Retro Rocket

[sikari2015]

Hello. Several years ago I embarked on a fun adventure of installing a brand new mini ITX motherboard with Intel CPU and Nvidia graphics card into an old IBM PC300GL mATX case. It's beige and has cool angles with purple highlights. This beast I decided to call...

 

Retro Rocket.

 

Now this wasn't the first time I'd used this case for a build, but it had sat empty for a few years and I was missing the classic IBM stylings. So in 2014 I purchased the following parts to build a brand new computer inside an old hospital computer case.

 

Motherboard - MSI Z87i

CPU - Intel Xeon E3-1230 v3

RAM - G.Skill Sniper F3 DDR3-1866MHz 16GB

GPU - Asus Direct CU II GTX 760

SSD - Adata Premier Pro SP900 256GB

HDD - WD Green 2TB

Optical - Pioneer 16x Blu-Ray Writer

PSU - Silverstone 450W 80 Plus Gold SFX

Cooler - Antex Kuhler H2O 650 AIO

OS - Windows 7 Pro 64 bit

 

This little wonderbeast worked well for me for almost a year, then the Antec Kuhler failed and I had to use the stock Intel HSF. To my surprise the little Xeon was running well with the stock HSF and it was a year later that I installed a Cryorig C7 SFF cooler. It improved the CPU cooling (which I had overclocked as much as a Xeon could on Z87) by a comfortable 5-10 degrees celcius so I was happy.

 

Fast forward to January this year and the upgrade bug had bitten, and bitten hard. I wanted to get more out of my Retro Rocket so I spent about 2 months tracking down the best value CPU and GPU upgrades I could. The Retro Rocket was given new boost with the installation of an i7-4770k overclocked to 4.2GHz and an Asus GTX 970 with blower style cooler, as there was little ventilation in the case. The Cryorig C7 did an adequate job on the 4770k, if full load temps of 75+ degrees celcius is adequate.

 

Even though  the GTX 970 had a blower style cooler it was still heating up the tiny, solid steel case like an oven under full loads. The 970 itself would regularly sit at 80-82 degrees celcius when gaming (at 3840x2160 mind you :P)

 

Having used an AIO cooler before I began considering water cooling, but the GTX 970 was much longer than the 760 I first installed, so I HAD to include a GPU water block if I were to install any kind of radiator inside the case to maintain the classic IBM look from the outside. Lucky me, I found clearance stock of an EK Water Block for the GTX 970. It was destiny.

 

So, as it sits today, with all the upgrades the Retro Rocket contains the following ingredients...

 

Motherboard - MSI Z87i

CPU - Intel i7-4770k overlocked to 4.2GHz - Delidded and TIM replaced with Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut liquid metal

RAM - G.Skill Sniper F3 DDR3-1866MHz 16GB

GPU - Asus GTX 970 with EK water block - again using Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut liquid metal

SSD - Sandisk Ultra II 960GB

HDD - Toshiba 3TB

Optical - Removed

PSU - Silverstone 600W 80 Plus Gold SFX

Cooler - Fractal Design Kelvin T12 - Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut liquid metal, expanded to include GPU loop, two 120mm fans in push/pull ocnfiguration drawing in cool air form the front.

OS - Windows 10 Pro 64 bit

 

So were the recent cooling upgrades worth it? Yes, yes they were. After 4 hours of playing GTA Online at 1080p 60Hz with High settings, I averaged 95fps and the average Max CPU temp was 62 degrees, and GPU was 59 degrees.

 

I experimented with various fan flow directions and found the best results were drawing in fresh air through the radiator from the front of the case, rather than expelling air out of the front. With the case open there is an average of 8 degrees celcius difference in favour of the radiator intake setup. 

 

Now a problem I'm experiencing, but have plans to mitigate, is with the case closed the radiator starts to get heat soak, and the temperatures spike to over 75 degrees on both CPU and GPU. This is why I experimented with making the radiator exhaust out the front instead of intake. With the case closed the exhaust radiator setup only stayed 2-3 degrees cooler than the intake setup, making a negligble difference. I will experiment with mounting a 140mm fan behind the top 5.25" drive bay, which has a retro style fan grille on already, and I will see how the 140mm performs as exhaust and intake to help prevent heat soak. I'm also going to install one of those PCI slot blowers, oh yeah!

 

TLDR = Photos!

 

[NoxiousOdor]

I clicked agree but I meant a thumbs up.

 

That is pretty neat, Other than that back fan opening that is pretty sweet nice job

[sikari2015]

The PCI slot? I had a cover, was just too lazy to put it back in. It's a PITA and considering in a week or two I'm installing the PCI blower the hole will be filled.

 

Oh, and the hole in the front was originally cut for the 140mm fan, so the 120mm radiator looks a bit out of place. Plus, it's super thick steel and the metal nibbler was difficult to get good corners.  It's all hidden when assembled so noone can see the hole anyway.  

[sikari2015]

Millimeters of perfection clearance with the EKWB and Fractal T12.

 

[TheCamba]

Love the stencil.

[kelvinhall05]

This is my kind of build

[sikari2015]

On 8/9/2017 at 9:44 PM, TheCamba said:

Love the stencil.

Dr Horrible FTW