[Max78]

Well, I finally did it, I pulled the trigger on a new system. It's time to retire the 2500k system.

I built a SFF system for my brother-in-law and ever since then I knew that it was going to be my next build!

So here is the parts list that I have, everything is on order.

Case: SilverStone SG13B-Q
Motherboard: ASRock AB350 Gaming-ITX
CPU: R7 1700
Memory: Patriot Viper 4 16GB 3200mhz (on tthe QVL)
Video Card: Power Color Red Devil RX580 8GB
SSD: Crucial MX300 M.2 2280 275GB
HDD: Samsung F3 1TB
PSU: Corsair CX550M (not the old CX series!)

I will be modifying the case to put the PSU in the front with power cable coming out the bottom. Then I plan to make a cover where the psu was supposed to go and mount an intake fan there.

I will be updating this thread as I go along with the build process.

 

[Max78]

And the modifications start!

I test fit the PSU into the case before I actually committed to cutting just to make sure that it will indeed fit where I wanted. I ordered the Corsair PSU because it was 10mm shorter than the Seasonic I was looking at, now that I have the PSU in there and can see how much room I have the Seasonic would have fit without issue

. . .

After a little bending and tweaking here and there I was able to get the PSU tucked up front enough to clear the motherboard.

The remainder of the components will arrive today so I can finish this build up!





I 3D printed a template that would allow me to mark and drill the PSU mounting holes precisely, and then started cutting away!!!



Unibits are amazing at cutting thin sheet metal!









I had to remove the USB connectors because they hit the PSU, I guess i will 3D print myself a new face plate and move the connectors to the top.





I have been looking everywhere for a right angle low profile plug for this thing, but all I can find are inch tall right angle cables!

 

[dancingbear]

Curious, why go with ATX PSU? Wouldn't a SFX PSU given you more space and mounting options? Looks like your motherboard is going to be extremely close to the PSU.

 

[Max78]

I wanted 500w or more so I had room to overclock both my CPU and Video card, and all the good quality SFX PSU I found are $85+, I got the Corsair for $35. . .

It would have been nice to have the extra room from the SFX, but the ATX fits although just barely.

 

[Max78]

Assembly continued.









I had to bend the bottom flange flat to clear the graphics card. It was a very close fit!











I currently use a book to level it out untill I can get my 3d printing software installed and start working on feet and fan mounts
But i have not given up on getting a lower profile cable!

 

[Max78]

I went ahead and mounted my 1TB drive temporarley so I have access to all my 3D printing software.

Also using a book to level the system out till I can get my feet printed. lol. . . .

 

[Max78]

i managed to get a lot done this weekend.

Printed some feet to keep the case from resting on the PSU cord, which also allowed me to retire my handy leveling book.

I purchased some thin Cooler Master 80mm fans, I test fit them with a temporary mount and found some additional clearing that needed to be done. After verifying that everything would fit after some bending I designed and printed a proper fan shroud. I also found that one motherboard header can control a 3 pin fan, where the other is PWM only so its always full speed.

I spliced the 2 fans together so they would both run off of the same motherboard header that allowed speed control. I thought about ordering a Y connector, but decided to just cut it! I think it came out a little cleaner that way, but I left WAY too much heat-shrink on the connector end of the cable assembly. I might clean that up later down the road. At first I installed the fan to the wrong header, so the last set of pictures are the correct header.

Now I need to figure out what I want to do with the front of the case, extend it to fit my HDD and USB headers, or do something else.

 

[Max78]

Got a new toy! Noctua NF-F12 3000rpm.

I'm going to play with it a little, but I think this is going to be my new heat-sink fan.

It currently wont fit at all, even if I rotate the HDD sideways, so I have started drawing a new front cover for the case that will accept the 3.5" drive. I have been playing with the idea of making it hot swap-able but I'm not sure yet.

My thoughts are currently remove the stock fan on the heat-sink, build a mount that will place the F12 at the top of the case so it has access to fresh air, then print a funnel to guide the fresh air to the heat-sink.

I plan to test both airflow directions. Some people have said sucking hot air off the HS lowered all temps including VRM so I figure its worth a test to see what happens in my case.

 

[FstokA]

Good stuff dude.

* what's the printer?
* how's the temps?
* where the fans move the air? out or in
* there is 90 deg power supply plug you know.
* did you get a backpack for the glories case?
* some pic in the dark for the sweet ryzen fan.

This is a refreshing post, with some skills involved.
I might just follow your steps.

 

[Max78]

Good stuff dude.

* what's the printer?
* how's the temps?
* where the fans move the air? out or in
* there is 90 deg power supply plug you know.
* did you get a backpack for the glories case?
* some pic in the dark for the sweet ryzen fan.

This is a refreshing post, with some skills involved.
I might just follow your steps.

Thanks!

The printer is a a cheap Anet A8 with some reinforcement to reduce frame wobble, new belts and tension system, mosfet for the heated bed, and that's about it. Super happy with the print quality that I'm able to get out of it, it produces better parts than our Taz 5 and 2 Taz 6 we have at work.

Temps on the computer are ok. If I max all the fans the CPU reaches 78° while gaming, if I use my aggressive fan curve it will hit a max of 80°. My GPU during games is dumping massive amounts of hot air into the system, when I stress the CPU and only the CPU it only hits 65° to 70°.

The current fan configuration is pulling air into the system, After I install the Noctua I might look at switching them around to exhaust the hot air. I have a couple test's I want to try to see what works best.

I am currently using a 90 degree power cord, I would like to find a low profile one that will allow the case to sit closer to the desk but every one I see online is approximately 1" tall which is what I currently have. The ones that look low profile have comments about receiving a different plug than pictured that is 1" tall.

I do have a backpack that it fits into quite nicely, I will have to take a picture, lol! I have thought about talking it on field service when I go, but don't trust the airport to not lose or damage my stuff.

When I get the system all done I will have to take some better pictures of it. Maybe I will re-purpose the Ryzen fan where it can be on display. . . Thanks for the idea!

If you do end up doing something similar and have any questions I'm more than happy to help!

 

[FstokA]

Thanks for the offer, such a creative build.

Can you move the PSU up a little with 3d printed support under it, it may help with the PSU main cable. OR just open the PSU and mod the female connector with the cable directly and put it inside the PSU unit, then get a cable extender to the side of the case (just day dreaming here)

like this: https://imgur.com/a/zMpSH

You could 3D print a barrier around the GPU to isolate it from the rest of the case, then put a 40x40 fan at the end of GPU to help extract hot air.

like this: https://imgur.com/a/BELcJ

______________________________________________________
"so mush room for activities"

 

[Max78]

I thought about elevating the PSU but it currently sits under the top rail, I might see if I can simply bend that rail to clear the PSU, but then I'm not sure I will have enough room for all the cables to sit on top. There are also rivets towards the front of the case and I'm not sure the PSU will clear them, I will have to look at that.

When I extend the front cover I could see if I could stuff the cables in front of the PSU to keep the clutter off the top allowing me to elevate it and get that plug a little closer to the bottom of the case.

I could also make room on top by shortening the cables , and I could modify the power plug at that time, but I don't think I'm quite ready to void my warranty. I might keep an eye out for a good deal on a fully modular PSU though.

I think I'm going to get the F12 in there and see what that does to temps but I was thinking the same thing about making a barrier. I need to remove my temporary HDD mount because that blocks a lot of airflow from the GPU and funnels it towards the CPU, then I will probably cut an opening in the cover lengthwise following the GPU about 1 or 2 inches wide and either form or print a barrier to promote flow out of the case. I also think I need more opening on the fan side of the GPU.

Putting a 40x40 fan towards the front of the GPU is a good idea, I will look into that. Maybe I can re-purpose the Ryzen fan there somehow, lol.

Thanks for all the ideas! It's helped me re-evaluate how I want to go about doing this!

 

[FstokA]

After second thought regard the psu, there might not be much to do. In fact the top space is perfect for cable management. Just after some time, you could open it and fiddle with it.

Not sure which cpu cooler you installed, but how about printing a separator between the 2 fan that extend a bit as in pic, then make one fan intake and one vents. This will force the case air circulation.

http://www.overclock.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=78641&thumb=1

If the gpu temps are 80, it's fine, I wouldn't cut the case. the 40x40 fans might help imo if it were vent out of the case to help with the mess that the gpu fans makes.

 

[Max78]

The problem that I see there is with the rear fans being so close together and not having a rear divider the intake fan will recirculate the exhaust fans warm air reducing efficiency.

Thats kind of why I was thinking of having the top fan also act as the intake, and have the rear fans act as exhaust. I might also reverse that, rear fans be intake and top exhaust. I want to do testing to see what works best.

The CPU at completely stock speeds is running at 80° in games because of all the hot air the GPU is dumping into the case. This Wraith spire will keep the cpu at 65° to 70° in a well ventilated case. That would allow me to overclock the CPU to some extent. I believe people say the stock cooler can handle 80watts or 3.6ghz on all cores I think, and that's what I would like to aim for.

 

[FstokA]

Maaan.. i can tell you're having loads of fun with this build.

Waiting impatiently for testing results.

 

[Max78]

I think I have a design that I'm comfortable with.

I moved the USB and audio ports to the top, it seemed like the best place to put them with everything else going on in there. It should use the original power and reset switch assembly, I might have to print a new power button cap but we will see. There are a couple points for cable management.

The cover has been extended approximately .625" to accommodate the hard drive, as much that I would like to ditch it I need the storage and cant afford a large SSD.

I added some ventilation to the front of the cover right where the video card sits, there's space for either 4 40mm fans, or 2 60mm fans with a max depth of 20mm. I also might toss in some red LED's to add a little character. There are no mounting points in the cover for the fans, I will make a separate fan cage to hold everything if I think I need them.

Please excuse the very amateur renderings, I have absolutely no experience with Keyshot or any rendering programs.

There are a couple of overhangs, but my bridging is pretty good so we will see how it works out.

 

[FstokA]

does the 3d printer gives you any hardships ?

you can just install 1 or 2 fans and close the rest of the openings.

 

[Max78]

The printer from day one has been trouble free, I'm on a forum dedicated to these and I see a lot of people have issues that are assembly related, It comes as a pile of parts. Failing to secure the wires is a really big one, as a result the heater cartridge pulls out of the hotend and has started some fires.

Here is a figure I printed with it. The base is the size of a quarter for reference.

I could block off all vents except for those that have fans on them but I'm going to see if it makes an improvement in passive cooling first with all vents open.

I'm currently lying to my printer to make it work. The part is wider than my heatbed by 1/8" so I put an aggressive chamber that allows it to fit, but now I'm running into physical limitation issues! GAH, SO CLOSE!!!

 

[FstokA]

try printing diagonally with the model standing .

 

[Max78]

I got everything fitting and working. I wanted avoid standing it up because that would be a nightmare of support material.

I also have one printing at my work and we will see which one turns out better.