A couple of weeks ago, I got my first custom case in, designed to have very strong cooling capability, in order to run a mid-range system completely silently. You can see the details here.
However, I am also testing and investigating the viability of an ultra-portable video editing/rendering rig. This case isn't 100% ideal for it as it is, but it does work quite a bit better than I expected.
While the first setup was meant to be silent, this one is completely no-holds barred, in terms of noise level and performance. The CPU was pulled from a rendering rig, and the rest is sort of thrown together with existing parts, so the SSD & memory are a bit below par, but still good enough as placeholders. It consists of:
Intel Core i9 7960X
Zotac 1080ti Mini + 2x Delta AFC0912D
ASRock X299E-ITX/AC
Corsair H90 (140mm AIO) + Noctua NF A14 iPPC-3000 PWM
FSP Group FSP500-50FGGBN FlexATX PSU
The setup is about as extreme as you'd expect; loud, ugly, hot and power hungry. During nothing but the CPU-Z benchmark, which is lightweight compared to Prime95 and actual video encoding, etc, the system draws a whopping 550W from the wall, past what the PSU is rated for. CoreTemp indicates about 285W for the CPU, which isn't delidded. Nevertheless, the H90 handles it like a champ. It barely touches 90C despite such a brutal load. With the CPU at stock turbo, I have yet to see it go far past 60C.
The video card technically does not fit in this case...I had to remove its shroud. I replaced its fans with 2 high performance Delta 92x25mm ones. The fan swap resulted in about 4-5C lower temps and 30MHz or so more on the GPU. Nothing earth-shattering- the stock fans are surprisingly powerful, if not annoying. With the GPU loaded, the system pulls about 415W from the wall.
It's a promising start for this design, but it needs tweaking. The most obvious weakness is the PSU. With the CPU & GPU running full bore, it'd probably bring even some 750W PSU's to their knees. The case design technically has space for an SFX-L PSU, at the expense of GPU clearance, but the mounting is setup for FlexATX. This should be fairly easy to remedy with removable panels.
The liquid cooling is annoying to fit, but somehow not as annoying as I expected. Nevertheless, folding it on top of the motherboard like a heatsink isn't ideal. The main goal of the case is to accommodate strong heatsinks, like the Cryorig C1 and Raijintek Pallas, but the space needed for them also happens to be sufficient for a 140mm AIO, which is, frankly, leagues above them. Ideally, the radiator would go either where the GPU or PSU are to make routing the tubing easier, though that'd require a redesign.
Theoretically, even a 2x140 rad could fit, if the GPU were liquid-cooled as well.
However, I am also testing and investigating the viability of an ultra-portable video editing/rendering rig. This case isn't 100% ideal for it as it is, but it does work quite a bit better than I expected.
While the first setup was meant to be silent, this one is completely no-holds barred, in terms of noise level and performance. The CPU was pulled from a rendering rig, and the rest is sort of thrown together with existing parts, so the SSD & memory are a bit below par, but still good enough as placeholders. It consists of:
Intel Core i9 7960X
Zotac 1080ti Mini + 2x Delta AFC0912D
ASRock X299E-ITX/AC
Corsair H90 (140mm AIO) + Noctua NF A14 iPPC-3000 PWM
FSP Group FSP500-50FGGBN FlexATX PSU
The setup is about as extreme as you'd expect; loud, ugly, hot and power hungry. During nothing but the CPU-Z benchmark, which is lightweight compared to Prime95 and actual video encoding, etc, the system draws a whopping 550W from the wall, past what the PSU is rated for. CoreTemp indicates about 285W for the CPU, which isn't delidded. Nevertheless, the H90 handles it like a champ. It barely touches 90C despite such a brutal load. With the CPU at stock turbo, I have yet to see it go far past 60C.
The video card technically does not fit in this case...I had to remove its shroud. I replaced its fans with 2 high performance Delta 92x25mm ones. The fan swap resulted in about 4-5C lower temps and 30MHz or so more on the GPU. Nothing earth-shattering- the stock fans are surprisingly powerful, if not annoying. With the GPU loaded, the system pulls about 415W from the wall.
It's a promising start for this design, but it needs tweaking. The most obvious weakness is the PSU. With the CPU & GPU running full bore, it'd probably bring even some 750W PSU's to their knees. The case design technically has space for an SFX-L PSU, at the expense of GPU clearance, but the mounting is setup for FlexATX. This should be fairly easy to remedy with removable panels.
The liquid cooling is annoying to fit, but somehow not as annoying as I expected. Nevertheless, folding it on top of the motherboard like a heatsink isn't ideal. The main goal of the case is to accommodate strong heatsinks, like the Cryorig C1 and Raijintek Pallas, but the space needed for them also happens to be sufficient for a 140mm AIO, which is, frankly, leagues above them. Ideally, the radiator would go either where the GPU or PSU are to make routing the tubing easier, though that'd require a redesign.
Theoretically, even a 2x140 rad could fit, if the GPU were liquid-cooled as well.
