Liquid Cooled Node 202 and 1070

[Ljodoin]

Hey all, very new user here. Title really says it all, after scouring YouTube I've found some neat builds with watercooling the processor in a node 202 with AIO coolers paired with cards like an r9 nano to make room for the rad and fan in the space freed up with the smaller card. I'm planning to build with a budget between $1500-$1700 USD. Still unsure of the motherboard and there for memory. The catch with this build lies in the fact that I travel between my home and office very frequently and have an aversion to laptops. By trade I am a graphic designer and love gaming so I'm aiming for an i5 with at least a 1070 or maybe a 1080 budget allowing. The overall goal is to think of different ways to water cool at least the processor, if not both the card and cpu. Does anyone know of a way this could work? I plan on using a single ssd for storage relying on external drive or a NAS. Thoughts? Are there any other cases that would be better suited to this build? Id like to stay with the "slim itx" style htpc cases instead of going for the easier "shoe box" style to fit better in a large chrome messenger bag. I'll post the pc part picker list later tonight.

[wzrd]

22 minutes ago, Ljodoin said:

Hey all, very new user here. Title really says it all, after scouring YouTube I've found some neat builds with watercooling the processor in a node 202 with AIO coolers paired with cards like an r9 nano to make room for the rad and fan in the space freed up with the smaller card. I'm planning to build with a budget between $1500-$1700 USD. Still unsure of the motherboard and there for memory. The catch with this build lies in the fact that I travel between my home and office very frequently and have an aversion to laptops. By trade I am a graphic designer and love gaming so I'm aiming for an i5 with at least a 1070 or maybe a 1080 budget allowing. The overall goal is to think of different ways to water cool at least the processor, if not both the card and cpu. Does anyone know of a way this could work? I plan on using a single ssd for storage relying on external drive or a NAS. Thoughts? Are there any other cases that would be better suited to this build? Id like to stay with the "slim itx" style htpc cases instead of going for the easier "shoe box" style to fit better in a large chrome messenger bag. I'll post the pc part picker list later tonight.

 

I've tried playing around with water cooling a Node 202, but was never quite able to get a full loop in there I'm afraid - there just isn't enough space for radiator real estate to cool both components, even if you did manage everything else. If you did manage it, you would never get a reservoir in there and would have to use a T-line build to fill it, and these are a pain in the ass to bleed and maintain. Not trying to crap on your dreams, I'd love to see it done, but was left scratching my head when I attempted it.

 

You would manage to get an AIO cooler in there though with a mini 1070. Something like Gigabyte's mini 1070 OC would be ideal, as the blower style cooler is ideally suited to mini ITX cases. The most efficient way to do this is to install a thin 120mm AIO over the 120mm fan, I think.

 

If you were willing to consider a shoebox, watercooling the Node 304 is relatively straightforward, and would fit in a good big backpack. Definitely not as elegant is your chrome messenger bag though

 

Let us know how this goes, would be very interested to see it liquid cooled!

[tom_w141]

@Ljodoin

 

This should work for what you want:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-7700 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($294.89 @ NCIX US) 
CPU Cooler: Corsair - H55 57.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($59.88 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: ASRock - H270M-ITX/ac Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($105.89 @ OutletPC) 
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($122.99 @ Best Buy) 
Storage: OCZ - TRION 150 960GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($265.88 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Mini ITX OC Video Card  ($359.99 @ Amazon) 
Case: Fractal Design - Node 202 HTPC Case  ($74.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Power Supply: Silverstone - 500W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular SFX Power Supply  ($94.99 @ Amazon) 
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit  ($30.00) 
Total: $1409.50
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-05-06 20:30 EDT-0400

 

Don't buy an i5 in 2017 they are terrible value and have little to no future proofing, get the unlocked i7 or Ryzen (you'd have to wait though no mini itx ryzen mobos yet), locked i7 because you shouldn't overclock in such a small form factor case (and the latest from intel says not to overclock the 7700k lmao!), there are no 1080s small enough sorry because of the rad so had to use the tiny 1070 mini. Went for a large SSD because budget allowed and to save space having 1 large SSD instead of small SSD + 2.5" HDD.

 

Btw no chance is there room to water cool the GPU too sorry.

 

 

[Ljodoin]

1 hour ago, tom_w141 said:

@Ljodoin

 

This should work for what you want:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-7700 3.6GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($294.89 @ NCIX US) 
CPU Cooler: Corsair - H55 57.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($59.88 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: ASRock - H270M-ITX/ac Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($105.89 @ OutletPC) 
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($122.99 @ Best Buy) 
Storage: OCZ - TRION 150 960GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($265.88 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: Gigabyte - GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Mini ITX OC Video Card  ($359.99 @ Amazon) 
Case: Fractal Design - Node 202 HTPC Case  ($74.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Power Supply: Silverstone - 500W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular SFX Power Supply  ($94.99 @ Amazon) 
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit  ($30.00) 
Total: $1409.50
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-05-06 20:30 EDT-0400

 

Don't buy an i5 in 2017 they are terrible value and have little to no future proofing, get the unlocked i7 or Ryzen (you'd have to wait though no mini itx ryzen mobos yet), locked i7 because you shouldn't overclock in such a small form factor case (and the latest from intel says not to overclock the 7700k lmao!), there are no 1080s small enough sorry because of the rad so had to use the tiny 1070 mini. Went for a large SSD because budget allowed and to save space having 1 large SSD instead of small SSD + 2.5" HDD.

 

Btw no chance is there room to water cool the GPU too sorry.

 

 

This is actually the same video that sparked my interest in a build like this! Thanks for the advice form both of you. I'm not new to building but my experience goes about as far as upgrading pretty standard set ups back in like 2007. It would be interesting to solve the issues caused with the amount of space a full loop would entail with a possible mod to the case moving the reservoir, pump and maintenance connections outside of the case But that's more in depth than I want to go with this build haha. In all reality I may end up air cooling the case but the build is far enough out where throwing these ideas around seemed fun. I'll keep updating the post as I find more information.

[Ljodoin]

Thinking about checking this case out as well.. 

 

http://www.mountainmods.com/itx-trg-p-753.html