3D Printed Budget All-In-One [4.5L]

boingk

Caliper Novice
Original poster
Feb 10, 2019
32
17
Evening all. I've been tinkering with the idea of building a nice, compact rig with a real GPU for a while now. Don't get me wrong, I love my 2400G build but there is only so much you can do with an integrated graphics solution, even if it is the mighty Vega 11. The upside is that build is only in a 3.3L case, and that's with brickless PSU and an optical drive as well.

This build will be a step up the rung in power, graphically speaking. Here's the idea so far:
  • MSi B450i ITX board
  • Ryzen 2400G
  • G.SKILL 2X4GB 3000 @ 3200 16-18-18-40 1.4v
  • Asus GTX1060 3GB ITX
  • Dell SFF PSU 250W 80 Plus 'Gold' certified
All that should mesh together with the GPU and PSU stacked behind the motherboard, forming a case roughly 12.5cm wide by 20cm tall by 18.5cm deep when looking from the rear IO surface, giving a volume roughly 4.6 litres with all components internal.

This has the potential to be reduced significantly if I choose to modify the GPU or use a smaller power supply. The barriers to this would be price and cooling efficiency - obviously you can make a cooler smaller and buy a smaller PSU with the rating you want, but this comes at a financial and heat dissipation cost. I'm trying for a sweet spot with relatively cheap components.

Costing so far (in Australian dollars) is:
  • $190 - B450 motherboard
  • $150 - 2400G
  • $80 - 2x4GB DDR4
  • $140 - GTX1060
  • $35 - PSU
Total: $595 (roughly $430 USD)

But what about the case? Ah, that's where my ruthlessly cheap Anet A8 3D printer comes in! I plan on designing the case myself and printing it in PLA, just basic grey to start with but perhaps something nicer or more eye catching down the line. I'm thinking of using a relatively open design for the intakes to minimise restriction and enhance performance, with exhausts being prioritised to cover the VRM's and memory sticks.

Anyway, more to come as it happens. I'll leave you with thr 1060 and Anet A8.



 
  • Like
Reactions: Valantar

Valantar

Shrink Ray Wielder
Jan 20, 2018
2,201
2,225
Care to share some details on the PSU? Is it from the Optiplex SFF series? I was looking for one of those Gold units a while back, but couldn't find any on Ebay or anywhere else with reasonable shipping.
 

AURMEND

Destroyer of PCs
A&M Solutions and Design LLC
Jul 30, 2018
249
221
Look into my threads for my design. I have the 3D files posted.
 

boingk

Caliper Novice
Original poster
Feb 10, 2019
32
17
Care to share some details on the PSU? Is it from the Optiplex SFF series? I was looking for one of those Gold units a while back, but couldn't find any on Ebay or anywhere else with reasonable shipping.

Yep, an Optiplex SFF would be my bet. I found it on eBay and threw in a cheeky offer of $35 posted, they accepted and it's on its way. Sized at 175x70x90mm, 250W max output with a 17A 12v line. With any reasonable CPU and the 120W TDP 1060 I'll be fine with it. I'll probably need a SATA-to-6pin adapter for the GPU, though.

Look into my threads for my design. I have the 3D files posted.

Awesome build mate, very nice indeed! I like the form factor but my PSU is probably going to be the killer here, with it being a minimum of 70mm tall it may be more efficient to bundle it with the GPU behind the motherboard.

Cheers - boingk
 

boingk

Caliper Novice
Original poster
Feb 10, 2019
32
17
Okay, after some rethinking I don't want to ditch my nice little Inwin-housed Ryzen 2400G build quite yet... plus I got a deal on some memory that I couldn't pass up, and then the guy threw in a 6600K as well. You can see where this is going, haha.

The specs have changed to include my parts-bin, making for a very budget oriented build. Specs as follows:
  • Asus Z170i 'Pro Gaming' board, bought as 'not working / parts only' for $30.
  • Intel i5 6600K, eh, call it $50?
  • G.SKILL 2X4GB 3000 @ 3200 16-18-18-40 1.4v
  • Asus GTX1060 3GB ITX
  • Dell SFF PSU 250W 80 Plus 'Gold' certified
That should give some decent clout to the little rig, the only issue will be cooling it. I've already delidded the chip and replaced the TIM with Arctic Silver 5, I didn't even bother running with the stock paste as it's garbage to start with and largely irrelevant. I know, it's not liquid metal, but its what I had on hand so bear with me here.

After some tuning the little bargain-bin chip got me 4.7GHz using 1.40v and some other magic, giving a momentary peak temperature of 83'C when benchmarking using UserBencmark dot com's utility. I like that one in particular as it lets you compare against other systems to let you know how each component is doing. I'm happy to say the 6600K netted a 100th percentile ranking, as did the tuned memory kit. Not bad, not bad...

The next step is getting that clock speed stable at as low a voltage as possible, and seeing what dropping it to 4.6GHz does to the respective voltage requirement. This will go a long way toward keeping the system happy with a reduced cooling solution, as it's currently topped with a Deepcool Gammaxx 400 and that thing hardly fits in a full ATX test rig, let alone a custom ITX case.

More as it happens.
 

rfarmer

Spatial Philosopher
Jul 7, 2017
2,588
2,702
Okay, after some rethinking I don't want to ditch my nice little Inwin-housed Ryzen 2400G build quite yet... plus I got a deal on some memory that I couldn't pass up, and then the guy threw in a 6600K as well. You can see where this is going, haha.

The specs have changed to include my parts-bin, making for a very budget oriented build. Specs as follows:
  • Asus Z170i 'Pro Gaming' board, bought as 'not working / parts only' for $30.
  • Intel i5 6600K, eh, call it $50?
  • G.SKILL 2X4GB 3000 @ 3200 16-18-18-40 1.4v
  • Asus GTX1060 3GB ITX
  • Dell SFF PSU 250W 80 Plus 'Gold' certified
That should give some decent clout to the little rig, the only issue will be cooling it. I've already delidded the chip and replaced the TIM with Arctic Silver 5, I didn't even bother running with the stock paste as it's garbage to start with and largely irrelevant. I know, it's not liquid metal, but its what I had on hand so bear with me here.

After some tuning the little bargain-bin chip got me 4.7GHz using 1.40v and some other magic, giving a momentary peak temperature of 83'C when benchmarking using UserBencmark dot com's utility. I like that one in particular as it lets you compare against other systems to let you know how each component is doing. I'm happy to say the 6600K netted a 100th percentile ranking, as did the tuned memory kit. Not bad, not bad...

The next step is getting that clock speed stable at as low a voltage as possible, and seeing what dropping it to 4.6GHz does to the respective voltage requirement. This will go a long way toward keeping the system happy with a reduced cooling solution, as it's currently topped with a Deepcool Gammaxx 400 and that thing hardly fits in a full ATX test rig, let alone a custom ITX case.

More as it happens.

So the Asus Z170i actually did work? If so nice buy. I ran my 6600k at 4.50 GHz using 1.25v for 1 1/2 years and it seemed very happy at that clock speed.
 
  • Like
Reactions: boingk

boingk

Caliper Novice
Original poster
Feb 10, 2019
32
17
So the Asus Z170i actually did work? If so nice buy. I ran my 6600k at 4.50 GHz using 1.25v for 1 1/2 years and it seemed very happy at that clock speed.

It sure does work, I believe the seller was thrown by it not turning fans off, but was using a cheap PSU that didn't support newer Intel sleep states.

If you got 4.5GHz out of 1.25v I'll try that for sure, paired with a 1060 3GB I'm unlikely to notice the difference in clockspeed but would definitely appreciate the lower voltage.

Cheers!
 

boingk

Caliper Novice
Original poster
Feb 10, 2019
32
17
I'm on the lookout for heatsinks that will fit within the planned envelope. A basic solution would be something like the stock Intel cooler, minus the cruddy stock fan unit which is both inefficient and way larger than it needs to be.

The stock cooling stack provides decent clearance for any keep-out zone, and is rated (apparently) for 65W processors with the stock fan.

It's also only 18mm tall.



A definite contender.

For reference, here it is in a HP mini-ITX board with standard DDR3 modules, quite happy cooling a 35W part without a fan in 20'C ambient.



The mount can be modified to remove the fan, thus allowing room for a proper 80 to 90mm unit on top, even within the constraints of the envelope provided by the RAM and IO.

- boingk