Messed up some measurements, need advice on proceeding.

[Skitzafreak]

So the measurements for my NCase M1 build were off by about a few centimetres. Because of this, I can't properly fit everything I wanted in the build.

 

I am watercooling an AMD 5800x and a 3080Ti. I have an EK PE 240 rad which I am able to fit in for the loop. However, the slim rad + slim fans I also had for underneath the GPU will not fit because of the incorrect measurements I had initially made.

 

I am planning on undervolting the GPU, and won't be overclocking the CPU. Should I be fine just throwing the fans in the bottom and going off the one rad?

 

Or should I include the second rad without fans instead? Unsure if it'll get enough ambient air flow to matter, but looking for some opinions.

 

Thanks all

[An0maly_76]

Unless you're just stuck on the idea of water cooling, I would just return that stuff, get a good tower air cooler, max out the case with fans, and call it a day. Nothing on the consumer market actually requires liquid cooling -- I have 34 square inches of intake area and keep a 5900X running reasonably cool with a Scythe Mugen 5 and six Corsair 120s on a Corsair Commander Core XT, running a rather conservative fan curve (don't really have to kick them hard under 70C). I idle around 38-43C, moderately load at 57-65C, most of my heavy use hits maybe 70-72C. Cinebench R23 pushes it to 87C with PBO and 76C without, and the max safe full load temp for mine is 90C. Well within limits.

 

Otherwise, I'd say you might want to look into a different case, unless you want to notch it and risk not being able to return it when it still won't fit, which I don't recommend.

Edited July 8, 2022 by An0maly_76
Revised, more info

[RONOTHAN##]

Even undervolted, this system will putting ~400W into the water loop under full load. That is a ton of heat for a single 240mm rad to dual with. 

 

If you have to do one of these, I'd do the rad at the bottom and hope for ambient airflow. That said, you're likely better off just water cooling the CPU if you can't fit a rad in the bottom, the air cooler will handle the GPU a bit better on its own. 

 

That said, there is another option you have for this: 90mm slim fans. The NF-A9x14 is a 14mm thick fan, and since it's only 90mm it can actually sink into the radiator and sit on the fins, saving you an extra 2-3mm more. That should be enough to get it to fit in the case and will be the better option if your slim rads and slim fans won't fit.

[Skitzafreak]

18 minutes ago, RONOTHAN## said:

Even undervolted, this system will putting ~400W into the water loop under full load. That is a ton of heat for a single 240mm rad to dual with. 

 

If you have to do one of these, I'd do the rad at the bottom and hope for ambient airflow. That said, you're likely better off just water cooling the CPU if you can't fit a rad in the bottom, the air cooler will handle the GPU a bit better on its own. 

 

That said, there is another option you have for this: 90mm slim fans. The NF-A9x14 is a 14mm thick fan, and since it's only 90mm it can actually sink into the radiator and sit on the fins, saving you an extra 2-3mm more. That should be enough to get it to fit in the case and will be the better option if your slim rads and slim fans won't fit.

So, I cannot just watercool the CPU, since the GPU itself will not fit the case without with waterblock as the stock cooler on it is too big.

I might take a look at the 90mm slim fans, as that may be my best solution here. I am so angry at my measurements being off lol. I thought I had like 1cm of clearance, where in fact I have like -2cm

 

EDIT: Also, I'll mainly be using this system for streaming. I don't do any super heavy duty stuff, so I don't know if I would frequently be putting the PC under a full load or not.

21 minutes ago, An0maly_76 said:

Unless you're just stuck on the idea of water cooling, I would just return that stuff, get a good tower air cooler, max out the case with fans, and call it a day. Nothing on the consumer market actually requires liquid cooling -- I have 34 square inches of intake area and keep a 5900X running reasonably cool with a Scythe Mugen 5 and six Corsair 120s on a Corsair Commander Core XT, running a rather conservative fan curve (don't really have to kick them hard under 70C). I idle around 38-43C, moderately load at 57-65C, most of my heavy use hits maybe 70-72C. Cinebench R23 pushes it to 87C with PBO and 76C without, and the max safe full load temp for mine is 90C. Well within limits.

 

Otherwise, I'd say you might want to look into a different case, unless you want to notch it and risk not being able to return it when it still won't fit, which I don't recommend.

The whole point of this build is for me to watercool it. I've been doing PC builds for almost 2 decades, and liquid cooling is something I've never actually ventured into, so I wanted to give it a spin this time around.  And I also prefer small form factor cases, so me changing the case is a no go as well lol. But thank you for the suggestions regardless

[Turgis]

1 hour ago, Skitzafreak said:

So, I cannot just watercool the CPU, since the GPU itself will not fit the case without with waterblock as the stock cooler on it is too big.

I might take a look at the 90mm slim fans, as that may be my best solution here. I am so angry at my measurements being off lol. I thought I had like 1cm of clearance, where in fact I have like -2cm

 

EDIT: Also, I'll mainly be using this system for streaming. I don't do any super heavy duty stuff, so I don't know if I would frequently be putting the PC under a full load or not.

The whole point of this build is for me to watercool it. I've been doing PC builds for almost 2 decades, and liquid cooling is something I've never actually ventured into, so I wanted to give it a spin this time around.  And I also prefer small form factor cases, so me changing the case is a no go as well lol. But thank you for the suggestions regardless

The 90mm are a good idea. Alternatively though, depending on your arrangement of things you may be able to force enough static pressure into the case from side/rear fans that it will cool the rads as the air exhausts, even without fans attached to the rads... but the combo of the two would probably be ideal given the circumstances.  Or you could be really cool like me and do an external radiator haha

[Squibward]

Stuffing the case with air and letting it exhaust through the rads might give you the best cooling in this scenario. As long as the air doesn't escape the case elsewhere. This solution might be a little noisy, gonna have to play with fan curves.  But I'm sure you realized that small form factor cases were always going to give you this dilemma. Haha 

 

You can always cheat and put a fan on your desk... prevents sweaty hands too lol

[For Science!]

7 hours ago, Skitzafreak said:

So, I cannot just watercool the CPU, since the GPU itself will not fit the case without with waterblock as the stock cooler on it is too big.

I might take a look at the 90mm slim fans, as that may be my best solution here. I am so angry at my measurements being off lol. I thought I had like 1cm of clearance, where in fact I have like -2cm

 

EDIT: Also, I'll mainly be using this system for streaming. I don't do any super heavy duty stuff, so I don't know if I would frequently be putting the PC under a full load or not.

The whole point of this build is for me to watercool it. I've been doing PC builds for almost 2 decades, and liquid cooling is something I've never actually ventured into, so I wanted to give it a spin this time around.  And I also prefer small form factor cases, so me changing the case is a no go as well lol. But thank you for the suggestions regardless

In case it is somehow inspirational: 

If you have a 1 slot GPU configuration, you can definitely squeeze in a HWLabs GTS radiator together with a 15 mm slim Noctua fan in pull-exhaust. For clean cable management, I think going with the GTS on the top is also a good idea.

 

[Skitzafreak]

3 hours ago, For Science! said:

In case it is somehow inspirational: 

If you have a 1 slot GPU configuration, you can definitely squeeze in a HWLabs GTS radiator together with a 15 mm slim Noctua fan in pull-exhaust. For clean cable management, I think going with the GTS on the top is also a good idea.

Yeah, the 3080Ti with the waterblock ends up being about a slot and a half.  That was where my measurements went awry lol.

I was expecting it to be a single slot after putting the block on like in your picture with the 1080Ti, but this one is just a bit thicker sadly

[For Science!]

17 minutes ago, Skitzafreak said:

Yeah, the 3080Ti with the waterblock ends up being about a slot and a half.  That was where my measurements went awry lol.

I was expecting it to be a single slot after putting the block on like in your picture with the 1080Ti, but this one is just a bit thicker sadly

Would the XSPC TX240 ultrathin radiator change your situation?https://www.xs-pc.com/radiators-tx-series/tx240-ultrathin-radiator

[Skitzafreak]

47 minutes ago, For Science! said:

Would the XSPC TX240 ultrathin radiator change your situation?https://www.xs-pc.com/radiators-tx-series/tx240-ultrathin-radiator

That might actually work. I have 42MM of clearance under the GPU.

The Noctua Slim fans take up 15MM, leaving me with 27MM.

And that rad is only 20.5MM =/- 0.5MM

 

You may have fixed my problem

 

Now for the issue of how long do I have to wait for it to get delivered

Know anywhere in Canada I could order it from? lol

[For Science!]

7 minutes ago, Skitzafreak said:

That might actually work. I have 42MM of clearance under the GPU.

The Noctua Slim fans take up 15MM, leaving me with 27MM.

And that rad is only 20.5MM =/- 0.5MM

 

You may have fixed my problem

 

Now for the issue of how long do I have to wait for it to get delivered

Know anywhere in Canada I could order it from? lol

Good luck! No idea about Canadian retailers, but I think you'll find one somewhere

Its still going to be difficult, working in the Ncase M1, but I'm sure it'll be rewarding.

 

The TX240 is a better choice than not having a radiator, or a passive one, so I think given your predicament, its a good choice.

[fonzz1e]

On 7/8/2022 at 7:32 AM, Skitzafreak said:

5800x and a 3080Ti

you'll need at least 2x 240mm rad for them, tx240 on bottom + new ek s240 rad on side + barrow ltprpa-04

IMO i rather go with external pump+rad & less headache

 

check out this guy, he does a lot of content on SFF