Fuzzylogik

Loving how easy it is to bring this around. It fits absolutely perfectly inside a Pelican 1495.
 
 

My Sentry build kinda spiraled out of control  The case taunted my bulky desk setup so I spent the last 3 months upgrading everything.
First I just wanted to replace my after market 970 with a blower style pascal based one, for better airflow and internal dust filters. Got a good deal for a reference 1080 on eBay but that's gonna be wasted on a 7 year old 60Hz TFT, so yesterday I got a good deal on a Samsung CF791 display unit with a more appropriate resolution and refresh rate.
I also built a new desk, replaced the giant AV amp and put my old 2 2TB drives in an external RAID chassis...
Thanks Zaber-Team you motivated me to spend ~1500€ on my new setup 

So I'm new to the forums here but decided I would post my build log for my first post. I have been doing water cooled builds for around 7 years now, but this will be my first hard line build. Due to space constraints on the desk I planned on using i opted for a mATX build which makes the whole project allot more exciting trying to make it all fit. I'm not usually one for red/black builds but because of the mATX build it limited my options on motherboards and the motherboard i got had red LEDs, so it became a red/black/grey build. 
 
Components:
- Case: Phanteks Evolv mATX 
- CPU: i7-8700k
- GPU: EVGA 1070ti SC Gaming
- Motherboard: MSI Z370M Gaming PRO AC
- RAM: Gskill Trident Z 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4 3600
- PSU: originally Corsair AX860i change to AX1200i when 860 failed
- Storage: Samsung 960 EVO m.2 250GB SSD
- Fans: ML120 PRO Red
 
Water cooling components:
- CPU Block: EK Supremacy
- GPU Block: EK Nickel
- Reservoir: Singularity Protium small
- Radiators: Alphacool XT45 240 & 280
- Pump: Swiftech MCP35x
- Pump Top/Heatsink: Singularity DDC pump top and heatsink
- Fittings: EK rigid compression Red
- Adapters: Bitspower Red
- Tubing: EK Petg
- Coolant: Mayhem Pastel Dark Grey
 
This was the initial test fit of motherboard and the 280 radiator. Found out i couldn't fit the 280 up front without cutting the case a little and i didn't feel like doing that.

 
The layout of the radiator up top also gave me a really convenient fill port.

 
This was my first tube bend. I used an old GTX580 I had laying around to help with spacing while i waited for the 1070 to show up.

 
This was my original plan for the pump location and drain port. I found out once i got the 240 radiator in that i had to adjust the location.

 
This was how it ended up fitting to get the radiator in the front to fit. 

 
GPU showed up and put the waterblock/backplate on it and finished running the tube. The reservoir was tilted because I only had one set of screws in the mount and it was designed for both sets of holes to be used on a radiator. Initially i thought it would be okay.

 
This is what i thought would be my finished build and was pretty happy with how it turned out. 

 
For the first few days of running the PC it would randomly shut off and refuse to turn back on for 2-3 minutes. I thought it was something to do with my overclock, but soon found out it was the PSU. Luckily i had my old AX1200i laying around and was able to test the system to make sure. Only problem was the AX1200i didn't fit with the pump down low. Because i wanted to redo the reservoir mounting I figured this was as good a time as any to tear it apart and see what i could change.

 
This is the new loop configuration which i think turned out a lot better than it was initially. Problem with this was I hooked up to the pump on dual inlets and blocked the out. So when i turned it on no water moved.

 
I love the Alphacool raditators for all the port options. was able to make a nice drain port out the bottom.

 
This is the final configuration once i figured out the port issue on the pump.

 
Overall I really enjoyed this build. The quality of the Phanteks case was fantastic. I knew doing a mATX build would have some spacing issues so the frustrations i had were to be expected. 

So I redid the ports on the CPU block last night. But when I booted it back on and ran some stress tests my temps actually were higher. Originally i was getting about 75C tops on the CPU and last night i hit 88C. I put new thermal paste on but I don't know the brand because i forgot to bring home any of the the stuff i normally use from work. The stuff i used was an unlabeled brand I had in my computer parts bin. I wouldn't have guessed thermal paste would cause that big of a change. I plan on picking up some better stuff today and trying that tonight. I'm also open to any ideas of what could be causing it. I will be tearing it apart tonight to see if i missed something.
 
You can just barely make out the "IN" and "OUT" on the block.

 
Here is the updated full loop.

Well done, glad I was some help.. but I can't remember it TBH
 
It's looking good, the only thing I would do differently really is tidy the cables up a little... they[re not BAD as such, just might be a slightly better way of arranging them through different grommets (if available).
For your first build though it's really good, and I am positive that my first build many many years ago wasn't as neat as yours in a big way, so don't be discouraged at my slight criticism. In fact IIRC my first build was a complete rats nest of cables and so on, just it didn't matter as much back then as the cases were fully enclosed with no window to see hardware etc anyway.
 
Anyway, really glad it all came together for you with no problems, keep up the good work
 

Thanks you! Yes, that's precisely what i wanted to do @jstudrawa

@paddy-stone @Herman Mcpootis Thank you both especially so much for your help! I ended up going with the following list based on your recommendations and built it all a week ago! Seriously happy with how it turned out. I'm already looking for new parts and thinking of upgrading ? ?. I popped in some RGB and an extra case fan on top of what you had recommended. The pictures i took make it look over-saturated with light but its a perfect amount of illumination. Took me about 5/6 hours to build with all my paranoid double checking and constantly re-watching build guides on youtube though hahaha.
 
CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor
Motherboard: MSI - B450M MORTAR Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory
Storage: Crucial - BX500 240 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Storage: Intel - 660p Series 2 TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1660 6 GB OC Video Card
Case: Phanteks - Enthoo EVOLV TG MicroATX Mini Tower Case
Power Supply: Silverstone - Strider Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply
Wireless Network Adapter: Gigabyte - GC-WB867D-I PCIe x1 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi Adapter
Case Fan: Phanteks - PH-F140SP_BBK 82.1 CFM 140 mm Fan
Keyboard: Logitech - G810 Orion Spectrum RGB Wired Gaming Keyboard
 
 
Also a big shout out to @NunoLava1998 @jstudrawa @zhubaohi @LienusLateTips @Brooksie359 for the advice and taking the time to make a comment. Really makes a big impression on a newb  haha. I always second guess every choice but hearing the positive feedback on what I picked was a massive relief and super helpful. Much appreciated!
 

@paddy-stone @Herman Mcpootis Thank you both especially so much for your help! I ended up going with the following list based on your recommendations and built it all a week ago! Seriously happy with how it turned out. I'm already looking for new parts and thinking of upgrading ? ?. I popped in some RGB and an extra case fan on top of what you had recommended. The pictures i took make it look over-saturated with light but its a perfect amount of illumination. Took me about 5/6 hours to build with all my paranoid double checking and constantly re-watching build guides on youtube though hahaha.
 
CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor
Motherboard: MSI - B450M MORTAR Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory
Storage: Crucial - BX500 240 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Storage: Intel - 660p Series 2 TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1660 6 GB OC Video Card
Case: Phanteks - Enthoo EVOLV TG MicroATX Mini Tower Case
Power Supply: Silverstone - Strider Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply
Wireless Network Adapter: Gigabyte - GC-WB867D-I PCIe x1 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi Adapter
Case Fan: Phanteks - PH-F140SP_BBK 82.1 CFM 140 mm Fan
Keyboard: Logitech - G810 Orion Spectrum RGB Wired Gaming Keyboard
 
 
Also a big shout out to @NunoLava1998 @jstudrawa @zhubaohi @LienusLateTips @Brooksie359 for the advice and taking the time to make a comment. Really makes a big impression on a newb  haha. I always second guess every choice but hearing the positive feedback on what I picked was a massive relief and super helpful. Much appreciated!
 

I'd just go with a ebay key. Better buyer protection that way.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700 3.2 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($458.46 @ Amazon Australia) 
Motherboard: ASRock - B360M Pro4 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($115.00 @ PC Byte) 
Memory: G.Skill - Sniper X 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($136.40 @ Newegg Australia) 
Storage: Crucial - MX500 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($95.00 @ IJK) 
Storage: Toshiba - P300 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($71.00 @ IJK) 
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce RTX 2070 8 GB WINDFORCE Video Card  ($749.00 @ Shopping Express) 
Case: Antec - Dark Phantom DP301M MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($69.00 @ JW Computers) 
Power Supply: Rosewill - Capstone 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($116.50 @ Newegg Australia) 
Wireless Network Adapter: Asus - PCE-AC56 PCI-Express x1 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi Adapter  ($49.00 @ Centre Com) 
Keyboard: G.Skill - RIPJAWS KM780R RGB Wired Gaming Keyboard  ($108.78 @ Amazon Australia) 
Mouse: Corsair - Harpoon RGB Wired Optical Mouse  ($46.44 @ Amazon Australia) 
Total: $2014.58
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-04-16 17:39 AEST+1000

Actually, looking at the builds,if I take some recommendations from  @Herman Mcpootis I can fit the 2TB SSD back in the budget. So have the small SSD for the OS and programs, and the 2TB SSD for games and stuff.  I was tempted to try and fit the 2070 he recommended into the budget, but it makes you have to sacrifice something else.
So as it stands, I got it to a few hundred under budget, so you have some leeway for changing the peripherals and stuff if you like, and if you prefer intel, then you can change it to the CPU and mobo that @Herman Mcpootis suggested, or go with his build entirely.
 
To answer your question about the cache drive though, no it wouldn't make writes faster, what a smart cache does is have your most used files in it basically, to make reading them faster than a HDD would. But that's redundant now with the new config below
 
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant Type Item Price CPU AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor $244.00 @ Shopping Express Motherboard MSI - B450M MORTAR Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard $145.00 @ JW Computers Memory G.Skill - Sniper X 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory $136.40 @ Newegg Australia Storage ADATA - SU630 240 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive $45.00 @ PCCaseGear Storage Intel - 660p Series 2 TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive $331.00 @ Newegg Australia Video Card MSI - GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6 GB AERO ITX OC Video Card $379.00 @ Shopping Express Case Antec - Dark Phantom DP301M MicroATX Mid Tower Case $69.00 @ JW Computers Power Supply EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply $139.00 @ Shopping Express Wireless Network Adapter Asus - PCE-AC68 PCI-Express x1 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi Adapter $104.00 @ Shopping Express Keyboard G.Skill - RIPJAWS KM780R RGB Wired Gaming Keyboard $108.78 @ Amazon Australia Mouse Corsair - Harpoon RGB Wired Optical Mouse $46.44 @ Amazon Australia   Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts     Total $1747.62   Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-04-16 21:53 AEST+1000    

With some changes, it comes in just under your budget, assuming budget was actually in AU$?
 
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant Type Item Price CPU AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor $244.00 @ Shopping Express Motherboard MSI - B450M MORTAR Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard $145.00 @ JW Computers Memory Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory $204.00 @ Skycomp Technology Storage ADATA - SU630 240 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive $45.00 @ PCCaseGear Storage ADATA - SU630 240 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive $45.00 @ PCCaseGear Storage Seagate - Barracuda 3 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive $119.00 @ PLE Computers Video Card MSI - GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6 GB AERO ITX OC Video Card $379.00 @ Shopping Express Case Phanteks - Enthoo Evolv TG (Black) MicroATX Mini Tower Case $199.00 @ PCCaseGear Power Supply EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply $139.00 @ Shopping Express Wireless Network Adapter Asus - PCE-AC68 PCI-Express x1 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi Adapter $104.00 @ Shopping Express Keyboard Corsair - K95 RGB PLATINUM Wired Gaming Keyboard $249.00 @ Austin Computers Mouse Corsair - M65 RGB ELITE Wired Optical Mouse $99.00 @ Austin Computers   Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts     Total $1971.00   Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-04-15 23:44 AEST+1000    
This is with cheapest 1660ti, you can save some more money with a cheaper PSU, but I don't like recommending lower PSUs, so just chose one of my "go to" ones for now.
For HDD/SSD, chose a couple SATA SSDs, one for boot/os drive, and the other to use as a cache drive to make the 3TB HDD a bit faster for your bulk storage... this is where the best bang for buck is ATM, your budget goes through the roof if you actually want a 2TB SSD?
Also removed the windows licence, just download (or get a friend to), and pop it on a USB installer drive, and get a licence key from kinguin or wherever... or run it without licence even, your choice.

OP, why have you done the build in US$ ?
 
Here's your list in AU$
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant Type Item Price CPU AMD - Ryzen 5 2600X 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor $295.00 @ Shopping Express CPU Cooler Corsair - H100i PRO 75 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler $170.94 @ Amazon Australia Motherboard MSI - B450M MORTAR Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard $145.00 @ JW Computers Memory Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory $204.00 @ Skycomp Technology Storage Samsung - 860 Evo 250 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive $88.00 @ Centre Com Storage Samsung - 860 Evo 2 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive $448.00 @ Shopping Express Video Card Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6 GB AORUS Video Card $506.00 @ Skycomp Technology Case Phanteks - Enthoo Evolv TG (Black) MicroATX Mini Tower Case $199.00 @ PCCaseGear Power Supply Corsair - RMx (2018) 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply $153.00 @ Austin Computers Operating System Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit   Wireless Network Adapter Asus - PCE-AC68 PCI-Express x1 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi Adapter $104.00 @ Shopping Express Keyboard Corsair - K95 RGB PLATINUM Wired Gaming Keyboard $249.00 @ Austin Computers Mouse Corsair - M65 RGB ELITE Wired Optical Mouse $99.00 @ Austin Computers   Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts     Total $2660.94   Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-04-15 23:36 AEST+1000    

1.2600 is a better value CPU than 2600x, as 2600 can be manually overclocked to 2600x is capable of, so if you want to save a few bucks, you can do the swap.
2.For mid range card like 1660ti, you should go for the cheapest one out there @280 USD. 

Sorry lol
I meant to say that getting a 860 EVO M.2 literally is the exact same as just getting a normal 860 EVO, they're both SATA. You need to go for a NVMe drive for the increased speeds.

Well, NVMe wouldn't increase his speeds, as real world usage is damn near the same.  Only warrants a small correction of his choice, not bashing his IQ.  He made a good call going SATA SSD for both, tho I probably would have gone 2.5" for both due to price differences.
 

Yeah, NVMe barely does make any real world difference. Sorry for that
@Fuzzylogik I'd recommend just going for a Crucial MX500 2TB M.2 fyi

Honestly I would stick with the stock cooler if you dont plan to overclock. 

You haven't gone overkill on the PSU lol

You don't need a CPU cooler that's over 50% the cost of the CPU itself, and the stock cooler is rather good if you're not pushing overclocks.  Same with the GPU, its cooler is fine.
 
I love your SSD setup.  
 
PSU isn't overkill, you could get away with a 550 if you wanted, but 650 is fine.  850+ would be overkill.
 
Lose that Windows price and buy it off a 3rd party site.
 
Case, keyboard and mouse are personal choices, don't have any comments.