KING OF THE RING IS THIS REALLY THE FASTEST GAMING PC?
LENGTH OF TIME: 2-3 HOURS LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY: MEDIUM
01
A Less is more
Just like clockwork, we start our build off by taking our case apart. Seems counterproductive, right? Well, what this does is help us figure out what we’re working with and give us as much room as possible inside the case for later on. Trust us, when it comes down to cable management, you’ll be thanking yourself for doing this step at the start of every build. This NV7 from Phatneks has a lot, and we mean alot of removable parts and panels. To get going, open up the door at the back of the case—this is on a hinge, and there is a gap at the bottom to open it. Then, we can remove this entirely by lifting it up. With this gone, it reveals the thumb screws that keep both the front glass panel and back metal panel on.
Loosen these, and the panels will simply slide off. The smaller glass panel can now also be removed by sliding it forward. The last thing to do here is get rid of (put safely aside) the top panel by, you guessed it, sliding it off.
01
B
Internally, there is a top RGB bar and a cover that sits around the motherboard. Before we get to installing that, we can remove these. The RGB cover slides right and pops out. There’s a small screw towards the bottom of the motherboard cover, and that then releases it, allowing it to be lifted out.
01
C
Around the back, there are doors that we can open by loosening the screws that are attached. This will give us more room to keep our cable management neat and tidy later on, and provide us with a flat surface to install our Corsair iCUE Commander Core XT.
02
A Working top to bottom
Unlike usual, we’re now going to install our PSU. Due to the different positioning of the PSU in this case, we wanted to get this out of the way first. Instead of sitting flat at the bottom, it sits vertically towards the top, with the fan facing outwards. Installation isn’t any harder; it just requires four case screws to tighten it to the chassis.
02
B
At this stage, we also thought it would be a good idea to install the PSU cables straight to the PSU first. With a lot of extra cables from the fans and AIO inevitably infiltrating the back of the case later on, we decided to run these along the back first, as they’ll only be more frustrating to install towards the end.
03
A Intake fans
When we said that this Phanteks NV7 case has a lot of panels, we weren’t lying. To help with fan installation, there is a bottom rack that can be removed, too. Screws seated in rubber grommets around the back, underneath, and to the left of the rack keep this in place. Undo these, make sure not to lose the rubber grommets, and you can slide this out. With this removed, we can install the fans. Always make sure you remember which way the rack came out so that when you install the fans onto it, they are in the correct position.
In our case, we wanted the fans facing outward, as the faces suck—that’s the phrase you need to remember. This meant we were pulling air from the bottom upwards into the case, so place the fans face-down on the rack, starting with one right in the center so you can keep them equally spaced from the edges. Once in place, use case screws to tighten each corner. Make sure they are all the same orientation so the cables run out the back, making it easier to manage.
03
B
To finish this step, install the rack back into the case by doing all the steps to remove it, just in reverse. Not too bad, hey? The rubber grommets can be frustrating to get back into place, as I can personally attest, but be patient.
04
A Exhaust fans
Similar to the intake fans, the exhaust fans sit on a removable rack to make life even easier. With a screw on the top and bottom holding this rack in place, simply loosen it to lift it out. As these fans will be expelling the air, the faces need to face inwards so they suck the air outwards. In this configuration, we’ll get to see the RGB goodness in all of its glory. Make sure all of the cables are facing to the left so they can be pulled straight towards the back panel of the case out of the way to make the front neater.
04 B
To secure the fans onto the rack, use the same type of case screw that you used for the intake fans. This is often the largest screw that will come with the case. Always double-check that everything is in the right orientation before tightening it back into position.
05
A Fans galore
Just when you thought we were cool enough, we bring you some more fans. Okay, bad pun, but we couldn’t resist. Moving swiftly on, now that all of our case fans are installed, it’s time to start with our CPU cooling. That means getting the AIO assembled. We need to connect the fans directly to the radiator first before screwing them to the bottom of the top rack. To secure them together, use the long screws and washers provided with the Kraken X73 kit, and put these through the fan first to secure them onto the rad. We also need to connect all of these fans with the fan
to-fan RGB cables provided at this stage. Then the individual fan cables can be connected to the provided fan splitter which we will connect later on. Finally (cable-wise), we have to connect the 500mm fan connection cable to the first fan on the radiator. This will connect up to another cable on the pump header later. Right, we are all cabled out for now!
05
B
As we want the airflow to be pulled up over our motherboard where most of the heat will be, we want to continue the same flow of air that we have created from our bottom intake fans, so we need to face these NZXT fans downwards with the radiator sitting on the other side of the rack. This is always quite a fiddly process, but take your time and make sure you get the positioning correct the first time. Once you’re happy and with the cables facing towards the back, we can lift this and screw it onto the case. You only need small case screws to do this—these will tighten onto the back of the radiator. Work diagonally to create even tension, and rest the case on its back to make life easier.
06
Fans aside
Now our CPU cooler has been installed in the case, we need to prepare the actual CPU— otherwise it’s near enough useless. So for now, we’ll be putting the case aside and bringing the motherboard into the frame. To open the CPU bracket, raise up the retention bar to the right-hand side of it by unhooking it. This will pop open the cover and reveal the socket. On every motherboard, there will be a triangle right near the socket—align this with the triangle found on your CPU to ensure it’s in the correct position. When handling the chip, always hold it gently from the sides. To avoid damage, don’t touch the bottom of the processor or the socket directly. After the chip is aligned correctly, rest it down into the socket and then bring the retention bar back into its original position. This will lock it firmly in place. If it’s the first time using a new motherboard, there will be a black cover that will automatically pop off after doing this—don’t worry, you’ve not broken anything (hopefully)!
07
Speedy memory
After installing the CPU, we move ever so slightly to the right-hand side to install our RAM. As we only have two sticks, we need to check the motherboard’s manual to figure out the order of installation. Of course, if you have four sticks you install them all, but with two, or even one, there are primary slots to use first. For us, these are slots two and four, from left to right. Thankfully, that’s the most difficult part of this installation.
Open the clips above and below the 2nd and 4th DIMM slots to make them accessible, then align the notch in the slot with the notch on the sticks so they are the right way round. After this, press them down into position, and you’ll hear a click letting you know they’re secured.
08
Double storage
Below the CPU is where we find the M.2 slots for our SSDs. As we have two of the same model, the order doesn’t matter, but typically you’ll put your primary drive in the uppermost slot. This has a magnetic heatsink cover, which is also held down by one small screw to the left. Remove this and lift off to reveal the slot. From here, we can lift off the second SSD magnetic heatsink cover that sits underneath.
As you can see from the bottom drive, these install at a 30-degree angle into the port first. Then, using the M.2 screws provided with the motherboard, you can tighten these down flat and reinstall the cover shrouds over the top. Having these heatsink covers helps the build look clean, but more importantly keeps the SSDs running at a lower temperature.
09
Mobo install
As we‘ve now installed nearly all of our motherboard components, we need to install the motherboard into the case, but not before giving yourselves a pat on the back first. This NZXT N7 B650E matches perfectly with the rest of the case, and by having so much room to work with, installing this was a breeze. First, make sure that you line up the I/O shield on the motherboard with the I/O gap in the back of the case. Once that’s in place, the rest of the board will fall into place. It may need a small wiggle to make sure the screw holes all align, though. Then, we can start using the case screws to secure this down, tightening diagonally to create an even pressure across the motherboard.
10 A The brain of the CPU pump
The final part of our cooling system is to now attach the pump header to our CPU, seeing as the motherboard is now in place. Before we get rushing ahead of ourselves with thermal paste though, we need to install the stand-offs onto the board so we can then attach the pump. This requires us to remove the default AM4/5 stock cooler bracket that comes pre-installed on the board. With two screws on either side of each bracket, this is easily removable. In the NZXT Kraken X73 kit, you need to use the AM4 labeled standoffs. These are fully compatible with AM5 chips, like the one we’re using in our build. Our motherboard also already has a backplate pre-installed, so all you need to do is screw these standoffs onto the board.
10 B
With that all in place, we can take the pre-installed Intel bracket off the pump and attach the AM4/AM5 bracket. This requires a half turn to secure it in place. At this point, you need to figure out which side you want the hoses to come out of the pump. For us, and for the majority
of occassions, this is on the right side of the pump. You don’t have to worry about the orientation of the NZXT logo, as this is adjustable after installation—turn it until it’s level. In the kit, there are four large thumb screws, so once you rest the pump down on the CPU and align the screw holes on the bracket with the standoffs, you can add and tighten these thumbscrews. Please note that this cooler also comes with pre-installed thermal paste on the header—if yours doesn’t then add a pea-sized shape of thermal paste onto the center of your CPU before installing the header.
It’s also time to connect the cables. We start with the ones that go into the header directly, one of which is a MicroUSB that connects to the pump header, and the other end goes into a USB header at the bottom of the motherboard. We looped this up and around the back of the mobo to keep it clean—the other cable is labeled as the breakout cable set. On this, one end goes straight onto the CPU pump header on the motherboard, another is a SATA connection that connects to a SATA cable from the power supply, and the last one connects to the cable that went into the first fan on the radiator. This took us a minute to wrap our heads around, so don’t worry—always refer to your manuals, there’s no shame in it.
11
The brain of the fans
Now that we’ve started with all of the cabling on the cooling system, we may as well connect up all of our case fan cables to our Corsair iCUE Commander Core XT. If you can remember all the way back at step 1, we opened some door panels to reveal space at the back of our machine. This is where we will install our Commander Core XT. Before we peel off the sticky back adhesive and press it against a clean and open space on the back of your system, just make sure all of your cables can reach it comfortably. After installation, we need to make sure that the order of the cables correlates. What we mean is that both the power cable and RGB lighting cable from one fan have to go into the same numbers on the Commander Core. After installing all 12 cables and making sure they’re in order, we can connect the SATA power cable to the SATA PSU cable.
12
Case cables
Can we just be done with cables yet? When will the first fully wireless PC be built with absolutely no complications and steep price tags attached? Okay, we are being a bit dramatic—we’re nearly there on the build! At this point, we need to connect our front panel case cables to the case. These include the power switch, USB 2.0 and 3.0, and HD audio lead. It also included two SATA cables for the RGB in the case, connected to our single SATA PSU cable, which had four connectors on it.
If you take a look at a diagram of your motherboard, it will make this stage 1,000 times faster than trying to second guess. We were just grateful that the power switch cables were combined, and not individual pin connectors as they can often be—it certainly saved us some time!
13
PSU cables
For our system, we needed two CPU PSU cables, four PCIe cables (our only real mishap in this system), a SATA cable, and the 24-pin motherboard cable. As we had already installed these at the beginning, it was a question of just plugging them into the motherboard. Always use the cables provided with the power supply.
Anyway, the two most awkward ones are always the CPU cables, but thankfully with this motherboard and case combo, space wasn’t a big issue. It was the PCIe cables that caused us issues—our PSU only had three available PCIe ports, so we had to run our GPU with one less cable. This slightly limits the power of the graphics card, but it’s nothing to worry about. Moving forward, we would use a PSU with more available PCIe ports.
14 A The feared 4090 and GPU snake
Finally, we can add in the last component of the build, the mighty
Nvidia RTX 4090 Founders Edition. For the uninitiated, this is a large card which takes up the space of three PCIe shrouds at the back of the case. These are all removable with a Philips screwdriver. Just like the RAM, the GPU clips into a slot, specifically the uppermost PCIe slot. Open the clip first and then line up the connector with the port and push in until it clicks. Then, remove from the shrouds from the back of the case, and tighten the GPU directly into the case.
Now, let’s focus on the cables for one final time. Lacking in one head, this three-headed GPU snake is a contraption consisting of three PCIe cables, with the extra headers being cable-tied down out of the way. This is because you can’t use the additional headers, unfortunately. It’s the cleanest solution we could do without buying custom cables for our build. These PCIe cables then connect up to the graphics cards adapter, and then that runs into the front of the graphics card. If only this adapter was longer—we could then hide all of this mess out of the back.
14 B
What’s certainly needed is the GPU mount included with the case. This is a colossal card that puts significant strain on the motherboard. GPU sag would be inevitable, and we don’t want to cause any damage by this. The mount attaches to the bottom of the case and can be adjusted by the thumb screw. Play around with this until it holds up the GPU with confidence. With the GPU firmly in place, it’s time to insert all of the panels back in place. This includes the motherboard cover, RGB strip light, glass panels, and the back, side, door, and top panels. We also gave the back a tidy-up with some cable management using cable ties and the preinstalled velcro cable paths in the case.
15
A quick BIOS update
Hardware aside, we now need to get this system loaded up with our favorite applications. Before all the literal fun and games, we need to ensure we’re running on the latest version of our BIOS so that the system performs
at its best. On another system, head to the motherboard manufacturer’s official website and find the product page for your model. Here, under the support section, you should find the latest BIOS firmware. The easiest way to update a BIOS is the flashback method that our motherboard supports. First, you need to download and extract the file, then rename the BIOS file to “creative.rom” and move it onto a clean file formatted to FAT32.
All you then need to make sure is that the PSU has power, and without turning the system on, insert the USB drive into the “BIOS” port and press and hold the BIOS FLBK button for up to three seconds until the green light inside starts flashing. When the light stops flashing and it goes out, the BIOS update is complete.
16
You’re going to need this
We aren’t lying; without an operating system, you’ve essentially got a very expensive BIOS viewer, and trust us, there is only so much fun you can have there. For this, you are going to need another system again, and you can use the same USB drive used for the BIOS update so long as it’s got at least 8GB of capacity and has been formatted clean again to FAT32. Now, head over to the official Microsoft Windows 11 download page and hit the download button under the ‘Create Windows 11 Installation Media’ section. Follow the onscreen instructions, and when it asks you where to install the OS, select your USB drive and continue.
After the installation has finished, you need to insert the drive into your new build PC and boot it up. At the BIOS, we need to re-arrange the boot order by putting the USB drive with the Windows 11 file at the top of the hierarchy, then save and exit to confirm this. When the system next boots, it will load into the Windows 11 installation wizard. Here, personalize to your liking, and then you’re done. It’s also worth installing all of the other latest drivers from your motherboard’s product page under the support section, as this will help with overall stability.
17
A These will help a bunch
To further improve stability and ensure the CPU and GPU are running at their best, we need to install the driver software for both. Starting with the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D, we need to install AMD’s Auto-Detect and Install for Windows 10/11. Once downloaded, open it, and the application will automatically download all the latest drivers and chipsets for your system—just follow the onscreen installation wizard.
17 B
As for our RTX 4090, we need to download Nvidia’s GeForce Experience application. Open up the application and head to the top left of the screen, where you will see the ‘driver’ tab. Here, hit the ‘check for updates” button and install the latest version. This is necessary to be able to properly use your graphics card, otherwise it’s just an expensive ornament inside your PC. With all the necessary drivers installed, get straight over to the Steam website—we know you want to.