Cosair 550d vs Be Quiet Silent Base 800 computer case

WaveLab
21

Ah, exciting times ahead :slight_smile:
Building PC’s isn’t difficult but if it’s the first time you will probably run into some things you wish you were warned for so here’s a list of things I learned the hard way:

  1. Install the PSU before anything else.
  2. Don’t forget to install the IO shield before placing the motherboard.
  3. Install CPU and RAM on the motherboard before placing it in the case. When installing the CPU, don’t touch the bottom of it, and certainly don’t touch the pins on in the socket as they bend easily. You need to press down a lever to lock the CPU in place. This requires way more force than feels comfortable but do it anyway :wink:. The plastic cap should pop off automatically when you’re nearly there.
  4. Check if your CPU heatsink comes with thermal grease (they usually do these days), if not buy some. Be careful with the fins on heatsinks, they can be very sharp!
  5. Keep an unused credit card/pass of some kind ready for spreading the thermal grease.
  6. Carefully think about how you can connect your power leads requiring as few leads as possible (assuming you’re using a modular PSU).
  7. Check your powerleads and SATA leads, some have angled connectors which can be useful, but it can also be impossible to use them because they then cover other sockets or there is simply no room for an angled connector. Plan carefully which lead you can use where.
  8. Get your cable management right from the start, or you’ll end up reconnecting everything once you’re done to get it tidy.
  9. When you’re done building, connect just the power lead and press the power button. See if every fan spins up. Press power again to shut down the pc again. If everything worked, close the case. If not, disconnect the power lead and press the power button again before touching anything inside! (this discharges any currents still in the system somewhere. Doesn’t always happen but you better be safe).
  10. When booting up for the first time, go into BIOS. If unsure how to get there, press f1, f2, f5, f10, f12, del and escape as the motherboard manufacturers logo appears when you start the pc. One of them is bound to be the ‘enter bios setup’ key :p. In BIOS first check if it recognises all your hard drives and optical drives. Second, check if the motherboard correctly reads the CPU (around 30 C) and system (Around 26C) temperatures. Third, often motherboards don’t use the right memory frequency. The memory you picked runs at 3000, the motherboard will probably automatically select something lower than that. Change it to 3000, this should work without any further changes. If not, you’ll probably need to update the BIOS. Finally, also check the system date and time :slight_smile:.
    11.You don’t need anything from the cd’s supplied with different components. These are exceptions:
    i)Samsung Magician can be useful for configuring your SSD’s.
    ii)The network adapter driver from the motherboard CD in case Windows doesn’t recognise it automatically.
    Everything else you generally don’t want, because it’s either bloatware or already outdated. Let windows install all the drivers and then see what is still missing and install just those drivers if you need that particular function.

And probably a lot of other things I can’t remember now. If you run into anything feel free to ask!

22

Small update:
When transferring my old projects to the new harddrive I could just barely hear the head move when I was concentrating on it, so the blue drives are quite silent!

23

Ended up with the R5 - Been a while, but finally got the computer up and running. Initial feedback:
The case nice - well built, good insulation, plenty of room for all my components. The one thing I dislike about it is that the hard drive chassis aren’t super stable. The hd’s seem to ride loose in each individual hd slot, which leaves them open to small amounts of vibration. I wish there were rubber mounts.

The black drives are loud. I wanted high performance drives so I opted for those (Silent PC said they weren’t as loud as others) but when they’re writing and reading data you can hear it. That being said, I’m mostly using my mechanical drives for game dev stuff, so when I’m doing sound design (both system and audio drives are ssds) I’m good.

the Cosair H100i fans are at this point the loudest component of the computer. I’m going to replace them with some noctua fans to see if that helps with everything.

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Also, FWIW, noctua fans make a HUGE difference with the cpu cooler. Very quiet.

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Nice one, enjoy your new machine! :slight_smile: