[JR23]

Welcome to my long enduring project, Chocolate Box. The ethos remains unchanged despite many upgrades as hardware generations come and go. Defined by the unique combination of custom watercooling and traditional air cooling, alongside the desire to produce a truly original small form factor solution.

Phase I - 31 October 2014 to 20 August 2015

Spoiler: Overview and Spec

The first iteration of Chocolate Box was one of the earliest Parvum X1.0 samples, my second watercooled build and a continuous progression of my building and presentation skills. Once the case was set the defining idea was to use a traditional CPU heatisnk in conjunction with custom cooling on the GPU, after all the CPU is a far less significant thermal load and that decision informed everything that followed. From the hardware down to the colours.

Case - Custom Parvum X1.0
CPU - Intel i5-4440
Motherboard - EVGA Z97 Stinger
RAM - HyperX Fury 1600C9 2x8GB
GPU - Powercolor R9-290X
SSD - HyperX 3K 120GB
SSD - HyperX 3K 240GB
PSU - Silverstone SX600-G

Fans - Noctua IndustrialPPC NF-F12 ip67 2000PWM x2
CPU Cooler - Noctua NH-L12
GPU Block - EK FC290X Nickel/Acetal w. Backplate
Radiator - XSPC AX120 - Black
Pump - EK-DDC 3.2 PWM
Pump/Res - EK DDC X-RES 100
Fittings - Alphacool HT 10/13 Chrome
Tubing - Alphacool HT 10/13 Chrome
Rotaries - EK PSC and Bitspower mini-snake

I - Unboxing: Fans, Cooler, Motherboard and GPU
II - GPU waterblock unboxing and fitting
III - Unboxing: Reservoir and PSU
IV - Unboxing: Fittings and Tubing
V - Case assembly and initial test fit
VI - Mocking the loop
VII - Fitting the Chrome Tubing
VIII - Fitting the Snake
IX - Chocolate Board I
X - Unboxing: Rad, Pump, SSD and Memory
XI - EKWB DDC Heatsink Mod
XII - The last piece of the loop
XIII - Fitting the SSD's and Pump
XIV - All Components
XV - Securing the Parvum logo inlay
XVI - Final Assembly
XVII - Chocolate Board II
XVIII - Final Photographs
XIX - Review
XX - Upgrade time!

Phase II - 5 April 2016 to 9 July 2016

Spoiler: Overview and Spec

Rebuilding Chocolate Box wasn't exactly planned, the 290X started to show signs of failure and a 6700k came into my possession, quite a step forward from the then 4690k justified changing to Z170 and DDR4. While it was in pieces several little details were refined just to sharpen the overall look, all the fittings and tubing were changed to Bitspower Silver Shining making for a more coherent finish.

Case - Custom Parvum X1.0
CPU - Intel i7-6700k
Motherboard - EVGA Z170 Stinger
RAM - Corsair 8 Pack 2x8GB 4000C12
GPU - XFX R9-390X DD OC Black Edition
SSD - HyperX 3K 120GB
SSD - HyperX 3K 240GB
PSU - Silverstone SX600-G

Fans - Noctua IndustrialPPC NF-F12 ip67 2000PWM x2
CPU Cooler - Noctua NH-L12
GPU Block - EK FC290X Nickel/Acetal w. Backplate
Radiator - XSPC AX120 - Black
Pump - EK-DDC 3.2 PWM
Pump/Res - EK DDC X-RES 100
Fittings - Bitspower Enhance 10/12 Silver Shining
Tubing - Bitspower brass 10/12 Silver Shining

XXI - Unboxing and blocking 390X
XXII - Unboxing EVGA Z170 Stinger
XXIII - DDR4 prep and new tubing
XXIV - Assembling tubing and fittings
XXV - Cleaning heatsink and fans
XXVI - Final Photographs

Phase III - 8 March 2017 to Present

Spoiler: Overview and Spec

Here we are again with another somewhat impromptu upgrade due to be made. The first phase defined the boundaries and formed the foundations, phase II refined the aesthetic and kept it not only alive but moving forwards. Now it's time to combine that with the most efficient hardware available to exploit every ounce of potential. After this, who knows, maybe just a die shrink!

Case - Custom Parvum X1.0
CPU - Intel i7-6700k
Motherboard - EVGA Z170 Stinger
RAM - Corsair 8 Pack 2x8GB 4000C12
GPU - Nvidia Titan X Pascal
SSD - HyperX 3K 120GB
SSD - HyperX 3K 240GB
PSU - Silverstone SX600-G

Fans - Noctua IndustrialPPC NF-F12 ip67 2000PWM x2
CPU Cooler - Noctua NH-L12
GPU Block - EK-FC Titan X Pascal - Acetal+Nickel
GPU Backplate - EK-FC Titan X Pascal - Black
RAM Spreaders - EK-SF3D EVO Adapters - Black
Radiator - XSPC AX120 - Black
Pump - EK-DDC 3.2 PWM
Pump/Res - EK DDC X-RES 100
Fittings - Bitspower Enhance 10/12 Silver Shining
Tubing - Bitspower brass 10/12 Silver Shining

XXVII - Unboxing and binning Titan XP's
XXVII - Modding and Blocking Titan XP
XXIX - Rebuild, benchmarks and teasers!
XXX - Final Photographs

JR

 

[JR23]

Hello OCN and welcome to my first sponsored project log 'Chocolate Box'. After the success of my previous project JR2.0 Parvum very kindly offered to put together an ITX case for me. Having seen one at i52 I knew it was an offer I couldn't refuse, they are so cute it would be like turning down a puppy. So from then onwards I started thinking what could be done with the available space. I decided that I wanted to use a full length graphics card and so water cooling both the CPU and GPU was not an option. Rather than the more traditional route of using an AIO or custom loop just for the CPU I decided to do the opposite. From that unconventional decision the choice of components slowly fell into place, in turn informing the rather... brown... theme.

Weirdly that suited me perfectly, the three builds I had completed prior to this were all black and red so brown or chocolate made for a welcome change. Plus I like Chocolate =) I also took it as an opportunity to diversify my hardware collection by avoiding nVidia, Corsair and Asus. Not for any particular reason, just i've done a lot of that lately. So I hope that's enough background, let us start unboxing and explaining each piece.

I - Unboxing: Fans, Cooler, Motherboard and GPU

First up are the IndustrialPPC NF-F12's of the 2000RPM PWM variety, beautifully presented and engineered by Noctua. Seeing these convinced me to embrace the brown, I will be using only two fans in this miniature build so the expense was justified. I tried running them off my Aquaero in my main build and was immediately impressed by the immense operating range the 3-phase motors kept them steady right down to below 250RPM. I could heard them over my 650RPM SP120's even at 950RPM, going past 1200 the increase in noise seemed quite linear.













After deciding that the CPU would be air cooled my natural reflex was to find the biggest Noctua heatsink that would fit in an ITX case without intruding on the other components. The orientation made it well suited to the build as it would neatly present the NF-F12 infront of the window while obscuring nearly all of the motherboard.













I chose the EVGA Z97 Stinger for two very important reasons, one it is incredibly black and primarily because the CPU socket is very close to the 'top' of the board. This meant the L12 could be orientated vertically with the heat pipes facing upwards toward the GPU giving a more balanced spacing compared with nearly all other ITX boards.







After 7 consecutive nVidia cards it was time for me to see what the red team had to offer and besides the leaf blower it compared well to a stock 780 being typically around ~10% ahead when I tested it. Being a reference card I managed to pick it up very cheaply, less than a 780, less than most 290's even. More importantly there was a wide array of blocks still available.







Nothing else to see here...



Even though I didn't have a S1150 CPU at this point when the opportunity arises you just can't refuse test fitting a monumental heatsink onto a tiny motherboard!

















Thanks for reading, there will be lots more updates to come shortly. I would appreciate your input and opinions on anything and I look forward to hearing from you. I don't have time to write extensive wordy updates so I will do my best to explain with pictures but if you have any questions to fire at me then I will edeavour to answer them.

JR

 

[jimdotdev]

Looks promising! Gonna stick around to see the out come.

 

[JR23]

II - GPU waterblock unboxing and fitting

After some thorough testing of the card in my friends rig it was time to block up.





That's right EK Clean CSQ Nickel/Acetal FC R9-290X block with an EK FC R9-290X backplate.





<3









Time to wave bye bye to the leaf blower. Once the two secret screws surrendered their location hostilities were spared.











Nom nom, Clean Nickely Acetal EK goodness...















JR

 

[JR23]

III - Unboxing: Reservoir and PSU

Two more baby components ready to start assembling. If only there was a tiny box to contain everything in

it's not far away now, the drawings are being finalized and some acrylic will be meeting a sharp spinny angry tool of controlled destruction next week.









Although the little baby res came with a very fancy EK anticyclone and is adorned with a nicy shiny EK logo I will probably use it with the plain side facing out and the funky foam. I find it much cleaner and with any luck the tubing will work out better that way too.





The next thing to be unboxed is the hugely cute and hugely impressive Silverstone SX600-G semi passive, 80+ gold rated, fully modular, 600 watt SFX form factor PSU! Just to recap that's all of the things at 1/3rd of the size of a normal PSU.











These lighting test shots with the L12 were just too pretty to leave out of the project log.





Just to give a bit of scale to all of the little and large components that have been unboxed so far here's a nice group shot of the little family.



Somebody requested this view on another forum and I just managed to set it up, incidentally this will pretty much be the view through the window of the case. Pretty well dominated by fan I would say.



I think all of my build logs have now caught up to where i'm at in terms of progress, sorry if OCN was briefly behind and somewhat messed up. Since photographing this update I got a small selection of fittings and tubing which I have been trying out.



After much consideration I have decided to use Alphacool HT 10/13mm tube and fittings but with EK PSC rotaries all in bright nickel chrome. I'm not that fond of the Alphacool rotaries as they just have unnecessarily complex design by making both the male and female rotatable. I've now ordered one million of each so hopefully I will find an elegant solution.

JR

 

[jfing14]

Subbed, hopefull this is a good build. I always like the ITX builds, gettin creative with the parts placement! Also would be cool to see how brown and black works, haven't really seen a decent build with this colour scheme.

 

[xxroxx]

Interesting. Nice theme.

 

[George C]

Subbed, the name got my attention and the pictures look amazing! The brown just feels inviting, its not the aggressive ROG red and black look, its a more subtle warmth that really does fit an ITX well. And what colour coolant are you thinking? I think white may fit well. Looking forward to seeing more

 

[JR23]

Thanks guys, I will have a few more updates incoming this week and hopefully all of my fittings arrive today.
Quote:

Originally Posted by George C

Subbed, the name got my attention and the pictures look amazing! The brown just feels inviting, its not the aggressive ROG red and black look, its a more subtle warmth that really does fit an ITX well. And what colour coolant are you thinking? I think white may fit well. Looking forward to seeing more

As the only place coolant will be visible is in the reservoir I was going to use clear coolant. The front part of the case will be just about entirely filled by the L12 so I can't sneak the res in the corner and I don't particularly want to. I might consider a pastel grey or white although I do think clear will look right.

JR

 

[JR23]

IV - Unboxing: Fittings and Tubing

Earlier today all of my fittings arrived for Chocolate Box and looking at it now it seems like a rather excessive amount for an ITX rig with 3 components in the loop! The majority of the fittings are Alphacool Chrome allong with the tubing which is also 10/13mm Chrome Brass. I will be using fittings rather than bending it as they need to be very tight. The rotaries are EK PSC as they are a much cleaner more compact design than the Alphacool alternative.















JR

 

[George C]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JR23

Thanks guys, I will have a few more updates incoming this week and hopefully all of my fittings arrive today.
As the only place coolant will be visible is in the reservoir I was going to use clear coolant. The front part of the case will be just about entirely filled by the L12 so I can't sneak the res in the corner and I don't particularly want to. I might consider a pastel grey or white although I do think clear will look right.

JR

Ah I see, looking at previous photos of the tubing I assumed they were clear tubing and the reflectivness was just the reflections. Now I see the tubes are opaque

looks good

 

[ccRicers]

Subbed! And I can't wait to see the case in all its glory!

Also I'm interested in seeing that AlphaCool hard tube in the build. I bought the same exact fittings for my build which will also metal chrome tube, but Alphacool's hard tube is too pricey IMO. I'll be bending the tubes for my system.

 

[JR23]

Fresh in from Parvum HQ, update to come later today!



JR

 

[Gilles3000]

Subbed

 

[JR23]

V - Case assembly and initial test fit

Big big big update right here, firstly huge thanks to Parvum Systems for this epic acrylic jigsaw, it's a thing of true beauty. Especially in brown!



Much love for the beautifully delicate Parvum logo inlay.



You just can't not do a test fit once you open a Parvum, it is mandatory to drop all other activities for the next hour or so.



The case has a rather cunning PCI mount currently being trialed by Parvum in which the outer layer of the case supports the card IO plate vertically and horizontally. It works very well, looks extremely clean and holds the extremely weighty blocked 290X phenomenally true.











Having rammed it full of miniature components there isn't much room left for tubing or cables let alone a 2.5" SSD, i've got a plan though. Once the rad comes i'll see how it goes.





That's all until the next update. I have a few more fittings and parts incoming over the next week.



JR

 

[xxroxx]

Man, I want to eat that case.

 

[Lord NightHawk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by xxroxx

Man, I want to eat that case.

Thats exactly what i was thinking

Hi-Five!! kmaybenot:

 

[Gilles3000]

Man, that looks great

and somewhat delicious.

Btw, can anyone still get those ITX parvum cases? If so how much do they cost?

 

[JR23]

Thanks guys
Quote:

Originally Posted by Gilles3000

Btw, can anyone still get those ITX parvum cases? If so how much do they cost?

This is based on the 'X1.0' which hasn't yet gone retail but I think Parvum have plans to introduce it very shortly, I think they are informally available on request, i'm sure Imersa will let you know or email Parvum

JR

 

[Gilles3000]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JR23

Thanks guys
This is based on the 'X1.0' which hasn't yet gone retail but I think Parvum have plans to introduce it very shortly, I think they are informally available on request, i'm sure Imersa will let you know or email Parvum

JR

Thanks man, the Parvum cases just look incredible, really considering them for my next build. Would be nice to have something that looks great on my desk.
Anyway, looking forward to the rest of your build.