[Aleckazee]

Apollyon

Preface
The purpose of this build is to set myself a challenge, build a portable gaming rig and to conduct my year 12 research project on it. This is also my first build log so go easy on me!

I sort of cheated with this build log because I already received all the parts for the build. Initially I bought the case, motherboard and sleeving to see how it would all fit, and to start sleeving. Then I bought the cooling but couldn't install it because a. my PSU blew up and b. I didn't realize I need 3/8" tubing for the pump. So after saving up a bit more cash I bought 3/8 barbs, tubing and a new psu. I used a temporary psu to do some very basic tests in terms of temperatures and noise with stock air cooling in the mean time.

What I'm trying to achieve
Performance wise I'm after a rig that will be able to play the latest games with decent FPS. It will be occasionally transported for lan parties and so on, and this is one of the reasons I chose such a small case. I'll also be using it for photo (maybe a bit of video) editing, and apart from that I just want a snappy/responsive computer.

In terms of cooling I'm aiming to achieve temperatures which are better than stock air cooling. Hopefully I'll be able to keep both the CPU and GPU under 70c while gaming. To make things even harder for myself, I want a silent, or near silent computer. Of course fan speed will be an issue here but I am much more worried about the pump. Fan wise, I'm replacing every fan (including the psu) with a noctua.

Parts list
Silverstone SG05 450W Gold Full Modular
ASRock Z77E-ITX Mini
Intel i5 2500k - Already own
EVGA GTX 560 Ti - Already own (it will have to do for now)
Intel x25-m 160GB - Already own
Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 8GB
Heatkiller full coverage GTX 560 Block - Already own
Clear 3/8" tubing
3/8 barbs
Heatkiller Rev3.0 CPU Block
XSPC EX120
EK Laing DDC-12v Pump
Swiftech Micro Res
x2 Noctua NF-F12
Noctua NF-B9
Sleeving from MDPC

Photos coming soon!

 

[Aleckazee]

Group photo. Minus the case and I won't be using those compression fittings



Size of the motherboard compared to an iphone







80 Gold Full modular power supply





Sleeving from mdpc



















I'm a bit of a fan

 

[Aleckazee]

Some shots of it with air cooling. can't believe I didn't take one with the psu and gpu in at the same time

too late now.



using tx650 while I waited for new psu



temps! The case cover was on for the tests (and I still had the original psu installed). I ran prime95 for 10 minutes (it reached those temps after about 8 minutes and stopped it because I didn't want to run it that hot too long. Please also note that this was done right after the thermal paste was applied so I didn't give it time to "set", I'm guessing they would be around 5c if not 10c lower (that's about how much my laptop dropped after freshly applied thermal set).
Then I ran Xtreme in-burn for once again 10 or so minutes. once it reached 90c it didn't go up for a while. They were just quick tests, just to get an idea of temperature difference between air and water.

 

[Aleckazee]

Water cooling temps

10 Minute test to compare with 10 minute air temp test


And a full test


This is obviously a temporary setup. Next I'll be sleeving, just need to work out what's happening with the psu first. After that I'll secure the pump and res in place.

 

[Aleckazee]

reserved

 

[Aleckazee]

reserved

 

[barkinos98]

subbed! i love itx builds

 

[Aleckazee]

thanks, i'll have a few more pics up and temps tomorrow

 

[Aleckazee]

I've got the temp tests done for stock air cooling (amazing temps. amazingly high that is.) anyway, the new PSU I bought is making the exact same crackling sound as the first psu I had (which blew up). I turned the computer off right away. WHAT IS GOING ON!?!? I haven't tampered with the psu at all, I've changed power cords and plugs but the crackling continues. Is there anything on the actual hardware side itself that could be causing this?

EDIT: I don't know if this helps but when I was using my TX650 as a temporary psu, it made the crackling noise sometimes when it was plugged into the power board but not at all when it was plugged directly into the wall.

 

[Aleckazee]

anyone?

 

[Emissary of Pain]

subbed ...

 

[Aleckazee]

Thanks!

I added air temps

 

[Aleckazee]

I've been trying to work out what's wrong with my psu(s). I found that plugging it into this: stopped the crackling, it's been a few hours now so I'm pretty confident that fixed it. I find it strange as to why it would crackle when plugged directly into the wall.

Water cooling photos and temperatures are coming soon!

But for now...

Standard psu compared to sfx (that was my first psu which blew up)



loop coming together. I was worried about the barbs leaking because of some of the tight bends but the tubing was quite tight and it also has a good bend radius.



Turned out to be a perfect fit with a push/pull config on the radiator. There's about a 10mm gap between the fan and 24-pin.

 

[She loved E]

that is a beautiful build sir.

elegant routing of tube for such a small case. also way to make noctua brown look classy (not easily done).

 

[ghostrider85]

that is awesome man, good job

 

[WiSK]

That looks great

Could we see more pics of how you mounted the pump?

 

[Aleckazee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by She loved E

that is a beautiful build sir.

elegant routing of tube for such a small case. also way to make noctua brown look classy (not easily done).

Quote:

Originally Posted by ghostrider85

that is awesome man, good job

thanks

. You haven't seen what I have in stock for those fans yet

well actually you have, I got the sandy vanilla sleeving to match up with the fans, should look good once it's done.

Water temps are in!

As stated before, I only ran the air temp test for 10 minutes because I didn't want to run it that hot for too long. So to make a fair comparison I did a 10 minute water temp test too, and then a full test as well.

10 minute test results:


And full test:


Looks like I have room for overclocking! This was running prime95 and MSI Burn-In as well so I don't think the temps will reach that high if I'm just gaming.

On a side note I'm going to have to send my PSU back. The crackling was insane when I put it under load. Strange thing is that I'm the only one that can hear it. I asked a few people if they can hear it and all of them said no but I am 500% sure that I can hear it. My question is if I sleeve the cables (they are modular) will I void my warranty and will I have to send the cables back together with the PSU? Also, is it possible that this is just a normal sound coming from the psu? I find it strange that a second, brand new PSU would be crackling. To me it sounds like crackling, and it's actually very annoying, I can clearly hear it when I'm on the computer sitting 1 meter away.

 

[WiSK]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aleckazee

My question is if I sleeve the cables (they are modular) will I void my warranty and will I have to send the cables back together with the PSU? Also, is it possible that this is just a normal sound coming from the psu? I find it strange that a second, brand new PSU would be crackling. To me it sounds like crackling, and it's actually very annoying, I can clearly hear it when I'm on the computer sitting 1 meter away.

They can ask for the original cables back if you RMA, so hold off sleeving them until you fix the PSU issue. (Although I think you can just "forget" the cables and they will probably still fix your PSU. Problem comes if you want a refund instead.)
Quote:

Originally Posted by Aleckazee

EDIT: I don't know if this helps but when I was using my TX650 as a temporary psu, it made the crackling noise sometimes when it was plugged into the power board but not at all when it was plugged directly into the wall.

If I understand this all correctly and looking at your exploding PSU thread, if 3 different models of PSU are making this same crackling sound, then I would first have your house wiring examined.

 

[Aleckazee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by WiSK

That looks great

Could we see more pics of how you mounted the pump?

For now the pump is simply resting sideways at the bottom of the case. I'm not sure how I'll be mounting it yet but I'll do it soon

EDIT: I'm also a bit concerned about the noise coming from it. I already undervolted it to 7v and the noise level is pretty decent but the pump is making a bit of a grinding noise coming from it. I seriously don't think it's abnormal but it's a bit noticeable.

 

[Aleckazee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by WiSK

They can ask for the original cables back if you RMA, so hold off sleeving them until you fix the PSU issue. (Although I think you can just "forget" the cables and they will probably still fix your PSU. Problem comes if you want a refund instead.)
If I understand this all correctly and looking at your exploding PSU thread, if 3 different models of PSU are making this same crackling sound, then I would first have your house wiring examined.

shhhhhait! Is it possible for the issue to be only in my room? In a different room I couldn't hear it.