Log FormD T1 - first ITX build 5950x + RTX 3090 hybrid (CPU AIO - GPU Air).

[needle]

This is my first ITX build after numerous ATX builds in various forms. As the topic says, this is a FormD T1 5950x + RTX 3090 build. The build is evolving, the current state is this:

Ready for action!

Motherboard side

GPU side

Before receiving all my parts (FormD being one of them) the build had a slightly different form, including a temporary RX 6900 XT card before I got the RTX 3090... Pay special attention to the smooth hacksaw curves of the completely custom piano white kitchen cabinet door ITX case:

Part	Detail	Cost (inc. tax + delivery)
Case	FormD T1 Black + LINKUP Gen 4 riser (20 cm) + pslate custom unsleeved black cables	1599€+58€+132€=1847€
Mobo	Asus X570-I Strix Gaming	282€
CPU	AMD Ryzen 9 5950x (PBO2 undervolt -10)	849€
GPU	Asus TUF OC RTX 3090	1599€
AIO + Fans	240mm Corsair H100i Pro XT + NF-F12A (under rad) + 2 x NF-A12X15 (over rad)	129€+21€+50€=200€
Memory	2 x 8GB G.Skill Trident Z 3200 CL14	147€
Storage	1 x M.2 WD Black SN850 2TB	548€
PSU	Corsair SF750	155€

 

[needle]

Test scores in the FormD T1 with all fans installed. PBO2 undervolt -10 all cores applied, GPU +50 Core voltage, +45 Core, +250 Mem, Power limit 107%:

• TimeSpy 17 629, Graphics Score 19 138, CPU Score 12 185
• TimeSpy Extreme 9 555, Graphics Score 9 858, CPU Score 8 138
• Port Royale 12 534
• Fire Strike Ultra 12 450, Graphics Score 12 234, Physics Score 35 246, Combined Score 6 777
• Fire Strike Extreme 22 249, Graphics Score 22 963, Physics Score 34 906, Combined Score 12 521

Min/max temps during test runs:

• CPU (Tctl/Tdie), Min: 61.6C, Max 89.9C
• CPU Coolant, Min: 32.9C, Max 38.7C
• Motherboard, Min: 44C, Max 50C
• Chipset, Min: 65.8C, Max 71.4C
• RAM, Min: 45.5C, Max 50.5C
• NVMe, Min: 50C, Max 55C
• GPU, Min: 35C, Max 68C

Power draw max:

• CPU Core: 171.6W
• GPU Power: 349.6W
• Total CPU+GPU: 521.2W

For comparison, the same components in an open case scored the following:

Quick test in 3Dmark after powering the kitchen cabinet up and clicking one-click OCs in ryzen master & radeon software: https://www.3dmark.com/spy/16348325

SCORE 17 447
Graphics Score 18 663
CPU Score 12 745

Some updates to 3dmark scores after some tweaks:

Time Spy 18 026: https://www.3dmark.com/spy/16501602
Fire Strike 39 343: https://www.3dmark.com/3dm/55186506

CPU on Auto OC (+150 MHz), RAM on Safe Dram Calculator 3733 settings (3733 CL16), GPU (Reference 6900 XT) OCd to 2650/2150.

 

[HPr]

with all those components , are you sure the T1 si the case to go?, i just cancel my order because it seems to small to cool those kind of components adequatly

 

[needle]

with all those components , are you sure the T1 si the case to go?, i just cancel my order because it seems to small to cool those kind of components adequatly

Hey, with a hybrid configuration there should be no problems with a T1. I'm not planning to go full water, which would likely be an issue unless you go 2x rads, which is a very tricky build.

 

[needle]

Parts have started to arrive! Got the FormD T1 yesterday:

As well as the Asus TUF OC RTX 3090 to replace the RX 6900 XT:

Now I'm just waiting for the linkup gen 4 riser cable to arrive and I can start putting it all together!

 

[vaselinedumpster]

Hey looks like you're building the same thing I am. I've only received my case so far though. These specific parts are especially hard to come by. Can't wait to see and read about your system.

 

[needle]

Hey looks like you're building the same thing I am. I've only received my case so far though. These specific parts are especially hard to come by. Can't wait to see and read about your system.

I actually built it last night. The instructions for the T1 are helpful, but they're also wrong in many places! Took a while figuring out things that were wrong, but in the end it was fairly easy.

I'll post pictures later along with some preliminary benchmarks.

 

[ilakarsu]

I am new in the SFF community, looking forward to have some insights on this build. I am also looking at this case and a similar build

 

[needle]

Things I've learned so far, the auto-oc setup I had running in my piano white kitchen cabinet case is not good for the FormD (not really surprised since the previous case was open & AIO had bigger fans on it). So I've updated my BIOS, ditched auto-oc for PBO2 undervolting and things seem better.

The 5950x requires A LOT of cooling to tame it + the case gets mighty warm when gaming. The GPU is very happy on air though. I've only got two fans exhausting on top and I will definitely need a third one below the AIO. I will also think about adding a fourth just to suck in air from the side for the VRM & RAM.

I also learnt that 16GB of RAM & 24GB of VRAM creates a bit of a problem. For games to be able to utilize the VRAM, they reserve a lot of virtual memory. A page file of 24GB is a minimum, but I am considering more RAM (32 GB or 64 GB).

 

[vaselinedumpster]

Great insights here, thanks. I didn't know windows would page out VRAM. That's definitely not ideal.

On my asrock board I have a pwm_fan/w_pump header I can toggle in the bios. I'm pretty sure the pump setting just runs a static speed but pwm changes with the temps, so maybe its not running 100%? If gaming gets mighty warm I'm afraid of what a purely CPU load would look like.

How's the power draw look? My biggest concern so far is the SF750 might be underprovisioned for such power hungry parts.

 

[DrLeroy]

Things I've learned so far, the auto-oc setup I had running in my piano white kitchen cabinet case is not good for the FormD (not really surprised since the previous case was open & AIO had bigger fans on it). So I've updated my BIOS, ditched auto-oc for PBO2 undervolting and things seem better.

The 5950x requires A LOT of cooling to tame it + the case gets mighty warm when gaming. The GPU is very happy on air though. I've only got two fans exhausting on top and I will definitely need a third one below the AIO. I will also think about adding a fourth just to suck in air from the side for the VRM & RAM.

I also learnt that 16GB of RAM & 24GB of VRAM creates a bit of a problem. For games to be able to utilize the VRAM, they reserve a lot of virtual memory. A page file of 24GB is a minimum, but I am considering more RAM (32 GB or 64 GB).

Can you explain this Vram paging? I've not heard of this before I have always been under the impression that page file virtual memory was only for once you ran out of physical system memory, nothing to do with video memory? The page file is one of the first things I disable on my systems as I normally run large amounts of ram for my workloads, already (64bg on my 3950x 6900xt system currently) and links to good reads on this? and if it has any impacts on professional workloads?

 

[needle]

On my asrock board I have a pwm_fan/w_pump header I can toggle in the bios. I'm pretty sure the pump setting just runs a static speed but pwm changes with the temps, so maybe its not running 100%? If gaming gets mighty warm I'm afraid of what a purely CPU load would look like.

The Corsair H100i runs off a SATA & USB header, there's no fan header to control the pump. The fan header is only used for reporting (single wire reporting RPM). The pump is controlled through iCue. Also, you probably don't want to run it at 100% all the time, the pump is audible (although it does get quieter after running and pushing air bubbles up to the rad.

How's the power draw look? My biggest concern so far is the SF750 might be underprovisioned for such power hungry parts.

No issues here, SF750 is plenty powerful for this setup. The PSU calculators I've seen around are quite pessimistic on power draws & also what PSUs can deliver.

Can you explain this Vram paging? I've not heard of this before I have always been under the impression that page file virtual memory was only for once you ran out of physical system memory, nothing to do with video memory? The page file is one of the first things I disable on my systems as I normally run large amounts of ram for my workloads, already (64bg on my 3950x 6900xt system currently) and links to good reads on this? and if it has any impacts on professional workloads?

I've been trying to find some sources for this, but have not really found any. You should not have this issue though, since 64GB is plenty more than your VRAM size. My issue is that I currently only have 16GB of RAM. The issue started after I swapped my 6900XT (16GB VRAM) to the RTX 3090 (24GB VRAM). I had a page file set to 1:1 with RAM, but after the swap Warzone had massive stutter issues and crashed a few minutes into a game consistently. Looking at HWiNFO I noticed that during the game both my virtual memory & physical memory had capped at 99%.

Now if you search for "how much RAM do I need for gaming" the answer is 8-16 GB, but clearly that's not quite true with the high VRAM cards. The fix was simple; add more size to the page file (I know have it at 1:1.5, i.e. 24GB). I would also add that I suspect adding RAM will not have any significant effect on performance, I think it's just the game engine reserving enough RAM to store whatever it pushes into the VRAM, but once it's in there that part of the reserved memory is not utilized. There are numerous articles discussing reserved vs. utilized memory out there which all tell the same story, utilized is the important factor and also hard to measure. The key point I guess is that with lower RAM, you need enough page file for games/software to be able to reserve enough memory and the amount of reserved memory will change depending on the amount of VRAM you have on your card (again, games will reserve VRAM as well, but not necessarily utilize).

 

[DrLeroy]

The Corsair H100i runs off a SATA & USB header, there's no fan header to control the pump. The fan header is only used for reporting (single wire reporting RPM). The pump is controlled through iCue. Also, you probably don't want to run it at 100% all the time, the pump is audible (although it does get quieter after running and pushing air bubbles up to the rad.



No issues here, SF750 is plenty powerful for this setup. The PSU calculators I've seen around are quite pessimistic on power draws & also what PSUs can deliver.



I've been trying to find some sources for this, but have not really found any. You should not have this issue though, since 64GB is plenty more than your VRAM size. My issue is that I currently only have 16GB of RAM. The issue started after I swapped my 6900XT (16GB VRAM) to the RTX 3090 (24GB VRAM). I had a page file set to 1:1 with RAM, but after the swap Warzone had massive stutter issues and crashed a few minutes into a game consistently. Looking at HWiNFO I noticed that during the game both my virtual memory & physical memory had capped at 99%.

Now if you search for "how much RAM do I need for gaming" the answer is 8-16 GB, but clearly that's not quite true with the high VRAM cards. The fix was simple; add more size to the page file (I know have it at 1:1.5, i.e. 24GB). I would also add that I suspect adding RAM will not have any significant effect on performance, I think it's just the game engine reserving enough RAM to store whatever it pushes into the VRAM, but once it's in there that part of the reserved memory is not utilized. There are numerous articles discussing reserved vs. utilized memory out there which all tell the same story, utilized is the important factor and also hard to measure. The key point I guess is that with lower RAM, you need enough page file for games/software to be able to reserve enough memory and the amount of reserved memory will change depending on the amount of VRAM you have on your card (again, games will reserve VRAM as well, but not necessarily utilize).

Thanks for the reply, that does kind of make sense I guess with regards to the page file, Ill stick to my standard approach of disabling on all my machines, as I always over spec ram, its cheap enough, and running VM's you can never have enough Ram really.

RE your power supply, I've seen so much about mass power draw on new AMD and Nvidia cards, had me worried for a bit running my system on an SF600 gold from my Ryzen 7/1080ti machine, but so far no issues at all, funnily enough, in gaming, the power draw on my UPS shows lower than it used to with my old system (not a number just a bar graph it gives) I did read or watch, I forget which now. that the large power supply recommendations where for potential power spikes rather than a constant draw, that was an article around the Nvidia cards.

how is the 3090 compared to the 6900XT? I find my 6900XT is more than I require, but sometimes get the feeling I should have gone for the 3090. would you say the upgrade was worth it for anything other than DLSS and RT? (i have no real interest in either)

 

[needle]

how is the 3090 compared to the 6900XT? I find my 6900XT is more than I require, but sometimes get the feeling I should have gone for the 3090. would you say the upgrade was worth it for anything other than DLSS and RT? (i have no real interest in either)

I mostly play World of Warships to be honest, which was just fine on my 7700k with a GTX 1080 Now I can DSR on insane resolutions and downscale to my 3840x1600 res screen... I did get Cyberpunk and the RT effects are nicer on the 3090, but if that stuff doesn't float your boat the only reason I can think of would be NVidias software offerings, i.e. GeForce Experience + NVidia Broadcast. I already ran RTX Voice on my 1080 which I quite liked so that was something I was missing on the 6900. I'm sure there would've been good software alternatives to plug that gap though, so not really something worth fretting about. I was lucky enough to get my 3090 at launch price, but got the 6900 XT as a stop gap when the delivery times for the 3090 started pointing towards April... A happy surprise getting it in January instead

 

[needle]

I managed to cram an extra NF-F12A under the rad and temps + fan speeds look much better now. Coolant sits at ~35-36 C with mild loads. The 5950x peaks at ~90 C but that's as expected really. It's boosting to 5GHz which is fine, I'm on a -10 PBO2 undervolt now. Chipset is at 70 C which is a bit toasty, RAM is at 49 C and NVMe 54 C. GPU remains under 50 C which stops the fans, might need to look into that ...

 

[needle]

Some work in progress photos until I have time for proper pictures :

Test run.

Mobo side (extra under rad fan missing).

GPU side during build.

 

[needle]

Here's the "final" pictures of the build with the added NF-F12AX25 fan below the rad. Routing cables & pipes becomes a bit of a challenge with the tall Trident Z RAM + the extra below fan rad. Fortunately there is enough space to pass on top of the RAM!

Motherboard side.

GPU side.

Ready for action.

 

[vaselinedumpster]

Looks great. Nice job!

 

[needle]

Various 3DMark scores updated in second post with temps + power CPU+GPU power draw.

 

[rodarkone]

Great stuff - congrats for the courage