Phanteks Enthoo Pro build

[Abula]

Well even though this is not a quiet oriented setup, as its not for me but a close friend, but ended decent, there is a lot of hardware in it that have read good comments all over the web, so decided to use a lot of what i was interested that fit his budget.

Components
Motherboard: MSI H97 Gaming 3
CPU: Intel core i5 4590
CPU Cooler: Thermalrigtht HR02 Macho
Memory: Crucial Ballistic Sport 8gb ddr3 1600 ultra low profile
GPU: MSI GTX750Ti
SSD: Crucial MX100 512GB
HDD: Samsung 1.5TB 5400rpms 3.5 hdd
Case: Phanteks Primo Pro
PSU: EVGA SuperNova G2 750W

Initially the build was suppose to have ASUS GTX970 STRIX, but Amazon never got them in stock for the last 3 weeks =( or at least never saw them... so he just decided to skip them in favor of a waiting for the 20nm GPUs coming in 2015, so he grabbed a Asus GTX750Ti Strix, but came DOA =(, so i gave him my MSI GTX750Ti, ill be RMAing to amazon the Strix... although not sure yet if ill go for another MSi or Asus.... hard to say atm, both seem pretty nice cards. Sadly my friend didnt have too much to stay, so i couldnt do stress tests like i like to or set up fans according to them.... but i did the best that i could and imo turn out pretty decent and very nice looking. Here some pics of the build,









Some comments about the components,

Phanteks Primo Pro
Really nice case for $99, their design is very nice, plastic mostly outside but very well finished, kinda like aluminium looking. The there are tons of rubber grummeted holes around the motherboard to allow for very clean looking cable management, specially with the bigger than ATX size with the USB, front panel connectors.. etc. The side panels are not as sturdy as Fractals but still are good enough for its price and the window is well made, the PSU cover is a very nice touch, although i didn't take any pictures looks really nice with no cables in sight from it. The ventilation is solid, the included fans are more than enough to handle a Haswell Quad, outside the case they were very quiet at their lowest rpms, but inside the case they were noticeable, not anyoing but more like wosh of the air passing grills, still for $99 is a very good offering with a lot of space for a SLI setup, or multiple hdds.

MSI H97 Gaming 3
Similar to my Z87 with some subtle changes, specially on the BIOS, the fan control now has multiple breakpoints (4), but they are set with your mouse on the graph, like dragging them, the bad thing is they are still ruled by 12.5% for CPU_FAN and 10% for CHA_FAN. Aside from this was nothing special, but its not bad, for $116. I really like how MSi has done their hardware in terms of design and looks, not to flashy not to laid bad... then again this is subjective to each.





EVGA SuperNova G2 750W
This is a recommendation from Quest, and very thankful for his recommendation. This is a totally overkill PSU for the current setup, but its based into he is aiming into 4k gaming in the next year and a dual card setup, and since its a $114 PSU based on the Superflower Leadex design... got my attention, JonnyGuru among other high end PSU sites rate it very good, again with the price so low was perfect for his budget and future needs. The PSU on eco mode was totally silent to me, never heard the fan spin, no coil or whine either, i would say a totally very good pick over the Corsair RM series if you need a high wattage PSU. I like a little more the cabling of Seasonic, but its not bad specially for the price.

Thermalright HR02 Macho
This is like my 5th macho i have bought, this time was for the looks, i wanted to keep the black n white theme of the build, and the price is very good, for my surprise the TY147 has a much better fan range of control then the TY140/TY141, even though its not stated on the specs it can drop to 550rpm on Asus fanXpert2 and 520rpms on MSI Bios fan control on true pwm fan headers. This makes it a very appealing setup even vs the Mugen4 or Kotetsu, it was not audible to me at those rpms at 1mt, not saying its better, but if you want a black n white theme... its a very viable alternative.

About the included fans of the PRO, i manage to do some testing on my Asus FanXpert2 motherboard before doing the assembly, i leave you some screenshots of the fans. I also ran TY147 (came with the new macho), TY140 (bought it so long ago.. with the original HR02 none macho) and TY141 (got them recently with my Silver Arrow IBE) for you guys to see the difference on the fans,



And here are the tests i did on the included fans on the Phantek Primo Pro on FanXpert2,



Even though the Asus GTX750Ti Strix came DOA, i snag the MODDYI 4pin GPU adapter to 4pin standard pwm motherboard, and here is the result of runnign FanXpert2 on a real PWM fan header,



If you have any questions ill try to answer them, sadly the PC is not longer with me, so i cant do much more tests,

[quest_for_silence]

inside the case they were noticeable, not anyoing but more like wosh of the air passing grills

Noticeable at 240/300rpm or at 400/530rpm?

I guess you didn't try to swap at least the 140mm ones, in order to see whether it's either the restrictive honeycomb grille, or the fan itself to mostly generate that perceived noise.

Anyway, thanks for the quick review, very much appreciated, I hope your friend will be happy too!

[Abula]

I guess you didn't try to swap at least the 140mm ones, in order to see whether it's either the restrictive honeycomb grille, or the fan itself to mostly generate that perceived noise.

Sorry quest, didnt have the time to do testing like i would have, this is something that i was also intrested, but with the DOA on the card it delayed somewhat.... so i test as much as i could until got too late for him.

inside the case they were noticeable, not anyoing but more like wosh of the air passing grills

Noticeable at 240/300rpm or at 400/530rpm?

Well the thing is that as with more 3pin fans, motherboards like the Asus are best suited, if you see the FanXpert2 of the 200mm it manage to idle at 270rpm or so, to me was not audible outside the case at all, but i couldn't test with the asus board inside the case, the MSI fan control is very nice, but has its limitations, specially on 3pin, if you see the picture above of msi bios (2nd one) thats the 200mm fan on SYS_FAN3 header reduced to the max the motherboard allows (50%), and at this is like 430rpms which is still quiet, but i can hear the wosh of the air passing on the grills, but its not bad though, just i liked a lot more 270prms =P

The one that i didn't liked too much was the 140mm, its kinda weird fan, if you see the fanXpert2 it goes all green, this happen a lot when it passes certain spots where fanXpert2 cant control them very well or the fan will have a different rpms regardless of whats reported on the FanXpert2, at the end of the test it established like 520rpms as the min, but the fan was not spinning, yet it was reporting it was.... this problem doesnt appear on the MSI motherboad mainly because the fan is not allowed to go that low, at 50% (motherboard min for 3pin fans), the fan spins close to 750rpm, with the top gril at less than 1mt it was audible to me, again not bad for the average user, but for my standard i would have swap it. I didnt post here about the last fan, as was the PWM version that i shared my thoughts on the user reviews, but this fan sounded a little better and goes lower, specially since MSI managmenet of PWM is much better than 3pin. I still think the Antec True Quiet 140s has a much better tone and range of operation for quiet computing on 140mm, but for keeping the looks/theme of a build, the phanteks work fine.

One thing that i forget to comment was about the MX100 512gb, this is highly subjective and not an accurate assumption, but i felt it very snappy, even faster reacting than my Samsung 840 PRO 512gb, both opening apps, browsing i felt like the pc reacted faster, the ssd imo is very wroth its price, and with samsung issues with the old data... i think its a much better buy. Personally i have had very good experiences with my two M4, i mostly didnt buy a 550 because of the temps, but the MX100 seems very well in that deparment, even under load never saw it pass 35C, but i never ran like CDM or ATTO... still i feel with the little testing i did, its a great ssd and what i would recommend to anyone building atm.

[sn1009]

Initially the build was suppose to have ASUS GTX970 STRIX, but Amazon never got them in stock for the last 3 weeks =( or at least never saw them... so he just decided to skip them in favor of a waiting for the 20nm GPUs coming in 2015, so he grabbed a Asus GTX750Ti Strix, but came DOA =(, so i gave him my MSI GTX750Ti, ill be RMAing to amazon the Strix... although not sure yet if ill go for another MSi or Asus.... hard to say atm, both seem pretty nice cards.

I vote for the Asus GTX750Ti STRIX as it features a Displayport which should allow you to run a 4k monitor @ 60Hz.
It beats me why MSI has installed a VGA rather than a Displayport on their card.

I'm considering the STRIX for my own build so I'd love to hear your thought before I pull the trigger