in-progress [Build Log] Project Mochii - Gaming PC for my Girlfriend | Broadwell i5-5675C | Enthoo Evolv ITX | R9 Nano

[itsmyjobtoknow]

Table of Content

[09/23/2015]   Update #1 - Initial  Build

[09/24/2015]   Update #2 - Disassembly and Painting

[01/28/2016]   Update #3A - Broadwell i5-5675C Ordered

[02/02/2016]   Update #3B - Arrival of Broadwell i5-5675C   

[02/07/2016]   Update #4 - CPU Upgrade w/ Rabbit

[01/19/2017]   Update #5 - It's Still Alive (Machine Re-Build and Minor Upgrades)

[02/04/2017]   Update #6 - WC Parts Ordered

[02/11/2017]    Update #7 - Wave 1 of WC Parts & Minor Upgrades

[05/30/2017]   Update #8 - Near Completion

 

Introduction

For the last two or three years, my girlfriend has been playing video games with me on some HP laptop that my friend would describe as a "Jet Engine" due to how loud the fans ramp up during a simple load such as watching YouTube. Mind you this was an A4 APU from what I believe to be the Richland architecture. Every software temperature monitor declared that the damn thing was at a constant 90 degree Celsius which I call BS due to the fact that AMD was known for its faulty temperature probe. Nevertheless that will soon become the past as her new gaming rig will be constructed in the following weeks. This project will go through two - three stages over the course of months as I simply do not have the budget to build and liquid cool the machine. I am aware the water-cooling this machine is pointless, but my girlfriend find the tubing and the color pastel fluid to be "pretty" so....to make the girl even more happy than she already is, it'll be liquid cooled at some point.

 

Computer Hardware:

Intel Core i3 4170 (Haswell) Intel Core i5 5675C (Broadwell)

ASRock z97E-ITX

HyperX Fury 2x4GB 1866MHz Blue HyperX Predator 2x8GB 2133MHz Corsair Vengeance Pro 2x8GB 1866MHz (Blue)

Gigabyte R9 290  Diamond AMD R9 Nano

Corsair Obsidian 250D Phantek Enthoo Evolv ITX (White)

Samsung 840 Pro 128GB | Western Digital 500GB Caviar Blue 2.5in Seagate Barracuda Firecuda 1TB

Corsair RM 750 Corsair SF 600

 

Miscellaneous:

Thermalright AXP-R 100

Corsair SP120

2x Noiseblocker NB-eLoops B14-PS

2x Noctua NF-F12

Swiftech 8-way PWM Splitter 

 

Water-cooling Hardware:

EK Supremacy Evo - Nickel Plexi

EK-FC R9 Nano - Nickel Plexi

EK-FC R9 Nano Backplate - Black

EK-CoolStream SE 240

Bitspower Water Tank Z-Multi 100 150 - Full Clear Acrylic Version

Singularity Computers Reservoir Mount Core Single V4 - Silver

Swiftech D5 Pump

   - Bitspower Premium D5 Mod Top - Clear Acrylic Pump Top and Silver D5 Mod Enclosure

PrimoChill 1/2in Rigid RevolverSX Fitting - Silver Nickel

PrimoChill PETG 13mm/10mm OD/ID

 

Initial Hardware and Rationale:

Spoiler

Processor: Only reason why I went with an i3 is because it is merely a placeholder that can perform well enough for the time being before upgrading her to an i5 5675C...if I can ever find one. To be fair the original plan was to get a Pentium G3258 but only for $50 USD more I get hyper-threading and extra cache, so I chose this instead. (This was at Micro Center)

Cooler: It was from a brand I liked so I went with it. It is temporarily until water-cooling comes into play.

Motherboard: Her favorite color is blue and this was the only reasonable motherboard that had Wi-Fi, a z97 chipset, and most importantly an M-ITX form factor.

Memory: Its from a trusted brand and its blue...

Graphics Card: A R9 290 in the used market is getting cheaper but I wanted to avoid a reference model as much as possible because I don't want the thing to become another "Jet Engine"

Case: The original plan was to get an NCase M1 but the case was simply too expensive...so the 250D was the next best thing.

Storage: I had them lying around in my draw, and they are essentially new since they only had less than 30GB at most written to it.

Power Supply: This power supply came out of my other Build Log and albeit, it isn't the best power supply but it'll get the job done. Its better than those crappy OEM PSU and the CX series. And I already have some braided cables from Corsair so another reason to use it.

 

 

[TheRandomness]

I'd like to see where this goes, you're one of the few people wanting/considering a broad well CPU , followed.

[DarrenP]

Nice build! 

[TheKDub]

Wonder what this'll end up like

 

Gonna make your GF do some of the work? or are you doing all of it?

[itsmyjobtoknow]

I'd like to see where this goes, you're one of the few people wanting/considering a broad well CPU , followed.

 

My current ETA for liquid cooling in sometime early spring and late winter, so the Broadwell CPU is going in some time before that since I'll probably be doing rigid tubing and its a pain to be draining the loop just for a simple CPU upgrade and than afterwards refilling it.

[itsmyjobtoknow]

Wonder what this'll end up like

 

Gonna make your GF do some of the work? or are you doing all of it?

 

I hope I can get her to do some.

She will definitely be bending some PETG tubes and filling the loop whenever that goes into effect..

[KemoKa]

My current ETA for liquid cooling in sometime early spring and late winter, so the Broadwell CPU is going in some time before that since I'll probably be doing rigid tubing and its a pain to be draining the loop just for a simple CPU upgrade and than afterwards refilling it.

you should totally have her be there to at least help out with building it. I'm sure she'd be interested. Ask her and see.

[itsmyjobtoknow]

you should totally have her be there to at least help out with building it. I'm sure she'd be interested. Ask her and see.

 

She will be, just a matter of how much she is willing to do before backing off in fear of breaking something.

[TheKDub]

I hope I can get her to do some.

She will definitely be bending some PETG tubes and filling the loop whenever that goes into effect..

 

If you don't have one already, I'd recommend getting a rubber cylinder that can fit into the PETG tubes to keep it from collapsing on itself while bending. (Something like this: http://www.frozencpu.com/products/20691/ex-tub-1905/PrimoChilll_38_ID_Rigid_Tube_Silicon_Bending_Insert_-_1_Foot_for_12_OD_Rigid_Acrylic_Tube.html )

[itsmyjobtoknow]

If you don't have one already, I'd recommend getting a rubber cylinder that can fit into the PETG tubes to keep it from collapsing on itself while bending. (Something like this: http://www.frozencpu.com/products/20691/ex-tub-1905/PrimoChilll_38_ID_Rigid_Tube_Silicon_Bending_Insert_-_1_Foot_for_12_OD_Rigid_Acrylic_Tube.html )

 

I already own one, but it technically wasn't meant for PETG and was more for Acrylic tubes. But I will need another one since I accidently cut it in half in a previous attempt in my other build log.

Thanks.

[itsmyjobtoknow]

Update #1:

 

The PC is for the most part assembled with the exception of the GPU since I am still waiting for it in the mail.

With that being said, I did manage to get my girlfriend to participate in the build such as SSD/HDD installation, fan replacement, RAM installation and PSU installation but what got to her was installing the CPU due to her being fearful she might break it since as you all know the retention arm requires a good amount of force to close it. Otherwise that, I also did most of the wiring and cable management.

 

But there is one issue, I somehow manage to damage the side panels, so I will probably going to be spray painting those when the GPU comes in. I should also probably mention this, I do plan on painting the Gigabyte R9 290 the same way Linus did in this Ultimate Surround Build Log except instead of green, it will be blue.

 

Photos:

 

 

 

[TheKDub]

Looks amazing so far, great job!

[mjKneafsey]

Looking good. I'm wanting to do my next build in a 250D, how do you find working inside it?

[itsmyjobtoknow]

Looking good. I'm wanting to do my next build in a 250D, how do you find working inside it?

 

There isn't much room for cable management, otherwise it is a solid case.

[itsmyjobtoknow]

Update #2

 

So my Gigabyte R9 290 Windforce card arrived today and the first thing I decided to do was to not take pictures and run the thing to see if it actually worked and well it did. Below in the spoiler I'll see some temperature reading since I am taking apart the card to paint and replacing thermal paste so I wanted to see the improvement that there might be.

 

Temperature

Spoiler

 

Idle Temps

 

Load Temps

 

 

 

As you can see the card runs quite toasty...

 

Nevertheless I had dismantled the thing..

 

 

 

And began working on spraying the bracket and painting the side panels of the Corsair 250D that I had damaged when I was building.

 

 

 

 

Mind you this isn't my first time spray painting, but the can of black spray paint was defective and instead of spraying out paint, it threw up drops of paint everywhere causing the side panels to look horrible after a few coats...so I gave up on that and have decided to order new ones.

 

But the bracket was the most time consuming. After a few coats of paint, it starting to have the orange peel effect and I read somewhere online that polishing compound can fix it. WHICH to my surprise did work really well a real mess...

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

But I manage to scrape off a chunk of paint....which lead to my frustration and me spending the entire night wet sanding off ALL of the paint that was on the bracket. It was a messy job and at some point my hand looked like it belonged to a smurf but I got most of it off with a mixture of medium grit sandpaper, water, rubbing alcohol, an xacto knife (to get at all of the inner corners that sandpaper couldn't reach).

 

Shortly afterwards, sprayed white primer on it, and about 4-5 coats of blue paint and although it isn't perfect as there is a small dent in the paint from me dropping it but it is only visible if you look really closely. I must say it isn't as bad as it was before.

 

 

[OneRingRuler]

You need to delid that CPU, and put some Cool Laboratory Liquid Pro between the die and the IHS, then use some between the IHS and your heatsink. Temps will be 10-20 degrees C lower than without it. Speaking from experience, here.

[King_Tuna]

You need to delid that CPU, and put some Cool Laboratory Liquid Pro between the die and the IHS, then use some between the IHS and your heatsink. Temps will be 10-20 degrees C lower than without it. Speaking from experience, here.

Delidding may damage to CPU. And he (or she [emoji14]) is not going to OC.

If he can delid it perfectly, that would be awesome!

[OneRingRuler]

Delidding may damage to CPU. And he (or she [emoji14]) is not going to OC.

If he can delid it perfectly, that would be awesome!

It's not the solution for everyone, but I consider myself an enthusiast. Maybe delidding is a bit excessive for those not willing to take a big risk, but I used Liquid Pro on a friend's CPU that is in a Silverstone Raven mini-itx build. His temps dropped by 5-10 degrees C depending on CPU load.

[mosin40]

Nice build!

Are you going to water cool both cpu and gpu?? Because gigabyte cards are bit toasty in amd gpus

[itsmyjobtoknow]

Nice build!

Are you going to water cool both cpu and gpu?? Because gigabyte cards are bit toasty in amd gpus

 

Eventually, its part of the plan but it is also a matter of budget as well. 

And it could have been worse, I mean at one point I was tempted to buy a reference design card which would have been louder and much hotter.

 

You need to delid that CPU, and put some Cool Laboratory Liquid Pro between the die and the IHS, then use some between the IHS and your heatsink. Temps will be 10-20 degrees C lower than without it. Speaking from experience, here.

 

I don't think deliding the i3 won't benefit me much as it is quite cool and quiet already. It never exceed over 60C.

Its jus the GPU that is very toasty.

 

 

[Hikaru12]

It's not the solution for everyone, but I consider myself an enthusiast. Maybe delidding is a bit excessive for those not willing to take a big risk, but I used Liquid Pro on a friend's CPU that is in a Silverstone Raven mini-itx build. His temps dropped by 5-10 degrees C depending on CPU load.

 

You got to be careful with that stuff. Liquid metal thermal compounds tend to dry out much faster than the other types. It's not a problem if you tend to change that out pretty often. 

[itsmyjobtoknow]

Update #3a

 

Well, it's happening...the Intel Core i5 5675C Broadwell Processor is ordered and arriving in a few days.

 

[TheRandomness]

Update #3

 

Well, it's happening...the Intel Core i5 5675C Broadwell Processor is ordered and arriving in a few days.

-snips-

BREADWELL YYAAAAA

 

As you can see, I like Broadwell.

[itsmyjobtoknow]

Update #3b

 

So I decided to bring the i5 5675C  Broadwell CPU to my girlfriend's house to install after I finished my class.

 

But I forgot to bring thermal paste, screwdriver, and a camera to take better pictures on...(sorry for potato picture, the lighting + a phone camera isn't a good combination)

 

So now it's sitting in her room until my next free day to come over and to install it...*sigh*

 

[itsmyjobtoknow]

Update #4

 

The day has come...the machine has been upgraded from an i3 4170 Haswell CPU to an i5 5675C Broadwell CPU.

With the help of a fluffy friend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And when I said help...I meant more of an annoyance. But the damn thing is SO adorable...so it makes up for it.

Spoiler