QinX

Maybe, there's also a chance this is their lowest end EPYC chip, because that's the power of EPYC, even the cheapest version still has 2TB RAM support and 128 PCIe available. Which makes it great for those types of systems where 95% of the work is done with GPUs.

Maybe, there's also a chance this is their lowest end EPYC chip, because that's the power of EPYC, even the cheapest version still has 2TB RAM support and 128 PCIe available. Which makes it great for those types of systems where 95% of the work is done with GPUs.

I've submitted my design as well.
 
2 Parts that are machined from Aluminum and 1 part that gets die stamped.
 
It is a twist and lock design with 3 magnets that prevent the base from being to loose.
 
Also with this design is should be easy for Silverstone to offer a shorter single headset mount an a longer double headset option. Only the arm needs to be changed.
 

Hi everyone,
 
Sorry about the lack of updates, I've been busy with the new design and getting my BOM and pricing complete.
I'm close to final but you will have the bear with me for a little longer
 
For now all I can show you is a small teaser of the new design.
 

Hi everyone,
 
Sorry about the lack of updates, I've been busy with the new design and getting my BOM and pricing complete.
I'm close to final but you will have the bear with me for a little longer
 
For now all I can show you is a small teaser of the new design.
 

Hi everyone,
 
Sorry about the lack of updates, I've been busy with the new design and getting my BOM and pricing complete.
I'm close to final but you will have the bear with me for a little longer
 
For now all I can show you is a small teaser of the new design.
 

Hi everyone,
 
Sorry about the lack of updates, I've been busy with the new design and getting my BOM and pricing complete.
I'm close to final but you will have the bear with me for a little longer
 
For now all I can show you is a small teaser of the new design.
 

Hi everyone,
 
Sorry about the lack of updates, I've been busy with the new design and getting my BOM and pricing complete.
I'm close to final but you will have the bear with me for a little longer
 
For now all I can show you is a small teaser of the new design.
 

I'm looking both into the Fury Nano and Fury X in terms of support, they should both fit inside the current chassis, I would need to design different blocks and for the Fury X a stronger adapter is needed. No promises but I will be checking both out.

Intro
I’ve be very intrigued by the Alienware Alpha and the ASUS ROG GR8, systems that are marketed as console replacements. However after doing research on them one thing became evident that made me cry.
The graphics card in them aren’t as good as the can be in that size. Don’t get me wrong we should all be happy they are trying to make a Console replacement, but they only slightly improve on graphics with the Alienware Alpha listing “GTX Graphics” or better known as GTX 860M and the ASUS ROG GR8 has a GTX750Ti.
 
 
The Goals
I have 5 goals that I wish to accomplish with this build
1)    Under 3 Liters in volume
2)    4K Gaming
3)    Watercooled CPU and GPU
4)    Clean design
5)    Quiet when gaming
 
The Specs
CPU - Intel Core i7-4790
GPU - Palit GeForce GTX 970 4GB
Motherboard: Asus Q87T
RAM - 2x8GB SODIMM DDR3 1600MHz
Storage - SanDisk X110 128GB (might upgrade it to 256GB)
WiFi - Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 Plus Bluetooth
PSU – HD-PLEX 250W DC-DC board and 350W External power brick
 
The Hurdles
In order to get under 3 Liters AND fit a complete watercooling loop in it I’m doing a lot of custom designing for it, here is the shortlist:
 
CPU Waterblock
Full cover GPU Waterblock
PCIe 4x to 16x Riser PCB
Custom 2x80mm Radiator
Reservoir
Case
 
The Progress
I have already made a lot of progress which you can find right here
 
Case
This design is close to ready, once I have all the internal parts completly laid out I will be ordering the case, I would like to hear your opinions on the aesthetic of this case.
Version 1

 
Version 2

 
PCIe Riser PCB
I made my initial design as seen and ordered it. Almost finished and ready for testing
 

 
Radiator
A supplier of the company I work at made me this custom radiator. You can see a 120mm Fan and a 280mm radiator as a size comparison

 
CPU Waterblock
I finished the design form my CPU Waterblock

 
GPU Waterblock
No real progress to show yet, I’ve been doing some designing based of web images but until I’ve gotten my own GTX970 I won’t have a final design to show
 
Powersupply
So I’m going with a Thin M-ITX motherboard together with a HD-PLEX 250W DC-DC board and an external 350W Power brick. The way it is going to be setup is like follows:
Thin M-ITX motherboards generate their own voltage onboard, just like any notebook motherboard. I have a DC Jack on the back I/O that supplier 20V and the motherboard turns it in 12V, 5V, 3.3V, you name it.
However, Thin M-ITX motherboard are not designed to run with discrete graphics cards, the motherboard only has a physical PCIe 3.0 4x slot and those are limited to only supply 25W instead of the 75W a PCIe 16x slot can deliver, also there are no PCIe 6pin or 8pin connectors present.

 
This is where the HD-Plex 250W DC-DC board comes in. It is meant for small systems to have an external brick but still have the 24pin, CPU 8Pin, GPU 8Pin and some sata connectivity. I’ll only be using the GPU 8Pin and the board 12V rail to supply the GPU with power.
The PCIe raiser disconnects the 12V that normally comes from the PCIe slot itself in order to allow the HD-Plex board to supply all the needed 12V power to the GPU.
 
 I still have a ways to go but I’m making good progress.

I've submitted my design as well.
 
2 Parts that are machined from Aluminum and 1 part that gets die stamped.
 
It is a twist and lock design with 3 magnets that prevent the base from being to loose.
 
Also with this design is should be easy for Silverstone to offer a shorter single headset mount an a longer double headset option. Only the arm needs to be changed.
 

I've submitted my design as well.
 
2 Parts that are machined from Aluminum and 1 part that gets die stamped.
 
It is a twist and lock design with 3 magnets that prevent the base from being to loose.
 
Also with this design is should be easy for Silverstone to offer a shorter single headset mount an a longer double headset option. Only the arm needs to be changed.
 

I've submitted my design as well.
 
2 Parts that are machined from Aluminum and 1 part that gets die stamped.
 
It is a twist and lock design with 3 magnets that prevent the base from being to loose.
 
Also with this design is should be easy for Silverstone to offer a shorter single headset mount an a longer double headset option. Only the arm needs to be changed.
 

I've submitted my design as well.
 
2 Parts that are machined from Aluminum and 1 part that gets die stamped.
 
It is a twist and lock design with 3 magnets that prevent the base from being to loose.
 
Also with this design is should be easy for Silverstone to offer a shorter single headset mount an a longer double headset option. Only the arm needs to be changed.
 

I've submitted my design as well.
 
2 Parts that are machined from Aluminum and 1 part that gets die stamped.
 
It is a twist and lock design with 3 magnets that prevent the base from being to loose.
 
Also with this design is should be easy for Silverstone to offer a shorter single headset mount an a longer double headset option. Only the arm needs to be changed.
 

I've submitted my design as well.
 
2 Parts that are machined from Aluminum and 1 part that gets die stamped.
 
It is a twist and lock design with 3 magnets that prevent the base from being to loose.
 
Also with this design is should be easy for Silverstone to offer a shorter single headset mount an a longer double headset option. Only the arm needs to be changed.
 

Well I had myself a small problem, how do you test a PCIe riser that can only be folded over a Thin M-ITX motherboard?
 
Luckily on another forum a member (l3p) was interested in my riser, upon asking why he was interested he answered "Ik dacht dat hij wel handig kon zijn als je een GPU plat op een E-ATX bord wilt leggen. (Dus bovenop de andere PCI-e slots"
 
Wait what?
Let me Englishify that: "I thought it could be useful for folding a GPU flat over an E-ATX motherboard. (On top of the other PCI-e slots)".
 
Gotta love when other people turn on the lights in your head. I had an Maximus IV Extreme laying around but no CPU for it. quickly got myself a used Pentium G860 to test with.
 
*fingers crossed*
 

 
It works!
the slot it is running in is only 4x 2.0 so fps aren't great, but at least it works!
 
Here it is all soldered up.

 
 
Also, why would l3p want to fold the GPU over the motherboard? Well you can slim down you build and show of a waterblock.
 
He did something similar before but at a 135 degree angle and with a flex riser

Well part of my design was based on the fact that you don't need a lot of Rad to cool something. In fact the R295x has a board power of 500W, say 400W of GPU Heat and they only used a 120mm rad to get it all out.
 
12*12= 144cm^2*3.8= 561cm^3 of radiator volume for a 400W to 500W load
9.2*18.4= 169cm^2*2.8= 473cm^3 of radiator volume for a 250W(GTX970 + 4790K) to 350W ("390X" + 4790K). So maybe it can work
 
of course there are fan differences and such.
Asetek build aluminum rads, mine will be copper. They have Push & Pull with 120mm fans I have 2x92mm fan in Push OR Pull.

Hmmmm, perhaps there is going to be a possibilty to support a 390X in H2O-Micro?
How extreme would it be to have the highest end single GPU be 17cm in length.
Should be possible in theory, there is no space need for all the VRAM so the VRM can be more optimally placed.

 
I'm really curious about the 390X now and it should be launched this quarter.

I've been getting more and more question about the final price for the kit, so I guess I'll go ahead and release an estimate.
 
I'm still waiting on some small bits and pieces for final pricing, but the biggest wait is still the case. Also some other parts I haven't been able to calculate yet, because I still have to design them, such as the GPU power board.
If I'd have to give an estimate I would say somewhere between €350 and €450 would be end user pricing. 
 
It will be an expensive kit, I realize that, but I think the pricing is justified looking at what the market has to offer and what you actually get.
What do you actually get for that kind of money?
 
Preliminary Box of Contents
1x 2mm anodized Aluminum Chassis(With Horizontal and Vertical brackets)
1x Dual 92mm Radiator
2x 92*92*15mm Fans
1x Copper/Acetal Socket 1150 CPU Waterblock
1x Copper/Acetal GTX970 GPU Waterblock
1x Acetal Reservoir
1x 12VDC Pump
1x 12VDC 180W AC Adapter for GPU
1x 19VDC 120W AC Adapter for System(CPU, Motherboard etc.)
1x AC Adapter mounting bracket
1x GPU Power Board
Miscellaneous accessories (Fittings, Tubing, Screws, Allen keys, Manual and all other things needed to build a system)
 
What else do you need to buy to build a working system?
 
Shopping list:
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H81TN, GA-B85TN, GA-H87TN, GA-Q87TN
CPU: Any S1150 Haswell CPU up to the i7-4790K
DRAM: SODIMM DDR3 or DDR3L, up to 16GB
SSD: Any mSATA SSD
GPU: GTX970 with short PCB and Single Slot I/O
 
 
Here in the Netherlands I can build the following system including the kit for around €1550:
CPU: Intel Core i5-4690 Boxed
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85TN
GPU: Gainward GeForce GTX 970 4GB
RAM: Kingston KVR16S11K2/16 (2x8GB)
SSD: Crucial M550 mSATA 512GB
Wifi: Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 Plus Bluetooth
OS: Windows 8.1 64-Bit OEM

Hmmmm, perhaps there is going to be a possibilty to support a 390X in H2O-Micro?
How extreme would it be to have the highest end single GPU be 17cm in length.
Should be possible in theory, there is no space need for all the VRAM so the VRM can be more optimally placed.

 
I'm really curious about the 390X now and it should be launched this quarter.

Now with animated GIFs!

Now with animated GIFs!

Now with animated GIFs!

Intro
I’ve be very intrigued by the Alienware Alpha and the ASUS ROG GR8, systems that are marketed as console replacements. However after doing research on them one thing became evident that made me cry.
The graphics card in them aren’t as good as the can be in that size. Don’t get me wrong we should all be happy they are trying to make a Console replacement, but they only slightly improve on graphics with the Alienware Alpha listing “GTX Graphics” or better known as GTX 860M and the ASUS ROG GR8 has a GTX750Ti.
 
 
The Goals
I have 5 goals that I wish to accomplish with this build
1)    Under 3 Liters in volume
2)    4K Gaming
3)    Watercooled CPU and GPU
4)    Clean design
5)    Quiet when gaming
 
The Specs
CPU - Intel Core i7-4790
GPU - Palit GeForce GTX 970 4GB
Motherboard: Asus Q87T
RAM - 2x8GB SODIMM DDR3 1600MHz
Storage - SanDisk X110 128GB (might upgrade it to 256GB)
WiFi - Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 Plus Bluetooth
PSU – HD-PLEX 250W DC-DC board and 350W External power brick
 
The Hurdles
In order to get under 3 Liters AND fit a complete watercooling loop in it I’m doing a lot of custom designing for it, here is the shortlist:
 
CPU Waterblock
Full cover GPU Waterblock
PCIe 4x to 16x Riser PCB
Custom 2x80mm Radiator
Reservoir
Case
 
The Progress
I have already made a lot of progress which you can find right here
 
Case
This design is close to ready, once I have all the internal parts completly laid out I will be ordering the case, I would like to hear your opinions on the aesthetic of this case.
Version 1

 
Version 2

 
PCIe Riser PCB
I made my initial design as seen and ordered it. Almost finished and ready for testing
 

 
Radiator
A supplier of the company I work at made me this custom radiator. You can see a 120mm Fan and a 280mm radiator as a size comparison

 
CPU Waterblock
I finished the design form my CPU Waterblock

 
GPU Waterblock
No real progress to show yet, I’ve been doing some designing based of web images but until I’ve gotten my own GTX970 I won’t have a final design to show
 
Powersupply
So I’m going with a Thin M-ITX motherboard together with a HD-PLEX 250W DC-DC board and an external 350W Power brick. The way it is going to be setup is like follows:
Thin M-ITX motherboards generate their own voltage onboard, just like any notebook motherboard. I have a DC Jack on the back I/O that supplier 20V and the motherboard turns it in 12V, 5V, 3.3V, you name it.
However, Thin M-ITX motherboard are not designed to run with discrete graphics cards, the motherboard only has a physical PCIe 3.0 4x slot and those are limited to only supply 25W instead of the 75W a PCIe 16x slot can deliver, also there are no PCIe 6pin or 8pin connectors present.

 
This is where the HD-Plex 250W DC-DC board comes in. It is meant for small systems to have an external brick but still have the 24pin, CPU 8Pin, GPU 8Pin and some sata connectivity. I’ll only be using the GPU 8Pin and the board 12V rail to supply the GPU with power.
The PCIe raiser disconnects the 12V that normally comes from the PCIe slot itself in order to allow the HD-Plex board to supply all the needed 12V power to the GPU.
 
 I still have a ways to go but I’m making good progress.