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[Build log] Node 304 + Silver Arrow

10K views 30 replies 13 participants last post by  Anusha 
#1 ·
So I'm living up 2 flights of stairs this year for uni and having a PC weighing like 10kg and almost as big as me was not going to work out. mITX to the rescue I guess.

And then I thought it would be funny to put the baddest cooler in it for OCs and giggles.

I would like to thank the guy who lives across the hall from me for aiding in the building of this and not being put off by my endless cussing. I made dinner for him.

This is my second build ever (my first was like 5 years ago too) so please be gentle :d

THE PARTS



Node 304
3570k
Silver Arrow
P8H77-I which was promptly replaced by a P8Z77-I once I realised it ruined literally everything
4GB of some crappy crucial ram
EVGA GTX 650 (chose a stump card so I use whatever psu I want)
be quiet! straight power 480w
Corsair force F60 SSD and a bunch of hard drives from my old pc

THE BUILD

Before we start: god damn building in a case this small blows and why are all the screws so tight holy crap you can't call those thumbscrews

Ok it wasn't so bad. Except for the motherboard standoffs which I needed to spanner in after leaving them 2mm out of the board then realising none of the ports on the back lined up because of it. srsly why fractal

The heatsink mounting mechanism was absolutely disgusting as to be expected from any cooler ever. I did like how there were long nut things you could attach the backplate with before putting the heatsink though because that made it a lot less nightmarish than it could have been.

The thing on the side of the motherboard didn't get in the way of the heatsink but it did limit my fan choice to only having the 120mm one (the 140mm won't go in normally because it covers the PCI slot and it won't go in sideways because of the thing) . It also meant I had to use the clips for the large fan on that side and they proper bend (2nd image) which is a bit worrying.

We needed 2 people to get the last screw in too because of it. Someone holding the screwdriver upright and someone else using their fingertips to turn the screw...




Thanks to miracles from asus you can use a cooler almost as wide as the mobo, then have a graphics card too...



Having a second 120mm fan on the heatsink is a no go too since they hit the DIMMs (maybe not on samsung green ram) and you'd have to put your drives elsewhere (using backwards SSDs in the cages might work)

And here it is in the case:


PUT THE MOTHERBOARD POWER CONNECTORS IN AT THIS POINT BECAUSE THEY'RE LITERALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO PUT IN AFTER THE PSU GOES IN

Also put the front panel stuff in before the GPU
Also put the CPU fan connector in the CPU fan slot and not the chassis one or the motherboard cries every time you turn it on (they are right next to each other...) and good luck changing it after the mobo goes in

edit: connect the CPU fan right or it won't spin up under load. Changing it while everything is in is doable but I have little girly hands so YMMV

Same thing from the other side:


GPU goes in easily enough except for the world's tightest thumbscrew to remove the backplates GOOD GOD FRACTAL. You can also fit all the drive cages in with the 650 because it's so small so I plan on mounting my 3rd drive here as it doesn't block the CPU fan so much.

The bottom PSU screw was kind of awful because I only had a fat screwdriver with the right head so I had to hold it at an angle then the screw kept going in sideways and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

I a little bit forgot to keep taking pictures at this point so let's skip to having basically everything in:


And here it is booting:


After selecting the silent (600rpm) profile for the CPU fan in the bios, putting the case fans on low and putting my finger on the GPU fan it's virtually silent. Then when I let the GPU fan spin up it's the loudest PC I've owned, but I'm hoping this will be remedied by installing drivers so they keep the fan speed on a tight leash.

I don't have any proper measurements for temps yet because I put my old HDD in and windows immediately BSODed on me and I couldn't be bothered to reinstall last night but after like 10mins in the bios the CPU was at <30'C. Real measurements will be coming later this weekend. Also overclocking results.

THINGS TO TAKE AWAY FROM THIS

The resulting build is actually not light at all but the size means it's not unwieldy so that shouldn't really matter. Will practice carrying it up and down stairs once it's done and report back.
You can actually have a silver arrow and mITX provided that you buy the most expensive motherboard ever because it's the only one with the CPU slot far enough from the PCI slot
GTX 650 is the perfect size for this case
Buy thin/long screwdrivers for the fiddly screws and ones with beefy handles for the stupid tight screws if you're going to do this.
 
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8
#3 ·
I feel like if I didn't have bulletproof guitar fingers that it would be the case.

Some initial temps:
GPU idles at 22'C with the fan speed permanently at 21% which for whatever reason is still loud as hell and I can't make it go any lower and I hate it
CPU idles at 24-34'C which makes me think I mounted the heatsink badly but I'm more than happy to just deal with it.

If anyone can come up with a better solution to the GPU fan thing than taping it so it can't spin I'd love to hear it.

edit: temps while playing hon

GPU 30'C
CPU 40'C on 2 cores then 30'C on the others

edit2:

GPU 35'C, CPU same
 
#6 ·
Sounds like there's something wrong. I just checked my 3770k at 4.5Ghz with a Silver Arrow in Linpack (on my big PC) and it is in the mid 60s. Having only one fan shouldn't make that much difference, particularly with the Fractal fan immediately behind it. Perhaps you didn't tighten the locking nut enough. It might be worth reinstalling the heatsink.

Still, I'm impressed that you've got the Silver Arrow on it at all. I couldn't get a Noctua C12P SE14 to work in mine, and am just about to try a Prolimatech Megahalems. I also need to fit in my GTX 690.
 
#8 ·
Sorry for double post...

But I put the CPU fan connector in the CPU slot and not the chassis one and it now actually spins up under load. I didn't notice this not happen earlier because I can't monitor fan speeds from linux and even spun up it's basically inaudible over the GPU which I am RMAing for being absolutely ridiculous.

So the CPU now hits 60'C when linpacking, although 1 core is consistently hotter (6-7'C) than the others. I did notice also that one of the heatpipes is actually in contact with a cap on the big sticky up thing on the mobo so it's slanted by a degree or two, which I guess is what's causing that.

Anyway, OC time :d
 
#9 ·
Hi guys,

I'm trying to replace my NH-D14 on node 304, because I want to fit one of those 26.5 cm Thermalright fan instead of 25 cm SS R2 on main case exhaust. With NH-D14 I can't do this, as there is not enough clearance between radiator and R2. What about Silver Arrow? From the picture it seems like there is not enough clearance as well
frown.gif
Maybe I should just get non-U shaped radiator like HR-02 Macho, am I gonna get enough clearance to replace back fan? What do you think?
 
#10 ·
I don't know what a lot of those words mean but if you want any photos or measurements taken I can provide
tongue.gif


edit: OC results!

With auto voltages I can get 4.2GHz which hits ~85'C after 30mins of linpack (95'C on one of the cores though). Hopefully tuning the voltage will let me go further because this is kind of disappointing, even with the case fans on low...

 
#13 ·
Struggling with my overclock...

Seems fine at 4.2GHz on -0.015V offset, sits at around 70-75'C in linpack and CPU-Z says 1.16V, but increasing to 4.3 seems to ruin everything - crashing at +0.015 offset and 1.216 in CPU-Z... any suggestions?

edit: just kidding WHEA errors... bumping up to -0.01
 
#17 ·
Couldn't get any higher than 4.2 without temps getting obscene and garbage voltages and I'm getting ready to RMA my graphics card for the second time (fan is obscene...). Going to try a galaxy card because their rep here was representing in my other thread pretty hard.

On the bright side I had no problems at all carrying it down the stairs when I left uni and SSDs are super fun.
 
#18 ·
mikejsavage, thanks for your photos! Actually your build log convinced me to build something very similar for my new home PC (w/o video, don't need it for photos). Could you answer several questions?

1. RAM clearance with SilverArrow - is there any space above the first RAM slot? Can I fit memory module with radiator or only low-profile ones? Need 2x8GB and they all seem to have medium or tall heatsinks.


2. Can I put HDD in front of SilverArrow, is there sufficient space for SATA-cable? Or only for L-shaped? (will put there 2x2.5" and 2x3.5" drives)

3. How quiet is the system?I'm looking at SilverArrow (or Noctua NH-D14,or Phanteks PH-TC14. Not sure about Thermalright 140mm True Spirit) to run it on low revs in near silent mode.

4. Are you still pleased with the system overall and Node304/SilverArrow/motherboard particularly?
smile.gif
 
#19 ·
1: You def won't fit huge ram like that. A dimm with an exposed pcb MIGHT go in with the chips touching the heatsink blades.

2: I have a normal SATA cable on an SSD infront of the silver arrow right now. I'd upload a photo but I'm too garbage at this camera business to take one that close where you can see anything so you'll just have to take my word :<

I think a HDD might fit with a straight cable if you put it in the middle where the heatsink gets thinner but it would be super tight if it did go.

3: The case itself is inaudible. The silver arrow makes a kind of deep hum but it's not so bad.

The GTX 650 is totally worthless and sounds like a hair drier on min fan speed to the point that I returned it as faulty then the replacement was just as obnoxious and now if I want a replacement I have to ship it to munich or some crap so ugh...

4: I feel like the more expensive motherboard/heatsink wasn't worth it for such a small overclock (I was hoping for 4.4/4.5), the graphics card being so loud is annoying and I don't really notice the SSD since I spend all my time in terminals but other than that I'm happy with it.
 
#21 ·
Thanks for feedback!
Quote:
Originally Posted by mikejsavage View Post

1: You def won't fit huge ram like that. A dimm with an exposed pcb MIGHT go in with the chips touching the heatsink blades.
Aparently there is not much of 8GB modules capable of 1866MHz and higher without huge heatsink.
frown.gif


Don't worry about quality of photos. Even bad and blurry picture from cameraphone could be very self explanatory
smile.gif

Quote:
Originally Posted by mikejsavage
3: The case itself is inaudible. The silver arrow makes a kind of deep hum but it's not so bad.
I'm just thinking whether Silver Arrow is overkill for such system or not. Looking at big radiators/coolers as they should work with lower revs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mikejsavage
The GTX 650 is totally worthless and sounds like a hair drier on min fan speed to the point that I returned it as faulty then the replacement was just as obnoxious and now if I want a replacement I have to ship it to munich or some crap so ugh...
I'm just going to start with build-in video. Don't play games, so should be OK
smile.gif
(I have it in my laptop and it's quite OK. Even compared to nVidia Quadro k2000m
smile.gif
)
Quote:
Originally Posted by mikejsavage
4: I feel like the more expensive motherboard/heatsink wasn't worth it for such a small overclock (I was hoping for 4.4/4.5), the graphics card being so loud is annoying and I don't really notice the SSD since I spend all my time in terminals but other than that I'm happy with it.
With mb the problem is socket location. Was looking at cheaper Gigabyte and Asrock, but they fill fit only much smaller heatsink -> higher revs -> more noise. And the only other MB with proper CPU socket position (EVGA) costs even more, significantly more (at least in the UK).
Quote:
Originally Posted by brian1115 View Post

I personally would have gone with a liquid cooling solution for more space inside the case. As well as a Bitfenix Prodigy because it has handles and you can carry it up/down your stairs when needed
smile.gif
Initially I was going to buy Prodigy, but it is BIG! And I don't need 5.25 bay. Just want a small and quite computer with fast processor, lots of memory and storage for photos (raw conversion) and rare video editing.
But for ultimate gaming station Prodigy would be a nice choice indeed.

From the other side, for liquid cooling you still need one or two fans, huge radiator and pump. So you are not reducing the number of fans (speaking about this type of systems, with no or moderate overclock) and bring another source of noise - pump. And if you think about physics, heat-pipe based cooler (like SilverArrow) will be extremely similar to liquid cooling, in a way how it works - it also has liquid inside tubes that takes the heat from its source and brings it to radiator where it dissipates by itself or flow of air.
 
#22 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by DimaV83 View Post

From the other side, for liquid cooling you still need one or two fans, huge radiator and pump. So you are not reducing the number of fans (speaking about this type of systems, with no or moderate overclock) and bring another source of noise - pump. And if you think about physics, heat-pipe based cooler (like SilverArrow) will be extremely similar to liquid cooling, in a way how it works - it also has liquid inside tubes that takes the heat from its source and brings it to radiator where it dissipates by itself or flow of air.
Not completely correct on the liquid cooling, you could go a closed loop like the H60 and get excellent cooling with more space to work in and less fans than you have in the system right now. No CPU cooler fan needed just replaced the exhaust with the radiator and it's fan.
 
#23 ·
Hey Mike,
I'm starting a build for a Z87 ITX system and I happened to decide on the same case. Your build is quite inspiring as I am a big fan of Thermalright coolers.

With SA SB-E i noticed you had two problems. First is quite manageable I think, which is the fan clips on the VRM board side (please still let me know how badly the middle fan mounts with the larger clips).

The second one though is more concerning, when you said "I did notice also that one of the heatpipes is actually in contact with a cap on the big sticky up thing on the mobo so it's slanted by a degree or two, which I guess is what's causing that." Now, how bad is the contact? I mean, is it just touching, or is it seriously resting on it with some significant force?

Also, I'd be happy if you could update us: You said you had one core hotter than others. This is quite common and it "could" be that it needs a reseating, or reapplication of TIM. Did you have any better results after?

Thanks man!
thumb.gif
 
#24 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by theGryphon View Post

With SA SB-E i noticed you had two problems. First is quite manageable I think, which is the fan clips on the VRM board side (please still let me know how badly the middle fan mounts with the larger clips).


They haven't broken yet...
Quote:
Originally Posted by theGryphon View Post

The second one though is more concerning, when you said "I did notice also that one of the heatpipes is actually in contact with a cap on the big sticky up thing on the mobo so it's slanted by a degree or two, which I guess is what's causing that." Now, how bad is the contact? I mean, is it just touching, or is it seriously resting on it with some significant force?
It's really not much. Again, it's not broken yet
tongue.gif

Quote:
Originally Posted by theGryphon View Post

Also, I'd be happy if you could update us: You said you had one core hotter than others. This is quite common and it "could" be that it needs a reseating, or reapplication of TIM. Did you have any better results after?
My not wanting to do either of those still trumps everything else so I don't have anything to say about this
 
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