Project Minivalidus an X99 NCASE Build.

[d33g33]

by the looks would a ek block be thiner? is that block thicker then a single slot PCI-e?

Absolutely and yes EK block is thinner however it's taller. So I'd never get the side panel on.

[The Benjamins]

Absolutely and yes EK block is thinner however it's taller. So I'd never get the side panel on.

 

ya,now i see that, your card is already tall, then the added terminal would be a lot.

 

just whip out that belt sander, fixed.

 

I am slowly going to start my project for 2 single slot nano's on 1 m-ITX board. in a custom case I plan on designing. but my biggest hurdle is money, which will make me have to do this really slowly.

[TheRandomness]

D: Let's hope you find a way around it or if you already have something planned tell us naw

 

EDIT: I predict a bunch of rotary sawing.

[willemdoom1]

You could buy a thinner EK block if you have the money

[hearthofsin]

to be honest and not trying to be a douche but what did you expect with that water block with a big heatsink and a thcik radiator (relativly thick for such a small build mind you). a full cover block would give you so much more clearance ! 

i hope to see the build going better in the next update mate keep em coming!

[CtW]

if only EK's block's weren't so tall or you got a reference height card like a G1...

 

I'm still hyped to see what happens though. 

[d33g33]

You could buy a thinner EK block if you have the money

Not great at reading what was 1inch higher on your screen are you? EK block really wont fit in this case at all due to its height and terminal placement.

 

to be honest and not trying to be a douche but what did you expect with that water block with a big heatsink and a thcik radiator (relativly thick for such a small build mind you). a full cover block would give you so much more clearance ! 

i hope to see the build going better in the next update mate keep em coming!

I expected the waterblock thickness to be closer to the standard waterblock thickness, I don't think it was an unwise assumption, but here we are.

 

if only EK's block's weren't so tall or you got a reference height card like a G1...

 

I'm still hyped to see what happens though. 

I would love to throw money at the wind and just say stuff it and get a reference 980Ti and watercool that but I don't have that kinda cash laying around atm. Sillier as well as i'm still waiting for a dual GPU card announcement. I'd be really pissed if I went from 980 to 980Ti and then a 990 get announced...

[hearthofsin]

oh well sh*t happens

[willemdoom1]

Well before getting into a fight, maybe this build log could help: http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1041864948&postcount=185 

[d33g33]

Well before getting into a fight, maybe this build log could help: http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1041864948&postcount=185

Again,

I have the Strix 980, meaning its not reference, meaning the EK non reference eg. STRIX block would be too tall to get in this case. The side panel would be hanging out by 10mm over the side of that block. I looked at pulling off the stock terminal and swapping it for a SLI bridge to slim it down but still there's no way if making it fit.

With my GPU this is the only block that will 1. Fit my card 2. Not hit the side panel and 3. Has terminal spacings that won't hit the case. It is however thicker than most other waterblocks hence the pickle I'm in now.

To suggest swapping the block to something else is also suggesting to swap out the GPU. So its not just a waterblock swap, its a $1000 changeover.

That build log is good, I'd seen it before but not noticed something I like how he's cut away the radiator. That might help.me if after milling the block I'm still in a bind.

[nmil]

Just saying, Maybe move the fans to the outside of the case, and get taller case feet. I dunno if that will work, but just an idea I had.

[d33g33]

Just saying, Maybe move the fans to the outside of the case, and get taller case feet. I dunno if that will work, but just an idea I had.

I hear you but it would ruin the look, i'd rather sacrifice the bottom radiator than do that I think.

 

A solution is being cut up as I type this (pun intended)

[The Benjamins]

I hear you but it would ruin the look, i'd rather sacrifice the bottom radiator than do that I think.

 

A solution is being cut up as I type this (pun intended)

 

you can have no fans and allow the positive or negative air pressure to pull/push air though the rad.

[d33g33]

you can have no fans and allow the positive or negative air pressure to pull/push air though the rad.

Its possible. 

 

It would be interesting to see what the differences would be in this case though I won't be doing it because of the PITA it would be to try all scenarios but

Compare the below scenario's, cooling both CPU and GPU with...

 

Just the side 240 radiator

Side 240 and bottom 240 (no fans)

Side 240 and bottom 240 (fans but hard up against waterblock)

 

The inductive heat between the radiator and waterblock will be horrendous no doubt, but I fail to accept that it would be worse than not having one at all.

[d33g33]

Drastic times, 

 

Drastic measures.

 

So I had around 8mm removed from the large block to reduce its height... For reference it was 22mm in height, its now 14mm

 

 

Here you can see the height difference in the block where before the GPX was pretty much the same height as the large cooling heatsink, much shorter now. Also notice the "GPX-N 980" label has been completely removed.

 

The idea was to remove enough material and the the GPX waterblock would sit in the recess between the radiator shroud and the fins which is around 5mm. 

 

Fully aware that I can alter the side of the actual 'GPX' waterblock component much (however I can swap the bolts with countersunk ones to save 1.5-2mm)

 

Reassembled, time to test fit

 

IN! But still not in...

 

You can see now its the fitting manifold hitting on the radiator shroud which is a lot better than the large heatsink previously but no finger crossing will get it in.

 

The next steps are to slightly notch the radiator shroud, like I said before there almost 5mm in the wall I can notch out before I get to the fins. 5mm is heaps and should have me well and truely in!

 

Fingers cross...

 

...again.

 

DfknG

[d33g33]

So I got a little time and decided to notch the radiator and see where we stand.

 

It was actually really easy to cut with the dremel..

 

 

 

Quick cleanup

 

Test fitting and it is sitting lower, but still not enough.

 

 

Kinda bummed out with this experiment I was looking at the height of the bolts on top of the block.

 

Then filed them down

 

 

The milled passive block and the filed heads of water block.

 

Retesting

 

At this stage it will fit in as I tested with the motherboard and can slot it in OK but I don't like how its sitting.

 

As a last effort ill be removing the shroud completely from the underneath of the radiator allowing me to fit the fans directly to the core and that should drop the radiator enough for a perfectly level card.

 

If that doesnt work out, ill probably remove the idea of the bottom radiator, we will see...

[Hikaru12]

Good luck with the bottom radiator. Hopefully you don't end up having to take it out. Looking great so far man!

[d33g33]

Good luck with the bottom radiator. Hopefully you don't end up having to take it out. Looking great so far man!

Thanks man, kinda bummed out about it as it isn't coming together as I had hoped. In it until the end though so fingers crossed!

[MrSuperb]

well it most likely would have been easier to just sell the Asus card and go with a different one ... but you had to do it your way ... and you are almost there ...

[d33g33]

well it most likely would have been easier to just sell the Asus card and go with a different one ... but you had to do it your way ... and you are almost there ...

I wouldn't say this was 'my way' im really on the fence of which way to go. I wish I could delete this thread and start fresh and everything turn out fine, but maybe its good to see sometimes things dont?

 

I dunno...

[d33g33]

On another note though...

 

Well you know how I said I was going to repin some extensions earlier? Well I got a sneaky little package from IceMods! They did a way better job than I could have and I got a 6+8pin and a 8+8pin still hanging onto the dream a dual GPU card is coming

 

 

I also got some Barrow fittings from ModDIY and they went out of their way to source the QDCs for me so a massive thanks to them.

 

So to add salt to my space issues wound, how the hell am I going to get 2x of these in?

 

 

Finally I picked up some EKWB Monarch RAM plates to beef up the memory a bit.

 

[CtW]

noice

 

I hope you manage to fit the gpu block in w/ the rad w/o having to purchase a different one! Best of luck to you!

[d33g33]

noice

 

I hope you manage to fit the gpu block in w/ the rad w/o having to purchase a different one! Best of luck to you!

I wont be purchasing another block unless I swap GPU's. this is the only waterblock that will fit this card, and still fit in the width of the case, all others are too wide.

[The Benjamins]

ya,now i see that, your card is already tall, then the added terminal would be a lot.

 

just whip out that belt sander, fixed.

 

I am slowly going to start my project for 2 single slot nano's on 1 m-ITX board. in a custom case I plan on designing. but my biggest hurdle is money, which will make me have to do this really slowly.

 

 

 

Drastic times, 

 

Drastic measures.

 

So I had around 8mm removed from the large block to reduce its height... For reference it was 22mm in height, its now 14mm

pic

 

pic

 

Here you can see the height difference in the block where before the GPX was pretty much the same height as the large cooling heatsink, much shorter now. Also notice the "GPX-N 980" label has been completely removed.

pic

 

The idea was to remove enough material and the the GPX waterblock would sit in the recess between the radiator shroud and the fins which is around 5mm. 

 

Fully aware that I can alter the side of the actual 'GPX' waterblock component much (however I can swap the bolts with countersunk ones to save 1.5-2mm)

 

Reassembled, time to test fit

pic

 

IN! But still not in...

pic

 

You can see now its the fitting manifold hitting on the radiator shroud which is a lot better than the large heatsink previously but no finger crossing will get it in.

pic

 

The next steps are to slightly notch the radiator shroud, like I said before there almost 5mm in the wall I can notch out before I get to the fins. 5mm is heaps and should have me well and truely in!

 

Fingers cross...

 

...again.

 

DfknG

 

 

nice the belt sander fix, looking good. those QDC look nice, I only knew about koolance's

 

were can I get those QDC in the USA

 

If you still don't like the way it sits you can try putting the fans on the other side but only install one at the front.

[d33g33]

So I had some quiet spare time tonight so decided to do some prep for paint.

 

When there is only 1x X99 ITX motherboard that exists in the market you don't really have a choice in colour schemes

 

So I removed the 2x heatsinks and wrapped the board so I cant paint the 2x blue dimm slots.

 

Not really a fan of the "paint the open DIMMS and then just reinsert your ram heaps to clean the pins" approach I just cut out some card.

 

Wrapped them a couple of times to fatten them a bit and stop any fibers.

 

 

And Bob's your mothers brother!

 

 

Hopefully i'll lay down some paint tomorrow night!