HASWELL TIME!!! (OK, maybe later this year)

[chuckula]

Just did the first round of purchases for my build including items that are not likely to change much before I complete the build later this year. In keeping with the advice from derFunkenstein and others, I got my RAM now. I got 32 GB for $250 at 2133 from Patriot, seems like a reasonable deal, but now that I've bought it, the entire RAM market is guaranteed to suffer an immediate price collapse.. so YOU'RE WELCOME

Here is what I have so far:

1. Case: Fractal Design Define XL Titanium Grey R2 ($130 + free shipping from J&R via Amazon)
2. PSU: Silverstone Tek ATX12V/EPS12V 750Watts 80+ Gold ($145 from Amazon)
3. RAM: 32 GB Patriot Viper 3 2133 MHz ($250 at Newegg)
4. Cooler: NZXT Kraken X60: I'm replacing all the fans on this bad-boy, but I ordered it because it has 15 mm fan mount spacing that matches the spacing on the case. ($137 at Newegg)
5. Extension cord for the 8-pin ATX CPU power cable (it's the little things that get you every time). ($4.50 from Newegg)

[auxy]

1. Case: Fractal Design Define XL Titanium Grey R2 ($130 + free shipping from J&R via Amazon)

Everything else looks great, but ...

... my god, that case! ((((；゜Д゜))) I think I could fit inside it!

Anytime I see one of those huge-gantic cases I always envision the owner is Mr. Huge. (warning: link probably NSFW) HRNGH! HUGE! HUGE! HUUUUGE!

[just brew it!]

... my god, that case! ((((；゜Д゜))) I think I could fit inside it!

I've still got several old Chieftec full tower cases that I've been using for various systems over the past 10+ years. Yes, they're frikkin huge. And heavy. And some of them are old enough that they don't even have integrated front USB ports, which is a minor annoyance (unless you're using them for a server). But they're built like tanks (practically indestructible), and they're an absolute joy to work with since there's plenty of room inside. I will probably continue using them as long as motherboards continue to be produced in ATX form factor!

[JustAnEngineer]

I've still got several old Chieftec full tower cases.

Have you tried a more modern mid-tower ATX case like an Antec Three Hundred Two? I find them much easier to work in than those old Chenming Dragon / Chieftec / Antec SX1030 beasts.

[auxy]

I've still got several old Chieftec full tower cases that I've been using for various systems over the past 10+ years. Yes, they're frikkin huge. And heavy. And some of them are old enough that they don't even have integrated front USB ports, which is a minor annoyance (unless you're using them for a server). But they're built like tanks (practically indestructible), and they're an absolute joy to work with since there's plenty of room inside. I will probably continue using them as long as motherboards continue to be produced in ATX form factor!

Hehe. My brother uses an old Lian-Li PC-70 case. It's huuuuuge. (ﾉ> ◇ <)ﾉ

[chuckula]

... my god, that case! ((((；゜Д゜))) I think I could fit inside it!

Anytime I see one of those huge-gantic cases I always envision the owner is Mr. Huge. (warning: link probably NSFW) HRNGH! HUGE! HUGE! HUUUUGE!

I like big cases and I cannot lie! All you other builders can't deny!

OK, it is quite a large case, but I like to have extra space to work with. I don't have small hands, so getting into tight areas to do surgery in some cases is not very easy for me to do. I also get some extra flexibility with component layout. For example, I've seen some online builds that use this case with an SSD mounted behind the motherboard tray since there is about 25mm of clearance back there. If I get really creative, I may be able to remove both hard drive cages and give a completely unimpeded path from the front fans to the motherboard.

Edit: P.S. --> Look at the following video if you want to see a review of a truly HUGE case. The one I'm getting is probably smaller than the middle section of this guy all by itself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBDTBHVIJiA

[just brew it!]

I've still got several old Chieftec full tower cases.

Have you tried a more modern mid-tower ATX case like an Antec Three Hundred Two? I find them much easier to work in than those old Chenming Dragon / Chieftec / Antec SX1030 beasts.

Yes, I've used a few newer cases; the only things I feel the Chieftecs are missing (aside from the USB issue on the older ones) is cable routing and mounting locations for larger (120mm) fans. The fan issue hasn't been a big deal since I generally don't overclock, or even use bleeding edge video cards; a couple of 80mm fans with the RPMs throttled back is adequate for my needs and reasonably quiet.

[chuckula]

OK, all of the components that I listed above are here. The case was the last piece, which arrived today.

The main thing that I can comment on here is the case... to channel my Scottish ancestors, it is FREAKIN' HUGE. My current system is in an Antec 900 case, which is mid-tower but on the larger side of mid-tower. It is also propped up off the ground on a bookshelf that I placed on top of some old textbooks since it is in a carpeted room & I don't like it touching the carpet. The new XL R2 case is *still taller* by a noticeable amount even when I put it right on the carpet. It's also easily an inch wider, which I intend to use to my advantage by sticking SSDs on the back side of the main compartment in front of the right-side panel.

Here's my current evil idea: They claim that you can fit a 240mm radiator in the front of the case. I am going to see if it is feasible to one-up that figure by putting my 280 mm Hydra mounted vertically in the front with a push-pull configuration. From my rough estimation with the cooler & the case, there is enough height to fit the cooler under the optical drive bays, and the conduit hoses are long enough to reach up to where the CPU will be without any issues. There will be no obstructions behind the radiator, so the four push-pull fans will act as good front-intake fans, and there is another 140mm floor-mounted intake fan. The main damper to my evil plan is that I'm pretty sure the front screw-holes on the case will not line up with the screw holes on the front fans. Basically, there's enough room, but I'm looking at possibly having to jury-rig the mounting of the radiator to keep it reasonably secure... sounds like a fun project!

A lot of this is going to have to wait until June anyway... hurry up and take my money Intel!!

[auxy]

The main thing that I can comment on here is the case... to channel my Scottish ancestors, it is FREAKIN' HUGE.

I told you! Did I not tell him? I totally told you. (*ﾟﾉOﾟ)

A lot of this is going to have to wait until June anyway... hurry up and take my money Intel!! :-P

Better not use standby mode! (⊙ヮ⊙)

[chuckula]

The main thing that I can comment on here is the case... to channel my Scottish ancestors, it is FREAKIN' HUGE.

I told you! Did I not tell him? I totally told you. (*ﾟﾉOﾟ)

A lot of this is going to have to wait until June anyway... hurry up and take my money Intel!!

Better not use standby mode! (⊙ヮ⊙)

Yes.. but the huge case is a feature not a bug. Thanks to this thing's huge size, I have some very interesting cooling and equipment mounting options available, including the front-mounted radiator setup I was describing above. At this early stage, I'm extremely impressed with this case, and the build quality is also top-notch... now I just need the rest of the system to complete the puzzle.

[chuckula]

OK... I finally had a chance to mess with the case and I got some pre-construction done

Here are the things I did:

1. Put in the PSU. This is my main complaint about the case so far (and it's not a huge complaint). The PSU is raised from the base of the case by about 10 - 15 MM so there is an air gap under PSU. However, until you get the screws into the PSU the only support that you have to hold the PSU off the base of the case are two pyramid-shaped rubber supports that are located near the interior end of the PSU while you try to screw in the exterior end of the PSU to the back of the case. The rubber supports are only stuck to the bottom with a post-it-note grade adhesive, so they pop-out while you are trying to hold up the exterior end of the PSU and get it screwed in. My solution was to get the PSU screwed in so it is stable, and then shove the rubber supports back in to place. It's not the worst thing I've ever had to deal with in a case, but I wanted to point it out to other builders. Once the PSU is actually in place, I like the air gap and there is a removable air filter under the PSU that you can take out for cleaning without having to remove the PSU.

2. I removed the HDD cages and it looks like I am good to go for putting my Kraken X60 in the front of the case!

There are two 3.5"/2.5" HDD bays in the front of the case that give you a total of 8 slots with removable trays. The trays are metal and support both 3.5" and 2.5" HDDs btw. It's almost a shame that I won't be using any of them, but for those of you who want a bunch of HDDs, they are very nice.

The top HDD case slides out after removing two thumb screws. The first thumb screw secures the top cage to a mounting rail on the the bottom of the optical drive cage and another thumb screw secures the top drive cage to the bottom drive cage. The mounting rail on the bottom of the optical drive cage becomes important during mounting of my Kraken below. Removing the bottom HDD cage requires removal of 4 screws from the bottom of the case and another two screws from the front after you pop out the front fan holder. I also temporarily removed the floor-mounted 140 mm fan to get access to the bottom HDD cage, but this may not have been absolutely necessary for removal.

After I got both the HDD cages removed, I did a dry run test to see if the Kraken's 280mm radiator could fit vertically into the front of the case under the optical drive cage.... unfortunately it was just barely unable to fit since the top of the radiator was hitting the bottom of the optical drive cage. Well.. upon closer inspection it turns out that the radiator wasn't actually hitting the bottom of the optical drive cage, but was instead hitting that mounting rail for the top HDD cage. Fortunately, while the optical drive cage is riveted to the case, the mounting rail is just screwed into the bottom of the optical drive cage. After I unscrewed the rail, it turns out that there is enough room! If my office didn't look like a bomb went off in it, I'd post some pictures I'll post some photos during the full build for you guys to check out.

[chuckula]

One hitch in my plans that has turned out to be relatively minor: There is a small bug in the Fractal Design XL R2!!!

Actually there are 2, but only one affects me.

The first bug is that the first batch of cases that went out came with only 6.5 mm motherboard standoffs when the case is meant to have 8.5 mm standoffs! I found out about this from some forum posts of people who complained that their videocards couldn't mount properly.


The second bug is more minor and it doesn't affect me directly, but the labels on the front headphone/microphone jacks got reversed too. Basically, don't trust the labels OR use a special reverse cable that Fractal will send you to correct the bug.

To Fractal's credit, all I had to do was email customer support and within 4 days I had the replacement standoffs, the reverse cable... and a bonus 140 mm case fan, FedExed out to me.

Overall, I was already very impressed with this case and given that Fractal is doing the right thing and standing behind their products, I'm going to give them a very enthusiastic recommendation to anyone who's interested in new cases.

P.S. --> To those of you who order later, if you get a case from a later batch, the errors I mentioned above may already be corrected, so you won't need to contact Fractal about the issues.

[JustAnEngineer]

Since we're now two months away from Haswell (rather than the four month lead time for this thread), we really could start thinking about what components would go along with a new Haswell processor and LGA1150 motherboard.

I'm planning to fit things into a 29-liter Silverstone Temjin TJ08-e rather than the 73-liter Fractal Design Define XL R2. My current gaming system lives in a 56-liter Antec P182.

[MadManOriginal]

Silverstone makes quality cases, no doubt. But as I said in this thread there is a cheaper alternative for a 'smaller than ATX mid-tower mATX case'. If you aren't hung up on a prettier front or somewhat thicker case material because a case is just a housing for components, and saving $50 is something that appeals to you, I can strongly recommend this Rosewill case. In some ways it's even better - 2 USB 2.0 front ports in addition to 2 USB 3.0, a 3.5" external mount nearer the 5.25" bays instead of at the very bottom, side fans or passive intakes if you want.

If you're interested, keep an eye out for promo codes that bring it to $40 shipped. I paid more than that by a little bit and still feel it's a great case for the money.

[End User]

3. RAM: 32 GB Patriot Viper 3 2133 MHz ($250 at Newegg)

You already have the memory?

[chuckula]

3. RAM: 32 GB Patriot Viper 3 2133 MHz ($250 at Newegg)

You already have the memory?

Yes, and the exact model is going for more now ($280 when I last checked). I did get the $250.00 + free shipping when I bought mine right near the beginning of March.

[chuckula]

Since we're now two months away from Haswell (rather than the four month lead time for this thread), we really could start thinking about what components would go along with a new Haswell processor and LGA1150 motherboard.

I'm planning to fit things into a 29-liter Silverstone Temjin TJ08-e rather than the 73-liter Fractal Design Define XL R2. My current gaming system lives in a 56-liter Antec P182.

I'll give you a shout out just because you specced that out in liters instead of Length, Width, and Height!
I know that the case I went for is huge, but there are some very good smaller cases out there and I'd be interested in seeing how those 65-watt BGA parts with the higher-end graphics do in HTPC-friendly form factors.

[JustAnEngineer]

I'm planning to fit things into a 29-liter Silverstone Temjin TJ08-e.

I can strongly recommend the 27-liter Rosewill LINE-M . In some ways it's even better - 2 USB 2.0 front ports in addition to 2 USB 3.0, a 3.5" external mount nearer the 5.25" bays instead of at the very bottom, side fans or passive intakes if you want. If you're interested, keep an eye out for promo codes that bring it to $40 shipped. I paid more than that by a little bit and still feel it's a great case for the money.

I plan to put a card reader + USB port into the external 3½" bay.

I've previously used the Rosewill R6AR6 case. It was a bit on the flimsy side compared to an Antec, but it wasn't horribly designed as cheap cases once were. The flimsiness meant that it was easy to dent if you didn't handle it carefully, and it was also easy for the case to become distorted so that the panels didn't line up well. Eventually, a family member dropped the PC and the case more or less exploded. Other than the case, only a DVD-RW drive died in the accident. I re-assembled the components in an Antec Three Hundred Illusion and got it working again.

I have vivid memories of having to cut out highly-restrictive stamped perforated plates in $15-30 ATX cases where 60 and 80 mm case fans could be mounted with non-restrictive wire grills. I had to trim the bottoms of front bezels to make the openings large enough to admit air. For one case, I had to drill four dozen 1/4" holes through a decorative plastic bezel to admit air. I've even got a hole saw in my toolkit specifically sized for cutting circular openings for 92mm fans in the sides of those heavy old Chenming Dragon/Chieftec/Antec SX cases.


P.S.: I found a couple more components that look appealing.
Power supply: SeaSonic SS-660XP2. At 160mm deep and completely modular, it should fit into the TJ08-e (or most other cases) satisfactorily.
Optical drive: LG WH14NS40. At 165mm deep, it will leave enough clearance between the drive and the PSU.

[DPete27]

See my signature for what to stuff in the Silverstone TJ08-e. I have the Silverstone PS07B which is the cheaper cousin of the Tremjin. There are a lot of great little features for this case and some annoying things.

Regarding the PS07B (same as TJ08-e except for front fan/s) See anandtech's TJ08-e review here.
Pros:
Mobo standoffs are built in.
CPU HSF support arm is great if you transport your computer.
The case comes with a rubber pad that you stick to the top of the hdd cage. This pad supports the back corner of longer (~10" or longer) graphics cards. Also a great feature for stability while transporting.
Fan filters all around (front and PSU)
PSU inlet from the top of the case. PSU get's fresh air from outside the case. Could be bad if you have a noisy PSU.
Compact size =/and great cooling. If you populate the rear fan mount and use a tower-style HSF, the whole case is basically a push-pull system. Very little room for air to stagnate. You can really load this case up though, as long as you have the patience to route cables.
Ample space behind the mobo tray for routing cables

Cons:
Compact size. Make sure you follow Silverstone's installation sequence when building, it will make your life much easier. The small size (as with many smaller cases) can make for some frustration/challenges when building and/or changing out components.
Clearance between the hdd cage and the motherboard for tower-style heatsinks is tight. I have my ssd in the cage and my mechanical in the very bottom slot (under the removable hdd cage) If you have multiple hdd's you'll probably have to move your CPU fan to the "pull" side or get a radiator.
Clearance between the PSU and optical drives. This is well documented by Silverstone, so it's really your fault if you don't heed their advice. I ditched optical drives with my current build.
Lots of screws. This is a pro and a con. Sure screws suck, but you can remove both side panels, the top "panel" and the motherboard tray. In a case this compact, having lots of open space to stick your hands in is a plus.

[Airmantharp]

Those Silverstone mATX cases are just about perfect- though the cheaper one does come with a bit too much fugly attached .

I do like the setup, basically a compression of ATX, and that it still allows for the use of a real GPU and an integrated water-cooler. I don't think that any of the 'cons' are noteworthy as building computers has gotten so very easy. I'd be putting a SATA dock and an optical drive in the 5.25" bays, and the bottom bay would likely have a card reader (though I prefer the external USB3 ones).

[mako]

I just got a TJ08-E myself, and I'm very impressed by the build quality. Dislikes are silent-computing-related: 180mm fan is still too loud, hard drive dampening is not very effective. And yeah, more screws than I was expecting.

Call me crazy but I've been putting basically the same computer into different cases for the last five years, ATX -> mITX -> uATX. Different motherboards, same processor, same RAM. SSD, GPU upgrade here and there. Haven't really felt an itch for more.

[JustAnEngineer]

180mm fan is still too loud...

Hmmm. It comes with an AP181 180mm "Air Penetrator". Is there a quieter 180mm or 140mm PWM fan that you could install in its place? Is this Phobya 79123 any good?

[mako]

I've only done a cursory search, but it seems like the Phobya is a good option. It pushes less air than the Air Penetrator but I'm sure the flow is still substantial. Getting access to the 180mm looks to be a royal pain, though.

There's another option that I haven't tried yet. Right now I have the 180mm set to "Low", but apparently you can get it quieter by setting it to "High" and using external fan control. It's a three pin fan, so it has to be voltage control. I plan to try out this scheme sometime.

[DPete27]

I chose the PS07 mostly because it's quieter than the TJ08E (those noise numbers are with the TJ08E fan controller set to low). Also, because the 120mm fans are a much more common size. That gives me much more options when replacing/swapping and at cheaper prices (albeit 2 fans vs 1).

The air penetrator fans are a bit louder than others of the same size, but they do produce a more focused airflow. (see video) That difference in flow seems to be the difference between "filling your case with air" and "blowing air across internal components." I suppose it's up to the buyer to determine whether or not that's worth a bit more noise.

Heck, if you're buying the TJ08e anyway, at least try the AP fan out before you buy a different one. Everyone has different expectations/tolerances of "silent" and "quiet."

[chuckula]

OK. I just ordered the storage for this bad boy. Unlike my original plans, I have opted for two of the 512 GB Samsung 840 Pros. One will be for OS/Programs and the other one will handle my (relatively modest) collection of music/photos/videos etc. I have a 2TB storage server at home that is holding a grand total of... 117 GB of data (I'm lame!). At least some of that data really belongs on the OS drive, so I should have plenty of storage going forward. In 2014 I intend to get a new notebook and one of the Samsung's can go in as an upgrade while I can get a bigger 2014-era SSD for additional desktop storage.

There are only two things I need: 1. A Haswell, and 2. A Haswell Motherboard. After that I'm set to do the build!

[Starfalcon]

I've still got several old Chieftec full tower cases that I've been using for various systems over the past 10+ years. Yes, they're frikkin huge. And heavy. And some of them are old enough that they don't even have integrated front USB ports, which is a minor annoyance (unless you're using them for a server). But they're built like tanks (practically indestructible), and they're an absolute joy to work with since there's plenty of room inside. I will probably continue using them as long as motherboards continue to be produced in ATX form factor!

Hehe. My brother uses an old Lian-Li PC-70 case. It's huuuuuge. (ﾉ> ◇ <)ﾉ

Yeah, I have one of those too, got my 6th build going in there in the next day or so. I bought it back in 98, and have gotten my moneys worth out of it though...best piece of computer hardware Ive ever bought.