Christmas gaming mini ITX PC - Isn't supposed to work but it does :D

[jojocool111]

Hi LTT forum

It has been a while since I posted on the forum so I decided to post my christmas build for my father who has been using an old laptop for gaming and work and I wanted him to have something better. I wanted to watercool a bitfenix prodigy but not custom watercooling since I am busy and don't have the time for that. So what I decided on doing was to watercool the GPU with the kraken g10 bracket. Let me remind you this is not supposed to work since the g10 makes your GPU a triple slot and the prodigy only supports a double slot card. Anyway these are the specs real quick:

 

Asrock H87i-Itx-ac

8gb kingston ram

reference r9 290 

I5 4570 

h55 , h75 , kraken x30 , kraken g10

various fans 

64gb kingston ssd (i know it is not a lot)

500gb laptop hdd 

bitfenix prodigy

 

 

I wanted to have a red and black color scheme for this build so i got red ram, fans, case, kraken g10 and gpu.

Some problems that i ran into were:
the r9 290 broke and had to be RMAd-i got the refund and a better card (r9 290 DCUII)

then there was the g10 fitting into the case.

At first i removed the window from the sidepanel completely after finally replacing it and kind of managing the tubes behind the bracket so that they don't push against the sidepanel.

And it was overall a big pain to manage all of the cables and fit the radiators into the case.

The psu was really crammed so i used some mobo standoffs to give it some extra space

 

Now some pictures: 

PS: i apologize for low res pictures 

 

All of the parts:

 

Attatching kraken g10

 

H55 attatched to the CPU

 

Final pictures:

 

 

 

Results:

CPU temps with H55:

Idle 32-33

Load 54-61

 

VRM temps with heatsinks:
61-72

 

GPU temps:

Idle 30-35

Load 53-63

 

Overall I'm really pleased with this especially with that I actually made everything fit and how the temps are lower than I actually anticipated.
Merry Christmas everyone and a happy new year! 

JOhannes

[FoxHound]

I cat wait to get my kraken g10 your load temps are exactly what I'm looking for.

 

I really love the build, you did a nice job with it.

[BestFriendSean]

 

 

I built my brother an itx build in a Prodigy for Christmas with an A8-7600 apu. I ran into the same issue with cable management because the modular cables for the Corsair psu were extremely long. Your Dad's build is a beast in comparison though! I also had trouble with the H60's tube routing (the tubing was much stiffer than anticipated), because I couldn't mount the rad in the front of the case because my brother wanted to use a regular sized HDD with his SSD for storage, and I'm guessing you removed the hard drive cages?

[jojocool111]

 

 

 

 

 

I built my brother an itx build in a Prodigy for Christmas with an A8-7600 apu. I ran into the same issue with cable management because the modular cables for the Corsair psu were extremely long. Your Dad's build is a beast in comparison though! I also had trouble with the H60's tube routing (the tubing was much stiffer than anticipated), because I couldn't mount the rad in the front of the case because my brother wanted to use a regular sized HDD with his SSD for storage, and I'm guessing you removed the hard drive cages?

 

I did.

At first I tried mounting one rad on top but that didn't work because of the fan controller installed in the drive bay and the cables taking up too much space.

JOhannes

[BestFriendSean]

He wanted a dvd drive, so I couldn't use a front slot fan controller, and the Gigabyte board I used only had two fan headers, which are occupied with powering the pump and fan, I used a molex to 3-pin fan header with a low noise adapter for the intake fan. I'm planning to get a Swiftech PWM splitter http://www.amazon.com/Swiftech-8-Way-Splitter-Power-Connector/dp/B00IF6R4C8/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1419229510&sr=8-4&keywords=swiftech so I can just use the bios to control the fan speeds. I couldn't find any ASUS a88x itx boards, I really like fan expert on Asus boards. 

[NerdNinja]

Wow! Glad I was shown this! I literally had the same idea but I thought I was going to have to mod the side panel a bit. How are the VRAM temps? Is the fan there starved at all?

 

And one last question. Is there ANY way to rotate the NZXT logo on the cooler? That would drive me INSANE if I had to look at that daily.

 

Edit: Scratch the VRAM temps. Saw it in the post

[jojocool111]

Wow! Glad I was shown this! I literally had the same idea but I thought I was going to have to mod the side panel a bit. How are the VRAM temps? Is the fan there starved at all?

 

And one last question. Is there ANY way to rotate the NZXT logo on the cooler? That would drive me INSANE if I had to look at that daily.

 

Edit: Scratch the VRAM temps. Saw it in the post

Hey 

Merry christmas! 

The fan is really close to the sidepanel and starved a bit.

Just run it at 12v at all times and you'll be fine. (its almost silent)

I was thinking the same thing as you when i looked at the logo.

Since this is the kraken x30 which doesnt have a lit up logo, you can just spraypaint over it and maybe replace it with a better logo.

JOhannes

PS: You really might wanna consider buying the mesh frontpanel or drill holes for the radiator because when my dad games, he just takes it off because otherwise the temps rise by like 15 degrees. I m gonna get the mesh front panel for him so that that wont be neccessary.

[NerdNinja]

Hey 

Merry christmas! 

The fan is really close to the sidepanel and starved a bit.

Just run it at 12v at all times and you'll be fine. (its almost silent)

I was thinking the same thing as you when i looked at the logo.

Since this is the kraken x30 which doesnt have a lit up logo, you can just spraypaint over it and maybe replace it with a better logo.

JOhannes

PS: You really might wanna consider buying the mesh frontpanel or drill holes for the radiator because when my dad games, he just takes it off because otherwise the temps rise by like 15 degrees. I m gonna get the mesh front panel for him so that that wont be neccessary.

 

Thanks for the input! 

Hmmm, I wonder. Depending on how the led lighting works I might be able to just rotate the cover on the X41.

And I got the front panel covered! I plan on modding it. If you look at my latest status you'll know what I mean

 

And Merry Christmas!