@BubblegumCuddle Amazing build by the way, it looks amazing! The cable management is fantastic. Most cases when I was building computer didn' have isolation for power supply intake fans, so my assumption is that power supplies are designed to run reliably at in case temperatures. Seems like many newer cases do have this feature though. And as you mentioned, cool air is ideal and better. Would be worth checking if that case has a perforation at the bottom. It can only help life expectancy.
@Mike403 Some, but not all, computer cases have perforation in the case where the PSU is mounted so it can intake outside air instead of in case air. I'm going to guess it isn't a huge deal unless in case temperatures are regularly above 45 C
@sunnysideup - Mine isn't a cheap case too. It was $179. It has a radiator mount on the top if I ever decide to switch to water cooling.
@BubblegumCuddle yes it can result in worse airflow in some conditions. Testing your particular case can let you know.
Either way though my temps are all fine. I am running fairly low power parts so cooling isn't something I am worried about. I think I got that PSU in 2006 so it has been doing fine in terms of longevity.
Pic of my case. Specs are a couple posts above.
Not a gamer yet. Want to finish writing my book first. But would love to get set up for Starfield.
I have no problem with airflow on my laptop. It has fans inside of it and I just set it on a cooling pad, it's typically pretty chilled after a few hours of gameplay. I unforuntatly haven't been able to build a tower yet. As I said I am lacking the space. I'd really like to in about a year or so, but it works for what I need it to do. It handles all games I've played. World of Warcraft being the largest when I'm doing end game raid content. I'll have to post a photo of my set up soon.
@Lunaari - I played WoW for the longest time. I have since moved on to FF XIV.
@Mike403 I tried to get into FF XIV, and I just couldn't I am too into mages and druids. Plus, I really wanna know how the new dragon race is going to play out in this upcoming xpac. I play a lot of other games as well, I think that is just my favorite MMORPG.
@cuddlebear4U48 what genre is your book?
@Lunaari - I played a Druid on WoW that I named "PeaceOfShift"
@mike403 that's amazing!!
I've got a buddy whose name is kimjeongheals and my other friend made a high mountain tauren named mooseknuckle lmao
I love wow for that reason. lol
Shards of dalaya is my MMO of choice.
@Lunaari @JasonCuddles - FF XIVs story alone is worth leveling up a character. There's almost no grinding at all. It makes me want to keep playing to see how the story progresses. A free patch comes out every few months which extends the story content.
I had an acquaintance help me learn about all the components way back around 2013, and picked them all out and had MicroCenter build it for me. Was a wonderful tower for gaming, PhotoShop, etc. But it's now been in storage since 2017. I've strictly run off my MSI Apache laptop, since. Love that thing.
~ Sunset Snuggles
Laptops are good if I need a portable computer for school or something. I would never use one for gaming.
It's made for it, I've played World of Warcraft on it just fine. 😊 But I got it when I was working remotely. I wanted the largest screen possible, so MSI had a 17-inch. I love it.
@SunsetSnuggles - You can't upgrade/customize it is the problem. Also, using the trackpad for gaming sucks so you would want to hook up a normal mouse it then it's no better than a regular desktop machine. My ideal setup is a tower for gaming and a cheap laptop for non-gaming purposes.
World of Warcraft is also not that demanding of a game. When you get into wanting to do realistic virtual reality, a laptop isn't gonna cut it.
Yes, I always use a normal mouse. Trackpads are of the devil. 😆
@SunsetSnuggles - If you want actual portability for PC gaming, get a Steam Deck. It's only $400 and looks like a Nintendo Switch, except way more powerful and runs PC games.
@Mike403 I'm just an occasional gamer. My ex would love that, though.
WoW is my favorite. Wrath is about to launch and I'm SO excited. Mountain o' mounts here I come! 🐻 🙀 🐦
FF XIV does have some epic boss fights like this one.
@Mike403 @SunsetSnuggles Several years ago, gaming laptops were far inferior to gaming desktops. The CPUs were miserly, and the graphics chipsets were stunted versions of their desktop counterparts. But modern gaming laptops aren't too much slower than an equivalent gaming desktop, now. It seems that a Laptop RTX 3080 isn't too much slower than a Desktop RTX 3070, for example. But there is always going to be some price to pay for the portability. Higher prices being another one.
@sunnysideup - I'm getting an RTX 4000 series card when it comes out. Upgrading parts is better than buying a whole new machine if I want to keep a cutting edge beast.
I made my PC before C-19, specs are ok and can VR. So it has held me for most of my needs. But I am about to make my new PC. Costs should be closer to MSRP soon for more things. Love keeping a powerhouse for my gaming/streaming and design work mutually. My current PC slowly can't handle my growing need for ram, so I'll have to get more than usual. Debating jumping to 128. Plays most all easily, chokes on a few games. (Desite being able to run some serious titles that are resourse hogs just fine, still waiting to make a PC that can handle a serious Factorio session.)
After PC is built, a server. Will need a ton of memory also so I can host more than just two maps for my "ARK: Survival Evolved" cluster at a time.
My CPU and motherboard supports up to 128GB of RAM, but that's overkill for me. 32GB is plenty. Unlike other components, you can't really future proof RAM. By the time more is needed, we'll probably be on the next generation of RAM chips and have to replace it all anyway.... but the extra slots are there and RAM is cheap if I ever do something that requires the extra memory.
@Shade_Wolf 5800X3D is the best factorio CPU it seems. It gets a score of 316 for the 5800X3D vs 250 for a 12900KS with DDR5 6400 in the benchmark it has.
@mike403 the only real grind in wow I've noticed is when levelling an alt from 50 to 60 and unlocking stuff. I just play through the story and boom levels.
The grind is mostly gear or mounts/achieves. It's easy to grind out gear though. They've made it easier with a lot more of the changes. I'll see if I can try to get in FF again, but I doubt it. 😔
@Lunaari - I also don't like the direction that company is going. I lost all respect for Activision/Blizzard.
When FF XIV first came out in 2010, it used to be a pretty bad game that got bad to mediocre reviews. They listened to all the criticism and completely scrapped the original game and re-designed it from the ground up and now it's one of the best MMOs I've played.