# Last pieces of advice before finishing Ryzen 3950x build



## Emiliano85 (Dec 28, 2019)

Hi guys.

I’ve been planning a new build for months, and on top of that been waiting for the Ryzen 3950x to get in stock - i finally managed to get it, and already have the Asus Rog Strix 2080 Ti as well waiting to go into my new rig. Those are the two only pieces of hardware, I’ve got so far, but also the most important to build around Imo.

The build will be used primarily for light to medium work (normal office work, photoshop and video editing), as well as a little gaming from time to time. I don’t play any specific titles much, but hate the idea of having a machine that would not be able to run whichever game I might want to try. Hence the GPU (and CPU).

For the rest of my build I’m planning to put these components into it:

Motherboard: Asus Crosshair VIII Hero wifi.
Ram: 32GB (maybe 64 - not decided yet) Skrill Trident Neo 3600 16C.
Storage: 1TB Samsung Evo Plus + 1TB Sabrent Rocket.
PSU: Corsair RM 850x

But from here on, i have been pretty much stuck in my thoughts for the last 10 days or so.

First of i wanted to build a minimalistic, clean, discrete desktop, in a no-window case with no rgb what so ever. Either the Meshify C or the Define R5/6, with a Noctua NH D-15 air cooler.

But while googling around for cases, I fell in love with the Lian Li O-11 Dynamic like many others before me. Thing is this is my first build and I never played around nor did I own an AIO, which would make sense for this case.

First i could not really decide on which one i would like, but after hours of benchmark and reviews reading, i have narrowed my options down to these (if I end up going with the Lian Li/water cooling build):

-NZXT Kraken x72
-Deepcool Castle 360ex

Prop mounted on top, with 3 additional intake fans in the side and 3 intake fans in the bottom. This setup seems to be best suited for this case, as per Hardware Canucks testing seen here: 







.

Even for my initial standards/idea (no rgb at all), this besuty of a case needs a little RGB. My idea would be to have the top (radiator) and bottom fans in plain no rgb/black, and add the subtle ring rgb style fans in the side panel - i am thinking of either Thermaltakes Riing Trio as they look good from the back as well (important as they will be set as intake) or some of the similar less known brand fans, which have the same style.

But as i wrote earlier, i cant make up my mind entirely from here. I feel i still miss some last pieces of advice/help, before being able to make a final and correct decision. There are my question, hope you guys would spend some minutes to share your thoughts:

1. I don’t plan to overclock - I guess both the air cooler and AIO’s mentioned above would be sufficient to cool my Ryzen 3950x?

2. Why go (or not go) air/why go (or avoid) AIO in this build?

3. Will the Define cases be ok for air cooling, or should I go for the Meshify if I go air?

4. If I go AIO, I would potentially have 3 types of fans: Deepcool/NZXT on the radiator, Thermaltake Riing Triio on the side, and maybe/maybe not a third high end brand fans in the bottom — for example Noctua. Will this be a problem?

5. Any recommendations on change in hardware (mostly cooler, fans, case and motherboard).

Looking forward to hear from you all, and thanks for taking your time to read/answer!


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## HD64G (Dec 28, 2019)

As for the airflow, try to have neutral pressure by having the same number of fans both for intake and outake that will be controlled by the PWM of the BIOSa ll together. As for air of AIO cooling it is mostly a matter of preference as the relatively big and good air coolers are of equivalent performance to the AIOs. RGB isn't of my taste honestly but again a matter of personal preference. Have fun building and enjoying that very nice build.


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## Zach_01 (Dec 28, 2019)

I guess the minimalistic idea and thought has gone out of the window...  ...and it’s better this way!
Not that I‘m fan of RGB, but definitely a fan of cooling. And when you have a 140W CPU and a 250+W GPU inside the case... has no more room left for minimal...

For me, if you don’t want to go with custom water cooling then definitely go with the biggest AIO (360mm) you can afford, add to it some high performance fans and fill every case opening with fans, with equal amount of intake/exhaust at least. Or slightly more intake won’t hurt (you can fix this with fan rpm adjustments)
A 3950X/2080Ti combo need some care for cooling. Especially if you having oc ideas.

I use AIO (280mm) and I can say that I will never go back to air tower unless something revolutionary comes. In order to have best AIO performance a high speed pump is needed, a high block heat transfer rate is required (best paste you can find) and large heat dissipation area (hence 360mm with medium/high airflow).


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## Emiliano85 (Dec 28, 2019)

HD64G said:


> As for the airflow, try to have neutral pressure by having the same number of fans both for intake and outake that will be controlled by the PWM of the BIOSa ll together. As for air of AIO cooling it is mostly a matter of preference as the relatively big and good air coolers are of equivalent performance to the AIOs. RGB isn't of my taste honestly but again a matter of personal preference. Have fun building and enjoying that very nice build.


Thanks for the tips!

Am i right, when saying both the x72 and the 360 Castle are good enough for the job - or could/would you recommend another good (360?) AIO?



Zach_01 said:


> I guess the minimalistic idea and thought has gone out of the window...  ...and it’s better this way!
> Not that I‘m fan of RGB, but definitely a fan of cooling. And when you have a 140W CPU and a 250+W GPU inside the case... has no more room left for minimal...
> 
> For me, if you don’t want to go with custom water cooling then definitely go with the biggest AIO (360mm) you can afford, add to it some high performance fans and fill every case opening with fans, with equal amount of intake/exhaust at least. Or slightly more intake won’t hurt (you can fix this with fan rpm adjustments)
> ...


Hi Zach.

Thanks for input .

Budget is not a problem - so i'll go for the best 360 AIO available. I've read through a good bunch of AIO reviews (even though they are suprisingly sparse compared to mobo, cpu and gpu reviews?!), ending up with this list at first:

- Corsair 150i Pro - didn't make the final cut though as i hate the cheap/plastic look of the waterblock, despite good long warranty and good performance
- NZXT Kraken x72 - seems good quality build, good performance, good acoustics, long warranty and the waterblock looks really good
- Deepcool Gamer Storm Castle 360ex - also pretty good reviews, has anti-leak tech (?!) and has a fantastic looking block imo.
- CoolerMaster MasterLiquid ML360R - quite good reviews again, and one i actually would consider, were it not for better looking waterblocks on the Castle and x72
- Aorus Liquid Cooler 360 - looks fantastic as well, waterblock with small LCD display showing temps, but has like no reviews at all (maybe due to being released very recently?)
- Asus Ryujin and LC360 - Booth look good, but are quite pricey. I have no problem paying the price, but from the sparse reviews (new AIO's again)it seems the Asus tax is what you're paying for here, as peformance equals many of the above mentioned AIO's

So at the end i like the x72 and the Castle 360ex the most all round - performance, look and perceived quality.

Are any of the 7 AIO's i've listed better than the other or? Are there other AIO's i've completely missed, blowing away the entire list i've put together?

Also, how would be the best way to achive even preassure between the 9 120mm. fans at play here? The Lian Li case doesn't support fans in the back, so i'll end up with odd numbers with 3 top + 3 side + 3 bottom no matter what? And would 3 different sets of fans be ok - like the example i put in my opening post: Let's say 3 x72 fans/Castle fans on top (depending on which AIO i go with), 3 Thermaltake Riing Trio fans in the side for looks, and a third top quality set of fans in the bottom like for example Noctua's NF-F12's?

EDIT: Lian Li O-11 Dynamic supports a small fan in the back is see now, but has to be a small 80mm.


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## HD64G (Dec 28, 2019)

If the case has good and balanced airflow, imho the parts you have chosen are adequate for the job of cooling the 3950X. Motherboard VRMs is the most important, so try to have good airflow over the VRM section of the motherboard.


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## JackCarver (Dec 28, 2019)

Here is a Review from GamersNexus:









More expensive AIOs are listed here:





						240 and 360 Radiator Water Cooling Kits | PC Liquid Cooling Kits
					

Use a Water Cooling kit to cool your next Liquid Cooled PC build. Shop 240 and 360 Radiator Water Cooling Kits from EKWB, Alphacool and EK Water Blocks.




					www.titanrig.com
				




But I think the kraken will easy do the Job. GamersNexus came to the result, that the Performance of all 360 AIOs is fairly equal so choose the more quiet one.

One Problem of liquid cooling (AIO or custom Loop) is that you have no direct airflow over the VRMs contrary to an air cooled cpu. So it's adviced to take the back-fan as intake fan


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## Emiliano85 (Dec 28, 2019)

JackCarver said:


> Here is a Review from GamersNexus:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks JackCarver.

But how would you go about this in this particular case (Lian LiO-11 Dynamic)? If i follow the results/advice of Hardware Canucks nad top it with your tip, it will leave me with a (too?!) positive airflow no?

Top: Rad + 3 120mm fans = out
Side: 3 120mm fans = in
Bottom: 3 120mm fans = in
Back: 1 80mm fan = in

Would that be the optimal setting iyo?


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## JackCarver (Dec 28, 2019)

According to a Video from der8auer the best cooling solution for the Mainboard VRMs, if you are using watercooling for the cpu, is:

Top: 2 fans intake (he tested radiator at front)
Front: 3 fans outtake (here the radiator)
Back: 1 fan intake

No bottom fans used but I would use them as outtake in this case. I think this is case Independent, so for VRM this should be the best solution. I will post you the Video, it's in german unfortunately, but you can see at the pictures what I mean. Even only one fan back intake reduces VRM temps very good. He tested several situations like:

AIO in, top out, rear out: CPU 75, VRM 89 degrees
AIO out, rear in: CPU 79, VRM 74 degrees
AIO out, top in, rear in: CPU 78, VRM 71 degrees

So you can see only 1 fan back intake will bring much better VRM temps if you watercool your cpu. By the way he uses also a kraken AIO.


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## oxrufiioxo (Dec 29, 2019)

I would look into the XL version of the Case the standard one is a pain in the A#$ at the bottom of the case and at the top depending on motherboard layout and fans/radiators used.

As long as you can control the RPM of the fans individually (you may need something like a corsair commander pro or whatever NZXT sells as an equivalent) 6 intake and 3 exhaust are fine you just match RPMs for the intake and run the exhaust slightly faster. You can also do the opposite and run the 6 exhuast and 3 intake and run the intake slightly faster... if dust is a concern the 6 intake/3 exhaust is the better configuration.


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## Emiliano85 (Dec 29, 2019)

oxrufiioxo said:


> I would look into the XL version of the Case the standard one is a pain in the A#$ at the bottom of the case and at the top depending on motherboard layout and fans/radiators used.
> 
> As long as you can control the RPM of the fans individually (you may need something like a corsair commander pro or whatever NZXT sells as an equivalent) 6 intake and 3 exhaust are fine you just match RPMs for the intake and run the exhaust slightly faster. You can also do the opposite and run the 6 exhuast and 3 intake and run the intake slightly faster... if dust is a concern the 6 intake/3 exhaust is the better configuration.



Okay Nice, thanks - actually i have been looking at the XL version for spacing reasons.

Sorry for asking this, but i’m a noob when it comes to building rigs from the ground up (this is my first) - lets say i go with 3 corsair rgb fans (for the side) and 6 plain no rgb Noctua fans (3 for top rad AIO and 3 for bottom intake) - could you explain to me how i connect all 9 and control them as well afterwards. Both speed and rgb? Does the Commander Pro work with other brands or only native Corsair fans?

Thanks!



JackCarver said:


> According to a Video from der8auer the best cooling solution for the Mainboard VRMs, if you are using watercooling for the cpu, is:
> 
> Top: 2 fans intake (he tested radiator at front)
> Front: 3 fans outtake (here the radiator)
> ...


Ok will look into it, thanks again


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## bug (Dec 29, 2019)

Emiliano85 said:


> Hi guys.
> 
> I’ve been planning a new build for months, and on top of that been waiting for the *Ryzen 3950x* to get in stock - i finally managed to get it, and already have the *Asus Rog Strix 2080 Ti* as well waiting to go into my new rig. Those are the two only pieces of hardware, I’ve got so far, but also the most important to build around Imo.
> 
> *The build will be used primarily for light to medium work* (normal office work, photoshop and video editing)




But that's just my opinion. You're free to do what you want with your rig.


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## Emiliano85 (Dec 29, 2019)

bug said:


> But that's just my opinion. You're free to do what you want with your rig.


?

...and gaming. I don’t see the problem here?


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## oxrufiioxo (Dec 29, 2019)

Emiliano85 said:


> Okay Nice, thanks - actually i have been looking at the XL version for spacing reasons.
> 
> Sorry for asking this, but i’m a noob when it comes to building rigs from the ground up (this is my first) - lets say i go with 3 corsair rgb fans (for the side) and 6 plain no rgb Noctua fans (3 for top rad AIO and 3 for bottom intake) - could you explain to me how i connect all 9 and control them as well afterwards. Both speed and rgb? Does the Commander Pro work with other brands or only native Corsair fans?
> 
> ...



If you go with a commander pro I would go with the h150i pro so that you can control everything in icue like I do in both my builds. 3 fans via the h150i pro and 6 fans via the commander pro.
you can use any pwm fans with the commander pro that you want but only corsair RGB fans with it as far as lighting. The 3 pack of fans comes with a hub to control the lighting that plugs into the commander pro.

I would recommend the ML over the LL variants for the RGB fans as they perform much more similarly to the noctua fans.






Emiliano85 said:


> ?
> 
> ...and gaming. I don’t see the problem here?




I don't see a problem with it either it games better than any other ryzen chip for the most part and it doesn't look like budget wise you had to sacrifice at all. Yeah you could have gotten a 3700X and gamed just fine but you obviously wanted a 3950X and want trumps need in my book.


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## Emiliano85 (Dec 29, 2019)

oxrufiioxo said:


> If you go with a commander pro I would go with the h150i pro so that you can control everything in icue like I do in both my builds. 3 fans via the h150i pro and 6 fans via the commander pro.
> you can use any pwm fans with the commander pro that you want but only corsair RGB fans with it as far as lighting. The 3 pack of fans comes with a hub to control the lighting that plugs into the commander pro.
> 
> I would recommend the ML over the LL variants for the RGB fans as they perform much more similarly to the noctua fans.



Thanks again.

Makes sense, only thing is I really hate the cheap look of the h150i pro waterblock, compared to both the Castle 360ex and Kraken 72x! Either i decide to have the perfect looking build (without too much compromize on performance of course) or i just drop the whole “look nice” thing, and go for a closed case with all sails set on top quality air cooling via the D-15, and no aesthetical headaches to account for. I dont really feel for compromizing too much on looks if i go AIO/Lian Li, as the whole idea of that setup was sparked mostly by the fact that I would be able to get a beauty of a rig.

Would 6 Noctua fans and 3 QL rgb fans from Corsair not be able to work with the commander pro + icue?






> I don't see a problem with it either it games better than any other ryzen chip for the most part and it doesn't look like budget wise you had to sacrifice at all. Yeah you could have gotten a 3700X and gamed just fine but you obviously wanted a 3950X and want trumps need in my book.


Spot on buddy


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## oxrufiioxo (Dec 29, 2019)

Emiliano85 said:


> Thanks again.
> 
> Makes sense, only thing is I really hate the cheap look of the h150i pro waterblock, compared to both the Castle 360ex and Kraken 72x! Either i decide to have the perfect looking build (without too much compromize on performance of course) or i just drop the whole “look nice” thing, and go for a closed case with all sails set on top quality air cooling via the D-15, and no aesthetical headaches to account for. I dont really feel for compromizing too much on looks if i go AIO/Lian Li, as the whole idea of that setup was sparked entirely by the fact I would get and machine looking exactly like I wanted it to.
> 
> ...



If would work but the QL fans are even worse than the LL fans performance wise.

As long as you don't use them on the radiator they should he fine though.


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## Emiliano85 (Dec 29, 2019)

oxrufiioxo said:


> If would work but the QL fans are even worse than the LL fans performance wise.
> 
> As long as you don't use them on the radiator they should he fine though.


I was afraid you would say that - heard the same thing. I would never use them on the rad, but they are the best looking ones from the back - which would be the exposed side in my setup. How much worse would they be compared to high end fans as Noctuas or the ML’s for example - any idea?

What if I stayed loyal to my initial thought: 3 Noctua fans on the NZXT/Deepcool rad, 3 Noctua fans in the bottom and 3 Thermaltake Riing Trio rgb fans in the side. How would I go by controlling fan speeds and rgb in that case, any idea?


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## oxrufiioxo (Dec 29, 2019)

Emiliano85 said:


> I was afraid you would say that - heard the same thing. I would never use them on the rad, but they are the best looking ones from the back - which would be the exposed side in my setup. How much worse would they be compared to high end fans as Noctuas or the ML’s for example - any idea?
> 
> What if I stayed loyal to my initial thought: 3 Noctua fans on the NZXT/Deepcool rad, 3 Noctua fans in the bottom and 3 Thermaltake Riing Trio rgb fans in the side. How would I go by controlling fan speeds and rgb in that case, any idea?


The riing fans come with their own hub but the software sucks and they have proprietary connectors.... 3 fans via motherboard and 3 fans via nzxt software in that scenario.


The QL would be adequate for case fans. If you love the look I'd say go for it. I like icue way more than the thermaltake software.


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## JackCarver (Dec 29, 2019)

To Control RGB you can use any RGB connector on your Mainboard. Asus/MSI/Gigabyte all have Software Solutions to sync RGB effects and you can use for example 3:1 rgb cable Switches to connect 3 fans to one rgb connector. You can also do that to connect 3 fans to one fan connector.
So you can Control it with your Mainboards BIOS or you use a fan Controller.

Edit:
I use an aquaero 6 LT Controller from Aqua Computer to control fan and pump Speed according to water temps. They offer a nice Software called Aqua Suite where you can define fan curves and so on


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## Vader (Dec 29, 2019)

You wont need 9 fan headers to connect all these fans. Check the online manuals for the aio and the rgb fans you want to buy, i'm pretty sure these come with a splitter of some kind.


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## Zach_01 (Dec 29, 2019)

bug said:


> But that's just my opinion. You're free to do what you want with your rig.


Yes it is overkill for the job... so?
We all know it, but because we are not doing it does not mean we don’t want it, or its wrong doing it, unless someone asks to do this job with the best budget.


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## gottistar (Jan 2, 2020)

Hey mate grats on the build.
just my 2 cents on CPU cooling. I used the  Floe Riing RGB _280_ TT Premium Edition on my 3950x , i added the extra 2 140,s.
https://www.thermaltake.com/floe-dx-rgb-280-tt-premium-edition.html in push/pull, it works very well.


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