Enter Plasma

I think people who complain about modern prices haven't tried building systems 5 years ago. You have no idea how bad it was.
 
Back in the day, one of the best under 50 offers was the Fractal Design Core 1000.
It's crap, and it was crap even back in the day. Didn't even cover basic functionality like, oh I don't know, cable management holes.
Any half-decent case would cost you at least 70-80. Fancy would be easily over 100.
 
Meanwhile today under 50 you can find cases like the Antec DP501, which comes with all the basic functionalities and even a good amount of fancy.
Today, at 70-80+ you get full-on fancy.

The included Nidec fans are a genius idea.
For anyone wondering, Nidec fans = (Scythe) Gentle Typhoons.
These fans are NOT cheap, they're very sought after from cooling enthusiasts, and are top of the line in quality and performance.
 
You want RGB? You sell them (they go for a significant amount of money), and with the money you raise you buy whatever kind of RGB you want.
You don't want RGB? You keep them, and you don't need to upgrade fans because you already have some of the best in the market.
 
Seasonic leaves the choice to you, while at the same time helping you a lot with whatever choice you make.
 
Hard to say if this was actually intended, but it is brilliant regardless. I'm amazed that such a well designed case is coming from a company that has never delivered a case to market before.
 
If anyone from SS is reading, you guys might actually have a serious talent for designing cases.
Not my cup of tea (I like small stuff), but if I were into bigger ATX cases I'd be buying it right now.

A huge ITX system that is all about beauty and raw power.

Supported by Watercool
Made with ❤️ by Enter Plasma

Main Features:
9900K & RTX 2080 with heavy OC in a Shift X
Custom, high end, high performance Watercooling
Custom RGBW Cables in MDPC-X Sleeve
Custom Illumination
"Fixing" the Phanteks Shift X and pushing its limits with sheer brute force
A lot of other fancy small details worth checking out
 
 

Hardware List:
CPU: Intel Core i9 9900K
GPU KFA2 RTX 2080 OC
Motherboard: Asrock Z370 ITX Fatal1ty
Ram: Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR4 16GB 3000
SSD: Samsung 970 EVO 1TB
PSU: Corsair SF750
Case: Phanteks Shift X
RGB Controller: Raspberry Pi Zero WH

Cooling / Accessories:
CPU: Watercool Heatkiller IV Pro Acetal Ni
GPU: Watercool Heatkiller IV RTX 2080 Acetal Ni
Reservoir: Watercool Heatkiller Tube 100 DDC
Pump: EK DDC 3.2 PWM
Rads: Hardware Labs Nemesis GTS 240 + 120
Fittings: Barrow Black
Tubing: Barrow PETG 14/10
5x Delta AFB1212SH Fans
EVGA Powerlink
PCI-E 3.0 Riser for Phanteks Shift X
Aluminium M.2 Heatsink

Custom Stuff:
Stainless Steel Screws + Alu Washers
RGBW Sleeved Cables with MDPC-X Carbon BTI & Transparency
RGBW Light Bars, other illumination in White
Twister Mod Stickers (Fans)
Custom Motherboard IO Plate
 
 

A big shoutout for the help, support and/or inspiration to:
Jacob (Watercool Heatkiller)
Daniel (Twister Mod / Twister7800GTX)
Nils (MDPC-X / Million Dollar PC)
All the customers of Enter Plasma that supported me over the past 3+ years
 
 

First Pics:







































 
 

UPDATE #2: Fan cables & LED's in the works




 
 

Work has been slow but steady.
I'm currently doing all the splitter cables for fans, LED's and the sorts. They still have to be sleeved of course!
It is a massive work but it's very important - using as less space as possible for cables is top priority for maximizing airflow.






 
 

Here's where some of the addressable LED's will go, these will light up the cables from the bottom.


 
 

And this is a rough idea of how they'll turn out.
These are not the cables for the project, but I'm thinking about going with this same color scheme (Carbon BTI + Transparency)




 
 

This is a rough idea of how the back will be cable managed. 




 
 

I also had this chinese RGB controller that I though of using, but it was HUGE




 
 

So I pried it open...


 
 

... And burned the Bluetooth controller trying to desolder those green cable clamps, LOL.
WELL, I guess I'll take the opportunity to do something I've been wanting to try for a while. Using a Raspberry!
It will arrive around next week so we'll see about that.
 
 

I also ended up upgrading to a Corsair SF750 Platinum


 
 

And I was able to fit another fan on the bottom, for a 120 push/pull. Can't have enough fans in here.


 
 

Another issue is these fan screws that have to be trimmed. I'm using M4's and they either come in sizes 30mm or 35mm.
30mm is too short and won't screw in the rad. 35mm is too long and will hit on the fins before screwing in all the way.
These are stainless steel, it's not easy to cut. I'm gonna have to figure out some way.

In the pic you can also see some black aluminium columns that I got to cover up the screw thread. I think it looks really cool!


 
 

And finally, this is how I'm ending up with the fan configuration. It's all negative pressure, and the air will be sucked in from the whole of the back.


 
 

NEXT: Finished secondary cables, installing the hardware and doing the main cables!

Sorry for the long disappearance. It was completed, but not without a lot of challenges, a lot of revisions, and a lot of personal drama.
 
Here's the final pics:
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
Older pics of the previous revision and some hint of battlestation: Devotion Beta.
    I had to disregard some objectives I had in the beginning, like the RGBW cables.
 
But I'm very happy to have reached one of the main objectives which was to stuff a fully overclocked, high end system in a Shift X without turning into a fusion energy experiment
 
 
 
Final specs:
- Intel 9900K @ 5ghz rock solid
- Asus Z390 Strix ITX
- 16GB Corsair Dominator Platinum RAM
- Nvidia RTX 2080
- Corsair SF750 Power supply
- Samsung 970 Evo Plus 1TB SSD
- Phanteks Shift X Case
 
Cooling:
- 4x Delta AFB1212SH fans, 1x PC Cooler Corona 120 fan
- Watercool Heatkiller CPU block, GPU block, Reservoir
- EK DDC pump
- HWLabs Nemesis GTS 120 + 240 radiators
- Barrow fittings
- EK ZMT tubing
 
Other / Accessories:
- ADT third party riser for Phanteks Shift & Shift X
- EVGA Powerlink for GPU
- Initially MDPC-X Carbon BTI sleeving on cables, then made new cables with Silver-plated FEP transparent wires
- Full set of stainless steel countersunk screws with black aluminium washers

Sorry for the long disappearance. It was completed, but not without a lot of challenges, a lot of revisions, and a lot of personal drama.
 
Here's the final pics:
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
Older pics of the previous revision and some hint of battlestation: Devotion Beta.
    I had to disregard some objectives I had in the beginning, like the RGBW cables.
 
But I'm very happy to have reached one of the main objectives which was to stuff a fully overclocked, high end system in a Shift X without turning into a fusion energy experiment
 
 
 
Final specs:
- Intel 9900K @ 5ghz rock solid
- Asus Z390 Strix ITX
- 16GB Corsair Dominator Platinum RAM
- Nvidia RTX 2080
- Corsair SF750 Power supply
- Samsung 970 Evo Plus 1TB SSD
- Phanteks Shift X Case
 
Cooling:
- 4x Delta AFB1212SH fans, 1x PC Cooler Corona 120 fan
- Watercool Heatkiller CPU block, GPU block, Reservoir
- EK DDC pump
- HWLabs Nemesis GTS 120 + 240 radiators
- Barrow fittings
- EK ZMT tubing
 
Other / Accessories:
- ADT third party riser for Phanteks Shift & Shift X
- EVGA Powerlink for GPU
- Initially MDPC-X Carbon BTI sleeving on cables, then made new cables with Silver-plated FEP transparent wires
- Full set of stainless steel countersunk screws with black aluminium washers

An all-AMD budget system, made with care and attention to detail.

Sponsored by Fractal Design.
Made with ❤️ by Enter Plasma.

Main Features:
Fully custom sleeved system, with MDPC-X Haze Grey & Code Red
Custom light bars with UV LED's
Maximum price/performance and budget squeezing



Hardware List:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1600 (@3.8ghz 1.35v, SOC @ 0.95v)
GPU: Sapphire AMD RX 580 4GB Pulse
Motherboard: Asrock B450M Steel Legend
Ram: Kingston HyperX Predator (@ 3000mhz 16-16-16-16-36 CR1)
SSD: Crucial P1 500GB
PSU: FSP Hyper S 600W
Case: Fractal Design Meshify C Mini TG

Cooling / Accessories:
AIO: Fractal Design Celsius S24
Fans: Fractal Design Venturi HP-14 & Dynamic X2
Jonsbo M.2 Heatsink

Custom Stuff:
Stainless Steel Screws + Alu Washers
Sleeved Cables - MDPC-X Haze Grey & Code Red, with Alphacool Eiskamm Alu red cable combs.
UV Light Bars
Twister Mod Stickers (Fans)
 
 

First Pics:

UPDATE #2 - Fractal Design steps in!

Finally we deal with the AIO and the fans!

Thanks to Fractal Design for supporting the project and sponsoring one of their Celsius S24 AIO's + SIX Venturi HP-14 fans!
 


   
The Celsius S24 is a 240mm AIO tailored for silence, with a couple tricks up its sleeve.

It's an Asetek-based AIO, but unlike most others it's expandable - the fittings on the radiator can be unscrewed, making it possible to daisy chain multiple Celsius units.
This is actually pretty cool, as it makes it possible to easily build a "whole system" AIO that also covers a GPU, or even multiple CPU/GPU systems.

It comes with 2x Dynamic fans that are good quality and static-pressure oriented.
This makes quite a difference on AIO's, since aluminium radiators are usually high in fin density and will struggle with low quality and low static pressure fans.

It definitely fits much better on the system, compared to the one I had previously!
There are also no writings/marks on the side of the radiator, unlike some of the units that I saw in Youtube reviews.






   
The Venturi series is Fractal Design's top end, silence and static-pressure oriented line of fans.
They come in both 120 and 140 size, and either with black or white blades.
These are black 140's.... I asked for 3 of them but got 6 lol, so I guess you'll see the rest in other future projects!

Now let's be clear - I'm very picky with fans, as I've been spoiled by the ridiculous power and quality of server-grade fans.
High quality fans make a huge difference in cooling, whether you are on air or on water - and quality isn't just a fancy hydrodinamic bearing or the design of the blades.
You get a great fan when you don't cheap out on motor, plastics, and when your manifacturer can work under tight tolerances.

I'm definitely satisfied with the Venturi's. They have the heft and the weight that I expect from a high quality fan - yes, you can judge a fan by it's weight. Deltas start at around 250g for a 120.
The blades have just the right amount of play, and when powered on they are very well balanced with absolutely no oscillations. They're VERY silent, while moving a lot of air.





   
And here's the result:






   
PS: you know it's good fans when you touch them by mistake and they cut you.
Don't try it with Deltas though.


   
NEXT: Finishing touches and fancy pictures!  
 

UPDATE #1 - Overclocking & Stability, other updates.
 

 
Sorry for the delay with the updates! 
While the system was working out of the box, testing revealed that it wasn't stable at all. I went a bit further with the physical modding, but the system's stability has been my main focus for the past few weeks.
 
 
 
I had a nasty combination of issues, and I had to invest some time into learning more about the board, the Ryzen platform in general and overall memory tuning to make it work well.
 
1) This RAM kit's XMP has weird timings, isn't tuned at all for Ryzen (specially 1° Gen), and wasn't stable at all.
 
2) This board looks great, has really cool features, BUT... OC settings and defaults are not really amazing.
It has the tendency to go really hard on voltage: default SOC is around 1.1v, and default VDDP is 1.05v.
 
3) 1° Gen Ryzen IMC is very picky, so it made all of the above even more of a headache to stabilize.
 
 
 
After much learning and tweaking I was able to get 3000mhz 16-16-16-16-36 stable, with decently tight secondary timings.
Considering that this is b-die (although meh b-die), I definitely could've done better in frequency.
But this already took wayyyy more time than I expected, and since this isn't my computer in the end I give full priority to great long-term stability over slightly better performance.
 
SOC voltage is 0.95v with auto (low) LLC, DDR4 is at 1.35v, and VDDP is at 0.95v.
BGS/BGS-alt, power-down and gear-down are disabled - with CR at 1T.
Currently testing all of this with a 4ghz CPU overclock, at 1.375v looks stable so far.
 
Passed 30K% memory coverage with 0 errors.
 

 
I don't consider the usually recommended 3K/6K% passing to be an indication of good stability - at least not enough for customers.
I've often had settings fail at 8K/11K%, but anything that is over 15-20K% looks to be able to go forever with no issues and I'd consider it close enough to JEDEC-level stability.
 
 
 
I also want to give a massive shoutout to Karhu Software's RAM Test.
All of this wouldn't have been possible without his software.
This thing is absolutely amazing and will drastically decrease testing time - which is VITAL if you're doing some serious RAM tinkering and want to be done with it before your platform becomes obsolete.
This 2 week's work would have easily taken me 2 months with HCI. It's paid software, but worth every penny.
Consider purchasing his RAM Test utility at: https://www.karhusoftware.com/ramtest/
 
 
Aside from that - I also went a bit further with the modding, although it's not complete yet.
I've built and installed some UV light bars, and look absolutely stunning! Still not 100% final as I want to fix them better to the case and paint the frame in black.
 

 

 
 

The Jonsbo M.2 heatsink has also arrived. You can see it installed in the pictures of the system right above.
 

 

 

 
 
 
There's more: new fans and a new AIO incoming, courtesy of a special supporter that will be unveiled when everything arrives
I'm waiting for those to finish the last sleeved cables.
 
And well, I've also modified a bit the photo setup with some fancy vinyl marmor. Should make any future pics look a bit better than my old brutalized table, what do you think?
 

 
 

NEXT: New fans & AIO!
 

An all-AMD budget system, made with care and attention to detail.

Sponsored by Fractal Design.
Made with ❤️ by Enter Plasma.

Main Features:
Fully custom sleeved system, with MDPC-X Haze Grey & Code Red
Custom light bars with UV LED's
Maximum price/performance and budget squeezing



Hardware List:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1600 (@3.8ghz 1.35v, SOC @ 0.95v)
GPU: Sapphire AMD RX 580 4GB Pulse
Motherboard: Asrock B450M Steel Legend
Ram: Kingston HyperX Predator (@ 3000mhz 16-16-16-16-36 CR1)
SSD: Crucial P1 500GB
PSU: FSP Hyper S 600W
Case: Fractal Design Meshify C Mini TG

Cooling / Accessories:
AIO: Fractal Design Celsius S24
Fans: Fractal Design Venturi HP-14 & Dynamic X2
Jonsbo M.2 Heatsink

Custom Stuff:
Stainless Steel Screws + Alu Washers
Sleeved Cables - MDPC-X Haze Grey & Code Red, with Alphacool Eiskamm Alu red cable combs.
UV Light Bars
Twister Mod Stickers (Fans)
 
 

First Pics:

Man I agree so much, I got it for really cheap but it's such a punch in the face to the rest of the system. I have to change it lol.

You can test your drive with an utility called HD Tune  until you've seen the SMART readings you won't know if it's bad, might just be Windows being Windows
I still fully agree with the 1TB SSD, get it anyways.
 
Get a higher frequency kit of memory. On Amazon.de there's 16GB of Corsair or HyperX kits @3000+ mhz for 80-90-100€ depending on the offer.
 
Your PSU can probably take the upgrades. A better PSU is always nice, but I would keep the priority low. It's worth taking a picture of the label of your PSU, some prebuilts actually have pretty high quality suppliers for those.
 
Depending on your case the D15S might not fit. It's pretty damn huge.
Your CPU isn't bottleneck, it's ideal that the GPU is always at 100% during a game, that is the component that you want being taxed the most.
 
For the GPU, unless you get the 1070 Ti used or at an amazing price, you might find better prices for the current offerings: 1660 Ti, 2060, 2070
 
Also, since you're in Germany: www.geizhals.de.
Thank me later

I'd go with a 240 AIO, or a very big air cooler.
The View 71 is H U G E and you really want to try to fill it up as much as you can, otherwise it'll look kinda weird.
 
If you can fit in the budget, I've had a good experience with the Asrock Steel Legend B450 board (the mini-ATX version, there's also in standard ATX). I'd also argue that it looks better than the MSI.
 
I've heard meh things about the MSI Armor coolers, but the RX 580 itself is great. I'd recommend maybe going with another cooler style, if you want to stick to MSI they've also got better models.
 
 
PS: I just saw that you're planning on buying in like 4-5 months. Don't bother looking at prices and components now, everything will be completely different by the time you begin.

Bella!

Case: Cougar QBX
Mobo: ASUS Maximus VI Impact
CPU: i5-4690k OC to 4.7 GHz
CPU Cooler: Corsair H60 AIO w/ Prolima thin 120mm fan
RAM: 16GB Corsair Vengeance
GPU: MSI Gaming X GTX 1080 Ti
SSD: PNY 250GB
HDD: WD 1TB
PSU: Enermax Revolution SFX 550W w/ custom sleeved cables.

Wanted a small 4k gaming box. Pretty stoked with how it turned out! Making the cables was tedious as hell but make a huge difference in this tiny case, looks and airflow equally! I want to ditch the HDD and get a 1TB SSD and replace the current SSD with an m.2 drive. 
 
8288 in Fire Strike: https://www.3dmark.com/3dm/31490967?

An all-AMD budget system, made with care and attention to detail.

Sponsored by Fractal Design.
Made with ❤️ by Enter Plasma.

Main Features:
Fully custom sleeved system, with MDPC-X Haze Grey & Code Red
Custom light bars with UV LED's
Maximum price/performance and budget squeezing



Hardware List:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1600 (@3.8ghz 1.35v, SOC @ 0.95v)
GPU: Sapphire AMD RX 580 4GB Pulse
Motherboard: Asrock B450M Steel Legend
Ram: Kingston HyperX Predator (@ 3000mhz 16-16-16-16-36 CR1)
SSD: Crucial P1 500GB
PSU: FSP Hyper S 600W
Case: Fractal Design Meshify C Mini TG

Cooling / Accessories:
AIO: Fractal Design Celsius S24
Fans: Fractal Design Venturi HP-14 & Dynamic X2
Jonsbo M.2 Heatsink

Custom Stuff:
Stainless Steel Screws + Alu Washers
Sleeved Cables - MDPC-X Haze Grey & Code Red, with Alphacool Eiskamm Alu red cable combs.
UV Light Bars
Twister Mod Stickers (Fans)
 
 

First Pics:

An all-AMD budget system, made with care and attention to detail.

Sponsored by Fractal Design.
Made with ❤️ by Enter Plasma.

Main Features:
Fully custom sleeved system, with MDPC-X Haze Grey & Code Red
Custom light bars with UV LED's
Maximum price/performance and budget squeezing



Hardware List:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1600 (@3.8ghz 1.35v, SOC @ 0.95v)
GPU: Sapphire AMD RX 580 4GB Pulse
Motherboard: Asrock B450M Steel Legend
Ram: Kingston HyperX Predator (@ 3000mhz 16-16-16-16-36 CR1)
SSD: Crucial P1 500GB
PSU: FSP Hyper S 600W
Case: Fractal Design Meshify C Mini TG

Cooling / Accessories:
AIO: Fractal Design Celsius S24
Fans: Fractal Design Venturi HP-14 & Dynamic X2
Jonsbo M.2 Heatsink

Custom Stuff:
Stainless Steel Screws + Alu Washers
Sleeved Cables - MDPC-X Haze Grey & Code Red, with Alphacool Eiskamm Alu red cable combs.
UV Light Bars
Twister Mod Stickers (Fans)
 
 

First Pics:

Some motherboards support that but I'm VERY sure yours doesn't.
It's a feature called "PCI-E bifurcation" and it's usually found on fancy/ITX/workstation/server motherboards. Needs also a very expensive riser.
Really no way to do it home made either.

Some motherboards support that but I'm VERY sure yours doesn't.
It's a feature called "PCI-E bifurcation" and it's usually found on fancy/ITX/workstation/server motherboards. Needs also a very expensive riser.
Really no way to do it home made either.

Or, if you want to do it yourself, give MDPC-X a try and do the sleeving yourself with professional sleeves. You'll be able to sleeve everything. They're in Germany and are shipping world wide though there are several other shops around, for example in Hungary. Shouldn't make a big difference moneywise but you're entirely free to do what you want and adapt cable lengths on the go. It will take quite a while though, there are more cables than you'd think and you'll need to crimp connectors for every pin and sleeve everything by hand (so basically 24 cables, 24 sleeves, 48 pins, 48 heat shrinks just for the 24-Pin ATX cable). You'll earn quite a lot of bragging rights though if that is of any concern …

UPDATE #1: Finally received the last hardware, work is getting done
 
Started doing the first tests with RGBW cables, using MDPC-X Transparency sleeve and MDPC-X transparent AWG15 wire.
The controller is a random addressable chinese one that can be controlled with an app. It's not bad, but it's a bit buggy. Not an ideal solution, but I'll keep it for now.

The LED strips for the cables, on the other hand, are glorious. These are addressable RGBW, 144 LEDS / meter. They're beautiful, and also inhumanely expensive lol.






 
 

Got the latest shipment from China that was delayed for more than a week unfortunately.
A lot of fancy stuff, but turns out I need more screws. Some of the sizes were incorrect.




 
 

Fancy stainless steel screws. I absolutely love these, specially together with the aluminium washers.








 
 

Also got a new clear IEC connector to re-make the stock PSU extension for the case. It lights up really well






 
 

Some other stuff that arrived recently: SSD, hardline watercooling gear, cable and sleeving material from MDPC-X, and some aluminium bars for LED strips that I'm still not sure about using for this project.










 
 

And the replacement riser I'll be using. Unfortunately the original Phanteks riser doesn't seem to be PCI-E 3.0 capable.






 
 

NEXT: A lot of cables

With fancy fluids you get into the territory of rocket science water cooling.
 
As far as I know, there are ways to make them work long term. At least Mayhems Pastel - I've heard of multiple users having them last 2-3 years with no maintenance.
My experience on the other hand was heavy sedimentation after a few days of not using the PC, horrible effect.
Still to this day I don't have a clue of how to make it work or how not to do things. Nobody has an idea about it, and if they do, they don't talk about it.
 
Imho, stick to clear simple fluids that just work. Focus on learning about the rest of the watercooling experience.

Silver, though i would point out that Barrow make fittigns almost identical to Bitspowers and are usualy substantialy cheaper.

I made sure to keep the clutter in the case to a minimum so I chose to use a NVMe with no other HDDs, and the result is this compact motherboard.





As you can see here the cooler pretty much uses as much room as it can get.





Now with the main components out of the way I can start working on the GPU.





I started by making the cuts needed to fit the GPU below the motherboard tray, as well as a cut at the back for the IO and two cuts at the bottom of the case to allow for additional airflow.





It fits pretty snug in there and there is plenty of room in between the motherboard tray and the card to fit the riser.

















The riser takes up some additional room at the back but by using different riser and modifying the other side of the case I should be able to get it to fit. Also the cases' rear panel has a protruding shroud to give a small bit of room for the riser as well.

The next thing to do from here is change the fans on the GPU, as the current fans sound like a small turbine, and to mount the GPU in the case. Thanks all.

Here are the Thermals: I tested the system in two configurations, either standing on its feet or laying on the front panel for maximum air flow.
 
First Configuration - Standing on Feet With 100% GPU Fan Speed:
 

 
Furmark at 1080p with 0xAA
 

 
3DMark Skydiver Stress Test
 

 
(with Markers)
 

 
Adia 64
 

 
Second Configuration - Laying on the Front Panel With 100% GPU Fan Speed:
 

 
Furmark at 1080p with 0xAA
 

 
Furmark at 1080p with 0xAA plus Adia64