"Saiyra" -- A Watercooled X99 NCase build

[Sazexa]

Hello there everyone. This here, is going to be a bit of a different build log. An extremely small for factor case. High end components. A long story and a parts list that changes a thousand times. Watercooling, and more. So, let's begin.

Background

I've always loved PC's, and PC gaming. I built my first PC many years ago, and gradually throughout the years started making faster and more powerful builds. My previous build was relatively new, and pretty powerful. I had also been going smaller and smaller as time went on, too. My previous build to this one, was quite nice. And relatively high end. It was the first time I actually had the money to make a premium looking, and performing PC. Growing up in a family with limited income, it was hard for me to pursue my passion. My last build performed pretty well. It had an i5-4590S, a GTX 670 4GB, and 8GB of RAM. It was made of good, quality parts, but it came to an end. A faulty power supply caused in a smoldering SSD, a dead HDD, a questionable CPU, and a very friend PSU. Funnily enough, I do believe the "faulty" PSU may have been my fault. It was a Corsair AX760, and, when plugging in my modular cables in the dark, I was actually able to plug a connector in between two others, with half on one connector and the other half on the other. Strange, it sounds, but it fit and I was able to actually even boot and run the PC. While it was a good PC, this, over time, started damaging components. The first time something went wrong, I noticed when I tore-down that build. I replaced the motherboard, and when the new one came, I rebuilt the PC. Things ran okay, for a little while, and every other component seemed okay. 

That wasn't exactly the case though. Even though I now had the connection on the power supply as they were meant to be, eventually a month or two later I had an SSD fail on me. It was an Intel 730 480GB SSD. I knew these drives were incredibly reliable, but assumed it was just bad luck. After I got my replacement solid state drive in, things ran fine again for another few months. But one night I was casually browsing the internet, with my girlfriend in the room with me. She asked me to turn around to see something on her phone, and I did. When I turned back to my PC, I grabbed the mouse and went to move it. I noticed the system was hanging/frozen, however you'd like to call it. A few moments later, I got a blue screen of death. Not just any BSOD, but one that was in such a low and scattered resolution, it was incapable of being read. After that, the PC wouldn't boot. Within the next few days, I tore down the system again, and testing individual components and testing them outside of the case, I ruled out what was bad and what was good.

 

So, once all the sadness and aggravation from that subside (after all, I did spend well over eight hours doing custom cable sleeving and everything, too!) I decided it was time to rebuild. The previous build was in an In Win 901, and despite all of it's power, I decided I wanted more. And this time, I had all the money I want to work with, after finally starting my career and getting "ahead of the game." The In Win 901 was a beautiful and surprisingly well performing case, but I had my eyes on the NCase M1 for a long time, and liked the idea of a truly small, powerful build. I also liked the idea of a challenging build, due to size constraints and compatibility.

 

The Planning

All my life before this, my parts were relatively out of date. Even with the fabled 901 mentioned above, my components were often a generation or two behind. In example, still having a GTX 670 as my graphics card when the 900 line was out. I decided I wanted to go with something that had a lot of power. Now, most of it I should be able to actually utilize, but, I've also always wanted an extremely top-notch, up-to-date, over-kill PC. But even in the original planning of this build, it wasn't as just described. It was actually a pretty strong build, but relatively mainstream for "high end." The original parts list, after doing some research in to some other user's builds on the NCase M1, and seeing various pictures and builds online went as followed:
 

- NCase M1 -

- ASUS Maximus VIII Impact Z170-

- Intel i5-6600K -

- 2x 8GB DDR4 2,400 MHz -

- Intel 730 480GB (A replacement, brand new and good drive) -

- 2x Western Digital Black 3TB HDD's (one new, one replacing previous dead one) -

- LG GA31N slot loading CD/DVD drive -

- ASUS GTX 970 Mini -

- SilverStone SX-500-LG -

 

Well, I had ordered the case, and received it. I was then planning to start ordering other parts, as well. My layout plan was something I saw from ChipHell. It was to basically have a cage for two 3.5" HDD's towards the front of the case on the bottom. I'd then have a 120mm, or 92mm fan, intake on the bottom directly for the GPU. I was also planning two intake 120mm fans for the CPU area. Well, after receiving the case, I realized that layout doesn't work without modding the case. If it were a regular case, I'd have modded it without a care. But this case is a bit of a hassle to get a hold of, due to it's limited production run. Speaking of, I also mistakenly ordered the black version, and need to try and get a hold of silver panels for the case. So, after realizing that wouldn't work, I was in a predicament. Where I'd either sacrifice on some CPU cooling, or, need to sacrifice one of my HDD's, and GPU cooling. I waited a week or two, trying to decide what I wanted to do. During that time, I caught wind of a single 6TB HDD, made by Western Digital in the Black color. Which was excellent, as it helped me have the capacity I wanted with only one drive. Running it now, I like it. It's fast, but just a bit loud and sometimes warm. Regardless of that, I then decided to go with a full-size GPU. The place I originally intended to mount my HDD's then became the mounting location of a 92mm fan for intake on the GPU. I also decided since I was going with a full size GPU, to go with something slightly more powerful. In this case, I opted for a GTX 980. I did the power calculations and saw that the 500w power supply was sufficient for this kind of load, as well. I also opted specifically for the 500w SilverStone, because I heard rumors of the other smaller, non "SFX-L" power supply's fans having an annoying pitch. Which I didn't want.

 

So I ordered the drive, and ordered the GTX 980 (a reference version, as it was cheap, the blower style is effective for cooling in my scenario, and I may upgrade to a NVidia Pasqual GPU upon release). I was getting ready to order my board and CPU, when a friend told me to get the i7-5820K. I always wanted a HEDT CPU, but had been sticking with ITX for the past few years. And I had already ordered my case, so, it was a bit late to change a case to something else at this point. But he also informed me of the lovely ASRock X99e-ITX/ac. I looked into the board, and the reviews, and liked what I saw. I did some more research, as I was originally planning on ordering the i7-5960X for it's 8-cores, 16-threads... And found out that Broadwell-E should be support on LGA 2011-V3/X99 boards. So, I decided on ordering the i7-5820K as a place-holder until the i7-6950X released. The i7-6950X is rumored to be a 10-core, 20-thread monster. I'm aware of the Xeon CPU's, but, decided an i7 is what I wanted. This decision also affected my RAM choice. I'd heard rumors of only certain kits of 2x 16GB working with the i7-5820K. And I saw a special sale price for my current memory (2x 8GB) for only about $35. So, I ordered that just as a place holder as well, and will upgrade my memory with the CPU. My next task, was trying to find a new CPU cooler compatible with the LGA 2011-V3 Narrow ILM socket. Which was a lot tougher than it seems. It seems to be extremely limited, even with air coolers. I found out most AIO coolers do work with it, but wasn't sure if I wanted to water cool at the time. And if I did water cool, my thoughts were to do something more like a custom loop.

 

I eventually settled on the Noctua NH-D9DX i4 CPU cooler. At only 110mm tall, this would allow me to place the cooler where it belongs on the motherboard, and still fit a 120mm fan for intake directly over the CPU and board for intake. So, I had placed an order for two Noctua NF-S12 120mm fans for intakes, and a Noctua NF-A9 92mm fan for the GPU intake. Upon receiving, I went to place everything into the case. I had an issue here though, as you'll see in the pictures further down. The cooler physically fit, but the NF-A9 92mm fan on the CPU cooler needed to be offset due to RAM clearance issues. This disallowed the use of the NF-S12A 120mm directly over the CPU/Motherboard area. I also then decided to use a Noctua NF-A9x14 92mm x 14mm fan from a Noctua NH-L9i cooler I had, as the rear exhaust fan for my case.

 

The Build

The build process was relatively painless. The motherboard installed went easy. The CPU cooler installation was also very easy. Managing the cables and placing headers on the motherboard was easier than most other ITX cases I've built in before, surprisingly. Cable management was the most time consuming part of the build process. I opted for SilverStone's sleeved PSU cables for the aesthetic and ease-of-work. I also had to use SilverStone's CP-B11 super-thin SATA data cables to fit them between the power supply (due to it's extra length) and the header on the motherboard for SATA. When trying to install the graphics card, I needed to remove it and turn the power supply around, due to the offset of the cable ports on the power supply. An issue users with regular SFX form factors PSU's need not worry about. Placing down the HDD caused some pull-back on the insulation of my PSU's SATA power cables, but I carefully used some electrical tape to fix the issue. So, like an idiot I installed everything inside the case before actually testing the build. Here's were we get to the next part.

 

The Heartattack

So, I had the build assembled. It was time to turn it on. And that's what I did. It booted, all fans, HDD's, and Disc Drive spun up. But there was no display. I, trying to remain calm, tried different display cables, different display ports on the graphics card, as well as different displays. Still nothing. So, I went to the next idea. I removed the GTX 980 from the build, and placed in my old GTX 670. I closed the case back up, and upon boot, there was display output. So I was wondering: Is my GPU bad, or is my PSU insufficient to power this card? I took the card to my roomates room, and we tested it in his PC. He had a 750W PSU, so it should definitely have been enough power. When we booted his build with the 980, it displayed like it should. So, then I was wondering if my calculations were wrong as for the power requirements. I did them about three more times over, to double check myself, and every time I had the same results. At least 100W of head room, under the 500W limit of my power supply, as well as within the amperage for each individual rail on my PSU. So, I went on to my next test. I took the GTX 670 out of my system, put the GTX 980 in it, and disconnected my SX-500-LG PSU. I then connected my old Corsair TX 750 V2 PSU to my system, and tried to then boot. To my surprise though, I still had no display once again. I then decided for the heck of it, to check my motherboard BIOS. I updated them to the latest version, and still had no display when trying to boot using the GTX 980. Very confused, and very aggravated, I removed everything in the system and connected it all externally. Using the components chosen for the system, outside of the case, it booted properly and had display. I then re-assembled the system inside the case, and found myself even more amazed when it worked now! My only issue now was the CD/DVD drive wasn't operating properly, but it seemed to be one of the screws holding it into it's caddy space was preventing it. After removing the one screw, it's been working fine. I still never found the exact cause of what was preventing my system from booting. I don't believe it was a short, as the card has a full-cover back plate. The only thing I can think of is the fan header, or audio header, were preventing the 980 from sitting in the motherboard properly and after re-doing my cable management when re-installing the build into the case, it allowed the card to sit properly.

 

The Current Status

So now, we have the build running. I set up windows, got all my settings the way I wanted, and was pretty content, just waiting for the release of the i7-6950X as well as possibly waiting for Pasqual GPU's. During an AIDA64 CPU test, it never peaked 50C which I found incredibly surprising. In my actual usage, the CPU never gets over 45C on stock clocks. The GPU, though still a health range, idles around 30C and can heat up to ~81C during gaming. This started giving me the itch for water cooling. I looked into getting a 120mm AIO for the CPU, but found LGA 2011-V3 Narrow ILM compatibility to be a tedious thing to sort through, and didn't want to spend another $500 on a temporary GPU to be bundled with a cooler, "waste" the money to make an AIO GPU cooler. A friend tipped me off to the EK-XLC Predator 240 AIO system. I loved the idea of it, a full true water cooling loop, but sold as an AIO. As well as being able to, most importantly, expand the GPU into the system using quick disconnects and a pre-filled block. Well, after seeing another user's fitment issue, and doing all the measurements my self, I saw I'd need to modify the case to make that system fit. Which again, something I don't want to do given the limited availability of this case. So I decided, what the hell, I've made it this far, let's design a custom water cooling loop.

 

The Future For "Saiyra"

With all that now behind us, we have the future of Saiyra to look forward to. As we know, the CPU, RAM, and GPU will probably be upgraded. But I've decided I'd like to get a more powerful GPU, than the 980, or next equivalent whatever the naming scheme may be. And to do this, I may need to upgrade the power supply. Luckily, Corsair's SF600 600W SFX power supply is right around the corner. I'll likely order one, soon, and if Cablemod makes sleeved cables, I'll probably order some of those, too! I've been interested in some NVMe drive, to use as a caching drive, or a reliable back up drive. Specifically the Samsung 950 Pro 512GB drive. I may also use this drive to record game play videos, as, running a resolution of 3,440 x 1,440 and saving content to a physical HDD causes my frame rates to drop tremendously on the current system. This is also part of the reason I'm thinking of a stronger GPU. I'm considering for Pasqual's GPU line, to order something more comparable to a 980 Ti, or even the fabled "Titan X," whatever they're new name will be. Those class GPU's are what I'll be looking for. Now onto the cooling. I've always been a huge fan of EKWB's design, and products from what I've seen. So the future of my build for the watercooling, is basically 100% EKWB products, aside from the reservoir. I'm unsure of the reservoir manufacturer, but it takes place on the rear panel, and doesn't require much space. It shouldn't hinder it, because the power cable makes the extra space unusable anyways. Lastly, all I'm trying to decide upon now, is what fans to get for the radiator. I'd like something relatively quiet, but I'm also looking for either white or red LED's on the fans. It's been a white since I've had some LED's in my PC to give it some bling, and I'd like to. I've also done a little "mod," or cheat, to make my power button LED shine red instead of the default blue. Part of why I'm leaning towards red. And then I came across Thermaltake's Riing 12 fans. 120mm "high static pressure" fans, but with 256-color "RGB" changeability. I've also ordered some sound dampening foam for the build, to line the panels with, and will be ordering the DEMCIflex filters for the case, soon, too. I'm also considering painting the heatsinks to a very dark red, and the RAM slots. But that's if I get very adventurous, considering it's a bit dangerous to do, and my style has always been favoring of black, red, and silver. But once all that is done, she'll be complete. Here's some photos of the build progress so far, and I hope you guys are almost as excited to see the future of this build as me. Below also has the photo of the loop plan, which has been slightly re-worked currently to include 90-fittings for fitment, lack of ability to bend of the 10mm ID -- 16mm OD tubing, and also a T-Fitting instead of a quick disconnect, for ease of draining the system if needed. This is also my first time doing custom water cooling, so tips would be appreciated. More to come, and I hope you enjoyed this lengthy read.

[Sazexa]

Update 03/07/2016:

I've found a metal service, Philson Inc. in Watertown Connecticut, who will be willing to strip the anodize finish on my motherboard's heat sinks, and re-finish them to silver. Next on the list will be to re-finish the memory slots to black, which may get tricky.

I'll also be doing some case window modifications, and here are some rough sketches of them.



These orange-highlight areas will be windows, if all planning goes according. I may ditch the CD/DVD drive then, and replace it with NZXT's Hue+ to illuminate the case at the windows. This, paired with new silver panels, and some LED fans on the side intake bracket should account for some "bling" factor to the build. 

Lastly, I've decided that once the Corsair SX600 releases, I'll get sleeved cables, or make my own, for the unit. I'm considering red to constrast all the black and silver in the build, but, am not opposed to a doing something like black, gray, or white. I'm thinking with the colored LED's, going all neutral, including the cable color scheme, might be a good route.

[Tearass]

I like the direction this is going -- specifically the positioning of the windows, where they show off the hardware without affecting radiator support.

[Sazexa]

I'm glad you appreciate that, it was part of the planning! I've found someone who already has a similar top mod to what I'm looking for, so, imagine this as a preview.

[amvoith]

Looks good so far man. I've watercooled my ncase and I can definitely say it's rewarding when you get everything to fit haha. Take your time though as millimetres can count in an ncase build. Also subbed  

[Contas]

Nice

[Sazexa]

Update 3/13/2016:

I've started ordering components for the loop. I'm still considering if I really want the extra SSD storage, as I think it's only real use would be for either games or for recording game footage to, to help prevent frame-rate-drop during game recording.

Also, another member from overclock.net (Hermit2001) has sent me a few pictures of a window he did himself on the side panel, similar to as I'd like to have. I think it came out wonderfully, so, consider this another draft to pair with the one above. I'm thinking of doing basically the same thing, but perhaps square edges instead of rounded, to match the case's general shape a bit better.







I've also changed my front panel wiring a bit to the motherboard. Nothing spectacular, but, the power button has two LED's inside it. Typically, blue for power and red for HDD activity. Well, since I prefer red to blue, I wired the HDD activity LED to the power LED header on my motherboard, and just then wired the power LED to the HDD activity header. This way, in most scenarios/normal operation, my LED on the power button is red.

[Loleo]

Just kidding though. Build looks awesome.

[Sazexa]

Welp, here's an update for those interested.

I've changed my fans, and ordered the LinusTechTips  editions of the Noctua NF-F12 fans. I ordered some of the black anti-vibration pads, to black-out the fan and make it match the build theme more as well. I've also made a hefty little order on EKWB's site! All I'm missing for the loop is the reservoir and pump top. Before reassembling the build, I'm going to get my motherboard heatsinks re-anodized to silver. I will probably consider and purchase the Corsair SF600 also, but I'd like to be able to get sleeved cables for it before doing so. Lastly, I'll attempt to CAREFULLY paint the RAM slots on my motherboard, and take the opportunity to upgrade the RAM afterwards to 32GB. So, then, all that will be missing from the finalized version of the build will be the i7-6950X (which I'm waiting for it to release,) the NZXT Hue+ which will be added when I do the case windows, and lastly, the possibility (and probability) of upgrading to Pascal when it releases.

 

[Sazexa]

Soon, gentlemen! I'll be taking my motherboard heatsinks to be re-anodized in a week or so, as well as painting the RAM slots and testing the loop. New PSU and cable kit to come, as well. 

[mosin40]

Build looks great! Subbed

[amvoith]

Any update on this build? looking forward to seeing more.

[Sazexa]

Well, everyone. Here's a sizeable update.

Everything on the build is currently up and running. After many orders from EK for more fittings, and many different tubing and wiring layouts, I've ended up here:

ASRock X99e-ITX/ac
Intel Core i7-5820K
2x 8GB DDR3 2,400 MHz
Intel 730 Series 480GB SSD
Western Digital Black 6TB HDD
NVidia GTX 980
SilverStone SX-500-LG 500W PSU
EKWB Supremacy EVO Nickel + Acetal,
EKWB Nickel + Acetal full card block, with back backplate
EKWB PE 240 240x38mm radiator
Laing DDC pump with Phobya pump top
About 10x compression fittings, 8x 90 degree fittings, 3x 45 degree fittings, an EK's Nickel 10mm/16mm
FrozenQ NCase M1 reservoir
2x LTT Edition NF-F12's, with Noctua black Chromax anti-vibration pads

So. I started ordering my parts, and got too anxious to wait for the Corsair SF600 too release. So, I just kept the SX-500-LG, for now. When I upgrade my GPU (probably in the "11X0" NVidia generation, or two generations from current) I'll change over to the Corsair SF600. I still have plans for the Intel i7-6950X, which is getting ever closer to releasing. As well as upgrading to 2x 16GB DDR4 memory. I've had to remove my ODD, sadly, to make my wires actually fit. I also had to rework my tubing layout a few times, to actually get everything to fit. I don't have space ANYWHERE in the case to fit an NZXT Hue+, or any other lighting strip really, so, that and window mods have been scrapped for now. And to be honest, even right now, it's an incredibly tight fit, and I'm very tempted to just change cases to a Fractal Design Define Nano S, NZXT Manta, or Phanteks Evolv ITX. We'll get back to this later, also. I also scrapped the idea for painting the motherboard and re-anodizing the heatsinks, due to later complications, but re-anodizing the heatsinks may still be an option.

I did a good leak test, and everything was running great... Until I realized I wasn't going to be able to fit my original tubing layout in the case. I needed more fittings, and less tube, so that took some time to work out. So finally, once I got that situation rectified, I had another issue. My temperatures were actually pretty bad. And that was a combination of a few factors. The first being, I had no top ventilation. When my build was air cooled, the case air flow was different, and I was able to place sound dampening foam over certain exhaust areas. With the new cooling set up, it was trapping in heat, so I needed to order new case panels. I wanted silver anyways, so it wasn't a huge deal, but I'm waiting for those to arrive. The other issue, was, I had my fans set up as intake and pushing air through the radiator. Not anticipating how much heat the radiator would actually throw off, all the hot air was (in combination with being stuck and stagnant inside the case due to the foam), blowing directly onto the motherboard, CPU socket, and into the PSU's fan intake as well. I had to change my fans, so now they pull air from inside the case, through the radiator, and are exhausting air outside the left side of the case. My temperatures are... Acceptable, but it's still leaving me wishing I had a second radiator, or more room for airflow. So, we'll do a quick break down of temperatures. The tests were basically performed by letting "The Division" run for about three hours on my PC, with an ambient air temperature in the room of 67 degrees F each time. CPU stress tests didn't ever really make too much difference over gaming load, since the GPU threw off so much heat. So that's how we'll benchmark it, and considering during my normal use my CPU gets hottest when gaming because of that fact.

On Air/Stock cooling:
This set up, if you recall from above, used a 120mm intake on the bracket towards the front of the case. Which air was pulled into the CPU cooler by the fan on the tower, and then exhausted through the rear by a rear 92mm exhaust. I also had a 92mm fan intake directly under the GPU, but, honestly it didn't make too much difference with that fan or not there. (Not even 2 degrees Celsius.)
CPU idle/load: 25C/45C
Motherboard idle/load: 30C/40C
GPU idle/load: 35C/80C
SSD idle/load: 25C/30C
HDD idle/load: 35C/55C

On Water, fans pushing air in:
Now, I was expecting some additional heat on the CPU, but a much cooler GPU. I got quite a surprise though.
CPU idle/load: 25/65C
Motherboard idle/load: 30C-60C
GPU idle/load: 25C-55C
SSD idle/load: 20C-45C
HDD idle/load: 35C/60C

As we can see, over all, that's actually much worse. The noise was way lower, even with fans ramped up, but, the temperatures were leaving much to be desired. Disappointing, to be honest. So, I thought about how air was being trapped, and decided to do the test again, with the fans reversed as I mentioned they are, and all case panels on. The following resulted better.

On Water, fans pulling air out:
CPU idle/load: 25C/50C
Motherboard idle/load: 30C/45C
GPU idle/load: 25C/50C
SSD idle/load: 20C/30C
HDD idle/load: 35C/45C

So, the temperatures are, overall, a bit better I believe. But, again, even when I get the replacement panels in, they won't be too significantly better. Now, I have run one other test with the same methodology, but this one is a bit more open to interpretation on it's effectiveness. It's basically with what would be an externally mounted radiator. The only flaw with this test plan, is obviously I have a side panel off to do it. But then again, if I were doing an externally mounted radiator, I'd consider adding two more fans as air intake fans to help keep interior temperatures down inside the case. This resulted in the following:

On Water, "externally mounted radiator:"
CPU idle/load: 25C/40C
Motherboard idle/load: 30C/40C
GPU idle/load: 25C/45C
SSD idle/load: 20C/25C
HDD idle/load: 30C/40C

This method got me thinking... An externally mounted radiator on the far side of the case, wouldn't be noticeable from my sitting position, nor would it really take up a significantly amount of more space. Partially because, that side of my case is at the edge of the desk, and there is a gap between it and the wall. Also, I could fit a larger, 280mm radiator, and change over to the LTT 140mm Noctua's. Or, I can also mount the radiator to the top panel of the case exterior, which would have a uniquie look, that I'm actually kind of a fan of. If I do either of these methods, and opt to not use fans on the side bracket internally, I can place an internally mounted reservoir and then go back to an idea of a window mod. And this time it would show off a lot more than the original intended window mod. Plus, I'd then be able to mount an NZXT Hue+ and make a nice little light show, based off the window mod. (For all those curious, with the right screws you can mount a 2.5" style device on the rear 92mm fan spot in the NCase M1.) This seems like a very viable option, as it lets me keep all the hardware in the case except the radiator, and would actually make servicing the build much easier, too. I've got a few things I'm planning that may or may not happen, but, for now, I'll shut up and show off some pictures of the progress! Excuse the weird tubing runs, they had to be done that way to allow fitment. And I wasn't aware of my fittings on the GPU being "messed up" until after editing the photos. I fixed those before filling the loop and starting the build, so all is running fine at the moment. Whether or not I'm switching case or not is still quite up in the air.

 

 

[Benji_w]

Urm, your inlet and outlet on the GPU are on the same side... this won't work.

[amvoith]

2 hours ago, Benji_w said:

Urm, your inlet and outlet on the GPU are on the same side... this won't work.

Did you run all your tests with this config?

 

Looks awesome btw. And having an external rad below your desk or behind your setup works great!

[Sazexa]

2 hours ago, Benji_w said:

Urm, your inlet and outlet on the GPU are on the same side... this won't work.

 

31 minutes ago, amvoith said:

Did you run all your tests with this config?

 

Looks awesome btw. And having an external rad below your desk or behind your setup works great!

I mentioned in my post that it was only like that when I did the pictures. I fixed it and set up the look so that the bottom fitting is closer to the pump, or on the right-side inlet.

I won't blame you guys for not seeing that, because my post was a novel. lolol

Also, I'm thinking the externally mounted reservoir would look great, also.

[Infin8]

I had the idea to build in the Ncase cooled by a silent 420 Rad in a Ncase-style casing with a top mounted res at a ~30° angle then I figured that i would be fine with one 120mm thin rad in the front + a 240mm fan on the side, powered by a ddc in the back of the case, for a 970 + 4690k.

I was also looking at the define nano, the manta and the evolv itx, but then figured that i want compactness (is that even a word?) ofer blinginess (I know that is not a word )

[Sazexa]

Mini-update.

Well, it looks as though my temperatures are satisfactory. This is after about two hours of gaming, the temperature peaked, at 67F in the room, with the new silver case panels on!

So, now, we wait for BW-E... I'm also considering re-doing cable management, and using extra space to set up RAID with three Intel 730 SSD's. That'd be a bit over-kill, though, for my needs.

(Large picture warning!)

[Sazexa]

Some eye-candy with a mini-update here.

I've ordered a kit of memory from G. Skill. It's DDR4, 3000 MHz, 14-14-14-34, 1.35V kit. I've also got black EK Monarch heatspreaders to change onto them to make them look better. I've got my silver panels in. So, now, really, all I'm waiting on is the i7-6950X to release. I'll likely change my PSU to the Corsair SF600, but only when I change my GPU. I've been trying to find a way to re-do the weird tubing run in the back left corner of the case, but, I don't think I have enough height clearance to do my intended plan. Lastly, I'm tempted to get a thinner radiator (EK SE 240 (26mm thick)), just to see how it performs. If it were only about 5 degrees warmer, it would be well worth the space savings from using it.

[Heesleemer]

purdy

[Sazexa]

So, the RAM kit came in today. I'll be applying the EK covers to them tonight, as well.

I've ordered some quick-disconnects, Koolance's QD3 with compression fittings attached for my tubing size. I've also ordered a thinner radiator. I want to test how much difference in temperature there is between the 38mm radiator and the 26mm. If I can use the 26mm radiator with no issue heat wise, it would save a tremendous amount of space in the case, and allow for better ventilation.

[Sazexa]

Well, friends, she's almost complete! At least, for the hardware side! I've added a 32GB kit of memory, which runs at 3,000 MHz. From G.Skill, I added EK heatsinks just for aesthetic purposes. Sadly, they wouldn't fit with the EK PE 240 radiator. It was my 90-degree fittings be JUST every so slightly too tall to allow them to fit. But, I wanted to try out EK's thinner SE 240 radiator (240mm * 26mm, vs the PE which is 240mm * 38mm). So I ordered one of those. I also ordered some of Koolance's QD3 quick disconnect fittings. I then re-worked some of the tubing runs to make a bit more sense and take up less space. Initially I was worried about the performance of the SE 240, being a smaller radiator and already pushing so much heat. But, to my surprise, my temperatures haven't really gone up. I think since it's thinner, the case has better natural ventilation. I'm using the same LTT Noctua NF-F12's but now as intake on the EK SE 240. The temperatures now are as good as the exhaust set up with the PE 240. I'd prefer to keep them as intake fans, for positive air pressure and less dust build up inside the M1. But I will test to see how thermals do inside the M1 with the fans set up as exhaust, also. As far as temperatures are coming in at, again, they haven't really changed. At about the same ambient temperature as before (~68 degrees-F, and sometimes a slight bit higher upwards of 71 degrees-F) my temperatures are as follows on idle...

CPU:  28-32C
Motherboard: 35-40C

GPU: 28-30C
SSD: 25C
HDD: 35C

During an AIDA64 load test, it took approximately 35 minutes for my CPU's temperature to stop increasing, but it capped around 50C on all cores, but one. One core reached 53C. Again, this is all with the fans as intake and dumping the warm air back directly ontop of the board/system.

During games, such as Battlefield 4, Doom, and The Division, using the same method as before (ultra settings at 3,440 x 1,440) and gaming for about two hours, which is where temperatures have long since stopped rising, I've gotten temperatures about this range.

CPU: 50-55C
Motherboard: 50C
GPU: 45-50C
SSD: 30-35C
HDD: 45-55C

The HDD does still seem to get a bit warm, but, that's still in it's recommended operating parameters. I don't know if I've mentioned this, but, as far as actual game performance goes, this thing works pretty well. Almost every game runs at max settings at 60+ FPS. Some newer games that are demanding like Doom and The Division I usually get around 45+ FPS. But as far as future plans go, we're looking at nabbing the i7-6950X in the relatively soon future. And then she's pretty much done. With Pascal right around the corner, despite it's appeal, I'm likely going to wait to upgrade the GPU. I'm probably going to wait until a GTX 1280 Ti or something of the sorts releases. This should be, I'd guess, in about two to three years. And if I can get that much life out of the current GTX 980, I'd like to think that I can maybe make another three years on a newer GPU then. After those next 5-6 years, is when I'll likely think about a whole new system. I'm considering switching power supplies to the SF600 still, but, now that the cables are all in place and managed, it's not entirely necessary.

So this will likely be the last bit of hardware photos, aside from maybe the box of the 6950X. I've also moved the fittings on the GPU block, both to be underneath, and used and extension fittings. Cleared up some extra tubing that wasn't needed, and made it much easier to pull the radiator in and out. I hope everyone has enjoyed the progress thus far, but benchmarks will come sooner or later.

[AHaskin14]

Wow! I was hoping my upcoming M1 build would look good but I've got some stiff competition now. Nice job!

[Sazexa]

Well, I hate to disappoint everyone, but this build has been disbanded. After some serious thermal testing, and lack of performance at my resolution, that I'd like, I've decided to go to a larger form factor for better cooling and multi-GPU. I'll make a build log, which references this as it's start, but, the Saiyra build is being retired. I thankfully still have a use for the NCase, and, using some parts recycled from this and old builds, am building a simple/humble gaming rig for my girlfriend to play games like The Sims 4, and other easier to run casual games on. For those interested, the new M1 has the following:

ASUS ROG B150I Gaming/WiFi/Aura
Intel i3-6100

1x8GB G.Skill DDR4 3,200 MHz
XFX Radeon 6950 2GB
Samsung 850 Evo
Silverstone SX-500LG
Noctua NH-D9L cooler

Thanks again everyone; I'll also link the location of the new build log either as an edit to this or in a new reply to the thread.

[amvoith]

That's unfortunate. I thought the AIDA64 and gaming temps you posted before were very reasonable. What happened?