Just studied it a little bit. The G3 goes from a 140mm fan to a 130mm fan and is overall slightly shorter. The efficiency specs are mostly identical. The Eco switch was moved to the back. I'm using the G3.
It's come together nicely. This is the first build where I've ever used Noctua's NA-AV2 premium-grade rat buttplugs for the fans instead of screws. Gonna be vibration-free.
Found a vid of what those look like to install. Pretty simple little pieces of silicone. One side of the flange goes against the fan, and the other grips the metal of the case. They lock in quite positively, but I'm concerned the ones with the slotted holes in the front might try sliding down over time. Oh well, I'll think of something to keep them retained in place if that happens.
The FD Define 7 Compact is a fantastic case. I can't believe I've never used a Fractal Design case before. The wireways are excellent, but the door latches are quite unforgiving if you have a thick bundle of wires stuffed under there.
My desk is a custom piece that me and my dad built. It's 8 feet across and made from welded steel angle iron salvaged from an old bed frame that captures a stained piece of plywood (it was very hard, shitty steel that took the teeth off our bandsaw blades), as well as a Workrite ergonomic keyboard tray with a custom wooden surface. This, in turn, is held up by a triangulated frame of steel rods that sits on two Craftsman tool chests that act as the legs. The desk is not super-deep, about 20.25 in./51.4cm. My Corsair Obsidian 900D sits sideways across it. The FD Define 7 Compact should be able to sit with the front facing forward. Should save a lot of desk space. Which is a good thing, since I'm getting a Samsung Odyssey G9 49" 240hz Ultrawide.
I used some cotton swabs and alcohol to prep the CPU and heat sink surfaces, and then applied a coat of Gelid GC-Extreme to the CPU's heat spreader and stuck the heat sink on there. I also swapped out the fan with a 2000 RPM Noctua iPPC, which has the same exact housing and blade design but a slightly more powerful motor and higher max static pressure. The current fan setup is as follows.
- The PSU sucking from the bottom and exhausting out the rear rather than pulling hot air from inside the case across the transformer.
- The the drive cage was removed and a 120mm fan installed in its place, as an intake, pulling from the bottom. The little plastic shroud pieces above the drive cage were removed to allow for uninhibited flow.
- There are two 140mm fans set to intake on the front.
- One 120mm exhaust in the rear.
- Two 120mm exhausts in the top.
- One 120mm fan on the NH-U12S CPU cooler.
A nice unidirectional flow across the CPU from bottom-front to upper-rear, with a slight positive pressure to keep dust out. iPPCs are higher-RPM and louder than the Chromax.blacks, but only if your PWM profile allows for it. My current rig has two radiators and ten of the 3000 RPM iPPCs and sounds like a leaf blower when they're up on max, but they're mostly quite tame when turned all the way down. This new rig should be much quieter.
The RTX 3090 is ENORMOUS! Fucking thicc-ass card. Just barely fit in the case.
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Build’s done. I tossed a Sound Blaster in there, too, because why not? Should sound nice with my AKG cans and my Logitech Z-5500s.
The rig has no window. Both doors have sound dampening foam on them. I’m thinking about adding adhesive foam pads to the top to reduce vibration even further.
territory.
