Help with building in the BitFenix Prodigy M

[inari_boy]

Hey guys, I'm building my first computer, and i've come across a few questions that I figured you all might be able to help answer. Here's a list of specs first:

Case: BitFenix Prodigy M
Mobo: Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 Micro ATX AM3+
CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core
CPU Cooler: Promalitech Megahelms
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP (1x8)
Storage: Corsair 256GB SSD
GPU: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7870
PSU: Corsair GS800

Okay. The question is mainly about the PSU, and also about airflow. From videos i've seen, most people who are building in this case put the PSU with the fan facing the front of the case. I don't quite understand this seeing as the front of the case looks solid to me, so unless the air is vented out the sides of the front somehow... anyway.

1.) Is it better to have the fan facing the front or facing the inside of the case.
2.) With that cpu cooler, how should I set up the airflow? I was thinking intake in the back and an intake fan on the heatsink, then two 120mm exhaust fans on the top.

Again this is my first build so I'm very open to all advice. Thanks

 

[Rammy]

There's a few issues with I'm not sure you have considered, in addition to the ones you have. I'm unsure if you've already bought all of these things or not, but it probably won't do what you want it to.

The most obvious of these is that you are trying to do an AMD FX build on mATX. This is more or less a non-starter. Technically, your CPU is compatible with the board, but it's not really suitable for it, lacks modern features and won't be any good for overclocking. A decent 970 or 990FX board is generally the place to look, and for whatever reason they don't come in mATX. It's up to you of course, but high end AMD builds are pretty much tied to ATX, going smaller requires a swap to Intel.

Also, your PSU is massive overkill in terms of capacity, and you should probably consider 2*4Gb rather than 1*8Gb of ram.

Anyway, assuming you've actually bought all these things and just need to fit it together-

The front of a Prodigy is either vented entirely (Black version) or solid with vented section around the edges (White+colours). In the Prodigy M, you mount the PSU so it draws in cool air from the front section and pushs it out of the underside. The issue with this design is that if you use the bottom fan mounts, these may well suck in the exhaust from the PSU. There isn't really an alternative.

As I mentioned earlier, overclocking on a board like this probably won't go very well, so the big heatsink is probably overkill. This is probably the only viable way of doing your airflow though, and it's surprisingly conventional. It exhausts at the back. You can't really exhaust at the top because the graphics card blocks you..

 

[inari_boy]

There's a few issues with I'm not sure you have considered, in addition to the ones you have. I'm unsure if you've already bought all of these things or not, but it probably won't do what you want it to.

The most obvious of these is that you are trying to do an AMD FX build on mATX. This is more or less a non-starter. Technically, your CPU is compatible with the board, but it's not really suitable for it, lacks modern features and won't be any good for overclocking. A decent 970 or 990FX board is generally the place to look, and for whatever reason they don't come in mATX. It's up to you of course, but high end AMD builds are pretty much tied to ATX, going smaller requires a swap to Intel.

Also, your PSU is massive overkill in terms of capacity, and you should probably consider 2*4Gb rather than 1*8Gb of ram.

Anyway, assuming you've actually bought all these things and just need to fit it together-

The front of a Prodigy is either vented entirely (Black version) or solid with vented section around the edges (White+colours). In the Prodigy M, you mount the PSU so it draws in cool air from the front section and pushs it out of the underside. The issue with this design is that if you use the bottom fan mounts, these may well suck in the exhaust from the PSU. There isn't really an alternative.

As I mentioned earlier, overclocking on a board like this probably won't go very well, so the big heatsink is probably overkill. This is probably the only viable way of doing your airflow though, and it's surprisingly conventional. It exhausts at the back. You can't really exhaust at the top because the graphics card blocks you..

If i'm using a 4GHz processor on the board though, which supplies the needed 125w of power to the processor then it won't underclock will it? Like I said i'm new to this, so what kind of speeds would I be getting with this mobo/cpu combo? The thing is, I have the motherboard already, and the case. I like the micro build for being lightweight and stuff so the mATX isn't changing right now. Maybe in a future build.

The PSU is 800w, which if my graphics card needs roughly 550w and the cpu needs 125w then should i go for a 700w? (To be honest I like the power supply because it matches my black/blue theme.)

For the RAM, the board supports 16gb, so I'm getting the 1x8 for now, and possibly upgrading later for another 1x8.

And in the picture for the airflow, where is the intake? Is that coming in at the bottom with the two 120mm fans? and then passing through the heat sink and out the back? (I was also going to put the two exhaust fans on the top to help exhaust any air that passes through the GPU fans, if that makes any difference with case temperature.)

So again, what kind of speeds would I get with this motherboard and this cpu? And where does the intake come from?

Thanks so much for the advice man.

 

[Rammy]

Yeah you've definitely got a slightly awkward situation.

The motherboard is a 760G chipset, a pretty antiquated design, lacking in most modern features and while you might manage a small overclock (you are best to see if people have done this) it's probably not worth the hassle.
At stock speeds, it should work ok, but it's definitely not the sort of board people would usually recommend pairing with that processor.

The power requirements stated for graphics cards are for the whole system, and also pretty exaggerated (to cover the volume of bad PSUs on the market). 550W is actually a relatively sensible amount, for the entire system, though like I say, even that has quite a lot of headroom in it. 800W would be overkill for two of your graphics cards.

The comment about RAM is just in relation to dual channel. 8Gb is plenty for gaming, so people rarely need to go to 16Gb. 2*4Gb will be faster than 1*8Gb as it means it runs in dual channel mode. Compared to your other potential issues, I wouldn't worry about this.

The intake in the picture is the fans on the floor. It's a bit...crap. If I'm honest. I imagine it sucks in quite a lot of hot air from the PSU, but there really aren't any other options. Exhaust fans on top of your graphics card probably isn't going to help. The graphics card PCB blocks airflow down into the case, and the fans on the graphics card itself direct air onto the card. Adding an exhaust directly above this is going to conflict with the graphics card fans. An intake would make more sense, though it's probably unnecessary.

 

[inari_boy]

Yeah you've definitely got a slightly awkward situation.

The motherboard is a 760G chipset, a pretty antiquated design, lacking in most modern features and while you might manage a small overclock (you are best to see if people have done this) it's probably not worth the hassle.
At stock speeds, it should work ok, but it's definitely not the sort of board people would usually recommend pairing with that processor.

The power requirements stated for graphics cards are for the whole system, and also pretty exaggerated (to cover the volume of bad PSUs on the market). 550W is actually a relatively sensible amount, for the entire system, though like I say, even that has quite a lot of headroom in it. 800W would be overkill for two of your graphics cards.

The comment about RAM is just in relation to dual channel. 8Gb is plenty for gaming, so people rarely need to go to 16Gb. 2*4Gb will be faster than 1*8Gb as it means it runs in dual channel mode. Compared to your other potential issues, I wouldn't worry about this.

The intake in the picture is the fans on the floor. It's a bit...crap. If I'm honest. I imagine it sucks in quite a lot of hot air from the PSU, but there really aren't any other options. Exhaust fans on top of your graphics card probably isn't going to help. The graphics card PCB blocks airflow down into the case, and the fans on the graphics card itself direct air onto the card. Adding an exhaust directly above this is going to conflict with the graphics card fans. An intake would make more sense, though it's probably unnecessary.

So will it clock at 4GHz? Cause that should be plenty yes?

For the PSU, I'll also be running all the fans with LEDs, so how much power do they consume? (As well as a few LED strips.)

And ooooh okay I understand the whole RAM thing now, thanks for that. I was actually unaware of any of that.

And yeah, I was thinking the same thing about their choice of PSU placement... I don't understand why they would put it there instead of the normal place in the back which is why I like the Prodigy more than the Prodigy M, but obviously I'm not up to retrofitting that for a mATX board.

With the intake from the bottom, what kind of temperatures do you think I'll have? Also, anyway to prevent the computer from sucking in the PSU exhaust?

 

[Rammy]

Yeah it should run at its standard speed, the point is that you buy a big CPU cooler (like the Megahelems) if you want to overclock, otherwise it's just a waste of money and on that motherboard overclocking isn't terribly viable.

The PSU placement is necessary because of how they chose to orient the motherboard. Remember the Prodigy was an ITX case, and its dimensions are identical in mATX form. It's a mod. A PSU doesn't exhaust vast amounts of hot air, so any which does get sucked into the intake won't make a dramatic difference to temps, but it's certainly not ideal. It's perhaps worth searching to see who else has tackled this issue (the obvious solution would be to place a piece of card or something between the PSU exhaust vent and the fan intake to stop the air crossing over). Also, if you aren't overclocking, airflow isn't as much of a concern as it would be.

Fans and LED strips use very little power (a few watts each) they really are insignificant enough to be irrelevant until you add up a lot of them.

I'd still be concerned about the overall ability of your system, and it meeting your expectations. As I originally said, mATX and AMD FX don't really mix, and you've spent a lot of money without really getting the kind of performance you'd expect at those kinda prices. If your components are still boxed and sealed, it might be worth having a serious rethink.

 

[inari_boy]

Yeah it should run at its standard speed, the point is that you buy a big CPU cooler (like the Megahelems) if you want to overclock, otherwise it's just a waste of money and on that motherboard overclocking isn't terribly viable.

The PSU placement is necessary because of how they chose to orient the motherboard. Remember the Prodigy was an ITX case, and its dimensions are identical in mATX form. It's a mod. A PSU doesn't exhaust vast amounts of hot air, so any which does get sucked into the intake won't make a dramatic difference to temps, but it's certainly not ideal. It's perhaps worth searching to see who else has tackled this issue (the obvious solution would be to place a piece of card or something between the PSU exhaust vent and the fan intake to stop the air crossing over). Also, if you aren't overclocking, airflow isn't as much of a concern as it would be.

Fans and LED strips use very little power (a few watts each) they really are insignificant enough to be irrelevant until you add up a lot of them.

I'd still be concerned about the overall ability of your system, and it meeting your expectations. As I originally said, mATX and AMD FX don't really mix, and you've spent a lot of money without really getting the kind of performance you'd expect at those kinda prices. If your components are still boxed and sealed, it might be worth having a serious rethink.

But check out this forum, at http:// and this makes it seem possible.

But I see what you're saying about the PSU, and I'll go for less wattage.

Any responses after reading that other forum post?

*quick edit, just realized I googled the wrong motherboard. Either way though, 4GZh is good. So from taking your advice would you say it's best I get a less powerful PSU and a smaller heatsink?

 

[Rammy]

Well, I'd say scrap the whole build idea, if that was an option.

Making the best of a bad situation would be downgrade the PSU and heatsink yeah. You don't need either for stock settings, so you are probably best off with a 500-550W PSU and the stock cooler.

 

[inari_boy]

Well, I'd say scrap the whole build idea, if that was an option.

Making the best of a bad situation would be downgrade the PSU and heatsink yeah. You don't need either for stock settings, so you are probably best off with a 500-550W PSU and the stock cooler.

Could you think of a better mATX board for that processor that would be able to handle overclocking? I'm not so worried about the heatsink, seeing as it's only $65, and a sexy blue to match the rest of the build haha.
But I definitely don't want a stock cooler in this PC, just cause that's pretty nooby. 😛

 

[Rammy]

Well you've kinda missed the point. You can't get good mATX boards with the right chipsets, they don't exist.
Filter PCpartpicker for 970, 990FX and 990X boards at mATX. You will get zero results.

$65+ fans is a lot of money to me, especially when it does next to nothing.

 

[inari_boy]

Well you've kinda missed the point. You can't get good mATX boards with the right chipsets, they don't exist.
Filter PCpartpicker for 970, 990FX and 990X boards at mATX. You will get zero results.

$65+ fans is a lot of money to me, especially when it does next to nothing.

Okay okay I get it now. mATX isn't meant for overclocking. So how about instead:

Corsair GS600 -$70
and
Be Quiet! Shadow Rock 2 - $50

Then this rig will be all black on the inside, and I guess I won't bother with LEDs and not put on a window.