A FACTOR OF PERFORMANCE
As we’ve said, we’re not particularly concerned about costs
with this build, which gives us plenty of scope when it comes
to picking the individual components. We wanted to make
sure that we weren’t holding the GPU back, so enlisted the
help of the Core i9-9900K for the main grunt work, as the
all-new Ryzen 3000-series CPUs are busy being benched in
the Labs for review, so this is the go-to option in the
mainstream space for performance junkies, for today at
least. The Core i9-9900K was still locked under a waterblock
in a previous build, unfortunately, so in order to use it here,
we had to strip down that PC, which involved a fair amount of
foul language, a reasonable number of spillages, plenty of
scratches and bruises, and bright red hands at the end of the
irksome proceedure.
With the GPU and CPU selected, the choice of motherboard
went to MSI’s MPG Z390 Gaming Edge AC, because it was fresh
in the office for review, and in terms of memory, we went for
32GB of HyperX Predator DDR4-3200 R AM – this should be
more than enough for what we’ve got in mind for this build.
Storage-wise, we’ve gone for a speedy 1TB 970 Evo M.2 drive,
which is fast without being prohibitively expensive. We’ve
paired that with 12TB of spinning platter storage, giving us
plenty of space for work and play.
When you’ve got such great hardware beating away at the
heart of the machine, it makes sense to show it off, which is
why we turned to the new Define S2 Vision RGB from Fractal
Design. This is a vibrant and spacious case, with plenty of
support for cooling options, which is good, because we’re also
using the Corsair Hydro H115i Pro all-in-one. It’s is a hefty
piece of cooling, but we had some interesting plans for how to
install it. So, let’s get building....
(^1)
START WITH THE BASICS
To make sure that the core components were working, we
slotted the CPU into the motherboard, connected the cooler,
added the RAM and M.2 SSD, then connected the power, with it
all on top of the mobo box. We hooked up a screen, then shorted
the two pins on the front panel block that normally connect to the
power button. This core was detected, and it booted without fuss.
It’s worth holding the cooler so air can flow freely through it. Once
done, we disconnected the power supply and cooler, and started
prepping the case. The smoked-glass side panels pop off once the
thumbscrews have been removed, while a button at the top of the
back panel releases the glass panel roof. We could remove the PSU
shroud as well, but didn’t feel this was necessary for what we had
in mind.
(^2)
INSTALL THE MOTHERBOARD
The Define S2 Vision’s main chamber offers little
in the way of resistance to installing a motherboard, but
the PSU shroud made things feel tight on the bottom
edge. Maybe we should have removed it after all. Don’t
forget to slide the I/O plate into place before putting the
motherboard in, and ensure the clips sit on top of the
ports, not in them – which is what happened to us. Luckily,
we spotted this before turning it on, so managed to avoid
causing damage to the ports. With the motherboard and
plate in place, it’s simply a case of screwing in the eight
screws that hold the board in position. We don’t usually
connect the case cables at this stage, but things were so
tight at the bottom of the case that we felt we needed to
do so here before adding even more cables to the mix.PA RTSLISTPA RT STREET PRICECASE FRACTAL DESIGN DEFINE S2 VISION $399MOTHERBOARD MSI MPG Z390 GAMING EDGE AC ATX $289CPU INTEL CORE I9-9900K $769CPU COOLER CORSAIR HYDRO SERIES H115I PRO
RGB 280MM
$219
GPU ASUS GEFORCE RTX 2080 TI ROG STRIX GAMING OC
$1,879
MEMORY HYPERX PREDATOR 32GB
(2X 16GB) DDR4-3200
$338PSU CORSAIR HX1200I 1200W $349OS STORAGE SAMSUNG 970 EVO 1TB $319DATA STORAGE SEAGATE IRONWOLF 12TB $605OS WINDOWS 10 64-BIT OEM $140TOTAL $5,306