Build Advice Suggestions and review for my new GAMING build

Elusive Ruse

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I'd go for a 2TB Samsung, 970 EVO Plus is getting good deals right now. You could also wait for BF or Cyber Monday and get the 2TB 980. Maybe consider Fractal Pop Air, NZXT H7 Flow for similar prices to the Antec. If you wanna help your toasty 12900K cool better, you could spend a bit more and get the Fractal Torrent.
 

Rocwen Colondo

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I'd go for a 2TB Samsung, 970 EVO Plus is getting good deals right now. You could also wait for BF or Cyber Monday and get the 2TB 980. Maybe consider Fractal Pop Air, NZXT H7 Flow for similar prices to the Antec. If you wanna help your toasty 12900K cool better, you could spend a bit more and get the Fractal Torrent.
Actually the 2tb 980 is now getting really good deal on amazon but I dont think I need the 2tb, and I heard it over heats and slightly worse performance ,so I'm considering using the 1tb(with heat sink) for system + important stuff and maybe at BF or cyber monday ill get additional 2tb 970 EVO.

and does the case really affect cooling that much(and specially the antec doesnt seem bad to me but Im no expert) specially considering I added (while not expensive but still) water cooling for the i9 ?
 
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Elusive Ruse

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Nov 17, 2022
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Actually the 2tb 980 is now getting really good deal on amazon but I dont think I need the 2tb, and I heard it over heats and slightly worse performance ,so I'm considering using the 1tb(with heat sink) for system + important stuff and maybe at BF or cyber monday ill get additional 2tb 970 EVO.

and does the case really affect cooling that much(and specially the antec doesnt seem bad to me but Im no expert) specially considering I added (while not expensive but still) water cooling for the i9 ?
The Antec design looks counter intuitive in regards to airflow, a case is sth I'd want to keep for a long time or even forever if possible. I'm personally prepared to discard the "cool" look for sure airflow, but I understand if you'd rather go for the more unique style.

ETA: The LF II 280 is an amazing LC, I'd only put it below other Arctic LC solutions.
 
Since I recently help build a pc with a arctic freezer cooler there is another consideration that you have to be careful of.

These coolers are 11mm thicker than most other coolers. When you top mount them you have to be very careful about clearance. If you look at the photo they show in their example for this case you will see it just about lines up with the edge of the motherboard. With a arctic radiator it will extend 11mm deeper likely overlapping the board. Most motherboards are not thicker than the back shield but your memory can easily extend higher. Also if you look the asus mounts the memory closer to the edge of the board on the model you are using than the example in the photo. You can see where things line up if you compare the mounting screw for the motherboard.
You really have to dig to find the height of memory sticks. We ended up having to get different memory, fancy led lights make them taller it seems.
 

Rocwen Colondo

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The Antec design looks counter intuitive in regards to airflow, a case is sth I'd want to keep for a long time or even forever if possible. I'm personally prepared to discard the "cool" look for sure airflow, but I understand if you'd rather go for the more unique style.

ETA: The LF II 280 is an amazing LC, I'd only put it below other Arctic LC solutions.
I just watched few review online and saw that fractal torrent/meshify don't really provide any additional cooling advantage in real world over for example:
"corsair 4000D AIRFLOW" and the antec seems to have a very similar air flow design with even additional possibility for bottom mounted fans
 
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Rocwen Colondo

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Jun 2, 2013
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Since I recently help build a pc with a arctic freezer cooler there is another consideration that you have to be careful of.

These coolers are 11mm thicker than most other coolers. When you top mount them you have to be very careful about clearance. If you look at the photo they show in their example for this case you will see it just about lines up with the edge of the motherboard. With a arctic radiator it will extend 11mm deeper likely overlapping the board. Most motherboards are not thicker than the back shield but your memory can easily extend higher. Also if you look the asus mounts the memory closer to the edge of the board on the model you are using than the example in the photo. You can see where things line up if you compare the mounting screw for the motherboard.
You really have to dig to find the height of memory sticks. We ended up having to get different memory, fancy led lights make them taller it seems.
Wow thanks this is really a thing I didn't consider at all, but what if for example in order to avoid this issue I front mount the arctic coolers , and Top mount stock case fans , is that a bad design that would leave me in disadvantage ?
And I didn't completely get how can I avoid this issue, let's suppose I do find the height of my memory sticks I still don't know if they will fit or not , how do I calculate how much I would have in this case with my mobo and fans ?
 
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Elusive Ruse

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Nov 17, 2022
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I just watched few review online and saw that fractal torrent/meshify don't really provide any additional cooling advantage in real world over for example:
"corsair 4000D AIRFLOW" and the antec seems to have a very similar air flow design with even additional possibility for bottom mounted fans
That is to be expected, Corsair 4000D Airflow is as good a case as the rest of the cases I mentioned.
Top mounting the LC is ideal but you can also do front mounting as long as you make sure that the cables are at the bottom. As for the measuring clearance, this guy has a good video about the AF II.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWxPif8ibRA


Best LC mounting practices:
View: https://youtu.be/BbGomv195sk
 
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Wow thanks this is really a thing I didn't consider at all, but what if for example in order to avoid this issue I front mount the arctic coolers , and Top mount stock case fans , is that a bad design that would leave me in disadvantage ?
And I didn't completely get how can I avoid this issue, let's suppose I do find the height of my memory sticks I still don't know if they will fit or not , how do I calculate how much I would have in this case with my mobo and fans ?
I am no expert but it seem top mount is optimum for many cases but properly mounted front mount works well also.

The worst case would be that the edge of the radiator sits on the io shield. The numbers I found say from the socket to the top of the memory it should be 38mm to be of the same height. It is unclear but most times you see lots of information about memory height in the discussion of air coolers because those have much more issues.

I am not sure how you find the memory stick size. Corsair is one of the few that posts it.
https://help.corsair.com/hc/en-us/articles/4412253644045-DDR5-memory-module-dimensions#:~:text=DDR5 memory module dimensions DDR5 memory, 1.38" 2 more rows

So after looking a bit more at the case you will see they have mounted a 120mm fan above the io shield. This make me thing it is not going to be possible to fit a 140mm wide arctic radiator that overlaps the board at all. The radiator and the fan must fit between the top of the case and the edge of the motherboard. Most other 280 coolers are a bit thinner.

I guess you could just mount it in the front being careful to watch the videos linked above. Otherwise I would look for a case that was wider or taller
 
The corsair 4000d case is wider than most. I suspect you can top mount your radiator in it but you will have to check. If you look at the diagram it has a 140mm fan in the back but there is a lot of space between the io plate and the fan. This should give the cooler more clearance over the motherboard since it mounts at the same distance from the edge of the case.