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Work in progress Delta - Ryzen ITX Gamer

CMetaphor

Quadfather
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May 5, 2007
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Montreal, Canada
I've had the parts a while, but tbh I almost had to return them due to unexpected expenses.

Nonetheless, here it is, my first all-new build in at least 5 years:
CPU: Ryzen 3700x
RAM: Corsair Dominator Platinum 16Gb
Motherboard: Asrock x570 Phantom Wifi/TB3
CASE: Deepcool Tristellar windowed*
PSU: Seagate X-850 (technically not new but whatever)
Cooler: Corsair H80i v2**
GPU: Sapphire 5700XT
HDDs: Corsair MP510 960gb w/ special order heatsink***, 2x Samsung Eva 850 500gb

*= This case has been discontinued for a while. Sitting in my home since the day I found out I wouldn't be returning to work due to various health and psychological problems. It's an extremely weird three-chamber design, which has already proven challenging.

**= The H80 just can't possibly work. I'm going to have to return it. The pipes are extremely thick and come out of the top of the cpu block. There's no way they will be able to bend safely within the tight confines of the ITX motherboard chamber. I'm currently looking for alternatives, so feel free to suggest some... Took the H80 for performance and it's thick rad, but I didn't realize that thick rad meant massive pipes.

***= The special M.2 heatsink I found on Newegg is still en route. It's been over a month getting here from China, but it's the only M.2/nvme heatsink I could find that has its own fan. Why the fan? The sole nvme slot on my motherboard is underneath the motherboard. Luckily, thanks to the odd shapes of chambers, there is a gap under the board in that space for the M.2 heatsink to fit, but I nonetheless wanted an active one since airflow in that chamber will be... Problematic.

Pictures will come when I can take them. For now, here's a photo of the board taken for a related thread, thanks for stopping by everyone.

20191225_164942.jpg
 

CMetaphor

Quadfather
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Messages
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Well... I didn't miss the unexpected things that can occur when building. Here's today's update:

The Noctua D15 (14? Whatever it is) *FITS*... Just barely. I'm still going to try to find an AIO WC solution to the cooling, but for now at least I have a back-up plan. For those interested:
(Northbridge side)
20191226_183844_HDR~2.jpg
(Upper VRMs' side)
20191226_184034_HDR.jpg

As you can see, the secondary brackets DO indeed fit. On the vrm side the secondary bracket clears the base of the vrm heatsink by probably less than 2mm, but it Does fit. Kudos to Noctua (my fav maker of coolers and least fav maker of fans).
The back side of the motherboard is another story...

*FYI* the tiny additional bracket is absolutely removable and wasn't secured in any way other than the three T25 screws. Anyone who needs to remove it on a similar board can do so, but that makes other challenges:
The securefirm base plate that came with the D15 probably can't be used, the foam is very dense and it touches multiple surface mount components and even a small IC (I didn't check which). Sufficied to say, a D14/15 will work, but you'll need to cut into the foam to ensure the entire pressure of the heatsink mounting isn't on some component that isn't designed for it.

Other photos!
Here's the case, in all its annoying glory. I don't know why I always liked it, or really why I bought it. Shock for the latter, tbh.
(Front of the case. The silver panel on the low left side is removable in favor of a slot loading optical drive, not sure if I'll install one though)
20191226_195954_HDR.jpg
(Exposed top/GPU and left side/PSU+HDD chambers. I've got the windowed version of this case, so the 5700xt and some RGB LEDs should hopefully make it glow nicely)
20191226_200011_HDR.jpg
(Side view of the motherboard chamber)
20191226_195939.jpg

Herein lies the reason I can't use the H80i. There's maybe 3.25 inches of clearance above the motherboard. In that space, whatever AIO I end up with will need to turn 90 degrees toward the front of the case, then another 90 degrees downwards to attach to the floor of the chamber.

There is absolutely no other cooling alternative for this PC that's realistic. The massively heavy and thick panels that cover the three chambers aren't vented over the board in any way, the *only* airflow in the mobo chamber is the floor 120mm and a tiny unadvertised space for a LP 92mm fan behind the front panel of the chamber (which i have and will be installing).

I'd actually like to ask for anyone's help: if youve got a single 120mm AIO that's not installed somewhere, can you test it to see if it can bend sufficiently to fit within the dimensions of my case? (Don't risk breaking it, obviously) Again, it's a rare case, searching forums hasn't been helpful, and the H80i super thick pipes mean I need another solution. I'm looking at the H55 with fingers crossed. And also, I've got to return the H80 in favor of Something. Thanks in advance to anyone that can help me out with that. If I can't find a way of getting an AIO to fit, I'll have to move the whole build to a different case or consider ridiculously expensive metal shop work to mod in air cooling holes. Either way, not fun.

Lastly... Grumbling. I pushed myself into this build, despite knowing my limbs and hands are weak and shake. There's a small dent in the NB heatsink of the motherboard now because of it. Even with two hands I can't always hold something as heavy as a D14/15 without it slipping. Thankfully the damage was almost nothing, but it's just another reminder why I stopped.

I did less than two hours of work today. That's all I could manage before I had to stop and dented my board.

More coming. Sometime.
 

Bapadaboopy

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Richmond, BC
I look forward to seeing you come up with a solution! I don't know if this is possible, but could you install custom tubes in an AIO cooler?
 

CMetaphor

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I look forward to seeing you come up with a solution! I don't know if this is possible, but could you install custom tubes in an AIO cooler?

Good timing, was about to update today anyway.

I've gotten a used H55 that seems to have tubes that *are* flexible enough. So, I went and did my first mockup... And ran into a whole other problem.

The sole m.2/nvme on the board is located on the underside, near the PCIe slot. BUT it's so offset that, despite purposely ensuring that both case and motherboard would have the most room possible, I've got a space problem. The nvme SSD I had intended to usee, along with the China noname m.2 heatsink for it I ordered special that took six weeks to arrive, won't fit. I'd have to chop the motherboard tray pretty much to the "bottom" ITX mounting holes under the PCIe slot to make it work.

So... Do i start chopping up my very expensive, rare, discontinued case? OR do I go with plan B?

Oh, I don't tell you? Plan B is ordering an m.2/nvme extension cable kit, and physically moving the SSD to an area on the underside of the board where it and it's heatsink will fit.

Photo time!
20200107_205633.jpg
It's a bit hard to see cause shaky hands + dark, but you can sorta see that the edge of the m.2 slot is just underneath the steel of the motherboard tray. The tray is riveted into the case btw, and I've already spoken to Deepcool and - surprise surprise- they have zero spare parts. So anything I do is gonna be permanent.

Guess it's plan B then. And for those counting, that means I'll now get to deal with possible flaky PCIe 4.0 from the X570 mobo to the 5700XT via a riser cable *and* possible flaky nvme SSD via another riser cable. Woo!

Till next time...
 

JD

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Which NVMe drive are you using? I'd be more inclined to just cut off the piece of the heatsink that doesn't fit. It looks like 3/4 of the heatsink would be within this cutout.

Is there any airflow under this motherboard tray? That would also help if there is, possibly to the point of not needing a heatsink at all.
 

Bond007

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I have read a few things saying that heatsinks should generally only be on the controller anyway. Supposedly the nand runs better warmed up (not too hot though), and that it is the controller that really needs the heat sink.
 

CMetaphor

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@JD I've got a couple of options to choose from, a Corsair MP510 or HP Ex920, both 1Tb. There is nice gap between the underside of the mobo tray and the bottom of the case /, but no airflow at all, hence the m.2 heatsink. I'll look into the feasibility of modding it.

@Bond007
Considering the lack of airflow, I'd prefer to err on the side of caution and use a heatsink and fan. The fan can and will likely be turned down for noise, it's just to keep things from getting TOO hot.
 

CMetaphor

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Messages
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Sigh...
The H55 will not work either. While it Will reach just fine with it's pipes, they will have to be bent too drastically to be safe. Even mocking up the AIO made me nervous about kinking the tubes. So...

Back to the drawing board, ish. One of the very few Air coolers that Asrock list as compatible with the mobo is the Silverstone NT06 pro. I'm going to double-check the measurements and order it tomorrow, tonight I'm too bummed. If it will fit, then i need to find a place to mod the ultra-thick side panels for the case, for airflow. I need to make an air vent directly over the board. But, I'm not certain it's even possible for me to do it myself... The steel is just that super thick, and since I'm pretty sure the paint is paint and not anodized, a mess up will mean paint chipping and a disaster. Gotta tread carefully.

This is going to be a long build to complete...
 

Bond007

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ery few Air coolers that Asrock list as compatible with the mobo is the Silverstone NT06 pro. I'm going to double-check the measurements and order it tomorrow, tonight I'm too bummed. If it will fit, then i need to find a place to mod the ultra-thick side panels for the case, for airflow. I need to make an air vent directly over the board. But, I'm not certain it's even possible for me to do it myself... The steel is just that super thick, and since I'm pretty sure the paint is paint and not anodized, a mess up will mean paint chipping and a disaster. Gotta tread carefully.

A lot of work and frustrations it sounds like. Hopefully you were after a nice project to take your time on. I am sure it will be worth it in the end!
 

CMetaphor

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Messages
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Location
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A lot of work and frustrations it sounds like. Hopefully you were after a nice project to take your time on. I am sure it will be worth it in the end!

Sure? Worth it. Ish...
Because I've trapped myself with this impossibility small case that is so clearly made for gaming, it's headache after headache and I know for a fact that the performance won't be as good as it can be, because I won't have the cooling headroom for a good OC. I'm just damn lucky I thought to get a 65w CPU, otherwise it would've been much worse.
 

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