Shows me a laptop with a sub 2K cost with a 17.3" 1440K display that has equivalent specs to this desktop build and I'll happily go that route - but I just haven't seen anything that has what I'm looking for outside of these ITX builds.
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Log First SFF build - What could go wrong?
- Thread starter Scytes
- Start date
Shows me a laptop with a sub 2K cost with a 17.3" 1440K display that has equivalent specs to this desktop build and I'll happily go that route - but I just haven't seen anything that has what I'm looking for outside of these ITX builds.
So, apart from the FormD, I'd like to suggest a few more based on the criteria you mentioned
- Modivio cases
- Ncase M1, as usual.
- Slieger SM or Console / Conswole series
- Laser 3D LZ series
Those are cases which, if I remember correctly, accept "quite tall" CPU coolers (say 50 - 70mm). Should be sufficient to cool Ryzen 3600. One thing to note is that majority of those accept SFX PSU (Indeed ATX PSU takes quite a lot of space). Material ranges from acrylic, 3D print, aluminum, too steel.
Before you order, you may want to check the threads in the forum or PM the creator & check whether they are currently accepting orders. Covid-19 changes a lot of things.
Finally, you can search more in the SFF master list thread
- Modivio cases
- Ncase M1, as usual.
- Slieger SM or Console / Conswole series
- Laser 3D LZ series
Those are cases which, if I remember correctly, accept "quite tall" CPU coolers (say 50 - 70mm). Should be sufficient to cool Ryzen 3600. One thing to note is that majority of those accept SFX PSU (Indeed ATX PSU takes quite a lot of space). Material ranges from acrylic, 3D print, aluminum, too steel.
Before you order, you may want to check the threads in the forum or PM the creator & check whether they are currently accepting orders. Covid-19 changes a lot of things.
Finally, you can search more in the SFF master list thread
When I was reading your list just now, I was going to recommend the 2070 super just for the temps/power consumption. Are you running the stock 92mm fan on your cooler. I swapped mines for 120x15 noctua, and run the step down power adapter for a quieter rig. Temps are around the same, but the noise levels are better. I am doing the same with my GPU, and looked at Scythe fans but they were rated for like 30c. So I'm testing with the 120x15mm noctua as the GPU gets toasty in my tiny case.
My CPU stays pretty cool, I'll run a cinebench on it and post at some point today. And yes I'm using the base fan that came with the cooler.
My GPU is the issue - I'm considering deshrouding it and use two 120x25mm noctua fans on the side of the case to produce better airflow. That or swapping to liquid cooling for it.
So - I went through three cards until I got one that will work after updates from the store. ? I had to do a full windows reset each time though.
I have to say for the trouble it has been the GPU is running great but damn does it get hot. I have two intakes pushing cold air into it and it still runs at around 85C undervolted even. I have to wonder if the fans are causing turbulence around the GPU fans.
@Scytes hmm that's odd. Sapphire's Pulse RX 5700 XT is one of the best RX 5700 XT cards out there compared to other brands in terms of gaming performance, thermal performance, as well as price. This is based on the review of Hardware Unboxed and Gamers Nexus as well. I wonder if the store you got the cards from were really having bad batches of cards.
I myself am using an AMD GPU, specifically the MSI RX 5700 non-XT version, in an air-cooled Silverstone SG13, and my only issue is with the fan noise. Thermal and gaming performance are great for me, and I haven't had any major issues as well.
I myself am using an AMD GPU, specifically the MSI RX 5700 non-XT version, in an air-cooled Silverstone SG13, and my only issue is with the fan noise. Thermal and gaming performance are great for me, and I haven't had any major issues as well.
Did you try undervolting the GPU. Can make a big difference without sacrificing much if any of the stock performance.
I went with Sapphire specifically from reading on their quality and how well built they usually are. I talked a bit more to the guy in the store and they've had about ten of those cards returned recently for the same issue.
Hmm, probably a case of bad batches as most other users reported theirs to be fine, although those posts are from last year. But will you exchange the GPU for an Nvidia now, or wait for the 3000 series cards to come out?
From Start To Finish - Too many images to post up individually unfortunately.
Some notes:
- The best I could get with current cooling: https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/31919921
- I had an ATX power supply in at first, this is not ideal and cable management was no fun. The SFX supply was perfect, it makes cable management a breeze as you can see at the end result of the build.
- I used a much smaller cooler than is necessary, but I do have a second intake fan pushing cold air into the case as well. You could easily fit an AIO in this case, or even a large air cooler with a full 120x25mm fan. Personally if I didn't have my new case on the way I'd go with the Corsair H60, and replace the radiator fan with a Noctua A-12.
- I did not used fully sleeved cables and probably should to make life easier, it would be $40 well spent.
- I had to swap out the Noctuas on the GPU vents to Scythe 120x15 (wait time on the chromax was way too long at time of ordering), the fans were simply too close and causing turbulence which was producing a terrible sound at times and I think the fans on the GPU may have a slight wobble which was causing them to make contact with the Noctua fan frame as well. I can't complain with GPU temps even using these slim fans and clocking at 2150, I rarely see GPU hitting more than 70-75C during a Heaven 4.0 test or sustained gaming. It generally will sit around 65-67 during gameplay, so I'm not upset with this at all considering the only exhaust produced is due to positive pressure in the case.
- Unfortunately my original mobo got delayed and I ended up with an ASUS Strix 550-i, I may swap to the Asrock but so far this board is holding up well. I'll have to do a comparison to their peripherals and other selling points but I don't think either one will affect my performance much.
- I did possibly get some GPUs out of a bad batch, after the third card I was able to update drivers and do some minor tweaking to get what I consider some very good performance without fiddling further with the cards limits. I'll be staying with the card for now - my early judgement may have been a bit too soon as I have had zero issues in the last few days. Seriously, even in games like Fault with horrific optimization on max settings I don't drop below 60 frames, however if I don't limit the frames in some games it does produce a coil whine that you'll hear if you don't have headphones on.
- Ryzen 5 3600 is a beast for me, so far I've boosted it to 4.4 and the only thing keeping me from going further is the cooling performance of the low profile cooler. I believe with a Corsair H60 you could probably push it a bit more. I might also see a better return on a more premium thermal paste or liquid metal with a better cooler since we are generating more heat, but really for gaming I'm already way past where I need to be and I've just gotten silly at this point as I have a horrible habit of min-max. During gaming I sit at around 68-75C, a bit warm for my tastes but nothing that's going to harm my CPU.
Overall I'm pretty happy with the build, but it just isn't as SFF as I was hoping to achieve so I've ordered a Sliger SM550 with the AIO cooler. I almost went with the Conswole but after doing some research, I found that the SM550 and even SM560 are perfectly capable of fitting in a backpack for ease of travel. When I put this all back together with the new cooler and case I'll probably produce a second log. I might even take that chance to try a different GPU and use this one to upgrade my rig for at home.
Between this forum and Optimum Tech I learned a lot on diving into this side of PC building. Honestly if you just spend a day watching reviews from Optimum Tech and some of the Gamers Nexus information you'll be set if you're more of a newbie like myself. That is of course coupled with doing your own research and reading/taking responses from this forum into consideration.
Some notes:
- The best I could get with current cooling: https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/31919921
- I had an ATX power supply in at first, this is not ideal and cable management was no fun. The SFX supply was perfect, it makes cable management a breeze as you can see at the end result of the build.
- I used a much smaller cooler than is necessary, but I do have a second intake fan pushing cold air into the case as well. You could easily fit an AIO in this case, or even a large air cooler with a full 120x25mm fan. Personally if I didn't have my new case on the way I'd go with the Corsair H60, and replace the radiator fan with a Noctua A-12.
- I did not used fully sleeved cables and probably should to make life easier, it would be $40 well spent.
- I had to swap out the Noctuas on the GPU vents to Scythe 120x15 (wait time on the chromax was way too long at time of ordering), the fans were simply too close and causing turbulence which was producing a terrible sound at times and I think the fans on the GPU may have a slight wobble which was causing them to make contact with the Noctua fan frame as well. I can't complain with GPU temps even using these slim fans and clocking at 2150, I rarely see GPU hitting more than 70-75C during a Heaven 4.0 test or sustained gaming. It generally will sit around 65-67 during gameplay, so I'm not upset with this at all considering the only exhaust produced is due to positive pressure in the case.
- Unfortunately my original mobo got delayed and I ended up with an ASUS Strix 550-i, I may swap to the Asrock but so far this board is holding up well. I'll have to do a comparison to their peripherals and other selling points but I don't think either one will affect my performance much.
- I did possibly get some GPUs out of a bad batch, after the third card I was able to update drivers and do some minor tweaking to get what I consider some very good performance without fiddling further with the cards limits. I'll be staying with the card for now - my early judgement may have been a bit too soon as I have had zero issues in the last few days. Seriously, even in games like Fault with horrific optimization on max settings I don't drop below 60 frames, however if I don't limit the frames in some games it does produce a coil whine that you'll hear if you don't have headphones on.
- Ryzen 5 3600 is a beast for me, so far I've boosted it to 4.4 and the only thing keeping me from going further is the cooling performance of the low profile cooler. I believe with a Corsair H60 you could probably push it a bit more. I might also see a better return on a more premium thermal paste or liquid metal with a better cooler since we are generating more heat, but really for gaming I'm already way past where I need to be and I've just gotten silly at this point as I have a horrible habit of min-max. During gaming I sit at around 68-75C, a bit warm for my tastes but nothing that's going to harm my CPU.
Overall I'm pretty happy with the build, but it just isn't as SFF as I was hoping to achieve so I've ordered a Sliger SM550 with the AIO cooler. I almost went with the Conswole but after doing some research, I found that the SM550 and even SM560 are perfectly capable of fitting in a backpack for ease of travel. When I put this all back together with the new cooler and case I'll probably produce a second log. I might even take that chance to try a different GPU and use this one to upgrade my rig for at home.
Between this forum and Optimum Tech I learned a lot on diving into this side of PC building. Honestly if you just spend a day watching reviews from Optimum Tech and some of the Gamers Nexus information you'll be set if you're more of a newbie like myself. That is of course coupled with doing your own research and reading/taking responses from this forum into consideration.
Honestly - now that the card is working as I had hoped I don't think I will. For really not much more performance I'd be paying at minimum an extra $110 for a 2070S, and I say not much more performance when it comes to my uses for the GPU.
I see. Glad that your GPU issues has been ironed out. But just to add my 2 cents on the higher pricing of Nvidia GPUs; one of the main reasons for that is due to Nvidia cards being not only good for gaming, but also for machine/deep learning. My current housemate is into that stuff, but recently bought a PC with an RX 5700, which was very hard to set-up for deep learning compared to Nvidia cards. Luckily for him, I had also intended to build a PC and didn't mind having an AMD GPU, so I bought his RX 5700 (only used for like a month), and he went and bought an RTX 2070.
For anyone else reading this, unless you really need ray-tracing, DLSS, or you're into deep learning, please consider the AMD GPUs. They perform really well for the price you're paying.
This is rather true, Nvidia cards have an edge on deep learning at the moment.
What's unfortunate is the ray tracing, from what I read it comes with quite some performance penalty. Hence the DLSS, but then again DLSS is game dependent.
In short I agree that RX 5700 is a very respectable option from the read team.
I have to echo this here. you've spec'd a 3600X and 5700XT. I really don't think mid range parts belong in SFF for travel, because you can spend a moderate bit more and get a high end laptop with equivalent performance which has real usability advantages (use it on the train/bus/while waiting at airport etc). dont forget with a laptop you're starting out ahead with the built in screen, so if you bring your portable display you're getting a dual monitor setup right off the bat.
Minimum spec for it to be worthwhile (and it'll once again become non-worthwhile within a year or 2 tops) today is 5900X and RTX 3070. You still can't quite match that with a max spec laptop today, and itll run a lot cooler and quieter. The build I'll be running is 5950X + RTX 3080, but I am under no delusions that after a year or so that traveling with it will be more of some kind of a sentimental factor rather than true practical utility.
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