Build advice in a Silverstone FTZ01B-E - picked parts vs cooling and silence potential

falander

Minimal Tinkerer
Original poster
Jul 17, 2019
3
1
Hi Everyone.

First I wanted to make a small introduction of what I would like to achieve and why.

My current PC is a thing from the past, build way over a decade ago. I think my mobile phone is stronger...

Even though the PC is a bit too loud, to big etc. it kinda worked. I am a casual gamer, mostly spending time working on some projects. But the limit was lately broken when few Chrome tabs and a movie in the background almost froze my PC.

So I thought about a new build. My ideal PC should be small, quiet, multipurpose and made in such a way that I will "forget" about it (only some standard dust filters cleaning).
I need a PC that in my opinion would be hmm neat and without any RGB lights as I stay awake until late at night. The case would be mostly in a horizontal position.
I will try to squeeze some more power from this system so a light OC will be made (for RAM at least).

Getting to the point.

CASE: Silverstone FTZ01B-E. 14 liters, aluminum/steel frame, looks like the ventilation should be good. Looks neat ;)

GPU: GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1660 Ti GAMING OC 6G. Chosen mostly because of its height 40.4 mm that will leave a 12 mm clearance from the slim case fans. I think a bit more airflow space is a good idea right?

Motherboard: GIGABYTE B450 I AORUS PRO WIFI. It would blend with the graphics card theme. I like their Fan Stop app as I could potentially make the whole PC more silent if tuned correctly. I used Gigabyte in my old PC so a sentiment plays also a role :)

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600. This is a hot topic lately, looks promising, why not to try it. Would also help in some projects with all those cores, threads (and Chrome would stop freezing the system!)

PSU: Corsair SF600. I read a lot of good reviews about it. The SFX version because I wanted to have a bit room for cable management (adapter SFX / ATX (SST-PP08) included on the shopping list)

RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4 3200 CL16. Low profile to be on safe side when choosing the CPU cooler. 32 GB because I always wanted to have a lot of memory :)

Storage: Samsung 860 1TB 2.5'' and 970 Evo 500 GB M.2. I had an old 250 GB HDD so going rich with space and speeds right now.

The case comes with two 120 mm slim fans. They would go in the GPU case slots and work as intakes. Here I have this 12 mm clearance for airflow.
I will have an empty slot for a third 120 mm fan over the CPU (potentially at least).

The thing that I would like to make is to remove all the stock (case fans, CPU cooler) and install the Noctua stuff (or other proposed that have similar capabilities).

For the two GPU slots stock fans it is easy, change to the NF-A12x15 PWM.

For CPU cooler I would choose from:
1. NH-L12S - height 70 mm
2. NH-L9x65 SE-AM4 - height 65 mm
3. Noctua NH-L9a-AM4 - height 37 mm

Now the CPU fan slot options:
For the first point I can only try to squeeze the NF-A12x15 PWM as the mathematics shows I will have only 13 mm space so if I could bend the rad pipes a bit it could somehow fit …
For the second option I can also use only a NF-A12x15 PWM but I will still have as much as 3 mm space.
The third option is the easiest one with a NF-F12 PWM and an astounding space of 21 mm.

I kindly ask You, forum experts, in helping me choose the best option. To make the airflow good and that it would not create a lot of sound when on load.
Should the CPU case fan be an intake or exhaust one?

Should I connect it together with the two 120 mm ones into the system fan header or maybe with the CPU fan header to have it work pararrel (as intake or exhaust) with the CPU cooler?

If you have any doubts about the parts I have chosen or would recommend something better suited I am open to suggestions.
This PC will probably stay with me for another decade or so :)
Thanks
 

falander

Minimal Tinkerer
Original poster
Jul 17, 2019
3
1
So nobody elaborated about my issues but at the end I thought this through and will go with the NH-L12S and hope the two fans facing each other on the rad will not make a lot of turbulent noise when on a load.
 

confusis

John Morrison. Founder and Team Leader of SFF.N
SFF Network
SFF Workshop
SFFn Staff
Jun 19, 2015
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CPU fan(s) should be intake; I'd run the other fans as intake as well, let the air escape out the back. Positive pressure generally means less dust, and in the RVZ/FTZ series, it seems that it's designed for all intake :)
 
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falander

Minimal Tinkerer
Original poster
Jul 17, 2019
3
1
CPU fan(s) should be intake; I'd run the other fans as intake as well, let the air escape out the back. Positive pressure generally means less dust, and in the RVZ/FTZ series, it seems that it's designed for all intake :)
I should have all part delivered next week then when it is build I'll post some pictures and maybe some info how the system behaves. :)
 
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