PC Parts and Builds @pcbuilding - Tumblr Blog

NZXT FN V2 Fan Review:

The NZXT FN V2 Fans come included with most NZXT cases, but are they any good? I purchased an NZXT H440 White/Black which comes equipped with 3x 120mm FN V2′s in the Front and 1x 120mm FN V2 in the Back. I must note the FN V2 fans included with the White/Black H440 come with white fane blades, whereas all the other colour schemes come with the default black fan blades.

In my current PC build, i have 3x FN V2 in a Pull configuration, and 3x FN V2 in the top in a push configuration. The Top fans are more visible from the inside of the case so i moved the 3x FN V2′s with white blades from the front to the top of the case and put 3x FN V2′s purchased form Amazon in the front. I Left the last FN V2 in it’s stock position giving me a total of 7x of them in my case.

Despite having 7x fans in the H440, along with the sound padding the case stays exceptionally quiet. Be warned that it does not achieve a completely silent build however these fans run very quiet. They also provide very good cooling, leaving my system running at 25 degrees at normal load which is actually sub room temperatures! The FN V2′s also are fairly cheap, being only £12 each for the 120mm and £15 for the 140mm versions.

I would strongly recommend them to anyone that wants very effective case fans that run at a very low noise. However, i would suggest looking for a lower RPM fan if you are looking for a completely silent build

The upsetting moment when you have an Intel build and can’t pair it with a RX480

Another Shot of my new PC

Making Your Own GPU Backplate:

Here is a really simple way to hide the ugly GPU PCB and make your own GPU backplate for about £5/$6.

You Will Need:

3mm Acrylic Sheet in the colour of your choice

1 or more Vinyl sticker for a laptop, phone or car.

Stantly knife

Ruler

This is very simple, simply measure the size of your GPU PCB and write down the dimensions.

Mark onto your Acrylic sheet the dimensions of the PCB and using the ruler and Stanley knife cut a 1-2mm deep groove into the Acrylic.

Running the cut along the edge of the desk, snap the acrylic in order to get a clean break along your line.

Wash and clean the acrylic piece to remove any dust and dirt from it. Dry it thoroughly as the vinyl sticker will not stick to wet acrylic.

Carefully Apply the vinyl sticker(s) to the acrylic plate. You can also drill screw holes onto the acrylic however, to keep a clean look i just rest mine onto of the GPU. Here are some more shots of my one, i used a glossy white acrylic with the Triforce Vinyl Sticker to match my Black/White/Red build...

Sleeving Your Own PC Cables:

To See what the cables look like in a PC Build, CLICK HERE!

You Will Need:

Cables: You need cables from a Semi or Fully Modular Power Supply (I used Corsair RM550)

Sleeving: I used Teleios however you can use other materials such as paracord. I used 60cm of Sleeving per wire, however you will have to measure the length of your wires as they do differ.

Heat Shrink: i used roughly 5 cm of heat shrink per wire. 3-1 is the best to use.

ATX Pin Remover: This tool will allow you to remove the wires from the connectors easily, Keep reading on where you can purchase this from.

Lighter: You will need a lighter to melt the heat shrink onto the cable and also to prevent the sleeving from fraying.

Scissors: Used to cut the sleeving. Helpful Tools: - Needle Nose Pliers - Patience... Lots of it.

Most of the Items mentioned above can be purchased from http://www.kustompcs.co.uk . This is the best and cheapest place to purchase sleeving tools in the UK with the lowest delivery costs possible. If you are wanting to do this and live in the US or other countries, i suggest looking at https://mainframecustom.com . How To Sleeve:

Remove a wire from the connector using the ATX Tool.

Cut Appropriate length of sleeving.

Slide Sleeving over cable up to the 2nd pins on the connector

Slide about 2-3cm of Heat shrink over the sleeving

Slide the heat shrink about 1mm over the end of the sleeving.

Using the blue part of the flame on the lighter spend 15-20 seconds melting the heat shrink until it starts to bubble.

Press down on the Heat shrink then remove it.

Do this to both sides of the cable and place back in the connector: Heres what it looks like after i did 3 wires:

Once you do all of the Wires (Took me 12 hours), connect to power supply and motherboard and enjoy!!

My PC 2016:

- NZXT H440 White / Black

- Custom Red / White Sleeved 24PIN and PCI-E Cables

- Custom GPU Backplate

- Intel i7 6700K Overclocked to 4.8Ghz

- EVGA GTX 950 SC+

- 16GB Corsair Vengance LPX

- 1TB Western Digital Blue HDD

- 240GB Hyper X Savage SSD

- GIGABYTE Z170 Gaming K3

- CoolerMaster Hyper212 EVO

- 7x NZXT FN V2

- NZXT Sleeved LED kit (White)

Liberate XLBT Review:

The House Of Marley Liberate XLBT are a pair of Wireless Headphones available for around £120-£130. I Managed to pick mine up for £75 during Black Friday. They come in either Black Metal with Grey Cloth or Silver Metal with Brown Cloth and Foam. Both Headphones feature Red Yellow Green Stitching on the top of the headphone and have beautiful reclaimed pieces of wood on each ear pad. Included is a extremely durable braided House of Marley 2.5mm to 3.5mm Audio cable if the batteries have run dry (not likely as they last me around 15 hours of good use). Also included is a strong flat USB to micro USB charging cable and a hemp carry bag. The overall Build quality is flawless, and has lasted 1/2 a year of good wear and tear without a scratch. The Audio Quality was very similar to my once owned Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro’s. The Range of the Bluetooth varies on the material of your walls and the direct distance from the headphones and the device. They seem to function perfectly with no sound lag or signal loss up to about 15m. I Would strongly recommend these headphones to anyone as any House Of Marley product is almost guaranteed to Perform flawlessly, whilst maintaining an incredible look.

Corsair K65 Review:

Corsair K65 is a gun metal grey, aluminium 10 key less mechanical keyboard. In the UK it can only be purchased with Cherry MX Red switches, which is quite annoying, as i would have loved to get one with MX Blues or even Browns. However, corsair have opted for only supplying this model with MX Reds. the K65 RGB can be found with other switch types but that is £40-£50 more expensive. The K65 is a reasonably cheap mechanical keyboard at £70 however it does not feature LED back lighting. The build quality of the product is amazing, coming from corsair, a completely solid aluminium body with no flex, included with a high quality braided cable. It features two white LED’s for CAPS LOCK and SCROLL LOCK but does not include NUM LOCK because it has no number pad. Personally i prefer 10 keyless keyboards i rarely use the number pad and they save a lot of space on the desk. Ultimately, i returned my Corsair K65 and bought a K70 with Red LED’s. The K70 was £97 and the K65 was £75. However, The reason i swtched is because i was not truly satisfied with the Cherry MX Red switches on the K65. The K70 featured Cherry MX Blues along with individual Red LED back lighting, which matched my Black/Red Theme. It also includes a wristrest, number pad and surprisingly useful media keys. The K70 is larger as it includes the number pad and also has 1x USB on the back. I am incredibly happy that i paid £20 more for the K70 as i far far far prefer the sound and feel of the Cherry MX Blues, which are hard to find in most budget corsair mechanical keyboards.

Cherry MX Switch Comparison

Cherry MX Red:

MX Reds have no tactile bump like MX Browns and no click like MX Blues. They are the most similar to the feel of a membrane keyboard which may dissatisfy first time mechanical keyboard buyers. MX Reds are the standard switch on Corsair Mechanical keyboards. Having used the Corsair K65 with MX Reds for a while, i can say that they are the least satisfying to type on of all switches and didn’t feel that amazing whilst typing.

Cherry MX Brown: MX Browns are similar to MX Reds but have a small tactile bump. A tactile bump is when you can feel a small bump when pressing the key so you know it has been pressed. I have used Cherry MX Browns and would say they are probably the worst of all the switches. They aren't as smooth as the Cherry MX Reds but also not as satisfying as the Blues. They are sort of the worst of both worlds. Cherry MX Blue: In my opinion Cherry MX Blues are the best switch. They have a tactile bump and also have an incredibly satisfying click. Moving from a membrane keyboard to a Mechanical with Cherry MX Blues is a huge difference. MX Blues are known to be incredibly loud however, having had a MX Blue, Brown and Red keyboard all at the same time, If you’re bottoming out the keys (which most people do) all keyboards are just as loud, so don’t go for MX Reds over MX Blues because you think MX Blues are too loud. I would strongly recommend getting a mechanical keyboard with cherry MX Blues, however they are very hard to find in the UK.

Photo Credits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Qtr6D2TWBE

Corsair K70 Review:

My Keyboard is a Corsair K70. The keyboard can be bought for just over £100 from Amazon without the ‘Corsair Gaming’ logo that we’ve all grown to hate. if you are wondering if it’s worth the £100 i would say certainly! The keyboard is mechanical and features Cherry MX Blue switches, shown in the picture below. The Cherry MX Blue’s are the loudest but, to me, the most satisfying typing experience. I have tested a range of Mechanical keyboards with MX Reds, MX Browns and MX Blues and MX Blues are my favorite by far. They feature a tactile bumb along with a satisfying click with each keystroke. The only issue is the availability of keyboards with MX Blues in the UK. Due to the Discontinue of the popular CM Quickfire Rapid in the UK, the options for a mechanical keyboards with Cherry MX Blues is either £30 cheap Mechanical keyboards with Cherry MX Blue knockoff switches, or £100+ keyboards. I have been using a Corsair K65 with Cherry MX Reds for about a month and though i would spend the extra £20 and swap it for the K70. The quality of both the K65 and K70 are amazing coming from Corsair. I would strongly recommend any product from Corsair if you are looking for quality and a product that will last a long time. Almost all Corsair products are covered by a 2+ year warranty, with some power supplies being supplied with up to 8 years warranty. Along with a great customer service, i was happy to spend almost double the money to get a high quality Corsair keyboard with MX Blues rather than a cheap one.

Gigabyte Z170 Gaming K3 Review:

The GIGABYTE Z170 Gaming K3 is a Fully loaded Z170 motherboard supporting my i7 6700K, it has 2 Sata 3 Ports and 6 Sata Express ports, Has 1 M.2 Port, 2 USB 3.0 Ports 6 4 USB 2.0 ports and a lot of additional features, It has a metal plated PCi express slot to prevent GPU warp which is a nice touch and also includes LED’s which can be programmed in the BIOS. Although this MOBO is reasonably expensive, it is well worth the price and comes packed with features. If i were to get a different motherboard i would probably gone with an MSI motherboard, only due to the poor GIGABYTE Bios.

Kingston Hyper-X Savage 240GB Review:

The Kingston Hyper X Savage 240GB SSD is a great compromise between price and performance. Often cheap SSD’s have a reputation for poor R/W times, however the Hyper X savage has the performance of a 850 EVO But for a more affordable price. Currently mine runs at 512MB/s Read and 501MB/s Write. The Black/Red colour scheme of the SSD matched my overall Black/Red colour scheme too. Definitely a great alternative for anyone that doesn’t want to spend the extra £20-£30 for the same capacity 850 or 950 EVO equivalent.

My PC Build:

Here is My PC Build. It is running an Intel i7 6700K Overclocked to 4.4Ghz with a GTX950 Gaming 2G. I do not play many GPU intensive games so this GPU is ideal. It has 16GB Corsair Vengence Red and is cooled by the popular 212 EVO. For storage, i’m using a 240GB HyperX Savage SSD with a 1TB WD Blue HDD. To power this, i’m using a reliable Corsair RM550W which will need to be upgraded if i plan on installing better parts in the future. I am using a Gigabyte Z170 MOBO All of this is contained in the Famous NZXT H440, an absolutely amazing case with huge room for cable management and very aesthetically pleasing

PC Build Review:

This build Features the stunning M-Case V1, one of the slickest all aluminium case around. Inside, is a hefty 6.5 Tb of Storage, 2x 2GB WD Black HDD, 1 TB Samsung Evo 850 SSD, 512GB 950 PRO M.2 SSD. It also features perhaps an overkill 32GB of Vengence LPX RAM and the Brand New G-Force GTX 1080. This Graphics card will be more than enough to destory any game you throw at it and any VR you want. The processor is an i7-6700K cooled by an NH-U95, which runs at 4.0Ghz stock but with this cooler could be OC’d to frequencies as high as 4.6GHz. The build is powered by a Silverstone 600W power supply, which would likely have to be upgraded if they were to want 2 GPU’s in SLi. Overall this build is Expensive but will Eat Chew and Spit out any task you throw at it. Credits: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/b/Z6kTwP

Bitfenix Prodigy Review:

The Bitfenix prodigy is an extremely popular and affordable MITX and MATX case. It features an aluminium internal construction with smooth, flexible plastic handles. The design resembles a mac pro, however has a much smaller form factor. Available in a huge variety of colours and is extremely customization in terms of modding. The photo displayed has a GPU window cut out, however, the Prodigy can be bought with a side panel window if wanted. The Prodigy is affordable however, does lack a few premium features found with other cases at this price range (NZXT S340 to be precise). The parts feel quite cheap and does not include any dust filters. The back plate becomes quite flexible when the case is deconstructed and there have been case where it has broken when installing MOBO backplates.

Photo Credits: http://www.overclock.net/t/1279693/official-bitfenix-prodigy-phenom-owners-club/6040

MSI GTX950 Gaming 2G Review:

The MSI GTX950 Gaming 2G is an incredible graphics card and paired with a decent processor, is able to tackle any Triple A game at 40-50FPS. I Currently have a GTX950 Gaming 2G as i do not play many Triple A or GPU intensive games and it can tackle them at over 100FPS. All Gaming 2G cards come with the exact same aesthetics, and includes a white illuminated MSI logo on the side. The MSI Gamign 2G series are perfect for people like myself, who have gone for a Black/Red build.

NZXT S340 Review:

The S340 is an extremely minimalistic budget case from NZXT. Available for £60 this case is one of the best, if not the best budget cases you can buy for this price. Coming from NZXT, the S340 is made of high quality aluminium, with tonnes of room for cable management. Available in Black/Red Black/Blue Black/Green(Razor Edition) and White/White, however i have seen plastidip mods that have produced colours such as Black/Yellow, Black/Orange and Black/Purple. Photo Credit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65fcELSwmd0

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs

PC Parts and Builds