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Stalled DICE CASES - FLOW : expandable SFF case for watercooling enthusiast (built in distroplate)

kosta

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Oct 27, 2019
119
70
That's good to know, appreciate the guidance! I'll do a comparison between the Heatkiller and Optimus just to satisfy my curiosity and also check if liquid metal compound will help at all. I was hoping I would be able to run the fans below 1000rpm consistently but it looks like that strategy might not work out at high loads. Though in fairness this was a highly synthetic torture test and an unlikely real life scenario so maybe I'm overthinking it.
 

kosta

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Oct 27, 2019
119
70
Did a bit more testing with fans turned off completely during a cinebench run. And it does become very apparent that the average CPU temp scales relatively linearly as the water temperatures rise, with a relatively stable delta of around 30-35C between water temp and CPU die temp. If 40 is considered within normal parameters, then it sounds like I'm well within the expected zone. I'll try to tweak the fan curves a bit to try and keep under that 45C ceiling where components will start to be in the danger of throttling. The flow rate doesn't seem to make a noticeable difference so I'm keeping the pump speed constant for now.

EDIT: Here it is "stabilized" aiming for 40C max while running Cinebench.

Looks like I will need to boost those fans speeds higher once I connect the GPU to the same loop... which is kind of a bummer because with these settings it's just on the threshold of being inaudible.😕
 
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kosta

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Oct 27, 2019
119
70
Looks fantastic!

EDIT: How are the GPU thermals behind glass? Are those LED lit fans?
 
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Magz

Chassis Packer
Jun 29, 2019
19
14
Right. So I think I am almost done.

Just to caveat this is my first liquid build ever so there are bound to be mistakes which I haven't spotted. Being a beginner it was an absolute pain to figure out the pipe routing and what connectors I needed. Am sure there are efficient ways of getting this done but I am happy with it. Let me know what you all think.







 

kosta

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Oct 27, 2019
119
70
That's super clean! Hard to believe it's your first build - and with hard tubing to boot! And I feel your pain on knowing what you need, I have over $100 of unused fittings and random things I didn't need in the end. I'm sure it will come in handy one day though.
 

kosta

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Oct 27, 2019
119
70
Right. So I think I am almost done.

Just to caveat this is my first liquid build ever so there are bound to be mistakes which I haven't spotted. Being a beginner it was an absolute pain to figure out the pipe routing and what connectors I needed. Am sure there are efficient ways of getting this done but I am happy with it. Let me know what you all think.

How did you manage to screw in the PSU oriented like that? Do you have to remove the top radiator to reach the screws?
 

Magz

Chassis Packer
Jun 29, 2019
19
14
How did you manage to screw in the PSU oriented like that? Do you have to remove the top radiator to reach the screws?
Good question. The PSU bracket is mounted on 4 brass standoffs so its lifted away from the backplate (I wanted to route / hide cables behind it).

In terms of sequence, I mounted the bottom radiator, then motherboard, then PSU, then the top radiator, which was an absolute pain to screw in with an allen key - but I got it done.
 

Magz

Chassis Packer
Jun 29, 2019
19
14
Oh I should also mention that I had to cut the power cable and crimp an existing cable to it so it didn't dangle over the motherboard.
 

kosta

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Oct 27, 2019
119
70
Added an RGB strip on one side... looks pretty good!


Sorry about positioning, struggling with available space a bit 😬
 

kosta

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Oct 27, 2019
119
70
@diceboii13 this fell out while I was opening the case one day:

It's a threaded rivet that screws which hold in the outer shell screw into. So now one of them can no longer be screwed in. Not sure how I could put this back..

Also, for v2, some kind of guide rails for the outer shell would be really useful because I struggle a lot positioning it exactly above screw holes.
 

Magz

Chassis Packer
Jun 29, 2019
19
14
@diceboii13 this fell out while I was opening the case one day:

It's a threaded rivet that screws which hold in the outer shell screw into. So now one of them can no longer be screwed in. Not sure how I could put this back..

Also, for v2, some kind of guide rails for the outer shell would be really useful because I struggle a lot positioning it exactly above screw holes.
One of mine just fell off too and its between the distro plate and the frame rail so can't screw down one of the four screws that holds the top. How are they attached - anyone know?

Won't bother re-attaching mine as it would require the whole system to be dismantled.