that is worth a hoot.  As for keyboard, they don't even make the microsoft comfort curve 2000 anymore (which I use now).  That was a cheap and awesome keyboard.  The comfort curve 3000 has messed up the insert/delete keys and also made a mess of the function keys.  Best cheap keyboard I could find was a straight microsoft one.  Note that I'll probably keep using my comfort curve 2000 till it breaks and I also have a logitech g5 mouse that works fine... I was just looking for new things all around, and got stymied by the simplest of things.

Also, the price of the GPU from newegg... not good.  That same card is $20 cheaper direct from evga.  That's embarrassing.  I guess newegg can't bring themselves to quite apply the nvidia discounts completely just yet.

I also need to add in maybe 3 140mm fans to replace the 2 in the case (and add a third).  I've read the bundled ones are louder than necessary.  Which ones was it your recommended, G?

[Grauniad]

I hope I didn't leave anything obvious out of these components.

If you did, I don't see it.

I'd have included a mouse... if I could find a cheap one that is worth a hoot.

I'm pretty happy with the MS Mobile Mouse 3500. But then, I set a low barrier and don't expect more than 2 buttons and a scroll wheel. :)

As for keyboard, they don't even make the microsoft comfort curve 2000 anymore (which I use now).  That was a cheap and awesome keyboard.  The comfort curve 3000 has messed up the insert/delete keys and also made a mess of the function keys.  Best cheap keyboard I could find was a straight microsoft one.  Note that I'll probably keep using my comfort curve 2000 till it breaks and I also have a logitech g5 mouse that works fine... I was just looking for new things all around, and got stymied by the simplest of things.

I had endless grief looking for a keyboard. I knew I wanted a mechanical keyboard, as opposed the the cheaper, rubber-dome keyboards. I can tell the difference. :) THe best-rated one on Newegg was a Microsoft keyboard. I hated it - the keys was too close together and I can't remember what else. I still have it. In a fit of stupidity I threw the packaging out on the day I opened it. Now it's gathering dust until I can find time to list it in eBay and give it away.

Then I bought a Logitech G710+. Another mistake.  becasue they have lighted keycaps, they decided that it is a good idea to put the alternate characters (those that appear when one press Shift) below the standard character on all the keys. And they printed then in a weird font as well... I still struggle to find them. :(

Also, the price of the GPU from newegg... not good.  That same card is $20 cheaper direct from evga.  That's embarrassing.  I guess newegg can't bring themselves to quite apply the nvidia discounts completely just yet.

I assume you'll be buying it from EVGA then? :) MadMag and I both have MSI GPUs - he has Nvidia and I have Radeon. Maybe you can look around since it seems MSI has deals more often than EVGA?

I also need to add in maybe 3 140mm fans to replace the 2 in the case (and add a third).  I've read the bundled ones are louder than necessary.  Which ones was it your recommended, G?

I sincerely doubt that the Fractal Design fans are loud. THey have never been. My beef with them is they are 3-pin power and thus don't work with PWM temperature control from the motherboard. You have to either let them run normally or put the widget that Fractal Design gives you in the case. I just run them at full speed. They're still quiet.

Maybe simply buy one additional 140mm Fractal Design fan?

The fans I really like are Cougar Vortex and there are a range of them. I don't have to tell you that 140mm fans run quieter than 120mm fans  Unfortunately, the PWN fans are only in the 120mm size. FOr 140mm, they give you an "adapter" that drops the voltage and then they spin at half speed, but it's not a flexible arrangement, so you're back to the manual fan control gizmo. :(

But... Corsair has a very interesting series of fans in their Air series.  Especially interesting is the high static pressure fan - designed to force more air through the dense fins of a radiator. :) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181024. Watch out, there are PWM and two fixed-speed mode fans, so at least 3 models in the series. :)

They also have other Air Series fans for unrestricted airflow.

[Grauniad]

You didn't order those components already, did you?

Although I sized the PSU using Newegg's PSU calculator, did you do the same?

I just ran a test through the Asus PSU calculator and it told me I needed a 900W PSU. :(

I'm thinking you should look around and think on this. It's not the place we'd want to make a mistake. But then, everybody worries about that and oversizes, so I don't know... :(

One word of caution: In my Fractal Design Define R3 case - the precursor to the case you're currently looking at - I have a 850W Corsair PSU and I didn't pay attention to the dimensions - so it's a little longer than most other PSUs I've worked with. That caused me some hassles. I still managed to fit it in, but it wasn't fun and it overlaps one bottom fan position.

[knucracker]

I've not ordered anything yet...
How in the world could that system need 900W :)

I'll check it out, though.  Don't want to come up shy in that area.  I know first hand what havoc can come from a blown power supply or a system without enough power.

[Grauniad]

Not saying you should buy this - over the life of a system, the 7% efficiency between a Bronze and Gold certified PSU probably adds up in both cooling and wasted electricity, but this 750W supply is $85 after rebate.

CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX750M 750W ATX12V v2.31 / EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE . Downs are semi-modular, not the variable fan support like the SeaSonic or the previous Corsair I listed. and of course, Bronze certification.

[Grauniad]

Now is the time to start making acquisitions to get some price savings.

The Fractal Design R4 with a window (I know, right?) is on sale for $80 with Newegg promo code EMCWXVL54. Free Shipping is worth another $13 on that heavy case.

The Corsair Hydro  H50 Cooler is on sale for $45 after rebate of $10.

[knucracker]

Those are good prices...
But I think I'll stick with the non-window case.  The main reason I'm looking at the Define instead of the Arc midi is because of that solid side panel.  And the main reason I care about the side panel is that it cuts a couple decibels off the noise

Those corsair hydro coolers seem to review well on review sites, but there are a number of software complaints in the newegg comments.  It is substantially cheaper than the intel cooler, though.

[Grauniad]

I installed that exact same Corsair model in a small Bitfenix Prodigy build. I did have to replace the fan for noise, though. So if it was me, I'd look at that high static pressure quiet fan from Corsair and buy that with the price differential. :)

BUT... I just looked at it again and it does not support LGA 2011 socket CPUs. :( Scratch that idea. :(

[knucracker]

Here's the wishlist...
http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=31603308

Take a look at those two power supplies I have in the list.  Which would you get?  They are very similar with similar complaints in the reviews.
Also, I did switch over to a MSI graphics card.  Seems like a better value since it is priced like it should be and the card is nice.

I see that newegg has added the game bundles they are supposed to with the GPUs.  But, I see no way to get $100 of the purchase of a nvidia shield....

[Grauniad]

When you over-provision, you don't do it in halves, right?

After *much* searching, I found the GTX 770 Thermal/power specs on the Nvidia website.

The card needs 230W and it's recommended on a minimum 600W PSU.

A quick back of the envelope sanity-check:

CPU: 130W
GPU: 230W
Motherboard: 20W
Memory: 7W x 8 (max) =60W
USB: 20W
Optical Drive: 20W
SSD: 15W
Hard Drive: 20W
Fans: xx (I think if you use PWM fans their power use is accounted for in the MB requirement.

That tallies to around 415W.  If you go with a >850W PSU, I think it is not a wise way to spend your money. Both of those have 850W models and as I told you about the Corsair, it was a tad unwieldy. I would go with the Seasonic, but they are both excellent, IMHO.  Check warranties and see if one has solid or Japanese capacitors.