Help with new 5600X system

[Whitestar]

I'm planning to build a system with the 5600X. Here's what I'm thinking so far:

Mobo: Gigabyte X570 Aorus Elite***
PSU: My current Corsair RM850i
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws V DDR4-3600MHz 32GB (2x16GB) CL16-19-19-39
SSD (boot): Samsung 970 EVO Plus 250GB (NVMe)
Case: ?
Cooler: ?

Looking for suggestions on a case. It should be silent but also provide enough cooling. Preferably around or less than $100.
Looking for suggestions on a cooler too. Preferably an air cooler. Something a little bit smaller than my current humongous Noctua NH-D15, but at the same time fairly silent.

Comment on my other choices are also welcome of course.


*** @Zach_01: You posted some helpful info another build thread: "Going B550 or X570 will not have any difference in performance. The main differences of the chipsets is connectivity of multiple PCI-E cards(not just GPUs) and storage devices(m.2, SATA). If anyone wants more than 1 PCI-E + 1 NVMe + 2 SATA devices, then X570 is the way to go."
I'm planning to have an Asus Xonar Essence STX in one of the two extra PCI-e slots on the Aorus. Also having the 970 EVO NVMe along with three SATA SSD. Will all that work fine without any sort of conflict?

 

[FinneousPJ]

Gamers nexus best case overall is the P400A. If you already have the D15 you should keep it. There is nothing better and you're wasting money to buy when you already have a working cooler.

Your device config looks fine, but how will you make do with only 250 GB NVME I wonder.

Very good summary of X570 btw. Exactly why I bought it as well for my 5600X.

 

[kapone32]

If you are on a budget the Cougar MX 331 MT is a nicely priced case that has just about everything you need. Another case that I recently used was the Corsair 4000D. The airflow model is quite nice. If you want to stay with Noctua get the NH-12 for something smaller but still extremely powerful.

 

[Whitestar]

If you already have the D15 you should keep it. There is nothing better and you're wasting money to buy when you already have a working cooler.

I was kinda thinking I might keep my old system the way it is as a music comp or something, and thus get a new cooler.

Your device config looks fine, but how will you make do with only 250 GB NVME I wonder.

As an OS/boot disk. My games would run off the other SSDs.

 

[NoJuan999]

You can get B550 boards that will work with 2 nvme drives (1@PCIe 4.0x4 and 1 @PCIe 3.0x4) and up to 6 SATA devices.
For example:
ROG STRIX B550-F GAMING | ROG Strix | Gaming Motherboards｜ROG - Republic of Gamers｜ROG Global (asus.com)
Specification MAG B550 TOMAHAWK | MSI Global (Click the Details tab)

The B550 chipset limitations are mostly overcome by the motherboard/CPU.
The only real difference I see is that X570 allows for 2 PCIe 4.0 x 4 nvme SSDs.

 

[tabascosauz]

I was kinda thinking I might keep my old system the way it is as a music comp or something, and thus get a new cooler.

If you want a smaller but similarly capable cooler, you don't have many options aside from the NH-U12A. It's not cheap, but you don't have to buy any extra fans. Smaller fans are almost always louder, but I don't find the A15 to be [subjectively] quieter than the A12x25.

It is worlds apart from the D15 in general compatibility and ease of handling, however. The Aorus Elite isn't an issue as the x16 is in the second slot position, but the D15 is a bitch for compatibility.

Often times, the only acceptable way to get "silence" in a case is to have good cooling and airflow. Otherwise, no amount of sound deadening foam will overcome your case fans struggling against a solid panel, or the difficulty of getting hot exhaust out of a highly restrictive case. The P400A and Meshify C are pretty common recommendations that are decent for airflow. Fill it with some 120/140mms from Arctic or Noctua.

 

[Whitestar]

The P400A and Meshify C are pretty common recommendations that are decent for airflow. Fill it with some 120/140mms from Arctic or Noctua.

Aren't the included fans sufficient? Adding e.g. two Noctua fans will increase the price by about $60.
I think Gamers Nexus recommended the RGB version because a big part of the value was because of the 3 included fans.

Anyway, the P400 seems to only have 2 slots for SSD, but I suppose I can use an adapter in one of the 3.5 HDD slots for my third SSD (I think I have one of those adapters lying around somewhere).

 

[tabascosauz]

Aren't the included fans sufficient? Adding e.g. two Noctua fans will increase the price by about $60.
I think Gamers Nexus recommended the RGB version because a big part of the value was because of the 3 included fans.

Anyway, the P400 seems to only have 2 slots for SSD, but I suppose I can use an adapter in one of the 3.5 HDD slots for my third SSD (I think I have one of those adapters lying around somewhere).

They probably are in both cases. I was just referring to the point about being quiet as possible, best done with having strong fans at low speeds. Arctic F12s are fantastic case fans and come in a very affordable 5-pack for about $30 if Noctua is a bit much. To be honest, though, after having worked extensively with NF-A14s in a variety of variants, I wouldn't go back to 120mm as case fans if I could help it. Where I am, Arctic has F14s as well in a 5-pack for about $50-60.

The Meshify C has a nifty 2.5" plate at the back of the motherboard tray that can house 3 x 2.5" drives, if you're into that.

 

[milewski1015]

Aren't the included fans sufficient? Adding e.g. two Noctua fans will increase the price by about $60.
I think Gamers Nexus recommended the RGB version because a big part of the value was because of the 3 included fans.

Anyway, the P400 seems to only have 2 slots for SSD, but I suppose I can use an adapter in one of the 3.5 HDD slots for my third SSD (I think I have one of those adapters lying around somewhere).

The P400A (RGB version) performs quite well thermally with its three stock RGB fans pulling air in through the single fine mesh front panel. The Meshify C touts only two stock fans and has a thin layer of filter-esque foam on the internal side of the mesh front panel. Adding fans to the Meshify C is where it starts to be more competitive thermally, but then you have to add the costs of fans on to the case price. It's currently $70 on sale so not too bad if you added a couple more fans, but then you have to wonder why you're not opting for a case that comes with more stock fans around that price anyway.

It is worth nothing that the P400A has a CPU cooler clearance of 160mm, and the NH-D15 lists height with fan at 165mm, so sticking with the D15 wouldn't work if you're going with the P400A. What about the Lancool II Mesh? It's a bit more expensive than the P400A, but has 176mm CPU cooler clearance so you can stick with the D15, has mounting positions for 6 2.5" SSDs (with another 3 in the drive cage), and performs better too.

 

[Whitestar]

They probably are in both cases. I was just referring to the point about being quiet as possible, best done with having strong fans at low speeds. Arctic F12s are fantastic case fans and come in a very affordable 5-pack for about $30 if Noctua is a bit much. To be honest, though, after having worked extensively with NF-A14s in a variety of variants, I wouldn't go back to 120mm as case fans if I could help it.

Good point. I'm kinda wondering: In general, would one front intake fan be sufficient, or is that only going to make the CPU fan(s) spin faster, thus cancelling out the noise "savings" from having just one intake fan? I.e. will two intake fans create better cooling to a degree that it is less noisy overall than just one intake fan? I suppose there isn't a clear-cut answer to this, but still.

The P400A (RGB version) performs quite well thermally with its three stock RGB fans pulling air in through the single fine mesh front panel. The Meshify C touts only two stock fans and has a thin layer of filter-esque foam on the internal side of the mesh front panel. Adding fans to the Meshify C is where it starts to be more competitive thermally, but then you have to add the costs of fans on to the case price. It's currently $70 on sale so not too bad if you added a couple more fans, but then you have to wonder why you're not opting for a case that comes with more stock fans around that price anyway.

It is worth nothing that the P400A has a CPU cooler clearance of 160mm, and the NH-D15 lists height with fan at 165mm, so sticking with the D15 wouldn't work if you're going with the P400A. What about the Lancool II Mesh? It's a bit more expensive than the P400A, but has 176mm CPU cooler clearance so you can stick with the D15, has mounting positions for 6 2.5" SSDs (with another 3 in the drive cage), and performs better too.

Thanks, yeah that looks like a very good option regardless of CPU cooler really.

 

[tabascosauz]

Good point. I'm kinda wondering: In general, would one front intake fan be sufficient, or is that only going to make the CPU fan(s) spin faster, thus cancelling out the noise "savings" from having just one intake fan? I.e. will two intake fans create better cooling to a degree that it is less noisy overall than just one intake fan? I suppose there isn't a clear-cut answer to this, but still.

Thanks, yeah that looks like a very good option regardless of CPU cooler really.

Regardless of what case you choose (add the excellent Pure Base 500DX to that, completely forgot about it), I think you're going to want more than just one intake fan. 2x120mms probably works fine; I'm not a fan of how Phanteks puts all of its three fans in the front with no exhaust, but it can easily be rectified. But 3x120mms or 2x140mms in the front is still the best way to feed both your CPU and GPU properly. You can probably get by with one exhaust in the back, but if you choose to go with 3x120 / 2x140 in the front, you might potentially want an extra fan exhausting out the top of the case.

 

[milewski1015]

add the excellent Pure Base 500 to that, completely forgot about it

Do you mean the 500DX? While the PB500 is a couple dBA quieter stock (likely because it comes with 2 fans compared to the 500DX's 3), it's pretty starved for airflow.

 

[Whitestar]

Appreciate the input guys.

A couple more questions:
1. I see that in GN's standardized test he uses the Noctua NF-A14 fans. Is that because they have the best ratio between low noise level and amount of air pushed?

2. The 500DX comes with 3 fans (3-pin) - 1 front, 1 rear, 1 top. But I don't see a fan controller. So if I want to control chassis fans from the motherboard then I would have to swap those included for e.g. Noctua PWM 4-pin fans, correct?

3. Looking at those noise normalized tests for the Lancool Mesh: He uses the stock fans there. So that means if I got for example the NF-A14 fans then I could set the RPMs slightly lower and still get the same cooling performance (at a slightly lower dbA) as the stock fans at 36dbA? Assuming that the NF-A14 fans are quieter of course. I hope that makes sense.

Still a bit on the fence between the 500DX and the Lancool Mesh. The 500DX seems to be a bit quieter but also a bit more cramped when it comes to build space (I foresee that top fan could get in the way when connecting the 8-pin power to the mobo). Possibly better to swap the fans and change to a 2 front 1 rear config. Or get the Lancool Mesh and get better cooling but slightly more noise.

Dang, these 1st world problems...

 

[milewski1015]

1. I see that in GN's standardized test he uses the Noctua NF-A14 fans. Is that because they have the best ratio between low noise level and amount of air pushed?

I'm not sure if he ever mentions why they use NF-A14s specifically. I would imagine because they are great quality and they're likely the go-to for many people that want to buy their own fans.

2. The 500DX comes with 3 fans (3-pin) - 1 front, 1 rear, 1 top. But I don't see a fan controller. So if I want to control chassis fans from the motherboard then I would have to swap those included for e.g. Noctua PWM 4-pin fans, correct?

Just because the fans are 3-pin doesn't mean they can't be controlled. They're controlled by a change in voltage instead of PWM that 4-pin fans use. You might have to poke around in your BIOS and make sure that you set the fan control mode to voltage. This comment explains it better than I can: https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/is-there-a-way-to-control-3-pin-fans.2905718/post-18351724

3. Looking at those noise normalized tests for the Lancool Mesh: He uses the stock fans there. So that means if I got for example the NF-A14 fans then I could set the RPMs slightly lower and still get the same cooling performance (at a slightly lower dbA) as the stock fans at 36dbA? Assuming that the NF-A14 fans are quieter of course. I hope that makes sense.

In theory, yes. That's the beauty of mesh-front cases. Less resistance means the fan doesn't have to work as hard to move air, and can therefore cool things at a lower noise level. If silence is what you're after, I would look into reviews comparing the bequiet fans and noctuas. I've seen that the bequiet Silent Wings 3 is slightly quieter than the Noctua NF-A12 (or NF-A14 - I don't remember what exact size was tested and the SW3 comes in both 120 and 140) but does move a little bit less air.

 

[Whitestar]

Since there's apparently no way to edit/update my OP I'll update here.
Thanks again for the input folks.

CPU: Ryzen 5600X
Mobo: Gigabyte X570 Aorus Elite
PSU: My current Corsair RM850i
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws V DDR4-3600MHz 32GB (2x16GB) CL16-19-19-39 - ordered
SSD (boot): Samsung 970 EVO Plus 250GB NVMe WD Black SN750 500GB PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe (black friday deal) - ordered
Case: Lian Li Lancool II Mesh Performance - ordered
Cooler: NH-D15 SE-AM4 - ordered

 

[Whitestar]

After hooking everything up I realised that one of the CPU Noctua fans (the one that hovers just above one of the memory modules) would be a very tight fit because of the raised height. And sure enough, when I close the glass door and the magnet snaps it into place the door juuuust hits the fan bending that heatsink (that the fan is attached to) slightly backwards.
While I could possibly live with that I would rather look for a different solution.

I'm able to lower the fan a couple of millimeters and instead let it rest on the memory module, perhaps pressing down on it ever so gently. Would that be ok?

The most drastic option would be to simply cut off the fan frame just where it comes in contact with the memory module. However, I'm not sure if that would effect the stability and/or noise level of the fan.

Any ideas?

(Edit: I see now that the NF-A15 is actually 150 mm in width (and 140 in height). I'll double check when I get home that I have it oriented the correct way. If not, those 10 mm gained should be enough to make it fit.)
(Edit2: Never mind. It's oriented the correct way)

 

[FinneousPJ]

After hooking everything up I realised that one of the CPU Noctua fans (the one that hovers just above one of the memory modules) would be a very tight fit because of the raised height. And sure enough, when I close the glass door and the magnet snaps it into place the door juuuust hits the fan bending that heatsink (that the fan is attached to) slightly backwards.
While I could possibly live with that I would rather look for a different solution.

I'm able to lower the fan a couple of millimeters and instead let it rest on the memory module, perhaps pressing down on it ever so gently. Would that be ok?

The most drastic option would be to simply cut off the fan frame just where it comes in contact with the memory module. However, I'm not sure if that would effect the stability and/or noise level of the fan.

Any ideas?

(Edit: I see now that the NF-A15 is actually 150 mm in width (and 140 in height). I'll double check when I get home that I have it oriented the correct way. If not, those 10 mm gained should be enough to make it fit.)

The 140 mm fans on the D15 use 120 mm mounting brackets. You can swap them for 120 mm fans to save space.

 

[Whitestar]

The 140 mm fans on the D15 use 120 mm mounting brackets. You can swap them for 120 mm fans to save space.

That's true! They both use 105 mm mounting hole spacing apparently. Thanks!
Suppose this one be a good choice then: https://noctua.at/en/nf-s12a-pwm-chromax-black-swap/specification. Looks to be both silent and effective.

 

[Whitestar]

Noob AMD/BIOS question incoming.
Just to confirm: The way the 5600X should work is that in Windows all cores should sit on a low base frequency of 3.something and then boost to about 4.6 GHz when under load? That's what they do now in my games. All I did was set the XMP profile for the memory in the BIOS. So that's pretty much all I have to do then?

On my 8700K I only ever overclocked manually, so I don't know if this was the same on that platform (Z370).

 

[FinneousPJ]

Noob AMD/BIOS question incoming.
Just to confirm: The way the 5600X should work is that in Windows all cores should sit on a low base frequency of 3.something and then boost to about 4.6 GHz when under load? That's what they do now in my games. All I did was set the XMP profile for the memory in the BIOS. So that's pretty much all I have to do then?

On my 8700K I only ever overclocked manually, so I don't know if this was the same on that platform (Z370).

Yeah that's expected behaviour.

 

[Whitestar]

With my old 1080ti still installed I'm not really seeing any difference against my old 8700K (@4.6 GHz) in Assetto Corsa Competizione. But that's at 5760*1080 so I didn't really expect any performance increase at that resolution.

A bit more surprising though was Rise of the Tomb Raider at 1080p. The averages were about on par with the 8700K, although the minimums were higher.

I suppose I will need a newer GPU to allow the 5600X to spread its wings?

 

[FinneousPJ]

I'm not surprised, looks like the 5600X was 2 % faster here

 

[Whitestar]

Yeah, based on other reviews as well it seems they are rather close on the 2080ti, which would make them even closer on my 1080ti.
Should fare a lot better on a 3080. I'm just hoping to see one of those before I die of old age.