I wanted to report my good experience (so far) with my newest PC build. As mentioned above, I used this youtube video as a template for my build.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBzND3Hyk7I
Of course not all the parts are an exact match but I pretty much copied the cooling configuration. I went with BitFenix 140mm PWM fan for the CPU fan. The Noctua fan may be good but it's just plain ugly (IMO.) I also used a Corsair AF120 Quiet Edition for the outtake. I had a hard time getting the BitFenix Spectre Pro Fans. I was only able to locate 4 so I am using those for the side panel fans. I am using the fan that came with the case for the front intake which cools the hard drive cage on the lower level. The fan is not visible so I saw no benefit to swapping it out. On the left side panel facing the GPU I used a 4 pin fan header splitter to plug into the fan header at the bottom of the mobo. I would like to attach a thermal sensor to the GPU so that I can control those two fans based on GPU temps. I would like to get an ASUS fan extension card for that but apparently I will have to go through EBay to get one of those. I am disappointed that ASUS does not make the card available to all the Maximus VIII boards as they have headers for the card. It makes no sense to me that they would go to effort of putting a header on the board for the card and then not offer the optional card for sale. The clearance between Noctua heatsink and the ASUS Strix GTX 970 I am using is less than 16th of an inch. I am glad this case holds the mobo horizontally. With a vertical mount I fear the heatsink would make contact with the GPU. I also followed JJ's advise and faced the intake fan of my Corsair RM 750X PSU up to draw heat away from the underside of the mobo instead of facing the fan down to intake cool air from the bottom of the case.
I got lucky. All my parts appear to be working out of the box with no lemons. I took my time with the build and built from the bottom up in the case, first installing the drives and PSU and running the cables before putting in the mobo. The fact that the 3 side panels come off made this case as easy to build in as if it were a test bench. I did a little dance when this thing posted straight to setup the first time I hit the power button on the front of the case.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBzND3Hyk7I
Of course not all the parts are an exact match but I pretty much copied the cooling configuration. I went with BitFenix 140mm PWM fan for the CPU fan. The Noctua fan may be good but it's just plain ugly (IMO.) I also used a Corsair AF120 Quiet Edition for the outtake. I had a hard time getting the BitFenix Spectre Pro Fans. I was only able to locate 4 so I am using those for the side panel fans. I am using the fan that came with the case for the front intake which cools the hard drive cage on the lower level. The fan is not visible so I saw no benefit to swapping it out. On the left side panel facing the GPU I used a 4 pin fan header splitter to plug into the fan header at the bottom of the mobo. I would like to attach a thermal sensor to the GPU so that I can control those two fans based on GPU temps. I would like to get an ASUS fan extension card for that but apparently I will have to go through EBay to get one of those. I am disappointed that ASUS does not make the card available to all the Maximus VIII boards as they have headers for the card. It makes no sense to me that they would go to effort of putting a header on the board for the card and then not offer the optional card for sale. The clearance between Noctua heatsink and the ASUS Strix GTX 970 I am using is less than 16th of an inch. I am glad this case holds the mobo horizontally. With a vertical mount I fear the heatsink would make contact with the GPU. I also followed JJ's advise and faced the intake fan of my Corsair RM 750X PSU up to draw heat away from the underside of the mobo instead of facing the fan down to intake cool air from the bottom of the case.
I got lucky. All my parts appear to be working out of the box with no lemons. I took my time with the build and built from the bottom up in the case, first installing the drives and PSU and running the cables before putting in the mobo. The fact that the 3 side panels come off made this case as easy to build in as if it were a test bench. I did a little dance when this thing posted straight to setup the first time I hit the power button on the front of the case.
Nice build in that Lian-Li case. Nice case for Miicro ATX... Lian-Li make fantastic case. That's PC-V359?
I like smaller RIG as well. One of nicest case at the moment for Mini ITX Build / Impact is In Win 901.
Need only little modification and one 240mm radiator could cooldown i7-6700K and Poseidon card inside.
For Micro ATX In Win 904/904 PLUS same as for Hero.
I even saw Maximus VI Extreme on their site inside In Win 904 and that mean E-ATX fit... somehow.
I like smaller RIG as well. One of nicest case at the moment for Mini ITX Build / Impact is In Win 901.
Need only little modification and one 240mm radiator could cooldown i7-6700K and Poseidon card inside.
For Micro ATX In Win 904/904 PLUS same as for Hero.
I even saw Maximus VI Extreme on their site inside In Win 904 and that mean E-ATX fit... somehow.
