Completed DSE Breathe - A 7.3L Vertical Format ITX Tower

gunpalcyril

Airflow Optimizer
Aug 7, 2016
294
319
@DSE :D

In all seriousness, I will be passing on V2 for now, I've squandered my "hardware funds" on a pen display tablet and a 1080ti for my artwork. Plus the original is serving me quite well, I can only imagine V2 will be awesome as well, especially with a handle, this can be the ultimate portable case.

Might change my mind if the red colorway comes out though... Decisions, decisions!

I will be holding out for your other case though.
 
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DSE

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Original poster
DSE
Feb 8, 2017
137
390
@DSE :D

In all seriousness, I will be passing on V2 for now, I've squandered my "hardware funds" on a pen display tablet and a 1080ti for my artwork. Plus the original is serving me quite well, I can only imagine V2 will be awesome as well, especially with a handle, this can be the ultimate portable case.

Might change my mind if the red colorway comes out though... Decisions, decisions!

I will be holding out for your other case though.
No worries, I understand. You do what you gotta do. Thanks for letting me know though. :D
 

gunpalcyril

Airflow Optimizer
Aug 7, 2016
294
319
Just got the new cryorig c7 Cu cpu cooler, and thought I'd share some pics and thoughts of it while building inside my breathe case.


In the end, it still has the same problem I experienced in the original version: the stock fan is trash.
  • Replace the stock fan with a noctua slim 92mm fan: the volume and noise is a NIGHT and DAY difference, trust me.
  • No huge "initial" thermal difference inside the breathe case in comparison to my noctua l9a cooler, which is smaller and imo more sophisticated in build and setup.
  • Weirdly enough, I only saw the thermal decrease from using the Cu cooler after stress testing past the first 15 minutes... temps rose to 77 in first stress test, then every stress test afterwards temps would not go higher than 69C degrees (total of an hour stress test). I think the copper has to fully soak in the heat to disperse heat better? Idk, I'm no scientist.
  • All tests were using ryzen 1600 at stock clocks and voltages. I could not get 3.7ghz at 1.33v overclock without hitting 98c after 12 minutes of stress testing. I used Blender3D to render out large 4k 3D scenes that I made.

Also, noctua should really make their heatsinks brown as well, I really think the ugliness of the noctua fan is comically increased with the brown heatsink, resulting in something so bad its awesome.
 
Last edited:

gunpalcyril

Airflow Optimizer
Aug 7, 2016
294
319
Bummed that the stock fan doesn't do so well....since it looks GREAT with your white ram.
Yea, thats what I'm bummed about the most. The stock fan paired with the cooler looks soooooo good by itself, and the matching ram is a great plus. But the fan is trash lol.

I thought that the increased tdp capacity would translate into having a lower fan speed for lower noise at the same thermal performance. But the only real benefit is at top rpms, where the fan is spinning at 2500rpm (LOUD!).
 
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Damascus

Master of Cramming
Feb 27, 2018
550
387
Just picked up a 140mm slim fan (the cryorig one) and an a9x14 :3 Now to find a few 120mm slim fans and I'll be set - any recommendations?
 
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myfirstpcyay

Average Stuffer
Mar 7, 2018
82
97
Any insight on downsides for buying a fan with larger OD than the heatsink calls for? Posted it on reddit and only got a quick response saying "don't do it" - without much discussion. What are your guys' experience with it? It looks like you're thinking of putting a slim 140mm fan on that heatsink, or am I reading incorrectly?
 

gunpalcyril

Airflow Optimizer
Aug 7, 2016
294
319
Any insight on downsides for buying a fan with larger OD than the heatsink calls for? Posted it on reddit and only got a quick response saying "don't do it" - without much discussion. What are your guys' experience with it? It looks like you're thinking of putting a slim 140mm fan on that heatsink, or am I reading incorrectly?


I've tried that setup before: large fan over tiny heatsink. Tried it in dan-a4, s4 mini, and also Breathe. In all cases, it resulted in worse temps, partially because the diameter of the fan motor is larger than a 92mm fan, and a loss of "concentrated" static pressure.
 

Obelisk

Trash Compacter
Nov 21, 2017
52
36
Any insight on downsides for buying a fan with larger OD than the heatsink calls for? Posted it on reddit and only got a quick response saying "don't do it" - without much discussion. What are your guys' experience with it? It looks like you're thinking of putting a slim 140mm fan on that heatsink, or am I reading incorrectly?
As long as it has the same size mounting holes, then it should fit. However, you still might experience the problems that @gunpalcyril mentioned.
 

myfirstpcyay

Average Stuffer
Mar 7, 2018
82
97
Sorry for the thread hijack DSE! To follow up though, if you offset the fan, say a 140mm, such that the blades are primarily over the fins (so - corner of fan aligned to corner of heatsink), would that help? Part of me is thinking like a car radiator, where there needs to be some type of shroud to FORCE the air through the fins, or else the air would like to leave via the un-heatsink-covered-openings of the fan resulting in less-efficient cooling. BUT, I wasn't sure if this was the case due to some minute differences.
 
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Damascus

Master of Cramming
Feb 27, 2018
550
387
Any insight on downsides for buying a fan with larger OD than the heatsink calls for? Posted it on reddit and only got a quick response saying "don't do it" - without much discussion. What are your guys' experience with it? It looks like you're thinking of putting a slim 140mm fan on that heatsink, or am I reading incorrectly?

I'm a pretty serious edge case, I'm making a custom heatsink in which a 120/140mm fan is integral to the design. For a standard cpu cooler like an l9i, c7 or what have you (In my case it's a T318) you're best off matching it one of noctuas a9x14, Maybe a slim 100mm fan like the scythe kaze jyu but not larger. Despite that, I'll soon have a buttload of fans to test with so keep an eye out, in about 2 weeks (give or take a week) I'll do tests with all sorts of fan config on the dynatron T318 (only lp compatible with my chip other than a thermolab)

https://smallformfactor.net/forum/threads/project-hermes-sub-50mm-120mm-custom-aircooler.7352/
 
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dumplinknet

Airflow Optimizer
Jan 26, 2018
364
168
I've tried that setup before: large fan over tiny heatsink. Tried it in dan-a4, s4 mini, and also Breathe. In all cases, it resulted in worse temps, partially because the diameter of the fan motor is larger than a 92mm fan, and a loss of "concentrated" static pressure.
Could not stress how important your claim is. It is very true.
I tried to cool an LP53 heatsink with a noctua 140mm fan and a noctua 120mm fan. But eventually realized that a 92mm fan was the only fan that actually resulted in the lowest temps during synthetic stress testing.

Conclusion: A big fan over a small heatsink is a reduction in performance.
 
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DSE

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Original poster
DSE
Feb 8, 2017
137
390
Just got the new cryorig c7 Cu cpu cooler, and thought I'd share some pics and thoughts of it while building inside my breathe case.


In the end, it still has the same problem I experienced in the original version: the stock fan is trash.
  • Replace the stock fan with a noctua slim 92mm fan: the volume and noise is a NIGHT and DAY difference, trust me.
  • No huge "initial" thermal difference inside the breathe case in comparison to my noctua l9a cooler, which is smaller and imo more sophisticated in build and setup.
  • Weirdly enough, I only saw the thermal decrease from using the Cu cooler after stress testing past the first 15 minutes... temps rose to 77 in first stress test, then every stress test afterwards temps would not go higher than 69C degrees (total of an hour stress test). I think the copper has to fully soak in the heat to disperse heat better? Idk, I'm no scientist.
  • All tests were using ryzen 1600 at stock clocks and voltages. I could not get 3.7ghz at 1.33v overclock without hitting 98c after 12 minutes of stress testing. I used Blender3D to render out large 4k 3D scenes that I made.

Also, noctua should really make their heatsinks brown as well, I really think the ugliness of the noctua fan is comically increased with the brown heatsink, resulting in something so bad its awesome.
Thank you for this. I was thinking about buying a C7 Cu myself, so I really appreciate your write-up.
Just had a thought @DSE, have you ever considered collaborating with @Josh | NFC for a skyslot revision? Looks + performance
If that's something people want, then I'm all for doing it. :D