Era itx

[W1NN1NG]

You know normally I'd be pressing for something incredibly small but when I saw this chassis I couldn't not buy it. Yeah the reviews have been less than stellar mainly in part to gpu cooling but I plan to fix that issue completely in this log. (not saying my route of doing it will be pretty. I'm limited to very basic tools unfortunately) so sit back and enjoy folks!

The last build I completed was Parvum W1nn1ng and while that build turned out wonderfully I didn't end up holding onto it for long. I ended up parting it out and attempted to build in one of custommods 3.4L chassis which turned out as a huge fail. From there I ended up parting ways with those parts because well I got extremely frustrated I couldn't get what I wanted to work to work so I sold those parts to Josh and bought myself a huge beast from some guy on CL that I got for a steal! Then I ended up putting myself in a huge financial hole due to some layoffs at work which I've now recovered from and getting started on not only a new build but a new battlestation as well.
The era itx was a no brainier here because of the wood top panel, the house we are currently living in is stuck in a wood paneling lifestyle and I wanted something that would mesh well. Although the stains are slightly different it still looks perfectly in place.

HARDWARE:
Chassis: Fractal Design Era Itx
Cpu cooler: EKWB Aio 240mm
Motherboard: ASRock B450 Fatality
Cpu: Ryzen 5 3600
Ram: G.Skill Trident Z Rgb 16gb 3200
SSD: Silicon power A55
GPU: EVGA 1660ti SC Ultra
PSU: Silverstone SX600g (this changed after the photos)

(Pics will be posted as soon as I upload them)

 

[lowkey]

Saw the ERA one Sale. Went for the reviews and didnt buy it. There is a lot of wasted space. Thought about a mATX mod or watercooling mod. But it was a little bit to difficult. I like the outer design.

 

[Weredawg]

I do love wood on PC cases, but the poor reviews made me pick up the NZXT H1 instead. Already planning to swap the glass panel with a solid walnut panel that my FIL is going to put together. Good luck on your build.

 

[MultiDoc]

Dont want to discourage you, but it should be easier to fabricate a wooden top panel for a good case rather than trying to make a terrible case with a wooden top panel to work.
I hope to succeed in this endeavour and I am interested to see how it will come out. But for it should be easier and most probably the end result in terms of function would be definitely better, to have a professional that works with wood make you some custom made outer panels to replace a proven case.

Again just my 2 cents. Best of luck !

 

[W1NN1NG]

Dont want to discourage you, but it should be easier to fabricate a wooden top panel for a good case rather than trying to make a terrible case with a wooden top panel to work.
I hope to succeed in this endeavour and I am interested to see how it will come out. But for it should be easier and most probably the end result in terms of function would be definitely better, to have a professional that works with wood make you some custom made outer panels to replace a proven case.

Again just my 2 cents. Best of luck !

Oh I don't disagree personally I love the layout and the shape of the case which made it a difficult decision not to pick it up. Honestly though with an aio cpu temps should be perfectly fine and gpu is the only thing to worry about. I've got some holes drilled into the base (although not perfect by any means) they're unseen anyways) and added some solid rubber case feet to the underside instead of the foam feet it had on it (they weren't lifting the case at all) it sits about 2-3 mm off the desk now which is say is probably fine in addition to the side vents in the floor panel. I'm not saying it won't be warm but it'll certainly probably drop the temps a good 10 degrees or so from what it is without them. Honestly if I could watercool the gpu I would. And I likely good with a universal gpu block. It just wouldn't look pretty. Which I guess in this cases situation it wouldn't much matter. I'd like to chop up the side panel to add a window with maybe some cut outs for airflow as well but I honestly don't have the means to do so so that won't work unfortunately I'll post some updates as soon as my gpu arrives. Should be here sometime next week. Hopefully early. Also coming from a 1660ti I feel the temps will be more than acceptable. Not exactly a super hot card to begin with