A little more [H] and a little less silent than I'm used to.

Tol

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 5, 2005
Messages
265
I've definitely already spent a bunch of time reading through these and the overclock.net forums lately and will continue to do so but I thought that maybe I'd put something here to gather recommendations for components that I may not have ordered, yet.

What I have (as of my last newegg order a little while ago)...

Case: NZXT Switch 810 (new)

PSU: Corsair AX1200. (from current pc) update: Thanks, DB.

Motherboard: Asus Maximus V Extreme (new)

CPU: i5-3570k (new)

GPU: 3 x EVGA GTX 680 Classified (new)

Ram: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (from current pc)

Soundcard: Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD (from current pc)

Storage: OCZ Vertex 3 240GB (from current pc)

Optical: some random dvd burner (from current pc)

At this point, I'm assuming all of the above is going to be part of the new build. This is connected on the outside to 3 x Dell 3011, a Pioneer receiver and speakers, and some Sennheiser PC360 headphones, Corsair M90 and K90. Oh...and a RatPadz that's in dire need of replacement. :p

What I can think of that I need:

CPU Cooler: I have an H100 with a broken fan. I'm starting to think that my old Noctua might be a better fit with the new case and airflow, though. I expect that if it takes a few months for blocks to come out for the 680s, I might forget the current credit card bill and go all out that way...it would be my first crack at watercooling.

Extra Case Fans: I haven't used a Switch case or fans before. I've got a massive amount of electronics in a small room in Southern California with no air conditioning and summertime already here. I'm thinking that at this point there may be no point in me worrying about case fan noise in comparison to what the 680 fans are going to make. ***Deleted complaint about current noisy Galaxy 680s because I remembered that my H100 is set to High and likely causing the noise.*** The computer is used 99% of the time for gaming and most of that time I'll be wearing the headphones anyway.

What else is there? I have a M V Gene in my HTPC and the Fan Xpert on these latest ROG motherboards seems fine as a controller. At this point, I've spent so much money that I can waste a little be more on "nice to haves" if anyone has a good idea. The truely BEST upgrade would probably be a room air conditioner...haha.

Thanks for reading.
 
Last edited:
Have you thought about just replacing the fan on the H100? Or RMA it for repair?

If you're really serious about tri-SLI, you're gonna want a different case. For optimal GPU-cooling you want a case with a side-fan placement. It's even more important considering that you're planning on three GPUs. I recommend these cases instead:
$100 - Antec 1100 ATX Case
$115 - Corsair Carbide Series 500R ATX Case
$120 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001WT White ATX Case
$130 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001BK Black ATX Case
$130 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-002OR Black Finish w/Orange Trim Full Tower ATX Case
$155 - Thermaltake VN300M1W2N Chase MK-1 ATX Case
$160 - Corsair Graphite Series 600TM ATX Case
$160 - Silverstone RV02B-W ATX case
$162 - Corsair Obsidian Series 650D ATX Case
$164 - Corsair Special Edition White Graphite Series 600T ATX Case
$178 - Silverstone RV02B-EW ATX case
$220 - Silverstone FT02S-W ATX Case
$230 - Silverstone FT02B ATX Case
$270 - Corsair Obsidian Series 800D CC800DW ATX Case
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
Thanks. I did consider the side fan and it's something that I've been telling people for a couple years now but I've read that the GPUs with the blowers in the back of the card are pretty good at taking in that cold air and then expelling it out the back of the case.

My hope with the Switch is that I can add some fans to the mounts behind the drive cages that are swiveled up to point directly at the back of those GPUs and create more of a "bottom-front" to "top-rear" airflow in the case.

The FT02 is definitely something nice to look at...it was my choice before reading the reviews of the Switch even though it's a little smaller. I think my thought process at the time of purchase was that there's a good chance I'll go to water with this right, later. (of course at that point I'd probably want another case anyways... :p

I hadn't even thought about the warranty on the H100...I imagine it would still be covered. I'll have to take care of that whether I use it in this build or not.
 
Still with that many GPUs, I'd rather play it safe with the cooling.
 
Got the rig halfway built last night and it looks like the Switch could do a good job with cooling the cards when using a couple "extra" fans. In my particular case, I've got no hard drives so the plan is to use a couple quiet fans at the front, 2 of the fans that came with the case on the drive cages(very near the back of the GPUs), and then sort out the top exhaust.

I'm hoping to have everything running tonight and I'll take some photos.

The h100 will have 2 nzxt fans up top, then the one working corsair fan and some random 120mm below pushing. One more quiet 120 on the back. The h100 radiator had dust only on one side so I guess that fan has been broken for a while...
 
I've been way lazy since I got everything put together and I haven't taken the time to upload a photo but I really think the Switch 810 and some aftermarket fans are a fantastic combination for cooling multiple videocards. I still think that the Noctua 14 would probably be a better cooler in my situation just because in that case I'd probably just fill up the 8 front/back/top fan spots with quiet fans and let them run at 12v all day long.

The Asus Fan Xpert is taking care of the noisy NZXT fans that came with the case for me. I'm running pretty much silent with everything at stock speeds and amazingly these Classified cards barely ramp up the volume under load...even with the room temperature being around 85F.

I do always notice those FT02 posts around the forums and can't help but wonder, though...
 
Still not entirely convinced but glad to see the Switch is working out well for you.
 
Back
Top