Thinking of doing a new build

[Dravenspur]

Actually, ninjacore, I was only trying to avoid the .5 GB of VRAM at a slower speed issue of the 970. That's why I decided on a 980. Although, I was thinking I might go with a 980ti for the extra 2 GB of VRAM. Looking at PCPartPicker, there is one build with the ASUS STRIX 980ti, one with the Gigabyte 980ti, and one with the EVGA 980ti, so it seems that any of these cards will fit in the Arc Mini R2.

I was worried at first because there is a review on the ASUS site from Tech Report that says the ASUS version of the 980ti needs about two inches of clearance above the PCIe slot covers, but someone did end up using it in the Arc Mini R2, so it should be fine. And a couple reviewers I'm beginning to trust, one is here at Overclockers and the other is Hardware Canucks whose video reviews I've seen on YouTube; both said the ASUS 980ti is an awesome card. Oh and Tech Report liked it too.

I know future proofing is worthless, but $500 now for a 980 and then, say, $500 in a year for a 980ti if the price drops a bit is still more expensive than $630 to $650 now for the 980ti and not caring in a year if a game like Mass Effect 4 comes out saying it recommends 6 GB of VRAM.

That's my thinking...what do you think?

 

[Dravenspur]

Actually, I just looked right now at the Tech Report review for four major 980ti cards, the ASUS STRIX, Gigabyte G1, MSI Gaming, and EVGA superclocked, and according to the site, the one with the best balance of low noise under load and low temperature under load is the MSI Gaming card. Noise level is 36 dB, temperature is a modest (for a gaming card, I think) 74 degrees Celsius. Your Gigabyte card, ninjacore, didn't do too bad. Of course, you have the 980 and not the 980ti, but the TI had the lowest temperature under load of the four cards, at 69 degrees Celsius, with a noise level of 42 dB. It seems for noise level the Gigabyte and MSI cards are pretty much identical, as the range is every 10 dB, about. So 36 to 42 dB isn't a huge jump, obviously. According to Purdue University, 30 to 40 dB is the difference between being in the country and being in a library, both of which, I think, are pretty quiet.

Unless someone tells me I won't need the TI version because I only have a 1080p monitor and the 980ti is only good if you're doing 1440p or 4k gaming, the Gigabyte card is looking pretty awesome. Plus, the Windforce logo can change colors! Not that I care that much; it is not a deal maker, where I HAVE to have the Gigabyte card so I can match my build, or something. Although it would be cool with the window of the Arc Mini R2 to see a different color on the card than blue, which is the original color, I think.

Really, the regular GTX 980 from Gigabyte is pretty much the same with noise levels and temperature under load as its big brother, the GTX 980ti, so if someone does think that the TI card is only worth it for 1440 or 4K gaming, then the regular GTX 980 should be fine. The eight degree difference in temperature under load of 61 degrees for the GTX 980 and 69 degrees for the GTX 980ti isn't that big of a deal I don't think. Additionally, the noise level of the 980 and 980ti are identical at 42 dB under load.

All this to say, I think I will change my video card choice to either the Gigabyte GTX 980 or 980ti from the ASUS STRIX 980, depending on what you guys say I need for 1080p gaming. Like I said in the above post, the only real reason I was looking at the 980ti was the extra 2 gigs of VRAM for future games.

 

[ninjacore]

980Ti is definitely overkill for 1080P.

As I said in my last post, even the 980 is overkill for 1080P.

You will flat out, NEVER see the "3.5GB issue" at that resolution with a 970. That would require SLI 970s @ 4K. It is the perfect card for 1080P.

 

[Dravenspur]

I know you mentioned this a while back, ninjacore, but what are some of the high rated air coolers for the 6600K? I'll have to check on the height of the coolers, but for now if you could remind me of what some of them are, that would be great.

 

[ninjacore]

Listed clearance for the Arc Mini R2 for a CPU cooler is 165mm.

Noctua NH-D15S (or the regular NH-D15) is exactly that.

Cryorig R1 Universal is 168mm, so probably won't fit (but it's a lot prettier than the Noctua, so maybe check out the actual clearance - manufacturers often list less than there actually is).

be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3 is only 163mm and looks good in just about any build.

 

[Dravenspur]

It looks like if I want to go air cooling, I'll go with the be quiet! Dark Rock, as the all black looks really nice...even with the windowed side panel, it won't be a problem.

The two things worrying me about AIO's are the liquid leaking out and also having to dismount the rad to refill the liquid because the screw hole for refilling, at least on the H140-X and H220-X, is on the front side of the rad and I wouldn't be able to fill it with the ODD cage in use.

The one thing about the memory with the Dark Rock is it needs to be low profile Corsair or something of similar height, as the clearance is really non-existent from the memory slots below the fan. The video I saw of the fan being installed was on a regular ATX motherboard and it blocked all the memory slots, so I can assume with a mATX board I really have no clearance at all. So I'll have to check on the G.Skill memory you recommended, ninjacore. I might need to go with something else.

I could go with the Noctua NH-D15S, as it was made for SFF boards and cases, with extra memory height clearance, but the looks are not as good with a windowed case. I might have to switch to the Midi R2, as that has an option of either a windowed side panel or a solid side panel.

You said that I could ignore the review I saw on Amazon about the 6600K and not being able to overclock using just air cooling, ninjacore. I have looked on YouTube for videos about overclocking the 6600K, but all of them I have found were overclocked with AIO's.

Do you know how I could overclock with air? Is it basically the same as with water cooling? I saw a video by Paul's Hardware on YouTube where he overclocked the 6600K by going in to the OS and messing with fan speed, etc., but he was using an AIO rad.

 

[Dravenspur]

Yep, it looks like if I switch to Corsair Vengeance LPX memory, everything will fit just fine. I just saw a build on YouTube of a guy who fit the be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3 in a FD Arc Mini (not the R2, but they have the same dimensions) with a 2 slot GPU and G.Skill memory (unfortunately, I have to go with Corsair because the clearance for the DR Pro 3 is 40mm and G.Skill Ripjaws V is 42mm high, whereas the Corsair is 26.25mm high...it's still the DDR4-3200 CAS 16 memory, so it should be the same, unless someone tells me that Corsair isn't as good as G.Skill, or something). He used the ASUS Maximus VI Gene board, not the VIII, but I can't imagine there would be much difference between the two. I don't think the VIII was out yet (he did the video last year).

Thank you once again ninjacore, for all your help putting this together!

I suppose the last two questions I have are, how do I overclock with air (which I asked in an earlier post already...sorry for the double post) and how do I put my build in the footer of my posts here on OC.com like I see many of you have?

 

[ninjacore]

Dark Rock Pro 3 will be a great choice. All of those top air coolers are within a few degrees and a few decibels of one another.

Yea, I didn't look into ram clearance. I would say the LPX from Corsair is a great choice. I've owned a set or two and it was good stuff. Ram is ram, basically. I don't think I've ever had a kit that wouldn't run at its rated speeds. Corsair and G.Skill are probably two of the more trusted names, so you're good there. I only went with the one I initially sent because it was cheaper, but with an air cooler, the lower profile you can get in memory, the better.

I forgot you had switched to wanting the Node 804 instead of the Mini R2 (you did switch, right?). The clearance on the Node 804 is listed at 160mm, but I actually fit an NH-D15 in there, so the "real" clearance is more like 165-166 (it was tight, but not touching the side window). Regardless of which case you get, I would probably go with the Dark Rock Pro 3. The all black will look the best.

Overclocking on air is exactly the same as with an AIO. I haven't OC'd a Skylake chip yet, but I believe it's just about the same as (or easier than) Sandybridge - Haswell. I'm sure we have a stickied guide in the Intel CPU section.

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