Meet my new system: Little Red

[owencrispy]

Aware this includes no actual "red" however, it was the successor to "big red" in my profile photo!

 

Decided I wanted to move away from my Dell Inspiron 7500 Gaming Laptop, as I found myself using it as a laptop less and less becuase it was so heavy and loud. At the same time, I also fancied a smaller compared to my previous and so: Little Red was born. Build out of the tiny Fractal Node 202, here are the specs:

 

MOBO: Asrock B450m mini ITX AC

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 6 core/12 thread @3.7Ghz

Cooler: Noctua NH-L9a AM4

RAM: Crucial Ballistix 2x8GB DDR4 @3000Mhz

GPU: MSI Gaming X 1660 Super 6GB GDDR6 @1990Mhz (photo is a week old, the super was an upgrade literally yesterday)

SSD: Sandisk 1TB

PSU: Fractal Integra 450w (came with case)

Extras: Noctua slim 120mm fan sat under the GPU

 

Having never actually built in such a small case before, it was quite a challenge at first. I removed the drive cage to make room for the GPU, and the SSD just kinda sits there in its place nice and secure behind the absolute MOUNTAIN of cables fractal provide with such a small case (???). Really impressed with the system! Runs everything I need games wise, as well as being silent as hell unless you're under some serious load. Even then, its only the tiny CPU cooler that you hear, but it still does a great job at keeping the 2600 frosty really in such a small case. I decided against mechanical drives purely for speed and noise levels, plus if im goig to move this thing around (like taking it home for the holidays), the SSD just made sense- much better.

 

The original iteration (this thing has been through 2 GPU's already because im picky) did have a sapphire nitro RX580, but that thing ran hot and loud. Credit where its due, these MSI cards might be expensive but i'll never use another brand I think as even its older brother Big Red who my friend now owns has a Gaming X 1060. I havent heard the fans spin up to audible levels ONCE yet.

 

Possible upgrades? Well, i'll probably replace that ram with 2x16GB just because I can (and thats the max the mobo supports anyway) and maybe drop in the version up on this CPU, again, because I can. But apart from that, the last thing to do would be to populate the M.2 slot on the back of the motherboard.

 

Thanks for reading, this was a fun build that'll hopefully last me some time!

 

[h4ndsonic]

That is so difficult to manage the cables considering how slim the case is. And I'm kinda worrid about the cpu cooling but this Noctua seems doing a pretty good job. Anyway, a nice system!

[owencrispy]

29 minutes ago, h4ndsonic said:

That is so difficult to manage the cables considering how slim the case is. And I'm kinda worrid about the cpu cooling but this Noctua seems doing a pretty good job. Anyway, a nice system!

If i had more money, I wouldve for sure got a modular PSU but It was an extra £65-70 to do this so i had to settle for this really!

 

The noctua cooler does great! its the only audible thing in the system. One next upgrade will be to find a 92 > 120mm slim conversion, and then add another 120mm slim notctua to help push more air at a lower RPM.

 

Super happy with it, thank you!

[owencrispy]

@TofuHaroto @Mateyyy Hello again friends, I would like your opinion/expertises on my build please!

[Haro]

1 minute ago, owencrispy said:

Hello again friends, I would like your opinion/expertises on my build please!

Looks great! Love those noctua's. 

Enjoy your build!

[owencrispy]

Just now, TofuHaroto said:

Looks great! Love those noctua's. 

Enjoy your build!

I love them! For how expensive they are, they were worth the investment! I did at one point consider the stock AMD cooler, but decided against as I didnt fancy the noise.

 

Only downside: £10-£15 EXTRA just for the blackout version. Ill stick with beige lmao

[Haro]

1 minute ago, owencrispy said:

. Ill stick with beige lmao

They look better if you ask me imo lol. 

[Mateyyy]

Looks good! I actually haven't seen too many builds in the Node 202, considering the non-modular PSU, that looks pretty tidy. Also, bonus points for Noctua.

Seeing more and more of these builds, it's just making me want to build an SFF PC even more haha.

[owencrispy]

Just now, Mateyyy said:

Looks good! I actually haven't seen too many builds in the Node 202, considering the non-modular PSU, that looks pretty tidy. Also, bonus points for Noctua.

Seeing more and more of these builds, it's just making me want to build an SFF PC even more haha.

When i built its older brother almost 5 years ago now, all i wished i did was build it small! Despite the fact this cost me about £150 more because apparently mini itx is expensive, i have 0 regrets

 

Even though the node 202 is a tiny case, it was the most fun ive had in all the builds ive done! Theres just something about cramming power into a tiny chasis!

 

Build one

[DJ46]

What can I say, I love SFF builds.

 

Have you considered flipping the fan on the CPU heatsink around, perhaps with a bit of a shroud so that it exhausts directly through the side vent?

In my experience with an RVZ01, setting the CPU fan to exhaust air outside dropped my temperatures a few degrees, and with those low profile coolers that can make a pretty big difference.

[owencrispy]

1 hour ago, DJ46 said:

What can I say, I love SFF builds.

 

Have you considered flipping the fan on the CPU heatsink around, perhaps with a bit of a shroud so that it exhausts directly through the side vent?

In my experience with an RVZ01, setting the CPU fan to exhaust air outside dropped my temperatures a few degrees, and with those low profile coolers that can make a pretty big difference.

I hadn't until you mentioned it, but that does sound like a good idea!

 

But, the heatsink is equal both sides! from my angle of photo, it looks lilke the bottom extends more than the top- but thats not the case. I do like this idea, i like to try squeeze everything i can out of it since upgrades are limited and space is a premium!

[DJ46]

10 minutes ago, owencrispy said:

I hadn't until you mentioned it, but that does sound like a good idea!

 

But, the heatsink is equal both sides! from my angle of photo, it looks lilke the bottom extends more than the top- but thats not the case. I do like this idea, i like to try squeeze everything i can out of it since upgrades are limited and space is a premium!

Yeah, the heatsink cannot be mounted in any other way, which is a bit of a shame since it looks a bit blocked off by the RAM etc.

 

What I meant was flipping the fan on top of it so that it pulls air through the heatsink instead of pushing through it.

[owencrispy]

12 hours ago, DJ46 said:

Yeah, the heatsink cannot be mounted in any other way, which is a bit of a shame since it looks a bit blocked off by the RAM etc.

 

What I meant was flipping the fan on top of it so that it pulls air through the heatsink instead of pushing through it.

Ah! Do you think that would make much difference?

 

In an ideal world, i would really like to find a way to mount another slim 120mm noctua in its place, as to try move more air at a lower rpm (because bigger fan) to reduce noise further!

[DJ46]

1 hour ago, owencrispy said:

Ah! Do you think that would make much difference?

 

In an ideal world, i would really like to find a way to mount another slim 120mm noctua in its place, as to try move more air at a lower rpm (because bigger fan) to reduce noise further!

It might, in my case it was beneficial. There's no real way to get an exhaust fan into an SFF machine, so making sure there are paths for hot air to take can make a pretty good difference.

For example, I when used the CPU fan as an exhaust in my RVZ01 I noticed that a part of the side panel next to the side vent was getting warm to the touch. Looking through it, I noticed that the CPU fan wasn't aligned with the vent perfectly and this offset aimed part of the hot air at the sidepanel.

I made a quick cardboard shroud and my CPU temp dropped ~7°C if I remember correctly.

 

The 120mm fan is a great idea though. Looking at the pictures and at the cooler specs, you should actually be able to fit a full size 120mm fan on top of the cooler. (56mm clearance - 23mm cooler height without fan = 33mm of space for the fan, so it won't be pushed up against the side panel causing turbulence)

I'm not sure if your RAM is taller than the heatsink itself though. If it isn't (it seems to be about the same height in the pictures), you could align the 120mm fan so that the RAM gets some cooling and most importantly blocks the intake of the fan from getting unrestricted air around the heatsink, thus making sure it pulls more air through the heatsink.

The exhaust should end up decently well aligned with the side vent. That would probably be the perfect config - bigger fan, running at lower RPM, pulling air through the heatsink and exhausting it directly outside.

 

It would look a bit like this (please excuse the use of Paint):

Spoiler

 

[owencrispy]

On 7/31/2020 at 12:48 PM, DJ46 said:

It might, in my case it was beneficial. There's no real way to get an exhaust fan into an SFF machine, so making sure there are paths for hot air to take can make a pretty good difference.

For example, I when used the CPU fan as an exhaust in my RVZ01 I noticed that a part of the side panel next to the side vent was getting warm to the touch. Looking through it, I noticed that the CPU fan wasn't aligned with the vent perfectly and this offset aimed part of the hot air at the sidepanel.

I made a quick cardboard shroud and my CPU temp dropped ~7°C if I remember correctly.

 

The 120mm fan is a great idea though. Looking at the pictures and at the cooler specs, you should actually be able to fit a full size 120mm fan on top of the cooler. (56mm clearance - 23mm cooler height without fan = 33mm of space for the fan, so it won't be pushed up against the side panel causing turbulence)

I'm not sure if your RAM is taller than the heatsink itself though. If it isn't (it seems to be about the same height in the pictures), you could align the 120mm fan so that the RAM gets some cooling and most importantly blocks the intake of the fan from getting unrestricted air around the heatsink, thus making sure it pulls more air through the heatsink.

The exhaust should end up decently well aligned with the side vent. That would probably be the perfect config - bigger fan, running at lower RPM, pulling air through the heatsink and exhausting it directly outside.

 

It would look a bit like this (please excuse the use of Paint):

  Hide contents

 

Sorry for the late reply, ive been away!

 

This is exactly what i would like to do, but mounting is the issue!

 

Also, my idea would be to have the fan on intake, rather than exhaust like that. What do you think?

[DJ46]

1 hour ago, owencrispy said:

This is exactly what i would like to do, but mounting is the issue!

 

Also, my idea would be to have the fan on intake, rather than exhaust like that. What do you think?

Considering the fact that you can't really see inside the case, I'd probably get a fan with rubber corners (like an NF-F12 or A12) and zip tie it to something nearby.

If you can make a small spacer that screws onto the fan from the inside, you could probably mount the fan to the side panel with rubber mounts through the vents.

 

I'd probably go for an exhaust, but you can try out both, maybe with your system you'll have better luck with the CPU fan as an intake.