MODZERO ASHEN - PARVUM SYSTEMS X3.0 CUSTOM

[MODZERO]

Wow, the last year has flown by! I finished the MODZERO JUICE build logs back in December 2017 and then went dark...

 I'm still running my S4 Mini daily, I love it! and it's been great at LAN events. Though I'll be retiring it when ASHEN is complete, fear not, it won't be boxed and stored. JUICE will be back later in the year as a fully (internal only) water-cooled S4 Mini (MODZERO JUICED).

MODZERO JABBA was meant to be next, and it will be, after this one. ASHEN came about whilst talking to the Parvum Systems guys over the JABBA design (Custom X2.0). I'd recently bought a Filco TKL (MX Blacks) and bought these keycaps, SA ASHEN FROM MAXKEY (here). They look awesome! but didn't really suit the aesthetic of my S4 mini... so... yeah.. I'm building my keyboard a matching computer.

 

Shaun at Parvum talked me into it when he showed me just how close their acrylics (stone grey, dark grey) would match. JABBA is an X2.0 but I knew Parvum had been working on the X3.0 (see JR23 Chocolate box)! I'm a huge fan of JRs work and thought this a good little project to work with a design of his (mostly).

So Shaun did his Parvum magic, pulled up the X3.0 design and went about making the changes I'd need and even adapted the custom pump mount/res you'll be seeing again in JABBA.

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As the build progresses you'll get a clearer picture of how the X3.0 differs to the X2.0 (If you're into it). But, in a nutshell, the HDD mount panel is gone, the SFX PSU is now up at the top (2x 2.5" drive mounts on the bottom panel), new front panel design (I opted for a three-panel variant), New top panel design (grill over the rear chamber, window over the GPU) and possibly a new GPU mount (it's certainly different from my old Veer but that's old old).

So the plan is simple enough, I had a custom mid-wall panel designed for a really clean finish. the integrated DDC mount/res is stunning! and frees up so much room! so I'll put a CPU loop in that takes the loop into the rear chamber and hooks up with the RAD. I'm hoping to archive some really clean lines.

I went with MDPC-X sleeve this time around, props to my man James at PexonPCs check him out for all your MDPC-X cable supply needs.

This is my first build with support from EKWB! I'm super excited to have these guys on board! they have always been my number one choice for blocks and with the great looking EKWB - Velocity D RGB AMD going in this build, I can't wait to do them proud.

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I've plenty of product shots up on my Instagram and will post more in the logs are things progress. It's an absolute pleasure after years of building to have support from some of the biggest players. This isn't a carrier path for me and has always been a labour of love. I'll maybe build one PC a year (if I'm lucky), I'm a hobbyist at best. But when I had confirmation that AMD would support ASHEN, I lost my s**t!.

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The first custom PC I built for myself out of my own pocket ran an AMD Athlon XP1500+. I was maybe 18 years old, I had a buddy in Florida that was able to pick the chips from a stock bin and we'd get the ones known for their stepping. Overclock the life out of them and they'd post as an XP2100+. AMD made a product I could afford, which enabled me to build a PC and become a part of the PCMR, the quest for higher performance from my purchase led to aftermarket coolers, better fans, case designs, water-cooling and thus ultimately it had its part in MODZERO. I'll try and find a photo of that machine... I'm sure I have one, for the time it was badass!  

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Gigabyte UK has had my back since MODZERO OCTO, I got in touch about this project and they showed me the love. RTX ON. Really enjoying how the mobo, ram and GPU all share the same design elements.

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Free time is hard to find at the moment and this build is taking it all and then some. I really wanna get this one turned around fast. It's taken a long time to put all the pieces on the table.  I'll be posting build log updates weekly (fewer studio shots and more process ones) until it's finished.

I can't wait to show you more. Thanks for checking this out.

J.

[mxk]

I love the retro legend on the keeb and can't wait to see this all done!

[MODZERO]

 

UPDATE 2.0

 

I've been hacking away at this with every spare 15-20mins I get (and with a 16 months old boy... that ain't often). It's coming along nicely. So I wanna bring you up to speed. Cables and distro plate are up first.

 

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I went with MDPCX sleeve with this one, if you're in the UK go check out Pexon PCs they sell the full MDPCX lineup. I pulled the colours from the ashen keycaps.

 

MDPC-X Haze Grey

MDPC-X Titanium Grey MK2

MDPC-X Diamond Red Small

 

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I approached the wiring differently this time around. With all my previous builds I'd take a length of wire, rough measure, cut, crimp both ends and repeat for all wires.. THEN sleeve. This time I listened to a master and did as instructed. Check out p0pes guide to perfect cables.. it's the only video you'll ever need. 

 

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I've gone off combs tbh but these are really low profile and seeing as the mid-wall panel is cut for each wire they made sense at least for the GPU.

 

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When you only have 10 minutes here and a half hour there, wiring takes an age! haha, slowly I got them all done.

 

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Next up (well, before I guess) I tackled my distro-plate/ ddc pump mount/res. I'm not too great with a soldering iron and replacing the factory wires on the DDC pump is the best way if you after a super clean look.

 

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Instead, I stripped it back, put some tight shrink wrap on each cable, fitted the new EK housing and sleeved the wires directly into a 6-pin on the PSU. 

 

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This scared the shit out of me. It's taken a while to get all the parts together for this project and I couldn't help thinking if I made a mess of the plate I'd be in for another delay. It came pretty rough cut from the Parvum boys and after a quick chat with MADS.ONE I knew I was in for some arm ache! 

 

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All by hand, it's far from perfect.. annoyingly I just couldn't get into some of the spaces with my fat fingers but overall, it's not too shabby. 

 

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I ordered some 18mm M4 bolts for the pump mount as the supplied ones are designed for a pump top and would have cracked the plate (too long). rigged up a quick bend and leak tested. I made a mistake here.. I left it running for a while... and lets just say, it got a bit hot! oops.

 

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I'm so excited to be back on an AMD CPU. It's been too long. Must admit, a part of me wants THREADRIPPER! 

 

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That EK VELOCITY block looks great! Normally I've planned the loop out well in advance... but with the build, once I'd decided to pass-through the mid panel I thought the rest would just fall in place. 

 

I was wrong...

 

Next update will be the loop (version 1).

 

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It's gonna be goooooood, thanks for checking this out. 

 

J.

[HuguesP]

On 2/9/2019 at 12:02 PM, MODZERO said:

 

1200 grit

1500 grit

1700 grit

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2500 grit

3000 grit

5000 grit

7000 grit

 

 

I normally stop myself to 2000 + plastic restore cream. Man this is true dedication, keep up. The build is coming along nicely. 

 

 

[Cola]

sff custom loop is so satisfying to watch, looking forward to your next update!

[BeardRex]

This is gonna be sweet.

[MODZERO]

 

UPDATE 3.0

 

The loop, take one! yup... It's a taken a few weeks to get another update posted and at the end of it, I drained the loop and started over... kinda...

 

so where to begin.

 

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I use 12/10mm acrylic tubing, always have. PETG is for, er, those who prefer it I guess... I'm an acrylic guy. When I put together the case, I knew these bends were gonna be tight.. and tbh I'd no idea which way I'd do it. all I knew was the top and bottom with the in-out from the pump/res. with the middle two feeding the CPU and I had to get it through the rad between em. 

 

I did a test bend and got pretty close.. it was gonna be tough.

 

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If at first, you don't succeed, bitch and moan, swear, sack it off and come back to the next day... hahaha after a *couple attempts I got the two tight bends I needed without any warping or misshaped tube. glory! so that got the CPU out to the RAD and the RAD to the RES return.

 

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Couple more short throw 90's for the RES in, to the CPU in. 

 

 

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It's just not a Parvum build until it's tasted your blood!

 

 

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Yeah, happy with that... (the loop at is). The wiring is okay. the EPS was a little too short and I just didn't want to redo it.. (MDPC sleeve isn't cheap and I was running low) but it'll serve. and between us, since this photo was taken, I pulled em out replaced a few wires that were either too short and clipped a few more that were too long. it's looking nicer.

 

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The front! This is where I began to fall out with my loop. In my mind, it was simple. The passthrough lined up with the pump/res, so top and bottom were sorted. two runs with clean simple, single 90's.

 

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It was the cpu that did me in. The EK Velocity  is such a nioce block.. no way were I rotating it. lit up it's a true thing of beauty! But I needed to retain that spacing from the four pass-through points. I'd put those outer two runs in and they looked huge! So I decided to bring the centre two out as far as the edge of the rad, then bend inwards. But the problem was turning them inward to the correct in/out on the Velocity block.

 

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So the penny dropped..(granted it's really not that hard to work out... but please remember, I'm living on feck all sleep, stealing 20-30mins when I can, children.. such a blessing, ha!) bring the CPU out to meet the centre two runs. simple right? yeah.. only the bottom third run is just a few mm off being inline with that third hole. So both CPU tubes that came out to the centre two runs had to have an angle. 

 

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So I flush and think, yeah, I like that...

 

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Until two days later when I decided I didn't. Next update I'll try and bang out tomorrow. Loop 'Take Two'! The shit sequel! (yeah, it's not good.. hahaha).

 

But don't worry, 'Take Three' is epic! and now it looks the balls! But before I go, a couple thoughts on RGB. the wiring is horrid! thick splitters are all you can buy, you can't custom cut length and as I found out... it's important to read the warnings.. I blew both my EK RGB strips plugging them into the 12v header on the board.. not the 5v header the packaging, insert instructions, product page, website page ALL tried to warn me about. haha

 

Thanks for checking it out. 

 

J.

[mxk]

6 hours ago, MODZERO said:

snip

Wow! Amazing. I can't wait to see more!!

[MODZERO]

 

UPDATE 4.0

 

'LOOP 2 - LOOP HARDER' I'd admit it, this second loop was a mistake. The first loop was fine, but it wasn't quite ticking all the boxes for me. It looked to me like the loop had elbows! haha, the top and bottom runs were further forward than the centre CPU ones and so from every angle other than square on... it looked off.

 

so out it came..

 

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That lower length of pipe continues to be the hardest to get right. 

 

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So while it was drained I thought I'd have another crack at some of the cables. A few of the 24pin wires were either slightly too long or just too short which pinched at the others or were too long and thus looked too baggy. I pulled those few out and redid them. 

 

I also took this chance to repair the damage I'd done to the RGB lighting. I had to replace both EK RGB LED strips due to my own stupidity. Doing so meant I'd now be using two headers on the board rather than just the one (one is 5 pin RGB goodness, the other is 5v dLED). That meant more cables, two extensions (one from each board header), each with a two-way splitter (had been using a single 4x splitter), then hook up to the LEDs. 

 

RBG connectors don't click and hold in place, I'm not a big fan.. and, as you really can't shorten or make your own cables, it meant a lot cable length needed to be strapped up and tidied away (psst, don't look behind the SSD).

 

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So there is it, it looked much better in my head. The idea was simple, lose the elbows... bend the runs back in line with the CPU runs and add another pair of double female EK 90s. Have all four of those fitting inline and have the four runs parallel and sitting pretty.

 

Only, there isn't the clearance from the in/outlet on the res/mount to get a bend in and still keep the level with the CPU runs. So I ran with it and dropped the outer two runs deeper into the case, which looked okay. But those four fittings inline did not. it blocked the view of the velocity blocked and made the loop look necessarily busy. 

 

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Oh hey JUICE!

 

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Looked alright from some angles.. plus, I liked this shot for the pump/res. Which by the way, will fit any Parvum X2.0. Get in touch with the parvum boys if you want one. 

 

 

So a couple of days go by...

 

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LOOP 3 - RETURN OF THE LOOP

 

The perfect loop was obvious, it was simply the original loop intention... just take all four runs from the pass-through, bring them out inline with the RES in/outlets take four matching clean bends and cut in for the CPU. 

 

so...

 

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Four runs, four matching lengths, four matching bends. 

 

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Cut  the CPU lengths and added their slight bends to rotate the in/out on the CPU block inline with the other two runs. 

 

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Flushed and filled with this wonderful stuff. 

 

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Bleed the loop and let the bubbles do what they do.

 

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Immediately looks better! (can you spot it) I'm pretty happy with that, yeah... looks good (hmmm, but you've...) cool, I'll leave it and smash out a build log update (er, you not gonna fix tha...).

 

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Nope, gonna have to redo that. 

 

J. 

 

 

ps - the bend in the downward CPU tube is a couple of degrees too far, which is pulling that third run down. It's not parallel and thus is dead to me. haha. So, I've not done that yet... but I will, then it'll be time to get the big camera out and do some final shots. Thanks for checking it out guys. 

[MODZERO]

On 2/13/2019 at 3:13 AM, HuguesP said:

I normally stop myself to 2000 + plastic restore cream. Man this is true dedication, keep up. The build is coming along nicely. 

 

 

Thanks buddy! 

On 2/13/2019 at 5:23 AM, Cola said:

sff custom loop is so satisfying to watch, looking forward to your next update!

I wanna do a HUGE loop next.. I've never worked in anything larger than a midi (Hex Gear R40).. but to be honest it's looking like I'll be doing a Lian Li 011 D Razer build.

 

On 2/14/2019 at 10:08 AM, BeardRex said:

This is gonna be sweet.

 

sweeeeet

 

On 2/27/2019 at 4:05 AM, mxk. said:

Wow! Amazing. I can't wait to see more!!

There you go. 

 

hopefully, I'll replace the CPU tube this weekend and maybe even pull out the photography gear. I'm just having too much fun rocking maxed out PUBG @ 1440p with 90+fps.

 

J. 

[Valaris]

Here I thought I was crazy for spending way too much money on a keyboard that matched my build, this is a whole new level! I love it!

[MODZERO]

 

UPDATE 5.0 - IT'S FINISHED!

 

SPECS:

 

CASE: PARVUM X3.0 CUSTOM ITX
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 2700X
RAM: AORUS RGB DDR4 3200MHZ 16GB
MOBO: GIGABYTE AORUS PRO B450i ITX
GPU: GIGABYTE GAMING OC RTX 2070 8GB
PSU: SILVERSTONE SX650-G SFX 650 WATT
SSD: SAMSUNG 970 EVO 512GB & 860 EVO 500GB

COOLING

EK-Vardar EVO 120ER RGB
EK-Velocity D-RGB - AMD Nickel + Plexi
EK-CoolStream SE 120 (Slim Single)
EK-HDC Fitting 12mm G1/4 - Red
EK-DDC 3.2 PWM (12V PWM pump)
EK-DDC Heatsink Housing - Black
EK-CryoFuel Clear (Premix 1000mL)
 

 

It's finished! yay! and I love it! It's been a while since I've had a WC rig and rocking a Parvum build again feels great (see MODZERO FOUR). Since the last update, I replaced the single length of loop from the CPU out. So glad I did, I'm really happy with the loop now.

 

I pulled out my studio gear and spent the day shooting it, but it wasn't my day, I just couldn't get the shots I wanted.  I tried a white backdrop with the system off, black backdrop with the system running, two different RGB configs and shot again on black with the build turned off. Must have taken hundreds of shots, only to edit them down to about 16.

 

My phone (pixel 2 xl) simply takes better photos than my Sony Alpha 58 (kit lens) and so I'm just not happy when my SLR shots don't look as sharp. Either that or I just suck.. haha.

 

Think it's time for a new camera.

 

These are the Pixel 2 XL efforts I've been posting to social media. Hope you like em. 

 

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I'll post the SLR shots over the next few days. So please come back and check em out. Huge thank you for the support from my sponsors! Gigabyte has taken good care of me and I continue to love their hardware back in the day their huge copper chipset coolers pulled me away from the Asus, ABIT and DFI boards. Having them onboard all these years later is great! AMDs support has meant so much. I'm not going back to Intel now, feels too good over here on the red (cough* GREEN cough*) team again. yeah, green I said it! It used to be AMD green vs Intel Blue right? or am I remembering this wrong? I guess its Red for ATI and the CPU division adopted it after the Geforce raise to dominance. 

 

Having EKWB onboard has been amazing! the first CPU block I bought was the D-Tek Fuzion V2, that also happened to be the last block I bought that wasn't made by EKWB. As they've widened their product range I narrowed my manufacturer choice.. It used to be, EK CPU/GPU, MIPS for the chipset, Bitspower for fittings and res with Thermochill (then Alphacool) for Rads with Scythe for fans. Now it's just EKWB all day long (you wait and see their latest fittings... rip BP).

 

I'll be back with the MODZERO JABBA build in a week or two, then it's perhaps something a little bigger... I'm being sent the LIAN LI PC-O11 DYNAMIC RAZER EDITION. I rather like the idea of going back to basics. I'd like to do a monster spec, super clean build. Few/zero mods, just a great loop with even better cables. focus on pure aesthetic finish but deliver great performance. Threadripper 3 maybe?

 

Thanks for sticking with me, thanks for reading all this, hope you enjoyed it. 

 

Peace. 

 

J.

[Naxgo]

[MODZERO]

Hi folks, 

 

ASHEN has been nominated for MOD OF THE MONTH over at Bit-Tech.net, if you're active over on their forums swing by and show me the love. haha

 

https://www.bit-tech.net/features/modding/mod-of-the-month/mod-of-the-month-march-2019-in-association-with-corsair/1/

 

also...

 

J.

[MODZERO]

MODZERO JABBA

 

I've been working on this since I started ASHEN. I've been drip feeding my INSTA and FB with pictures mainly of the EK RTX2080 block (MSI AERO RTX2070!),

But here is a sneak peek. 

 

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I'm gonna post a build log on SFF and Bit-Tech as I did a couple of things differently this time around and I think it's better for it. It's roughly about 40mm longer than ASHEN but it's rocking an EK-CoolStream WE180mm RAD up front. 

J.

[MODZERO]

 

UPDATE 6.0 - VERSION 2.0 IS COMING!

 

ASHEN is getting a hardware upgrade, there were a few things I just didn't like about the original and when my B450i developed a fault meaning I could not POST beyond 2400mhz RAM freq I knew a rebuild was on the cards.

 

SPECS:

 

CASE: PARVUM X3.0 CUSTOM ITX

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600X

RAM: HYPERX DDR4 3200MHZ 16GB

MOBO: GIGABYTE AORUS X570I PRO WIFI ITX

GPU: AMD RX 5700XT 50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION 8GB

PSU: SILVERSTONE SX650-G SFX 650 WATT

SSD: SAMSUNG 970 EVO 512GB & 860 EVO 500GB

 

Having been provided with the board, I got back in touch to arrange an RMA and before I knew it Gigabyte UK hooked me up with the new AORUS X570 ITX monster! So the plan was simple enough, just swap out the board (plus new RAM, which I bought trying to diagnose the B450i fault) remake a few of the cables I wasn't happy with and carry on. However, once I knew an X570 was coming I got giddy and went looking for those IPC gains.

 

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*I thought I'd try my grey backdrop and soon remembered why I don't use it..

 

After seeing in the reviews that Navi was delivering on price/perf and knowing EKWB had a special block in the works I swiftly rehomed my RTX2070 and picked up the AMD RX 5700XT ANNIVERSARY EDITION.

 

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The last AMD GPU I bought was the RADEON HD5870 back in 2009, and that was the first ATi card I'd since the glory of the 9700pro five years earlier. At this point I was buzzing to be back on a full AMD build.

 

So it was time to fly the Red flag. Firstly, remove team green...

 

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Check!

 

Then dismantle the loop and pull out the board.

 

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Check!

 

 

But here it took a left turn, I'd requested a CPU from AMD and EKWB had a care package inbound but I was off to Insomnia Gaming Festival 65! that weekend and wanted to be rocking that 5700XT.

 

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So in it went and off to LAN I went.

 

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The weekend was amazing! and whilst I was away from home the remaining hardware arrived. So thats all to come.

 

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Stand by.

 

 

J.

[MODZERO]

 

 

UPDATE 7.0 - ÍTS HERE!

 

 

It's been a month since the last update. Which surprised me really! it's felt ALOT longer! So where to kick off... EKWB! HOOKED! ME! UP!  I've used their products in every water-cooled PC I've ever built. Well, the first block I bought was the D-TEC Fusion  v2, then EKWB was born and that was that. I've used almost every CPU block (family of blocks) they've put out there (except the first couple.. oops, where am I going with this..) for the longest time picking WC components was easy. EK blocks & Bitspower fittings and that ran true until about 6-9 weeks ago (yeah.. it was totally longer huh) when EK started teasing their Torque line of fittings.

 

 

BP fittings are still a pain to source in the UK and cost more than they really should. I'd buy from Dazmods in Canada and get slapped with import duty (yeah... I did it twice and recycled the fittings... when you drop $400+ on fittings alone.. you tend to use em over and over). So with EK bringing a new design that finally rivals that of BP I could not wait to get my hands on them.

 

 

 

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I came back from LAN to find the biggest goodie bag from the legends over at EK, waiting for me at work. I'll come back to the fittings later on. However, lets recap. In the last post I talked about how I'd wanted to move to an all AMD build, sold my 2070 and bought the 50th Anni 5700XT. Gigabyte helped me out of a faulty board and sent over the X570 Pro Wifi and I upcycled my 2700X for the spanking value 3600X.

 

 

I assembled and hit the UKs largest gaming festival for 5 days of burgers, beer and bugs! (wow being an owner of a Navi GPU was rough those first 5 weeks after launch). It wasn't until I was back playing games in my office with the build 2 feet away that the need for a loop switch loudly became clear.

 

 

SO I drained the loop and got to work. Coz EK sent me this!

 

 

 

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Damn thats a great looking block!

 

 

Now, my little X3.0 with its single slim 120mm RAD won't do well cooling both CPU/GPU so when I found out that block was coming I reached out to the best in air cooling (NOCTUA) and asked to showcase a couple of products! 48 hours later I had the coolers in hand! yup 48 hours! I've waited 5 months for hardware in the past.. WOW!

 

 

NOCTUA NH-L12S (check it out here)

 

 

 

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This was my first choice, JR23 used the same coolers on both his X3.0 Parvum builds and having a nice 120mm fan cooling that X570 chipset would be a huge bonus!

 

 

NOCTUA NH-D9L (check it out here)

 

 

 

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This was my backup plan. I loved the idea of a miniature D-frame tower cooler. Now I rather enjoy the colour of Noctuas fans, but with their Redux line available it simply had to be done. It's a perfect fit for this build!

 

 

 

Noctua NF-B9 92mm REDUX 1600RPM PWM.

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Noctua NF-P12 120mm REDUX 1200RPM PWM.

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Couple REDUX 92mm for the D9L and a pair of REDUX 120mm for NH-L12S + RAD. So this got me thinking, something like this....

 

 

 

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Oh yes!

 

 

 

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BEAST!

 

 

So back to it, off with the block and on with the NH-L12S! I really wanted this to work! look how cool it is! But sadly, it wouldn't fit with my DDC pump being mounted where it is.. Boo!

 

 

 

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So plan B! Enter the NH-D9L! Now, this worked out better then I'd imagined! Not only did it fit within 1-2mm of the DDC pump but the blow directly over the DDC which makes a noticeable difference.

 

 

 

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Happy with the look I cracked on with the loop. I really enjoy the aesthetic of the original loop as so much of the design of this build was based on it. Swapping out the loop for a GPU block was simple enough (loop wise).

 

 

 

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Time to start playing with these Torque fittings! Oh they are so nice! Wait and see! (it's late... I'll spam the life out of this post tomorrow and then update in the week. I'll share a bunch of final build shots on Insta too)

 

 

but for now.

 

 

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Goodnight.

 

 

J.

[MODZERO]

Looking forward to sharing these...

 

 

J.

[MODZERO]

 

UPDATE 8.0 - MODZERO ASHEN V2.0 COMPLETE

 

I love building PCs, well, I love building the PCs I choose to build. The older I get the harder it is to find the time,  pull things together, the longer it takes to finish these types of projects. As time goes on new modders/system builders enter the game and raise the bar (awesome), its never been competitive amongst each other, but often your skills will be reflected by your sponsorship opportunities (makes sense). I  have always built around the products I want to use. It is those, that are often the focal point or the inspiration behind a project getting made. Be it a new case design or innovation,  a radical GPU cooler design, line of WC fittings or blocks. As such,  I can only afford to build myself a new rig every couple of years and even that is with the great support I've gained from sponsors. 100+ hours go into these (most of them) and I'm proud of each and every one. Over the last couple of years, I've been able to build a few for friends (NOT SPONSORED) which have enabled me to keep the 'MODZERO' brand (if you will) going between personal projects. As anyone with any sort of social media presence will know, content is king. 

 

ASHEN was inspired by a set of KEY CAPS I bought for my FILCO TKL. It was made possible by PARVUM being able to provide a truly unique customer experience. Absolute customization based on pre-existing great design. They are the ONLY company that offers this and there is a reason. I believe its a near-impossible business model. With no huge investment, be able to offer, design and deliver 100% scratch/modified cases at a marketable price point is so hard to do. It's certainly hard to do it well. They are not new to this, being perhaps responsible for some of the greatest builds of the last 10 years. I'm a fanboy sure, and I'm standing by them. 

 

SPECS

 

CASE: PARVUM X3.0 CUSTOM ITX
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600X
RAM: HYPERX DDR4 3200MHZ 16GB
MOBO: GIGABYTE AORUS X570I PRO WIFI ITX
GPU: AMD RX 5700XT 50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION 8GB
PSU: SILVERSTONE SX650-G SFX 650 WATT
SSD: SAMSUNG 970 EVO 512GB & 860 EVO 500GB

 

NOCTUA NH-D9L + NF B9 REDUX - 1600RPM PWM
NOCTUA NF-P12 REDUX 1300 PWM

 

EK-Vector Radeon RX 5700 +XT D-RGB - Special Edition
EK-CoolStream SE 120 (Slim Single)
EK-Torque HTC-12 - Black
EK-Torque HTC-12 Color Rings Pack - Red
EK-DDC 3.2 PWM (12V PWM pump)
EK-DDC Heatsink Housing - Black
EK-CryoFuel Clear (Premix 1000mL)

 

 

FINAL SHOTS:

 

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I'm really happy with the result, looks great! performs even better! having a CPU tower cooler (NOCTUA NH-D9L) means I've finally got airflow over the MOSFETs and that DDC pump. I can tell you... when it was just a CPU loop that bottom corner of my build would get so hot the LEDs in the RGB strip would fail! Now, with gentle airflow, it's comfortable to the touch and the temps are good. 

 

I like it so much, I'm starting over! Not joking. 

 

MODZERO SEVEN will be complete early next year. I'm taking all the hardware from ASHEN and putting it in another Parvum ITX case. This time, it's the Parvum R1.0 ITX. It'll house the distro from ASHEN all the X3.0 design improvements with the added benefit of housing two 240mm radiators from new sponsor Alphacool Watercooling. A full loop from EKWB and six Noctua Redux SP120 fans. oh, and an integrated Aquaero 6!

 

ASHEN will not be retired though, I love its retro/enterprise (ish) design and so I've designed a pedestal add-on to mount 2x 5.25" bays with hot-swap drives. A SAS controller card, Quadro GPU and more Noctua cooling goodness. ASHEN V3 will become my UNRAID server.

Furthermore, MODZERO DYNO is almost ready to kick off. My Razer themed 0-11D build is set to be something rather different from my ITX norm. I'm going big, loud (design) and shiny. Be ready for it. 

 

These three projects will be 2020 for me. 

 

Huge thank you to the companies that have continued showing support. AMD, NOCTUA, SILVERSTONE TECH, PARVUM, GIGABYTE and EKWB!!! you guys are awesome!

 

 

J.

[vogelspinnen]

This is pure perfectionist pornography man. Build is so effing clean, photography really does it justice, this thread hits the spots in so many ways!

[alyen]

Very beautiful build. Its really refreshing to see a white case. Is that back plate on the Radeon card actually warped like that?

 

[MODZERO]

On 12/9/2019 at 5:02 AM, vogelspinnen said:

This is pure perfectionist pornography man. Build is so effing clean, photography really does it justice, this thread hits the spots in so many ways!

Thanks, build logs are dying out for sure. But I still get a kick out of doing em. 

12 hours ago, alyen said:

Very beautiful build. Its really refreshing to see a white case. Is that back plate on the Radeon card actually warped like that?

 

It's closer to a retro beige than white. My photography isnt great, couldnt get the color tone right in the edit. What do you mean 'Warped'? It's straight and true for sure! Does it really look warped in the photos?

 

J.

[vogelspinnen]

18 hours ago, alyen said:

Very beautiful build. Its really refreshing to see a white case. Is that back plate on the Radeon card actually warped like that?

 

Yep that card's backplate is meant to look dented.